Book Review :: The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy, by Mackenzi Lee

The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee
ISBN: 0062795325
Series: Montague Siblings #2
Also in this series: The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks
Published by Katherine Tegen Books
on 2018-10-02
Genres: Young Adult
Pages: 450
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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 enrol 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.

Last updated on 14 October 2023

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My thoughts on The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy

Much like the first in this series, The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, I found myself absolutely loving this book. While TGGtVaV followed Henry ‘Monty’ Montague as the main character, as he and his sister Felicity, and his best friend Percy adventure around Europe, The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy follows Felicity as she tries to find her way in the world of medicine, dominated by men.

As the title suggests, not only is this a story about Felicity trying to get into the medicine scene in England, but it’s a tale of travelling abroad, discovering that role models and those who have inspired you throughout your life are not quite the good people you thought they were, making friends, sailing the seas with pirates, and learning how to get out of sticky situations.

While I knew that Felicity was going to be the main character in this story, I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of Monty and Percy we got in this book; it’s not a lot, but it’s there. Felicity has a main character was so wonderful, and it was nice to be able to hear her tell her story and learn more about her, outside the conversations she had with the boys in the first book. She is pretty kick-ass, striving for what she wants in a world focused on men-can-do-everything-and-women-nothing. She’s headstrong and assertive, and a joy to read.

“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.”

The plot was fast paced and kept moving, with superb twists and turns and new characters left, right and centre. As always, Lee’s writing is highly enjoyable, laugh-out-loud funny in parts, and very witty.

Mackenzi Lee is writing another book which is set for release in February 2020, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the Montague siblings. While that’s a shame, I’m looking forward to The Madness Blooms because at this stage I will read anything Lee writes. If you’re into Young Adult stories set back in the day, pirates, or strong female characters, then this is the tale for you! While it’s not 100% necessary to have read The Gentleman’s Guide before this one, I would definitely recommend it, as there are characters and quips that hark back to the first book in this one.

Have you read The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy?