Pages: 340

Genre: historical fiction, lgbt



Synopsis
A romantic novel based on the true story of a girl who disguised herself as a boy to sail with the infamous pirates Anne Bonny and Calico Jack—and fell in love with Anne Bonny.

There’s two parallell stories told, the first in 1717 of Mary Reade trying to please her wealthy grandma, dressing up as a boy to have a claim to be her heir. Her childhood friend and love is Nat. In 1719 we meet her again as she’s on a merchant ship, still passing as a boy, until it’s raided by pirates and she manages to join them. She joins after seeing Anne Bonny, the girl of the captain Jack, and becomes fascinated with this female pirate, with a sword and a gun in her hands. Sailing with a crew on the verge of another mutiny, she has to decide if she wants to reunite with Nat, side with the captain or risk everything by going for Anne.



My thoughts
Rating out of five: three stars


This book is a romance, with little action. It has grime and darkness, but it feels like it’s put here obligatory to meet some minimum requirement of being a pirate novel. That said, one thing I found interesting about this book is Anne and Mary returning to Anne’s home, a settlement of religious people where her the husband she escaped from has gathered a lot of influence. Nat – Mary’s childhood crush – also have settled there and the two girls struggle under the mysogynistic principles and ideas of what a woman should be (definitely not a pirate and unmarried). They’re fighting for their independence, realizing they have little to stand up with and that they’re trapped. The hopelessness was so strong in these scenes and broke through the apathy I’d weirdly felt for the characters until that point.

the characters
Well, I didn’t feel anything for the characters except Anne. Mary first describes her as a independent and fierce girl standing on the deck with a sword and pistol in hand, being the only woman on her crew. She comes soon to realize she’s only there because of Jack’s permission, everyone on the crew apparantly dislikes her for being a woman. Anne doesn’t feel very thought-through as a character, she’s very girly and whiny, it’s like being relatively free on the ship after being beaten by her husband in the town hasn’t changed her at all. There’s no development, she’s uncomplex and flat like many of the other characters. I feel the author adressed this at one point, having Mary notice how Anne was manipulating Jack by being sweet and kissy when Mary was in danger from him.

It’s this weird battle through the book of Anne wanting to be free and independent, not tied to any man, at the same time as she haven’t gathered any skills to make it on her own. Mary is sewing dresses, struggling as the town is considering her an unmarried whore who they need to reform. I so wish Anne had been written as girly, yes, but also a woman of skills and personality. If she was “broken” by her circumstances, make that something that lasts more than a couple paragraphs.



the romance
If you want your sapphic Mary and Anne pirate romance, my opinion is that the chemistry is barely there. Sure, it’s a lot of back and forth, proclaiming their love to each other, but I did not feel the romance. Protectiveness sure, towards the end.


their struggles
I’m seeing reviews that expected Mary to be trans, which I do not think was the intent of the book. She certainly struggles with her identity, trying to figure out what parts of her was acting. If you should expect anything from that part of the book, it is that Mary feels like something in between a woman and a man. Both she and Anne faces so much discrimination and little freedom, in different ways and I think the fact that they didn’t understand each other struggles were one of the more realistic things. One is claiming the other have it easier, until they realize they need to both escape.


The feeling this book gave me: it got an extra star for the fact that it made me shed a tear (it was 3 am and that’s my excuse) when it showed the hopelessness of the situation of Anne and Mary trying to be “correct” women and still being beaten for it. other than that i was bored much of the way through, considering to dnf it several times.


Thanks to the publisher for receiving this copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It is misleading to say that The Unbinding of Mary Reade (please note the extra “e”) is based on historical facts since the author, Miriam McNamara plays fast and loose with the so called “truth”. Yes, Mary Read, Anne Bonnie, and Calico Jack Rackham were pirates together, but the timeline is ignored leading to a misleading narrative. What is true is that the illegitimate Mary Read was brought up disguised as her half brother Mark so as to financially benefit off her “grandmother” with the proceeds of her deceit supporting her mother. Eventually she joined the British Military and fought against the French in the Nine Years War. Mary married, settled in the Netherlands, and ran an inn, but after her husband’s early death she once again took up the role as a man and ended up on a ship traveling to the West Indies which was taken hostage by pirates who she gladly joined. She accepted the governor’s pardon in 1718-19 and became a privateer, basically a pirate for the crown, but the ship mutinied and it was at this point she joined the pirates Calico Jack Rackham and Anne Bonny (who also was disguised as a man). Eventually both their true identities were revealed. Ironically, Anne’s father had unsuccessfully forced Anne to take on a boys identity in her youth to hide the fact she was his illegitimate daughter.

