13 REASONS WHY EVERYONE SHOULD READ 'THE GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO VICE AND VIRTUE' BY MACKENZI LEE

   

1. Can be used as both a book and decor

As you may have noticed already, this book has an exceptionally beautiful cover! It's definitely one of my favourite book covers ever and it represents what the book is about so amazingly, in my opinion. Not only is the cover gorgeous though, the book's spine is also a sight to gawk at.

So for the very impossible case that you should not like this book, it will still look stunning in your bookshelf. :D

 

   

 

2. The main character Monty aka drama personified

I always loved dramatic characters, and Monty tops them all. I adored him from page one onwards, because he is just an overly excentric , quite hysterical drama queen who is way too full of himself. And although one might not think this at first, he has so many layers and is a pure joy to explore and an amazing choice for a protagonist. Reading this story through his eyes made everything way more fun and entertaining and amusing and I just love him so much. I actually related to him so many times and was so happy that such a different and utterly unique character had been created by Mackenzi Lee, because I never before had the joy to read about anyone even remotely as fantastically entertaining as him.

I adored Monty more and more throughout the book, and I already loved him in the first chapter. :D There is so much more depth to him than one might assume at first, and I could relate to him so much because he has quite a similar mindset to me concerning a lot of things.

Whenever Monty self-doubted himself, I just wanted to hug him tightly and tell him how incredibly beautiful he was inside aswell. I loved that later on in the book that subject was actually dealt with more deeply.

 

 

 3. Monty & Percy's friend/relationship

Oh god, don't even get me started on this point :D Monty and Percy (who is Monty's best friend since forever) are my new ultimate OTP, I ship them so hard it hurts. So Monty makes it cristal clear from the very first pages on, that he is utterly in love with his best friend Percy but isn't quite sure whether Percy is into him aswell. Although I have lately rather distanced myself from romantic books, I will never ever be able to resist a gay lovestory... omg. That's why I adored reading about Monty's great love for Percy and did not ever find it in any way cheesy. The fact that these two didn't just meet each other but actually grew up with each other and had such a long and close bond, made it realistic for me that Monty talked about having such extreme feelings for Percy.

The author did such an amazing job in writing this oh so beautiful lovestory, that I always made sure that I would not get disturbed and was reading in a comfortable and silent place, whenever there was another Monty & Percy scene. I wanted to put my full attention on daydreaming about these two.

Their chemistry was electric, I felt it burning right through the pages and could not get enough of it. (That's probably the only thing I can complain about regarding this book, that it wasn't about a 1000 pages longer, which would have - according to me - been only heated Monty & Percy scenes, because I craved more of these so badly....)

I so wish that the author would write more about these two precious cinnamon roles, I NEED MORE!

 

 

 

 4. Monty's bisexuality

This fact was actually among the first ones that I heard about this book. After that horrid season 4 of SHERLOCK, which shattered my queer heart to pieces, I vowed to myself to drown myself in queer movies, series and books this year, so this queer aspect was something that made the book quite attractive for me. I loved that this fact wasn't just used to make the book more diverse but was actually talked about and greatly weaved into the story. It was especially interesting to read about bisexuality being dealt with in the 18th century, when this book is set. I loved how proud and natural Monty treated his sexuality, so that readers had no choice but to see it as a wonderful, natural thing aswell.

 

 

 

5. Percy's blackness

This book seems to tick all the boxes concerning diversity, which often makes one worry that all these diverse aspects have only been included to 'make' the book more diverse. Happily, this book does not just use diversity as a sort of accessory to make the book have more layers, but actually works diversity beautifully into the storyline and makes the diverse characteristics of the characters an important trait of them, which shapes them continually throughout the story.

Percy being biracial gets mentioned a lot, and since this book is set in a time when slavery wasn't yet abolished everywhere, his blackness gets him and his friends into rather uncomfortable situations.

So, him being black doesn't get glossed over but gets acknowledged properly. This is why I think that this book does a great job in having a black character as one of its most important characters. Although the author herself is not black, it is still important, to read about black characters, who are amazingly written, in my opinion.

 

 

 

 

6. Felicity's strength & fierceness

Felicity is the younger sister of the main character, Monty, and is the third most important character, after Monty and Percy. At first glance, she might seem rather unimportant, but let me tell you, she will so surprise you and make you love her during the book.

Felicity could be called a feminist of her time, since she is a fierce, independent, striving, strong and smart young woman who does not want to follow the paths that women in that time were expected to go. There are such great moments in this book in which Felicity outshines all the other characters, including both Monty and Percy, and as a female reader, these are just glorious and so much fun to read.

I loved how empowering she was regarding other women and how none of the men arround her were ever in the same street as she was.

This is why I am SO EXCITED that the author of this book, Mackenzi Lee, announced that there will be a sequel to this book, featuring Felicity as the main character. *-* I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS! The title for that sequel will be:

THE LADY'S GUIDE TO PETTICOATS AND PIRACY

How cool does that sound though?!?! Can't wait to read that! (And hopefully it will feature some more of Monty & Percy aswell... *wishful thinking*)

 

   

7. The Grand Tour

So what is this book actually about, let aside all the characters and their traits?

Apparently, during the time in which this book is set, in the 18th century, it was a common thing for wealthy young boys/men, who had just finished school, to do a so called 'Grand Tour' through Europe. The goal of those tours was to get the men more culturally invested and interested, to let them meet other wealthy men and thereby make useful connections, and to make the boys basically grow up into decent men and leave all their indecent manners, like drinking and too many women, behind.

