A lovely return to the world of the Montague siblings. Youngest sibling Adrian is reeling from the death of his mother and trying to make sense of it when he discovers that his family is much bigger than he knew. Adrian struggles with mental health and his anxious and obsessive thoughts feel appropriately unreliable and claustrophobic. Plot is thin but secondary anyway as we meet back up with Monty, Felicity, and other characters from the first two books. Fans of the series will be happy to find Monty and Felicity slightly more grown up and recognizably themselves and with their own challenges to face - all three have a tendency to run away from their problems. It deals with serious mental health issues and questions (including suicide), but although it's not as lighthearted as I had expected, it is a nice addition to the series and a very satisfying stopping point.

CW: eating disorder, panic attacks, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, suicidal thoughts, character death by suicide off page, OCD aspects, self harm

The mental health aspects were very true to life--true enough I had to step away sometimes. So definitely be aware of that going into reading.

I'm bereft this is the last one. The ending was PERFECT and so cute and so Montague, but now it's over. Sigh.

I actaully really liked Adrian. I had no idea what to expect from the youngest sibling, who was just a baby in the other two books, but Adrian is a full-fleshed out character with his own flaws and goal. I might've liked his fiancee a tiny bit more, and I'd totally read a book just about her.

There is woefully little of Percy in this book, but there is plenty of Felicity and Monty. I loved seeing all the siblings together and their awkwardness and then their banter as they became more comfortable with each other.

A worthy conclusion for a fun series.

I really felt for the Montague siblings, dealing with their trials and tribulations and their strained relationships. However I found the actual adventure story pretty lacking in interest.

4.5 stars. This book is more serious than the other two before it and has a different feel. Adrian is basically a new character (unnamed baby from the first book) who struggles with anxiety and his mother's death. His anxiety is handled perfectly; it's relatable and realistic. As just Adrian's story, the book is pretty perfect just not quite what I expected after the other two.
We do get to catch up with Monty and Felicity but what has happened for them is given in pieces and I didn't feel satisfied with their progress. I did enjoy the family interaction and dynamic but I wish there was a bit more information on what happened with them between the books.

This is the third in the Montague siblings trilogy, and follows the point of view of Adrian, the youngest of the three, who was just a baby in previous installments. After his mother’s death, Adrian goes looking for answers, and finds, much to his shock, that he has both a brother and a sister whom he has never heard of. As with the previous books, Adrian’s quest leads to quite the fast-paced travel adventure tale, including peril on the high seas and run-ins with pirates.

Mental illness is heavily explored in this book, more so than the others in the trilogy. Adrian suffers from crippling anxiety, intrusive thoughts, and probably an eating disorder as well. Monty is older, and maybe a bit wiser, but still haunted by many of the same demons as in years past. It’s a reminder of how trauma can continue to haunt you as the years go by – but also of how with help, we can heal and learn to cope. Living with mental illness is one of the major themes in the book – learning to manage a mind that betrays you, knowing that it will never be perfect, but doing the best you can.

Monty and Percy are as adorable as ever, and I also really like Adrian and Louisa as a couple. They seem well matched. As always, Mackenzie Lee writes very colorful and interesting side characters.

Representation: Mentally ill main POV character, bisexual characters, gay characters, asexual character

CW: first-person depiction of mental illness, alcoholism, eating disorder, suicide

Full disclosure. From the moment I found out The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks was a concept, I've been anticipating reading it. I loved The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue and The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy made more interested in Felicity. I'm really happy we get to see what Goblin has been up to all of these years.

Adrian Montague is the main character of this story. He's set to take over his father's peerage,despite his protests, and still grieving over the sudden, and suspicious, death of his mother. Adrian's entire life has been shadowed by his anxiety and intrusive thoughts. When he comes into possession of his mother's spyglass, and object she never would have parted with, but was not found with her body, Adrian sets off to find out the truth of his mother's death. Only, he's going to find out a lot of things about his family and himself along the way, including that he has two older siblings that he never even knew about.

Monty, Felicity, Percy and more of the cast of characters we met in the last two books are sprinkled throughout this story. It's exciting seeing where their endeavors in the past have led them.

What I liked:

Well, a lot. Mackenzie Lee's writing, as always, is funny and exciting. She really knows how to tell an adventure story that is still focused on character development. The pacing of Nobleman's Guide is just as swift and rip roaring as books one and two.

