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.

Ok, so this might be the first time I properly dnf an ARC, and admittedly part of that is due to the fact that this isn't my favourite genre, though I still read enough of it that that can't be the sole root of the problem. I think there are people out there who might love The Gentleman and His Vowsmith, but there were elements of it that I found so excruciatingly irritating that I genuinely could not have read one more page without getting way angrier with this book than it deserved.
My main issues were with the setting and tone. We're technically in Regency England, but with magic. The blending of historical setting with fantasy elements is in no way new, but even if you exclude the fantasy elements, none of the book feels like it's set in Regency England. The characters speak in largely modern snappy dialogue with the occasional overly polite courtesy, and even the naming and titling conventions are just off enough that I really thought we were in a fictional universe until I accidentally stumbled upon the synopsis three whole chapters in. Homophobia also seems to not be a thing in this world, to the point that the characters can make snarky jokes about Nicolas being "gay as a spoon" (yes, with the world gay intended in the modern sense, which just on its own was completely baffling). However, misogyny is still a thing, and women are still treated as potential wives and mothers more than anything else, so you can't even write the whole thing off as outright escapism.
The entire book feels like it was made for a fantasy setting, but then the author watched Bridgerton and decided to just use that as a setting instead without altering any of the story. I feel like the usual appeal of regency stories is not just a vague aesthetic, it's specifically knowing that the characters are tied to a lot of specific societal conventions. A lot of the reviews have already mentioned Freya Marske so I won't feel bad for doing the same, but the reason why The Last Binding series works is that yes, there is magic, but the characters still more or less act like our understanding of how people should act in the 1900s. They might be dealing with fantastical problems and a magical society, but they still feel grounded in our understanding of that time period's traditions and society. But in this book, while there are rituals specific to that society, none of them are in any way recognisable as Regency England, and the characters speak in a modern way and the politics are confused, which leaves you completely blindsided when you are reminded of the fact that this is actually Regency England. You know, Jane Austen Regency England.
It doesn't help that the fantasy elements are not particularly well-defined either - I feel like I got 100 pages in without getting an understanding of what magic does and what its rules are, and while I definitely don't need a hard magic system for my historically inspired romantasy, maybe having any real understanding of how magic works could enlighten the readers to why this Regency England feels so different from this Regency England.
The characters were charming at times, but once again, their dialogue felt so silly and modern throughout that I just couldn't take anyone seriously. I liked that the protagonist and the love interest had a history with each other, and I liked how Nicolas and Leaf became fast friends, but none of it was enough to salvage the completely baffling vibe that the dialogue and the setting had.
I also feel like I need to say that the promise of this novel is weirdly similar to Freya Marske's other novel, Swordcrossed - both revolve around universe-specific marriage traditions and a character in an arranged marriage falling for a guy who is somehow involved with those universe-specific marriage traditions. I think Swordcrossed came out recently enough for this to be a coincidence rather than plagiarism, but it's kinda weird to see a book that literally uses Freya Marske as one of its comps feel like a badly made cocktail of all of her books (and for what it's worth, I'm not even the biggest Marske enthusiast out there, but I would reread Swordcrossed or The Last Binding any day over reading any more of this).
Overall, I am still willing to give The Gentleman and the Vowsmith two stars because I feel like there are probably people out there who like this genre better and won't mind the strange tone and setting as much as I do, but I am certainly not one of them.

I adore the combination of mystery, a historical setting and a queer romance so I had to pick this one up.

It was a fun light read and I had a good time reading it. I just wasn’t as invested as I wanted to be in the mystery or the romance. I think there was maybe a little too much packed in, even though it is quite a long read.

I liked the writing style and it was fun but not a new favourite.

This one was a mixed bag for me, mostly because I was expecting something else. I will say I really enjoyed the world building and the characters. The vibe of this really worked and reminded me of a Freya Marske book.

However this is not as heavy on the romance as the synopsis suggests. For some people the balance here is really going to work, however I just wanted more development. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, the opposite in fact. The pining and the moments with Nic and Dash we got were great! But it didn't really kick in for ages and I felt we were missing most of their backstory, only really being told about it in off handed comments rather than seeing and feeling it for themselves. For the first half of the book they are still very hot and cold and don't really have any conversations till the second half.