While in the book McNamara portrays the two female pirates as roughly the same age, in fact, Mary Read was thirteen to fifteen years older. Of interest is the gender fluid nature of both these female buccaneers who seemed to take pleasure from men but were rumored to have an intimate relationship with each other as well, switching back and forth between the sexes as the situation dictated. That they were fierce fighters is not in doubt, shown by their efforts to hold off the invaders intent on taking them captive, although they were eventually outnumbered and captured because the male crew were too drunk to fight. Both ladies were “with child” so spared the fate of their male counterparts who were hanged for high treason. While Mary is believed to have died of child fever in a Jamaican prison (buried April 28, 1721), Anne was luckier, possibly rescued by her influential father, William Cormac, ending up in her birthplace of South Carolina.

As you can see, Mary’s life was actually quite fascinating, but the author somehow found a way to make it mundane. I had to force myself to finish this book, which seemed to drag on and on.

Back and forth between 1704, 1707, 1717, and 1719 alternating between the locales of London and the Caribbean, the backstory comes too late, leaving the reader confused as to exactly what is happening. Ultimately, the intriguing details of the lives of these two rebellious woman are not used to their best advantage. There was too much tell, not enough show, with the author too often describing the events rather than putting the characters in the midst of the action.

However, this book’s one saving grace is bringing Mary and Anne to our attention and I suggest a look at A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates, published in 1724, which provides the basis of many of the myths surrounding this fascinating period on the high seas.

Two stars and a thank you though both Netgalley and Edelweiss for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This review also appears on my blog, Gotta Read:

https://ellenk59.wordpress.com/2018/08/11/the-unbinding-of-mary-reade-by-miriam-mcnamara/

First let me thank Netgalley, Miriam McNamara and Sky Pony Press for this ARC ebook.

I was entranced by the idea, championing the LGBTQ romance, fell in love with the cover, and was ready to fall in love with this book. The problem was I didn't fall in love, I didn't even come to like it till I got towards the end and by then my crush on "The Unbinding Of Mary Reade" was no more.

McNamara had a great idea in taking the real-life Mary Reade and Anne Bonny and writing a book about them which is why I read this but I didn't get a pirate fantasy that would take the reader from meet-cute to sailing, fighting against the social system, and pirating the high seas and that is regrettable because I would have more than likely loved it.

What I did get from McNamara was a lukewarm set of characters that just didn't feel like they fit into the roles. Her Anne Bonny came across as petulant selfish, and childish child-woman while the side characters were bland.

Although I saw the need to introduce Mary in flashbacks as she pulls off the transition to Mark and becoming a sailor, the flashbacks as they were presented became less interesting to me as I read further especially in terms of her love for Nat as Mary and Anne as Mark.

I understood Mary's confusion, loving two people as she herself was also two people and uncomfortable in both skins. McNamara wrote that confusion very well and I was fine to have her walking that fine line because the "romance" unfortunately felt forced on both sides and I despised both Nat and Anne because they both ended up using Reade for their own needs just as much as I despised Reade for allowing it.

For a book about pirates, I hate to admit that there is very little action or actual pirating written and it lead for a longer read than I normally would have liked. In addition, my lack of reading was also dampened by the back and forth chapters as McNamara would switch time periods from chapter to chapter and in some cases lose whatever steam to excitement there might have been.

I do want to reiterate that I loved the premise of this idea as it's a good one based one two real-life female pirates and I'm a fan of wanting more female-driven women fighting against stereotypes but this wasn't that.

