Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

I rally wanted to like this book. The cover is gorgeous and the title drew me in immediately. However, it was nearly impossible to relate to the characters. They were difficult to follow and nothing about them made me want to care. I'm still not sure what the plot was. I also really wanted to encounter beautiful word usage and it was almost as if the author was imitating classic literature instead of putting his own unique spin on it. Unfortunately, this book was not it for me.

While interested in the premise, I found the pacing to be a little tedious and the main character unsympathetic throughout.. I don't think I will be ordering it for my library, sorry.

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
As many have noted, the plot takes its time to get anywhere in this book. This is partially because the book is told from Billy's point of view, and he is very introspective, but also partially because the author lingers over scenes that don't need it. Because there were many things happening, this book could have been broken into two parts and perhaps been better served.
One great thing was the author's attention to detail, making the piece feel period appropriate.

I really wanted to like this one. I found the overall synopsis to be intriguing, and was really in the mood for a historical read. Unfortunately, I just could not get into it.

The author's writing isn't bad, it's just a lot. It felt almost dry a lot of the time, and I found my mind drifting, causing me to have to read and reread the same passage.

Our main character, Billy, definitely seemed complex and had layers to himself. But he was just too annoying, especially near the beginning. A rags to riches to rags tale would give anyone a chip on the shoulder, but he kept chipping away at it.

I really struggled with what to rate this, as I don't think it's bad. It just wasn't for me.

I did not care for this book at all.
The writing style was stilted and difficult to read. It tried too hard to sound historical, but came off as pretentious mixed with uneducated.
I didn't like the main character, although I think I was supposed to. Billy is such an unreliable narrator with no redeeming likability.
I don't often dislike the books from NetGalley. Thankfully, this ARC is a rare occurrence.

Courtesy of Netgalley and The Book Whisperer, I received the ARC of Blue Billy's Rogue Lexicon by David Lawrence. Recreating bawdy London in the 1700's with great detail and imagery, Lawrence wrote a coming of age novel focused on William Dempsey, a young gay man searching for his identity, for independence, and for a truthful relationship. While he was trying to understand himself and make better choices, I was drawn into this captivating story.

I nearly abandoned this book several times although the portrayal of the era is convincing. Things occur but nothing seems to happen and the very detailed descriptions and lack of tension in the plot made for slow going. The plot itself wasn’t easy to identify or follow. My thanks to the publisher fro a review copy.

A marvellous literary treat set in London towards the end of the 18th century. A stunning fictional tapestry of the gay underworld of the capital at the time and a beautiful love story between two very different men.

Elegantly written and full of fabulous historical details, this very entertaining romp is not only cleverly plotted but it is also blessed with a terrific cast of exquisitely drawn characters. A truly delightful story that will stay with you long after its last gorgeous sentences...

Highly recommended and to be enjoyed without any moderation whatsoever!

Many thanks to The Book Whisperer and Netgalley for this great ARC!

When William “blue boy“ Dempsey got the boot from his benefactor the Markwest of Argyle he went to the Baudy house where he used to work he walked in out of a rainstorm with all his bluster and charm but unfortunately for blue Billy he had Burnt all his bridges at marathon malls house. She even introduced him to snook stockings the new toast of the Dukes and Lords of London. Billy the grudgingly makes his acquaintance but soon after mall also gives him the boot Poor Billy has gone from riches back to rags and when he tries to rely on the things that got him started in the business he learns the time change he will get help from the most unlikely of sources before it’s over be involved in a murder plot. Can Billy change and be a better person? Or does his future lay in the streets? I love this book so much I even went and bought the author‘s other book Hugh and he cannot wait to read it. It looks like it’s going to be even better than blue Billy and that’s saying a lot. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. Although it deals with prostitution there isn’t any detailed sex scenes and it’s something I would let my teenage daughter read. Love blue Billy and love this book and can’t wait to read Hugh by the same author. I received this book from NetGalley and the book whisperer but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Cleverly written stiory of a rise to fame, with a grand fall, and a new rise to ? Fame,? Comfort? Maybe Love? Read it and find out!

Interesting story. I enjoyed this tale of a British underworld and its denizens even though at times it seemed to drag along and then end up in a cul de sac with no where to go. William Dempsey is an engaging character and I wouldn’t mind learning more about him and his world, especially if it involves Tom. This is very well researched but could have used a good editing to keep it from slogging along with little direction. I thank #netgalley and #broadboundpublishing for this ARC to read and review. All opinions are my own.

*To our Lord NetGalley I praise and thank for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Look, I don´t know what to do with this book and I feel bad for it. I picked it up because both the cover and synopsis caught my attention. I thought this was going to be a different read... and I was quite right, albeit not in a good way.

