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A review by ihateprozac
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
4.0
THIS IS SO FUN.
Everybody and their mum has been raving about this book, and I’m happy to say that I’m one of the flock and absolutely adored it. Gentleman’s Guide follows bisexual aristocratic brat Henry “Monty” Montague, as he embarks on a tour of Europe with his sister Felicity and best friend Percy. Monty is devilish and debaucherous and will sleep with anything that moves - but the only person he really wants is his best friend Percy. Henry’s European tour quickly goes awry, and the group find themselves caught in the middle of a complicated alchemical political plot stretching from Barcelona to France.
I listened to this on audiobook and can’t recommend it more highly - it’s narrated by Tom Riddle from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and his accent and narration are simply perfect for rogueish brat Henry Montague!
Without spoiling any of the major plot points, this was such a fun and adventurous historical fiction. I don’t tend to read historical fiction - particularly anything from the regency era - but this is what I want from the genre! Gentleman’s Guide is fun, funny, sexy, a little bit magical, and with so much unresolved sexual tension you could cut it with a knife. You might think you’ve seen unresolved sexual tension, but you haven’t seen unresolved sexual tension until you’ve read Gentleman’s Guide. I audibly gasped walking down the street in London while listening to the audiobook - that’s how good it is!
And my GOD it’s good to see some bisexual male representation within the genre. Monty is on page as sleeping with both men and women, and while he’s quite proud of his sexuality, it is contextualised in the time period quite well. There’s no delusion or idealism about it from the author - high society would not have easily accepted a bisexual male within their ranks at the time - and this is adequately portrayed in the story without getting too dark and depressing.
The only reason I haven’t rated this 5 stars is admittedly my own fault - my reading experience of this was tainted by consuming it during a reading slump.While I absolutely adored the audiobook when I did listen to it, my reading slump meant that I was reluctant to keep picking it up - stretching out what should have been a several day read out to several months. As such, it made the story feel drawn out and lacking a climax, but I think if i’d listened to it steadily over several days, I would’ve felt like I was on a whirlwind rollercoaster round Europe. Ya live and learn, I guess.
Overall: Gentleman’s Guide is a fun and sexy historical fiction tracking a bisexual bratty male protagonist as they embark on a tour of Europe. Hijinks ensue, shit goes down, and it’s just a barrel of fun! We get bisexual male representation, unresolved sexual tension, adventure, chases, and even a dash of magic. It’s just such a unique book in the YA genre right now, and deserves every bit of praise it’s receiving.
Everybody and their mum has been raving about this book, and I’m happy to say that I’m one of the flock and absolutely adored it. Gentleman’s Guide follows bisexual aristocratic brat Henry “Monty” Montague, as he embarks on a tour of Europe with his sister Felicity and best friend Percy. Monty is devilish and debaucherous and will sleep with anything that moves - but the only person he really wants is his best friend Percy. Henry’s European tour quickly goes awry, and the group find themselves caught in the middle of a complicated alchemical political plot stretching from Barcelona to France.
I listened to this on audiobook and can’t recommend it more highly - it’s narrated by Tom Riddle from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and his accent and narration are simply perfect for rogueish brat Henry Montague!
Without spoiling any of the major plot points, this was such a fun and adventurous historical fiction. I don’t tend to read historical fiction - particularly anything from the regency era - but this is what I want from the genre! Gentleman’s Guide is fun, funny, sexy, a little bit magical, and with so much unresolved sexual tension you could cut it with a knife. You might think you’ve seen unresolved sexual tension, but you haven’t seen unresolved sexual tension until you’ve read Gentleman’s Guide. I audibly gasped walking down the street in London while listening to the audiobook - that’s how good it is!
And my GOD it’s good to see some bisexual male representation within the genre. Monty is on page as sleeping with both men and women, and while he’s quite proud of his sexuality, it is contextualised in the time period quite well. There’s no delusion or idealism about it from the author - high society would not have easily accepted a bisexual male within their ranks at the time - and this is adequately portrayed in the story without getting too dark and depressing.
The only reason I haven’t rated this 5 stars is admittedly my own fault - my reading experience of this was tainted by consuming it during a reading slump.While I absolutely adored the audiobook when I did listen to it, my reading slump meant that I was reluctant to keep picking it up - stretching out what should have been a several day read out to several months. As such, it made the story feel drawn out and lacking a climax, but I think if i’d listened to it steadily over several days, I would’ve felt like I was on a whirlwind rollercoaster round Europe. Ya live and learn, I guess.
Overall: Gentleman’s Guide is a fun and sexy historical fiction tracking a bisexual bratty male protagonist as they embark on a tour of Europe. Hijinks ensue, shit goes down, and it’s just a barrel of fun! We get bisexual male representation, unresolved sexual tension, adventure, chases, and even a dash of magic. It’s just such a unique book in the YA genre right now, and deserves every bit of praise it’s receiving.