The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue (Montague Siblings, 1)

2/5

...I've always been of the mind that subtlety is a waste of time. Fortune favors the flirtatious.

Henry “Monty” Montague is a rake and a disappointment to his family. He drinks, he gambles, he shirks his responsabilities, and is promiscuos with partners of all sexes. His father gives him an ultimatum right before he goes on his Grand Tour of Europe: conform to the norms or be disinherited from the family fortune. Knowing this is the last time he'll be able to let loose, Monty heads off to Europe with his younger sister and Percy, his best friend and hopeless crush. But the Tour doesn't turn out quite the way he hoped after a reckless decision turns everything upside down.

This is the kind of book that either charms you and drags you into it's own quirky internal logic or completely loses you, sadly I happen to be in the second camp. The plot isn't heavy in the historical accuracy, it's more of a fantasy or a Bridgertonesque alternate universe and I could have looked past that if the characters had grabbed my attention or if the plot was good. Monty is the narrator of this book and I just never liked him. He never got over himself or showed any signs of positive growth nor was he, at least, interesting. Coupled with that is the mess that was the plot. I like to think about this as everything AND the kitchen sink. This book had everything (derogatory). It had aristocrats, robbery, multiple countries, a conspiracy, alchemy, PIRATES, you name it you have it. There was never any space to breathe, to connect with the characters and their actions.

The author should have focused more on the romance. I never cared for Monty and Percy together, in fact I don't think they're good for each other. Too much of their story happened before the book, and what I saw in the plot wasn't romantic. It also rested heavily on the miscommunication trope which is one of my most hated tropes. For me the moment that made me go yeah no was when Monty basically told biracial Percy to go act like the slaves at Versailles and how that was never really adressed. Like YIKES, that's the love interest??? In general the way race and racism was handled, or not handled tbh, in this book was questionable. Felicity was fine as a character, even if she came across as a 21st century feminist and not an actual girl in that time period, however I have zero interest in continuing with this series.

Enjoyable queer historical romp.

I enjoyed this more than I expected to! I honestly only picked it up because I was interested in listening to the 2nd book in the series on audiobook because it's narrated by one of my favorite narrators Moira Quirk. I actually really enjoyed the narrator of this book as well! I was worried at the start, since the main character who is the POV for the whole book seemed insufferable, but he and his companions (who were much more to my taste) were dragged on quite the adventure with a lot of growth along the way. There were many twists and turns, just when I thought I had figured out how the story was going to go some other mini adventure would pop up and some new characters would come into play.

Well let me tell you a thing… this book. Ugh. So much better then I could have ever expected. It’s funny and clever and I was sucked in right from the first page. This is one of the first books in a long time that I have really truly enjoyed from start to finish. I have read it non stop for the last little bit and I’ve given up sleep to read this. I love sleep!

I don’t know why it took me so long to read this. I’ve had it since July. Ugh. I don’t have enough words to describe how much I loved this. I can’t wait to read the sequel and the novella. Ohmygoodness. I can’t handle it.

- don't read this if all you're looking for is m/m romance it's not that kind of book! read it if you want a story with great representation, a ridiculous but incredibly well planned plot, a badass female character, and all kinds of plot points that provided so much depth to the characters because . Everyone suffers in this book. like really we have... (tw!!!) domestic abuse, homophobia, racism, sexism, chronic illness, the whole shebang. they're not used as sob stories though, which is what i really loved - they don't define the characters but they do make them stronger.
- i definitely got pissed at Monty sometimes. you will too. he is a douche approximately 70% of the time and drunk the other 30%, but his character development is one of the best things about this story - by the end he really grew as a person and became one of my favorite main characters probably ever?? you'll love him
- 4 stars though, because i'm ngl this book gets kind of slow/weird in the middle. the plot is, as mentioned, ridiculous. it gets better though stick with it!!
overall 100% would recommend :)