By: Cait Marie
Blurb
A year after an accidentally whirlwind grand tour with her brother Monty, Felicity Montague has returned to England with two goals in mind—avoid the marriage proposal of a lovestruck suitor from Edinburgh and enroll in medical school. However, her intellect and passion will never be enough in the eyes of the administrators, who see men as the sole guardians of science.
But then a window of opportunity opens—a doctor she idolizes is marrying an old friend of hers in Germany. Felicity believes if she could meet this man he could change her future, but she has no money of her own to make the trip. Luckily, a mysterious young woman is willing to pay Felicity’s way, so long as she’s allowed to travel with Felicity disguised as her maid.
In spite of her suspicions, Felicity agrees, but once the girl’s true motives are revealed, Felicity becomes part of a perilous quest that leads them from the German countryside to the promenades of Zurich to secrets lurking beneath the Atlantic.
In this highly anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, Felicity Montague must use all her womanly wits and wiles to achieve her dreams of becoming a doctor—even if she has to scheme her way across Europe to do it. A must-have for fans of Mackenzi Lee’s extraordinary and Stonewall Honor-winning novel.
Review
Anyone whose followed me for more than a minute knows I adore the first book in this series, so I was excited when this second one released back in the day (it’s been almost four years!). However, I ended up not getting far into it. It was a combination of me hitting a slump and it not really holding my attention like the other book.
That being said, I decided to try again via audio, and I actually really enjoyed it. I think a big reason I wasn’t feeling it in my previous attempt was the lack of romance, but the story and characters are wonderful. This time around, I didn’t mind not having romance (though, I still prefer books to have some). There was some tension between characters, and one kiss, but Felicity doesn’t enjoy physical intimacy, so it made sense not to force it into this story where it wasn’t needed.
It’s a grand adventure, following a few young women in the 1700s who are essentially sick of not being able to do the same things as men, of not being taken seriously, and of not being as independent as they’d like to be. I loved seeing the characters go through this together and realize that, despite their very different backgrounds, their struggles are similar. The friendships formed were what made the story.
I really enjoy Lee’s writing style. It’s historical fiction, but it’s fun and easy to read. The audio was also done well.
Overall, this book was really fun, and I’m glad I gave it another try. It didn’t quite hit the same mark as the first one, but honestly, few do. I still really enjoyed it and can’t wait to read the next one.
Functionally Fictional 