Early Review – Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy (The Guide, Book 2) by Mackenzi Lee (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction
Length: 464 pages
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release Date: October 2, 2018
ISBN-13: 978-0062795328
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Guide series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

“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.”

This is the second book in the Montague Siblings/Guide series. This was a good book but not as good as the first book in the Montague Siblings series. I felt like the story here was really unfinished and the pacing was a bit slow.

Felicity spends a lot of the book running around trying to get to her ultimate goal of becoming a medical student and eventually practitioner but things are left really open at the end.

I didn’t feel like this story was quite as engaging as the first book. Felicity spent a lot of time preaching about women’s rights which I know were (and still are) a big deal but there was so much time spent on this the book felt a bit…preachy…at points.

All the above aside…I enjoyed the characters and this was a quick and easy read. The story is entertaining and fun. It’s a great read if you are looking for a light Victorian novel with some subtle fantasy. There really isn’t any romance in here; so if you are looking for the level of romance that was in the Gentleman’s Guide book you won’t find it here. This is more of a girl power book.

Overall this was a good book and made for an entertaining and light read. I enjoyed it but didn’t fall in love with it like I did the Gentlemen’s Guide. I will definitely be keeping an eye out to see what Mackenzi decided to write next.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– New Release Reading Challenge
– Goodreads Reading Challenge