This is the third book in the What Katy Did trilogy (though apparently not the last book about Katy and her family) and surprisingly, it was the one that I enjoyed the most! What Katy Did Next takes place a few years after What Katy Did at School and has Katy travelling to London, France (including Nice!), and Italy after receiving a once-in-a-lifetime offer to tour Europe.

What Katy Did Next starts with a good deed – Katy notices that little Amy cannot go home because her cousin is down with scarlet fever. Of course, she and the rest of the family take the little girl in and by the end of the stay, Amy is so fond of Katy that it inspires her mother, Mrs Ashe, to invite Katy to travel with them to Europe.

I have to admit, Amy is not the cutest character to follow. Sure, she looks cute, but she tends to dislike a lot of things and assumes that things are just better at home; I completely understood Katy’s frustration when she decided to kill off two characters in order to stop a story that long ran its course just because Amy was enamoured with it. Thankfully, Katy is a lot more open and excited to be travelling, and it was fun to see her reactions to everything. I was also tickled to see that they spent a lot of time in Nice; to think, if I read this book before I left last year, that part wouldn’t have made an impression on me!

Although this is a travelog, I liked it more than the other books because there’s a bit more conflict. I mentioned before that I would like to see more of Lily, Katy’s cousin. Well, she makes another appearance here and she’s showing her true colours in this book. Lily just happens to be stepping out with Ned, Mrs Ashe’s brother and Katy’s arrival throws things off course for Lily. Katy is too nice to pick a fight, but I thought Lily added a bit of “bite” to the book by seeing Katy as a rival when she isn’t one, and made it a bit more fun.

There is, predictably, someone falling sick in this book. However, I felt like the stakes were higher here and it was less of a moralising lesson or an opportunity to do good and more of an obstacle to overcome. It worked with the story and the ending made sense because of it.

Overall, this was a pleasant read. I was initially a bit ambivalent about this series because the first book really swung from a domestic adventure to Pollyanna-ish, but having followed Katy through a few years, it’s safe to say that she’s a lovely character and one that I would like to be friends with. That said, I still wonder who would read this – the first book is for children and this is for older readers, but it’s so unlike today’s YA that I’m struggling to think of who else would like it!