The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee was one of my most anticipated releases this year. It's the sequel to one of my favorite books ever, The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue. I loved, loved, loved the first book about the Montague siblings, and it was so wonderful to be back in their world again.

Ever since I read The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue last year, I’ve been fangirling about this amazing, unique and completely addictive read. It is one of my favorite books of all time, and the sassy, hilarious Monty and the sweet, darling Percy is one of my favorite OTPs ever as well.

So, it’s no exaggeration saying that this sequel was one of my most anticipated releases this year and that I was dying to get back to the wonderful world of the Montague siblings once again.

This time, the story is told from Monty’s sister Felicity’s side, and focuses on her ambition to study medicine and her problems to be taken seriously as an intelligent woman and be admitted to a medical school. Just like in the first book though, adventure comes knocking and the story takes us from Edinburgh to London to Stuttgart and Zurich… and to dragon hunting in the Atlantic… I liked the headstrong Felicity already in the first book and can certainly relate to her and how she’s not able to do what she really wants, as opposed to what society dictates she must do. So I was happy to get a chance to get to know her even better in this book, but I must confess that I really missed Monty’s POV. A lot of what made the first book so amazing and hilarious, was that it was told in Monty’s engaging, sassy voice. When the story is told from Felicity’s POV this time, it loses that unique way of telling the story and, sadly, makes it much less fun.

The story was also much slower this time. Especially the first part of the book, which dragged a lot, until the more adventurous part kicked in. It felt unnecessary that this book was over 500 pages, it would have been better without a hundred of them or so. Where The Gentleman’s Guide felt like a wild roller-coaster ride, this story at times felt too serious and straight forward. I get that some of that is due to the fact that the story is told by Felicity, who is a much more serious person than Monty, but it was still disappointing that the magic and the unique tone and humor from the first book was missing in this one.

But, overall, it is still a really good book! There are wonderful story twists, amazing characters and adventures. And strong women, friendship, love and pirates. And dragons! I loved that part of the book, it added some of the magic from the first one again. The best parts of the book where the ones that Monty and Percy were in. My heart melted every time and I had this goofy smile all over my face! So even though this book did not fully meet my expectations set by the previous book in the Montague series, I still really enjoyed it and certainly recommend it!

Find out more about the books and the author here: Mackenzi Lee

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee is such as a lovely, unique and completely addictive read. It’s hilarious and romantic at the same time, and so fast paced. I finished the book in basically one sitting. From the very first page, the story just pulled me in and I could not put it down. I can’t put into words how much I love this book! ​All I can say is, you need to read this book. You really do!

On the surface this is a YA historical fiction book about a young gentleman in the 18th century doing a tour of Europe before assuming the duty to take over the family’s estate, but from the very first sentence of the book, you realize that there is so much more to it. (That opening paragraph must be one of the best ever, BTW. How can you not be intrigued and immediately drawn into a story that starts like this: “On the morning we are to leave for our Grand Tour, I wake in bed besides Percy. For a disorienting moment, it’s unclear whether we’ve slept together or simply slept together.” Got me hooked at once!) This book is so much fun, so emotional and just… utterly wonderful!

The writing is so addictive. The pacing is on point, as is the world-building; I loved the travelling parts all over Europe. What was supposed to be a culture tour of Europe, turns out to be the adventure of a life time, with pirates, and a kind of mystery to solve. But even though the plot is really fun and adventurous, it is the characters that make up this book. There’s so much depth and layers to these characters. And they are all adorable, in their own way.

The story is told from Monty’s POV. Henry “Monty” Montague being the spoilt heir, who has never been able to live up his father’s expectations or be the gentleman he’s supposed to be, but gets kicked out of all boarding schools and spends his time in gambling halls, with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men. But even if Monty is a selfish ass and an absolute privileged bastard at times, his sassiness and vulnerability just makes it impossible not to love him (even though you often feel like slapping him). And to hear the story from his engaging, sassy voice just makes it downright hilarious.

And then there’s Percy. The love interest of Monty, and my absolute favorite. He’s just such a sweetheart. He’s gentle, wise and the rock keeping Monty at bay. My heart broke a little every time he had to deal with racial comments and discrimination.

And Felicity, Monty’s headstrong younger sister. I can so relate to her and how she’s not able to do what she really wants, as opposed to what society dictates she must do, but how she just ignores that and take up medicine studies on her own anyway. She's like Hermione Granger on speed or something...

And the romance! I think it’s one of the sweetest m/m romances ever, it’s simply heartwarming and gush-worthy.

I recommend this book with all my heart!

Find out more about the books and the author here: Mackenzi Lee