4,5!

Also, was soll ich sagen... Es ist eine nette Geschichte, aber eher etwas für Jüngere, also Young Adult. Was mir am besten gefallen hat, waren die historischen Aspekte. Die Geschichte spielt im 18. Jh. (17..) und man bekommt einen Eindruck, wie man damals gelebt hat. Mir war nicht bewusst, dass es damals üblich war, dass Heranwachsende der höheren Gesellschaftsschichten eine "Tour" durch wichtige Städte in Europa machten. Auch der Umgang mit Homosexuellen wurde im Buch thematisiert - eigentlich eines der Hauptpunkte. Am Ende des Buches ist ein Anhang, in dem der Autor auf humorvolle Weise einige gesellschaftliche Eigenheiten der Zeit erläutert und auch Einblick in die historischen Rahmenbedingungen des Romans gibt. Diesen Teil habe ich mit viel Interesse gelesen.

<blockquote><b><i>“We are not broken things, neither of us. We are cracked pottery mended with laquer and flakes of gold, whole as we are, complete unto each other. Complete and worthy and so very loved.” </i></b></blockquote>This was such a fun, quick read! The whole adventure feel of this novel kept me interested and the characters were compelling and complex. Monty is this rake-like character, who dwells on gambling, drinking and company (both men and woman) to escape his dad and responsabilities and he's sometimes not aware of his priviledge or how untactful he is about some issues. He's a little conceited and reckless, but that only makes his character development even greater. Still, it's understandable why he acts in certain ways and his misshaps are funny, despite everything. It's impossible not to grow to like him, especially because he's the narrator of this story. I loved Percy as well, and their romance was just adorable, though I felt like I could do without the typical romance novel trope of all that drama between the main couple that separates them until the very end though they obviously love each other. As a LGBTQ period romance, though, I thought that the difficulties regarding the relationship (forbbiden, at the time) was treated too lightly - most of the times, Henry only got his father disapproval (to say mildly) and he and Percy still kept touching and kissing in plain sight, so I didn't feel like that was dangerous or forbidden like the time period required. I wished the author explores this a bit more, especially as she was constantly creating things to drive them apart - the fact that queer relationships were forbidden and often a death sentence was never one of them. I felt like Percy's skin color was a more proeminent source of conflict and was more developed than the queer aspect, which was supposed to be the center of the novel. Still, the romance was great and I liked the dynamics between them, even if Percy at times seemed to doubt Henry as much as the others. Felicity is a difficult character. I like what she represents and the character has brilliant moments through the book, but she was irritating at times and acting superior and with a pissed off look constantly. I would have loved to see the relationship between brother and sister flourish through the story, but Felicity was constantly doubting and diminishing Henry, treating even Percy better than her own brother. There was this one scene were they had this amazing interaction and I thought it would get better from there, but in the next moment it seemed like nothing at all had happened. Yes, it was clear by the end that she cares about Monty, but I would've wished we've seen more of that or more moments between the two. Still, despite all that, I had fun while reading this and if I had the time I would've certainly devoured it in a go. It's a great romance novel, with an adventure and road-trip feel, but while I liked it a lot, I didn't love it and it wasn't all that groundbreaking. I will definitely read Felicity's novel because I'm interested in getting to know her character better and maybe understand her a little, but I'm going in without expecting amazing things like I did with this one after all the rave it was getting.