Monty. What can I say? Something about Monty just makes you love him. He's selfish, sort of. He's irreverent. He makes bad decisions and says things so hateful that you want to punch him in the face. But he's also funny, really funny. He's open minded, perhaps due to his own experiences. At the end of the day, he's loyal to those he loves. And he's loving. Monty, to me is a really interesting character who's so flawed and real, I would read a ton more books about him.

The sibling relationship. Adrian, Monty, and Felicity have just met as a group. They are weary of each other, but ultimately they care for each other.

Adrian. Adrian is great. I want to give him a hug, though he doubtlessly would *hate* that. He's been navigating life as best as he could in a world that isn't even starting to begin how to deal with his illness. The stream of consciousness flow of writing when he spirals into himself is really well done by Lee.

The world. As always. It's wonderful, at times grotesque.

What I didn't like:

This book has a criminal lack of Percy Newton.

Resolutions. I know this is the end, but it doesn't feel like it. Characters came and went throughout the story in such a way that it felt like more of a world tour of the series rather than the final book. There's nothing wrong with this though. It's more how I read it and my opinions on how some of the characters developed that I have an issue with.

Overall a solid 4/5

After Mackenzi Lee’s Tulip Fever was cancelled in 2019 for multiple reasons, the author has returned to the familiar stomping ground of her Montague Siblings series. This third (and allegedly final) book in that triad focuses on the youngest brother, Adrian.  For those worried that the book would be unsatisfactory after the author took a rather long break from the series, they need not worry – Adrian is as memorable as his siblings, and as worth rooting for.  But those with spiraling thought processes and those who suffer from anxiety will likely struggle with the book, as I did.

Nineteen years have passed since the conclusion of The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy, Felicity’s book, and then-infant Adrian has now reached his majority. He has been raised far from the scandals which enveloped his adventuresome older twin siblings, and he seems to have it all – he’s rich thanks to being named his father’s sole heir, he’s young, he’s a budding political writer who works in secret with underground broadsheets writing in support of labor movements, he is engaged, and his friends love him.  But Adrian labors under the weight of anxiety – and is often given to panic attacks as he tries to operate under the tonnage of his father’s expectations. He also suffers from OCD. His anxiety is exacerbated by the sudden death of his beloved mother, whom he was extremely close to.  He is shocked to learn of the existence of his siblings thanks to a piece of a spyglass handed down from his mother.  It is missing several pieces which keep it from being operational, and in trying to make it whole once more he encounters a now thirtysomething  Monty.

Monty has been living in London with his beloved Percy for the past decade or so, and has established a shipping company which, in part, transports dangerous magical artifacts.  Monty is still bitter about his father’s behavior toward him, and is Adrian flummoxed by this new family he did not know he had, but they endeavor to get along and try to solve the mystery behind their mother’s death.  It’s a death which may have been a murder, or may have been related to her fascination with magical artifacts. They need the help of Felicity – who had happily settled far from England in the Azores during her own book – to fully solve the mystery and the two men team up to find their sister.

The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks is a satisfying topper to the adventures of the Montague family.  Reading this third full-length instalment is to take a deep dive into Adrian’s psyche and come out feeling a trifle bit panicked yourself.  I suffer from agoraphobia and generalized anxiety, both of which I generally successfully control with therapy and mental exercises - to visit Adrian’s mind is to remember what it felt like to have a thousand panicked thoughts flying around in my mind like bats.

But this is an accurate representation, and I deeply liked Adrian, who, unlike his siblings, is no voyager, but instead someone who’s quieter and more introspective; gentler, with a much softer constitution.  While he believes he should be tougher and heartier as his father wishes he were, his siblings immediately note that they like him just as he is.  He must learn to accept who he is at heart, and his journey here is much more about that than anything else.

Monty, Adrian and Felicity all come together to form a proper sibling bond here, and Monty has shaped up into being quite the semi-respectable adult and tries his damndest to be a good big brother to Adrian.  Felicity gets less play in the book but is still a major presence with her own life, and the incomplete threads dangling from Lady’s Guide are solved.  Characters from the two previous books pop up and are used fairly well, like Sim and Joanna from Felicity’s book.

