4.5
Just wonderful. I like the German part best, although the shipboard part is great too I wonder, did Mr. O'Farrell deliberately keep his wife and children a secret from Betsy?. 1/2 a star off because the ending is rushed (Betsy's gang in London was too abruptly introduced for me to care anything about them). Also, while I liked the descriptions of Venice, I was unconvinced by Marco, who has all the depth of characterization of Flat Stanley.

I liked this one much more than the other in the series that i read. Although there are a few love interests in this one, it's not as flirty or high school as, well, the books set in high school! Also, I loved that Betsy spends a great deal of her time in Germany. I could totally relate to her experiences and it was fun to read about places I am familiar with, at least in name and anticipation and some in person! I also love that she comes to realize her feelings for joe - it's an underlying romance that was very hopeful and sweet.

It’s hard to read these teen/college Betsy books; I actually enjoy the forewords (this one was “Betsy Ray: Feminist Icon”) and the afterward better. In this afterward we learn that besides names, this book was basically all true to Maud Hart Lovelace’s life, as she used her letters home to write every part of Betsy’s European adventure. So even though I’m endlessly annoyed by Betsy (not to mention her kid-self is so much more interesting and funny), I do love her forever deep down. That is only due to the magical first four books. I only have one more in the series to go, “Betsy’s Wedding”, and thank goodness I know who her husband will be. I wanted to barf reading her flirtations with the older man on the ship, then obviously she found out he was married... then I was so irritated at her fling with Marco in Italy. But such is life. Luckily there was that ending - Joe!
Something I find hard to forgive is the flippant little episode with the doll. Betsy goes to a place famous for its dolls and she comes across child labor, which she feels uncomfortable with but hopes these children have their own dolls to play with. When she sees their tattered, banged-up, headless toys, she is relieved and feels no objection to treating herself to the fanciest doll she finds. It’s only when her pride makes her aware at how silly she must look walking along with a doll that I think, “Okay, now is when she’ll redeem herself and take it to the little girl with the headless doll.” She does nothing of the sort and the chapter ends, and I’m left baffled.

Betsy's travels and her minor adventures are great fun, but her love life isn't. I suspect that's because whenever Lovelace relays something that actually happened to her, or happened to one of her close group of friends, she does a smashing job, but she tends to flounder when she needs to make something up out of whole cloth. (Though, not having a thorough grounding in Lovelaceiana, it is also possible that I'm attributing to reality only the things that happened which I liked, and chalking up to to Lovelace's imagination things that I didn't.)

The best one in the series.

"After Commencement Day, the World!" Joe said. "With Betsy."
Oops. Joe forgot about Betsy being a flirt,(enter new guys)and about Betsy's social distractions.
Dropping out of college to travel made this a wonderful book..a look at Europe in the early 1900's before the War. Traveling alone around N.Africa, middle east and Europe was a brazen thing for a young lady to do even if she had escorts in place. The only thing that made Tib not being a part of this due to marriage and baby tolerable is that later in life Maude and her friend Bick (aka Tib) did travel to Europe together and see the world.
That Betsy and Joe FINALLY hook back up through the Agony Column in the London newspaper (basically an early personal ad ) was the icing on the cake! This is the book that I had remembered less of on my many previous readings, so was a treat to reread this time.
The only bad part of the book is now there is only one more left.......I can hardly bare the thought.

I loved traveling Europe with Betsy. I love how she connects with people wherever she goes. I was impressed with Lovelace’s writing; it was very atmospheric but still had great pacing. The ending was emotional with WWII coming as well as the note from Joe in the newspaper.

another great Betsy Tacy book.

SPOILER:Joe’s notice in the newspaper at the end was TOTALLY The Great War by Ts

I loved reading about Betsy's Grand Tour, on the cusp of World War I. The homesickness, the new friends, the thrill of getting to know a strange city (or three), and of course, the presents!

Aimless, with endless descriptions of places Betsy travels and no real plot. Betsy's very shallow here, and I don't like her behavior towards Joe. The description of the outbreak of World War I is moving.

I know I’ve read this before, but all I remembered of it was the existence of the Azores and Oberammergau. It was a delightful re-read, if slightly boggling in terms of just how Victorian. I think I’ll need to revisit this series.

This was my favorite in the Betsy-Tacy series.