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

Title: The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy

Author: Mackenzi Lee

Age Group: Teen/Young Adult

Genre: Historical Fiction

Series: The Montague Siblings, book two

Star Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

I borrowed this book from my local library and reviewed it.

                One of my favorite books of 2017 was The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, so when I heard that Mackenzi Lee was writing a sequel to it, this time featuring Monty’s headstrong sister, Felicity, I was so excited. This book has been sitting in my library stack for a while, and when I realized I couldn’t renew it any more, I pushed it to the top of the stack as soon as I was finished with Outrun the Wind. This book is one of my favorites of 2018; I loved it so much. Full of hilarity, swashbuckling pirates, adventures that lead across the globe, dark secrets, and new friends, I didn’t realize just how much I missed Felicity, Monty, and Percy until I was plunged into their world once more. I finished the book in three days; I was that invested. It’s very bittersweet for me; I didn’t want to say goodbye to the friends I’d made in this book, familiar and otherwise.

                

Felicity Montague is a woman who seems to want too much. She longs to be a doctor, despite the medical field being closed off to her because of her sex. She knows what is expected of her: to marry, have children, and keep a wealthy man’s house, but she doesn’t care about convention or the society she was born into; all she wants is to follow her dream. When she is offered a chance to meet her idol, Alexander Platt, she leaps at the chance, and soon finds herself mixed up with most unsavory folk: pirates, scientists with secrets, magical creatures, and along the way, she discovers more about herself than she could’ve ever realized, and that it might take help in order to become a renowned physician.

                I absolutely adored this book! Sequels make me nervous; all too often I seem to forget everything that happened in the first book, so it takes me a while to get back into the swing of things. But that wasn’t the case with this one: Almost immediately I remembered what happened, and I was laughing, cheering, and seething through the whole book. Feminist, fierce, and funny, Felicity’s voice was wry, sharp, and hilarious, and I loved the way she was more comfortable with science and anatomy of the human body rather than talking to people. The pacing was breakneck; I was spellbound from the very first sentence of the book; I finished it all in three days, I was so enthralled. I also loved the way other characters from the last book came in, and the new characters were fantastic, particularly Sim and Johanna. The ending was amazing; I was so satisfied, but it was bittersweet as well; I’d had so much fun with Monty and Felicity! One of my favorite things about her was that she was asexual, and was not shy about letting people know about it. This book, as well as its predecessor, is one of my favorites, and I can’t wait to see what Mackenzi Lee has up her sleeve next! Absolutely amazing! The bottom line: Gorgeously written, hilarious, full of action, adventure and self-exploration, I loved The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy! Next on deck: A Thousand Endings and Beginnings by Elsie Chapman and Ellen Oh!