BOOK REVIEW: "A Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue"

This book was a non-stop rollercoaster of action, and I loved it! Henry (Monty) Montague is the best sort of hero, vulnerable under the  devil-may-care attitude, and with a true desire to do the right thing, even if he doesn't know how and keeps screwing up.

The story follows Monty, his best childhood friend Percy, and his sister Felicity as they embark on a tour of Europe. Adventure ensues, as the group makes it way out of one scrape or another.

Although Monty is a great character, I would have like to have seen a little more depth to Percy, and even Felicity, although I know she has her own book which is the sequel to this. 

This story had me turning the pages to find out what happened next, but then also slowing down to savor the sweet love story. Loved it!

BOOK REVIEW: "Ashlords"

I really wanted to love this book, ostensibly about Phoenix horses and riders in a Hunger Games x Scorpio Races competition. Yes, please!

Unfortunately, it was more about politics and rivalries, told from the POVs of 3 characters who I found to be pretty 1-dimensional. We had the privileged girl (whose POV was annoyingly told in 2nd person and I still can't figure out why), the scrappy poor girl given the chance of a lifetime, and the brave boy fighting for something larger than himself. 

And, after 50% of the book just setting up the races and the characters' motives, they don't even interact with each other! When they finally converge, they stay in their own narratives, unaffected by the others'; no banter, no personal challenges, no understanding of the others' stories, nothing. 

Also, I couldn't get a good sense for the world. I totally understood the politics, because it was described ad nauseam the first half of the book. But the people travel by horse and carriage, have tech like YouTube and means by which to watch race contestants virtually, wear "business" dresses and suits, but carpet is a luxury. Also, gods and their priests would pop up unexpectedly, and people were kind of unimpressed with the supernatural beings, and some even made deals with them or controlled them. So gods and tech live side-by-side, but don't interact...?

The race itself felt glossed over, with most attention given to riders fighting with each other off horseback. And the phoenix horses, which are the huge draw, were like a side note, or an after-thought. They aren't given personalities and are treated like tools or vehicles.

Ultimately, the characters and the first half of the book did not pull me in, and although the race itself was more interesting, I think an awesome story concept was lost in all the politics. 2.5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Childrens for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.