Now, I’ve talked about this book only yesterday, but I want to talk about it more. I know I’m super late to this party as I read this book only recently and everything there is to be said about this book has already been said. And written. And talked about.
But I still want to say my piece, so I’m just going to pop in a mini-review of The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee.
I first heard about this book at the beginning of the year through BookTube and I was super intrigued by it right away. Still, it took the enticing charm of a YouTube live show to take place at the ungodliest of hours on a cold Saturday night for me to pick this book up.
And. I. Loved. It.
So much so that I feel like I need to make this review. So here we are!
Without further ado, let’s jump right in!
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue is a young adult historical romance novel set in Europe in the 1700s. It follows the story of Henry “Monty” Montague, the son of a duke, who is something of a delinquent. At the beginning of the novel, Monty is sent on a “Grand Tour” across the continent of Europe by his father, before he is to return a year later to accept his responsibilities as the heir. He goes on this tour with his best friend Percy Newton- a biracial boy who is also the son of a wealthy English doctor (I think, don’t @ me, I didn’t google to check)- who he is hopelessly in love with, and his sister, Felicity.
The tour starts off well enough but it isn’t long before Monty gets tangled up in affairs way above his pay grade. The three get into a lot of trouble (read: adventures), and their hijinks are not just entertaining and dramatic, but also extremely hilarious! And that’s the plot summary of the story, essentially. Why do they get into trouble? What kind of affairs? What am I even talking about? I don’t give out spoilers, as a rule, so go read the book and find out.
The most amazing thing about this book for me was how it made me laugh out loud multiple times. Comedy is not an easy thing to pull off when it’s on the page. You could write dry, witty jokes and everything but the kind of comedy that you might see in, say, a sitcom is not something you see in a novel often. But The Gentleman’s Guide was funny like that. One of my favourite booktubers called this book a historical sitcom and I couldn’t agree more!
There are hilarious one-liners, and witty jokes galore…but there is also some genuine funny shit in here. If for nothing, this book deserves a read for that.
Another thing that really got to me was how this author didn’t shy away from representation just because the novel was set in the 1700s. Percy is biracial and he faces a lot of racism as he tours the continent. Monty is shown to have PTSD and he’s also bi/pansexual. His trysts with boys get him into a whole lot of trouble. And there’s more in there that I can’t tell you about.
The thing is, most authors shy away from this representation when they write books like this. A book set in the 1700s’ Europe- who expects anything other than straight white people, right? It’s the easy way out. If you don’t write a biracial kid, you don’t have to write about racism. If you don’t write a boy who likes boys, you don’t have to write about the homophobia. It’s not “impossible” or “unnecessary” to write a queer/PoC character in those times, it’s just convenient.
I love and respect Mackenzi Lee so much for not shying away from talking about these topics and writing about these things. They matter so much, even today!
And the thing is, she did her research. She didn’t just throw in a biracial kid for the kicks. She looked up if it was possible, she worked out a way through which it might have been and then she used that. She actually leaves a lot of her research notes at the end of the book, so if you missed out on them while reading the book, I suggest that you go back. There’s some really interesting stuff in there.
Now, about the characters!
I loved all the three main characters so fucking much, I can’t even! Felicity was the most badass of them all, in my opinion, and she was easily my most favourite character of the lot. I loved her so much and I’m so excited that she’s getting her own book and it’s coming out in October! I made a whole other post rambling about it and you can check it out here.
Percy was just this precious little Hufflepuff of a boy who was so lovely and so loveable. I just wanted to wrap him up in a bundle and protect him from everything bad in the world because I love him and he only deserves all the good things.
Coming to Monty, though….My. Lord. I’ll say this up front, he is not a character you will like right away. There is a huge possibility that Monty will annoy the living daylights out of you in the beginning. But as time progresses, you will start to fall in love with him. You will start to understand him and you will cry for him and laugh at him, because he is still a hilarious little bitch, and then you will want to throw the hardback copy of this book at his head because he is also a dumbass.
Monty’s character development in this book is one of the best character developments I’ve ever seen! Almost on par with Kaz Brekker from Six of Crows, in my opinion. Except, he’s the only character that does get developed. Everyone else just kinda sorta stays the same. It wasn’t really an issue for me, personally, but from a literary standpoint, I can see why this might bristle some people.
Coming to the romance…
Monty and Percy are just too adorable together, and their romance is the right mix of angst and fluff and I LIVE FOR THAT SHIT! They have the most adorable moments. I love how flustered Monty gets whenever he’s, like, close to Percy and I love how dumb he is around Percy and I just love how gay they are for each other! There was so much slow-burn in this one, I almost jumped into the book and smashed their faces together so they would finally just kiss already. I loved it, though. There’s this line somewhere in the middle…(wait I’m going to find it and add it here)
“I look over at Percy again. He’s still looking up at the stars, the silvery light from the moon slithering across the water and stitching skin. In the glow of it, he looks pearled and fine, like a boy fashioned from precious stones and the insides of seashells.” (Ch 11)
Do you see it? Do you see why I love them so much!!! The way they look and each other and interpret each other…the way they love each other…it’s just too cute to handle. Every time Monty approached Percy and said “Hello, Darling,” I SCREAMED!
And these descriptions and dialogues just make it that much better!
Which brings me to the writing in this novel. If you cannot tell from that wonderful little quote up there already, the writing in this book is just absolutely beautiful! It’s just lyrical enough for you to fall in love, but not too lyrical that it drags the attention away from the plot and the jokes, and makes things confusing.
When I first read this book, I did feel like the writing was a little inconsistent in places, though. It felt like it oscillated in between the ‘Proper Queen’s English’ of the 1700s and a few modern phrases here and there. It wasn’t too noticeable, however, and it didn’t really mar anything in the book as such. It was just something that struck me the wrong way.
I also found the pacing of the novel to be a little off in the first few chapters. Lee took her time establishing these characters and the setting and I appreciated that, but it dragged a bit for me. I couldn’t wait to get into the action of the book, so I felt like it was really slow and not well paced in those parts. Again, didn’t really ruin the book or anything. Just another small…inconvenience, one might say.
All in all, I loved this book so much and I gave it a 4.5/5 stars on Goodreads. I took half a star off for the issues I had with the book, but honestly, writing this review, I have half a mind to go back and change it to 5. I know this is in no way a literary masterpiece but it is so enjoyable and such a lovely little book that you can almost forgive all the flaws!
Let me just end this with my most favourite quote from the book-
“The first step will be unlearning all the things you’ve taught me for my entire life. It took several thousand miles for me to begin believing that I am better than the worst things I’ve done. But I’m starting” (Ch 30, Henry in a letter to his father)
I was hoping I would be able to make a small mini-review here but this one turned out to be fully fledged review. Oh, well.
If you guys haven’t read this book already, I totally recommend that you do. You’ll have a lot of fun, I swear. You can totally @ me about this. xD
If you’ve read this book, do let me know what you thought of it in the comments! Have a nice weekend, and, as always, Happy Reading! 🙂
P.S- I totally forgot about this, but the period costumes were just tripping me out the whole time. I was imagining bareheaded men and then the author suddenly mentioned a wig and it threw me off my game, and I’d sit there clutching the book and laughing to myself like a fool. Totally worth it.
The Doe's Musings... 