The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy (Montague Siblings, 2)

I’m a huge fan of the first book in this series, and I was so excited to read this sequel that I chucked aside my current read, tore through the mail packaging of this one and started reading it immediately upon arriving home from work the day it released completely neglecting my poor husband for the rest of the day. Totally worth it. Like the first book, this one was a lot of fun. I appreciated Felicity as our main protagonist in this one. I didn’t always love her in the first book, at times thinking she was being a bit hard on Monty, and I have to say that sometimes I didn’t like her here either but…Felicity is kind of like a porcupine. She’s a bit prickly and she doesn’t always think before acting, but this does lead her into some interesting territory on occasion. Plus, seeing everything from her point of view really gave me new perspective on her. I’m much better able to understand the relationship between her and her brother, how much she cares for him even when she’s exasperated, disappointed, or resentful toward him. Felicity, unlike her brother Monty, is extremely hard working. She knows that she’s going to be passed up for the work she wants to do, becoming a doctor, so she has to work two or three times as hard just to try and get her foot into the door. It’s natural that she would feel some resentment toward her brother, who she feels has squandered so much opportunity in life, opportunity she would love to have but doesn’t just because of her sex. I love Felicity’s tenacity in going after her dream, although at times it does feel like she’s making some rash decisions in order to achieve her goal, not thinking about the cost of those decisions. Just like her brother, Felicity definitely has some flaws, and these aspects of her character hinder her at times. This provides a great opportunity for us to see some character growth, something this author excels at. Throughout the story we’re introduced to some new characters. First we meet Sim, a young woman pirate who has taken up with the crew of their former pirate friends from the first book. She’s a bit mysterious at first and it takes Felicity, and us as readers, a little while to find out more about her. Once I did get to know her better, I couldn’t help but love her. She’s also a woman in a man’s world, so there’s a lot of common ground between her and Felicity, despite all their differences. We also meet Johanna, Felicity’s best friend growing up. We learn how close they used to be and eventually we learn what drove them apart. Mackenzi Lee is great at writing characters and letting them drive her stories, and as much as I loved Gentleman’s Guide, I feel like this is a huge step up. I love how we explore these characters and what they want out of life. Each of them have very specific dreams and obstacles. Without giving a lot away, I love that these characters exist as who they are. And as much as I did love Felicity, I think Johanna might actually be my favorite character of the three main protagonists, because of some of the things she says to Felicity when explaining how their friendship fell apart. The pacing of the story was great and the prose was strong. I rarely find myself wanting to tag quotes in books but there are definitely passages where I was like ‘man, that’s deep, I should probably quote that in my review’. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life smelling sugar. I don’t want pastry beneath my fingernails and a man content with the hand life has dealt him and my heart a hungry, wild creature savaging me from the inside out.” Well dang, Felicity. Tell me how you really feel. ❤ Honestly, I don’t really have much negative to say about this book. The fantasy element was more of a plot device, similar to the first book, but I feel like it was incorporated a little bit better into the story this time around. But really that’s negligible to the story as a whole. I really loved this one, it definitely lived up to my expectations. 5/5 stars.

I kept finding myself setting this book aside and turning to other books. I did finally finish it - it is a fun adventure and the historical notes at the end of the book referencing her research are quite worthwhile. But... I suppose I missed Monty and Percy. They showed up at the beginning and briefly at the end, but they are mostly absent. This is not their story at all. Maybe I missed romance. (The book has no romantic storyline). Felicity realizes that she is asexual, which I suppose is interesting for a protagonist. She pretty much said that in the first book and this book only confirms that. But it is a great story of female empowerment and the three women and their individual journeys. I just never quite connected with them. I was sympathetic but though there was a lot of running about and events, and personal issues between the girls - I was always looking through a window at people I didn't really know. Felicity has a constant stream of understandable angst and anger about being a woman in her age - but after a bit it became one note and predictable even if the plot events were wildly unpredictable and at times a little random and convenient. So, I kept setting the book down and picking up stories that were more gripping. But, I did eventually finish and I do not regret the time spent. It is a tall tale of fantastic exploits with three female protagonists. If you read the first book, it is interesting to see where the characters go.

I thought felicity was interesting in the first book, but I was not sure I would like her book. I am happy to state that I was wrong. I loved this second installment. Although I did get frustrated at the constant roadblocks she faced by every man she came across (even her brother at one point, although he did have her best interest at heart), I realize it would have more frustrating to have been a woman living at a period in time when they were considered little more than property. I like that my initial judgment as to felicity's sexuality was correct, although there is another direction this could have gone that I would have been more than happy to see. As with the last book, there is one element of the fantastic weaved into this otherwise historical novel. Somehow, I found dragons to be a more believable concept than the heart that cures all ailments. Perhaps that is because I know there are sea creatures we have yet to discover (although I'm sure they're not hiding some kind of cure all that is dangerously addictive). Good read. If you liked felicity in the first book, she's even better in this one.

