The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee is a young adult historical fiction novel.

Henry “Monty” Montague is a selfish, troubled teen struggling with the expectations of being a Lord’s son, as well as with his sexuality. Monty is in love with his best friend Percy, who is a POC.

Percy, Monty, and Felicity, Monty’s younger sister, go on a Grand Tour across Europe to have their final hurrah before settling down into their duties at home.

Monty plans to use this year abroad to find out if there really is anything romantic between him and Percy. However, his forever reckless behavior puts all three of them in danger.

This was filled with much more adventure than what I was expecting, as historical fiction isn’t a genre I pick up often. 

I loved the dynamic between the three characters, all so very different. Monty is reckless, you just want to give him a shake. Percy is loving and kind. Felicity is so brave for a woman in this time.

This explores so many different topics: sexuality, familial abuse, race, women’s rights and education, alchemy, mental illness, and probably so much more I didn’t explicitly pick up on.

I feel I may have loved it more if I read it physically. This was my very first audiobook and I found it hard to focus on it and multi task. I can’t wait to read the sequel which follows Felicity. I would recommend this to anyone who wants a fun, diverse, adventurous love story.

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