The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy (Montague Siblings #2) by Mackenzi Lee

* * * *

Felicity Montague is through with pretending she prefers society parties to books about bone setting—or that she’s not smarter than most people she knows, or that she cares about anything more than her dream of becoming a doctor.

A year after an accidentally whirlwind tour of Europe, which she spent evading highwaymen and pirates with her brother Monty, Felicity has returned to England with two goals in mind—avoid the marriage proposal of Callum Doyle, 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 small window of hope opens. Doctor Alexander Platt, an eccentric physician that Felicity idolizes, is looking for research assistants, and Felicity is sure that someone as forward thinking as her hero would be willing to take her on. However, Platt is in Germany, preparing to wed Felicity’s estranged childhood friend Johanna. Not only is Felicity reluctant to opening old wounds, she also has no money 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 will lead her from the German countryside to the promenades of Zurich to secrets lurking beneath the Atlantic.

Source: advance e-galley provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

All right. The boys had more than their fair share of adventure in The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, so now it's the girls' turn. Sorry, Monty and Percy can't have all the fun. We already knew Felicity (Monty's younger sister) was a firecracker. She's smart, fearless and unafraid to share her opinions. Thank goodness for her because she held things together for the boys when things looked bleak. Lady's Guide starts out as far away as possible from excitement. Felicity is working in a bakery in Scotland feeling slightly defeated because she hasn't been able to pursue her dream of studying medicine yet. She has the brains but it's the misfortune in being born a girl that thwarts her at every turn. When the bakery owner proposes to her, offering her a comfortable, stable life with the understanding that she gives up her ambition, she hightails it out of there so fast for one last ditch effort to get into med school.

So much happens that sadly resonates with what's been happening in our world lately. The struggles Felicity goes through to be taken seriously and prove her worth and abilities are so freaking frustrating. (I couldn't help wondering how she would react to our current social and political backsliding.) Anyway, with Monty and Percy hopelessly and sickeningly in love (yes, they're back as well), Felicity has to rely on herself for all the pep talks and becomes resourceful when obstacles pop up. I love how that brain of hers works. Thanks to her previous dalliance with pirates, she has connections to take her to Germany to meet up with an old friend. And that's using the term very loosely. Joanna, is marrying a scientist Felicity would love to have mentor her. She just has to be discreet especially since she's travelling with the pirate, Sim. Sim who has her own secret agenda is masquerading as Felicity's servant girl. Things go amuck at the wedding and soon all three ladies are on the run, desperately racing against time when they realize what's at stake.

If ever I have the urge to run away and form a pirate gang of badass women I'd want Felicity, Joanna and Sim to be there. Each of them represents a different face of feminism. Felicity is studious, firm and intelligent. A natural leader who keeps a calm head during a crisis. Joanna embraces her femininity, and unlike Felicity who openly rails against expectations, Joanna subvertly fights that by working her femininity to her advantage. She's diligent, curious, observant and cunning when the need arises. Sim, having grown up amongst pirates has a more rough and tumble streak, is disciplined, strong and unconstrained by etiquette or society's standards. Their bond only strengthens as their journey becomes perilous. 

The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy is another action-packed fare set to a fascinating historical background that highlights friendship and sisterhood. I hope reading this encourages all the Felicitys, Joannas and Sims of the world to rise up because if anything, we see that women are more than capable and get things done when they band together.

~ Bel
 

The Last of August by Brittany Cavallaro

****1/2

From the Publisher:

In the second brilliant, action-packed book in the Charlotte Holmes trilogy, Jamie Watson and Charlotte Holmes are in a chase across Europe to untangle a web of shocking truths about the Holmes and Moriarty families.

Jamie and Charlotte are looking for a winter break reprieve in Sussex after a fall semester that almost got them killed. But nothing about their time off is proving simple, including Holmes and Watson’s growing feelings for each other. When Charlotte’s beloved Uncle Leander goes missing from the Holmes estate—after being oddly private about his latest assignment in a German art forgery ring—the game is afoot once again, and Charlotte throws herself into a search for answers.

So begins a dangerous race through the gritty underground scene in Berlin and glittering art houses in Prague, where Holmes and Watson discover that this complicated case might change everything they know about their families, themselves, and each other.

Source:  Electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Charlotte Holmes and Jamie Watson are the ancestors of the Sherlock Holmes and James Watson.  Holmes and Watson were thrown together in A Study in Charlotte when they were suspects in a fellow student's murder.  The story continues in The Last of August.  I'd love to tell you that this is a standalone, but the truth is, if you haven't read A Study in Charlotte you are going to miss a lot in August.  

