Disclaimer: I received an arc of this book and then bought my own copy before the author did the incredibly stupid thing where she signed other authors books, a lot of them POC. Also she didn’t apologize publically. Not cool Mackenzie. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy

Author: Mackenzi Lee

Book Series: Montague Siblings Book 2

Rating: 2.5/5

Diversity: Muslim side character, gay and lesbian characters

Publication Date: October 2, 2018

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: 16+ (language, violence, romance, sexual content)

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Pages: 450

Amazon Link

Synopsis: 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.

Review: I thought this was a well done book for the most part. The book had well developed characters and funny moments. The world building was marvelous as well and I loved the history behind this book. I also loved that the author continued Monty and Percy’s story.

However, there were a lot of points in this book that I thought the author could have done more. I’ve always pictured Felicity as asexual and while the author seemed to be reaching for that, she didn’t really get there in my opinion. The ending left you with a sense of incompleteness. The romance between Felicity and a certain pirate were incomplete as well and I wish that the author just did more to make this a full circle. The book also didn’t have a real life historical component to it like the first book did and I think that makes the book weaker.

Verdict: It could have been more, but it felt like the author got lazy in her writing.