The first half of the book is actually more dedicated to Nic and Leaf's friendship than it is to the romance. Which is fine because I really like them. I just wasn't expecting it. In the author's Q&A at the end she says Nic and Leaf's relationship is just as important as Nic and Dash's and I agree with that, I just think we went slightly too far in the other direction to show it. The author also mentions that Leaf is her favourite character which is also very obvious. Again, at the risk of repeating myself, this is fine because I loved Leaf too. An Aromantic, asexual woman who just wants to educate women and solve murders? What's not to love? It just meant I had to adjust my expectations for what I was going to get from this book. Once I did that I enjoyed it a lot more.

I really wanted to love this one - and the premise is A+ - but something just fell short. I think this is one I might reread and enjoy even more, but at the moment I just found the world building a little lacking, and the characters a little flat. I'd be interested to read more if the series was continued.

This book was able to keep me reading only for its plot - I haven't felt a thing for the characters except for Leaf. It was sadly way too slow, with a non-existent worldbuilding.

The plot: it was interesting, even if at some points I wondered if the deaths were actually done for anything, as it was overall really glazed over. Sometimes the plot was predictable, other plot twist were harder to guess, so it was good. The locked room was interesting as well, making them hard to leave and having to continue on, but it also made things too slow, always rounding on the same things, same rooms, diner tea exploring death diner tea etc. However I do really enjoyed the way everything ended, it was very satisfyind for all parties, even if I would have also enjoyed knowing what happened to the duke and lord Ricard.

Characters: I couldn't appreciate Nic at all, he was blant and he was mostly a sum of all his relationships instead of having is own character and emotions. Dashiell was a nice love interest, but as I couldn't care about Nic, it was hard to enjoy the romance overall. Leaf was the only great character here, may it be for the investigation but also a great support to Nic and their quickly growing friendship was awesome. Also there is a nice aromantic and asexual rep with Leaf and it was honestly refreshing to read Nic's reaction, and as an aroace myself I truly enjoyed the rep.

Lastly the worldbuilding: it was almost non-existent, as we get to know almost nothing of this alternate regency era, where there's magic, guilds, vowsmiths, automatons... It felt like the author knew their magical world but wanted us to guess by sheer reading than explaning it to us. It felt lacking of explanation, real interest put towards the magic, the importance of lock-ins and what truly would happen if it goes wrong and why, the magical system with sigils but that some could sing or conjure it was just... extremely confusing I have stopped trying to understand how the magic worked.

It’s difficult for me to review this book. I was really excited to read it because the premise sounded amazing—a queer Regency-era romantasy with a murder mystery? Sounds like a recipe for a great book. The problem is, it contains elements that were absolutely fantastic and others that didn’t quite work. So hear me out.

Let’s start with the highlights. The romantic relationship between Nic and Dash is top-tier yearning. I truly loved how their dynamic was developed and presented. It’s not exactly a slow burn, but the characters are aware they can’t be together, and this sense of a doomed future really enhances the depth of their pining.
I also think the secondary characters were well-developed. Whether they were likable (like Nic's fiancé, Leaf), or less likable (like basically all the other aristocrats), they didn’t feel like expendable elements in the story.

What I found moderately well done was the murder mystery. The premise was solid, but it ultimately turned out too simple to be truly exciting. Its resolution also wasn’t presented in an engaging way, which made the plot feel a bit flat, given how it was set up.

What bothered me most about this novel was the lackluster development of the magic system. The story takes place in an alternate Regency England where some people have magical powers, yet the fundamental rules governing how and why the magic works are never clearly explained. As a result, I found the entire system difficult to understand and, ultimately, didn’t feel that magic was essential to the world. Plot-wise, the story would have worked just as well as a closed-door murder mystery without it.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and don’t regret spending time with them. However, I do wish the story itself had been stronger. That said, I would still recommend the book to fans of Freya Marske, as it may, to some extent, satisfy the craving for something similar to The Marvellous Light trilogy.

