This book is absolutely amazing. I have read this author's work under the name Devin Madson before, and so I had a bit of an idea what to expect, but I still found this far exceeded everything I anticipated.

Lord Nicolas Monterris is set to inherit a title, but his impoverished family need him to marry some money. Lady Leaf Serral is chosen, and the families enter the traditional “lock in” at Nic’s family estate to complete the magical marriage contracts. Unfortunately, one of the vowsmiths who will be working on the marriage contract is Nic’s first flame, Dashiell sa Vare. When things start to go wrong with the contract, and the bodies start appearing, Nic needs to work to figure out what is going on, and who (and what) he can trust.

Published under the name Rebecca Ide, it has some consistency with the deep and huge world building of Devin Madson stories. This story on the surface sounds like it has too many different things happening to be able to deliver. It’s a Historical Romance AND has family politics AND has a locked room mystery AND has magic BUT ALSO has steampunk elements. The story is told carefully and at a speed that allows each of these different elements to be built up, without feeling like the story is trying to do too much.

The characters were enchanting and the mystery had me constantly guessing and looking for clues and included a number of delightful twists and turns. I am loving this author, in every form, and am off to work my way through back catalogues!!

dnf 25%

If this book were food, it would look good, smell good, and have all the ingredients I like. But then I take a bite, and it's just... stale.

I tried with this one. I let the book rest and restarted it after a few days, but I'm just not enjoying it. There are plenty of interesting things that make me sad that this book didn't work, but the plot was just all over the place and after a hundred pages I still had barely an idea where the story was going.

I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and honestly review an advanced reader’s copy of this book.

This was a beautifully written historical queer romantasy with a unique magical twist.
While the romance was a bit more on the spicy side than I usually prefer (I prefer minimal spice), I know many readers will consider that a highlight. The chemistry between the characters is undeniably strong and adds a lot of intensity to the story.

What really stood out to me was the intricate and well-developed magic system. It was fully integrated into the worldbuilding and played a significant role in the unfolding plot.

Nic, the main character, was fantastic. I found him very compelling and relatable. The murder mystery he’s pulled into was actually my favorite part of the book. It gives the story an edge of suspense and kept me turning the pages.
I didn’t expect the automatons to be quite so unsettling, but they were written in a surprisingly eerie way. Their presence added a touch of creepiness that I really enjoyed.

Overall, this book is definitely one to check out if you’re into queer romantasy!

The Gentleman and His Vowsmith is a book that is set in a world that is similar to Regency Britain, but with magic. It combines a MM romance with a locked-room/house murder mystery that has strong gothic vibes.

I liked how the author blended the genres. There's this old dilapidated mansion suddenly polished for the lock-in to impress the bride's family. The parties arrive and at first it feels like a story about a house party. albeit with contract negotiations looming in the background; not to mention neither bride nor groom actually want to get married to each other. Nicholas is openly gay and Leaf seems to be asexual. When the first murder victim is found, everyone believes it was an accident. No one can leave before the marriage contract is signed, so the negotiations continue, but the bodies start to pile up. Leaf and Nicholas start investigating the murders, with the help of Nicholas' lost love, the vowsmith Dashiel, and Leaf's cousins.

Here's how I understood the magic system in this alternate Britain. People with magical abilities, called Brilliance, are mainly part of the upper classes and nobility. Those people have different degrees of Brilliance and also different abilities. Nicholas, for example, partly trained to become a vowsmith, but his Brilliance affinity is conjuring. Vowsmiths are trained in the art of making magical contracts, magical lawyers? Contracts need to be 'smithed' in order for them to be legally binding. They cannot be altered after signing and the wording of the contracts is binding for all participants. Novel women, as always, only get basic training in Brilliance and hence are mere broodmares for the next generation of Brilliance wielding male offspring.

As mentioned above, I liked the house party gone wrong part and the amateur sleuthing part, as well as the familial duty and familial ownership criticism the book makes.

The author hinted at further books set in this world and I am looking forward to finding out more about Brilliance and vowsmithing, and hopefully Leaf, Nicholas and Dashiel get to have a cameo.