This was an interesting read! I found it intriguing about how a girl disguised herself and becomes a pirate. With a pirate story, I thought there would be adventure. However, it is mostly a romance. Still, I recommend it to those that like romance novels that feature pirates.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from KidLitExchange and Sky Pony Press. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Rating: 3/5

Genre: YA Historical Fiction

Recommended Age: 16+ (homophobia, transphobia, sexism, abuse, sexual assault)

Pages: 336

Author Website

Amazon Link

Synopsis: There’s no place for a girl in Mary’s world. Not in the home of her mum, desperately drunk and poor. Not in the household of her wealthy granny, where no girl can be named an heir. And certainly not in the arms of Nat, her childhood love who never knew her for who she was. As a sailor aboard a Caribbean merchant ship, Mary’s livelihood—and her safety—depends on her ability to disguise her gender.

At least, that’s what she thinks is true. But then pirates attack the ship, and in the midst of the gang of cutthroats, Mary spots something she never could have imagined: a girl pirate.

The sight of a girl standing unafraid upon the deck, gun and sword in hand, changes everything. In a split-second decision, Mary turns her gun on her own captain, earning herself the chance to join the account and become a pirate alongside Calico Jack and Anne Bonny.

For the first time, Mary has a shot at freedom. But imagining living as her true self is easier, it seems, than actually doing it. And when Mary finds herself falling for the captain’s mistress, she risks everything—her childhood love, her place among the crew, and even her life.

Breathlessly romantic and brilliantly subversive, The Unbinding of Mary Reade is sure to sweep readers off their feet and make their hearts soar.

2018 is the year of the YA sea-faring books so I found another sea faring book to review! I found this book to be an interesting read. The main character was very complex and I’m still not sure what to think about her. I also thought that this book was unique in that it showed a cross-dressing female.

However, I’m very concerned with how trans and genderqueer people were shown and portrayed and treated in this book. There was a lot of abuse and hurtful statements towards them and it was really hard to read. The way the book was written was also really jarring and it took me out of the book each time it shifted. The plot was also really weak and the pacing was super slow. I didn’t feel the romance in this book and honestly there was a lot of it for what I thought would be an awesome sea-faring book.

Verdict: I’d really like to know your opinion if you are LGBT+ on this book. I honestly feel there are some really upsetting parts about this book and I fear that it will be hurtful to people in the long run. In my opinion, I think it can be hurtful and I even got upset reading the book. But I’d like to know your opinion about it.

The synopsis of this book sounded interesting. Pirates? Check. Adventure? Check. Badass girl? Check. What it actually was was boring. How can you make pirates boring??? There was no action just angsty love that lacked any chemistry whatsoever. Overall, disappointed. Not much else to say about it.
I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received this as an arc from netgalley in exchange for my honest reviews.

I didn’t care for this all that much. I couldn’t connect to the characters at all and the plot was a little boring for me. I really wanted to love this book. The synopsis sounded amazing. Unfortunately it fell very flat for me.

I really liked this book. I thought the world was well constructed, the story was paced well and I was invested in the plot and the characters.

THE UNBINDING OF MARY READE is a book that I really wanted to love, and by all accounts I should’ve. Historical fiction featuring queer lady pirates? Sign me the hell up! Unfortunately, I struggled to care about the characters and found the story itself quite lacklustre.

Mary Reade grew up in the slums of London, barely making it by under the less-than-watchful eye of her alcoholic mother. Forced her to pose as her deceased brother to secure his inheritance from their wealthy grandmother, no one in Mary’s life knows she’s a girl, not even her best friend Nate…which is a bit of a pickle, since she’s in love with him. Fast forward a few years and Mary’s now on board a pirate ship trying to reunite with Nate, now a pirate hunter, when she meets the beautiful and mercurial Anne Bonny. Mary’s quickly captivated by the other woman, and falls in love with her hard and fast.

Watching how Anne manipulated and used Mary was infuriating, especially because Mary knew exactly what the other woman was doing. Why didn’t she stand her ground and insist on better treatment from her before the last 15% of the novel? It’s impossible for me to love a character like Anne, who was the worst combination of selfish and poorly written. McNamara tries to paint her in a sympathetic light but I found her attempts heavy-handed and awkward. I know I was supposed to sympathize with Anne and root for her and Mary but I just loathed her and the pair of them together.

