In short: Etiquette & Espionage gets the plot, characters, and whimsical tone just right and I am now smitten with Gail Carriger. 
 So, I may have a new author crush. Gail Carriger is best known for her Parasol Protectorate series and while I always hear amazing things about it, I am, as always, wary when it comes to adult books. When I heard she would be writing a new YA series - set in the same universe as her Parasol Protectorate series - and when I saw the absolutely STUNNING cover for Etiquette & Espionage, I knew I needed to read it. And that's when I found out that Gail Carriger is a brilliant and clever author with a talent for humourous writing, vibrant characters, and fast-paced entertaining plots. And I was smitten. 
 Etiquette & Espionage is like a parody of a Victorian Era novel, complete with over exaggerated ideals of strict morality, restrained sexuality, and refined sensibilities. When Sophronia, a young lady of fourteen years, is picked to attend Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality, what she doesn't know is that it is no ordinary finishing school. She is to learn to be an intelligencer - Victorian Lady-style. 
 It is beyond me how hours upon hours of class time could be spent just to master the art of fainting gracefully, fluttering eyelashes seductively, and blushing prettily on command, but that makes up the bulk of Sophronia's schooling, along with history classes with her vampire professor and fighting classes with her werewolf professor. Hilarious. I feel like it takes serious skill to get whimsy right as an author. Because anyone can do weird and silly, but whimsy takes a certain amount of cleverness and Gail Carriger got it just right. 
 As you might imagine by the humourous tone of the plot, the characters are similarly quirky and cartoonish and all together brilliant. They have names like Mrs. Barnaclegoose, Lord Dingleproops, and Mr. Shrimpdittle (snort). I seriously LOVED every single one of them. Sophronia is a bold and sensible protagonist who is well suited to a career as an intelligencer due to her curious and adventurous tendencies. All secondary characters that make up her ragtag group of friends are similarly loveable and memorable. There is the barest hint of a playful romance blossoming in Etiquette & Espionage that is sure to develop over the course of the series, involving Sophronia and a guy nicknamed Soap who is - GASP - black. And a lower class sootie to boot! Scandal. 
 It is possible that had I been in a more critical mood, I might have found some fault with Etiquette & Espionage. But I was in the exact mood for it and honestly, Etiquette & Espionage isn't a book that takes itself seriously so the reader shouldn't either. I admit some bias in my love for Etiquette & Espionage because it had a vague semblance to Harry Potter - a quirky boarding school, fun and cartoonish characters, a general whimsical atmosphere. Sounds good, right? You should read it!