When Holmes' Uncle Leander goes missing, she insists he's become the latest casualty in the family's war with the Moriarty family.   When Mrs. Holmes is poisoned, Holmes and Watson are sent to Holmes' brother Milo.  They decide to use Milo's resources to find Leander, including Holmes' first love, August Moriarty.  

There is a lot going on in The Last of August and I've struggled with this review because I want to convey how gloriously awesome this book is without giving away a single thing, because you really need to enjoy each twist as it happens in the book.  I've read a lot of mysteries and this ranks as one of the best.  Cavallaro experts weaves the threads of this complex mystery together to a stunning conclusion.  I guess the only thing I can say is go read this series now.  Right now!  

~ Shel

Pretty Sly (Pretty Crooked #2) by Elisa Ludwig

* * * 3/4

Sequel to Pretty Crooked... 

Willa Fox was told to stay out of trouble. In fact, it was an order from a very serious juvenile court judge.

However, that was before Willa found her house ransacked and a mysterious email from her mother telling Willa she had to leave Paradise Valley for a while and not to come looking for her. Willa knows her mom’s in danger and that no one at school will miss her after her recent sticky-fingered stunts with the Glitterati. So with the help of her pal Tre and with her degenerate crush Aidan as her wingman, Willa violates her probation and hits the California highway in search of her mom.

But when Willa and Aidan’s journey turns dangerously criminal and they wind up being the focus of a national manhunt, they realize it’s sometimes easier to escape the law than the truth—and that everything Willa thought she knew about her mom, and her life, was wrong.

Pretty Sly is Elisa Ludwig’s fast-paced sequel to Pretty Crooked, the second book in a trilogy that’s pitch-perfect for fans of Ally Carter. With a daring heroine who has one-of-a-kind spunk, a roller-coaster Bonnie and Clyde romance, a thrilling mystery, and a shocking twist ending, this book will have readers rooting for Willa as she makes the wrong choices to do the right thing. Fans will be eagerly awaiting the series conclusion.

I was so excited to get my hands on Pretty Sly. When I’d first read Pretty Crooked, it was so opposite from all the paranormal and dystopian novels I'd been reading a lot at the time. It won me over immediately because of its fun premise and moral stand against bullying. Granted the heroine, Willa, went about things rather illegally but who doesn’t love a story about the underdog sticking it to the Glitterati?

Now she and Aidan are on the run. Her mom has disappeared, leaving a cryptic message and a ton of cash. Of course Willa won’t heed her mother’s advice to lay low and not look for her – ever met a stubborn 15 year-old? So feeling that she herself is not safe in their house after coming home to it ransacked, Willa and Aidan with a little help from Tre decide to piece together the clues to get on her mother’s trail. Naturally there are many obstacles in their way and as much as she shouldn’t, Willa has to resort to her “Sly Fox” ways in order to survive and press on. It’s a mixed bag of feelings for her – on the one hand, she’s appauled and feels guilty that she has to break in to homes and steal cars while she’s on the run. On the other, a small part of her enjoys the thrill and notoriety she’s receiving. When their pictures are splashed all over the news and they're labelled as rich kid runaways glamorizing an errant lifestyle , Willa and Aidan know that they have no time to waste.

It’s been a while since I’ve read Pretty Crooked but I do remember enjoying it very much and taking to Willa. In this one, I was a tad bit annoyed with her. I know, I know, her mother is gone, she’s on her own and she’s in trouble. She has every right to be whiney but many times it affected her reasoning.  And she wasn’t helped by her growing feelings towards Aidan. In those instances, I was reminded that she’s very much a fifteen year-old girl and shouldn’t be in this ridiculous predicament in the first place. It’s unfair of me to expect her to be some sort of high-end, stealthy spy in total control of her emotions. When she does finally get her stuff together though, it’s the Willa that I remember.  And it’s on!

Pretty Sly is just as fun as its predecessor with more at stake. And even though she and Aidan are breaking the law to find her mother, she does intend to right every wrong she creates along the way. That’s one of her most admirable traits which makes Willa a fun, flawed and socially responsible heroine to enjoy!

~ Bel

Waiting on Wednesday (71)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that highlights future releases that we are excitedly anticipating.

By Mindy McGinnis
Publication Date:  September 24, 2013

Regret was for people with nothing to defend, people who had no water. 

Lynn knows every threat to her pond: drought, a snowless winter, coyotes, and, most importantly, people looking for a drink. She makes sure anyone who comes near the pond leaves thirsty, or doesn't leave at all.

