Erin Bowman
A delightful romp of a road-trip through eighteenth century Europe, packed with witty dialog, razor-sharp pacing, and the perfect amount of swoon. You should abso-bloody-lutely read this book.
Claire Legrand
Sweet, smart, and powerful, Gentleman’s Guide tackles timely topics that will resonate profoundly with readers—all wrapped up in a truly epic road trip. Prepare to laugh, gasp, swoon, and cheer.
Rachel Hawkins
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue is a Grand Tour all its own. Hilarious and romantic, adventurous and scandalous, Monty’s adventures are just as delightful as Monty himself. I adored this book!
Dahlia Adler
An outrageously fun, witty, fascinating, and romantic adventure, starring a memorable trio I’d happily travel with for ages. Lee is a definite force in diverse historical YA.
Stacey Lee
Don’t read this book unless you like adventure, hijinks, and forbidden romance, and if you do, then read it twice.
Heidi Heilig
Careening from fete to fiasco on a Grand Tour of 18th century Europe, THE GENTLEMEN’S GUIDE TO VICE AND VIRTUE is a dizzying, dazzling, and roguishly romantic romp. This book makes me want to unrequite my own love so I can requite him all over again.
Brightly
A rollicking ride that also turns a keen eye to issues like class, racism, homosexuality, and identity.
Shelf Awareness (starred review)
★Mackenzi Lee (This Monstrous Thing) combines her knowledge of European history with a contemporary, comic sensibility to create an over-the-top romantic adventure complete with cliff-hanging chapter endings and sometimes outrageous narration. Monty is a licentious, flawed and engaging 18th-century hero.
Booklist (starred review)
PRAISE FOR THE GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO VICE AND VIRTUE: ★ “Tongue-in-cheek, wildly entertaining, and anachronistic in only the most delightful ways, this is a gleeful romp through history. Monty is a hero worthy of Oscar Wilde.
Bustle
The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy is fun while still being thoughtful, feminist, and an ode to female friendship.
The Horn Book
Monty is pitch-perfect as a yearning, self-destructive, oblivious jerk of a hero who inspires equal parts sympathy, frustration, and adoration from reader. A genre tribute, satire, and exemplar in one.
BookPage
A feminist feast that challenges societal norms and forgoes all romance, which is unconventional, albeit refreshing, in young adult literature.
Buzzfeed
A beautifully brilliant story about feminism, female friendship, privilege, sexism in the 17th century, and doing all you can to fulfill your passion and dreams.
ALA Booklist (starred review)
★ “This action-driven adventure is a joy.
Teen Vogue ("Best Queer Books to Celebrate Pride 2017")
Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue is the queer teen historical you didn’t know was missing from your life.
Audible Editor's Pick
A swashbuckling, fantastical coming-of-age adventure that quite simply swallowed me whole.
Brightly.com
A rollicking ride that also turns a keen eye to issues like class, racism, homosexuality, and identity.
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2018-07-17
Felicity Montague fights to take up space in a world that demands she remain invisible.
Barred from study at hospitals and universities because of her sex, Felicity chases her dreams of medical study from London all the way to Stuttgart, where her idol, Alexander Platt, an expert in preventative medicine, plans to marry before embarking on an expedition. Without any money of her own since she ran away from home, white English girl Felicity must rely on Sim, an Algerian Muslim woman with connections to piracy and secret motives. To make matters worse, Platt's fiancee, Johanna Hoffman, also white, used to be Felicity's best friend until falling out over their changing interests. As in The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue (2017), Stonewall Honor recipient Lee (Bygone Badass Broads: 52 Forgotten Women Who Changed the World, 2018, etc.) develops a world rich in historical detail, crafts a plot wild with unexpected turns, and explores complex topics like colonization and identity. Felicity's brother, Monty, and his boyfriend, Percy, play smaller roles in this volume; the story focuses on the relationships between Felicity, Sim, and Johanna as the three women fight their own battles for respect and recognition within societal systems built to suppress them. Traveling alongside Sim and Johanna challenges Felicity to acknowledge the flaws of her not-like-other-girls self-image and realize that strength comes in more than one form.
An empowering and energetic adventure that celebrates friendship between women. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 14-18)
