Get Excited for The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

Every once in a blue moon, a perfect book comes along that you perk up for, pine for and plan for. The kind of book that immediately hits you in the YES!THAT IS THE BOOK I WANT TO READ NEXT AND FOREVER feels, and refuses to let go until you have it in your tiny, hot hands.

This summer (and by this summer, I mean next week) that book is here. That book is:

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue

Written by Mackenzie Lee, this highly anticipated historical young adult novel will be out next week, and I am not even kidding when I tell you that ALL OF THE READERS EVERYWHERE have been waiting not so patiently for it.

*Stefon Voice* It has everything: an adventure romp through an 18th century grand tour of Europe. A bisexual hero with a lot of money and killer crush on his traveling companion. Road trip – through Europe! Pirates and swashbuckling. Naked streaks through the palace at Versailles. It also has a gorgeous cover.

How often do you find a book you just want to print onto a cake so you can eat it? I can’t decide if I call that curly mop of blond locks or those scowly eleven lines! EITHER WAY … nom nom.

An unforgettable tale of two friends on their Grand Tour of 18th-century Europe who stumble upon a magical artifact that leads them from Paris to Venice in a dangerous manhunt, fighting pirates, highwaymen, and their feelings for each other along the way.

Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men.

But as Monty embarks on his grand tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is 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.

Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he 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 that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.

Witty, romantic, and intriguing at every turn, The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue is a sumptuous romp that explores the undeniably fine lines between friendship and love.

So What’s the Big Deal?

This book looks genuinely FUN, swoony and trope-filled in the best of ways. Watch author Mackenzie Lee describe why she wrote it and what she loves about it.

When I said the book had everything, I meant it. My favorite novels are epic fantasies, and my favorite subgenre: historical adventure. Tell me that there will be pirates … QUEER pirates* … and I am all over it.

^{*I fully contend that the pirates in this story may or may not be queer, although, let’s face it MATEYS … they all were.}

Lately, young adult novels have not been doing it for me. I finally caved and read the Court of Thorns and Roses series, and really enjoyed it (even though I think it’s technically NA, not YA), but you get what I’m talking about. There was a time when I could read nothing but young adult and be fully, literarily satisfied. Well, 2011 passed by.

Monty and Percy’s story seems like exactly what I need to get me back on that train.