Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book early in exchange for an honest review!

So, I’ve been quite obsessed with the idea of “fantasy of manners” stories that are played out more straight forward. As in, instead of being a “comedy of manners with fantasy,” they are literally fantasy about the manners and etiquette of the peoples in that fantasy world (whether it be our own or a secondary one). I like it when I get to read “Pride and Prejudice” with wizards and dragons. That shit is my crack.

This book was set to be just that. It fit all the right criteria on paper, checked off many boxes in execution, but still felt a bit too modern for me to label a favorite. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Nic and Dash, I wanted more of them! It was the diction that took me out most of the time. I know not everyone has a modern-to-Victorian English dictionary handy, but man did this book have a ton of modern slang at inappropriate moments.

The plot was fabulous, the characters were lovely. I definitely will buy this one when it comes out. But is this the gay man’s version of Jonathan Strange? No. Unfortunately, not.

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would! From reading the summary I thought it’d be a fun read but I wasn’t expecting there to be so much more to it. I love regency era, so add in magic and some steam punk vibes and you have a great setting. What’s interesting about this book is that the characters are stuck in a house the entire book while a marriage contract is being written. Main characters Leaf and Nic are expected to marry for duty even though they each have other plans and dreams in mind. Leaf is fearless and brash and Nic has never been the ideal Duke’s son. Add in Dash, the vowsmith who has to make the marriage contract, who is Nic’s past love plus the relatives of Nic and Leaf who all have history together and you get an interesting group of characters.

During the lock in for the contract it quickly becomes a murder mystery after a body has been found. This for me was the best part of the book. The mystery was so fun and tense at times, but really keeps you guessing. As the book progresses we start to learn more secrets and details that constantly make us think who is the murderer. I wasn’t expecting the murder mystery to be so prevalent in the book but I loved it!

What broke up the tense parts from the murder mystery was the fluffy romance between Nic & Dash and the banter/snarkiness between the characters. This book is a great cozy read with an interesting murder mystery, unique magic, and fluffy romance.

Thank you to Saga Press Books and NetGalley for this ARC!

This was a mostly charming romcom murder mystery fantasy taking place during a Regency-with-magic era, and if that sounds like a lot, don’t worry, most of the elements are severely underbaked. A little bit “closed room” mystery mixed with historical fiction details and every miscommunication trope you could dream up, “The Gentleman and His Vowsmith” is written well, but just doesn’t muster much beyond “that was cute”. Part of it is the setting – keeping it in the ‘real’ Regency (complete with actual referenced historic figures) but adding magic and social progressiveness just isn’t explained enough for it to work; had it been a case of a Regency-like fantasy world, it might have been fine. Part of it is the main character – he is so passive and whiny that it makes rooting for him difficult, and one of the side characters is far more interesting and relevant to the plot (Lady Leaf, I love you). Part of it is that the central romance we’re supposed to be rooting for just isn’t that interesting, as it’s a classic case of “the reason we hate one another is just a complete misunderstanding that would have been resolved with one conversation in which we both act like the 20-something characters we supposedly are”. All that grumpiness said, if you’re looking for a light-ish murder mystery romance, this one is well-written and fun.

The Gentleman and His Vowsmith is a Achillean spicy historical fantasy second chance romance about a young man, his new fiancée, his old love and a few random murders happening around him.
Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for the opportunity to read and review this book which I am giving 3.5⭐️.
I really enjoyed our trio of main characters and the relationships that developed between them. I think the friendship between Leaf, the fiancée, and Nicholas, the Gentleman, was particularly well done and a strong point in this book.
The murder mystery aspect was done well enough that I didn’t guess the twist that came at the end, but it also wasn’t a part of the book that I really cared about. Maybe if the murders had started with more of the background characters first and then worked up to the most emotional for our MC but instead the first murder was against the one who I cared for the most because that’s who Nicholas cared about the most. The unaliving order seemed off.
The main issues I had with this book was that it seemed too long and there just want enough angst for me. I want my second chance romances with more pain before that reconciliation and if they happen to have a third act breakup I want all the feels from that too. Unfortunately this wasn’t delivered by this books.
I did enjoy this and will recommend, but it wasn’t a book I loved and probably would not buy a copy of it for my own collection.

• queer, historical, second chance romance
• regency setting
• murder mystery vibes
• magic, sigils, "ghosts"
• aroace rep
• yearning and moderate spice

This was a really fun read! I was very satisfied with how things played out between Dashiell and Nic and I couldn't help but root for them the whole time. I think Leaf was my favorite character overall, though. She added so much personality to the story, it wouldn't have been the same without her. Read this for the queer love, humor, mystery, & plot twists! Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

DNF at 32%

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Rebecca Ide's The Gentleman and His Vowsmith is a historical fantasy story with mystery, humor, and queer love.

