My Imaginary Mary (Mary #2)
Published August 2nd 2022 by HarperTeen, Hardcover 496 pages
It’s aliiiiiiiive! The bestselling authors of My Lady Jane are back with the electric, poetic, and (almost) historical tale of the one and only Mary Shelley.
Mary may have inherited the brilliant mind of her late mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, but she lives a drab life above her father’s bookstore, waiting for an extraordinary idea that’ll inspire a work worthy of her parentage—and impress her rakishly handsome (and super-secret) beau, Percy Shelley.
Ada Lovelace knows a thing or two about superstar parents, what with her dad being Lord Byron, the most famous poet on Earth. But her passions lie far beyond the arts—in mechanical engineering, to be exact. Alas, no matter how precise Ada’s calculations, there’s always a man willing to claim her ingenious ideas as his own.
Pan, a.k.a. Practical Automaton Number One, is Ada's greatest idea yet: a machine that will change the world, if only she can figure out how to make him truly autonomous . . . or how to make him work at all.
When fate connects our two masterminds, Mary and Ada learn that they are fae—magical people with the ability to make whatever they imagine become real. But when their dream team results in a living, breathing, thinking PAN, Mary and Ada find themselves hunted by a mad scientist who won't stop until he finds out how they made a real boy out of spare parts.
With comic genius and a truly electrifying sense of adventure, Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows continue their campaign to turn history on its head in this YA fantasy that’s perfect for fans of The Princess Bride and A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue.
User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
4.5 Stars
It was good and fun!
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
Rating: really liked it
MARY 2 will be titled MY IMAGINARY MARY and it will be about Mary Shelley and Ada Lovelace.
(Sorry, Marie Curie fans! We still love her, but for reasons we needed to move in a different direction.)
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5/15/21
Gold star to the GR librarian who changed the title to My Imaginary Mary! Thanks, GR librarian!
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10/20/21
Oh look, a cover!
Rating: really liked it
Mary Shelley AND Ada Lovelace AND fae AND it's compared to The Princess Bride and The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue? Thank you Lady Janies for writing a book specifically catered to me <3
Rating: really liked it
I’m currently going to take a break from this book, because it seems a bit too long for my liking. But I’m definitely going to pick it up again as soon as I’m in the mood for it, hopefully before the year ends.
Confession time: I was beyond happy and excited when
a while long time ago this book was supposed to be about Mary Curie, that has sadly changed and to be honest I was a bit devastated. But alas, turns out (after discovering about the cover and blurb reveal) the authors decided to write this book about Mary Shelley and Ada Lovelace instead, which is making me feel a bit less devastated and am actually looking forward to how the authors are going to combine these two masterminds together in one book.
Rating: really liked it
4.5 Stars for My Imaginary Mary: The Lady Janies (audiobook) by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows read by Morag Sims.
This was a fun take on the Frankenstein story. And it may have a little bit of Peter Pan thrown in too. The characters are so witty and interesting. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series.
Rating: really liked it
Give me all the Mary Shelley content. So ready for this!!!
I have to say, this is my favorite cover yet. Gorgeous!!
Rating: really liked it
Thank you to the publisher for sending me an copy to review! What can I say about this book? It was a fantastical retelling of Frankenstein? That it was hilarious in all the right places and still had impactful insight on topics we still deal with today?
Yes, to all the above!
I am a total fan girl when it comes to The Janies (My Jane/Mary books). I love when they take a pretty serious story and add things like animal shifters, werewolves, ghosts and this time, fae! Not the typical fae that everyone reads about, but people who can do MAGIC. So think people who can do magic, but also Frankenstein (and honestly a little Peter Pan too).
For those who love romance, there is a pinch in here, but I would say this is more of a platonic friendship book. The relationship between Mary and Ada was so pure and I love women supporting women. And then they supported Pan (the Frankenstein of the story) with such ferocity, UGH.
There's also a disability representation and I would say it was super well done. Ada doesn't let it hold her back and she is still the smartest, most intelligent person in the room. Then there is Pan who believes he is a human boy and by golly the girls are like "okay great, you are a human boy". And then Mary, who was looking for love in all the wrong places, realizes her worth in just the nick of time. And then her sisters? 10/10.
Highly recommend all of these books by these three ladies. They write so well together. I love that there is magic AND wit. Like it isn't a heavy read, it's more something you read when you want to read but nothing dark.
This review is all over the place, but I just have so much to say and no cohesive way to say it.
Rating: really liked it
Look at the comments about the book—Jodi Meadows has amended that the book will be about MARY SHELLEY and ADA LOVELACE instead of Marie Curie!!! Marie Curie is fantastic, really! The thing is that I wrote my senior honors thesis on Mary Shelley in college and I NEED more people in the world to realize how INCREDIBLE she was!!! And ADA!!!! The first computer programmer?!?! THIS DUO IS EVERYTHING I HAVE EVER NEEDED?!?!
I don’t mean to set my expectations too high, but this book is like...my heaven.
Rating: really liked it
Honestly, if you haven't started this funny, unique and smart series of books by these authors, then I can't stress enough - PUT EVERYTHING DOWN AND START NOW!
The first book was just as fun, quirky and sassy as this one. This one has Mary Godwin, better known in our time as Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein. It also has Ada Byron , loosely based on Ada Lovelace (who I didn't know before starting the story). Both are smart, spunky and just on the brink of needing to make their way in the world. Ada is an advanced mathematician and Mary wants to be an author and excels at thinking on her feet and having an elaborate imagination. I loved learning their world, how they work and how their lives are smashed together.