The one thing I did really like about this story is McNamara’s depiction how difficult it was to be openly queer in the 19th century, especially as a pirate, an occupation steeped in machismo. McNamara also does an excellent job illustrating the fluidity of sexuality and gender presentation. Despite her feelings for and attraction to Anne, Mary is still drawn to Nate; her desires aren’t an either/or proposition. And although Mary pretends to be a boy because she has to, Mary feels like her true self when she wears masculine attire, even after all her friends and comrades know she’s a woman.

Readers looking for good queer representation in historical YA may want to read THE UNBINDING OF MARY READE, but those seeking likable characters and good writing may want to look elsewhere.

I went into this book hoping for a lot of Pirate-y action and instead I got a lot of romance. Don't get me wrong, I like a little bit of romance... mixed in with badass pirates. You dig? I ended up not finishing this about halfway through but I totally think this is the right book for someone who loves their romance with just a bit of action, and not the other way around.

Here’s what I liked about this book: it started right in the middle of action, as pirates boarded the ship Mary/Mark was on. That was pretty cool, and I admit to being as intrigued as our main character was upon seeing a woman in a dress seemingly an equal with the rest of the pirate band.

But first impressions can sometimes be wrong, and nothing is really as it seems with this story. Honestly, in a number of ways I felt sorry for Mary, for the life she basically had forced on her because of her mother. Mary spent a majority of her life pretending to be Mark, and that constantly acting like a boy seemed to have altered how she thought and acted a great deal of the time.

Mary’s secret was revealed to the pirates rather early on in the book, and I was expecting that tension of keeping such a huge secret would have held out a bit longer, and the revelation left me wondering just what would happen for the rest of the pages.

Sadly, the deeper I got into the story, the less interested I became. Many of the characters felt fairly shallow to me, and I could not stand how whiny and wishy-washy Anne was. The relationship between Mary and Anne never felt like there was any sort of deep romantic connection, just two people who were together when they had no other options. Anne consistently went back to Jack, and Mary kept pining for her best friend Nat.

I wanted more action, more pirate-y adventure, and I certainly wanted a great romance. Sadly this book did not meet the expectations I had built up for it based on the summary. So I’m sure there will be people out there who really love this book, and who will connect with the characters and the story. I think overall it is worth a read, purely for the Mary/Mark story and portrayal. That was well done, and probably the most intriguing part of the story.

Oh, this is exactly what I have wanted for so long! Not only queer historical fiction, but queer historical fiction based on real people! And from what I've read (which is admittedly not much), a lot of the events on the book are based on real events.

It was a bit hard for me to get my bearings at first. I love stories told in multiple times at once, but there was enough ambiguity at the beginning of both of the stories that I had some trouble figuring out exactly what was going on. Once I did, though, I was fully engrossed in Mary's adventures and very excited to find out what would happen.

One thing I really loved about this is that Mary and Anne didn't always do things that I could root for. Even with that, I always wanted to root for them, and it really helped them become fully-developed characters. It also made it so that I never quite knew what was going to happen next, even when I had a general idea of where the story was going.

If you're looking for more queer books, or more historical fiction, I would definitely recommend this book!

I was pretty excited to read this book because the premise sounded so interesting and right up my alley, but overall I was pretty disappointed with the story and characters.

I feel there wasn’t much of a plot at all. I tried reading it more than three times but I ended up DNFing it because I was so bored. Nothing interesting was actually happening, and the interactions between the characters didn’t sometimes add much to the story.

I was also hoping to se a cute f/f romance, but there was something about those characters that made that relationship rushed and even a bit forced sometimes. The characters weren’t my cup of tea, and the slang of the book was confusing at times.

I had some issues with the writing style. I was expecting much more from this book, and frankly it was a bit anticlimactic.

I love the history behind Anne Bonney and Mary Reade, meaning I was SO excited for this book...and it sort of fell flat for me. It took me a lot longer to finish than normal, because I kept picking it up for a short time and then losing interest again. The back and forth time periods kept breaking the pacing of the book, and made it hard to follow at times. I'm always glad for LGBT themes in books, so I'll give it points for that. Teens that enjoy historical fic/romances will probably like this one.