I always try to give books at least one hundred pages before I DNF them. I read over one hundred pages of this book and decided it was not for me.

While I did decide to DNF this book, it's still one I want to recommend. I had no experience with more comedic, fun fantasy books going into this story. I see the appeal of the genre, but I don't think it works for me.

This is one of those books where I can look at endless five star reviews and understand why people love it so much. This book is exactly what it says it is. Every part I did read was fun. I loved the jokes, the humor, and how they fit into the story. The mystery seemed like it would be intriguing for a lot of people. Unfortunately, I've found that these aren't things that fit my taste in books. I wasn't able to connect to the story and knew it wouldn't be something I spend any time thinking about after finishing.

If you do like a more humorous, entertaining side to your fantasy stories, I would absolutely recommend this book. I've seen so many people enjoying this book and I know it will continue to find it's audience. This is a book I'll mention to anyone who loves queer romance, mystery, and wildly fun magic and characters.

Review on Goodreads (sophreadingbooks https://www.goodreads.com/sophreadingbooks) as of 1/26/2025
Review on Instagram (sophiesreading https://www.instagram.com/sophiesreading/) expected 3/19/2025

A murder mystery with a dash of classism, forbidden romance, generational trauma, a combative relationship between Nic and his father, a mother disassociating from reality, a forced marriage, a long-lost love, a second chance romance, an interesting magic system all set in a crumbling, gothic manner where the doors are locked and no one can leave.

This book had a great deal going for it. The plot, the betrayals, the secrets were all very nicely strung together into a complex tangle; the magic system isn’t explained, just there in the background but given just enough depth to hint at a greater complexity, and the vaguely Victorian society where rank, class, money and power keep the rich rich and the poor … not so rich. However, it also has a few areas that, I felt, were a bit lacking.

The world building, like the magic, is very soft. Instead the book relies on vibes and the reader’s familiarity — however small or great — with the idea of a queer normative world of English manors and manners and waistcoats and carriages to fill in the gaps. Personally, I think with a little more attention paid to the societal issues, one scene in particular at the end would have had a greater punch. As it is that moment when one of the reasons behind so many events is suddenly revealed, it was a little confusing and a bit anti-climactic, especially since it came on the heels of several other reveals, most of which were done with greater pageantry.

Nic, as a character, is fine for a “poor little rich boy” vibe, locked away in the country where he by turns ignores his father and dances attendance on his mother who is suffering from the emotional neglect and betrayal of her husband. However, he doesn’t exactly have that much character growth. He has some, don't get me wrong, but personally — and this is just my nitpick, not a comment on the book — I wanted either more emotion in the first half, or more in the second. He felt rather … whelming as a character, as if he didn’t really care about anything or anyone beyond getting back with and back at Dashiell, his first love who abandoned him.

Dashiell is a little unformed; he reacts to Nic as appropriately as any love interest would; hurt when Nic rebuffs him (this after Dashiell’s asshole moment where he fucks Nic, and calls it “closure” before walking away), angry when Nic insults him, protective when Nic is threatened, and amorous when Nic wants to sleep with him. If Dash had been stronger, and if Nic had shown a less passive personality, I think I might have given this book five stars. Instead, it’s a paltry four.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed this book, and do recommend it. It’s just, as someone who reads more for characters than plot, I think this book could have done more to please me. (I’m sure the author will get right on that, haha.) Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for letting me have an ARC of this book!

When I first read the blurb of Theo Gentleman and his Vowsmith, I didn’t think much about it, only that it could be a nice read. It is, everyone, and with the magic of Freya Marske’s The Last Binding series and the wit from K.J. Charles’ Will Darling, it’s even more than a nice read.

A Gentleman and His Vowsmith is light, sweet, and funny, even though it’s not only a romance but also a mystery (just like the above mentioned series). I always love it when a historical story (in this case, one with magical elements) has a strong and a bit brash female character in it. I really liked Nic and Dash, but Leaf was by far my favorite. Fearlessly, she wanted to investigate the deaths, stood up to her father, and was simply the star of the book.

This story is for all of you who just want to smile, don’t mind a few dead people (there’s a little tension, but it is often dismissed fast due to the snarkiness in the story), and love a few speculative/magical elements, but not too much.

