YA LGBT Books discussion

Our Oct-Nov 2018 Book of the Month will be The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee

(This book follows The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue which we read last December. In theory, from some reviews, it can stand alone.)

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.

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Trigger warnings - unclear at present since it releases Oct 2, but it has an action plot so abduction or other similar elements may be present.

This thread is for discussion of this book - there is no specific reading schedule and you may post at any time. There may be spoilers in the comments, so be aware if you have not yet finished. Especially if you are posting early in the two months, please try to put real plot spoilers into a spoiler-hiding tag - write <*spoiler> before the text and <*/spoiler> at the end of it - with both * removed to make it work, and it will be hidden, revealed only (view spoiler)[ to those who choose to read it. (hide spoiler)]

I look forward to seeing what the group thinks of this one.

This one should be easy enough to get in Australia, as it's already out here! I just have to wait until I have money...

might be in libraries, although the wait list could be long.

Kaje wrote: "might be in libraries, although the wait list could be long."

I put in a request with my library the moment I saw it in a shop, but given they haven't bought Leah on the Offbeat yet, despite Love, Simon being at the dvd release stage, I'm not holding my breath. :)

I've been meaning to read this one anyway, but I really need to read the first book before it.

Benjamin wrote: "I've been meaning to read this one anyway, but I really need to read the first book before it."

Go for it, I found it a fast read, and we've got two months. You should have time for both. :)

I got an eARC of this book and really enjoyed it!

I wouldn't say it really needs any trigger warnings, there's an injury and some blood and home done medical repairs but that's about it

Avid Reader and Geek Girl wrote: "I wouldn't say it really needs any trigger warnings, there's an injury and some blood and home done medical repairs but that's about it"

Thank you! And it's cool you had an ARC and liked it. :)

Kaje wrote: "might be in libraries, although the wait list could be long."

It's in mine, and it's long. No idea when I'll get it but I'm on the waitlist.

My library loan request finally came through so I'll start this after I finish my current book. I had mixed feelings about the first one, so I'm hoping this'll be better.

So what did everyone think?? I really liked the diversity of characters and I liked seeing Monty and his beau!

Avid Reader and Geek Girl wrote: "So what did everyone think?? I really liked the diversity of characters and I liked seeing Monty and his beau!"

I really liked the first book, and liked this book even better. =) Yay for awesome girls!

Just finished this today and enjoyed it much more than the first one. The story flowed better, and the historical details were more vivid and better balanced with the fantastical ones. And I really loved the friendship between Felicity, Johanna and Sim.

A finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards - if you loved it you can vote for it here in the next 8 days:

https://www.goodreads.com/choiceaward...

I think the writing in this book was stronger than in the first book, but I was really missing the magic of Monty and Percy. I got glimpses here and there, but they must have been the reason why I loved Gentleman’s Guide because my love didn’t really carry over to Lady’s Guide. I loved Johanna’s character, though, and I think she was meant to be representation for people with emotional support dogs judging by that scene at the Kunstkammer where she wishes she had Max because she always feels better with him around.

Interesting - I'll have to keep an eye out for that.

I'm finally going to get to read this because I wrangled myself a soiled and damaged copy from my local Big W for cheap. I'll probably start on it when I finish reading the Wells & Wong series. Finally, a juvenile mystery series with period content but also diversity! There's been a bit of secondary queerness so far, too, in books 1 and 4, but I think there's more coming. (I think one of the MCs is ace, but it has yet to be confirmed besides her assertion that she never wants to marry, just wants to be a detective.)

A little bit late to this one but I've finally started it as well.

I finally finished this! Took me a little longer because I had a heap of library books in Dec/Jan, and I wanted to reread the first book and read the short story before reading this one. I think I liked it better than the first book. I mean, Gentleman's Guide is good, but this one had such a great core cast of women that I loved. And I picked certain plots as soon as they started developing, but it was fine, because like the first book, the author makes the journey so fun you don't mind if you can guess where it's going.

Iamshadow wrote: "I finally finished this! Took me a little longer because I had a heap of library books in Dec/Jan, and I wanted to reread the first book and read the short story before reading this one. I think I ..."

I'm really glad you enjoyed it. I'm still waiting for my library turn, so I might end up buying it.

Oh, I loved this book! I loved it so much that even though I read a library ebook of it, I just had to buy a hardcover. It's so pretty on my shelf.
It's much better-plotted and less contrived than the first one, and I liked Felicity much more than Monty. I also loved Johanna, because feminine girls are rare in YA. One gets tired of tomboys all the time.
The feminism is well-done and the handling of internalized sexism is remarkable.
I liked the asexual representation except for how Sim implied that although Sim herself can know that she is sexually attracted to people without ever being in a relationship, Felicity has no right to know that she is not until she's been with someone. And when Felicity says she doesn't like kissing, what does Sim do? She all but forces a kiss on Felicity! I hated Sim.
Otherwise, I absolutely adored this book and I can't wait for The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks.

:) When is the next book due out? I haven't been paying attention.

And yes, that idea that you can't know you don't like something until you try it is a vile one pushed on people for all kinds of reasons, from insisting a lesbian can't know unless she's tried sex with a man, to insisting someone can't know they don't want to drink alcohol unless they've gotten tipsy at least once. (I notice it seldom gets pushed in non hetero-majority normative ways.)

The next book keeps getting delayed, but right now it's scheduled for January 2021.
I totally agree with everything you said,Kaje.

And by the way, I've never seen it pushed in non-hetero-majority ways except in an asexual context. But in an asexual context, it's pushed all the time in all sorts of ways, because we're expected to have sex with many partners of many genders in many ways at many different times of the month before we can be legitimately asexual. (view spoiler (There should probably be trigger warnings for aphobia because of the scene I mentioned.)hide spoiler)

Kaje wrote: ":) When is the next book due out? I haven't been paying attention.

And yes, that idea that you can't know you don't like something until you try it is a vile one pushed on people for all kinds of..."

So true, especially about the alcohol, I personally am afraid of what it could do to me for health reasons, the same with vaping. And even more extreme, that logic of you can't knock it until you try it seems to apply to many young people my age when it comes to wearing or not wearing condoms, asking questions about the person you meet online, etc.

Sorry, I felt like ranting. lol

Jack wrote: "Sorry, I felt like ranting. lol"

No problem, we're a safe place to rant. :)

As someone whose dating days were the 1980s, (even though het) the idea of condoms being considered a choice or something to "experiment" with is deserving of a rant, IMO.

@Tiffany - you're absolutely right about ace folk being considered even further outside the sexual norm than LGB, where people push for *any* kind of sexual desire, even queer, as being more "normal" than none.