Romance-wise, Adrian is happily spoken for.  He’s in love with his fiancée, a lovely and intelligent woman named Louisa (nicknamed Lou) who doesn’t get enough page-time in the book, yet remains a convincing north star for Adrian to return to. I did wish that she were actually adventuring alongside her fiancé and his siblings during the book, but her understanding when it comes to his panic and how she helps him with it in an era where (as the book notes) panic and OCD such as his were a one-way ticket to bedlam is lovely to see.  Monty and Percy are still going great gangbusters, though Monty still has not surrendered to domesticity, and aspec-leaning Felicity continues to be devoted to her friends and medicine.  There is also at least one wedding in the book for one of our principal characters, which will delight those who have been following the series from the start.

The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks didn’t floor me quite as thoroughly as Lady’s Guide, still what I consider to be the peak of the franchise, but it’s a wonderful and enrapturing sequel none the less, and comes with a high recommendation.

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After being a bit disappointed with Lady's Guide, I found this third book in the loosely related trilogy a joyful surprise. At the start I feared that the think I disliked the most about about Lady's Guide--that the point that Felicity deserves her place in academia and science despite being a woman was repeated ad nauseam, to the point that it began to feel insulting to me as a reader--was beginning to show its face in Nobleman's Guide, but in the case of this story, the repetition revolved around Adrian's many worries and irrational fears and if you have anxiety and intrusive thoughts... well, that's a pretty accurate way to represent them in text and it makes sense in the context of the story.

In Gentleman's Guide, I had a real suspension of disbelief problem with the whole beating heart plot-line. When Lady's Guide came along I was expecting something supernatural, and was not disappointed. I found the sea monsters from LG both more believable and more entertaining than GG's departure from reality, so although it still felt a little out of left field plot-wise, the supernatural element took me out of the story less. In Nobleman's Guide the supernatural element is woven in masterfully and even though it is a wholly unbelievable occurrence, it felt believable within the story because it was so well done. It fit thematically and emotionally and was very satisfying. I think in many ways this book shows that Lee has matured as a writer and it was nowhere more apparent than in the way the realistic and unrealistic plot elements were brought together so seamlessly and effectively

I surprised myself by how much I ended up liking Adrian. I was so attached to the original cast of characters that I admit I, like Monty, was a bit skeptical of this young upstart, but he really was a charming and delightful character who I felt attached to quite quickly. And it was a wonderful surprise that Monty was a big part of this story. It wouldn't have been the same without him, and I loved having his acerbic wit and generally poor outlook on life along for the ride.

The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks is the last story of the Montague siblings. It takes place long after Felicity's story ends, which is a nice touch. We get to see how Felicity and Monty have managed their lives in the intervening years. In addition to catching up with familiar characters, we meet some interesting new personalities. There are a number of surprises and the plot moves along nicely. Monty continues to be a scene stealer and this reader would welcome any and all Monty content the author wishes to create. An interesting end to a thoughtful series of books.

My favorite of the set! After Mackenzi Lee's previous installments, I expected clever dialogue, lovable characters, and a riotously fun adventure. Nobleman's Guide delivered on that and more. This big-hearted story follows Adrian Montague (aka "the goblin"), and everything from his deep-seated anxieties to the curious hold that his late mother's trinkets have on him make him a disappointing heir to his father's fortune and title. When Adrian stumbles upon a few familial connections that he never knew existed, he embarks upon a quest with them to uncover what he believes to be the mystery of his mother's death. I adored Adrian, and his struggles with anxiety and desire for acceptance in his family touched me deeply. This book is an all-immersive joy to read, and I look forward to revisiting it.

The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks is a wonderful continuation of this series by Mackenzie Lee. It has all the heart and humor of the first two installments, and tackles a different type of experience than was touched on in the others, but is no less important and likely relatable to the type of readers who enjoyed the first two (I'm sorry, LGBTQ+ community, we are an anxious lot). It also hit on the familial relationships with siblings, even ones you haven't gotten to know until you hit adulthood; this was something I loved, because it's not something that comes up often in fiction, and it hits close to home, having a strained parental relationship but having rich, loving, supportive sibling ones.

