What readers think of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, plus links to write your own review.

When my father first brought this book home from the library and told me about it, I was vaguely interested, but not at all excited. I thought, "Well, I guess the cover is pretty...and it has an okay title..."

The problem was, I was already deep into about 3 other books at that moment, so when I finally got the chance to pick it up, I had to return it only a few days later. By that time, I couldn't put it down.

My dad got the chance to take it out for me twice more, but I am the slowest reader possibly on the planet, so I reluctantly had to return it time and time again.

Finally, on Valentines Day, my father presented me with a loving father-daughter gift: my very own copy of "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie." I was ecstatic, and started reading it right away.

To tell you the truth, as an avid writer myself, this book had me, at moments, wanting to stop reading it and write down all the brilliant descriptions Bradley came up with throughout the book. Just the first line was amazing: "It was as dark in the closet as old blood." What a fantastic comparison!

Alan Bradley is an author who paints the scene in front of you with words and similes so utterly amazing that you are compelled to laugh, frown, flinch, throw the book down on the ground, and pick it up again to read once more. The characters are so real: Daphne and Ophelia, Flavia's evil sisters taken right off the pages of "Cinderella," make you want to burst out laughing every page, while other times I want to slap the book because they are so annoying; Flavia's father, who is so distant yet close; Mr. Pemberton, who I will not spoil for you...he's just too brilliant; and Flavia herself, who is by far my favorite person ever to read about. I can understand why Mr. Bradley treated her as such a real person.

I;ll make my conclusion quite simple: please, please, PLEASE read this book. It's brilliant.

I read this book for my book report and I loved it! i think that Alan Bradley did an awesome job writing this book! it's full of exciting and nail-biting chapters. its definitely a page turner!

I adored this book. Flavia is such a wonderful character, I fell in love with her and her story instantly. It's not a deep literary book, but good fun with a great little heroine. I got sucked into this story instantly and couldn't wait to get back to it. I have recommended to many friends and they have all liked it too. Can't wait to read the next installment that comes out this month!!

What fun!!

I was a little disappointed after all the reviews about this book. I did enjoy it but wonder about the age of the protagonist. I found it hard to believe her voice, especially in the time period of the novel. Having said that I found the literary references and the chemistry information fascinating but think some may find that it ruins the flow of the story. This might be overly picky but it is something to consider when recommending the book to others.

The biggest problem I had in reading this novel was with the protagonist: 11-year-old Flavia. It seems as if many readers and reviewers really liked this character, but I found her reasoning skills and actions so unrealistic for an 11-year-old that it led me to feel the book was less than stellar. The character is unique, to be sure, and most will either find her very appealing or very irritating (I place myself in the latter category). The mystery itself held together rather nicely, although much of it was painfully obvious long before the book's conclusion. I'll probably read the upcoming sequel, but probably won't seek it out and will wait until it's in paperback.

I wanted to enjoy this book. The description sounded really good and I read lots of good reviews. It is possible, I just wasn't in the right mood for it, but after 100 pages, I put it down and did not finish it. It was just a little too silly for me at the time I tried to read it.

I did not understand the book at all and it was way to hard.