In reality, though, these Grand Tours were actually much more fun and adventurous for the young men.

Now, "The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue" tells the story of Monty, who is a rich young man of 18 years, who is about to go on his 'Grand Tour' with his best friend Percy, and his sister Felicity. For Monty and Percy, this will probably be their last year together, because Percy will go to a law school in Holland after their tour, so Monty is excited to have as much time as possible alone together with Percy, before their paths will be divided.

They are all English and start their tour from Paris, and will go all over Europe from thereon.

I just loved exploring so many European cities with this book. They were all beautifully described and I enjoyed the constant change in setting so much, that it felt like I went with them on their tour.

I think that it's a brilliant idea for a book to portray this Grand Tour through Europe, because it basically guarantees lots of fun and adventure, alongside stunning scenery.

 

 

   

8. This book feels like a movie

I so so hope that they will make this book into a movie, because it already feels like one and seems to be destined to be put on the big screen. The previously mentioned settings would make up for such amazing scenery, the adventures in this book would make up for such an amazing plot and the characters are all so layered and diverse and would therefore give the movie an incredible amount of depth! Because the writing style was so greatly written, I could already imagine the whole book vividly before my eyes and already feel like I've seen this book as a movie, or rather as if I've experienced everything in it together with the main characters.

This book, though it has 500 pages, was such a quick read, and had not a bit of boring or unnecessary scenes in it. It was the most entertaining book I have read in a long long time, from page 1 right through page 500.

This story also has the very best to offer of every genre: it has adventure, romance, mystery, comedy, drama and is quite historically accurate.

 

 

9. Entertainment & Amusement

Aw, this book was so much fun to read. I don't think that anyone could not enjoy this book, it is an impossible act to not have a splendid time while reading it. The writing style makes so much room for sarcasm and irony and I just loved that! There were so many funny bits in this book, that would actually not have been necessary for the story, and the book would have already been great without them, but they just made this book an even bigger favourite of mine. (This book is now one of my all-time-favourite books, if you haven't guessed that already.. :D)

Monty, who is always up for ridiculous fun, gives the book a vast amount of entertainment and amusement and one just has to adore him for it! Even in the most trickiest moments, he still manages to make everything funnier.

The book is so fast paced and thereby insanely well written, and the many sarcastic comments of Monty basically made me smile brightly all the time.

 

 

10. Scandals, Pirates, Mystery

If all of that wasn't yet enough to convince you to buy this book IMMEDIATELY, hopefully this will: I have already talked about the main plot of this book being Monty's Grand Tour, but of course, this tour doesn't work out as perfectly as it was planned. Among their tour through Europe, the characters come across (or rather cause) great scandals, pirates and a mysterious riddle. One would think that there isn't enough place to put all of what I have mentioned above AND those things into one single book, but these three aspects (who are only a few out of many more adventurous ones) actually get dealt with in vast and most interesting detail! This book was basically like a box of chocolates, to quote Forrest Gump, one never knew what new adventure one would be in in the next chapter.

 

 

 

11. Historical Accuracy

I must admit, that I normally don't really read Historical fiction - besides the Outlander series. (click here to read my spoiler-free review of the second OUTLANDER book)

So the fact that this book was set in the past did at first scare me off a bit; but now I am so happy that it is set in the past... (although I would totally love to read about Monty and Percy set in all times and places).

I found it interesting that the author of the book actually has a Bachelor's degree in History, because that gave the book more ground for me. (altough I would have totally enjoyed it without that aswell)

It was very interesting to read the author's notes at the end of the book, concerning all the themes in the book and their historical accuracy. I can definitely recommend to you to read through that!

 

 

 

12. Believe me, you will adore this book.

I really cannot imagine how anyone could not at least love this book. It really feels like I have been waiting for this book to come into my life for so long. It is the sort of book that I never knew I needed but now that I've read it, I ask myself what I've done beforehand.

I asked myself why I even wasted my time on reading some of the books that I last read because I almost forgot that reading can be such an enjoyment and entertainment as it was with this book.

(This book also made me remember that life is far too short to read bad books, when there are SUCH AMAZING books out there that are only waiting for you to dive into!) Don't satisfy yourself with a bad or an okay book, when there are books out there that make reading the most amazing experience there is!

I want (and desperately need) more books like this one, I so hope that the author will write a lot of books like this one in the future and I cannot wait for them! If you have already read this book and know a similar book to it - though I doubt it, since this book just seems too unique to be compared to anything - please tell me about it!

The book soaked me completely in, I could read it for hours without ever getting bored of it, without ever having even the slightest desire to put it down. I did not want to do anything but get lost in this story and experience these adventures alongside these incredibly adorable characters.

 

 

13. You can annoy your friends with it.

If you are a friend of mine, you should absolutely read this book, because I will go on about it forever, believe me. :D This is a book, which I adore everything about and could still talk about it forever. Often, amazing books leave me with me just being: there is not a lot to write about besides that I extremely enjoyed this book, since there is nothing for me to complain about. (Which is why  my lower star ratings mostly get longer reviews than the books that I adored.) But this book just offers so much of everything: characterwise, plotwise, settingwise... that I could go on about it for ages.

 

 

 

READ. THIS. BOOK. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

READ. THIS. BOOK. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

READ. THIS. BOOK. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

READ. THIS. BOOK. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!