I loved getting to know the youngest Montague sibling and join in on another adventure. I didn't expect this continuation of this world but am so thrilled to have gotten to see it. Like the other two installments, I will probably read it more than once. :)

I loved, loved, loved THE GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO VICE AND VIRTUE and THE LADY'S GUIDE TO PETTICOATS AND PIRACY so I had high hopes for THE NOBLEMAN'S GUIDE TO SCANDAL AND SHIPWRECKS.

I am entirely too pleased to report that Mackenzi Lee has done it again! These books are also clearly so well-researched and surround such an inclusive cast. Definitely reads that I recommend to others.

Lee had me hooked from the first sentence of THE NOBLEMAN'S GUIDE TO SCANDAL AND SHIPWRECKS. I knew Lee would take us on yet another adventure and she did not disappoint. I really love how distinctly different Adrian's voice was--especially compared to Monty and Felicity's. His anxiety also came across authentically to me. The character development is fantastic.

What a wonderful finale to an incredible series!

A wonderful wrap-up to the Montague Siblings series that I didn’t know I needed (but fortunately, Mackenzi Lee knew).
19-year-old Adrian Montague is dealing with the recent death of his mother. When his father hints that it was something other than an accidental fall off of a cliff, and shares a box of her personal effects, including the fragment of a spy glass that she always carried around, Adrian knows he must learn more. His search or information leads him to a brother and sister he never knew of, the (now 30-something) Monty and Felicity.
Getting the answers he is so desperate for will require dangerous sea journeys and deals with even more dangerous pirates. These things are challenging enough on their own— add in Adrian’s crippling anxiety and an older brother who does not bother to hide his lack of enthusiasm about Adrian’s presence, and things do not look promising for our hero.

My favorite thing about this installment? Lee’s sensitive and knowledgeable portrayal of a protagonist who struggles with mental illness. And who slowly learns that he is so much more than his anxiety.

Thank you to Katherine Tegen Books and NetGalley for the electronic arc.

More Montagues running amuck! Well, not completely.
This third book skips ahead to see all three Montagues grown.
The book handles loss and anxiety. with no lack of of humor and adventure.

As the third book in the Montague Family series, I was expecting adventurous historical fiction with strong mental health and social justice themes. This book delivered on those expectations, However, the mental health theme took center stage, with social justice as a secondary thread. The mental health issues also took up more space on the page than in the previous books, to the extent that I sometimes found it challenging to read, depending on my own mental health in the moment. It's absolutely still worth the read, but isn't quite as much of a fun romp as the other two books.

What a lovely conclusion to the series. I fully expected it would only be a duology, so this was a nice surprise. I was taking a little out by the length of time spent on the Dutchman story, but overall I can see its point as an allegory. It was a little weird though. I really liked the character of Adrian and I feel like she handled his mental illness very delicately while not ignoring the lack of knowledge and science of the time. People with mental illness (like yours truly) still do not receive the respect of the medical world that they deserve, but at that time they would’ve been pushed to the side as lunatics or hysterics. Watching his family support him at a time when that was not common mirrors how she deals with the rights of the LGBTQIA community in this Regency time period: with an anachronistic “what if?” that I find very pleasing to imagine. I also was happy to see the other two Montague siblings again, and to finally have a conclusion to their stories as well. The best part of the book is the epilogue, hands-down. I laughed out loud several times and found Adrian’s letter to be very touching. It spoke to me and my own struggles with mental illness. It will never be easy, but keep breathing. Just. Keep. Breathing.

There's been a bit of a timeskip since the second in the series and Adrian Montague is all grown up.

Like his older brother and sister (who he initially knows nothing about) he's not quite what his father hoped he be. He suffers from we'd now called anxiety to a severe degree.

The discovery of a personal effect his mother left behind before her death leads him to discover first Monty and later Felicity. Together the three adventure together to discover the truth about their mother's supposed curse.

The characters are funny, sweet, frustrating. It's a fun read that isn't just all fluff.

A nice wrap up to the trilogy! We find out that Monty and Felicity have a baby brother who struggles with anxiety but has a heart of gold. He takes them all on a quest that ends with no firm set of answers, but some good closure for both Felicity and Monty. Another romp through Europe with pirates, secret treasure, some shady characters and some sweet ones as well.

