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

4.0

I honestly thought this book was going to be much more gritty and late-teenish in its tone so I was somewhat surprised by how the drunken antics of the protagonist came off as heavily juvenile. In retrospect it makes a lot of sense though I do feel, to a certain extent, the obvious romance which could be seen to be blossoming between the protagonist and another character was kept on hold for a plot conclusion that I saw coming from a mile off (I'd rather it was addressed earlier at a time that made more sense: I'm not a fan of teasing the romance out of a story) . Still, I think this book put a unique spin on the historical coming of age queer novel in that it feels like the main bulwark of its genre that I will compare others to now. It was a fun little reading romp but not the most challenging or hard-hitting. Still, that didn't mean it wasn't fun and that I won't be reading the rest of the series if I can help it. This was well-written but felt a bit.... Elementary and is if it was suited for a younger audience. I got plenty a snappy quote from it so I'm pleased as punch. It must also be noted that this book tackles some key notions that others stray from including queerness, disability and racism which I found was pretty fantastic of it to do.