can i give this more than 5 stars??? ok listen, hear me out, imagine the first part of the vampire lestat but instead of vampires it's alchemy and also the author has done research on the time period and is aware of sexism / racism / homophobia in the era she's writing about. amazing! look i know i've just been in a vampire chronicles head space recently but there are similarities like the setting and time period and the fact that monty kept doing things and i would go 'lestat would entirely do that'. i really loved this is what i'm saying. 
 i wasn't entirely sure what the actual plot of this book was going to be - just saw the author, the cover, and tags lgbt and historical fiction and i was like I'M IN - but i actually really liked the alchemy plot line and i think it's definitely better than if they had just focused on the touring part. i also liked how the author used each of the main characters to show different kinds of privilege and how they could intersect. I found it interesting how some places wouldn't let felicity in because she was a woman while others wouldn't let percy in because he was black. monty obviously had the most privilege of the group but he is still a bisexual who has suffered horrible abuse from his father. there's also some author's notes in the back with information on the time period so you can definitely tell she did her research. 
 it was just a really cute story - although it definitely got sad at times - but i love the ending. definitely recommend this for anyone looking for lgbt historical fiction.