The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

By: Mackenzi Lee

Narrated by: Christian Coulson

Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

A Kirkus Prize nominee with five starred reviews! A New York Times best seller!

2018 Audie Award® nominee for Best Male Narrator!

Named one of the best books of 2017 by NPR and the New York Public Library!

"The queer teen historical you didn’t know was missing from your life.” (Teen Vogue)

"A stunning powerhouse of a story." (School Library Journal)

"A gleeful romp through history." (ALA Booklist)

A young bisexual British lord embarks on an unforgettable Grand Tour of Europe with his best friend/secret crush. An 18th-century romantic adventure for the modern age written by This Monstrous Thing author Mackenzi Lee - Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda meets the 1700s.

Henry “Monty” Montague doesn’t care that his roguish passions are far from suitable for the gentleman he was born to be. But as Monty embarks on his grand tour of Europe, his quests for pleasure and vice are 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.

So Monty 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, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.

Witty, dazzling, and intriguing at every turn, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue is an irresistible romp that explores the undeniably fine lines between friendship and love.

Don't miss Felicity's adventures in The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy, the highly anticipated sequel!

©2017 Mackenzie Van Engelenhoven (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

My absolute FAVORITE audio book ever

Christian Coulson does such a fantastic job performing this book that I cannot express how glad I am that I decided to listen to it rather than read my physical copy. Not only is it an amazingly well written story, full of excitement and heartache and love, but Coulson brings Monty and all the other characters to life in a way that my own mental adaptation could not. It's an absolute must listen and a definite read.

Even better than I expected...

This was a wonderful book that took me by surprise with its humor, well-paced plot, and memorable characters. I took a chance on it, and I am so glad I did. The fact that characters felt flawed and real, yet didn't irritate me, was a refreshing change from other books I have picked up recently. I recommend it to anyone who wants a quick, fun read.

Good story, masterful narration!

Maybe you’re not into YA titles. I wasn’t. Maybe you’re not into historical fiction, the 1700s, pirates, or some other thing that may cause you to pass this book over. Do yourself a favor and let all of it go and get this book. If you like fiction, good storytelling, adventure, humor, and really, truly, outstanding, narration, you will like this book.

The writing is good, the characters are intriguing, but the narration is superb. Different character voices, different genders, different accents, check. But the narrator goes so far beyond that, he gives us nuance, mood, atmosphere, as well as the very marrow of the main character.

Listening to this narrator is like sitting in a tent in the woods, it’s raining, and your best friend is telling you a story so good, and so well, you hope it lasts until dawn.

a little bit frustrating

I loved everyone except the main character really. He was at times charming and at other times insufferable. I liked the style of narration and the tone, it was fun. It had a ton of character. But MONTY!!! Monty......I don't blame him for how he is. but as someone who is not a man or white... it was frustrating to watch him to be completely blind to the struggles of anyone but himself. He was constantly insensitive to his sister and friend..... the well intentioned white knighting was difficult to sit through sometimes.... and wanted to be thanked for being a good and decent person.. its a bit much and a bit too real and not in an enjoyable way....

He's set up for character growth... and he did grow, but it didn't quite feel real or monumental... it was like everyone around him existed for him to learn more about the world but they didn't seem to get much besides a wild adventure and. thats not a bad thing but. It just wasn't for me.

I do like how its written so I'm curious about how the next book will be because I adore Felicity and I feel like a journey with her would be enjoyable... but she also has some learning to do about the world... her 'of the time' feelings about love and who people love felt strange, considering how ahead of the times she was about learning....

How could you like Monty?

What a whining, entitled brat. Sarcasm is fine but he was way too over-the-top to be funny. I only kept reading in the hopes that Percy would recover and Felicity would be able to escape her fate at the finishing school.

I understand that the point was that Monty “grew” though his journey and became more empathetic and less self-centered. He did. Barely.

A blend of humor, adventure, and romance

Where does The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

While not the best audiobook I've listened to, it is one of the more enjoyable. The scenarios were humorous, the characters were well realized, and the plot blended enough elements well that I will come back to this story sometime.

Which character – as performed by Christian Coulson – was your favorite?

Felicity was a real stand out. You got a very good sense of her wit, the way she was reacting to the world, and her complicated relationship with her brother.

Any additional comments?

One of the things that is wonderful about this book is its diverse cast, showing that history was as complicated (with many of the same issues) as today. Our main character is bi and lecherous and actually suffers the consequences of his action. His best-friend/love-interest is biracial and suffers from epilepsy. Felicity is wickedly intelligent at a time when intelligence in women was not necessarily prized, and is struggling with society's expectations of her. The three play off each other well, and all grow in their own way. I recommend this book.

