Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels

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The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton

38 reviews

emilywemily6's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

It took me quite a bit to get into this book (maybe like 75 pages) because the premise is so wacky and writing style is so different than what I’ve read before. But this ridiculously fantastical historical romance was such a fun trip that had me smiling the whole time. I adored the characters and their whimsy and sass. This story was fun and fluffy and yet my brain had to work to understand the satire and writing style, so it was an interesting mix. I definitely want to read the next book!

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clairew97's review against another edition

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2.75

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sarahsbookss's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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louisegraveyard's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

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rhi_'s review

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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renpuspita's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

We have only three laws in our Society, Cecilia. No killing civilians. Pour the tea before the milk. And no stealing other's houses

Reading The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels remind me when I first read Soulless by Gail Carriger. Both are comedy of manners and sensibilities, set in Victorian era, have fantasy elements and heroine that not afraid to say what in her minds. Although Soulless more like a steampunk historical romance, while Wisteria Society have a "Howl's Moving Castle" vibe on it, because the houses are literally flying.

The first part of this book kinda hard to follow because everything that happen in early chapter seems mundane enough. Like, assassination attempt to our heroine, Miss Cecilia Bassingwaithe (such a handfull name!) of the many Cecilia before her (include her deceased mother, Cilla) is already mundane. Things get explained thoroughly after house start flying in which this book is set in England AU (alternate universe, not fanfic, although if this book start as fanfic first, I really don't have slightest idea), where rather than sail in the ship, pirates chant an incantation to fly their house. Imagine the air traffic, for the love of me, I can imagine so many house flying and we talk about English Home in the Victorian eras here. Must be huge. Cecilia and her overbearing great-aunt, Miss Darlington, are part of Wisteria Society, a sorority for ladies pirate, when they take "No" from men and goes their merry way in stealing and pillaging...jewelry.

Despite the assassination attempt, Cecilia find herself to get romantically involved with her would be assassin, a pirate of many moniker and alias, Captain Ned Lightbourne (that also a fencing master, apparently Italian-how scandalous!, and an agent of sort). It's been so many books for me to finally found a hero that is so rakish and charming. The romance is of course very swooning worthy, make me read this happily sigh, but also laugh because of both MCs acerbic remarks and witty banters! What I liked is, Holton totally use many common tropes like "he feel first but she feel harder", "there's only one bed", "enemy to lover" and she understood the assignment. The romance between Ned and Cecilia is totally chef's kiss, with Ned's courting Cecilia but still understand her boundaries and Cecilia that bit by bit fallen for Ned's roguish charm.

Wisteria Society not only about romance but seems like Holton's love letter to classic literature and classic language as well. English is not my native and I hardly read classic (is The Hobbit count?), so I'm very happy to read this book in my e-reader so I can list many word that I never knew before. Holton make fun of Brontes, like Cecilia's evildoers father, Captain Morvath that believe he's Branwell Bronte's son, also Cecilia that try to finish Wuthering Heights, not forget some bad poetry from men! Cecilia herself is a girl after my heart. I know that she devoted to her great Aunt, with the said aunt keep pestering Cecilia to catch any maladies or God's forbid, the Great Peril (aka the sun itself. You know, it will cause dark spot on your face); but Cecilia also an avid book reader. She constantly searching any library or book to read and avoid unnecessary and dull conversation. Her adventure to save the Society from Captain Morvath that hellbent in ruling England and get rid of women that constantly belittle him is a delight to read. But not only Cecilia, because the (old) ladies pirate of The Wisteria Society is crack to read, especially Lady Armitage that have (un)healthy obsession to Ned, Constantinopla (or Oply for short) that demand she's already in her 19-ish (actually not), Miss Darlington herself and Pleasance, the maidservant of Darlington House that have affinity for communicating with ghost. The villain also pretty much 2D, like Captain Morvath is like your usual Captain Hook type that will swirling his mustache while reciting his bad poems.

This book is pretty much convoluted tbh, but for me, that's the charm. It's didn't take itself very seriously and you don't expect this book is to be serious despite some serious moment like when Cecilia try to kill her father to avenge her mother or when Cecilia doubt about her position in the Wisteria Society. This book is aiming to be fun, to entertain, and yes, it's fun and entertaining. You won't get unnecessary drama and angst here. You will get a book that make you feel warm, also better if you have tea and scones beside you. If you want a unique historical romance with many romance trope done right, have a "Howl's Moving Castle" vibe and lady pirates, The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels might be right up your alley.

