I had liked the authors previous books so I wanted to give this one a try but I ended up DNFing it about 15% in. I just didn't connect to the story.

A thrilling adventure that centers queer women kicking ass! More historical fiction like this please!!

Valiant Ladies was an entertaining, fun, and quick paced read. I really enjoyed the elements of mystery, and family drama. There was romance as well, which at times felt very tell and not show. As it was telling us they were falling for each other, and not showing us per say.
I did however feel like the book was at times a bit boring, and the writing as a whole, as I said was very tell not show.

Overall I found this book entertaining, and would recommend if you want an easy mystery/fantasy/historical story

This is such an immersive novel and I absolutely adored it! I was super excited for this because of the queer Peruvians and I wasn’t disappointed at all. This had such a good balance of character and plot and I found myself enjoying it from the start.

The narrators were great and the book was fun but didn't capture me as much as I thought it would - but readers looking for a mix of historical adventure mystery, sapphic romance, and Latina badasses carving a space for themselves in a world that's not quite made for them should pick this up!

Fun queer historical fiction with some butt-kicking. sword-fighting ladies, some witty one-liners, and a good old fashioned love-with-class-barriers story thrown into the mix.

Melissa Grey really said sapphic latinx sword wielding vigilantes huh. The gall.

Follow Kiki and Ana's exciting adventures in the town of Potosí, as they fight to stop crimes (though they comit a few minor ones of their own oops, solve a murder, try to find their lost friend and crush the patriarchy. And they just may fall in love along the way.

I didn't love this one but will recommend it to teen readers looking for adventure stories and historical fiction. The characters were interesting and the plot was exciting but the writing didn't interest me. Both narrators were good.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, RB Media, and Recorded Books in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this one, but just because I rated it 3 stars doesn't mean that I don't think this is a good book, because it is. VALIANT LADIES is a fun read and I adored Ana. Having the story told alternating between Ana and Kiki gave a larger perspective to the overall plot since they come from such different backgrounds and life experiences. I thought the mystery started off interesting but I was letdown with the resolution of who was killing the girls and why. It's realistic, but I was hoping for more.

Frankie Corzo and Almarie Guerra do a great job with the audiobook narration.

Umm I think I loved this? Sapphic musketeers in Peru. It's like, perfect. Except! Except for Ana's absolutely disgusting habit of SPITTING ON PEOPLE. Yes, you lose a whole star the SEVERAL instances where Ana spits on people. Twice hit and once miss. I can't. It's probably the most disgusting and disrespectful thing someone can do and I can never get behind that. 🤢

Aside from that, I really enjoyed this! It was fun and mysterious. And a slow burn. There's no fantastical elements in this, it's basically a young adult historical mystery romance? I'm not sure how old these girls are actually. Time to read Melissa Grey's backlog! I think I own some!

“Valliant Ladies” follows the adventures of two out of the ordinary sword-swinging teenage ladies who act as vigilantes sometimes during the 17th century in Peru. Although they come from different backgrounds, Eustaquia “Kiki” de Sonza, a noble, and Ana Lezama de Urinza, a girl of low birth, develop a love relationship which is doomed to be ruined once Kiki is betrothed. As if one tragedy is not enough, a series of deaths among lower class ladies captures the attention of the two vigilantes, but the real tragedy strikes later on in the heart of Kiki and Ana’s family.

Overall, the I found the idea of the book interesting, but with a very plain writing style and a predictable outcome. I also think that there were a lot of missed cultural opportunities in the writing. Instead of focusing on the air of the age, the author uses too many contemporary words and expressions. This, combined with the too mature approach of the main characters makes me want to place the book in the new adult section, not young adult.

Special thanks to NetGalley, RB Media, Recorded Books, and the editorial team for giving me the opportunity to review the ARC in audiobook format and to you, my reader, for taking the time to read this honest personal book review.

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#ValiantLadies #NetGalley

By day Eustaquia “Kiki” de Sonza and Ana Lezama de Urinza are proper young seventeeth century ladies. But when night falls, they trade in their silks and lace for swords and muskets, venturing out into the vibrant, bustling, crime-ridden streets of Potosí, in the Spanish Empire's Viceroyalty of Peru. They pass their time fighting, gambling, and falling desperately in love with one another.

