The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

Ah, boys. No wonder they drive us all crazy. Maybe I've gotten too used to wise-beyond-her-years leading ladies, because I was utterly thrown by this complete mess of a boy that is Henry Montague. Rake, scoundrel, and hopelessly in love. How do they even function?

From the beginning of The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, Henry Montague's Grand Tour does not go as planned. Instead of a raucous year of drinking and seducing his way across the continent with his best friend and love of his life, Percy, they're saddled by his father's strict rules and a bear-leader keen on exposing them to culture rather than, ya know, “culture” wink wink nudge nudge. Thankfully, things get out of hand quickly when in Paris, Monty spitefully steals a trinket from the Duke of Bourbon that turns out to have untold value, and they end up on the run from highwaymen, captured by pirates, and seeking out a master of alchemy in pursuit of a magical cure for all ills.

Yeah, I definitely didn't expect the touch of fantasy that this book has. I still feel fairly confident categorizing it as historical fiction, and the fantasy aspect is period appropriate. I don't want to say it felt unneeded - because what is when it comes to fiction? - but it isn't exactly what I came here for. What I did come for was flirting, petticoats and lots of silliness. And there was plenty of that. There was even some very sexy make-out scenes. That said, despite the adult-leaning content level, this feels like its on the younger end of the YA spectrum. The narrative devices, the mishaps and misunderstandings, are on the goofier side, but somehow not goofy enough for me. This book is very much sincere, therefore its not going for camp, but what it nails emotionally it doesn't quite capture narratively.

The emotional weight was absolutely there. Our three central characters - Henry, his sister, Felicity, and Percy - all represent different sides of a some of the more oppressive parts of their society. Felicity is a woman who wants nothing more than to study and learn when she's only expected to look pretty and make babies; Percy is a biracial black boy raised in a white aristocratic society who turns out has an illness that ostracizes him from that society even further; and Henry, the most privileged of the three, is a young queer man dealing with the endless physical and emotional abuse of his father that has left him depressed and traumatized. As the the three of them run for their lives, they also confront the secrets they've been keeping from one another and figure out how to accept and live with those secrets.

This book is difficult to rate for me, at least by Goodreads typical star ratings. For me, it's a solid 3.5, but rounding up makes more sense than rounding down. I giggled, swooned, and overall found it incredibly easy and fun to read. That said, the plot meanders in some unnecessary ways. Personally, I think the pirates should have showed up way sooner. And Monty and Percy's constant waffling between passionate lovers and frustrated friends was both delightful and infuriating. Boys! What will we do with you? Monty plays just about every role in this adventure story - the dead weight, the hero, then the damsel in distress - and his growth, while frustrating when he stumbles, is actually very satisfying by the end. This book is exciting, sweet and light-hearted (except when it when it decides to get a little heavy), it's aim just wobbles from time to time.