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.

One part locked-room murder mystery, one part forbidden romance, The Gentleman and His Vowsmith is an intriguing Regency-era historical fantasy. Nic Monterris, the only heir of the Monterris dukedom, is to be married to Lady Leaf Serral, the daughter of his father’s greatest rival. Marriage contracts are negotiated in a locked-in as a part of the tradition of magic users and are overseen by magic lawyers called vowsmiths. However, there are two problems with this arrangement: first is a spree of mysterious deaths amid members of the locked-in household, and the second is the presence of Dashiell sa Vare, the vowsmith for the Serral family and the boy he fell in love with as a young man who left him one day without a word. Thus ensues a fascinating magical murder mystery, the yearning of a love thought lost, and a deep and compelling friendship between Nic and Leaf. Overall, The Gentlemand and His Vowsmith is an enjoyable read full of interesting twists, characters you can’t help but root for, and an unimaginable amount of family drama; however, this book struggles a bit with pacing and explaining its interesting world.

I sincerely enjoyed this book. Nic is a fun character—the only heir to a failing dukedom, he has always known that his only way out of a fate that cages him is death. The estate is crumbling, and marred with mysterious deaths and tales of ghosts who haunt the halls. His friendship with Lady Leaf, a fiercely independent, strong-willed, and intelligent woman, is a driving force of the novel. It’s clear from the beginning that they will never fall in love, no matter what a marriage contract says—yet, instead of being resentful of the other’s presence in their lives, they form a quick friendship based on mutual understanding and respect. It’s fun to see two characters so supportive of each other even under such circumstances. Nic’s tension with Dashiell is equally interesting, as the pair reckon with the social forces which kept them apart for so long, and the looming threat of murders in their very house forcing them to question whether or not to rekindle what they had. The book is a fun read due to its interesting characters, and the overall mystery plot is equally compelling. The enmity between the two families is uncovered piece by piece, full of drama and emotions. If you like Regency-era mystery, interesting characters, and a bit of a fantasy magic system mixed in, you’ll probably like this book.

This book struggled in two areas. First is the pacing: as much as I enjoyed this book, it felt like an incredibly long book to read in a way that I’m not sure it needed to. The book dragged in the first half especially, and while I was never bored, it did feel like it moved quite slowly. The second area is the magic system: I really enjoyed a magic system based heavily on law, sigils, and tradition, but the rules of the system are never really explained to the reader. Even the definition of vowsmith is difficult to glean; never mind the other areas of magic (Conjuring, etc) which seem to be different but are not really defined either. There’s a Guild that oversees the magic, though I don’t quite know what they do; Brilliance, the capacity to do magic, is inherited with people having different capacities for it but what this means for the class system isn’t really discussed; I don’t know what professions a magic user might have other than vowsmithing; Nic seems to have a strange capacity for sensing magic though it’s unclear if this is something viewed as unusual by others or not. While I enjoy naturalistic storytelling which conveys the rules of the world through plot rather than through description, I felt this book didn’t communicate the magic system in a way that allowed me to understand its implications in the overall murder mystery.

In the end, I’m giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. I sincerely did enjoy it, even if I feel it would have been a stronger read with better pacing and a bit more explanation of the magic system.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.