India Holton

Cute melodrama--if you like Cynthia Hand novels My Lady Jane, etc., you'll enjoy these as well. This novel isn't as funny, but it's amusing.

Cecilia Bassingwaite lives as a lady pirate. She flies about in her home stealing, defending, and drinking tea as she strives to become a member of the Wisteria Society. She's done al she needs to do, but she still resides at the side table. Learning that she is to be assassinated thrills her. She has made it to the top! The killer--Ned-- turns out to be a lovely young man who fails terribly at killing her. Come to discover, our evil character--Captain Morvath, hires Ned to make sure no one kills Cecilia. The only thing that truly thwarts Cecilia is the time to find a library--someone or something interrupts every time. Cecilia lives with her aunt who took her in after her mother was killed by her father. She dreams of killing her father--if only she can find him. Her aunt and the Society seem to keep her from attempting her revenge.

Ned feels drawn to Cecilia and, in fact, seduces her--with her consent. As Morvath attacks all of the Society houses and tries to obtain Cecilia, Cecilia and Ned team up to save everyone, kill the bad guy, and maybe have a happy ever after.… (more)

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)