Review: Anyone But Ivy Pocket by Caleb Krisp

From Goodreads: Ivy Pocket is a twelve-year-old maid of no importance, with a very lofty opinion of herself. Dumped in Paris by the Countess Carbunkle, who would rather run away to South America than continue in Ivy's companionship, our young heroine (of sorts) finds herself with no money and no home to go to ... until she is summoned to the bedside of the dying Duchess of Trinity. For the princely sum of £500 (enough to buy a carriage, and possibly a monkey), Ivy agrees to courier the Duchess's most precious possession – the Clock Diamond – to England, and to put it around the neck of the revolting Matilda Butterfield on her twelfth birthday. It's not long before Ivy finds herself at the heart of a conspiracy involving mischief, mayhem and murder.

My Rating: Somewhere between 3 and 3.5 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: Anyone But Ivy Pocket by Caleb Krisp is one of those books where I alternated between liking it and being annoyed by it. On the one hand, Ivy was so ridiculous and made me laugh; and on the other, had she been someone real, I probably would have strangled her. 

As a character, Ivy kind of reminded me of Amelia Bedelia. For those of you unfamiliar with Amelia Bedelia, she’s a housekeeper who gets into all kinds of shenanigans because she’s constantly misinterpreting things, yet you can’t help but love her because she has the best intentions at heart. Well, that’s Ivy – except her personality is insufferable, and so you don’t love her like you do Amelia Bedelia.

Put it simply, Ivy has a massive ego and absolutely no manners. I get that she’s a compulsive liar with a flair for the dramatic because she’s an orphan who’s trying to forget how lonely she is, but not being tactful tends to make people dislike you. I also kept forgetting that she was only twelve years old because the way she talked (e.g. she called everyone, “dear”) and acted was like someone much older – that is, until she would reveal how naïve she actually was.

Ultimately, I’d have to say that Ivy’s character was probably both the greatest strength and weakness of Anyone But Ivy Pocket. In any case, Ivy Pocket is a protagonist that’s hard to forget!

Anyone But Ivy Pocket was released in April 2015 by Greenwillow Books. 

Comments About the Cover: I love the gothic illustrations on the cover and within the book. 

In exchange for an honest review, this book was received from the publisher (HarperCollins) for free via Edelweiss.