The Gentleman and His Vowsmith is a charming book with all the ingredients seen in romance books, including an engaging premise, dynamic characters, and a mystery element. It gets praise for being an out-of-the-box romance with a slightly more complicated relationship dynamic than the typical boy-meets-girl trope. It's a very comfy, cozy read that fits in well with the other books in the same genre.

The automations heavily reminded me of Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices series, but Rebecca Ide's story skews a bit more new adult than young adult. Nic is a solid main character and his relationship with Dash at the beginning was intriguing enough to keep the reader going. Leaf is a very different type of female main character although I feel like her character did seem to be boring sometimes.

Overall I think The Gentleman and His Vowsmith is a solid romance story. While the execution wasn’t groundbreaking, it was still a well-paced and enjoyable read that delivered exactly what it promised—a feel-good romance with just the right amount of drama and heart.

I am OBSESSED with this book, and couldn't help but stay up late last night just to finish it. Ide has crafted a twisty, gothic, magical mystery, where it feels like a regency era family is being run as a corporation, and the implications that it has on all the relationships. Nic, Dash, and Leaf were such a lovely trio, full of friendship, yearning, and detective skills that I was rooting for to the very end. I hope more books come out in this universe Ide has built, as I am immensely curious about this world and magic presented. Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was okay. I wasn't a huge fan of the man character, he was unbelievably whiny. The book also felt like it dragged on and i just wasn't interested.

I'm a fan of Rebecca Ide's other work (writing as Devin Madson), so I was quite excited for this, and it did not disappoint.

Though I'm not typically one for historical fantasy, I appreciated the fantastical worldbuilding Ide threw in, which had the intricacy and intrigue that I've come to expect from their work. Learning about smithing and sigils was always interesting, seeing the different ways in which they could be applied to the world, and having the whole story--in regards to both the marriage contract and the murder plot--revolve around that aspect was very clever and fun.

Said murder plot was also fun to follow, with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing as to what exactly is going on and why. I actually thought that was going to be the primary narrative, with the romance simmering in the background, but I was surprised to see that both got pretty equal airtime. While some scenes got steamier than some who don't usually dabble in the romance genre might expect, I do think that fans of romance and of murder mysteries would be equally satisfied by this book, given how balanced it feels tonally, and how organically each side of the narrative slides into the other (no pun intended). It reminded me a lot of Sword Dance by AJ Demas in that way, which is another great romance/murder mystery in a historical fantasy setting.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't specifically shout out Leaf Serral, who I loved. The relationship dynamic between Nic and Leaf was not at all what I expected, and it might have been my favorite thing in the book.

The atmosphere of this book is great and well done, and the plot, absent some pacing issues, worked well too. The writing is also overall fine.
My issue was with some of the characters. I loved Leaf and thought that the queer representation was overall really great and well done. But Nic was just a whiny asshole to me. It’s giving damsel in distress in the worst possible way and it made the book a slog for me.

This book is a brilliant mix of gothic mystery, queer romance, and subtle magic. The world-building, where magic and law are intricately connected, adds depth to the story without overpowering it. Nic’s struggle with duty vs. desire and his fraught relationships are beautifully executed. The writing perfectly captures the alternate regency setting. Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable read!

Buckle in folks, because this is going to be a ride.

I went into this book with reasonably high expectations. The concept sounded cool. I like mysteries. I like queer romance. I loved the idea of MC’s fiancee being treated as a friend and ally instead of a shallow rival. And to be fair, Leaf is one of this book’s best parts. She’s likable. She’s smart. God knows she’s got far more drive and agency than our MC. She’s even pretty decent ace rep. She wasn’t perfect - often coming off as a teenage girl playing Nancy Drew instead of an adult woman personally invested in the situation, but I still wished she was the main character instead of Nic.

Nic, in a nutshell, was one of my biggest problems with this book. I wanted to like him, but damn was he a whiny dunce with no agency! The death knell came when he got stabbed, and I just stared at the page and realized, “I couldn’t care less.” A few chapters later, he confronts the stabber in question. That could lead somewhere good, right? The culprit fires back with, more or less, “yeah, and what are you going to do about it? We’re on lockdown.” Being a person of reasonable intelligence, I assumed Nic would reply, “Tell everyone,” knowing that this would likely result in the culprit being beaten, restrained, and stuffed in a small room under guard to wait for the police, who would arrive in a few days. Shame dearest Nic appeared to have, in the immortal words of Heather Chandler, eaten a brain tumor for breakfast. “What are you going to do about it?” works for him, and he stays silent.

