The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

Full review coming soon~ ( )

This book struck a perfect balance of sweet, swashbuckling, adventure, and sentiment.

While I enjoyed the adventure, there was just so much happening in this one little (ok, not little) book. Some more focus and depth to certain adventures or parts might have been lovely. I wouldn't have minded being more immersed in some of the cities or the relationships. It always felt like it scratched just beneath the surface before moving abruptly on. I will happily read the next book, without a doubt, because it was fun and funny without being too overboard on humor, and it was an all-around easy read. ( )

after recent events, i will no longer support this author so all my opinions are no longer valid.

Ahhhhhhhhh, I love this book so much!!!!! And I enjoyed it even more this time around!!

***First Read Review***

Edit: Okay, wait, so apparently I rated this 4.5 and WHAT?! No. It deserves all the stars!!! So I'm changing it to five like it deserves.

SO GOOD!!! I don't know why I waited so long to read this!! It was just so amazing!!

First off, it was really well written. The writing was so engaging, and I swear this book was almost impossible to put down! It was just super easy to read, while still standing out as being unique. I just really liked the writing style.

Second of all, I adored the setting. I've always loved history, and Mackenzi Lee just made it come alive. It was so rich and vibrant, it was hard to believe she hadn't visited those places herself back in the 1700s.
She obviously put a lot of effort into researching, and it showed.

The plot was also SO good! It was exciting and well woven, and just a really interesting premise.

And then there was the characters!! I adored the characters in this! They were what really stole the show.

Monty was amazing. I was actually unsure if I was going to like him at first... he didn't really make a great first impression on me. But I shouldn't have worried. Monty has easily found his place among my favourite protagonists of all time. He's amazing! He's such a flawed character, but he's really very kind hearted (even it if literally NEVER shows), and OH MY GOSH I LOVE HIM SO MUCH, and oh my heart aches for him! He's wonderful.

Percy was the absolute sweetest! He's just... so nice! It's always refreshing to read a character who's just nice and kind and sweet, and Percy is that character. And he's just so precious, and WHY MUST HE SUFFER?!?!

Also the romance is SO good, and I ship them SO much, and they're just perfect!

And Felicity is really amazing too! She's so badass and feisty and ASGKFFfFHJFKHJGKSJGKAFGJHHG I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't WAIT for Lady's Guide. Because I need more of this girl in my life.

All of the smaller side characters were great too, with lots of development, and just general awesomeness!

It's also super diverse! Aside from the obvious m/m romance, Percy is biracial, some of the side characters are POC, and I believe Felicity is asexual? I feel like I saw that the author confirmed this? So correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure she's asexual...

My ONLY complaint is that the beginning was really slow, and it took me absolutely ages to get into. It took nearly a hundred pages before it picked up the pace, and at least another fifty before I was really invested. The beginning wasn't bad, it was just a bit too slow.

Still though, this is an amazing book, and well worth the read. Highly recommend! ( )

I had seen this book around but never got around to it (also saw it's the first in a series), but saw it was available via Kindle Unlimited and thought it would be a good read for Pride Month. Monty's being sent off for the Grand Tour of Europe as is part of the education of young men in his station. But this is really about how his father wants him to "settle" down in his gambling, drinking and carousing with both men and women. Still, Monty's hoping to make the best of it with his crush, Monty, along with his younger Felicity who's coming along for a ride that turns out in a way no one expected.

It seemed like a fun romp (how could it not be with that cover and title?) but unfortunately...this wasn't for me. In fact, I found this book borderline unreadable. I'm not sure if it is because I don't care about rich people and their problems but I was bored from the start.

As noted in other reviews, the book does contain elements of racism, ableism, sexism. I'm not sure if the author was trying to make some sort of point in terms of historical accuracy but overall I'd say the book was simply "trying" too hard. There's also the romance between Monty and Percy plus the escapades Monty has but for a YA it seems on par. It wasn't fun or enjoyable or funny or even readable for me.

It's a pity. I thought I might read the other books in the series but I found this to be really painful although lots of people seemed to have liked it.

Would personally skip this one.