Samantha has a ton of books. She's been around forever and she's super popular, so of course she has a ton of books. I reread her story collection, her short story collection, Nellie's book, the ocean liner adventure, and all five mysteries. Yep, she has five. Which is hard not to hold against her when I had to wait over a decade for Kaya and Josefina to get their second mysteries and poor Addy still only has one. Sigh.
Don't get me wrong. I actually really love Sam's books. She's the rich girl character who doesn't act rich. Even though she's been brought up as a lady, she treats servants and other poorer people just the same as anyone else. Which makes her a little problematic, because that behavior doesn't quite ring true with Grandmary's. Grandmary is very proper and she's brought Samantha up for years, since her parents drowned. So how did Samantha end up the way she is? Grandmary doesn't treat her staff poorly by any means, but she certainly has lines of propriety. She doesn't hang in the kitchen with Mrs. Hawkins or chill with Jessie in the sewing room. So why is Samantha allowed to? It's a conundrum. But despite that, I still enjoy the books and don't let trying to figure things out get in my way. Samantha is a very generous character and that makes her extremely endearing, too. Every time I would reread her books, I'd want a Samantha doll. I finally did get one, but I don't like how her hair is styled, so I sold her not too long before they announced the retirement. (Should have waited and made more money!) Then I reread her books, wanted her doll again and ended with a #16 Just Like You doll that has hair in a style I like better and she acts as my Samantha.
Anyway, yes, Sam is generous. She's outgoing, smart and perhaps a bit ahead of her time with her lack of boundaries. The rest of the cast is equally excellent. Nellie is one of my favorite best friend characters, although the repeated times she has to be reassured that the family's not going to just reject her and dump her and her sisters in the street is annoying. Like once should have been enough. You got adopted. Stop worrying. But she's also very smart, astute and isn't afraid to stand up for herself and people she views as more like herself. Agnes and Agatha are awesome, too, and I wish they were around more.
All of the books are quite good. I don't think there's a single one I don't like. Curse of Ravenscourt is my favorite of the mysteries, but I do like how they wrote a mystery for each leg of the European trip Samantha and Nellie take with Grandmary and the admiral. And I didn't even notice it until tonight! I think I connected Stolen Sapphire with Clue in the Castle Tower before, but didn't realize Danger in Paris was still the same trip, because I read it when it came out, not in conjunction with a full reread.
AG Best to Least Best (they're too good to be called "Worst") Historical Ranking:
-Josefina/Addy
-Felicity
-Samantha
-Kaya
-Kirsten
-Marie-Grace and Cécile
-Caroline
-Maryellen
Samantha pops ahead of Kaya because Kaya's less likeable family holds her back, but Felicity's awesomeness is something Sam doesn't quite attain.
Next up: Rebecca! Yay.
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