Confident in her own abilities, Lynn has no use for the world beyond the nearby fields and forest. Having a life means dedicating it to survival, and the constant work of gathering wood and water. Having a pond requires the fortitude to protect it, something Mother taught her well during their quiet hours on the rooftop, rifles in hand.

But wisps of smoke on the horizon mean one thing: strangers. The mysterious footprints by the pond, nighttime threats, and gunshots make it all too clear Lynn has exactly what they want, and they won’t stop until they get it….

With evocative, spare language and incredible drama, danger, and romance, debut author Mindy McGinnis depicts one girl’s journey in a barren world not so different than our own.

Pretty Crooked by Elisa Ludwig

* * *

Available March 13, 2012

Willa’s secret plan seems all too simple: take from the rich kids at Valley Prep and give to the poor ones.


Yet Willa’s turn as Robin Hood at her ultra-exclusive high school is anything but. Bilking her “friend” – know to everyone as the Glitterati – without them suspecting a thing, is far from easy. Learning how to pick pockets and break into lockers is as difficult as she’d thought it’d be. Delivering care packages to the scholarship girls. Who are ostracized just for being from the “wrong” side of town, is way more fun than she’d expected.


The complication Willa didn’t expect, though, is Aidan Murphy, Valley Prep’s most notorious (and gorgeous) ace-degenerate. His mere existence is distracting Willa from what matters most to her – evening the social playing field between the have and have-nots. There’s not time for crushes and flirting with boys, especially conceited and obnoxious trust-funders like Aidan.


But when the cops start investigating the string of burglaries at Valley Prep and the Glitterati begin to seek revenge, could he wind up being the person Willa trusts most?


Mean Girls meets Robin Hood in this charming tale of Willa Fox who has been transplanted to a snooty new high school called Valley Prep in Paradise Valley, AZ. Willa has made a career out of being a new girl at every school. This time, thanks to a chance encounter with another student, Cherise, Willa winds up in the world of the Glitterati – the “it” girls of the school.


Willa is very likable; her quirkiness is endearing. She's easily forgiven for initially falling under the Glitterati's spell before realizing just how ruthless they can be. And while the description above gives the impression that the bad boy, Aidan is a huge distraction, it is really Willa's struggle to establish her own ground and create a more tolerant environment at her school that's front and center.  


Eliza Ludwig does a fine job with the story. Even though it touches on the topic of online bullying, she doesn't get preachy.  Instead she adopts plenty of humor and intrigue that takes the story in a different direction where Willa sticks it to the over-privileged brats at school.


Pretty Crooked is very entertaining and everyone will recognize the social hierarchy that's described in it. The book offers a glimpse into what some of the other kids at Valley Prep go through. Cherise, for example, who used to be on the outside before being accepted by the Glitterati, has learned to turn a blind eye because she's terrified of being a social outcast. There's Tre, another transplant like Willa, and son of the Phoenix Suns' head coach, who has constant rumors swirling around him. Then there's Aidan and his endless attempts at getting kicked out of school so that he can send a message to his overbearing father. All of them demonstrate that there's more to people than meets the eye.


In the end, Willa does have to face the consequences of her actions, especially the negative fallout from her otherwise good intentions. Aside from that, there's also the added mystery of the secrets her mom has been keeping from her since they moved to Arizona. All of this provides for plenty of material for the next book which I very much looked forward to!


~ Bel


And now BiblioJunkies is very happy to have Elisa Ludwig share more about Pretty Crooked.  Don’t worry, you won’t be running into any spoilers!

Elisa Ludwig

The kids at Valley Prep where Willa goes are quite diverse.  How much of that setting echoes your own high school experience?

Actually, the school I went to was not terribly diverse at all. It was a private school, not unlike VP. I got a wonderful education but when I was there, the majority of students were white and affluent.

Willa is a confident person. It’s nice to see a teenager who with her quirks and a few missteps along the way still has a handle on things. And then there’s Cherise who’s still a bit unwilling to stick her neck out even if she disagrees with the Gliteratti. How did you shape those two characters?

In the earlier drafts, Willa was a little too tough, a little too confident. Over time she came to be more enthusiastic and slightly more naïve, at least in terms of her social life. I think Cherise has more to protect – she knows what the Gliteratti’s wrath can be like, and so she is more defensive of her social position. Cherise was always more conflicted than Willa but the nuances of characters’ interactions and dynamics always seem to come (for me, anyway) in later drafts.

The overall tone of the book is whimsical even though it brings up online bullying and the perils of rumor mills. Were they something you had wanted to address?

Yes. These being real issues for kids. The stealing part and the fashion and of course the romance are meant to be fun fantasies, but it’s also important to ground stories in the here and now, and have some substance.