Then, on the night Kiki's engagement to the Viceroy's son is announced, her older brother―heir to her family’s fortune―is murdered. The girls immediately embark on a whirlwind investigation that takes them from the lowliest brothels of Potosí to the highest echelons of the Spanish aristocracy.

A fun adventure book full of stolen kisses. Ana and Kiki use their strong relationship and sense of justice to discover a plot to take down Kiki's family. Those who love romance with their sword fights should love this book.

Melissa Grey’s Valiant Ladies is based on two real-life vigilantes. Eustaquia “Kiki” de Sonza and Ana Lezama de Urinza were known as the Valiant Ladies of Potosi in seventeenth-century Peru, taking up arms and living a life of vigilante justice while being lovers. This novel sets in earlier in their lives though, when they may already have been headstrong, but still fairly sheltered. The story’s core mystery is the murder of Kiki’s brother Alejandro – catapulting the two girls into a dangerous investigation and a life that is more interesting that they perhaps imagined for themselves. It also focuses on Kiki and Ana falling in love and figuring out how to navigate society’s expectations with their own desires. It is a compelling story with strong characters, though expect to read something that is far more reminiscent of a fantasy novel than historically grounded. It may be inspired by historical figures, but it is not historical fiction in terms of how it reads. A fun read if you like stabby girls!

This book has excitement...it has romance...it has adventure...but what it lacks is the line between what is justice and what is a bloodthirsty craving for revenge. It seems at times that the two protagonists enjoy killing as much as the villains do. Sure, they are only killing bad men who prey on innocent people and avenging the deaths of loved ones...but perhaps they enjoy the blood spattered on their clothes and crusted on their skin just a bit too much.

This is a fun romp of two teenage girls fighting back against the classism and sexism of 17th-century Potosí, Peru. Kiki and Ana are both strong characters in their own rights, but I thought Ana was the more interesting of the two. She faced a lot of hardship and seemed more layered than Kiki, who was young and rich though very sweet.

While I really enjoyed the setting, sometimes the author would go a little overboard with various details. For example, it was reiterated over and over again how the girls' corsets dug into their ribs within a single scene. The same could be said about the beginning of the book when we're first introduced to Kiki and Ana. The young women's feelings for each other were written in a heavy-handed way to get the point across, rather than allowing it to unfurl throughout the story. While that heavy-handedness lightens up as the story moves along, it just made the beginning of the book seem unbalanced with the rest.

As for the narration, Frankie Corzo and Almarie Guerra both perform beautifully throughout, nailing their character to perfection. My only complaint would be that when those performances are paired together, sometimes their voices were hard to distinguish between each other since they were similar in pitch.

Overall, I really enjoyed listening to Valiant Ladies and my issues were minor when compared to the story as a whole.

Based on a 17th century Peruvian story about two young women called "The Valiant Ladies of Potosí –Ana Lezama de Urinza and Eustaquia de Sonza. I had never heard about this story or these young women. To be honest I know very little about Peruvian and South American history so I’m very happy I got to listen to this book.

Although (of course) Melissa Grey has taken some artistic freedoms with the story – I mean, she is a writer and writers write interesting stories I feel like she was considerate to the material she adapted.

Ana and Eustaquia are teenage swashbucklers. Eustaquia (nicknamed Kiki) comes from money whereas Ana was adopted into Kiki’s family as a child. This is a LGBTQ+ story, and the young ladies are not just valiant they are also in love. I generally don’t like romance stories, but I felt like the characters here were not just thrown together. These characters have grown up together, they have that history and understanding of one another making their romance believable.

The story sets off when Kiki’s father – a wealthy merchant – announces Kiki’s betrothal to another noble in the city and soon afterwards Kiki’s older brother is found murdered. Ana and Kiki set out to find the killer and, on the way, clear up corruption and crime in their city.

The audiobook is narrated by two different performers as we get both Ana and Eustaquia’s POVs – Frankie Corzo and Almarie Guerra – however I could not distinguish between the two voices when listening.

Valiant Ladies is a fun sapphic historical vigilante story that while categorised as YA would work better for older teens/people in their twenties. The girls drink a lot, gamble and a lot of gruesome murder is involved.

