Hello all, and a Happy New Year to you and your families! Upon several requests from my dear followers, I’ve finally gotten around to reading a duology that has been on my TBR for a while. I can’t believe I waited so long to read this; it was absolutely stunning!
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“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.”
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee is a sweet and funny adventure taking place in the 1700s, when The Grand Tour was in fashion. The Grand Tour was a trip to important cities in Europe (or the Continent as it was known back then) meant to be taken by upper-class young men to allow them to gain worldly experience after completing their education at prestigious academies. Henry ‘Monty’ Montague is one such young man, but he is a disgrace, a one-man bisexual wrecking ball. He sins by drinking his worries away and sleeping with women and men alike, and has recently been kicked out of a fine boarding school. Monty has few worries in life, being raised the son of a nobleman, but that does not mean he does not suffer. His father is cruel to him, leaving Monty with bleeding skin and a permanently bruised heart. His sister ignores him and his mother is more concerned with his youngest sibling. Also, Monty is desperately in love with his best friend, Percy Newton. Monty and Percy are set to leave for the Continent with Monty’s sister, Felicity, to go with them for two months, and Monty’s father demands that Monty cease his drinking and sodomy, or he will be disowned. The three young adults leave, and Monty vows to spend the entirety of the year lost in the hedonistic pleasures of youth. But when Monty accidentally steals a priceless artifact and ends up the subject of a Continent-wide manhunt, he will uncover secrets about medicine, his family, and the boy he loves amid a backdrop of gunfights, piracy, and the effervescence of young love.
“A small shift in the gravity between us and suddenly all my stars are out of alignment, planets knocked from their orbits, and I’m left stumbling, without map or heading, through the bewildering territory of being in love with your best friend.”
This novel is a beautiful period piece reminiscent of the follies of youth, the pain of disappointment, and the blooming joy of love. Taking place at a time where same-sex couples were not condoned, women were not to be allowed a higher education, and dark-skinned people were not considered worthy of many privileges, Lee brings to life the story of three youths who defy the societal ideals of the time to live their own lives. She gracefully touches on the ingrained homophobia, sexism, and racism of the time through a young, white, bisexual male character trying to overcome the stigma he has been taught to be a better person for his sister, his friends, his love, and himself. Felicity is headstrong and intelligent, determined to become a doctor, no matter her sex. Percy is polite and level-headed, a young coloured person following Monty around the world and trying to protect him from the dangerous world. Monty is carefree and wild, a young man learning how to be better than what he has been made into in order to pursue the life he wants with the boy he wants to live this life with. Through a complex and diverse cast, 1700s-esque prose illustrating Monty’s thoughts, and words that bring these vibrant European cities to life, Lee illustrates a tale of breaking ties, finding new friends, and learning to, first and foremost, love yourself, in order to fully love the other people in your life.
“The first step will be unlearning all the things you’ve taught me for my entire life. It took several thousand miles for me to begin believing that I am better than the worst things I’ve done. But I’m starting.”
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