L. M. Montgomery wrote a lot of better books than her classic Anne of Green Gables. This is my personal favorite - the story of old-maid Valancy (poor girl is only 29, for God's sake) who believes that she has only six months to live and decides to live it the way she wants to. The scene where she suddenly decides to say what she thinks instead of merely thinking it - at a big family dinner! - is one of my favorite scenes (in ANY book) of all time. Also, hero Barney Snaith makes Gilbert Blythe look like a big pansy. Which he was anyway.

This is possibly my favorite of L.M. Montgomery’s books, Anne included. It’s a tremendous Mary Jane story... Valancy Stirling is given terrible news which jolts her from the deep and muddy rut her life has run in – and everything changes. From poking I found a reference to the book as a “fairy tale”; I suppose, in a way, that’s so, with the references to Bluebeard’s castle and the transformations of Valancy and Barney Snaith. It has dark edges, this romantic tale, not least of which is Valancy’s outright (richly deserved) loathing for her kin. I was also a little surprised at the tale of the old friend, now fallen from grace and dying; it was more worldly than LMM tends to be, and Valancy's acceptance and, eventually, understanding of the situation is one of the reasons I'm so fond of the book and of the character. Perhaps it’s all a little too happily resolved – which, however is a Montgomery trait I can’t argue with too hard. Reading, like the Blue Castle, is escape. It's nice to read about a life from which one doesn't want to escape now and then. ( )

This is my absolute favorite Montgomery novel. The heroine is 29 so I suppose it could be considered an adult book, but really it works best for those of us who first read it in our teens and fall in love with it, reading it over and over. The heroine is more real than the sometimes too-perfect Anne, and who doesn't love the possible-villain hero? While the twist at the end is perhaps a bit predictable, this is a fun, quick read that is all too easy to fall in love with. It also has some beautiful passages in praise of nature.

All her life, Valancy Stirling has lived a dull, meaningless existence. She works as a drudge in her rigid, oppressive household with no friends, no marriage prospects, and no hope of a better life. Her only solace is her nightly dreams of an idyllic castle where she can be happy. Then, on her twenty-ninth birthday, she gets some shocking news that inspires her to change her life. She stops worrying about her pompous family’s opinions, leaves home, and gets a job that she actually enjoys. Her new fearlessness opens her up to joy, friendship, and even love. But will a terrible mistake cost her everything?

Although I loved Montgomery’s Anne and Emily books as a girl, I had never even heard of The Blue Castle until quite recently. I really missed out, because I loved this book! It’s just a short, simple love story, but it’s so romantic and sweet! It can be read in an afternoon, and it’s sure to lift your spirits and make you believe in true love. I think women of all ages would love this book.

When I started reading this book, I was annoyed by the main character’s cowed demeanor. It was like the lightest amount of pressure was all it took to squash her into a spineless nothingness. Then - very suddenly - she changed. I should have been pleased at her very suddenly discovered gumption, but I was really just annoyed at the suddenness. The reasoning, at least, was given, but I found it wholly unconvincing and somewhat flawed. When she later reverts (however temporarily) to her former self, it seems like this character simply doesn’t have a real version of herself at all. She’s one extreme or the other and there’s nothing in between. On some characters, that might be a natural thing to be so extreme, but Valancy just didn’t seem to fit that mold.

There were sweet moments interspersed throughout where I actually genuinely liked the character, but they were rare and very short lived.
One plot point was incredibly obvious to me from the very first moment. I won’t say what it is, but from almost page one, I told myself, “This is what’s going to happen.” It took 195 pages for it to happen, but happen it did. I always feel so self-satisfied when I am able to predict what’s going to happen, and that’s immediately followed by disappointment that it was so easy to predict.

The Blue Castle was incredibly predictable throughout and the main character was somewhat forced upon the reader. It’s not an altogether horrible story and I did like it better than Kilmeny of the Orchard, but I couldn’t even come close to counting this among my favorites. Far from it. It wasn’t bad, neither was it great. ( )