I had to stop reading this book at around the 50% mark mostly because I got really bored. I was expecting a fun adventure story with gay female pirates but it was just not that at all. There was a lot of waffle, the pirates barely did anything and the focus of the story was on the negativity in the time period against homosexuals, transgender people and just women in general. I mean I know it's how it was in those times but it seemed to be emphasised at every single point. Also the main character felt far younger than she was and it made for uncomfortable reading at times.

The Unbinding of Mary Reade is a young adult novel written by Miriam McNamara. I was very excited about the opportunity to read this book because I love historical fiction; I don’t read as much Georgian fiction as Regency, but its still an era that I enjoy. In addition to one of my favorite settings, the premise sounded fascinating.

Circumstance has forced Mary Reade to live as a boy named Mark for almost her entire life. As the story begins, Mary’s ship has been attacked by pirates. She chooses to align herself with the pirates, mostly because she sees a girl pirate and imagines being able to go through life as who she is, not who she has to present herself as.

Mary soon discovers that her fascination for Anne the pirate girl is developing into infatuation. There are several problems with this- Anne thinks that Mary is a boy named Mark, and Anne is the pirate captain’s girlfriend. Mary’s safety depends on her ability to keep her secret hidden, and there is no room for negotiation here.

The narrative shifts between Mary’s current predicament and the past, where the reader discovers Mary’s origins, her reasons for living as Mark, and how she ended up in the Caribbean in the first place. This isn’t the most action-packed story- far from it, in fact. However, this is an utterly fascinating look at gender identity and all it entails in an era with some of the most clearly defined gender roles.

Mary is a likeable protagonist who was forced into a situation that she had no choice about, and I found it easy to empathize with her. After such an aggressively active action at the beginning of the book, Mary spends much of book being passive, a prisoner of her unique circumstances, if you will. The supporting characters have fairly static personalities, and there is not a lot of development over the course of the book, but nevertheless, I enjoyed their story arcs and the events that led up to their interaction with Mary.

I would recommend The Unbinding of Mary Reade. This is a fascinating look at life in the 18th century through the eyes of a rather unique protagonist. The book’s conclusion is rather open-ended, and I really hope that there is going to be a sequel. I’m certainly looking forward to more from McNamara in the future!

When I saw this book on NetGalley, I'll be honest, the first thing that drew me in was the cover. I mean look at it! It is beautiful! But, then I read that it was about pirates and I was hooked!

Overall, I enjoyed Mary's story. It was very interesting to learn the origins of why she dressed as a man, Mark, and how that both helped and hindered her. I also enjoyed how McNamara explored the practical problems this might present: binding her breasts, trying to hide her period each month, learning how to pee standing up, etc. These are things that I think about a lot when I read a book where someone is posing as something/someone that they aren't, so the fact that they were addressed in this novel was fun for me!

I also was a big fan of the love triangle that McNamara created between Mary, Nat and Anne. It was done in such a way that I really didn't know which way the story was going to go, which is always fun. I also enjoyed Mary's internal struggle over whether she should be attracted to Anne or not. It really was two-fold: should she live as a man or a woman, and therefore, should she be attracted to men or women. In a time where it was illegal and punishable by death to pose as the opposite gender, as well as to engage in a same-sex relationship, it was an incredibly intriguing story.

I really loved the overall story and message behind the book, however, I had to knock off a few stars. I, for some reason, had a hard time staying engaged with the book. The pacing wasn't excellent. It jumps back and forth between the past and present quite often. I understood that this was the author's way of giving us the relevant backstory to what was happening in the present-day part of the story, but it would pull me out of the flow and pacing of the story. It made me keep wanting to set the book down.



My Rating:
3.5/5.0

I gave The Unbinding of Mary Reade 3.5 STARS. I really liked Mary and her story, and I loved the attention to historical detail. It was a good book. I would certainly recommend it to anyone who enjoys pirates and LGBT literature.

