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

Title: The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue

Author: Mackenzi Lee

Series Status: Standalone

# of pages: 501

My rating: 4.5/5 stars

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From Goodreads

Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men.

But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy.

Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.

This was such a great read, it’s funny and lighthearted and everything I wanted from it. I was so excited to finally start it and it hooked me so quickly that I cannot believe I finished it so quickly.

Honestly though this story follows a hilarious bisexual main character named Henry, mostly called Monty though, and his last attempt at freedom through a grand tour before he is tied down to the life of being a lord and following in his abusive father’s footsteps. He’s traveling with his best friend (whom he secretly loves) and his “too smart for a woman” sister, Felicity. I loved this trio so much and it is probably my favorite trio of friends in any book that I’ve read. They were so sweet and the love for each other was truly there even if they ended up fighting a lot of the time. That plus all of the shenanigans that they get into throughout this story really made this story for me.

Along with all that the story was pretty great, it started as a tour across Europe with a few antics involved but quickly diverged into a more serious plot that dominated the story. This veer from what I thought the story was originally about only made the story stronger and helped this book go from what could have been two hundred pages into a well plotted five hundred page story.

My only drawback was that I felt like portions of the story dragged a little bit due to the lack of things happening in the plot. It wasn’t a slow story and I was never bored while reading it but occasionally there were moments where it felt like the story was at a break that wasn’t necessary.

Other than that though I loved this story and it was so adorable. At first I thought this book should be turned into a series but upon finishing it wraps up really well as a standalone but I wouldn’t mind a nice spin off about Scipio and his crew.

4.5 stars