Thank you to the publisher for inviting me to read this title - it sounded right up my alley from the very start.

Magically locked in a house with his bride-to-be, Leaf, her entourage, and his own family, Nic isn't thrilled about signing a marriage contract to a girl he's just met. Especially not when part of the proceedings are to be led by his ex, and very much not forgotten, lover, Dashiell. However, the forging of the contract is endangered by multiple deaths within the party, making everyone appear suspicious and feel unsafe. Nic and Leaf find themselves unexpected, fast friends and begin to investigate the situation, while Nic also struggles to resist his unstoppable attraction to Dashiell. They all just need to survive long enough to solve the mystery...

First of all, I thoroughly enjoyed the characters in this novel, especially the dynamic between Nic and Leaf. They made such a fun pair with their banter and quickly-developed loyalty to one another. It was a great twist to see unwilling fiancés become allies throughout the story! They also made an excellent investigating team, combining Nic’s magical knowledge with Leaf’s ideas drawn from the murder mystery books she wasn’t even supposed to have read. I also really liked the atmosphere in the house - suitably creepy and haunted, making me want to jump out of my skin on behalf of the characters. The twists were compelling and kept me guessing right up until the end.

On the other hand, I struggled with some of the dialogue, which sometimes felt stilted or clunky, and with the pacing, which slowed down considerably in the middle before suddenly racing through huge, explosive reveals in the final 15%. I enjoyed that I couldn’t predict those reveals despite my best efforts, but I wish they had been spread out a bit more rather than served all at once. Another point of dissatisfaction for me was the lack of explanation regarding the magic system and world-building. It sounded intriguing, but I was left with just as many questions at the end as I had at the beginning. I know magic is somehow important and "vowsmithing" is a powerful skill, but I still know next to nothing about it.

Overall, I’d rate this book 3.5 out of 5 stars. Although I didn’t love it as much as I had hoped, it was still an enjoyable read that I would recommend to readers who love a blend of genres - in this case, a fantasy murder mystery.

The Gentleman and His Vowsmith had <u>such</u> a great premise—an alternative Regency setting with magic, some steampunk vibes, an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery, and a queer romance at its heart. It sounds like a dream. But while the ingredients are all there, the execution just didn’t land for me.

There are some cool worldbuilding ideas—like the bizarre talking birds (echos), the concept of marriage equality in this society, and the walking automaton 'ghosts' that might be behind the murders. And I loved Leaf’s character—smart, thoughtful, and full of suffragette energy, a century ahead of her time. But key concepts like the idea of being "sasined" weren’t properly explained, and that lack of clarity made it hard to stay immersed in the story.

The murder mystery fell flat too. Despite multiple deaths and culprits, the plot never gripped me. By the end, I couldn't remember who had done what—or really care. And the central romance between Nick and Dash lacked spark, weighed down by constant miscommunication. Oddly enough, Nick had more chemistry with his arranged marriage bride-to-be, Leaf, even though their relationship was platonic.

All in all, this felt like a book with great potential that never quite pulled it all together. 2.5 ⭐ for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC, this is my honest opinion.

When I first heard of The Gentleman and His Vowsmith, I got excited, and not just because Rebecca Ide is the pen name of Devin Madson, whose fantasy books I enjoyed over the years. The Gentleman and His Vowsmith promised to deliver everything I enjoy – murder mystery, M/M romance, fantasy, dressed in banter and set in the Regency era. Although the last is not a particular interest of mine, but I’m certainly not complaining. All that said, I had high expectations going in, and I wasn’t dissapointed.

Being the son of a poverished duke, who has strong magic abilities, it was always inevitable for Nic to get married off for good money to save the Monterris family name. The problem? His intended bride is not only a Serral, a family with whom the Monterrises have a strained relationship, but she is also a woman, while Nic prefers man. And when he thought things couldn’t get any worse than that, he ends up locked in for weeks with his childhood love (along with the whole Serral party and), who left him behind years ago, while the negotiations last and the contract gets vowsmithed (made magically bonding). And then the mysterious deads start happening. So Nic has to deal with ALL the feelings while playing a generous host which leds to unexpected discoveries.

