I want to start this review by saying I want to be a Lex Croucher fan. Their work is super appealing to me, and I love the idea of switching up the regency tropes we know and love. That being said, this might not have been the best title to start with. It follows Eddie, an aspiring novelist who doesn't care about decorum or being a proper society lady. Instead, all she cares about is her career and her best friend Rose, which is why the end up at the lakeside estate of poet Nash Nicholson, as one last adventure before Rose gets married, and as a chance for Eddie to finally finish her novel. The premise is fun enough, and there's a fun and colorful cast of supporting characters. My main issue is with Eddie herself, who toes the line between young and naive and willfully ignorant and moronic. She is often very selfish. When Rose explicitly tells her why she must be married, Eddie still takes it as a personal attack on their friendship and her character. Nash is a classic narcissist and manipulator, and in the beginning it is clear why Eddie is charmed by him. but as time went on and he kept on showing his true colors, I grew increasingly annoyed with Eddie. Rose constantly tries to warn her, and she gets mad at Rose! I simply could not handle it.

The great thing about this book is that it is wildly entertaining. The setting of a drafty mansion with a hole in the roof is a great one, and like I said, the characters are fun. There are ridiculous parties and complicated romances and a ton of laughs. So this is why, when the book takes a murder-mystery twist in the last third, I was truly baffled. It is such a strange tonal shift and its not ever wrapped up properly. I don't get it.

I'm giving this a 2.5 maye 3 stars if I am feeling generous. Its clear that Lex Croucher is talented. And I like this because its an adult romance, but its one I would feel mostly okay telling my students who are obsessed with the genre to read. The lessons are valuable and its pretty fade to black. Also, yay sapphics!

Book Review 3.0🌟I received this book as a digital ARC and an audiobook ARC from @netgalley This is second book within the same Regency era as the other Lex Croucher (@lexcanroar) book that I had read called “Reputation”. I liked the relationship between the two main women. The climax at the end left something to be desired. I wanted the main character to get a little bit more “visceral” revenge on him for the terrible things that he had done. As usual, if you are looking for a light-hearted, Regency-era romance with an LGBTQ+ twist, I recommend this book. #bookreview #bookstagram #arc #netgally #infamous #ilovereading

Another charming period piece by Lex Croucher, but this one with a queer story line. Loved this one from one of my new favorite authors.

ARC from the publisher via NetGalley, but the opinions are my own.

What's not to love about a Lex Croucher book? Especially a queer historical Lex Croucher book. Fun, sexy, and wise. A great romp!

Infamous was the light-hearted romp that I was desperately needing in my life. The characters were fun and full of life, impressively no one felt too much like a flat caricature which in books like this, can be incredibly difficult to pull off. The romance between Rose and Eddie was both sweet and infuriating (in the best possible way) - this might be the first time I read a slow-burn where they're kissing on the first page.

There were definitely times when I gripped this book in two hands and near-yelled at Eddie about how naïve she was being - sometimes having the effect of watching a slow-motion car crash which easily could've been avoided - though at times I did have to cringe at her "friends'" treatment of those they considered below them and Eddie's near-complete acceptance of this. Let's just say that Rose tolerated a lot more from her friend that I would've put up with.

Overall though, it was a very fun romance with some good things to say, and I am excited to read Croucher's next book.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I generally love Regency romance. I love sapphic romance. This one felt a bit forced in many ways due to some of the plot points causing the characters to make choices that felt wrong or forced. It detracted from the story as a whole and that left me feeling unsatisfied with the novel as a whole.

✨ Review ✨ Infamous by Lex Croucher; Narrated by Ellie Kendrick

Important note: You don't need to remember ANYTHiNG from Reputation, the previous book in the series, before reading this one. New characters and events all around! (I needlessly hustled around trying to remember the plot of the last one lol)

Eddie (Edith) and Rose have been best friends since they were kids -- and the book starts with them in their tree house. But now Rose is engaged and Eddie has met famous author Nash Nicholson, and they must grapple with their changing lives -- can they stay best friends after Rose marries? After meeting Nash, Eddie, and Rose by association, fall in with a wild literary crowd that doesn't live by regency societal norms and proprieties.

Nash, fascinated by Eddie, encourages her writing, and sets up a long stay at his remote lake house that included him and his wife (sometimes estranged?), Eddie, Rose and her fiancee, and a few other artsy characters. Constant shenanigans ensue as this raucous bunch takes the literally crumbling lake house by storm.

This book was SO MUCH fun. I loved Eddie's wild family, filled with silly kids full of personality (I was almost sad when we left them behind early in the book). I really enjoyed the more relaxed setting of the gatherings Nash hosted and the way they broke with societal norms, in the pursuit of fun, drama, and art. The book lagged for me a bit in the middle where it just felt like it was dragging without a lot of development, but otherwise this was such a fun ride!

Like the first, you have to be willing to sacrifice some historical accuracy perhaps for a fun adventure, but I was totally here for this.The audio was enjoyable; occasionally I felt confused about who was actually talking in the story, but this is a minor complaint.