A delicious combination of locked-door mystery, romance, and bits of a fascinating magic all set in Regency style England. I found myself sucked in and unable to put this down for long, my heart rooting for Nic and Dash!!! Also, shouting at everyone to stop being silly and just find the murderer... This contained perhaps one too many a misdirect/twist in the end, it all becoming a bit of a mess by the time we got to the finale, but I forgive the author for wanting to elongate the yearning a bit. I found the concept of magical sigils in this to be really interesting, and hoped there would be more of it than we got. Maybe in the next book (?)

I received this as an ARC via NetGalley, many thanks to them!

I can confirm that this book is made for fans of Freya Marske. Her books were the last time I’ve felt such queer yearning in a regency England setting.

The writing was very smooth and while the happening of this book were only over a few days, so much was going on that it was both very quick and very long.

I absolutely adored the characters, Nic is an absolute sweetheart and witty and his quick dynamic with Leaf was amazingly written. I was scared it was going to be a cheating romance but the fact that Leaf and Nic got so well along with no hints of a romance ever developing giving their sexuality I was excited to read more and more of their friendship.

And Nic finding Dashiel again was so exciting to see, it got my giggling in the dark of the night, and I actually kind of enjoyed the 🌶️.

And let’s not forget the murder mystery pushing the plot, all the twists and turns and the amazing magic system and world building even if just in one house. I must admit for more than half the book I barely understood anything about how the magic system and world worked but the writing was so good it was not even needed. A lot of smile and nod and sure I’m gonna take your world for it, I don’t know what’s going on but I love it.

Definitely recommend!

This was an utterly delightful read, if a book filled with murder, hauntings, and the deep oppressive weight of high society can be called delightful. I went in with some trepidation, having not enjoyed the author's previous books as Devin Madson, but I found myself completely drawn into this vivid, horrible world and these truly enjoyable characters. To say too much would be spoilery, as this is something of a mystery plot, but if you like Gothic stories with true magic twists, complex characters and the chains that bind them, and enough yearning to power a small nation, then this is a must read. For fans of A Marvellous Light, A Strange and Stubborn Endurance, and The Bone Orchard.

It’s been a while since there’s been a book that made my mouth literally drop open in shock multiple times in one chapter, but here we are. I’ll keep this review spoiler free as the book isn’t due out until the end of April, but hopefully this will give you enough of a taste to convince you to pre-order!

The Gentleman and his Vowsmith centres around Nicholas Monterris, heir to a family that is desperately trying to hide their financial disasters and keep their political connections. In order to buoy their struggling savings, Nicholas is to be married to the daughter of a wealthy family, Lady Leaf Serral. In order to marry, a magical contract needs to be woven, and doing so requires a ‘lock-in’, a period in which the families of the betrothed are trapped inside the crumbling Monterris pile so the paperwork can be smithed with enchanted lettering, binding the two together.

And it just so happens that the vowsmith assigned to the couple is Dashiell sa Vare – dashing by name and nature, and an old flame of Nic’s he has spent years pining after.

What could go wrong?

Well, people could start mysteriously dying, for one…

When haunted automatons (very Clockwork Angel!) start chasing Nic, and the lock-in is plagued by one unexplainable murder after another, it’s starting to feel like something – or someone – doesn’t want the marriage to go ahead.

This book combines a locked-room mystery with a rich historical romance, all wrapped up in a magic system that feels novel and unique for the setting. Pan MacMillan knew what they were doing reaching out to me for review for this (and I love them for it).

I adore a locked-room mystery. Not only does it feel particularly tense due to the claustrophobia of the sealed location, but it’s a perfect way of delving deep into characterisation without feeling like it’s at the expense of wider development of the world beyond. As more murders are committed, it becomes increasingly obvious that, with a fixed number of people present, there’s only so long before one of our main characters becomes a target. That tension is done marvellously in this book, balancing out the political intrigue and romance in a way that avoids many of the cliches of the arranged-marriage-but-in-love-with-another stories.