For the people who like tropes, this is: friends to lovers, pining, a sword as a romantic gift, badass ladies.

I loved the setting as this is very rare to get sapphic historical books set outside of Europe so I thoroughly enjoyed that, especially since one of the characters I'd mixed dutch-Indigenous and the author talks a little about the treatment of indigenous people by Spain.

As an audiobook, I love it, the narrators had the right voice and intonation to embody the characters.

A Swashbuckling Romance.

Valiant Ladies is the coming-of-age adventure I never knew I needed.

Rebels by nature, Eustaquia “Kiki” de Sonza and Ana Lezama de Urinza have a knack for seeking out trouble in the Peruvian nightlife. Whenever and wherever they stir up mischief you can be assured that one is never far from the other. Together Kiki and Ana are a force to behold, even more satisfying is the love that blossoms between them- against all odds.

Murder, mystery, mayhem, vigilantism, romance, duplicity, intrigue... This book has it all!

Though I have a very limited knowledge of seventeenth century Peru, Melissa grey's writing gave me all of the information I needed to blend seamlessly into the port city of Potosi. Even better, I got TWO narrators for the price of one! Frankie Corzo and Almarie Guerra complement each other beautifully, and while it took me a few chapters to find my bearings, I am grateful for the opportunity to receive an audio copy of this book over a written one. The pacing and narration made it 10x easier to sit back and enjoy the story, freeing up my brain from stumbling over pronunciation and allowing me to ponder the larger mystery at work.

Beautiful, empowering, and rich- I can't wait to see what Melissa grey has up her sleeves next.

[Thank you to NetGalley and RecordedAudio for an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.]

this will definitely appeal to fans of mackenzi lee...i just was looking for something with a bit more nuance and i find uber badass heroines tiresome...especially when the author is trying so hard to make them so kickass & edgy...

The concept for this book was great, and the beginning was promising, but overall, it didn't live up to my expectations.

First off, this book isn't really about vigilantes at all. Yes, our two main girls get into fights pretty often, but it's not like they're out there solving crimes and catching bad guys. Yes, they sort of try to solve one crime in particular, but they don't figure things out at all and are handed the solution on a silver platter.

This book follows two girls, Kiki and Ana, who have a difficult relationship. Because on the one hand, there's a class difference between them, with Kiki being from the rich elite, and Ana being from the slums, but on the other hand, Ana has been accepted into Kiki's family, which makes them almost like sisters. At least they both see their brother (Kiki's biological brother) as brother. But they are also in love.

Despite this being presented as teen vigilantes, this is really mostly a romance, and not a very good one at that. Both girls like each other as the book starts and are pining for the other. We read this from both viewpoints, so it's painfully obvious to the reader, yet not to them. I don't mind that. I do mind the lack of development in their relationship after that. Like they suddenly openly admit they like each other, but the steps toward that make little sense to me? There's little discussion about their feelings so they go from not knowing the other loves them to knowing, but it's never explained how? Maybe I just missed that?

You could call this book actionpacked, because there are certainly a lot of pointless fights, but there's very little that happens to actually further the plot. Which makes the plot very weak, because it's barely there. And there's also very little character development or relationship developments, which makes me wonder what exactly was the point of this book? I was bored for a large part of it, because nothing <i>of importance</i> happened.

I enjoyed the setting of this book a lot, and that was probably my favourite aspect of it. I haven't read many historical fiction books set in South America, but I certainly want to read more now. I really liked that this book was set in Peru and learning about Peru in the 17th century was fun. But the characters also often talked in ways that felt waaay too modern. This book is actually based on historical people so it was very much possible to tell their story in a way true to the time period, and I feel like it's such a pity that this wasn't done. It was really jarring.

This book discusses several difficult topics, like suicide, mistreatment of women, torture, childabuse, rape, etc. Some of it was handled well, other things less well, but overall it was fine.

The audiobook was fine. It's not the best I listened to, but also not bad in any way. The two pov's are very clear, and it's decently told but it wasn't anything special and couldn't save this book. I struggled to get through this, despite actually really enjoying the first few chapters.