The Gentleman and His Vowsmith is a mash of genres that works really well. It’s part closed space murder mystery, part M/M romance with a dash of fantasy just to spice it up a bit. Well, a bit more, because the romance has enough spice to it as it is 👀 Which is to say it has some steamy scenes, but it’s not overdone and doesn’t take away the focus from the mystery, well, not too much anyway, lol.

As for the characters, it took me a bit to get connected with Nic. I mean, I liked him, and his voice as we get the story from his POV, but sometimes I found his “woe me” attitude a bit tiring. Then again, it’s kind of understandable he is having a hard time, between a father who technically owns him, and doesn’t seem to care about him much, a mother who is absent most of the time, retreated into her own fantasy world, a fiancé whom he didn’t want and the temptation that is Dashiell, well, I think we all would be having a hard time. Not even talking about all the tension between different characters that comes out even stronger now that they are all closed in together, with nothing to do but bring old hurts and frustration to the open.

I liked how each person in the story was well characterised, their personality really came through, although, I admit I found Dashiell just a touch too bland for my liking, then again, most of the time he wore the mask of the professional vowsmith whose only role is to make sure his employer gets his wishes in the contract. It’s just that, it was hard for me to see what Nic saw in him, exactly, outside of his looks. They sure had chemistry, at least, so I’m complaining too hard. Leaf was an unexpected surprise for me. She is the bride to be, the daughter of the marquess, well bred, intelligent, and a sense of dry humor that I like. And also no filter between her brain and her mouth so that makes her witty comments just more fun. But she is also kind, and good hearted, and of course she also has her own dreams and ambitions – marriage is not one of those. I appreciated how Nic and Leaf ended up coming together forming a deep bond of friendship amidst all the chaos around them, and despite the high strung emotions on all sides.

I’m not going to talk about the mystery plot of The Gentleman and His Vowsmith, because of spoilers, but I can tell you it was well executed – as someone who reads many mysteries, it even had a couple of surprises for me too, and I kept guessing who might have been behind everything. Closed space mysteries are tricky, because you only have a limited selection of culprits, so you need to make sure everyone has motives and secret agendas to make sure you keep up the interest of the readers. Ide pulled that off quite well.

To bring this review to a close, I really don’t have much to complain about. If I really want to nitpick, then I would say that I would have liked to get a bit more about the magic, because the Brilliance thing was just a touch confusing, given the fact that the higher you are registrated, the more you are worth, but other than that, I enjoyed the mystery aspect, I enjoyed the romance aspect between Nic and Dashiell and I enjoyed Nic’s budding friendship with Leaf. And I didn’t even mention the steampunkish bits with the automatons. I don’t know how Rebecca Ide made all the different elements work, but the result is speaking for itself. And I can see why it’s compared to the works of Alexis Hall, and I probably would add AJ Lancaster as well. Either way, I highly recommend The Gentleman and His Vowsmith if you need a bit of bloodrush in the form of a spicy murder mystery.

What is unethical is ... a society where we’ve turned magic into a cage and love into an impossibility, such that murder is an easier resort than words... [loc. 4733]
A delightfully Gothic country house murder mystery set in a Regency-flavoured queer-normative England, with magic, automata, dark family secrets and a legal mechanism for severing one's family ties and owning oneself.

Nicholas Monterris, our viewpoint character, is 'gay as a spoon' [do not expect historically-accurate slang here] and has seldom left the draughty and probably-haunted decay of Monterris Court. He's aghast to discover that his father, the Duke of Vale, has arranged a marriage between Nic and Lady Leaf Serral, daughter of a wealthy family. Worse, the bride-to-be and her family have descended on Monterris Court, where all those in possession of Brilliance (magical ability) will be locked in while the marriage contract is vowsmithed. And worst of all, the master vowsmith engaged to make sure that contract is watertight and magically binding is Nic's ex -- Dashiell sa Vare, who left abruptly and without explanation nine years ago.

