The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue: A Witty LGBTQ+ Historical Romance Where Friendship Becomes Love Across 18th-Century Europe (Montague Siblings, 1)

This was unexpected. I was convinced that this was going to be a fun, lighthearted story and boy was I wrong. It's still a fun story, but lighthearted? Not so much. I don't know if it's just ignorance on my part and misinterpreting the marketing for this book, but this is pretty dark stuff. Admittedly, it's been a while since I've read YA, but in romance, you can usually tell when a story is going to be full of angst, or the tone of the story from the blurb. But, I think in this case, I really didn't. GGTVAV is an adventure and a coming-of-age tale set in Europe during the 1700s.Monty is 18-years-old and is ready to embark on a Grand Tour across the Continent with his best friend, Percy. Monty has been kicked out of Eton and his father hopes that by sponsoring his tour, Monty will grow up and be deemed mature enough to learn how to run the family estate. Monty is reckless and passionate about having fun and doing whatever he wants. The one thing Monty has wanted and never voiced is that he is in love with Percy. Percy isn't what one would expect from high society England. Percy is black. No matter than he's English and grew up in a wealthy household with all he's ever needed, most people during that time are less than kind towards him. Accompanying Monty and Percy on their tour is Monty's younger sister, Felicity, and their chaperone of sorts, Mr. Lockwood.This story takes many wild turns, none of which I was expected. It's not simply a story of Monty, Percy, and Felicity traveling the cities and seeing the tourist sites. Perhaps at the beginning, but misfortune seems to hit the traveling crew quite fast after Monty does a very Monty thing, and the group is soon escaping one harrowing trial after another.I do very much like the sense of adventure and a set goal the trio embark on (Mr. Lockwood is conveniently misplaced along the way). GGTVAV gives a lot of insight to how life might have been light for traveling companions, one being a disreputable son of a lord, one a black man, and one a girl.Before starting this book, I think it would have been nice to have had some trigger warnings listed with the blurb? I did look afterward and couldn't find mention of anything on the official listings of the book, so I was taken by surprise. Honestly, I just was not expecting this book to be what it was at all. Just for everyone's awareness, trigger warnings for this book includes ableism, domestic abuse, homophobia, and racism. In turn, this book is much darker than I anticipated? But, I did appreciate that everything was challenged along the way by other characters and addressed almost immediately when something came up. I did like how PTSD and chronic illness were addressed and presented in this book. There is a moment where it seemed like chronic illness would have a magical cure-all, but the author manages to address this appropriately, I think.The journey truly is fun. It never gets dull, because we get taken from scene to scene pretty quickly. The book, judging by the page length, seems daunting at first, but it's easy to get sucked into the story. We only ever see the story from Monty's point-of-view, so some aspects can be skewed. However, we do see Monty grow as person, and mature throughout this book. His love for Percy is so adorable and seemingly unrequited, but it melts my heart. Percy, bless his heart, puts up with a lot of Monty's immaturity and his spoiled, privileged, lifestyle. Monty drinks and says whatever he likes, and Percy knows that he does not have the same privilege to do so as Monty does. Percy is a kind, and very, very patient soul. I love Monty and Percy together. They are small cinnamon rolls made up of pent-up sexual frustration and miscommunication. They are adorable and must be protected at all costs.Felicity, on the other hand, needs no protection. This girl has got everything under control. I only wish to be half as knowledgable and as fierce as Felicity. She even sews her own wound back together, in a very what, like it's hard? moment. I absolutely cannot wait to read her story in the next book! There's also suggestion that Felicity is somewhere on the ace spectrum, so I'll be very glad to see it confirmed in book two as well. Also, pirates!Sidenote, but I do find the GGTVAV title quite unfortunate. The full title is, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, and it's something I cannot ever get correct without looking at the title while I type or say it. I keep getting it confused with the musical, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, otherwise known as GGLAM, which officially opened on Broadway in 2013. They are nothing alike in nature, except for the similar titles and the fact that the lead character is also called Monty. Hence, why every time Monty is mentioned in this book, I get a song from the musical playing in my head. Maybe that's why I was initially under the impression that GGTVAV was going to be more lighthearted than it turned out to be.Overall, I really did love this book and the characters. It really did feel like traveling through Europe on an epic journey. I really don't read historical fiction all that much, and to have a LGBT YA historical fic? This has been perfect. This book doesn't shy away from perhaps what some may find uncomfortable topics in 1700s Europe since the story isn't centered simply around white, straight high society boys. Instead, the author has managed to write a brilliant book with diversity and a sense of what life might have been like for two boys simply in love, what it means to be a black boy in the upper echelons of English society, and what it means to be a girl who doesn't want to go to finishing school and wants to study medicine. GGTVAV is a wonderful book and I highly recommend checking this book out!!***I received a copy of this ARC at TLA from HarperCollins***

