Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of INFAMOUS by Lex Croucher. I liked Reputation, so I was excited to try to next one from Croucher. INFAMOUS was similar to Reputation in that it was filled with a bit too many long scenes describing all their upper-class partying, and the main character made a bit too many really terrible decisions for a bit too long. But, also like in Reputation, the romance made up for it enough that I still enjoyed the book overall. Eddie and Rose had a very sweet childhood friendship-to-lovers romance that was easy to root for. I also just really had fun with all the historical details and the Victorian environment as a whole. There were a few loose ends that left the ending a bit unsatisfying, but just enough were tied up for me not to hate it. So, I had my issues but for the most part I liked it.

Eddie and Rose have been inseparable since childhood. Will their friendship survive Rose’s engagement and Eddie’s friendship with a famous poet? Or will spending time at the poet’s isolated estate with Rose, her fiancé, and a crew of artistic individuals be what it takes for Eddie to realize that her friendship with Rose is more than just a friendship?

What I loved:
-Bridgerton vibes but queer
-how absolutely clueless Eddie was for 99% of the book
-scenery descriptions
-a weirdly charming yet absolutely despicable villain
-the humour!

This was a fun read and I really enjoyed getting to read a queer historical (ish) romance. Was it the most accurate portrayal of the time? Probably not. Was it a super cute romance that’s worth the read? Absolutely!

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the advanced reading copy!

Lex Croucher’s writing really shines through her witty dialogue, flawed yet lovable characters, and embracing the beauty in “ordinary and wonderful mundanities.” This book was originally pitched to me as Bridgerton meets Booksmart meets Dickinson (which are 3 of my favorite things on the planet), so I was STOKED to get this eARC. INFAMOUS follows childhood best friends Eddie and Rose through a collective quarter-life crisis in which they are clearly in love with each other and have no clue how to handle it. After meeting Nash Nicholson, one of Eddie’s literary heroes, they’re pulled into a world of eccentrics and artists before being invited to spend a month with Nash & co. at his families country estate. It’s all very ~Byron & the Shelley’s go to Geneva~ and probably a little concerning that now I want to go spend a month in a crumbling English estate with regency-era eccentrics. Gothic-ish antics ensue, dramatic secrets are revealed, loyalties are tested, and it still manages to be a genuinely joyful read. You can’t help but root for Eddie (even when she’s oblivious), and Rose is a perfect angel who’s never done anything wrong in her life. The last chapter had me happy sobbing at 2 AM, and I just wanted more of these two idiots.

Didn't love this one. Which also helps to prove that regency books written by modern authors are hit or miss for me. And this one was indeed a miss.

this was such a fun little read!! i'm so thankful to netgalley for letting me read this one early!! if you like sweet and cute characters, then pick this one up!!

As someone who thoroughly enjoyed Reputation, I was excited to receive a copy of Infamous, Whilst overall I found it to be another enjoyable, witty read, it was much slower and harder to get into and oftentimes felt like nothing was happening. ~3-3.5/5

This was so much fun! I laughed out loud and loved it the whole time. I never thought historical rom com would be my vibe, but I surprised myself and loved it.

Another brilliant book by Lex Croucher. I loved Reputation and I was so happy to see a new novel by Croucher on NetGalley. This more than met my expectations.

This is a Regency story that feel immediate and enthralling. It shows a side of the era that feels more real, less picture perfect and precise, less polished and more diverse and complex.

Eddie is a fantastic main character--intriguing, infuriating, endearing and brilliant. Much as I love Eddie I have a lot of adoration for Rose as well. Two very different but very engaging characters--with their distinct voice, background, portrayal.

The way Nash blasted into the story and elbowed his way into prominence was simply delicious. It is such a send up of the Byronic ideal and all that goes with that. A send up and an inversion of the myth, to the reality of the facade and the subterfuge that goes into celebrity and being "it" in any era. His arc from scene-stealer to villain was splendid--he's just the kind of wanker you love to hate.

By going behind the trappings of this time period, Croucher centers the story on the creatives, the diverse communities that thrived at that time.

I am a sucker for friends-to-lovers arcs and this provided that in such a satisfying way ,while staying true to the time period and conventions of that time.

There is a happy ever after and it's on their own terms, in their own way, defying the rigid guidelines of societal expectations and finding the loopholes to live their lives authentically with each other. Croucher has such a lively writing style--the voices sharp and distinct, the characterization on point, the dialogue witty, the asides truly entertaining. There is a freshness to the way this book is written, a period story but with a contemporary twist. Truly a book I could not put down.

I would read anything Croucher writes. Truly a splendid book and one of my top books of the year.

Five enthusiastic stars.

I loved this book. While I did see one of the major parts of the ending coming, I still very much enjoyed it, and felt the emotions it intended to incite. I wish the antagonist had gotten comeuppance, but other than that this novel left me very satisfied.

There's just something about Lex Croucher's characters. I loved Eddie and Rose so much. And I want Nash to burn in the depths of hell. Thanks for the ARC @netgalley. And thank you to Lex Croucher for writing period novels that feel like real people!

This is an interesting take on classic historical romance books. I enjoyed reading a wlw historical romance as they are few and far between in comparison to heterosexual historical romances. But that's where my enjoyment of this book really ends. I didn't love the characters or the plot and found it a struggle to get through.

Eddie reminded me a lot of Eloise from Bridgerton, so fans of her may like this book. As someone who found her tolerable most of the time, this book wasn't really for me.

The plot was entirely predictable. This is true of lots of romance books (as one usually assumes the two characters will end up happily ever after), but it was especially present in this book. I assumed every single plot point before it was revealed. This took some of the joy away from the book as I felt like I didn't actually need to keep reading to find out what would happen.