How did you research the fine art of pick pocketing and breaking into lockers? And how fun was that?

Mostly on the internet! Everything is out there for the reading (and writing). Some things took longer than others to nail – I remember that figuring out the locker scene was pretty tricky. Sometimes I would try to write one method but then it wouldn’t work as well on paper so I’d scrap it and use another. But it was super fun. I just the FBI isn’t keep a case file on me, given some of my search terms.

So in the next book will we learn more about this mystery surrounding Willa’s mom? Can you drop us any little hints?

Yes, for sure. This book is a cliffhanger and the next one solves most, if not all the questions raised. Hmm..hints. *maniacally steepling fingers together* I will say this: All of the major characters will be back.

Aidan in the story is the big prankster at school. Did you take part in any yourself?

I wish I could say I did. There was one senior prank the whole class did and I recall it has something to do with condoms. But in general, my rebellions (you better believe I had them) were much quieter.

And now is the part of the interview where we get silly. We BiblioJunkies have the mentality of sixteen year olds, so with that being said…which fictional character would you love to go on a date with?

:) If we’re talking teen boys, I think I’d have to choose Tom Henderson from King Dork. He’s smart, quirky and we could geek about music. Now if it had to be someone my age, well, that would be a challenge. I haven’t run into a dreamy thirty something guy in a book in a while! May be you have a recommendation??

When it comes to dessert, what’s your favorite guilty pleasure?

Much like Aidan, I prefer the combination of salty and sweet: Chubby Hubby, salted caramel anything, or Mo’s Bacon Bar would fit the bill.

And finally what kind of reading do you enjoy when you’re not busy writing? (Okay so it’s not a silly question.)

I love contemporary YA, of course. One of my day jobs is writing guides for other people’s novels so I read all kinds of books for that. I also like literary fiction, short stories, the New Yorker, narrative nonfiction, cookbooks, and blogs like The Hairpin. (I’ve been known to waste a minute here or there on cheesy celebrity gossip. Ahem.)

Congratulations on the new book Elisa and thank you for taking the time out of your very busy day to chat with us. We wish you much success!


Readers, we hope you enjoyed it and we hope you add Pretty Crooked, available March 13 to your TBR list!


~ Bel

Divergent by Veronica Roth

* * * *

In Beatrice’s Prior’s dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue – Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent).  On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives.  For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is – she can’t have both.  So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are – and where, exactly a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she’s chosen,  But Tris also has a secret, one she’s kept hidden from everyone because she’s been warned it can mean death.  And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves … or it might destroy her. 

Divergent is a powerful novel that will please fans of The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner Trilogies.  There’s plenty to keep your head spinning.  The creation of a society that is so drastically separated from one another is mind-boggling.   No matter how much I liked the book, I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea of society being divided into factions based on one main characteristic.  It seemed so one-dimensional and inconceivable to me.  Despite that I was plenty able to go with it.

Tris is a formidable presence.  Having lived her whole life under severe constraints, she relishes her new freedom.  Her acceptance of herself as someone who can’t fit neatly into one category echoes my feeling about factions as a whole.  As a member of a new faction she has to learn to fight for herself.  And for the first time in her life she also has to learn to think of herself  – a concept so alien to her strict upbringing as a member of Abnegation where she was always expected to put others before herself.  However, she doesn’t easily abandon her Abnegation roots.  She silently works to balance her new experiences with her previous beliefs. 

The initiation process is grueling and if it were a reality show it would be a mix of Survivor, Amazing Race, The Apprentice (when it was cool which was forever ago) and Big Brother – but with weapons … used by sixteen year-olds.  As I plowed through the story, I’d seriously pause to ask, “Who was the genius who thought this was a good idea?”  It makes you wonder what could have happened before to create this world. Even though Divergent is pretty heavy, there are a few lighthearted moments as Tris learns to not take herself so seriously.  And she also finds a like-minded soul in Four, her love interest as they both struggle with the changes they're facing.

Divergent is a definite must-read.  There’s so much action to keep you turning the pages as fast as you can.  It’s very hard to put down.  And since I, like the author also live just outside of Chicago, viewing the city through this book was a wild ride!  It was a trip recognizing famous landmarks but unnerving to witness them as part of an unrecognizable bleak, rigid society. The messages in this book are very obvious – can society as a whole really function, and function effectively, when people are divided into factions and expected to perform based on one virtue?  Can this set-up truly erase problematic characteristics of basic human nature?  And what happens when you can’t fit yourself into just one neat little category?  What does that make you?

~Bel