I couldn’t do it

I tried so hard but I just couldn’t finish. I had heard nothing but great things about this book and it sounded like it was right up my alley. I found myself just unable to finish it. It didn’t capture my attention.

Fun story BRILLIANT Narration

I enjoyed this YA story, it was a fun story, witty and cute. I am glad I finally got to it, but I am so happy I listened to the audio the narrator was brilliant he just nailed it, sometimes a bad narrator can ruin a book this is actually the first time for me the narrator improved the story. I don't think I would have enjoyed the humor as much if I was reading it.

great characters, weak story

characters were well described, interesting and fun. the plot is a weak contrivance. some characters were just cliches and cartoonish. strong start, weak finish, but worth it as a fun romp

Must Read

Loved it so much. Witty, fun and romantic. Plus the performance was amazing. I couldn't put it down.

Hilarious, heartbreaking, honest & beautiful

One of the best books of the year. A hilarious romp of a historical novel, enough danger, magic and adventure to keep me on the edge of my seat, and brilliant, brilliant characters who aren't so much flawed as painfully, adorably real. I couldn't help love Monty even when he was being an idiot, selfish or completely ridiculous, or even all three at once. The side characters and the relationships between them were fantastically portrayed and really made the book. Also, outstanding handling of diversity in a setting and era where being anything other than white, male and preferably rich was subject to varying but usually horrifying levels of prejudice. It covered some really heavy, tough issues without ever coming across preachy or derailing the story and honestly, some of the hardships faced by the characters, especially Percy, brought me close to tears.

A wonderful listen

Monty is a little hard to like to begin with but I did warm up to him. I loved Percy and Felicity and their adventure in Europe was a lot of fun. The narrator's voice was perfect and enhanced the experience.

Abso-bloody-lutely brilliant!!!!!!!

I liked everything about this book, it was a riot from start to finish! I don’t normally laugh out loud at books, with this one, I very much did, ALL THE WAY THROUGH!

The narrator was perfect! He suited Monty so well, and, he gave a voice to all the other characters, not over the top at all! Just, a perfect narrator for the time of the story and the character!

I fell in love with Monty, Percy and Felicity straight away! They all have strong, different, amusing personalities and I just rooted for all of them!

The love story within the book was.... beautiful! I just shipped Monty and Percy from the beginning! I had such a smile on my face at the end as well as a few happy tears!

Very action packed, didn’t expect half the things that happened, but, you just need to go with it!!!

Want a funny, lovely, action packed story? READ THIS BOOK!

One of the best audio books I've ever listened to.

The narrator was amazing and perfect as Monty's voice and for the story set in the 1700s. This is the feel good adventure novel with a great set of main characters, all three of them distinctive and real. The language is creative and humourus, and I was smiling and laughing the whole way through it. Would highly recommend.

The silliest, funniest, most wonderful adventure

A lead which you can't help but find charming. A dynamic trio you can't help but get behind. A love story you can't help but fight for. A story you can't help but to fall in love with.

a charming adventure

I truly wanted to give this book 5 stars, for its fantastic writing style, witty and warm humour, and fantastic narration by Christian Coulson. In fact, it’s probably my favourite audiobook I’ve listened to so far. I am extremely picky about voices fitting the characters and this was a perfect match. I really loved this book, and am genuinely sad to have finished it. However, I couldn’t honestly rate it 5 stars because of some issues with the pacing, and relationship building. Though the author does a good job at tenderly building the relationship between Percy and Monty amidst the action of the adventure plot, I felt it needed a little more attention - maybe another chapter or so where things slowed down a bit and the relationship conflicts were more thoroughly dealt with. I also think the growth of Monty and Felicity as siblings, and their understanding of each other, could have also been better dealt with; a discussion between them would have really benefited the penultimate chapter - I felt something was missing there. Overall, I definitely recommend this book. It really brought some light to my daily commute. It was nice to read an MLM story that wasn’t entirely focused on relationship drama and the difficulties of being gay in society. In this book, that’s a small background element - as it should be! Those things don’t define our lives and shouldn’t define our literature either.

a fools errand

Very funny and captivating from the first sentence. It's knowing they are on a fools errand that deminishes the reading pleasure. It makes waiting for a solution fot Monty's crush that works, a long wait.

Unexpected

A story about a decadent, spoilt teenager, the male friend he lusts after and acerbic younger sister should be trite. However, the story line is excellent and the prose phenomenal. It's so beautifully written that the occasional use of modern slang didn't irritate me at all. The narrator did it full justice.

great book

I absolutely loved this story. brilliantly narrated, with gorgeous characters. I highly reccomend to all.

Christian Coulson is AMAZING

The story is adventurous and fun, but by the second part it started to lose my interest for a bit, but I just couldn’t drop it...The narrator is so good! Like seriously good! All the different voices he makes are perfect for the characters. Loved it!