When I first saw this book added to the Montague Siblings series, I was beyond excited. I’d completely forgotten about the third child, only a baby when the last two books had taken place. And as I watched the synopsis get tweaked every few months, I could hardly wait for its release. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait too long, and I must thank Netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandals and Shipwrecks begins with Adrian, an up-and-coming political writer with a promising future ahead of him. So much younger than his older siblings, without even a clue of their existence, Adrian is brought up as his father’s only son, the heir to the estate. Adrian, however, has extreme anxiety that colors every part of his life. When his mother unexpectedly dies, that mental illness he’s had all his life threatens to reveal itself to everyone he knows.

When a mysterious relic of hers falls into Adrian’s hands, in pursuit of answers, he comes face to face with Monty, the older brother he never knew he had. They journey to locate their sister, Felicity, and the Montagues embark on one final adventure in pursuit of answers to a haunted legend that threatens their family.

While this third installment keeps the humor that the first two books so dearly captured, this one also deals with hard topics. While some things discussed in the first two regarded epilepsy, aromanticism, and other things, this book deals heavily on the reality of general anxiety disorder and the crippling effect it has on so many lives. Mackenzie Lee herself expresses her desire in the author’s note that she wants to show that although anxiety as a mental illness wasn’t defined until 1980, it is something that people have had to struggle with throughout all of history. She has also written this disorder from a place of commonality with Adrian, as she has lived with GAD as well.

Adrain’s thoughts are packed full of metaphors, and always a lot to get your mind around, but they are beautiful, and so, so interesting to read. He is also such an endearing character that lets the reader into every corner of his crowded mind, someone readers can relate to and care about. His thoughts overflow with no barrier, and yet, that level of having his guard down even among his own mind and the reader makes him the most lovable out of the three siblings, in my opinion.

I really enjoyed getting to see the siblings interact with each other, and eventually seeing them expose their hearts to one another. In the end, sibling love is a truly deep thing, and Monty, Felicity, and Adrian envelop that desire to love one another beautifully, going so far as to outright express it in words and actions with each other.

While the previous two novels held a light-hearted adventure-type storyline, this one was heavier, but did not disappoint. The characters each go through major development to become the people we’ve always loved and become more and more proud of.

I was afraid about having to go through such a big time skip between the second and third books, but it was so well done, and the characters we know and love, like Monty, Felicity, and Percy, are the same, only older, and with more life experiences under their belts. I so enjoyed the banter that continued between Monty and Felicity, and I also really enjoyed seeing Adrian able to make his way into being a part of that.

In all, I was very pleased with this conclusion, and I will be sad to see the end of this series behind me. These characters are so raw and real, flawed but loveable, historical and witty, relatable in real-life issues, and just downright charming to read about. It truly has been a pleasure to read Lee’s intricate, fun, and real writing, and the Montague siblings won’t be easily forgettable for anyone.

The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks by Mackenzi Lee is an absolute gem of literature. The main character’s, Adrian Montague’s, anxiety is written beautifully and scarily accurate. As someone with GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) the descriptions of fidgeting, overthinking, and touch aversion are very well written, and I feel did justice to the feeling of anxiety. The plot itself is also a wonderful journey, everything that makes the Montagues...well the Montagues, is displayed in this book. Monty’s constant chaos, being a wonderful older sibling, overdramatic reactions, and undying love for Percy is shown in full light throughout the novel. Felicity is just as witty and smart as ever, and her banter with Monty is a comforting thing to read amongst the madness of the adventure. Though let’s not forget the fact that all characters have their faults, each character (pre-existing or new) is shown with their heart on their sleeve. The new characters are fantastic, and Lee has a wonderful way with words and setting up scenes, whereas the reader you feel like you stepped into the book. The only issue I found was descriptions of characters. The descriptions were few and far between, even though it could be because Adrian himself doesn’t describe people heavily, it really takes a reader out of an experience when you’re not sure how they look. Specific instances are, Adrian’s fiancée and George (Georgie), it’s never explicitly stated what they look like. Though that doesn’t make the book horrible or the plot hard to follow, it’s mildly irritating to not know something as simple as a hair/eye color. Overall, the story is a beautiful end to a series. I highly recommend the entire series but especially The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks; it’s an adventure novel full of pirates and ghosts and 1700s travel, but it’s also a wonderful story about family, mental health, and how not everything is always perfect but as long as there is love, support and sheer force of will, there is hope. I give The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks by Mackenzi Lee a 9/10, a perfect end to series with exquisite writing and a brilliant story.