Best of all, this reads almost like really well written Anne and Diana fan fic! This maps onto their personalities so well, and I loved it for this (even if not intended), I shall now always imagine this for them 😂

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: historic f/f romance, friends-to-lovers
Setting: regency era London and middle of nowhere lake house
Reminds me of: Anne and Diana fan fic! :D; Reputation
Pub Date: out now!

Read this if you like:
⭕️ drunken regency lakehouse romps
⭕️ f/f friends-to-lovers stories
⭕️ writers & artists

Thanks to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and #netgalley for advanced copies of this book!

Not sure why this was archived before I got to download it, but I read this book elsewhere because I wanted to get my review in––I loved loved LOVED Infamous!! I'm only beginning to get into regency romances, and I'm thrilled to say this one blew me away. It's clever, romantic AF, and it definitely filled the "I wish Eloise from Bridgerton were gay"-shaped hole in my heart. I can't wait to read Reputation!

I went into Infamous expecting to love the sapphic historical romance. I enjoyed many of the characters and their interactions, but I found the romance lacking. While I appreciated the exploration of sexuality and how real that process felt, I wished there had been more relationship development between Eddie and Rose. Too much of the story seemed to focus on the other plot points that were less interesting and only seemed to lead the main character to make decisions that harmed the relationship. I found myself to feel bored some of the time, and that was usually when the other plot points were developing.

This was a great story! I would compare this to an Emily Dickinson x Bridgerton x Jo March queer combination retelling. It was a fun read and a sweet way to representing the LGBTQ community in this time period,

Infamous is a sapphic romance set in the Regency period. Edith (Eddie) and Rose are best friends from childhood who, now in their early 20s, are getting pressured to find husbands and fit in with society. Rose decides to accept a marriage proposal while Eddie continues to focus on writing and can't understand why Rose would want to change her position. The two end up going to the estate of Eddie's favorite author and hijinks ensue! I thought this book looked cute and was excited to read it!

I really liked the diversity novel. Rose and her family are from China and I liked hearing their story. Regency romances are not exactly known for their diversity and I thought that it was done very naturally. I also enjoyed the many queer characters and how they expressed their gender and sexual desires in a sometimes suffocating setting. I thought that Eddie and Rose's romance was cute, although Eddie was super slow on the uptake!

I think my main issue with this book is with Eddie and Nash. They just annoyed me so much. And Eddie is the POV character. She's plucky and charming in a very Jo March kind of way but didn't have enough charm to really pull it off. I cringed through a lot of her relationship with Nash and ended up a skimming a lot of it to get back to Rose. I'm also just not super amused by the ~quirky~ habits of creatives and found myself having the same thoughts as the stick-in-the-mud characters. Get off my lawn!

Overall, I had a fine time reading this book. If you are really into the Regency period and love Jo March this book will absolutely be your cup of tea. 3 stars from me. Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the electronic advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I get what Lex Croucher is trying to do by making her main characters unlikable but it still bugs me. Don't want a perfect character for a high society period romance? Sure. But Eddie was so rude and idiotic that I can't believe anyone would want to be her friend.

Rose and Adam (Or whatever his name is) saved the book.

While I did like this more than reputation, I think this is my last Lex Croucher book. She's talented but I'm just not the right audience for her work.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for an eARC of this book.

I started reading this book three times, but couldn't get into it. I'll likely try to pick it up again, but at this time, it just isn't the book for me.

I received this e-book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the author/publisher for the copy!

This was my second novel by Lex Croucher and it was just as good as the first one! Croucher sets this book in the Regency Era, but gives it a modern day sound. I think she did a wonderful job of crafting her words to sound as if we really were in that era but enough for the modern day people to understand. The story was written in such a way that had me guessing about what was going to happen, but then I kept having to question myself because there were so many ways it could have gone.

Edith (Eddie) does not fit in with the other girls her age. She has always been a little different, which could have been because of her upbringing. Rose is Eddie's best friend and they do just about everything together. But when Rose gets engaged, Eddie isn't sure she can handle not being able to be with her best friend. Just as this is going on, Eddie finds herself meeting and befriending Nash Nicholson; famous poet that Eddie has adored since she read his first works. Nash seems very interested in helping Eddie publish her novel and Eddie takes all the help she can get to have her dream come true. But everything is not as it seems....

Infamous is set in the Regency period and is a story about emotional growth, learning some very hard lessons, and discovering what (and finally who!) is truly important in life. There’s some treachery and mystery afoot and an ever-present thread of romance.

Eddie (Edith) and Rose met when they were 8 and have been the best of friends and perhaps a little more for 14 years. At 16 Eddie coerces Rose into making a pact that they would not bow to the expectations of London society and agree to never, ever marry. Rose agrees but she has reservations because her family is not nearly as unconventional or as well-to-do as Eddie’s and back in ye olden times women like Rose didn’t have much of a choice.

