Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

48 reviews

farmpaws's review against another edition

4.0

Re-read this for 2024 as I haven’t read it in ages. I still love it! I no longer support this author but if you can get a copy second hand it is well worth it. This book is my Exception; YA and 1st person POV are usually not my jam but something about this is so delightful.
Monty is the perfect character to tell this story, which is both about plot and about personal growth. He is cheeky and self centred, but he also loves greatly, and struggles to find himself between wanting to protect those he loves and save his own skin. End of book Monty would not be able to stand himself at the beginning of the story.
It has some historical holes in the language use and fashion descriptions, also in the fact that the year itself is not specifically mentioned (the difference between decades in the 1700s is enormous) but for a YA that doesn’t matter so much. I doubt most people care if a Duke incorrectly uses lower class slang.
Either way, this is an enjoyable and fun adventure that is suitable for older YA readers (I would say 17+ because of extensive, but not explicit, sexual content. Monty is 18)

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komiification's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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saltypiratewench's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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changelingreader_adrian's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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adalinemccormick's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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nonnavlis's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was such a delightful read! The writing style of the author is so marvellous. It's not at all short on evocative prose, but never the sort that trips you up; it reads so smoothly and is also quite witty. I'm someone who is just branching into more modern writing and often struggle with a dislike of the style of it, but this was great. The completely unrestrained queerness was also very delightful and the characters are engaging. It's unrealistic in the good way--you probably won't see the story beats coming and they're a bit silly when they do, but in a way you want to happen because it's all the more fun.

It was also lovely to see some unexpected disability representation later in the story! (I am not considering this is a spoiler as it's something I would've wanted to know as a disabled person, but sorry if anyone feels a bit cheated in my saying so).

The only problem I had with it was the handling of racial tension within the story. I respect the author's desire for some diversity and their certainly earnest and well-meant attempt at handling it, but it did feel pretty simplistic and glossed over in a way I expect a reader of colour would find even more awkward/uncomfortable than I did as a white reader. It's unfortunately one of those stories that probably would've benefited heavily from some sensitivity readers that it seems it did not have. The fact that the author even has an author's note chapter at the end of the book dedicated to summarizing her historical research and influences (where she refers to slave-owners as masters rather than enslavers which felt to me like a pretty glaring sign of lack of knowledge in this area), but still fumbled this as much as she did is why I've removed half a star from my rating. I did see after finishing that this is part of a series so I'm hoping it will be handled better in future stories, since we all have room to learn.

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