Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Gentlemanly and Lady-like Guides to 18th century living

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee

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Guys. The last (not even) 30 days of my life have been bonkers- like I would not be upset if you did not believe me when I say all of the following things have occurred since May 29th: I got in a horrific car accident. I walked away unharmed despite the airbags in my totaled car failing to deploy. My husband and I are in the process of buying and selling houses which is wonderful. We just found a (dream) house faster than planned which meant we […]

In the immortal words of Ron Swanson: “Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing.”

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

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I pulled Mackenzi Lee’s The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue off the shelf just before leaving on a trip to Paris, partly because I knew Paris featured in at least some of the action and also because I had just finished The Song of Achilles and felt like reading another YA boy-boy romance. But mostly it just seemed like a perfect vacation book, easy and breezy, and at least for that, it did not disappoint. Henry “Monty” Montague is the ne’er-do-well son of an […]

“If you can’t win the game, you have to cheat.”

The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Lee, Mackenzi

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Have you read Mackenzi Lee’s The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue? If not, stop reading this review and go read that.  This is the sequel, and both books are utterly delightful and disarming. This book is the second in The Montague Siblings series (or duology? there are only two of them) and the story belongs to Felicity, the more sensible and academic of the two.  Gentleman’s Guide made it clear that Felicity has more interest in science and medicine than domesticity and society and in her […]

Swashbuckling ladies who are scientists go on an adventure.

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I think I am in the minority in liking the first book in this series better. I just liked Monty as a narrator so much, whereas everyone else (even several people who didn’t like the first book at all) have really liked this one, and Felicity, better. And she is awesome, no doubt. This series overall is really fun, but I had the same problems with this one that I did the first one, but times about a thousand. It’s about a year after the […]

Pirates, Forbidden Love and a Quest

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Mackenzi Lee’s The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue is ripe for film or TV adaptation and is something I totally would have loved reading as a teenager. However, I am older than Lee’s target audience and still enjoyed the ride, but with some prudish gasps and doubts interspersed here and there. Guide is the story of young Henry Montague, the oldest son of an earl, bound for the traditional continental tour young men would take prior to settling down, with his best friend Percy […]

Mostly, this book just did not work for me

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2.5 stars Henry “Monty” Montague is a young bisexual lord sent off on a grand tour of Europe, accompanied by his best friend, Percy (who Monty has a massive crush on) and Felicity, Monty’s younger sister. For the first part of their journey, they are accompanied by an elderly tutor, but once they leave Paris, hijinks really ensue due to very poor decisions made on Monty’s part and soon the three young people are left to fend for themselves, on a crazy adventure through much […]



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