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

4.0

Charm has never been a flower that blooms in your garden, has it?

A year after an accidentally whirlwind grand tour with her brother Monty, Felicity Montague has returned to England with two goals in mind—avoid the marriage proposal of 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 window of opportunity opens—a doctor she idolizes is marrying an old friend of hers in Germany. Felicity believes if she could meet this man he could change her future, but she has no money of her own 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 leads them from the German countryside to the promenades of Zurich to secrets lurking beneath the Atlantic.

“I don’t know what you’re referencing, madam,” the chairman says, his voice raised over mine.

“I’m talking about menstruation, sir!” I shout in return.

It’s like I set the hall on fire, manifested a venomous snake from thin air, also set that snake on fire, and then threw it at the board. The men all erupt into protestations and a fair number of horrified gasps. I swear one of them actually swoons at the mention of womanly bleeding.”

The only reason I read [b:The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue|29283884|The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue (Montague Siblings, #1)|Mackenzi Lee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1492601464l/29283884._SY75_.jpg|49527118] was so that I could read this one (all based on the title+cover, mind you). I was charmed and—as much as I loved Monty and Percy—I wanted more of Felicity.

This started out strong and then snagged for me during the journey to Johanna. Thinking back on this, I think this was sort of intentional since that's when Felicity herself hit a snag in how she wanted her life to go. It wasn't until the middle of the book that things took off and I was swept up in an adventure of epically feminist proportions, revolving around the friendship of three very different ladies.

Maybe everyone has hunger like this - impossible, insatiable, but all-consuming in spite of it all. Maybe the desert dreams of spilling rivers, valleys of a view. Maybe that hunger will one day pass. But if it does, I will be left shelled and halved and hollowed.

Felicity is incredibly smart, bookish, blunt, and socially awkward. She hungers for knowledge and is driven by a deep-seated need to wrap her brain around every single little possible thing that she could learn...and offer that to the world because she knows she's better than more than half the men out there.

I like curling my hair and twirling in skirts with ruffles, and I like how Max looks with that big pink bow on. And that doesn't mean I'm not still smart and capable and strong.

Johanna is smart, bookish, and is underestimated because of her love of dresses, curled hair, and feeling pretty. In this world, there is enough room to be both.

“Too many white men,” she replies. Ebrahim laughs. Sim doesn’t.
Across the table, she meets my eyes, and some invisible string seems to tighten between us.

Sim is Algerian, Muslim, and quite possibly the most interesting pirate I've run across in the series so far.

More than the characters themselves, I loved how Lee explores important themes like racism, internalized misogyny, and the "right" way to be a woman. As another review put it: "A woman can be a doctor, a woman can be a wife, a woman can like dresses, a woman can be straight, queer or asexual (as it seems Felicity is) and a woman can be a pirate... and all those are valid expressions of womanhood."

All-in-all, I absolutely loved the reaffirming messaging that you are enough which I don't think we (especially as women that don't fit the standard mold) are told enough.

Everyone has heard stories of women like us—cautionary tales, morality plays, warnings of what will befall you if you are a girl too wild for the world, a girl who asks too many questions or wants too much. If you set off into the world alone.

Everyone has heard stories of women like us, and now we will make more of them.

Recommended for those looking for a historical comedy that perfectly weighs deeper concepts with laugh-out-loud moments.