The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels was energetic, surprising, and all of my favorite things (period piece meets pirates meets very specific magic meets sassy romance). Add to that the fact that India Holton's narration is extremely similar to how I think, it felt like every quirky piece of writing that I love, wrapped up in a bow.

Thank you to both Berkeley Romance and NetGalley for an Advanced Reader Copy of this absolutely spectacular story. The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels is on shelves now, so if lady pirates and Brontë shade is your thing, definitely grab a copy!

First off, I ADORE the cover for this book! The design is delightful. I was hoping I would enjoy the story more, but unfortunately I am not in a historical romance mood and didn't connect with the magical realism elements. I will try again at a later point, DNF for now.

Thank you to Berkley for my copy of The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels in exchange for my honest review.

The cover is just gorgeous and I follow India on social media and adore her. I honestly didn't look at the synopsis that closely. But I might should have. It turns out that Pirates, Assassins, and floating houses aren't really for me. I did try to pick it back up a few times but couldn't get past the 25% mark. The romance between Cecelia and Ned has major potential, which is why I tried more than once to get in to the story.

I will not leave a review anywhere besides NetGalley since I did not finish the book.

While this was not a book for me I can see that it would have an audience for those into magical adventures and pirates. At times it was humorous and a bit bizarre. The wide range of characters from the Victorian era was impressive.

I could not get through the whole book. It is just not for me. I am not into fantasy, and assassination and guns. I am sure there is an audience for this but I just couldn’t get through it..

Okay, wow, there is literally no way to describe this perfectly ridiculous, wonderfully bizarre book I just read. It’s so zany, so silly, so swoony! There are flying houses, assassination attempts by proper young ladies, sexy pirates, and lots of tea and sabotage.
The writing is whip smart, the antics of the characters are fabulously bonkers, and the story has so much heart. We have our main characterCecilia, a member of a crime sorority of lady criminals, who has a hit out on her, a dad who is out to destroy the world, and a kidnapped aunt who she goes to great lengths to save. Her hitman, a handsome pirate named Ned, is instantly infatuated with the wily and headstrong Cecilia, vows to help her and together they embark on one of the silliest, fraught rescue schemes I’ve ever had the privilege to read in a book. They had such fun banter and great chemistry, I wish we could go on another rollicking adventure with them.
A review just won’t do, you’ll absolutely just need to read it to truly appreciate what India Holton has created in The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrel’s.
Thank you so much to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the digital arc in exchange for an honest review!

"I'm afraid I've done nothing at all to advance the plot."
"You chose to come away with me."
"So this is merely a romance?" She frowned disapprovingly. "I was hoping for an epic adventure, or a Gothic mystery at the very least."

Fear not, gentle reader, there's nothing "merely" about this story. It's a rollicking mashup of the kind of swashbuckling adventure and Gothic mystery that our main character, Cecilia, was hoping for, plus a slow burn romantic comedy, a magical alternate history, and a literary farce. In truth, it was just a bit much for me at my current stage of reading proclivities, but if you're of a slightly stronger constitution and enjoy a certain fortitude for protracted farcical fun, it'll be an extremely enjoyable romp for you. I did enjoy it. I simply would have enjoyed it more had there been a little less of it to enjoy.

Perfect for fans of Gail Carriger, the Princess Bride, dirigibles, deadly knives hidden in dainty parasol handles, taking the piss out of capital-L-literature, Howl's Moving Castle, and tea.

This is SO clever and tongue-in-cheek nudge nudge wink wink it really goes right around the bend to annoying. In a shorter format, I would have really enjoyed it. At 400+ pages, it was irritating, especially given the constant romance.

OH MY WORD! What fabulousness did I just read?!?!?

Set in Victorian England, The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels centers around Cecilia Bassingwaite and her dream of becoming a full-fledged member of the Wisteria Society. As prim and proper lady pirate, Cecilia has spent her whole life training to join the ranks of the Society, a group of matronly lady pirates who can't go a day without trying to assassinate each other (all in good fun of course!). But Cecilia's dream is thrown off kilter with the appearance of Ned Lightbourn, a mysterious sometimes assassin, sometimes pirate, and all the time impish rake.