Anyhow, now they’re both 22 and Rose has decided to betray Eddie by marrying a boring (perfectly nice), 30ish man (or maybe he was 29, I can’t keep up) who raises rabbits. Eddie is mortified and deeply injured and really pissed off about rabbit man interfering in their lives. She hates on him, she hates on his bunnies, she rages at Rose and this causes a major rift in their friendship. Nash Nicholson, a handsome, charming, narcissistic MARRIED poet causes the other one. Nash is a friend (acquaintance?) of Rose’s fiancé and meeting him opens Eddie up to a whole new world.

Eddie idolizes Nash. Who wouldn’t? He showers her with attention, praises her writing, and promises to introduce her work to his editor. He invites the three of them to join him at his secluded crumbling old mansion for a few months with some other friends to work on their creative endeavors and off they go. Tensions, sexual and otherwise, soon run hot and wild and things get weird and I don’t really want to say anything more than that.

This book started out as an amusing romp with some sweet romantic tension between Eddie and Rose. The reader gets to meet Eddie’s delightfully cute family and I loved it all. I thought it might be a 4 ½ or 5 star story for me but then it takes a decidedly darker turn as Nash whisks them away to his home filled with booze, drugs, and debauchery and it became something else entirely. It was full of strange turns and I did like that because I never felt quite sure where it was going or what was going to happen next. But the tone change was a bit jarring, not gonna lie. It’s an odd mix of humor, and emotional stress with a mystery tossed in that didn’t work for me and felt entirely unnecessary. And something happens at the end that leaves me wondering what happened to one of the characters. Dead? Alive? Ghostie? I don’t think I’ll ever know and it’s going to bug me forever.

I need to mention that there is some really dubious consent going on here with the Nash character who is MARRIED and reading about Eddie’s endless crush on him was disturbing. Her ability to ignore all the 🚩’s was quite something. Quite a talent actually. It made me feel gross for Eddie and for poor Rose and I wasn’t a fan of that storyline even if it did eventually cause Eddie to figure her shit out. In my opinion, it took way too long but I’m not a 20-something and I’m probably impatient for that nonsense.

I did adore the end and the way things wrapped up romance-wise. I adored the sweeter moments Rose and Eddie shared in their room at the moldy mansion. I wish we (me) could’ve had more of the sweet and the lovely but I’m probably being greedy.

3 ½ Stars

I didn’t like the beginning at all, but the last four chapters made it tolerable for me. At first Nash was made out to be a love interest, and I hated him so much. He really was awful. But when she stole her manuscript and sold it as his own, all the pieces fell into place. He wasn’t simply a bad boyfriend or lover or whatever, he was just a bad person that was trying to use romance to manipulate her. All the pieces just fell into place when that was revealed, and I think that was a great decision on the author’s part.

But I have something else. ”Mr. Nicholson's first and only novel The Gentleman was considered his last great published work; although he published two further novels and has returned to poetry in later life, critical acclaim has continued to elude him...” So did he publish one or three novels?? That makes absolutely no sense.

And Rose… the book SAID that they were longtime best friends, but it didn’t feel like that at all. They were always arguing and there was so evidence that they really knew each other. It always felt like they were walking on eggshells around each other.

So the first 30 chapters would get 1 star, and the last four chapters would get a solid 3.5 stars. The beginning was extremely boring.

Thank you to St Martins and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

I'm not sure what I was expecting from Lex Croucher's second novel, but it was not what I got and that was probably for the best. Where I thought I was going to get something fun and frothy, instead I read a novel that, while definitely still fun, was more satire than I had been expecting. And it was great. Eddie, a "tomboy" who just likes kissing her friend Rose "for practice" wants to be a serious author and can't help but be mesmerized when a young poet takes notice of her. What follows is a cast of characters all more interested in their "art" than their friendships and a story of one woman's realization that everything she wants in life is nothing as she thought.

I liked this book and felt it was a solid read, though at times it meandered a bit for me. Eddie is delightfully clueless at times, but never dumb or silly, just naive. And the surrounding characters were fun to deal with and not too over drawn. I look forward to more from Croucher!

I kept trying to get into this book every so often for the past few months, but for whatever reason, it didn't capture my attention. Will try again maybe in the future, but for now, sadly had to DNF!

A chaotic romp of a story that will leave you feeling bubbly. A story about finding yourself and your people.

2⭐️

I wanted to love this so badly. However, I spent most of the book being upset with how Eddie treated Rose and wondering why someone would allow that kind of treatment for years.

Then there is the trouble of Nash, who always was intended to be a villain in the story but I hated so much that it was a chore to find the strength to finish. The pacing of Eddie’s final realization he was a terrible person to the end of the book felt a bit rushed.

I did love Rose and Albert as characters but they were not included enough in my opinion to bump up my rating. The writing of this book was good which is why I’m so sad I didn’t like it. I would definitely give this author another chance and read them again.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.*