Monterris Court has all the trappings of a Gothic mansion: Nic's mother, gently mad and reclusive; the mysterious fate of Nic's uncle Francis; a grotto full of automaton parts, and the sigil tape on which automaton-instructions are magically encoded; secret passages, rumours of ghosts, crumbling stonework and moss and mould. Leaf, who is an avid reader of murder mysteries, wants to start a school for young women, and does not want to marry (or have sexual relations with) anybody, is a breath of fresh air for Nic. And soon enough there's a murder to solve... and then another...

Meanwhile, Dash and Nic warily circle one another, failing to communicate. (Indeed, Dash's version of 'closure' seems to be anything but.) Who's the murderer? What really happened to Lord Francis? Why did the Duke not marry the man he loved? What is the Duchess writing so obsessively? And why is it so vital that Nic and Leaf's marriage be accomplished as soon as possible?

Despite the presence of books by Mrs Radcliffe and Laurence Sterne, it's not 'the Regency' -- for one thing, there's a king -- and the history of this alternate Britain is only lightly sketched. The magic seems to be syllabic, and can produce startlingly vivid effects. Nic, though immensely talented as a magic-user, has seldom left Monterris Court: instead, he's devoted his time to making mechanical frogs, and to reading. Leaf quickly becomes a friend (a much more pleasing development than the all-too-common 'obstacle to true queer love') and Dashiell and Nic manage to resolve the issue of Dash's sudden departure all those years ago. The epilogue ties everything up neatly, and the author's afterword explains the notion of 'sasine' ('a historical word meaning the conferring of possession of feudal property') and how it can be used to confer self-ownership -- something Leaf has requested nearly thirty times since her eighth birthday, and you can see her point.

I enjoyed this immensely, and forgave the occasional typos. Nic and Leaf were delightful, the villains were suitably wicked, the victims were sympathetic enough that their fates were shocking. I'm fascinated by this world of Brilliance and sasine, and would love to read more about it.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for a copy to review!

DNF at 24%. Unfortunatly I couldn't get into this story. I wanted more worldbuilding and explanation of the magic system, and couldn't connect with the characters.

I am an incredibly busy person. I work full-time. I'm completing a postgrad in my free time. I still have all the social obligations of an adult person in the 'weddings and babies and houses' stage of my life. Which is to say, a book has to be really, truly excellent for me to sacrifice any of my exceptionally scant 'do nothing' time to read it, and boy was I willing to give up all the time for The Gentleman and His Vowsmith.

In an alternative England, where the aristocracy are kept in power by the magic they all too often squander, Nicholas Monterris is quietly getting on with a life that is smaller, and colder, than his title would suggest. When his hard-hearted father informs Nic his marriage has been arranged, well, it was only a matter of time, and Lady Leaf Serral is far better than he expected. The small inconvenience of his homosexuality has already been factored into the paperwork, all of which is being prepared under the careful eye of the Serral's Master Vowsmith, Dashiell sa Vare... Nic's... well, ex would imply they were ever more than two boys infatuated with each other. So the lock-in begins, and Nic thinks the most he will have to contend with is mean-spirited in-laws and a man who sets him alight with heartbreak, as much as lust... then someone dies.

Part romance, part murder mystery, part regency drama, The Gentleman and His Vowsmith is an engaging, emotional, suspenseful and intriguing novel, which nevertheless retains a certain cosily Gothic charm in its setting, and vibrant humour in its dialogue. Unputdownable, this is a book which, although perhaps a tad longed out in the middle-section, captures one's attention from the off. Although character-driven, the world of this novel does not escape the author's attention, and small details are peppered throughout, building a sprawling, well-conceived alternative England.

I throughout enjoyed this from start to finish, it losses .5 of a star for two reasons: 1) I think it does get a little repetitive and drawn out as the mystery spirals on, I was really invested, and wanted to get through that passage, but it was harder than I would have liked, and 2) there are some language mistakes here (using 'hung' instead of 'hanged' repeatedly jumps to mind.) That being said, there is far far farrrrrrrr more good than bad to be said about this novel, and it has sent me straight into a reading slump!

4.5 well deserved stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for this ARC!