One can be happy in eternal solitude: a book, a cup of tea, and no company; that was Cecilia's idea of heaven

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itsnotalakeitsanocean's review against another edition

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adventurous funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I picked this up because I fell in love with the premise when I heard about it. While it was a good read I don't think it fully lived up to my expectations. Admittedly part of it was my fault for ignoring the massive, extremely obvious hints that this was going to be focused on the romance over the idea of a society of swashbuckling sky pirate ladies with Victorian sensibilities, but with a hell of a premise like that can you blame me?

I've only read the complimentary preview of the next book at the end of the story, and I hope that Holton manages to do more worldbuilding between the two feuding societies and maybe tones the romance down a tad (or gives her couples dynamics that feed into the plot better).

One thing I will say:

Note to any aspiring authors: If you have to lampshade at the end your heroine was just kind of there at the end and didn't contribute anything meaningful, that's not good writing even if it's supposed to be for comedic effect. It's just annoying.

Some other assorted things I liked:

It's a decent example of enemies to lovers. I still think Ned was a bit of a flat character who existed to give Cecilia what she needed, but he was funny enough.
I think I'm in the minority when I say that the writing style didn't bother me, having read similar styles before (e.g. Jasper Fforde).

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bubblegirl858's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This book was read as part of the 2023 book club for march. This was the second time I read this book and the first time I feel like I enjoyed it more, I gave it 5 stars. I raced through the first read and laughed out loud, cheered and finished the book with a happy sigh. This read, I found a lot more things problematic and just outright boring. Ned can be overly pushy and Ceclia really just existed. Both the main characters were pretty one dimensional and I couldn’t tell you a single thing either of them did or even anything deeper than basic likes and dislikes. They were great characters to project yourself on to, but as far as being human? Not so much. Things I loved about the book include the plethora of witty quotes, Jane Austen references, fighting and having a conversation at the same time, the “only one bed” trope, older women being absolute legends, and Pleasance’s character. She was such a fun aspect of the book and it would have been so much better with more of her.

The plot takes a major pace hit after they enter Morvath’s castle. The book drags for the next 100 or so pages. Cecila choosing to run away with Ned was expected as it is a romance novel, however it felt so conflicting compared to the goal she had literally the entire book. With the main undertones in this book being very feminist, I was expecting something else.

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takarakei's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This book was not at all what I expected, in a good way! As is my deal, I go in to most books not knowing much, so I was expecting a fairly typical historical romance. I was pleasantly surprised to be immediately thrown into a world of pirates (fancy high society lady pirates), floating/flying houses, and adventure! The romance is there yes, but it's definitely a sub-plot in my opinion. Listening to the audiobook of this I think was crucial because the voices of the characters, especially like the older British ladies was key. It was a romp of a good time and def not a typical read!

Oh also if you're a Bronte fan, their books are referenced like A LOT. A character in the book knew/was related to the Brontes? Having not read any, there seemed to be a lot of jokes that went kind of over my head. Definitely seemed like 'spoilers' for Wuthering Heights in particular.

I did find that there were a couple too many characters though and on audiobook I had a hard time keeping them all straight. So I was confused for honestly a lot of the book and unable to follow the what was going on, but the vibes were impeccable so tbh I didn't mind! I also think the pacing towards the end got a little off cause there's this big climactic scene, but then several more chapters after which seemed to drag on a bit and then kind of another smaller climactic moment.

Definitely recommend this one if you're looking for something historical but different!

3/5 🌶️

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erebus53's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a lighthearted romp humorously told, with a swig of casual gun violence, occasional swashbuckling, and graphic sex.

In this, the first book in the Dangerous Damsels trilogy, we are introduced to a world of magical realism where aristocratic pirates pilot flying houses that are mounted with canon and guns. Raised to be a ladylike scoundrel, with savvy and decorum, our main character is a young woman who has not yet been accepted into her Society as an adult. This coming of age story deals with a woman facing her evil father, choosing her own path, engaging in the martial art of Polite Conversation, and facing the warring parts of her psyche, both emotional and rational.

Although not especially diverse in its lineup of characters, it is fiercely anti-Patriarchy.

Good fun if not very deep. Pass the popcorn, there's a love.

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