The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue
Ratings265
Average rating3.9
Pues, me da pena decirlo, pero... ¡UGH! Es culpa de Morty... ¿Morty? Lo siento, el personaje principal. Es demasiado odioso y no puedo con él. Si yo fuera su hermana, una buena zarpada le hubiera dado para que dejara la vaina y se comportara como un hombre. No creo que vaya a poder terminarlo algún día.
Dnf 10%
The blurb made this sound great but it wasn???t at all what I expected. I should???ve read a preview because it was clear from the start that it wasn???t going to be my type of book. Monty was unlikeable and I didn???t fancy being stuck in his head for another 90%
Fijne luchtige kost (en nog doelgroep ook, gelukkig niet zo zwaar als die vroeger waren ;-) over een uit de hand lopende Grand Tour, met piraten op de koop toe.
What a delightful surprise this book was! I absolutely loved the characters and their inner journeys along with their madcap adventure. Talk about turning the Grand Tour on its head.
The book deals with the queer, race and disability issues with honesty and grace.
I was SO thrilled when Monty and Percy did indeed find their way to each other.
Can't wait to read on about Felicity's adventures!
This book was INCREDIBLE. I expected a fluffy little romcom and I did get that, but I was delighted to discover this book was also very well written and interesting beyond the romance, delving into deep topics without becoming very heavy, and with a fascinating and creative adventure. It was lovely watching Monty learn and grow from his own point of view - I love nothing more than an unreliable narrator! Do yourself a favor and read this book.
Ooo! A book got 5 whole stars! Usually, that means it did something extraordinary, and it did exactly that! I have never been so sure I wanted to buy a book in my life!
Beyond that, I suppose I should talk about the book. This book is utterly fascinating for a variety of reasons. For one, it's grounded in history but it's not bleak for the characters of color. Slavery is mentioned, as it somewhat has to be for a book set in the 18th century, it's not weighing heavily on the narrative. A second thing is that
This was a rather nice adventure, though the historical details didn't sound too true to me. (Like, according to Mackenzi, it takes two weeks to sail from Barcelona to Genoa. It doesn't.) It was a bit bothersome. Not enough to disturb the reading experience, Mackenzi Lee is a good author, I think. (Well, yeah, 4 stars).
I like the solution of the book and look forward to reading the continuation.
7.5
spepp ??? Yesterday 8:50 PM
really really fun read, really good writing too. it's the type of book i can see becoming a gigantic thing on 2013's tumblr.
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I needed a break to read something light and was rather impressed. Would totally make a good minisseries.
I was expecting a book about a bisexual scoundrel, and I got a book about a bisexual scoundrel, but with an added bonus of adorable love interest, cool asexual sister, and an interesting exploration into childhood trauma?
Wowwwww this book was fantastic! I love Monty and Percy with all my heart and their love story is fantastic! I also found the mystery aspect so compelling and found that everything this book did continued to fascinate and amaze me! This may be the best book I've read all year!!
READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!
For being a bit of a throwaway pickup, I ended up enjoying this immensely. It was much more action-packed than I expected and I really respected and appreciated that it didn't shy away from the more realistic topics and reactions of its era.
This book was a pleasant surprise! I didn't expect to like it as much as I did, yet here we are. I was surprised to find that this book deals with a lot of different, heavy themes such as race in the 18th century, diseases and mental illnesses, and of course LGBT. It's as though [b:The Picture of Dorian Gray 5297 The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546103428l/5297.SY75.jpg 1858012] and [b:Around the World in Eighty Days 54479 Around the World in Eighty Days Jules Verne https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1308815551l/54479.SY75.jpg 4537271] had a meeting and produced [b:The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue 29283884 The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue (Montague Siblings, #1) Mackenzi Lee https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1492601464l/29283884.SY75.jpg 49527118].Percy's position as a non-heteronormative, biracial man in a time where both of those labels could get you killed, was refreshing to read, and added depth to the story. On the other hand, Monty's slow but steady progression of 1) understanding his friend's position and 2) understanding his own place in this society was also wonderful to read about. I loved the slow burn between the two, despite the obviousness of their mutual attraction for one another. Percy was especially endearing, and an angel to deal with Monty's antics (however, saying that, I still really enjoyed Monty's personality).As for Felicity, her treatment in the novel was equally satisfying as she did not adhere to the typical social conventions afforded to women in those days. Naturally, everything in this novel is painted over with a rosy hue to allow for a fictional, almost alternate history and society to take place. Still, it was a nice change of pace to read a historical fiction novel that talked about more than just ballrooms and young lords and ladies, and instead focused on important, underdevelopped themes.
