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readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition
- 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? No
2.25
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Blood, Misogyny, Classism, Gun violence, and Violence
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Murder, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Grief, Incest, Alcohol, and Confinement
Minor: Fatphobia, Vomit, Body shaming, Animal death, Infidelity, War, Terminal illness, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, and Pregnancy
lisa_m's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
The premise was interesting and I liked the characters. The whole flipped-patriarchy thing was interesting at first but wasn't explained and justified enough for my liking. (Especially because of the time it seems to be set in.) You definitely need your suspension of disbelieve for this books but I think it can be a fun time if you manage to do that. It was a great simple summer book but no literary masterpiece.
The society was basically all powerful and everything always went in their favour. They are always in control. Even when the battle broke out and the readers are supposed to be scared for them (like Cecilia is) everyone gets out fine. Or gets hurt really badly but someone still can pretend to be fine and it isn't brought up for the rest of the book. There are no stakes because you know that the main characters are going to be fine anyways. Also I wish they were a bit more in favour of murder. For supposed pirates they were quite harmless. The whole "being really proper but also badass" was interesting for sure but I just wish that at least when we get a book about "villains"(I use that term very lightly for obvious reasons) they would be able to actually defend themselves against the bad guys - and by that I don't only mean kick them and maybe sometimes stab someone in the arm..
But for what it was I think it was interesting. I have to say that Cecilias happy ending definitely would be my perfect happy ending as well (20,000 books!!) so I get it and I'm happy for her! I'm not sure if I will read any of the following books in the series though.
Moderate: Misogyny, Gun violence, Sexism, Confinement, Kidnapping, and Classism
Minor: Death of parent, Incest, and Infidelity
buildingtaste's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Most egregious here, though, is something I can't blame Holton for, because it seems to be more a convention of the historical fantasy-romance genre than anything: Cecilia is just the least interesting person in the bunch. And we have to stick with her a good 80% of the time. When your heroine sums up her role in the story with a glib "I'm afraid I've done nothing to advance the plot," and it's true, a good editor should perk up and recommend doing something about that. Cecilia, despite her bog-standard spunk, finds herself constantly outpaced and outsmarted, by the titular society, by the love interest, and by her villainous father. Not once does she get to be heroic on her own terms, and she's so baldly horny for Ned that her internal refrain of "well-I-never" gets dull.
So. Janky start. But I think the world of Wisteria has some real promise--I'd be interested in reading a short fiction anthology delving more into the lore of historical Lady Scoundrels and the senior ladies.
Graphic: Abandonment, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, and Sexism
A teenaged character and young adult character have a sexual relationship. It is played for comedy, with the younger character repeatedly lying about her age and the adult acting distraught about the revelation. Characters drink on several occasions and a character gets drunk without real consent or awareness that alcohol will intoxicate her; this character vomits while drunk. The backstory of a character involves being abandoned by his parents. The lower class characters are usually fearful, superstitious, and deemed foolish. Most characters are kidnapped and imprisoned. The backstory of multiple characters involve their mothers being murdered in front of them. The main character's aunt is controlling and overbearing. Alcohol and cocaine pastilles are used by characters. A verbal spar of two characters involves multiple fatphobic remarks. Most characters have and use guns with murderous intent, though no one dies from a gunshot in the text. There is cousin marriage. The villain's primary motivation is named as misogyny. There is a chapter dedicated to a sex scene (Chapter 20).vixenreader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Moderate: Gun violence, Incest, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Death of parent
Despite the violence, no one really ends up murdered or brutally hurt in the novel. It is a comedy after all.