Hi friends, happy Monday I hope you’re all well! Today I’m posting my review of Mackenzi Lee’s first book in her Montague Siblings series, The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue.

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by: Mackeni Lee: Henry “Monty” Montague has been born into wealth, taught to be a to be a gentleman, and inherit his family’s estate, but Monty wants none of that. Instead, he likes to spend his time gambling, drinking, and sleeping around. Now set to travel on his Grand Tour of Europe, his one last bit of freedom with his best friend, who he secretly loves, Percy, and his younger sister, Felicity, what could go wrong? A lot of things when it comes to Monty. After stealing something, they are chased across Europe, left to uncover many mysteries. This novel was fast-paced and definitely held the reader’s attention with a high action plot and good side character stories to let the reader get to know them. The adventure and the mystery plots were intergraded well; it was captivating to read because we never knew what or where these characters were going to end up or what they would uncover so it left everything feeling very secretive. What turned the reader off was the main character, Monty. He was insufferable to read about; he didn’t care about anything or anyone and could be very selfish, as well all he thought about were breasts, which got annoying the more it was brought up. The reader understood that he’s supposed to go through a change and become a better person because of everything he goes through, but it felt so clichéd in the way that it all went down and didn’t automatically make him good. If this novel hadn’t been told in his point of view, this reader probably would have liked it better. The other characters that were introduced felt less arrogant and more bearable that the reader was curious to learn more about them, and get inside their heads, especially Felicity. Felicity was so interesting because all she wants is to be a doctor, but that is frowned upon for women, so watching her get to use her skills felt magical. The reader hopes that future books are set in the side characters’ points of view because it felt like we didn’t get enough of them here; we just scratched the surface and spent too much time in Monty’s point of view. In the end, the plot and side characters really saved this novel from being a total flop. This was a fun light read, a good palate cleanser, if you will.