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5 stars! This review will be spoiler free!
Synopsis:
Henry “Monty” Montague is supposed to be a highborn gentleman, but that's most definitely not the case when he's spending time in gambling halls, having late nights with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men. Monty is about to be tied down by familial obligations, but before he's going on a Grand Tour of Europe and joining him are his sister Felicity and best mate and love Percy. Even with his sister accompanying them and his unrequited love for his best friend, Monty plans to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. BUT, Monty makes one reckless decision that turns their trip abroad into a desperate and dangerous escape of pursuit from royal authorities all across Europe. The trying events that follow call into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he is madly in love with.
Initial thoughts:
I absolutely ADORED this book with all my heart. I'll be honest, I did not read the synopsis. All I knew going into this novel was that Monty was bisexual, in love with his best friend who has no idea, and they were going to travel across historical Europe with their sister. Going into this story with barely any inkling of what was to come made me love it even more for what it became as I kept reading. I was not expecting to have so many feels for Monty, Percy, and Felicity. I was not expecting the obstacles, the struggles, and the depth of the romance. I was not expecting such a heart racing and suspenseful adventure between these pages. The writing was fast paced and enrapturing. The dialogue was sassy, humorous, and witty. The characters were complex, flushed out, and diverse. Gods. I was completely and utterly blown away! Please please please read this book asap! You will not regret it.
**I read this using Audible! Christian Coulson was such a GREAT narrator for this book! He captured the personalities of Monty, Percy, and Felicity PERFECTLY! Could not have been better!**
Plot:
Trigger warnings! Racism, sexism, ableism, suicide, homophobia/biphobia, and parental abuse.
This book turned into something I completely did NOT expect and in the best way possible. I freakin’ loved it. I lived for everything, for love between Monty & Percy, for Felicity’s badassery, for the flight from enemies, for the adventure and sneaking around, and for the character development. The synopsis and EpicReads explains, makes this book out to be a fluffy adventurous read. NO. This book is so so so much more. Let the trigger warnings speak for me here when I say that this book covers some deep topics within this fast paced heart racing plot.
I need to talk about my favorite aspect of this book first just to get all my feels off my chest. I LOVE M/M RELATIONSHIPS SO MUCH. The fact that Percy is so clearly smitten with Monty and Monty is so clearly oblivious was annoying at first, which may be my one and only gripe within this ship, but I still live for it. Theirs is a relationship built on top of a long standing friendship, so no instalovey feels at all. Not only is Monty a complete and utter ass, but Percy still stays by his side. And in this time period, dark colored people are considered inferior to whites, but Monty does not let this bother him. Monty sees Percy for all the beauty and poise he is. Then when we discover Percy’s ailment, their relationship experiences true struggle. Monty is only a human being and one that, albeit, isn’t very well versed in the abnormal, so I say he had a very natural human reaction to Percy’s ailment for someone of this time period. Honestly, I felt like Percy was too good for Monty from the beginning, BUT, I had hopes Monty would be ablet to become the man Percy needed. I very much appreciated the character growth that Monty undergone to live up to my expectations of him. Again, their romance is one that felt completely human, and hurtful, and loving, and believable. As much as I love the romantic trope of enemies-turned-lovers, friends becoming more than so just has this realness that you can’t get with other romantic tropes. LOVE THEM.
Alright, onto more serious topics!
There are so many aspects to this book to love I can’t expand on them all or this review will be pages long:
Everything is fast-paced, equal parts surprise and heart wrenching suspense
We have a m/m relationship in a time period where homosexuals are vastly disliked
We have a black Englishman with an illness as a love interest, say hello to diversity
Enemies who know no rest
The female knows all, Felicity is basically Hermione
Monty is an asshole that has an incredible character arc, though flawed as he is and flawed as he is in the ending, you can see his growth
Percy is the balance you need for the volatile personalities of the Montagues, a precious angel
HUMOR, the best sassy dialogue and witty comebacks I’ve read in a long long time
Royalty gone rogue
Alcohol, angst, and admissions of love
PIRATES
A mission with a time limit
A wannabe savior trying to save someone who doesn’t want saving
the heart break is real
the writing is SO FREAKING BEAUTIFUL. Eloquent, poetic without being over the top, vivid yet easily followed. Magically wistful at times. And very heart pounding at times. The writing was amazing.
& so so so much more, I clearly love this book so much
I only have 2 gripes:
The “unrequited” love of the romance that was clearly requited, but they’re being ridiculous
A cure all? Really? that’s all I can say without being spoilery
Let me just mention a couple of favorite lines from these characters that do an amazing job of showing exactly what these characters are like:
"Fetch me a couch, for a nearly swoon." —MONTY, cheeky and hilarious
“And five” - he folded his thumb into his fist and pressed it up to the sky - “if you weren’t here, everything would be the absolute worst. Abso-bloody-lutely awful. It’d be dull and lonely and just… don’t, all right? Don’t be dead. I’m sorry yo were expelled and I’m sorry about your father but I’m so glad you’re home and I… really need you right now. So don’t wish you were dead because I’m so glad that you’re not.” —PERCY, sweet and caring
“Ladies haven’t the luxury of being squeamish about blood” —FELICITY, blunt and bold
Characters:
MONTY is emotionally inept for the most part. He really doesn’t know how to convey his feelings and even when he tries, he doesn’t do it properly and ends up hurting those around him. He can be volatile and reckless. He can be improper as hell. STILL, even with these flaws he’s a wonderful character. It’s because of these flaws that he is so great. Monty is also down right sassy and hilarious. He has some of the best one-liners I’ve ever read and boy do I swoon whenever he says darling. Then he eventually recognizes that he needs to change and grow out of this phase and tries his darnest to be a decent human being. PLUS, he’s in love with Percy. And I can just wrap them both up and cuddle them in my heart, I have so much feels for their ship.
PERCY is the calm to Monty's storm. He is the one able to keep his wits and act as the adult to Monty's childish recklessness. He is the perfect pairing for Monty in all ways. He is also the sweetest, vulnerable, precious little baby I have in this book. He just needs a hug, a great big hug. I love him so much for his personality and strength in the face of harsh racist words. I also love him for the balance he gives to Monty. He feels like family and I love him for that too.
FELICITY is FIERCE. She gives no f*cks. She is no man's woman. She is her own person and godsdammit all she will protect herself by her own smarts and strength or die trying because goodness she will not let any man bring her down. She is my Hermione in this book. She is my badass female. She can be cold, calculating, and blunt, but she can also be kind, caring, and observant. I like how the men of this era have all the access to brilliant education they want, but STILL Felicity is more bright and well versed than any of them. I'm so happy the author gave her an ending worthy of her awesomeness too.
SCIPIO is my honorable mention because we don’t get to see him much, but I really liked his character during his part of the book. I like his honesty. And I liked his offer to Felicity at the end of the book. It was so blunt and perfectly fitting for the ending.
Overall:
I will recommend this book to absolutely ANYONE. It's a great read to pull you out of a slump because it doesn't involve a ton of heavy world building. This book focuses mainly on the characters and these characters are EXTREMELY lovable. If you need an adventure, if you need a good romance, if you need a historical fiction novel, this has ALL that. I mean I knew I'd love this book, but it 100% exceeds expectations.