Reviews

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

erickabdz's review against another edition

5.0

I’m learning there is no one way for life to be lived, no one way to be strong or brave or kind or good. Rather there are many people doing the best they can with the heart they are given and the hand they are dealt. Our best is all we can do, and all we can hold on to is each other.

And, zounds, that is more than enough.

I didn't know how much I needed this book until I read it. I can't believe how much I loved, how much it covered while still giving us an interesting, funny and heart warming story. This book also made me realize how much I need to join a science girl gang and bring piracy back. There was so much of this book I loved I'm going to break it in points:

Felicity Montague. I loved Felicity so much, and I especially loved that she was not flawless; on the contrary, really; the entire book was about she learning her faults and becoming a better person because of them.

Girl gang. I can't begin to explain how much I loved this. (Minor spoilers ahead) Johanna, Sim and Felicity drive the entire story, and it's so hard to see something like this in YA; a book about friendship and this kind of love, not romantic but just as strong. This book was about friendship and adventures and girls and I loved it so much. I liked a lot Johanna's message, a callout to some kind of feminism we often see out there: liking "girly" stuff does not make you less strong, does not make you less capable or bright.

Little of romance. Not total lack of, because we had Percy and Monty there being their adorable selves and I loved them for it, but romance was not the main focus in this book, and neither on the girls' lives. This was so, so refreshing. But I want to add to this point: Percy and Monty was another thing I loved about this book, and loved even more they didn't keep our attention away from the girls. They were there, being incredible cute and domestic and their small appareances made my heart super warm I love them.

Diversity. !!!!!!!!!!!!!! First we have Percy and Monty, being good and healthy and loving Felicity. Love them love the concept. But then we have Sim, who is a Muslim, badass pirate with a soft heart for her friends that doesn't make her less capable of command a fleet. I loved Sim, even if she didn't had many lines, because she was a strong prescence in the book either way. And then we have Felicity

Spoiler

being ace coded!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHH!!!! I LOVED every thing that was about this, and especially loved that it was a thing that got "resolved" or "healed" or she got to "find the right guy". No!!!! She didn't need that!!!!!!!!! This was my favorite quote about this "Second, an apology to me, for trying to force my heart somewhere it didn’t belong, and for thinking myself odd because it didn’t fit there."I love Felicity so much and this kind of representation warms my heart

.

This book is about feminism; is about girls becoming stronger not in spite of being girls but because of it; is a book about learning and love and friendship. But this is, mostly, a great, big adventure that nobody should miss out.

I do not need reasons to exist. I do not need to justify the space I take up in this world.

ceena's review against another edition

5.0

I listened to The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue and knew I had to listen to this one as well. I finally buckled down and listened to it and adored it. I wasn't a huge fan of Felicity in the first book, probably because Percy and Monty are so adorably cute, but in this book Felicity showed me how much I was missing out on. 

This book does amazing things. It truly goes into the trope of the strong woman character and what that means. See, Felicity judges everyone...harshly. She thinks she does things the only right way, yet Johanna is also quite feminist and wants to travel, she just wants to do it in style with cute things. Then there is Sim, glorious Sim who might have been my favorite character, who wants to...um... be a leader, we shall say, but her style is more aggressive than the other two. Felicity has to learn to stop putting other women down for liking feminine things and UGH I love it. I should also say I totally shipped her and Sim and then was shipping her with Johanna, and truly could have immensely happy with all three of them in a relationship together. 

The story was fabulous. I loved the adventure, I loved journeying with Felicity and watching her grow and change and realize our dreams are allowed to change. 

This book made me laugh, cry, and sigh dreamily. Definitely worth the read.

elliereads97's review against another edition

4.0

[b:The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue|29283884|The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue (Montague Siblings, #1)|Mackenzi Lee|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1492601464s/29283884.jpg|49527118] was my favorite book of last year, so to say i had high expectations for this one is an understatement. and i ended up loving it nonetheless.

this was a bit different from gentleman's guide, more mystery-focused and less adventure-romp-y, but still had all the same sparkling wit, impeccable historical detail, and gorgeous character work. i was nervous at first because i admit, i wasn't crazy about felicity from the first book. to me, she came off judgey and even borderline homophobic regarding monty's bisexuality. but felicity undergoes some wonderful--and much needed--character development that involves her getting over her "not like other girls" syndrome, and it's so, so good! and other girls are the ones that bring about that change! felicity recognizes her flaws and overcomes them through the power of girl solidarity!! we stan!!!!!

ultimately, i ride so fucking hard for the power of love between women, whether that be platonic or romantic love, and this book had barrels of both.

get it? barrels? because pirates?? i'll see myself out

lyctors's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

alexfrieders's review against another edition

3.0

This book was good but for fucks sake could she not have just had a romance between Felicity and one of the two ladies!!!!!

shannonreadssometimes's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

obsessed. words cant describe. i beg you to read all the books. PLEASE. do urself a favour.

piecrumble's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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? Yes

4.5

fruitl00ps's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

4.25

himmelspannkaka's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

cecilielaugesen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.0

Normally I would love a book about feminism and inequality, but this book tries too hard. It mentioned almost every issue and problem feminists are trying to solve, but a lot of it had no relevance to the plot. It just felt a bit like rage bait…

For most of the book the main character is annoying, selfish, thinks she’s better than everyone else and is very condescending. And she’s having a colossal pity party and uses that as en excuse to step on others.

On a positive note this book had a lot of very  beautiful and inspirational quotes.