His eventual solution to all his life’s problems might have been halfway to clever, were it not for the fact that I had arrived at it a couple hundred pages earlier. Not from any desire to solve the plot of this book, mind you. Somewhere around the third or fourth time Nic hung his head, remarking that “Death is the only way to escape being a Monterris,” I let out a strangled scream, scaring the cat, and muttered the inevitable eventual solution under my breath. Yes, this book also has a huge redundancy problem. Not only is the horse dead, but the murderer beat it over the head ’til it was no more.

Nic’s relationship with Dashiell did not help matters any. Ide packs every stupid, annoying cliche into their arc. They spend the first half of the book sulking in a Big Misunderstanding, utterly unable to communicate. They spend the second half moaning about how they can never be together and it’s soooo sad, instead of trying to be lateral for half a second. Look. I don’t expect romantic leads to behave like they just came out of a couples’ counseling session, but I do expect them to act like plausible goddamn adults. And then, Ide pulled the wretched cliche of having someone threaten Dashiell’s life, so that Nic has to break up with him to save him, oh, woe, woe, woe. That’s when I barfed in my mouth a little. Dashiell contributed a tiny bit to the mystery solving, mostly by knowing magic sigils, but was disappointingly useless outside of a few scenes, robbing me of him and Nic working side by side as a badass couple. Honestly, the book spends more time on Nic and Leaf bonding, and consequently they have better, albeit platonic, chemistry. The sex was eh. It wasn’t horrible, or toxic, or cringe. It was just eh. I’ve read hotter fanfic.

The prose in general was fine. Outside of one line on the very first page, which was so bad I honestly believe the editor left it in deliberately, as a sacrificial lamb to make the rest of the (meh) writing sparkle in comparison.

The world building had some potentially interesting ideas, but was poorly served by the alternate Regency setting. The big advantage of setting your book in an alternate version of the real world is that the reader can fill in some blanks without you needing to cover them yourself. If there’s a major break from the status quo, the reader needs to be told as promptly and smoothly as possible. It shouldn’t have taken forty percent of the book for me to find out that gay marriage is legal in this setting, as opposed to, you know, the real Regency, where sodomy was potentially punishable by death. This is incredibly relevant, as it completely changes the stakes faced by our leads. Without a specific Regency setting, I would also not have been pulled out of the story by forensic investigation techniques which I’m pretty sure weren’t in common use at the time, let alone fictionalized accurately in pulps. I would not have been perplexed by the use of the word “gay” to mean “homosexual,” or for that matter the concept of homosexuality-as-identity, neither of which emerged until the twentieth century. I would not be cringing as Nic described something as “a bit messed up,” question marks floating above my head at every new anachronism. It really felt like Ide wanted the #aesthetic of the period, with none of its warts. But the thing is, she could have set her book in a thinly-fictionalized “Englia” or some shit, and I wouldn’t be asking any of these questions.

I’d be asking different ones instead. Because unfortunately, the novel doesn’t do a good job developing or explicating any of its potentially interesting world building concepts. So, noble children in this setting basically belong to their parents. Okay, I’m curious. Tell me more. What does this ownership <I>mean</I> Is it fundamentally the same as in the real world, with guilt trips, social pressure, and financial abuse? Can magic/contracts physically, literally, curtail someone’s actions? (Evidence suggests not so much.) Can magic bonds/blood relation be used to track an escapee? Don’t ask me, I finished this book and I have no idea. There’s steampunky automata. There’s illusion magic. There’s sigils being used for law. Why isn’t there magic being used for medicine? Who knows. There’s a lot of sigil recitation. It’s even relevant to one part of the mystery. What’s the principle behind the system? Who knows.

Ide’s attempts to add socially relevant themes also fall flat. At one point, Nic comments how sad it is that no one sees the servants around them as people. Unfortunately, that’s also how the <I>narrative</I> seems to see them. Not one of them is presented with internality or a life of their own. Every single one is portrayed as a helpful, loyal accessory of the nobles who employ them. It’s a little sickening. Just try it: try to name a single trait of a single servant character, other than “servant.” You can’t. Because there aren’t any. I was also deeply not a fan of the frail victim “madwoman in the attic” portrayal of mental illness. Charlotte Bronte at least has the excuse of writing centuries ago. A modern author? Not so much.

It’s not all dreadful. I do appreciate that Nic and Leaf not only investigate the murders but make real headway, uncovering clues and piecing together the story. Believe me, that’s not always the case in stories which claim to have a mystery at their center. The supporting cast, particularly parts of the parents’ generation are somewhat interesting and add value to the mystery’s social web. At least before everything devolves into melodrama at the very end. Ricard especially had the potential to be a <I>fantastic</I> character, and watching his potential squandered <I>hurt</I>.