There is a bit of magic in this story. I loved how the magic transformed the story from one I thought I was getting to suddenly realizing I was getting another! It was so well done that I didn't even see it creeping up until suddenly I saw who everyone else could be, if I just looked at them a little different.
I love the silly references to songs and stories. I also always love the little comments from the narrator straight to the reader that were in both stories in this series. I loved the details and all the fun in the story. Honestly, this one was so enjoyable I just might read it again (and I never re-read!) I hope there are more in this series! I will absolutely read them!
A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
Rating: really liked it
Its ALIVE...its ALIVE!!!
Once again, this delightful author trio have put on their mad scientist caps to create a tale that fans will truly love. My Imaginary Mary takes on the world of automatons, fae, steam punk, historical "accuracy" to give you a fresh spin on Mary Shelly's, Frankenstein.
I thought this was an absolute delight and only made better by the audiobook. It weaves between multiple POV's but one never outshined the other.
Mary - the one who wants to write but can't find the right story, beau to Percy Shelley
Ada - daughter of Lord Byron, mechanical genius, held back by "the man" and also her mother
Pan - Ada's greatest creation...but she has to figure out how to make him work first...baby steps.
This one is full of humor, friendship, humanity and absolute lunacy and I loved it. I love the pop culture references that make me laugh out loud and all the funny moments that you can expect when reading a mary or jane book by these authors.
A fun, zany fantastical book for all ages. Thank you @epicreads for my gifted copy. I love these covers and can't wait to have this one on my shelves.
Nothing tops MY LADY JANE for me BUT I think this is my next favorite in the series.
AND FUN NEWS! My Lady Jane is in the works for a screen adaption and I have never been more shocked or excited by an announcement. Dreams do come true!
Rating: really liked it
Totally clever and funny read. This book had sarcasm, history, and a whole lot of 1800s fun that made for a entertaining read!
Rating: really liked it
Thank you NetGalley and publishers for the ARC!
This book was incredible! I've read the other books these authors have all cowritten and My Imaginary Mary is no exception to how brilliant these three are together. I thought the magic was inventive and different, I laughed and didn't realize how much I wanted to slap Percy Shelley.
Rating: really liked it
I wanted to love this, but it was just too long and took forever to get going. It's not bad, it's just not on the same level as My Lady Jane.
Rating: really liked it
Thank you to Edelweiss and the Publisher for an ARC of My Imaginary Mary!
Unfortunately, this book did not hold my interest very well.
I felt the humor in this one was stilted and awkward; it didn't have the charm that My Lady Jane and even My Contrary Mary had. The storyline itself was okay, but I felt like the characters needed to be fleshed out a bit more.
Overall, it was just a 3 star read for me--perhaps even lower.
Rating: really liked it
Definitely more of a 4.5 but I’m rounding up.
I have loved all of the Lady Janies books and the first of the Mary’s too, so it was never in doubt that I will read this one, and hopefully listen to the audiobook. And I’m glad I waited till I got the audio because this was a delight and probably my favorite of all these books. Let me decide while writing this review.
I’ve not read Frankenstein but I do know who Mary Shelley is, if not too much about her background, and similarly I only knew the name of Ada Lovelace and how she could be considered one of the earliest computer programmers. So it was actually quite fascinating to see the amazing author trio bring these two historical women to life as young women who are still discovering their passion in life. The writing is as fun as I expected, the audiobook narration is hilarious and top notch, and all the fourth wall breaking literally had me in splits. But through all the magic, possible necromancy, automatons, poetry and more, we also get to think about women of that age who must have been passionate about their pursuits but couldn’t do much about it because they were confined by their societal roles. And through one very surprising POV, we also get to ponder upon what makes one human, and what’s the difference between a human and a monster - and this theme is really prescient considering that Mary Shelley hasn’t written Frankenstein in this world yet. There’s also some amazing friendships here which warmed my heart, along with cool adventures which had me all excited.
Mary is a young woman growing up in the shadow of her more famous mother, and wants to be an author too - but she is still struggling to find that one story she wants to tell. She is resourceful and quick thinking and pretty good at getting herself out of tricky situations. Ada on the other hand is a math and science wiz who has so many ideas, and is already creating automatons and more. When an unlikely friendship brews between them due to the possibility of both being fae, we see them support and bolster each other every step of the way, encouraging one another in their ambitions. The trust that develops between them is wonderful and it’s always nice to see the possibility of two accomplished historical women being friends.
We are also supported in this super entertaining novel by a whole interesting cast of side characters. Mary’s sister Fanny is quiet and always worried about her needlework but it feels like there’s a lot she is hiding underneath that demeanor; their other sister Jane (or Claire) is much more boisterous and would love to be swept away by a charming man or be an actress or even just meet the illustrious Lord Byron. Byron only shows up on page for a little while but his presence throughout is noticeable, and his depiction isn’t too different from that of the pretentious historical figure. Percy Shelley is also a significant character but you just know right from the beginning that there’s something off about him. Ofcourse how can I forget Pan, our third POV character whom I don’t wanna talk about much except that I adored him completely and you have to read this book to meet him - don’t miss out.
In the end, this was everything I expected it to be and more. I was thoroughly entertained, got to meet many historical figures, experienced some delightful friendships and got to wonder about the nature of humanity. I think this is probably the best one out of all these books till date, but I’m also ready to be surprised by the next one, which apparently is titled My Salty Mary (it said so at the back of my copy of this book) and now I’ll be wondering who this salty Mary is about. Any guesses friends???
