India Holton

Cecelia is a lady pirate. She wants to belong to the Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels, like her late mother before her. She is doing everything right, just as her aunt has taught her. An assassin is after her. He tries to break into their home, but Cecelia will not let him. Ned, the assassin, is known by many names. He fascinates Cecelia. He also claims to be protecting her and lets her know who is after her and where is really from. Cecelia is not sure about him, but he does make her feel new feelings. Can she trust him? How far? Will she become a member of the Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels? Will she rescue her aunt and the other ladies?

This is a rib-roaring, rip-snorting book. I had so much fun reading it. Tongue-in-cheek is the only way to read this. I loved Cecelia. She seems so prim and proper, just like those Victorian ladies, but Ned has a way about him that makes her take chances with him and her behavior. She had her mission--finding and killing her father but she gets off on a tangent each time with Ned. She also has to deal with her Aunty Army (not the aunt she lives with) wanting her dead. She's able to charm her and get her help when the Wisteria Society needs help.

I plan to read more of this series. I want to see If Cecelia and Ned's dreams come true.… (more)

This book is the first in the Dangerous Damsels series by New Zealand author India Holton. It is a whimsical feminist historical fantasy romcom set in Victorian England.

Cecilia Bassingwaite is the perfect Victorian lady, sipping cups of tea with her Aunt and minding her Ps and Qs. She is also a pirate, a thief, and aiming to make a name for herself as a fully-fledged member of the house-flying Wisteria Society of pirate ladies, by proving she is as much of a scoundrel as the best of them. Captain Ned Lightbourne enters as her would-be assassin and the two of them embark on a series of adventures, becoming embroiled in Captain Morvarth’s fiendish plan to banish all women back to their tea-rooms.

This is a light-hearted quirky romcom which began as entertaining and funny, but soon became just too silly and almost slap-stick for me. It’s a nice idea, but the humour in making a caricature of the Englishness of the English has been done many times, and often very badly by non-English authors. There were some entertaining moments but I’m not sure I could face the second book in the series.… (more)

The League of Gentlewomen Witches is what I would describe as a quirky romance. The second installment in the series focuses around a league of witches and a society of pirates fighting to steal a powerful amulet while a member from each fall in love.

The characters are interesting with most characters being deceitful and selfish while fun and endearing. The action takes a back seat to the love story with the amulet storyline being quite boring. The rate at which the characters fell in love was too fast for me with it being almost instantaneous.

I really loved the first book, The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels, but the novelty has worn off for me. It is, however, a fun read when you feel like something light and amusing.… (more)