“The Gentleman and His Vowsmith” tells the story of Nic, heir of his family’s estates and titles, as he must prepare for his arranged marriage with the daughter of his father’s rival.
The story is set in an alternate version of late 19th century England, wherein magic is real. Magic influences how marriages are arranged between wealthy families, causing both Nic’s family and that of his future bride, Lady Leaf Serral, to be locked in together until the contract negotiations are over. And as it just so happens, the head negotiator of his bride’s family is his childhood friend and first love, Dashiell sa Vare. When a dead body is found only hours after the lock in has begun, this love story turns into a mystery. Who is responsible for the dead bodies, and what is their motive?

This book was very sweet with just the right amount of angst. I really liked the way that things between Dashiell and Nic developed, but possibly even more than that I liked the relationship of Leaf and Nic. I see that this is a common opinion with reviewers, but I really adored her and may just have to crown her my favourite character. If I had to criticise anything here I’d say that for me things just simply worked out too smoothly and conveniently, but if what you’re looking for is joy rather than realism I think you will greatly enjoy this part.

I also think the murder mystery was very well done. Here this takes the shape of a locked room (well, locked house) whodunnit. I will admit that I’m not the best at deciphering these, but I still think that even for someone more skilled than me there may just be some surprises here. Ide did a fantastic job of having the characters figure things out as they go rather than appearing virtually all-knowing, as some mysteries do, and when we learn the truth it is not one pulled out of thin air for shock value, but rather one you can easily see as you look through the clues and hints you missed when you first read them.

Now I have to unfortunately state my problems with the story. In the author interview section at the end of my ARC copy (unsure if this will be included in the final version) Ide reveals that the book was originally supposed to be set in another world, but that she eventually decided to have it be set in 1810s England instead. Here’s my issue with that – if you’re a casual reader and have no knowledge of the relevant time and place, historical inaccuracies do not matter to you. But if you do know some things, certain elements of a story can quickly frustrate you, as they did me – and I’m certainly no expert. I think leaving the story to be set in a fictional world would have fixed that issue, even if it’s only an issue for a small number of people. In that same vein lies my other problem – the way homosexuality is treated in this book. I think having your story be set in the real world, during a time when homosexuality still held the death penalty in England, but simply choosing to completely ignore that element felt very callous to me. I’m not one for escapist fantasies, so maybe that’s on me, but I wish this had either been explained away or, you know, simply been set in a fictional world.

I also have to agree with some other reviews I’ve seen, the last 20% of this book are its weakest part. Things simply start working out for our characters too smoothly, too quickly, in a way that makes the suspense of the previous 80% lose some of its effect. I personally had imagined a different ending, one which would make more sense for the period this is set in. Nonetheless I thought it was a very sweet ending, and if that’s your priority this will make you swoon.

Overall I would recommend this book to those who know nothing about this time period or simply don’t care, who want a really sweet story of love and friendship, as well as the complicated relationships within a family unit, and a well-executed murder mystery that will have you guessing until the last minute.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. - Freya, arc & monthly book box pick reviewer

The Gentleman and His Vowsmith is a historical fantasy mystery with a beautiful m/m romance, set in Regency England. I liked the main couple and the mystery elements, but the other parts not so much.

Nic is our main character, and he is such a lovely character to have a journey with. He grows throughout the story, and his trajectory to happiness was a beauty to behold. In the beginning, he felt hopeless and imprisoned within his life controlled by his overbearing father who "owned" everybody in the family. But his friendship to Leaf let him grow and actually find strength in her who has been determined to gain her freedom for years. Leaf's honesty and bravery made him be honest with himself and brave to fight for his future, too. Their friendship is actually one of the two best things in the book, the other being Leaf herself.

Leaf is Nic's betrothed but they grow to be friends instead. She is asexual and very honest with what she wants and doesn't want and also with what she likes and doesn't like. She is outspoken and honest and brave and doesn't stop. Her wit and humour really stood out in the book. However, I don't get the "gay as a spoon" or how Nic found it funny. Then, there is the whole "word gay being used in Regency England setting" discussion...

Dash, our love interest, was also an okay character. Very handsome, very polite, very good at his job, and very competent in magic. And oh how he loves Nic.