I would like to thank Skyhorse Publishing and NetGalley very much for the read. I respect the writing style of the clever Miriam McNamara, and was very excited about reading this book - pirates, swashbuckling and romance on the open seas. I had anticipated loving it, and it certainly has its appeal, but as much as I tried, I lost the fascination and could not finish it. Regretfully, I will not be recommending this for our library.

I love a good pirate story and the blurb of The Unbinding Of Mary Reade sounds just as fantastic as the gorgeous cover, so I've been really excited to finally read this one. And with its f/f romance, I thought it would be a perfect story to read during pride month as well. Alas it seems like it wasn't ment to be. I didn't check the reviews before starting this one, or at least I would have been warned... Because The Unbinding Of Mary Reade unfortunately turned out to be quite a disappointment. Don't get me wrong, I still love the idea behind this book, the possibilities of the setting, the f/f romance, the characters... But the execution was just completely off for me. I will try to explain why this book didn't work for me below. First of all, I struggled with the writing style, which felt halted with dialogues that didn't seem natural. The use of 'bad grammar' in the dialogues only distracted (aka annoyed) me instead of adding the right historical atmosphere. Also, the constant switching back and forth in time was really distracting and made it hard to stay focused on the main plot. Especially since the chapters set in London basically didn't add anything substantial to the story and were extremely dull. In fact, I found the story in general quite boring, and how is that possible for a story with gay pirates in it?? For a book about pirates, there were almost no action scenes or even scenes on a boat included in the plot. And that was quite a disappointment, since there was basically nothing of note to fill this huge hole of lack of action. Ok, characters. The characters in general lacked development and were rather bland. Anne almost felt like a caricature and while Mary had all the potential of being a fascinating character, she mostly fell flat for me and I wasn't able to believe either of their feelings or actions. This lack of credibility extends to the other characters as well. Also, trigger warnings are in place for homophobia, transphobia, (sexual) abuse and sexism in general. I get that we are talking about an 18th century setting, but this was just too much. In short, while I still love the idea behind this story, the execution was rather poorly and The Unbinding Of Mary Reade turned out to be a rather chaoticly written, dull and not credible love story. Did I expect this reaction? No, but unfortunately I can't change the way I feel about this one.

I keep repeating: I still love the idea behind this story and I truly wish I could have enjoyed The Unbinding Of Mary Reade better. Unfortunately, I found the execution lacking in various ways, and I had a hard time finishing this one. Between the chaotic writing style that didn't flow, a rather dull plot, bland characters, lack of action and a not so credible display of emotions, I can't say I was impressed. Where were the pirates, were was the action? Why did we have to read so much about Mary's past in London, if her life on the Caribbean Sea is what really counts for this story? Why wasn't there more focus on Mary and Anne? Why the excessive amount of sexism, homophobia, transphobia and sexual assault? The tone for this supposedly YA rated story was completely off, especially since Mary felt younger than the age group during most of the story. All in all not the story I was hoping for.

The Unbinding of Mary Reade is an early 18th century tale that features a young woman experiencing her sexual awakening and struggling with her identity. Mary Reade has long masqueraded as her deceased brother, Mark. First, as a way in which she can sustain a living for her and mother, then as a way to inherit her rich grandmother's fortune, and finally to take to the high seas where eventually she meets up with pirates.

As the chapters switch back and forth between 1717 and 1719-1720, this story seems to be bent more on social norms; specifically how women are treated, sexual identity, and Mary's conflicted feelings for her childhood friend, Nat, and the pirate Anne Bonny. So, if you're looking for a swashbuckling tale, you won't find it here. It's a lot of angsty feelings for Mary, who has a deep feeling that she's never quite fit into the feminine world. Throughout the book, disguised as Mark, her "strange ways" direct Mary to much scrutiny and judgement and this gets even worse when she is discovered. Spoiler alert, acceptance is not part of 1700's vocabulary either.

Both Mary's "love interests " Nat and Anne are both fairly selfish and I saw zero chemistry between them and our gal. Sexual Frustration-yes! Great love- Nope! They both used Mary/Mark for their own needs and I am quibbling about whether or not I can really accept the ending this book provided. This is most defintely a 3.0 stars for me.