I'm a sucker for a snarky MC with an ax to grind and lessons to learn. Monty totally fits the bill, and I thoroughly enjoyed taking the journey with him! Bonus points for the excellent audio production.
badass women and gays plus period time, everything that matters in one book. nothing but love for Mackenzi for writing this masterpiece
I liked it a lot. I would have loved to see more about Percy and Monty in a more ‘romanic' context (? but it was beautiful. In the first half i wanted to kill Monty for being such an asshole and i understand that it was for character development but it was so frustrating! Then he gets better at not being an idiot and is really exciting to read. Probably going to re-read it so i can have another perspective now that i already know what's gonna happen.
dnf at 19% because monty is annoying (managed to be both racist and sexist in the first 100 pages) and according to other reviewers he never grows so bye bitch
I mostly enjoyed this book. The main characters are FANTASTIC! I love Percy and Felicity most of all.
My biggest problem with this book was that it just kept going and going and going. Too many sideplots and new characters tumble into the story. Theft, and then highwaymen and then somehow they get to Spain and then there's pirates and the opera? So much stuff going on!! I think it could have been about 100 pages shorter than it actually is.
You are Henry “Monty” Montague, disastrous bisexual and son of an Earl.
Uh oh! You've said and/or done something stupid that's gotten you in quite a lot of trouble. Not even your perfect dimples seem to be able to save the day! Quick, do you:
A) wish you had something to drink
B) say and/or do something even more stupid and get into worse trouble
C) think about how much you want to make out with Percy
D) all of the above
Answer: it was a trick question, Felicity has already saved the day anyway.
4.5/5 rounded up because it was the gay historical romance road trip novel I never knew I needed.
I really wanted to like this book more. At first I thought I would like it more, even though the language lacks what I'm used to when reading books set in this time period, but I started to hate the actions Henry/Monty took and his rather dangerous drinking habits. I know it's all part of his character and probably because of his father, but it feels too much at some points in the story. I probably will give the second book a chance as well though because Felicity was my favourite character out of the bunch.
“I've always been of the mind that subtlety is a waste of time. Fortune favors the flirtatious.”
This book was pure gold. I loved every second of it. From the writing to the characters to the dialogues to all the issues this book highlighted. I usually know that a book is gonna be my favorite when I can't control my laughter reading it while I'm in office (oops). But I did have enough control to not laugh out loud there and make it home before bursting into full blown laughs.
Some of my favourite lines were:
- “I survive the rest of the conversation by imagining taking my empty coupe and shoving it either down his throat or up his arse.”- “I'm caught between wanting to smack the pox patches off this woman's face and to smack Percy because I'm still angry about our kiss. Perhaps I could get them both with a wide swing.” ( Oh God, Monty! :'D)- “The ambassador looks as though he's about to scold me, but he's distracted when his wig catches on a passing woman's and they're both nearly uncoiffed.” (OMG)- “We're not courting trouble,” I say. “Flirting with it, at most.”- “Just thinking about all that blood.” I nearly shudder. “Doesn't it make you a bit squeamish?”“Ladies haven't the luxury of being squeamish about blood,” she replies, and Percy and I go fantastically red in unison.” (Damn right, we don't!)- “It's beginning to feel like he's shuffling his way through the seven deadly sins, in ascending order of my favourites.”- “If the Good Lord didn't want men to play with themselves, we'd have hooks for hands.”- “We are not broken things, neither of us. We are cracked pottery mended with laquer and flakes of gold, whole as we are, complete unto each other. Complete and worthy and so very loved.”
And the award for the best line goes to,
“I am Sisyphus's damned boulder rolling down the damned mountain and I intend to flatten the rouge Dante beneath me.”
Yep, completely lost it at that!
The story was never dull for even a moment. Monty was a bit of a condescending arse in the beginning, but he goes through a lot of character development, and the way he was so hopelessly in love with Percy was very endearing.
The story ended up being a lot more serious than the first impression I had of it. It talked about diversity, social stigma, disability, backward thinking about mental illnesses, homophobia, patriarchy. All these issues were addressed without it seeming like they were being forced down your throat.
Pros:
• Lovesick Monty
• The amount of times Monty trips over the loose floorcloth in the study!! And Percy follows :P
• Pirates / Privateers
• Monty making obnoxious tea (which had something swimming in it)
• Percy hefting a sword :D (Riptide, baby!)
• Felicity being a badass.
• You've not broken your hand
• You've not been shot :))
• Percy and Monty being adorable!
Cons:
• Another father figure to exile to the depths of Tartarus
• Said father beating up and berating his son so much that he ends up believing he is useless
• Every time Monty flinched because of physical contact in the latter part of the book because of his godforsaken father!
Beware:
• Abusive families
• Alchemical potions
• Equivalent exchange (I had FMA flashbacks)
• Guns o_o
GOD i wanted to like this book i really did. i don't know if it was the historical fiction or the unlikable main character but this was such a letdown for me. took me over a month to read and i honestly wish i had DNF'd it when i started rolling my eyes halfway into the book. absolutely not for me.