However, I couldn't possibly tell you much about the worldbuilding. I still don't understand how magic works. I do get that they use sigils for magic (how, why; I have no idea.) They say that contracts are also very important, and I again have no idea why. Nic's father kept telling him that it must hold, and Dash gave an explanation much later in the book, something about threads that are interconnected, but to be honest, I don't get it. Sure, magical threads of fate (?) are interconnected but how and why? Why are the contracts so important???? What does a vowsmith even do? Just make contracts? Is it only they who can do it? Why? How? "Brilliance" was also mentioned a couple of times, and I think it means magic, even though "magic" was also used, so the terms might be intrechangeable or "Brilliance" is about vowsmithing? I have no idea. I don't mind vague rules in magic systems actually but I do want to understand how it works.

Since I didn't understand much about those contracts, it didn't help me understand the motive behind the murders, either. One person was a clear suspect, but other than that, I just didn't have enough information and understanding for anything. And the resolution? Quite anti-climactic, I'm afraid. On the other hand, I had no idea who did what until the final revelations, so that was good.

There is also a discussion to be had about the setting, the language used, etc, but to be honest, this book left me so confused to even attempt that, sadly. Did it feel like Regency England? Yes (hello misogyny) and no (language used generally).

I came for the m/m romance, and it was lovely and little spicy, but the worldbuilding left me confused, so I'd say that The Gentleman and His Vowsmith was an okay read if you focus on the romance and the friendship arcs.

4.5/5 stars

The Gentleman and His Vowsmith is a queer Regency romantasy/murder mystery. Lord Nicholas Monterris is the heir to a declining dukedom whose father has arranged a marriage of convenience to Lady Leaf Serral for the dowry. To negotiate the marriage contract, the Serral party hires master vowsmith Dashiell sa Vare as their head negotiator, a younger Nic’s once lover who abandoned him. Once all are locked in at the dilapidated Monterris Court until the contract is agreed upon and signed, members of both parties start ending up dead in mysterious circumstances, and Nic must work with his ex-lover and future bride to find the murderer before it’s too late.

This book gave me exactly what I wanted—a gay Regency romance, a historical fantasy, and a murder mystery—and I was the exact target audence that would eat it up. It’s Freya Marske’s A Marvellous Light meets Frances White’s Voyage of the Damned. The romance was just so full of angst and longing and yearning; it had me on a chokehold. The sigil/contract-based magic system “Brilliance” was interesting, sets to limit the scope of the story, and slots right into the period unobtrusively. I thought the locked room mystery was very well done, engagingly twisty, and believably investigable by our characters. While the big reveal doesn’t quite stick the landing in a Knives Out kind of way, that was more on the book’s desire to tie it in to its generational trauma message.

I liked Nic and saw a lot of myself in him. He may be a bit too passive and bends over so easily, but I understand that about him. He has just been ground down by his father, his status, and his isolation. I liked Dash too and his conflicting desire for Nic even knowing their difference in status means they can never be together. Giving him his own perspective chapters would really have rounded him out as a character. Their second chance romance was angsty fun and the spice was appreciated, but I could have used without that totally unnecessary third act break up. Certainly not the least of the central trio, Lady Leaf shined as an aroace young woman who knows what she wants as she channels her inner Nancy Drew, driving forward much of the murder mystery aspect while the other two are too busy being hot and cold with each other.

The Gentleman and His Vowsmith was perfectly to my taste and delivers an angsty gay romantasy and a twisty locked room mystery.

*Thank you Pan Macmillan for the eARC via NetGalleyI

There is nothing I did not love about this book.

I described it to someone as "Arranged marriage but the groom is "gay as a spoon" and the bride is ace/aro. But! The vowsmith for the bride's family who negotiates their contract is the groom's ex from years ago. And the bride is like "You should jump back on that. He is undressing you with his eyes. I don't understand why people want this, but you go, bestie!" And then there is a bunch of murders as well." and I feel like even that was underselling the whole experience.

I am not a huge gothic novel reader, I'm also terrible at riddles and puzzles so I'm not a huge murder mystery reader. However, I am now confident I could pick up anything with Rebecca Ide on the cover and fall in love with what I'm about to experience.

The Gentleman and His Vowsmith is many stories all in one. It's a queer historical romance, a fantasy and a mystery, almost in equal parts.