“Sometimes the strongest love is like a poison, and the more you drink the more monstrous you become, until you are standing in a wasteland of your own making. Sometimes the very strongest love is only hate by another name.”

One thing I did love about this book was Leaf. So often, particularly in MM romance stories with plots like this, the intended bride is seen as an obstacle or interference, which I always hate to see authors do. That’s why I was so thrilled by Leaf. Not only is she utterly disinterested in a romance with Nic – or anyone for that matter – it’s immediately obvious that she is not a side character. A cunning, intelligent woman, Leaf is a fast friend to Nic, a lover of detective fiction, and keen to solve the murders. She’s a fantastic balance to Nic, and complements his relationship with Dash so well. I love that author, Rebecca Ide, clearly wrote her as someone impossible to dismiss, both by the other characters and the reader.

“He wanted to hold onto her for the rest of his life, but marriage was the wrong shape in his mind.”

But onto the romance (I know that’s what you’re all here for, you filthy beasts):

4 words:

On

A

Window

Seat

The combination of forbidden romance, a limited amount of time to be together, forced proximity, and the fact there’s every chance they’ll be caught at any moment makes the relationship between Nic and Dash feel like a powder keg that could explode with even the slightest spark. However, the fact that they have a history means that – despite the short period of time that the story takes place over – nothing feels rushed. Rather it feels like we’re witnessing them falling back into something that was sculpted to fit them, natural and meant to be. Nic’s betrayal at being left without a goodbye all those years ago combined with the inevitability of them parting ways as soon as the contract is signed makes every scene between them feel elevated, steeped in emotion that feels real and raw.

“whatever Dashiell wanted to call it, after nine years such a moment was no closure. It was a resurrection.”

It also means that the spicy scenes are particularly spicy.

On a window seat, under a table, these bastards will take what they can get and make it work. And they make it work.

I absolutely adored this book, and I can tell you how I know: I made 98 annotations on my Kindle as I read. The language is stunning, the characterisation is rich, and the plot is tense as all hell while still having time for some luscious romance.

I foresee Rebecca Ide becoming a staple of the genre alongside Freya Marske and cannot wait to see what he writes next.

THE GENTLEMAN AND HIS VOWSMITH is due for release 24th April 2025 from Pan Macmillan and Tor.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

This was a really fun read! It’s kind of like a cosy mystery mixed with a forbidden love and I am lowkey obsessed with it.

The world building was mostly great but I did some parts of it a bit confusing at times. I also think that the first half of the book was a bit wordy and the plot didn’t become particularly exciting and gripping until the second half.

That being said, the characters were very lovable. Nic and Dash are both so adorable I wish I could read another whole book about them!

There’s a little sprinkling of spice that I enjoyed.

Overall this a really great historical fantasy and I look forward to reading more from Rebecca Ide.

I really enjoyed this twisty locked room mystery, set in an AU Regency England with magic!

Lord Nicholas Monterris is due to be wed to Lady Leaf Serral… despite the fact that he’s only romantically interested in men, and she’s AroAce and not remotely interested in a relationship. The only reason this is seemingly happening is that Nic father wants Lady Leaf’s money and status to be brought into their ailing family. Because both Nic and Leaf are Brilliants (people with magic) it is required that their marriage is ‘vowed’, a process of creating a binding magical document during a ‘lock in’ where none of the parties are allowed to leave the house.

But when members of the group start dying, Nic is forced to play detective to work out who so desperately wants his marriage contract to fall through… other than himself, of course. Aided by Lady Leaf, and Nic’s ex, vowsmith Dashiell, they look into the mystery and uncover more than they ever expected!

I enjoyed the second-chance romance between Dash and Nic, as well as the platonic friendship between Nic and Leaf (who was a regular Miss Marple, loved her!). Leaf is AroAce and I loved the portrayal; she’s completely behind Dash and Nic wanting to be together but has no intention of ever being in a relationship herself nor being used to carry children.

The magic system was completely unique and I enjoyed the queer-normative world! There was so much deception and backstabbing in this mystery that I was kept guessing right up to the end!

