Review: The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy

Read if you like: fun, fast-paced adventures, pirates, and science- and book-loving historical ladies.

The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy | Mackenzi Lee

Series: Montague Siblings

Genre: Young Adult, Historical, Adventure
Released: October 2nd 2018
Pages: 512
Format: Ebook
Source: Publisher

Felicity Montague is through with pretending she prefers society parties to books about bone setting—or that she’s not smarter than most people she knows, or that she cares about anything more than her dream of becoming a doctor.

A year after an accidentally whirlwind tour of Europe, which she spent evading highwaymen and pirates with her brother Monty, Felicity has returned to England with two goals in mind—avoid the marriage proposal of Callum Doyle, a lovestruck suitor from Edinburgh; and enroll in medical school. However, her intellect and passion will never be enough in the eyes of the administrators, who see men as the sole guardians of science.

But then a small window of hope opens. Doctor Alexander Platt, an eccentric physician that Felicity idolizes, is looking for research assistants, and Felicity is sure that someone as forward thinking as her hero would be willing to take her on. However, Platt is in Germany, preparing to wed Felicity’s estranged childhood friend Johanna. Not only is Felicity reluctant to opening old wounds, she also has no money to make the trip.

Luckily, a mysterious young woman is willing to pay Felicity’s way, so long as she’s allowed to travel with Felicity disguised as her maid. In spite of her suspicions, Felicity agrees, but once the girl’s true motives are revealed, Felicity becomes part of a perilous quest that will lead her from the German countryside to the promenades of Zurich to secrets lurking beneath the Atlantic.

I knew I'd love this because the first book became one of my favourites of last year, and I'm so glad it lived up to expectations. Feminism and fury and a girl who wants to be a physician when the world just wants her to give up, PLUS pirates and sea dragons and girls being supportive friends and Montagues being supportive siblings, AND a giant, slobbering dog and a ship's canon battle for good measure. There's nothing this book doesn't have. I loved every bit of it.

5 stars

Review: The Gentleman's Guide To Vice & Virtue

The Gentleman's Guide To Vice & Virtue | Mackenzi Lee

Published by: Katherine Tegen Books, June 27th 2017

Genre: YA, Historical, LGBT+

Pages: 513

Format: Ebook

Source: Katherine Tegen Books, via Edelweiss

Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men.

But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy.

Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.

I have several bones to pick with this book. I thought it was going to be a lighthearted, fun romp through Europe, and admittedly, it was, but I never signed on for all this heartache and pain and ANGST.

Monty and Percy and Felicity are the best characters I could ever ask for. I love all of them. They make this book so easy to love, and I identify so hard with Felicity. I can't wait to read her next adventures. As for the other two, they hurt me so much with their unrequited-but-actually-requited love, their longing glances, little touches, Gods, I love them. I'm so happy this book ended the way it did.

This book was so much more dangerous than I expected though, with everything from highwaymen to pirates to to-the-death fights on a crypt-island. Add to that a healthy dose of sarcasm, humour, and romance, and I honestly could not have loved it more. I do keep calling it The Gentleman's Guide to The Galaxy, though.

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world ★★★★★

Writing ★★★★★

Reading Round Up (86)

Reading round up is a weekly journal where I record my daily reading progress, my thoughts on each book as I read it, and any books I've acquired during the week. 

10th August

I read 28% of A Riddle In Ruby by Kent Davis, finishing it, and this was fricking awesome. Can't wait to see where the next book takes Ruby!!

I also started Polaris by Mindee Arnett, sequel to my fave ever Avalon!!! I read 30% and I love it so much.

11th August

Today I read another 30% of Polaris, which is awesome. But I had some spare time to read and wanted a break from all the angst of Polaris, so I started Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics (20% read.) Kinda thought she was going to be pregnant with the devil's child for a few chapters there but that's not the case. Shame.

12th August

I finished Polaris (40%), and wow that went bizarre with the alien thing. Loved everything else but that totally undermined the rest of the story. 

I also read 13% of Daughters Unto Devils, which is fairly okay. I'm not a hundred percent sure this is a horror novel, as I was led to believe. I'm a third in and the only horrific thing to happen is the treatment of women in this era.

13th August

Today I decided I wanted to finish Daughters Unto Devils, and since it's fairly short, it was achievable. I read 82% and the ending was a thousand times better than the rest of it. I did get bored, but that's because nothing happened for a while, but that seems to be par for the course with YA horror.

Oh, and I also read 5% of Cities and Thrones by Carrie Patel. Mostly I wanted to start this because I know it'll be slow going for the first third until I proper get into it and I want to finish it by the end of the month.

14th August

I started This Monstrous Thing (26% read), which is not as good as I'd expected. And I read another 5% of Cities and Thrones, which seems to be the most amount of book I can read before my mind wanders.

15th August

Okay I read like 16% of This Monstrous Thing and I'm just not feeling it at all. It's slow and I don't care about anything that's happening so DNF.

16th August

*major grumbling*

I started Undertow by Michael Buckley, which I thought would be awesome but turned out to be not. I hated it within 9% and DNFed. Which makes two, in two days, consecutively. Yay~~~

Failing that, I started The Unquiet by Mikaela Everett (27%), and I'm having much better luck with it. Thank God.

Books finished this week: 3
Books DNF'd this week: 2

For review:

This didn't sound terrible and it's LGBT inclusive so I thought I'd give it a shot. It's pretty short too, so it shouldn't be so bad. I hope. I don't historically love alice in wonderland retellings, though, and the publisher has been hit or miss for me. Hoping this hits.

I have friends that like it, and although it sounds too close to Angelfall for my liking, I'm assuming the non-post-apoc thing will set it apart. Plus it was on read now and I have no will power against that.

Night Owls (4.5 STARS) + a guest post from Jenn Bennet

This Monstrous Thing (DNF)

Undertow (DNF)