Set in the 18th century, during the reign of sickly boy-king Louis XV (of France)--First person narrator Henry "Monty" Montague, a teenage spoiled lordling has recently been expelled from Eton, due to his antics (& his poor academic record), but it set to make his "grand tour" of the continent (despite not having graduated) before he is destined to settle down and settle into his Lordly estate-managing duties. He has also recently come to the realization that he is passionately in love (unrequited) with his childhood best friend Percy, who happens to be a mixed-race bastard being raised by his Uncle ("Uncle?") at a neighboring estate--not to say that Monty's love for Percy particularly hampers his tendency to be attracted to every other person he meets on his adventures, both the boys and the girls, naturally. Percy will be accompanying Monty on his grand tour, and continuing on to law school in the Netherlands after, and Monty plans to have one year-long party filled with drinking and debauchery. Unfortunately, Monty's kid sister has also been assigned to accompany them, on her way to finishing school on the continent, as well as an especially annoying "bear-leader"--a babysitter who has been hired by Monty's displeased father to guide the boys in filling up on culture (museums and operas galore!) and making contacts with the stuffy old codgers Monty is expected to have to deal with for the rest of his life (note that the girl-child, opposed to her wishes, is not invited to the art museum and lecture series scheduled for the boys, but is supposed to be embroidering and playing the harpsichord). The hapless and fairly worthless Monty manages to make a mess of everything--what he is supposed to be doing and his personal relationship(s)--in his efforts to enjoy the hedonistic lifestyle he wants to have. His descriptions of the décor at the palace Versailles, where he is required to attend a boring party filled with those stuffed shirts are hilarious, and he of course makes a mockery of everyone and everything there, thereby gaining as a nemesis the powerful Duke of Bourbon, the power behind several thrones of Europe currently, and he also steals what he believes to be a worthless trinket, setting in motion a series of events that form the core of the novel. Pursued across France, Catalan and the Mediterranean by various nefarious folks--"highwaymen" ambush them on the road to Marseilles, effecting the separation of the 3 teenagers (yes, the sister will be accompanying them on their new "tour"--and it is a smashingly good thing, considering her medical knowledge and skills come in handy multiple times) from their irritating chaperone, but their wild adventures are only beginning with the highwaymen, since they have to figure out the mystery of the stolen "trinket" and then track down an alchemical artifact with magical properties that everyone wants to recover before it is lost forever, and pirates come into play as well. Well, "Pirates," they turn out to be the world's worst pirates, but well, you will see when you read it, because of course you must! For those concerned about the narration by the juvenile-in-so-many-ways Monty, he turns out to be charming and funny and introspective and eventually gets some personal growth--but in the meantime, his haplessness in repeatedly getting caught and then talking himself out of prickly situations is very very entertaining in a funny and over-the-top way--I lol-ed many times. The language is somewhat in the style of 18th-century lingo, causing me to have to look up many terms (okay, some of them were more Britishisms)--but the characters also spoke in a way that was 21st-century enough to make it easy reading--as if we were reading a translation (just as when you read a novel about people speaking in a foreign language like, say, Catalan or French, most of the time, the written dialog is in English even though we know the characters are supposed to be actually speaking French or Russian or Italian or whatever). As a light-hearted adventure novel, I really could find no fault at all with this book; it was purely delightful to read and I cared about the main trio of characters and what would happen to them--and look forward to reading the next installment, which I gather will be narrated by the sister, Felicity.

I loved this book so much. First up, the humour is wicked. I laughed out loud so many times I lost count. I adored the relationship between Monty and Percy SO MUCH. So much, I have a hangover and wish I could see what happened to them next. Their characters were well developed and I thought the arcs were well executed and I felt for all the characters. The sister was brilliant as a secondary character too.The reason this is 4 stars instead of 5 is for a couple of reasons, I think it was a little slow in places. I also thought the ending was rushed and would have liked a bit more of an epilogue. The climax of the main relationship while resolved doesn’t feel 100% satisfactory because it’s resolved and then the book ends abruptly. There’s not enough closure for me.I love the world building and historical setting, I thought some of the political and racial issues in the book were well done though they made me slightly uncomfortable because of how they played out. Though these would be true to that era.I thought the exploration of the character’s sexuality was brilliant. Particularly brilliant given the era and setting of the novel.This book is so close to 5 stars. I adored it and would highly recommend this to anyone after a good quality story.

On their Grand Tour of Europe in the 1709s, everything that can go wrong goes wrong for Monty, his sister Felicity and his best friend Percy. What starts with a naked stumble through the gardens of Versailles ends with a blown-off ear in Greece.This book is sometimes funny but then it has to be when it deals with violence, substance abuse and homophobia. The rest of the time it is one breathless adventure after the next. And that's where my problem lies with the story: Too much happens. I know, most of the time people are complaining about too little happening but here, it's as if so much happens that I just didn't care much any more by the third or fourth life-or-death situation. It doesn't help that Monty, our hero, is not a very likeable person. He takes about 480 pages to realise that he is entitled and spoiled and should maybe change his ways. But by then, the book is over.I still recommend the book to everyone who is a fan of YA literature, because I know they will love it. Can't wait for the inevitable mini series to hit our streaming services very soon .

