Summary: Monty is lechy lush with an abusive father and a crush on his childhood best friend. Percy is bi-racial in a time where that in unacceptable. Felicity is Monty's sister and just wants to study medicine. They go on the Grand Tour of Europe together. Shenanigans ensue, the trip derails and Alchemy happens?
I gave this book 3 stars...Ugh
I want to start out with a strong statement...What the ACTUAL fuck is this book?! Holy. Shit. I just can't.
I know that the opinions below are probably going to be very unpopular...I just want everyone to know that I'm not judging anyone who enjoyed this book. This book wasn't meant for me, and that's ok! So, to start us off, I'm going to talk about the positives. It's a polite thing to do.
On a Positive Note:
The first 100 pages or so were AWESOME! I was super enjoying this book! It was hilarious! Monty is a lech and he loves to drink and gamble. Naturally it gets him into a lot of trouble and some really awkward predicaments. I loved it! If the whole book had just been about the Grand Tour and all the shit Monty got into, SOLD! Unfortunately, it wasn't...but we'll get to that later. I promise. It was funny and interesting to read. I understood 100% why people were losing their shit over this book. Again, I will touch on what happened later.
The characters are soooooooooooo good! I love Monty, Percy and Felicity. They are real people with real problems and they are treated in a way that I feel was historically accurate for the time period in which this book was meant to have taken place. Monty is terribly flawed and very stupid, but that is part of his charm. You watch him struggle with trying to please his father and trying to fight against his wild nature. He was charmingly frustrating and I loved that about him.
Percy was super sweet and I was genuinely cheering for him throughout the novel, as I was Felicity as well. At first I found her to be annoying, but as her character and personality came out, I didn't mind her so much.
I did also like the romance between Monty and Percy. It was a bit like Carry On by Rainbow Rowell...but not done nearly as well. Still, I was rooting for them to get together...and for Monty to pull his head out of his ass. Haha
Things that DIDN'T work:
Honestly, if it wasn't for the characters I would have DNF'd the hell out of this book.
Let's start with that love story I was just praising. It was SOOOOOOOO hot and cold, but not in a sexy way. Monty is so frustrating...I am not sure how Percy put up with him. He must be a saint! He insults Percy multiple times, mostly because Monty is a privileged white boy and has no idea what is like to be in Percy's shoes (as I mentioned before, Percy is bi-racial and he doesn't have the same rights as Monty does in this time period). He also doesn't really try to understand either? I don't know. I wasn't super into the romance...but I still wanted them to succeed.
The plot was a hot mess. First we are the Grand Tour, then something happens and they end up going on a wild goose chase all over Europe because of alchemy.....What? And I didn't even think it was original! It was like Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa. I can't say how because it might spoil both series, but trust me...there were some odd parallels...
There were scenes that reminded me of other things as well...like:
Or this:
And if all those things weren't enough, how about some of this:
...upon looking at all of this, it sounds really cool...but the thing is, it has all been done before...and better! All I could think of were these comparisons and how much better they were than what I was currently reading. Plus what I was reading was NOT what this book was advertised as. I was expecting something completely different. A best friends road trip novel...but in Europe and it's all old timey and there is an amazing M/M (male/male) romance...but it really wasn't what the book is about. It's about best friends who are SUPPOSED to go on a European tour but something happens and they end up getting severely sidetracked because Monty is an idiot.
I am having a really hard time expressing my feelings for this book. I was annoyed with most of it and everything is spoilers so I can't really say what else bothered me. UGH!
So anyway...I think I'm done thinking about this damn book. I was mislead, I was bored, I was upset and shocked that everything felt like a plagiarized bastardization of things that already exist...and are a million times better....I am emotionally spent.....I need some alcohol....and an angry nap.
I also want to apologize for the excessive use of GIFs in this post...I was trying something new and I may have gone overboard? Maybe not? Ehh...I'll probably keep doing it until someone stops me. Hahaha
Here's where to find me!
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6483377-supermomochan-peachyfishybooks
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk5eRrShYL-HK0Gzg2qp4zQ/featured
Again....I can't just leave it like that...I have more to say...and it's spoilery...so...you've been warned if you go past this point.
I still have no clue why this book is so bloody popular. It is literally the biggest rip off a ton of major anime/movie titles...I mean...yeah, it's not a complete bastardization, but there were so many parallels that it made me really dislike this story. Yeah, if you haven't seen One Piece or Fullmetal Alchemist, I could see that it might be an enjoyable read a little bit more....but even then...after looking past everything...this is NOT what was expected. At. All. After the incident with the robbers and escaping into town, I was already starting to get disappointed...then we find out Percy is sick and that he's going to be sent away...so yeah, that was sad, but they find out the trinket Monty had stolen from the important French guy....whose name I can't be arsed to remember...is actually a key for an alchemical heart that could possibly cure Percy...so this is no longer a story about a final horrah on a Grand Tour...which is what I was hoping. This is a trio of teenagers trying to get a key to a heart of a chimera...of a not dead but mostly dead woman...I didn't want this. They spent so much time in Spain faffing around trying to get answers from the son and daughter of the guy who did the alchemy...great...more shit I don't care about. Like, we went through some shitty character development of characters we didn't need to hang around. Yeah....we are supposed to feel bad about taking the heart of their mother...but we shouldn't have been in this position to begin with. Then the whole going to Venice and getting the key................Going into the catacombs....the fight scene......the escape.......like a scene right out of Indiana Jones...except they weren't looking for a religious item.
I know this is kind of incoherent and maybe it doesn't make sense...but I just feel like I can't fully explain why I didn't like this book...................................There were just too many things working against it. I had such a hard time talking about this book. I literally have a headache. I sorry if this ending bit is a bit...shit. XD
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