Man, I really wanted to like this book! But it did not work for me.
The protagonist of this story is Monty, the eldest child of a Lord in England in the early 18th century. He's seventeen and has been kicked out of Eton for love letters between him and another man, and his very mean father has told him that if he doesn't behave himself on his Grand Tour, he will disinherit him and leave the entire family estate to Monty's baby brother. So Monty is viewing his Grand Tour with his best friend Percy, who is biracial and was raised by his aunt and uncle after his father died, as his final adventure before he'll be forced to manage the family estate. Things immediately go wrong in Paris when he behaves badly at a ball and steals something from a Duke in service to the King of France and then there are highway robbers and alchemists in Spain and Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean and a sinking island off of Venice with a treasure inside and all of this should be one hundred percent up my alley, and it's not, in large part because I don't like Monty at all. He's a rich spoiled brat, who has a terrible father, to be sure, but I know I'm supposed to sympathize with him and find him charming and I just don't. He likes drinking and he likes gambling and he likes sex with men and women, none of which I have a problem with in a character, but there's nothing else to him. I understand that running your terrible father's estate probably wouldn't be the most interesting career out there, but there's nothing else Monty wants to DO, other than be an idiot. He likes Percy, which is nice, and there's some decent pining there, but it's established in literally the first chapter that Monty is in love with Percy and yet there is no good reason for that to be a secret between them aside from the fact that the narrative demands it.
Monty's younger sister Felicity is a bit more interesting, but even there I don't understand why that relationship functions the way it does. They start off hating each other, and then as the book goes on they hate each other LESS but only when it seems convenient, and it just doesn't read like real people to me. And the overall story has the same problem a lot of historical romances can run into, which is that there's this big obstacle or issue preventing a couple's long-term happiness that makes them miserable for most of the book, and then the resolution is that...they're just going to do it anyway, and somehow it'll all work out. It doesn't feel believable, and it doesn't read like a happy ending to me, and it just doesn't make for a good story. Monty learns a bunch of valuable life lessons by the end of his misadventures, and I suppose that's good and all, but there's still no place waiting for him and Percy in the world, and the book doesn't do any of the work carving one out for them. I don't know. I expected to like this book a lot, and instead it was just not for me, I'm afraid.
Grade: C
The protagonist of this story is Monty, the eldest child of a Lord in England in the early 18th century. He's seventeen and has been kicked out of Eton for love letters between him and another man, and his very mean father has told him that if he doesn't behave himself on his Grand Tour, he will disinherit him and leave the entire family estate to Monty's baby brother. So Monty is viewing his Grand Tour with his best friend Percy, who is biracial and was raised by his aunt and uncle after his father died, as his final adventure before he'll be forced to manage the family estate. Things immediately go wrong in Paris when he behaves badly at a ball and steals something from a Duke in service to the King of France and then there are highway robbers and alchemists in Spain and Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean and a sinking island off of Venice with a treasure inside and all of this should be one hundred percent up my alley, and it's not, in large part because I don't like Monty at all. He's a rich spoiled brat, who has a terrible father, to be sure, but I know I'm supposed to sympathize with him and find him charming and I just don't. He likes drinking and he likes gambling and he likes sex with men and women, none of which I have a problem with in a character, but there's nothing else to him. I understand that running your terrible father's estate probably wouldn't be the most interesting career out there, but there's nothing else Monty wants to DO, other than be an idiot. He likes Percy, which is nice, and there's some decent pining there, but it's established in literally the first chapter that Monty is in love with Percy and yet there is no good reason for that to be a secret between them aside from the fact that the narrative demands it.
Monty's younger sister Felicity is a bit more interesting, but even there I don't understand why that relationship functions the way it does. They start off hating each other, and then as the book goes on they hate each other LESS but only when it seems convenient, and it just doesn't read like real people to me. And the overall story has the same problem a lot of historical romances can run into, which is that there's this big obstacle or issue preventing a couple's long-term happiness that makes them miserable for most of the book, and then the resolution is that...they're just going to do it anyway, and somehow it'll all work out. It doesn't feel believable, and it doesn't read like a happy ending to me, and it just doesn't make for a good story. Monty learns a bunch of valuable life lessons by the end of his misadventures, and I suppose that's good and all, but there's still no place waiting for him and Percy in the world, and the book doesn't do any of the work carving one out for them. I don't know. I expected to like this book a lot, and instead it was just not for me, I'm afraid.
Grade: C
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