I cannot say enough about how much I LOVED this book. If the plot sounds absurd, the writing is even more so in the best way imaginable! I was dying laughing from page one and I didn't stop until I the last page. The sheer wit that went into every line...I am in awe of India Holton and her brain.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Oh boy. This novel was quite a bit different than I expected it to be. I very nearly gave up on it in the beginning after one particularly cringe-worthy dad joke. But I pushed on, and it did get better. Definitely not my favorite historical romance, but I appreciated the author's attempt to do something different in the genre.

If, like me, you were thinking this was a more run-of-the-mill Victorian romance with high-spirited women, it is not. Holton injects a bit of fantasy (flying houses) and a LOT of punny, ironic humor. We meet Cecilia and her aunt, Lady Darlington, as they are subjected to an assassination attempt. They belong to a society of lady pirates who fly houses, steal anything, and periodically try to kill each other. Cecilia comes from a particularly dastardly line of pirates, and her tragic past wreaks havoc on her present.

I feel like Holton tried too hard to be funny, especially in the beginning of this novel. She kind of knocks you over the head with the humor....repeatedly. The latter half of the novel was more plot and romance, so I noticed the dad jokes less. My feelings about the story kept flip-flopping, so I wasn't sure how to rate this book. Ultimately, I settled for 3.5 because I appreciated the feminist angle Holton took and that she tried something different, but I rounded down because I really did almost DNF it.

This was delightfully absurd and tons of fun. I got a very strong Princess Bride vibe in the writing which greatly pleased me. I can't say I've ever read anything quite like this before which made me like it even more. Funny, inventive, romantic, and zany, read The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels!

What a fun, dignified romp of a book. Victorian ladies as pirates of high society who fly their houses around the countryside and steal from the wealthy to… well, enhance their own collections. A dashing gentleman who may or may not be trying to kill our heroine. A kidnapping plot while our heroine just wants to get to the library! If you enjoy the Apple TV show Dickenson, I think this will be for you. This book is anachronistic in spirit rather than slang, but it’s the same delightful, measured irreverence as the show.

This was an excellent kickoff to a series, and I can’t wait for the sequel, The League of Gentlewoman Witches!

The entire time I read this I couldn't decide whether I thought this was ridiculously escapist or just plain ridiculous. This kind of has that quirky absurdness of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch tv show from the early 2000s, which I love. That show is cute, wholesome, and silly. The book is similar in that it doesn't take itself seriously and the magic makes no sense at all. It's full of lady pirates who attempt to assassinate each other for fun. Their pirate ships are actually houses they fly by reciting an incantation that someone had found through a glass bottle on a beach years ago. There's a mustache-twirling idiot villain.

These antics are paired with English social customs of being a lady, which creates this weird disconnect. Cecilia as a main character felt lackluster and boring to me. Cecilia was raised by lady pirates and is trained in killing and thieving, but she's also not supposed to shout or be vulgar because that's not ladylike. The romance was awkward and the sex scenes even more so. This does not have smut. The intimate scenes are on page, but without much detail.

Now that I'm done with the book, I think I'm leaning towards thinking the book is just silly. It was sort of fun, but ultimately there were more eye rolls than chuckles for me.

DNF'd at 15%

This book was just not my style. The tongue in cheek humor and magical elements were too over the top for me.

This book was so cool. I loved the world this took place in and the lady society. Cecilia was such a strong and cool character and loved how she dealt with Ned. I can't wait for the rest of the books in this series and to see what these wild characters get up to.
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

“Quirky”! “Hilarious!” People are raving about this book. But for me? Eh. I felt it was very slow. Also I just could not buy into this world. It was too weird. The writing kept taking me out of the story. But everyone else likes it, so it just may not be for me.

One of my favorite books of the year. What a weird, wild, and wonderful journey. I had moments of actually cackling to myself reading this book because of the witty, sarcastic humor sprinkled throughout. I can honestly say I have never read a book like this and I am so beyond happy I picked this up. The heroine is loyal, smart, and sassy (my kind of lady) which leads to a perfectly thriller ride. Cannot recommend enough.

