Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

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

3 reviews

abookandaspotoftea's review

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adventurous challenging medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

 I preface this review by stating that I am not typically driven to write a review in rage, but this book and the author have received so much praise despite being extremely problematic. I appreciate that the author centered an ace (or asexual) lead character. I also understand that this book is a historical fantasy and should be treated with a grain of salt.

Things that I loathe about this book:
  • the normalization of white feminism
  • the overt racism and Islamophobia
  • the colonization fangirling

To @Mackenzi Lee and those who praised this book:
  • Removing a person's ḥijāb without consent is a gross violation and should NEVER be normalized.
  • Casually dropping the "N" word is NEVER okay. Also, get it through your daft head: the immediate assumption that black people are thieves and criminals is NOT okay. A half-hearted apology does not make up for this ridiculous shit. Stop using this as a trope.
  • The idea that it is okay to plunder another nation for its resources is NOT okay. And sit your white feminist ass down with your holier-than-thou attitude that colonizers will use these looted resources to "heal" the world. 
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livruther's review

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

As far as I’m concerned, Mackenzi Lee can do no wrong. I really enjoyed this book. Tbh, my least favorite thing was the plot. Like the dragon thing was so weird??? But I loved the setting, the writing, and the characters. Felicity is such an interesting protagonist and obviously I LOVE monty & percy more than life itself. They are so sweet and the way that they both put their struggling careers on hold just to come find Felicity was the sweetest thing ever. Besides the dragons, there were some other things that bothered me. 
1) Felicity’s characterization doesn’t quite match “Getting Lucky” bc in that, she is not at all homophobic, and she very explicitly speaks about sex with Monty, but she seems uncomfortable with the idea of sex in this. 
2) She mentions being homophobic bc of the Bible, but she doesn’t mention all the sexism in the Bible. I felt like she should have mentioned that. 
3) Felicity honestly didn’t seem as upset as I felt like she should be when she found out that her hero was a POS. He was basically her whole life’s inspiration and she was just like, a little bit mad that he actually sucked.
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onefineelephant's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

 9/10. I loved this book. I wasn't aware that Monty and Percy would make an appearance in this one, but I'm glad they did. The exploration of asexuality/aromanticism was really awesome and well done (but I'm not asexual or aromantic so don't just take my word on it). I also really enjoyed the exploration and tensions of female friendship. And I loved how Felicity had to grapple with the notion of feminine + strong women instead of one or the other. Both Johanna and Sim were such fresh characters, I enjoyed them both a lot. Highly recommend. 
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