The world it is set in is just so fascinating to me. The story takes place in its entirety in one house, during a 'lock in' for magical marriage contract negotiations. I found the world of Brilliance, vowsmiths, conjuring and automatons so fascinating that I would've loved to leave the house to learn more about this world and the magic system. That being said, there was more than enough going on to keep me sucked in. The romance is full of yearning, angst and miscommunication, and I really liked our main characters. It is somehow very light and witty throughout, despite all the death! This was a lot of fun to read.

Recommended for fans of fantasy and queer romance.

i think this book will not be for everyone but i personally loved it. i didn't care much about the plot but the romance ? i ate it up

'Gwen & Art Are Not in Love' meets 'The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue', written by Freya Marske. what more could you want in a queer historical fantasy murder mystery !!?

First off, this was a delight to read. The subtle magic with all its rules and regulations, the crumbling gothic mansion, the mystery, the murder and the romance, all had me captivated from the very beginning. Despite it all taking place in one location, there were so many decaying rooms, murders and secrets to be revealed that the narrative pace was engaging and surprising. I got a tiny bit lost with the character names and some visual sign-posts might have helped me keep track but that's just because I am awful with names! Reading the acknowledgements at the end, I am delighted to see that more stories may be written in the same world, which I will certainly be keeping an eye out for.
Massive thanks for the eARC!

A superb recipe for a rip-roaring ride – a queer historical romantic fantasy set in Regency-esque England.
The characters were perfect, either endearing or awful, the setting was splendid, the humour was hilarious, and the fantasy element was fascinating. The only thing keeping this novel from being a 5-star read for me was the amount of “groaning” and overly graphic levels of sauciness. I’m fine with a fair bit of smut, I rate Jay Kristoff as a favourite author after all, but for me this was a tad hair-raising at times, although the love story element was beautifully done. A very personal thing and I’m sure it’ll be fine for a lot of readers.
I will absolutely be heading to her next offering.
My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own unbiased opinion.

3.25 stars

This book was not entirely what I expected. I thought it was mostly a historical romantasy similar to a Marvellous Light, but this book was actually much darker, and had a lot of focus on a murder mystery.

The characters
The three most important characters in the book are Nic (MC), Dashiell (LI), and Leaf, who is Nic's fiancee but they don't actually want to get married. Out of these three, I liked Leaf the most and I'd read a whole book just about her. She's aroace, and I really liked how this was worked into the story, has her own dreams and aspirations, and she and Nic become good friends quite fast even though neither of them wanted this marriage.
Nic and Dashiell were okay, I didn't dislike them, but I do feel they could have been developed a bit more as right now I cannot tell you a lot about what these characters are like beyond a few basic things. In a murder mystery that could have worked, but for the romance aspect I would have liked both of them to be developed a bit more.

The romance
I thought this book was a romantasy going on, and there's a decent focus on the romance, but it does start rather sudden. They go from not interacting a lot to suddenly being really into each other, and this makes sense since they knew each other before and were together in the past, but I couldn't really feel this. I enjoyed the romance a bit more in the later half, but I do feel it was missing some development.

The murder mystery
This is the aspect I enjoyed most about the book. It's mostly Nic and Leaf trying to solve the mystery together, which I liked, though I do think the focus on this was sometimes a bit at the expense of Dashiell and the development of the romance, since he was less involved with this. I thought the concept of the automatons and the creepy ghost magic was really cool, but near the end all the explanations for what happened got a little convoluted.

The world building
I liked the idea of the magic system, but at times I think it wasn't clear enough to me what the magic actually does beyond a few things that didn't seem that useful to me. I found the concept of the lock in interesting, as well as the sasining that Leaf wants, and it was easy to forget this book does actually take place in historical England rather than a made up world. There's queer marriage possibilities and among the nobility marriage contracts often have clauses about where the kids are actually going to come from, which I found interesting.

As a whole, the book might have been trying to do too much all at once and not all of it worked together as well as it could have. I found it enjoyable enough, and I liked some of the aspects of the world building and the murder mystery and I especially liked Leaf, but I think this might have needed a little more editing to have everything work together better.