The author writes books that have fun characters to follow. Relationships are adorable, very diverse, and better written than this review. I feel like this is a book I could read more than once and I look forward to reading the 3rd one in this series. The title is almost misleading as it's more about piracy and very little about the formal petticoats that women of that time wore. Our main character's relationship with her bestie (the petticoat wearing gal) and a pirate woman are complicated, comical and borderline romantic. She still wants to be a doctor but struggles to think outside of the box enough to achieve her goal without help from friends and family (her brother and his beau).

I enjoyed this second book not was great seeing these characters again and I really liked seeing Felicity making her way though this adventure. I listened to the audio book at the same time and got hooked on that. This was a great adventure.

Eu queria que esse fosse meu último livro desse ano. Para mim, ser o último livro é algo importante. Só escolho aqueles que tem altíssimas chances de me conquistarem completamente, e eu não tinha qualquer dúvida de que esse seria assim. Mas um problema no carro me fez ficar na mesma cidade por mais tempo do que eu planejava e, como só tinha esse livro para ler, resolvi começar logo. E ele realmente teria sido um último livro perfeito, porque me lembrou do quanto amei O Guia do Cavalheiro para o Vício e a Virtude, a escrita da Mackenzi Lee e seus personagens. Esse livro é exatamente o que eu estava procurando, tão feminista, emocionante e engraçado quanto eu precisava. O único problema dele é que ele acaba. E tem tanta história ainda depois do final que eu queria ver acontecendo! Não tem como a autora escrever mais um livro, não? Mais dois, pelo menos? A Felicity é uma personagem maravilhosa, daquelas que deveriam aparecer bem mais em livros históricos e contemporâneos. Ela tem tanta paixão pelo que faz e tanto amor próprio, que não se deixa aceitar menos só porque é mais fácil. Além disso, ela tem essa sede de conhecimento incrível que dá para notar em tudo que faz. E o jeito que a autora tratou a assexualidade dela também foi ótimo, na minha opinião, porque não transformou em uma grande questão, mas tampouco relativizou como se não fosse real, só "uma fase". Mas a melhor parte da Felicity são seus defeitos! E ela tem vários, e vários que fazem total sentido com o resto da sua personalidade, que trouxeram questionamentos sobre a visão dela de si como mulher e a visão que ela tinha das outras mulheres do mundo e que foram muito bem trabalhados. As cenas dela com a Johanna foram, na maior parte, minhas favoritas, e eu leria outro livro desse universo só por elas, se já não quisesse também pelo Monty, o Percy e a escrita da autora que é imbatível. Nesse livro, como no do Monty, fiquei impressionada de novo com a habilidade da autora de criar tantos questionamentos pessoais e sociais, mas ao mesmo tempo manter um enredo movimentado e emocionante! E o toque de fantasia que ela deu, como no primeiro, foi na medida certa! Em muitas cenas, eu fiquei extremamente apreensiva, em várias outras, eu ri alto, e preciso admitir que esse é meu tipo de enredo preferido. Meu tipo de livro, aliás, também porque já vou sair escrevendo várias frases dele em meus cadernos, agendas e pela casa afora. Essa duologia é simplesmente perfeita e precisa ser espalhada pelo mundo, para ver se a gente consegue fazer um mundo um pouco melhor. E eu vou ler absolutamente tudo que a Mackenzi Lee escrever na vida, sem nem parar para ler a sinopse antes. De longe, uma das minhas autoras favoritas! Não tem mais nada que eu possa dizer. Só: vai logo ler esse tesouro de livro.

I loved this one! I felt lukewarm about Gentleman’s Guide, but since Felicity was my favourite character from the first book I preordered this one anyway. I’m so glad I did. It was a quick and exciting read that never dragged on. What great pacing. I’m a romantic myself but I still identified with Felicity and appreciated the ways she tried to increase her bravery and confidence in herself. It’s fascinating to have seen her from so many different perspectives throughout the two books. I hope there will be more now that I am very attached to the characters!

It was amazing and I loved it! Great plot, great characters, I'd read more books about our favourite ladies Felicity, Johanna and Sim's adventures!

Just awesome...Out of the world...It is my earnest request to Miss Lee...Please write another novel on Monty and Percy...I am really in love with the characters...I am dying to know more and more about them...They are imperfectly perfect...My best regards to you...

Llegó bien empaquetado pero aún así maltratado