This was honestly a very fun read. This story follows Eddie, a aspiring writer, and her best friend Rose, who in Eddie’s mind betrays their friendship by being courted by a man. Infamous is a historical romcom with elements of LGBTQ moments, which I loved. Will Eddie choose her aspiring writing goals or her relationship with Rose? Read to find out! 3.5/5 stars.

this is a solid sequel to Reputation! I really liked what Lex did with this novel; however, at times, I felt as if I I was just mindlessly flipping through pages of filler where nothing was happening. But overall, the pages I did connect with, the characters were great - very nuanced, very complex! P.S this book is very witty! All that being said, I'd give it 3-3.5 stars. Not quite 4 stars given some of the "what's happening" I felt while reading it, but everything else was well done.

The premise of this book was very promising, I love queer romance set in the regency period but unfortunately this book fell a bit flat for me. It had some wonderful moments, Croucher has an amazing knack for very clever, witty dialogue between characters and I enjoyed dynamics of the friend group at Bede House, but overall the plot was too unstructured for me and the romance seemed to take a back seat to instead focus on the trials and tribulations of a side character. I was also hoping for more queer found family supporting each other and forming community in a time like the regency period where most of that, if it occurred at all, was in secret but the moment that did exist were fleeting and short.

The story had so much potential which is what I found myself with struggling the most after finishing. There were numerous side characters (Albert, Bella, Dayo) that I wanted to know more about and to read their stories, even more Eddie and Rose would have been wonderful but the Eddie and Nash arc was focused on too much and I think that detracted from the fun escapism type of read this book could have been.

I enjoyed this writerly, queer historical a lot! It was much closer to an old-school bildungsroman, for me, than a romance, but it was still a fun and well-rounded read that didn't feel like any other historical I'd ever read. Overall it's medium-grey in tone, not overly light or dark, which made it stand apart for me right away. TW: it contains on-page attempted SA involving drugs.

The cast and setting being bohemian and scandalous, the very edge of the demimonde, made the whole store feel more modern than a lot of Regency books. There was still enough Regency atmosphere and token concern for propriety that it felt plausibly of the period, so I enjoyed how off the rails most of the plot was. I've been reading a lot of historicals set in the upper crust/bon ton, so this was a great chance of pace from the pathologically uptight Bridgerton ballrooms. Most of the book is set on a literally=crumbling island estate that added a lot of depth and darkness to the background of the story and makes it feel that much more modern.

In most books the symbolic-scary=ruined-manor would be the centerpiece, but this book is all about Eddie. Her journey, her maturity, her naiveté, discovering her bisexuality, her identity as a writer and a woman. She was so young-feeling that I felt for Eddie even as she was blind to everything going on around her AND being a complete ass as a consequence, which isn't an easy feat to pull off! She feels like a larger-than-life figure and was a compelling anchor for the story.

I wish more of the romance with Rose had been on the page, as it was absolutely my favorite part. But a lot of the book is Eddie being manipulated by the most strangleable, genuinely dark and gross and horrible, real-feeling villain I've read in a long time, across any genre tbh. At times the pace was a little slow, but I turned the pages at a clip hoping he'd suffer a gruesome and painful bodily injury in the next chapter. If that had happened, the book probably would have gotten five stars. (I'm being totally serious, for the record.)

Other than that, I appreciated that the interesting and diverse side characters in the ensemble cast got as much development as the leads, feeling like real people with lives outside the events of the book and their own morality. There's a non-binary character and a BIPOC abolitionist character that feel well-rounded and well-situated in the time period. I like any historical that acknowledges the struggles people outside the norm have always had to face.

A few quibbles with the ending aside, this was an engaging and fresh read that tugged hard on my feelings. Wished it had more romance, but mostly I was pleased with it as a coming-of-age. Also, I would 100% let Juno the dog tromp mud through the house and put her head on my pillow. A+ fictional dog.

Full review on Goodreads, link here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5084723483

Infamous by Lex Croucher is for people who are team “Jo March is a lesbian” and for people who spent lockdown re-reading classics and binging Bridgerton on Netflix. This book is an amazing mix of modern and historical, with just enough language from both time periods. It had everything you love in classics but with clearer language and a story that more people in our modern society can relate to (It basically caters to people like me who love classics but struggle to read the fancy and unfamiliar words used so often).

A queer regency era love story? SAY LESS! I loved this book so so much, and it truly gave me all the romantic feelings that I need whilst reading a victorian novel. I loved the friends-to-lovers dynamic in this book, and the love triangle made sense for the story (something I often feel isn't true)!

This book was so hilarious and cute.
I loved growth of Eddie's and Rose's relationship.
Definitely recommend it!!

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the arc in exchange of honest review.

I just could not get through this book. I have no idea what it was. I don’t think it is meant for me. I would be interested to see what lex croucher’s other book is like and if I could get through it. I’m sure that it would be a great book for someone else, and can see why people like it. I will recommend to someone who asks for historical romances.

Infamous follows Edith (Eddie), and Rose; two friends who are emerging into society, or at least one is trying. Rose starts talking seriously about marriage and Eddie is having none of it, as Eddie still wants to write her stories and live her life. When Eddie meets her favourite poet, their lives change.

I adored this book, it pulled me in from the beginning and there were so many parts that I was not expecting but then realized thinking back that the groundwork for it was laid perfectly. Eddie’s story truly captured me and I was on the edge of my seat to see how she navigated her relationships with Rose and Nash. I went in knowing a little about the book, but it surprised me in so many ways, but they were all so pleasant and I adored it all.