Mini Review: A Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

“It's beginning to feel like he's shuffling his way through the seven deadly sins, in ascending order of my favourites.” ― Mackenzi Lee, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue

3***

I'm obviously in the minority, but this book didn't do it for me. I was hoping for something magical, funny and original, however, in 500 pages, I never felt I was being carried away on an adventure. The books I've read that have received a lot of hype this year have almost all been a little disappointing to me. I don't know why, really. Maybe my expectations are too high, or I am just missing something that resounds with many other readers. Unfortunately, a lot of these books have been fairly meh, three star reads in the end. I wish could have loved The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue as much as so many of my Goodreads friends, but I couldn't really connect with the characters and the plot went from a bit of a slog to weirdly paranormal, which is not my cup of tea. I also felt that the paranormal element was essentially irrelevant. I won't say more, I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Also, the Grand Tour aspect, which really intrigued me to begin with, was sort of glossed over. I didn't feel I was being taken along on this fabulous trip, and the destinations didn't seem to matter all that much. Anyway, this is a bit of a rambling review, but despite the books length, I actually don't feel I have much to say about the plot or the characters. In the end, it just wasn't really my cup of tea. Not a terrible book by any means, just nothing that had me eagerly picking up the book in any spare moment either.