So that was <I>A Gentleman and His Vowsmith</I>. It did not defeat me. I finished it against all odds, because it was an ARC and I felt obliged. Now there’s a true story of putting duty before one’s desires. And one with a happy ending. Because I’m done, and now I can go have a glass of wine. I deserve it.

Thank you to Saga Press and NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions within are my own.

This book felt longer than what it was and not in a good way. Like this is an ok book but I kept thinking oh we’re close to the end right? No. No we were not. And I felt like that constantly by the time I hit the 45% mark.

With thanks to Saga Press & NetGalley for the ARC!

This was an incredibly enjoyable read full of twists and turns, even if I feel the book struggled a little bit due to some pacing issues. I adored our characters and I loved the concept of a magical locked room murder mystery!

Nic is a sympathetic character and I enjoyed being inside his head. I loved his friendship with Leaf, and I really like that rather being resentful of each other considering the circumstances, they instead worked together and became friends.

The mystery aspect of this was quite good and kept me guessing. Every few chapters I would have a new theory and a new suspect, This book took us on a lot of twists and turns and I really enjoyed this aspect.

The romance between Nic and Dashiell was lovely to read too but I feel it kept clashing with the rest of the storylines. While it was very sweet I almost felt like it didn’t quite fit into the story as well? I’m unsure how to describe it accurately but I still enjoyed their scenes.

In regards to the pacing issues, I do think that the first part of the book was painfully slow, and not enough time was given to explain the actual magic and world building of the book. I was excited for a world with magic lawyers, contracts, and sigils and I found it very fresh but I still felt a bit lost even after more than halfway through the book.

But despite that, I had a fun time with this book. It was exciting and I recommend it if you are a fan of murder mystery novels. I had so many theories and kept guessing and while the real culprit didn’t really take me by surprise I thought it was set up very well. I will definitely be looking to get my own copy of this book!

This was such a promising premise that in the end struggled for me to reconcile the disparate pacing requirements of its parts. The locked room mystery seemed to fall prey to the convolutions of the character dynamics. the romance was great and I loved the friendships that formed alongside it, but I always felt like it wasn't quite as sharp as I would like.

Gothic, mystery and queer romance? What else can you ask for? Ah, yes, a bit of magic. Not the an overly showy and present kind of magic, more of a background one, guiding the society like laws do. In fact, law and magic are interwoven in this story, in an interesting way. It is at the centrer of the plot, since our main character is supposed to get married, an act requiring a vowsmith to craft the contract with magic.

I greatly enjoyed this book. It very much a book about family, the past and the choice you have to make despite the weight of duty and societal net. There are a few great twist, a world were the details have been thought through without being overly new. The characters are great. A bit caricatural at times, but they do have layers in the end.

Nic is a good main character, trapped into an estate and a heritage he doesn't want, torn between acting to fight for his joy and staying put to avoid the repercussions. He is lonely and quickly loses one of the only person who cared for him as a person, something that had me seething about the injustice. Nic's relationship with Dashiell is full of tension and unspoken words. They are drawn to each other, despite the circumstances, past and present, and have to navigate their desire, surrounded by the constraints of a society built on aristocratic standing.
I must say I loved Leaf. Sure, she is a bride to be who doesn't want to be married and has no interest in romance or sex, a type of character I have encountered quite a few time with such stories. It's convenient, let's be honest. So even though Leaf isn't that creative as a character (nor are the others), she still carries the story well, making for great entertainment. Her relationship with Nic builds quickly, in a best friend kind of way, scurrying the Monterris manor for clues about what is happening while their marriage contract is negotiated.

The writing is great, fitting for the time period (alternate regency period). Funnily enough, while I struggle with the author's writing under he other pen name, in this case it worked very well.

All in all, a great twisty mystery, full of past and present secrets, great second chance romance with a gothic background. Very enjoyable !

DNF. Perfectly pleasant, but pretty bland - it's not engaging me at all. Think I might be biased against it since learning the author's other penname, whose writing I can't stand.

I think plenty of readers will love this, but it's lacking some magic X factor for me. It's too...straightforward, I think; the worldbuilding, plot and characters all seem too simple to be interesting, and the prose isn't anything special, so it can't compensate for the rest. But those qualities are going to be why some people love it.

Perfectly pleasant! Definitely not objectively bad. Just. Meh. Not to my taste, is all.