By Jove, this book was good!I had no idea what to expect from The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue except that I'd seen so many people raving about how great it was.This book quite literally has everything in it I could ask for: grand adventure, love, friendship, sibling rivalries, sass, wit, mystery, deception, intrigue, slow burn romance, beautiful British humour, character development, a treasure hunt, pirates, gay and bi characters, diverse characters, and a strong-willed hellcat of a woman.The entire novel is a coquettish rogue that seduces you from the moment you begin reading.I adore the history in this book that sets the scene without being at all stilted or boring. I love particularly that we get to see what is probably an extremely realistic account of hormonal, ass-drunk teens during the period and all the amazingly fun and misadventures that follow.The characters are wonderful. Monty is an arrogant, privileged rogue, but it's all part of his lovable charm. He has trials and torments that he needs to face, he misses the signs that are right in front of him, and in his own innocent ignorance, his mouth gets him into all sorts of trouble. But, it's Monty's witty, rambling, very heartfelt and at times naive narrative that really won me over."Lucky for me as well, or else we might never have met, and then what would have been the point of my life?"I love that Monty isn't ashamed of who he is, or who he fancies, but that it's others who have the problem. He isn't actually afraid to express himself and I love that about him."I’ve always been of the mind that subtlety is a waste of time. Fortune favors the flirtatious. And by now, if Percy doesn’t know how I feel, it’s his own damn fault for being thick."In case you hadn't guessed by now, this is a story with many themes. It's a love story, a coming of age story, a story of friendship, of loyalty, of overcoming fears and oppression."Rather, it is simply the tale of how two people can be important to each other their whole lives, and then, one morning, quite without meaning to, one of them wakes to find that importance has been magnified into a sudden and intense desire to put his tongue in the other’s mouth."(I can't stop quoting this book!!)Percy is Monty's best friend and he's the epitome of sweetness. He's loyal, steadfast and I want him to be my best friend!"Percy had avenged me when no one else would look me in the eyes."Then there's Felicity. An amazing heroine who I was so excited to find out has a book of her very own coming out later this year!! YAY!! Felicity is sassy, intelligent, sharp and unafraid to be herself. She also incidentally delivers one of my favourite lines in this entire book!“Ladies haven’t the luxury of being squeamish about blood,” she replies, and Percy and I go fantastically red in unison."(No, they do not!)The adventure that these three unlikely heroes undertake is packed full of hilarious moments (like this) -"Which is how I come to be running through the gardens of the Palace of Versailles, dressed only as Nature intended."(I really need help! I told you I couldn't stop quoting this book!)Alongside, fight scenes, lots of 'almosts', lingering touches, longing glances, near misses (and near kisses) and through it all, Monty's beautiful, touching narrative that takes this story to new heights and depths."We are not broken things, neither of us. We are cracked pottery mended with lacquer and flakes of gold, whole as we are, complete unto each other. Complete and worthy and so very loved."If you haven't read this book yet, do it.In the meanwhile, I'll still be over here quoting every single line and counting down the days until The Ladies Guide to Petticoats and Piracy is Released!A resounding 4.5 stars from me!!

This book was everything that I hoped it would be and more. I read it alongside listening to the audiobook, and let me tell you, Christian Coulson can talk to me with that gorgeous voice of his all day and I will never grow tired of it!The story itself was amazing. An adventure. A romance. It had pirates!! It made me so happy to see such a wonderful bi character in Monty. There was also gay rep and I'm certain there was a-sexual rep, which I hope will be made more clear in The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy! There was a strong female, a character with epilepsy, one of the main trio was a POC, and I don't think this book took a single wrong step. It's tied with Strange The Dreamer as my favourite book of 2017.I've got so much praise for this book. I might even read it again soon. I cannot wait for the next adventure!

Let's be honest, this is very much my kind of book. I'd been excited for this book to come out for months and I was absolutely terrified that the reality would end up a disappointment... I couldn't have been more wrong—if anything, this book exceeded even my impossibly high expectations. I gotta admit that I'm a complete sucker for fun historical fiction featuring an LGBT+ protagonist (and, frankly, there's just not enough of it). But this novel is many things: it's fun but it's serious; it's wild but it's thoughtful; it's sweet but it's dangerous. Monty, our protagonist, is, at times, a bit of an idiot, but never does he stop being utterly endearing (even without seeing the dimples, one can almost sense their presence...) The established relationship with Percy and the developments it makes throughout the book are kicky-heel good, and the discussion of racial and sexuality issues at the times shows Lee's background in history and affinity for research. And despite the male-centric cast, the strong and smart Felicity is a wonderfully refreshing female character to come out of a book set in the 18th century. Reading this, I often found myself turning pages far too late into the night, unaware of the time passing as I was so engrossed in it. (I would say the only issue I had with it was the fact that Monty's complete ignorance of the stigmas Percy faced as a person of colour was never really dealt with or resolved—but perhaps that was the point, to highlight their differences despite coming from the same elite class? Unsure...) In short: this is now one of my absolute favourite books, and I think I'm going to go and read it again. Like, right now.