Don´t get me wrong, I didn´t dislike the book... But the thing is I didn´t like it either.

Allow me to explain what happened: I got this book in early January and began reading it. I spent the whole month with it (reading in between other books) because it just didn´t work for me. And why didn´t it work? There´s a few things:
- The language used is very specific of a time and place and if you´re not used to it it´ll take you a while to fully understand (not complaining about this though, the synopsis already warned me about it)
- The plot is slow and dragging... and very slow. Even though there were some funny moments, most of the times I was just thinking, what am I reading? Because barely anything happens at all. We get a promising start with Billy coming back to Moll´s house because of some trouble with a Marquess but they don´t mention or solve that until almost the very end of the novel.
- The romance plot was... It was there. That´s pretty much it. It was kind of weird because literally nothing happened in the first 1/3 of the book and then suddenly I get to a scene with Billy recollecting he´s fallen in love with Moll´s carpenter. And that love is reciprocated. And I was like ¿:D?
I don´t get how we get there.
- Same happened with the Chandler and Roger plot. It´s like characters come and go through Billy´s life without much purpose apart from trying to spice up the plot a bit, but without fully acomplish it.
Yep, in the end all the plot tied up, but it was still a disappointment. It´s like you got a story with 300 pages but you could perfectly wrapped it all up with just 30. Because besides from you knowledge of the period (and I insist, this was good), there´s nothing much to tell storywise.

So that´s it. I´m giving it a 3 because is very well researched, yet for me is more 50/50.

A beautiful story of finding love in the difficult, merciless world of eighteenth century London’s poor. While I enjoyed the story and well drawn characters, the book seemed unnecessarily wordy. I think the story would have more enjoyable for me if the prose around the dialog had been more succinct and crisp.

My big takeaway from this novel is that there's such a thing as being too realistic, in particular when you've set your novel in the underworld of 18th-century (I think) London, a place and time so filthy, so cruel, and so violent that a faithful depiction -- which I think Blue Billy intends -- produces an actively repellent narrative. That would be fine, if it were what a novelist aimed at, but the book description here pretty much promises a romance. Which is to say that readers will have certain reasonable expectations that the genre rules oblige a book to fulfill: there's a big difference between the delicious bonbon flavored with cayenne that is angsty romance, and ... well, I don't know, exactly, but something that's no fun to eat.

Hand in hand with the grimdark atmosphere go the characterizations. I'm sure many poor and desperate people in the London of Billy's day had to be more or less cutthroat to survive -- and again, if that's what a writer's going for, fine! But see "romance promised, expectations undermined," above; I almost want to call the general awfulness of the people in this book (Billy included) a betrayal of the reader, except that I'm not quite that melodramatic. In this context, when the theatre-nerd molly Chandler is kind to Billy, his behavior comes off as completely unmotivated, maybe even nonsensical.

Assiduous research can also be a mixed bag. David Lawrence has clearly done his homework, but he seems to have felt the need to put every detail of his learning on the page, with the result that the story is drowning in facts.

Not that Blue Billy is uninteresting: it's not. But I wish it had had an editor to help Mr. Lawrence think carefully through his aims and rework it from the ground up.

An entertaining romp through London’s criminal underworld, its bawdyhouses and thieves’ dens.

Billy has spent over a year living in luxury as a kept man, but at the beginning of this novel we find him out on the streets with nothing to his name. He worms his way back to an old place of employment where he is soon caught between the affections of two very different men - Tom, a kind hearted carpenter, and Roger, a cunning rogue.

I really enjoyed the world that the author painted - it felt incredibly vivid and the style of writing fit the story very well. I also liked all the mentions of slang and the cat language, which in fact was what originally drew me to the novel, although I would have liked to have seen this explored even more.

It is a book that I feel leans more heavily on characters and setting rather than plot, which I did not mind at all, and by the end I had gotten to care about Billy and Tom quite a bit.

This book was honestly not something I would have ever picked up myself and read for it was far out of my comfort zone. This is my 1st historical fiction that centers around queer characters. Usually, I don't read historical fiction that much at all but decided to give this book a try. I'm glad that I did. Mr. Lawrence takes you into the story of "William Dempsey" or "Blue Billy" as he is named in the story. This is almost a coming of age of sorts story about Blue Billy and his time in "Marathon Moll's". It was a medium paced and enjoyable a read. I would recommend this to anyone who likes historical fiction.

A sort-of coming of age story, 'Blue Billy's Rogue Lexicon' is an enthralling read, and one of those special finds to add to your collection. A historical-esque novel that delves into the characters' backstories in order to progress into the future, it is a literary delight with loveable conversations--a unique addition to your library collections.