I love this series and the companion series by these authors! They are always so fun, and so interesting! My Imaginary Mary was no different! It was fun to read this totally true retelling!

Another fun title in the Mary series. A little more snark than the last installment. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I am a huge fan of these humorous and semi-historical
books by Hand, Ashton, and Meadows. I loved
the Lady Janies, and enjoyed the first Mary, but sadly,
I couldn't get into this second installment. I really think
it's because I wasn't familiar enough with the background
of the 2 main characters. So I know a lot of jokes and
easter eggs totally went over my head. I am excited for
the next installment though!

As with the Jane series, this was pleasantly humorous with a hefty amount of wit. I do feel that as the authors take more and more grace with each story, I begin to lose interest as the histories stray farther and farther from the truth. I sincerely hope that they do strive to follow history a little closer in the following novels. Great fun.

This audio was generally enjoyable.

I absolutely love the Janies (Hand, Ashton, and Meadow)! They honestly can do no wrong, however, there seems to be something about their middle book. I absolutely can not gush enough on how much I love My Plain Jane and My Contrary Mary - two of my favourites from each series so far.

I'm not too familiar with Frankenstein besides the basics - not a classic I have read - but I did enjoy this reimagining. Having their monster be a robot was a perfect take and the romance was exactly what I want from this series. The humour is great, once again. It's exactly what you have come to expect from this writing trio. I recently read another Frankenstein reimagining and this by far is superior and I will be suggesting this in future fall reads!

This trio will always be an autoread/buy for me because they have always done amazing retellings and do a great job balancing humour, plot, and characters.

I loved My Lady Jane so much, so I was really excited about this one! Unfortunately, it just didn't live up to the expectations for me. I really liked the that the protagonists were two amazing (and criminally underknown) women from history. I also liked the chronic illness representation - I felt like that was done really well and authentically. Ultimately the plot was just a bit boring, and I felt like the introduction of fae in this one was more taking advantage of a trend rather than it actually being necessary to the story.

These books are always so good to listen to! I really enjoyed this one. It made my drives along with my work days so much better. The narrator did a great job. Like always it was well written and kept my attention the whole way through. I would definitely recommend this one and I think others will really enjoy it.

Thank you so much for the gifted copy.

This is a 'what if' book written by the hilariously brilliant authors of the Lady Jane series. What if Mary Shelley and Ada Lovelace were contemporaries and became friends? With the help of a faerie godmother, Mary and Ada meet. The godmother tells them they are both fae and have the power to make anything they imagine real. Together they create a clockwork boy (PAN), who becomes alive with the help of lightning and a little magic. But all magic has a price. They end up on the run from the villain of the story, as well as some notable historical characters: Percy Shelley and Lord Byron. Along the way they accomplish some amazing feats: riding cross-country on the back of a clockwork horse for example.

I didn't know much about either Mary Shelley or Ada Lovelace before reading this book. I wish I had. Part of what made My Lady Jane so much fun was knowledge of the real characters and comparing the two. I missed that with book. This book was still a lot of fun, I just felt like I could have gotten more out of it. The synthesized voice didn't bother me at all and seemed appropriate given the book's main characters.

The main theme of the book is what it means to be alive. Our main characters struggle with this through the entire story, sometimes contradicting themselves. Except for this heavy topic, the book doesn't take itself too seriously. Overall, I love these series of books and can't wait for the next one.

Ended up reading this as an ebook instead of audiobook, so I can't speak for the quality of narration, but the story itself was okay.

Probably my least favorite from this team of authors. I think it’s only because I studied to Romantics and had a hard time with some of the liberties taken. I love Pan and that part of the plot; a sympathetic monster and a creator who respects her creation. It would be a good read for a student who found the real writers interesting and want to explore them further.

Every time the Lady "Janies" come out with a new book, I’m always so excited to see who they'll write about next. And while I’ve loved every book they’ve released so far, I’m sad this say this was my least favourite one. This truly saddens me, but it’s how I feel.

Despite this, I’m still giving this book five stars. There wasn’t anything I hated about this book as I thought it was incredibly entertaining. I just simply didn’t connect with them as much and I wasn’t as invested in their story.

However, I’m still going to continue to read whatever they come out with next. The Lady "Janies" write amazing stories about different historical figures, while also alternating history at the same time; while putting a fantastical twist onto things. And I know they will continue to do this, no matter who they write about. I’m actually very intrigued to see which "Mary” they’ll take on next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

My Imaginary Mary was a fun and charming story. This was the first book I read in this Mary series, but this will not be my last!