Read The Gentleman and his Vowsmith for:
✨ Regency England AU with magic
✨ Second chance romance
✨ Escaping your arranged marriage
✨ Excellent AroAce rep
✨ Locked room mystery
✨ Unique magic system
✨ Everyone is lying about something
✨ Automations, ghosts, illusions

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for an eARC of this book. It’s available on 24th April 2025!

A cosy, fun Regency romance with a murder mystery at its heart.
I loved the characters, the word building, the sweet love story. The Gentleman and His Vowsmith is a fantastic read. I hope there’s more from this series.
Thank you so much to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - a queer regency second-chance romance with magic, which is also a locked-room murder mystery. The romance is a delight - anger for the past, yearning for what might be, chemistry and sexual tension. But I also loved the celebration of friendship - that relationship gets similar page time as the romance and that was such a good choice. The murder mystery is suitably creepy, the magic element is well done - clearly well thought through, with effortless world-building. There are twists and turns galore, and it kept me guessing - and turning pages - through to the end. I hope there are more books to come in this universe.

(3.5 stars rounded up)

This was a fun Regency-era historical fantasy, blending murder, romance, and a touch of magic in a truly charming way. I really enjoyed the premise and the atmosphere, especially the lockdown setting that added a layer of intrigue to the investigation.

That said, some aspects left me a bit frustrated. The love story, while compelling on paper, sometimes dragged the plot rather than driving it forward—I both loathed and loved it, which is its own kind of magic, I suppose. And while the mystery had its appeal, it occasionally felt redundant, as if it could have been tighter or more impactful. There were also elements I wish had been more developed, but despite these minor gripes, the book remained an engaging and delightful read.

This book made me giggle and kick my legs. It's a very cosy read, it has humour that feels out of its time but fits all too well due to the anamatronics and echoes that were also out of time yet a wonderful part of the story. The mystery was the part that I thought could be more mysterious and explained a little better because I had trouble following and the plot twists felt like they had already been revealed before several times. The romance was really sweet and sometimes spicy but not too often or too much, which is a good balance. Fantastical, mysterious, historical and romantic all at the same time. My favourite January read.

So here's the thing: on paper, this book sounds fantastic—an alternative Regency setting with magic and steampunk-esque elements, wrapped in mystery and queer romance.

Let's start from the top. The alternative regency setting, elements of the world building were amazing, and there were threads I wanted to pull and hear more about but... you don't need to explain things that are the *same* as regency Britain, I just need to know what's different. The concept of being 'sasined' was actually really central and it just didn't seem to be explained in a clear way anywhere, of things people can and can't do, of reasons they can't just... leave, walk out, is there magic there that would stop them? Are there law officials? It seems like it's the same as being part of a family, I honestly can't get what is different. And... gay marriage is normal and okay, which is great, but feels like it should be highlighted much earlier that that is even an option for anyone! The echos, I loved the echos... I think. I just. The wrong things were explained in too much detail.

Next, the mystery. Honestly, it was like watching someone stare at a table with a cup on it and constantly demand to ask where the cup is. I don't want to spoil too much here, but really if you're going to use mysteries to build tension, the reveals should be dramatic. They were most definitely not. I finished the book yesterday and even now I have to squint to remember who killed whom and why. Yeah.

The queer romance was just... lazy. It was full of misunderstandings, making it so hard to feel any connection between the main pairing for most of the book. Then, out of nowhere, we suddenly have people talking and showing emotions you can connect with. It was so frustrating. And the open-door moments? Jarring and vaguely heteronormative. No thank you. That first spicy scene was right out of a bodice ripper, what the hell, where did the bloody oil come from??

The prose, though—the prose was well-written, and the core idea was solid. But everything else? Really not great.

2.5 stars, rounded up.

Perfectly fine fluffy queer historical fantasy, but the thing about chucking dead bodies at your plot to make it go is that they have to actually make the plot go. If a dead body does nothing but keep the soggy center of the plot idling in neutral, it seems awfully disrespectful to the characters who thought they were giving their fictional lives in service of moving things along.