I loved all the previous books in the Jane and Mary series, and My Salty Mary is no exception.

The description for this book--The Little Mermaid meets Pirates of the Caribbean--is spot-on, and it's an amazing mash-up. Hand, Ashton, and Meadows continue to pull bits of inspiration from a variety of sources to tell a funny, adventurous, and sweet story about Mary Read, former mermaid princess and current pirate. Faced with the challenge to become the next Pirate King (err, Queen) or be forced to return to her underwater home, Mary leans on her friends and her own smarts and courage to hunt down Blackbeard's treasure. The multiple POVs do a great job of giving depth to the characters, and Mary, Jack, and Tobias are all fun characters who bring their own strengths to a swashbuckling adventure.

Full of the trademark humor, strong female characters, and laugh-out-loud references (I caught The Princess Bride and National Treasure among others), My Salty Mary is a strong addition to this fun series of retellings.

They are back at it and as good as ever! The quick wit and just so close to being dad jokes but they're too aware of pop culture keeps bringing me back and it does not disappoint. I will never get over how absurd these stories are, but how fun and enjoyable they are because of it. I laughed out loud so much. I'm thankful for the Janes and the Marys of history and what continues to happen in these books.

My Salty Mary is a quintessential, irreverent Hand, Ashton, Meadows rewrite of history. This addition to their Mary series departs from others a bit in the addition of the fairy tale slant. The combination of Mary Read with the Little Mermaid is the pirate tale I didn't know I needed! As always, the writing twists history and makes it more. More entertaining, more laugh-inducing, more engaging, and more of just about anything you can think of!

MY SALTY MARY (PUB Aug 19, 2024) is the latest installment in the brilliant revisionist history collection by authors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows I should be clear up front – even though this is part of a series, you can read any of these books without having read the others. In previous books we’ve seen history rewritten for British Queens, Gunslingers, and Jayne Eyre. The authors started with the Janes… My Lady Jane, Plain Jane, Calamity Jane, then moved into the Marys.. My Contrary Mary, Imaginary Mary, and now.. My Salty Mary. All of these books are hilarious and offer laugh– or groan– out loud moments. My Salty Mary is a new take on The Little Mermaid. A better version, if you believe the authors, this one with Pirates, and treasure. The Mary of the title is based on Mary Read, one of the famous pirates you’ve maybe never heard of because she didn’t have a great pirate name like Blackbeard. And for this book, at least – the pirate Mary Read is also a little mermaid. Maybe I said that wrong. She is, in fact, THE little mermaid. Who traded her tail fin for legs to marry her true love – but true to the Hans Christian Anderson story, her true love marries someone else – leaving Mary to do something else with her life, namely, become a pirate, and team up with Blackbeard’s son in search of treasure. These books are ridiculous in all the best ways, a bit like leaning into dad jokes written by suburban moms who are creatively rewriting the non-Disney versions of classic stories. They even manage a few Taylor Swift jokes among all the others. I’ve purchased a stack of books from this series for my library, and after reading My Salty Mary, will definitely add this fun title to the stacks.

This had everything that I enjoyed from the other books in the Lady Janies series, I enjoyed the historical setting and how it worked in the fiction elements. The characters felt like they belonged in this time-period and I enjoyed the fantasy remix of this story. I had heard of Mary Read and thought it was a fantastic way to introduce young readers to these historical people. I hope this series continues as I’ve enjoyed the other books and this book a lot.

Another great entry in this series, My Salty Mary takes readers to the age of piracy and throws some mermaids into the mix. Mary Read, main character, is also basically the little mermaid, she gained legs to chase a prince, was rejected, and should have dissolved into sea foam due to a broken heart. Instead she finds a new love, pirating. Joined by a colorful cast of characters, Mary leads a crew in a contest to see who will be the next pirate king (or queen). The narration is great as always, with the narrators providing a delightful amount of humor and historical tidbits that make for a lighthearted book that's fun to read. While this was not my favorite of the Mary and Jane books, it still holds the same charm and fun as the rest of the series.

This was a fun mashup of The Little Mermaid and famous historical pirates like Mary Read, Anne Bonny, Calico Jack, and Blackbeard. If you have enjoyed the other Jane and Mary books by these authors, you are sure to delight in this one as well. The mix of loosely based historical figures plus well known stories plus modern cultural references is just fun to read.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC! I absolutely enjoyed the latest adventure from the Lady Janies! This book follows Mary Read (yes, that Mary Read- the historical female pirate), but in this world, she's also the Little Mermaid (yes, that little mermaid). After her heart is broken by the human man she traded her mermaid life before, Mary joins the crew of a pirate ship, but has to disguise herself as a man, as female pirates aren't allowed. On this ship, she becomes best friends with Tobias Teach, the son of Edward Teach (Blackbeard).

After Blackbeard's untimely death, Mary enters a contest to crown the new pirate King. However, someone has found out her secret and you know that her former mer-life is going to come back to mess with her.

This was a really fun adventure! I love the sense of humor that the Lady Janies bring to their books. There were multiple laugh-out-loud moments for me and I will try to patiently wait until I can buy a physical copy of this book to share with my students.

I love the Lady Janies and the Mary series. They take a sad tale and make it better.
I know that these books are historical fantasy, but they also make me go look up all the real deets, so I end up learning real history too.

My Salty Mary has pirates, mermaids, and bad*ss women- who wouldn't want to read it?
This story is fun and fast paced and definitely satisfying!
Highly recommend. It'll be a great book to read by the pool this summer.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins Children's Books for an early copy for review