This book is a fictional account of Mary Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein, and Ada Lovelace, the first tech visionary. Mary wants to become a writer, and Ada is a mathematician. Both want to make a name for themselves, so they partner up. Together the two women accidentally brought a young man to life from automation.

I really like this book. I loved the whimsical feel and the writing was witty enough to keep me entertained. I loved all of the pop references too. This did not affect my rating, but listening to the book through a synthetic voice did not do this book justice, making it lose some of its charms for me. I am planning on listening to the book again soon.

Thank you to NetGallery and to Harper Audio for giving me a copy of the book.

Was not really a fan. Was gripping at times and a bit humorous but is not something I'd add to our limited collection unless a student specifically requested it.

I loved this one. I am really enjoying the Mary series. This take on Mary Shelley and Ada Lovelace was so fun. I loved the fae aspect of the story. The references to songs and stories were a favorite of mine. This one was full of friendship, humor, and pop culture references. Thank you to Netgalley for an audio arc in exchange for my honest review.

This was a quick fun read....I think My favorite of the bunch but the writing style did get tiresome...

My Contrary Mary tells an alternative history where Mary Shelley and Ada Lovelace meet as teenagers and discover that they are fae and have magical gifts.
I am not oppose to weaving fantasy into real historical settings or even telling a story in the genre of historical fiction that has an element of modern wish fulfillment. I very thoroughly enjoyed 'A Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue', one of the suggestions I saw for if you like, then read this. So you would think this would be up my ally except that I actually might know too much about the people and time period that is being covered and the I have to say that the idea that Mary Shelley was a teenager (and not yet Mary Shelley) at the same time as Ada Lovelace when I know that Ada was barely born at the time Mary met Shelley and later Byron, was more distracting to me then the idea of making the two people discover their magical properties.
I think I would recommend more for a new reader in YA who had previously been a fan of the Princess Fairies series by by Daisy Meadows then I would recommend to anyone interested in historical fiction.

I really need to stop requesting audiobooks since I can never focus on an audiobook if I haven’t read the physical book first. Gah. I loved what I did read though!! Will definitely pick up the book.

I know I'm supposed to start these reviews with a summary of the book but I need to begin with singing the praises of this author trio. I've read all of their historical retellings and can never get enough of them. They are so fun and witty and make me so happy!
Following a reimagined story of Mary Shelly and Ada Lovelace, this story is just spectacular.

My Imaginary Mary is an enjoyable and witty novel. Ada Lovelace and Mary Shelley might never have met in real life, but in this fantastical alternative history, you will wish they had. Something unique about this novel is the way that embraces the format of the alternative history and marries it with the fantasy aspects of the fae. I found the addition of the fae plot and the way that it added to the humor, social commentary, and historical discussion to make it well worth the momentary jarring while becoming grounded in the story’s universe and provides a lovely backdrop, allowing the reader to be immersed in their knowledge of the modern world, yet allowing Ada’s immense genius and inventing process to have the impressiveness it might have lacked without a firm grounding in the history of computer science.

I wasn’t sure initially how I felt about the asides offered by the narrator explaining history or terminology, but ultimately I think the style works for the story. It pulls the reader out of the story temporarily, but the confusion about the historical terms or events more than make up for the minor distractions. The authors also have a way of addressing the reader in these moments that is endearing and adds to the atmosphere of the story.

This was my first book in this series, and I would definitely recommend this book to any reader who enjoys humorous YA novels, Jane Austen romances, or YA historical romances. This book is delightful and found myself barely able to put it down. I know my library carries some of the Janey books, and I was delighted to discover that we already had the audiobook preordered.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for this eArc of My Imaginary Mary. All opinions are my own!

3.5 ish Stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Audio for an arc of this book!

In this fun continuation to the Lady Janies, Mary Shelley and Ada Lovelace team up to make a magically animated automaton come to life!

This was very fun as most of this series is, but there is nothing really that deep to it. Kinda sad they made so much fun of Percy Shelley because I actually love his poetry. And I wish this was more creepy and Frankenstein-y which is what I was hoping for.

There are a lot of jokes and pop culture references in these books. Some of them hit the mark, but some of them are a little too cheesy/corny for me. Every once in a while the fourth wall breaking comes across as trying too hard instead of refreshingly funny or charming.

Overall, I think it was worth the read and I will probably continue reading this series as new books come out!

Content Warnings
Moderate: Kidnapping, Misogyny, Confinement, and Sexism