What an exciting start to this series! Whip smart, extremely entertaining, and laugh out loud funny! I can't wait to read more. I also must note that the cover is one of my favorites, truly stunning!

This is the first in the Dangerous Damsels series. But these are no damsels in distress. Cecilia Bassingwaite is not your typical shrinking violet. She's a thief and a good one, as are the other members of the Wisteria society, a sorority of criminals. Like most sororities, they're doing fine until the men show up. Ned Lighthouse is an assasin sent to put an end to Cecilia, but he falls in love with her instead. Captain Morvath is not in love, he intends to do away with the Wisteria Society and all annoying women. Cecilia is forced to work with Ned Lighthouse to free the Society from Morvath's criminal intentions and prove that she, and the Wisteria Society can be scoundrels with the best of them! What a fun read! I really enjoyed it as will anyone who likes a great, fun mystery. Readers who enjoy books like Victoria Thompson's Gaslight mysteries and Counterfeit Lady novels will love the Wisteria Society. I look forward to the next in the series. Thanks to Net Galley for the chance to read the ARC.

This is a kissing book. It is also probably one of my favorite books of the year.

I thought about this book constantly since I finished it, and I still don’t know how to string words together. I have too many emotions, and some of them don’t really make sense. It’s more like inaudible noises that only book readers know just by the sound of it. I’m frothing at the mouth, like a dog. Suddenly I’ve lost all sense of my humanity, and it’s all India Holton’s fault.

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels is a romance with the likeness (and the vibes) of The Princess Bride and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. It’s got that fast dialogue and British humor familiar in Goldman and Pratchett’s writing but amplifies everything in brilliant writing and feminism.

The Wisteria Society has got a problem on its hands. Their flying houses are being stolen, not only that, but Captain Morvath, or rather Dread Captain Morvath, is dead set on destroying this whimsical group of lady pirates. So rather than discuss knitting patterns and explosives, they are obligated to take down this gothic-obsessed villain.

They have exactly three laws. No killing civilians, pour the tea before the milk, and no stealing each other’s houses.

If you’ve ever wanted a true enemies-to-lovers romance, this is the book you want. It’s like this. Imagine the scene where Inigo Montoya and Westley are trying to kill each other. It’s that ‘I’m interested in you as a person, but unfortunately I’m obligated to kill you’ *whips out sword*

Enemies-to-lovers is all about the tension between two people on opposite sides of the goal/team/family/etc. It’s the yearning, the tension, the ‘I cannot believe I am thinking about kissing the life out of my sworn enemy! Perish the thought!’ Holton is deliciously talented at a lot of things but especially this.

Absolutely every scene kills. It’s starting to look like a favorite to me, probably because I’ve already listed it as a favorite on my Goodreads shelf.

A pirate princess opens the door to a grinning pirate and slams it in his face. Reader, meet Cecilia and Ned. They are fluff, sweetness, spice, and guns drawn at dawn.

Every single character walks off the scene as if they live their own life. Generic and forgetful characters are not in Holton’s vocabulary. I can absolutely imagine the most minuscule side characters in their fullest, most epic lives. One character, in particular, is my favorite. And word has it he’s in the companion novel.

Give me loud swashbuckling pirates, and I’m a happy girl. Holton managed to give me plot, romance, prose, humor, and originality in a single rom-com. The balance that it takes to write something this good? I’m in awe.

Even Captain Morvath, a revenge-obsessed idiot, feels so raw that he almost reminded me of Michael from the Office. He believes himself to be serious at every moment, but to everyone else, including the reader, he’s an embarrassment. He’s only got himself to blame. I found him hilarious and real in the same way I found Michael’s rage that everyone but him kept laughing. His belief in his power continuously gets cut down by his own actions and by the Wisteria Society, making him into the fool of the story. I loved every bit of it, but most especially because he felt like a real person in the same way that an idiot in power is real.

I loved every word, from Cecilia’s pearl-handed revolver to the Irish pirate to the ‘let’s kill each other slowly’ vibes. It’s the type of book I want to see more of in publishing but especially romantic fantasy. India Holton has stolen my heart, and I’d like to see her do it again.