This was a good book,Sorcery & Cecelia was better.This one was a bit wordy it finally picked up at the end.but to get to the end was slow going. ( )

This sequel to Sorcery and Cecilia loses much of the magic of the first. It could be due to the fact that Cecilia and Kate are on there wedding journey together, and therefore, are not intimately entertaining each other with their letters over a distance. Instead, we get Kate's recording of the strange events of the trip from her commonplace book, and Cecilia's from her deposition to authorities. What's more, the two of them are such contented newlyweds that they lose most of the girlish sneakiness and defiance that made them such fun characters in the first book. Even so, it's still a pleasant read, and the action gets pretty thrilling in the last 60 pages or so. ( )

Although I really enjoyed Sorcery and Cecelia, I'd never gotten around to reading this sequel. At the end of the first novel, Kate and Cecy had thwarted the evil plan of a wicked sorcerer and married the men of their dreams. As The Grand Tour begins, they set off on a tour of Europe on their joint honeymoon. At first, the girls are simply excited to be seeing the world (and, of course, shopping), but soon they stumble on a sinister plot: someone has been collecting ancient magical artifacts from all the royal families of Europe with the intent to create a new Napoleon. The plot is very exciting and propels the book forward, as Cecy and James, Kate and Thomas travel breathlessly throughout Europe to try and catch the culprit. Cecy works on her wizarding skills, and Kate works on overcoming her social awkwardness as the wife of the Marquis of Schofield. I really enjoyed revisiting these characters, but I thought that the two halves of the story were a bit uneven: in the first book, both Kate and Cecy told their stories through letters. In this book, Kate's part is told through diary entries, while Cecy's is told through an official deposition to British authorities. For this reason, we learn next to nothing about Cecy and James's marriage or their private thoughts - Kate's story is much more developed. There are some sweet interludes between Kate and Thomas, and I hope that the next book will explore a bit more of Cecy and James's private life. In all, though, I'm really enjoying this series and look forward to reading The Mislaid Magician.

This is the sequel to "Sorcery and Cecelia" and I have to admit it wasn't as good as the first. Still, it was nice to read about these characters again. We got a little more development for Kate and Thomas but poor Cecy and James were left to the imagination in many instances. The action took a little while to build up and for some time I was a bit bored by their travels. It got more exciting as the story progressed though. Not bad but not great. ( )

In the first book, Sorcery and Cecelia, the feisty cousins Kate and Cecelia were drawn into a magical intrigue when Kate, in London for her first Season, attended their neighbor’s induction into the Royal College of Wizards and there stumbled upon a dangerous plot. In the course of their letters (for Cecy was home at Rushton Manor in the country), the girls had uncovered an evil magical scheme with the help of the Mysterious Marquis (Thomas) and his stealth-impaired friend James Tarleton. At the end, Thomas and Kate decided their sham engagement should be real, and James proposed to Cecy. The two couples were married in one ceremony, and The Grand Tour is the story of their wedding tour in Europe.

Of course with Kate and Cecy, trouble seems to follow with disturbing regularity, and very shortly after they set off, a mysterious vial — the Saint Ampoule — is left for them at their hotel, and other odd things begin happening. Why would someone give them this ancient kingmaking oil? What is the odious Strangle doing at all the antiquaries that the couples are visiting? How should one handle footpads? And how does one go about hiring a French maid without making a goose of oneself?

The characters become more fleshed-out in this tale (told again as excerpts from Kate’s “commonplace book” and from a deposition by Cecy). It’s delightful to watch the four interact with one another, and to see how they adjust to matrimony. I was a little surprised at the references to physical intimacy (there seemed to be quite a few of them at the beginning), but we were never “on the spot,” and overall I would say it was tastefully handled.

One thing I found very striking was a scene between Kate and Thomas. Thomas reminds Kate that she promised to obey him, and instead of lashing back with a stereotyped, spunky-gal answer, Kate replies that she will obey, out of love. This of course melts Thomas (who was only mentioning obedience in a lighthearted way in the first place). What an unusual little exchange to find in a modern YA book! And it carries credibility too, because Kate and Cecy are anything but docile little wives who do nothing but echo their husbands.

The writing style matches the quality of the first book, and I could tell Wrede and Stevermer had a fun time writing these excerpts back and forth to one another. The one complaint I would make about the plot was that it seemed to move very, very slowly for the first 200 pages or so. It was still quite diverting and fun with the well-written characters and witty dialogue, but I kept waiting for things to really start happening. I enjoyed the second part of the book much more than the first because the mystery picked up.

I think most people prefer the first book to the sequels, and I have to agree. Sorcery and Cecelia was just better. But this one was quite a fun trip too, and I would recommend it. ( )