Notorious, has cost me some sleep because I refused to put it down until the end. The book had me totally engaged from beginning to end. At first I was so engrossed about when Gabriel and Drusilla were just going to stop bickering and kiss. I think at any other time this would have annoyed me to death, but I loved their banter. Then it got interesting with the drama so I had to read until finished it. Overall I really liked this book. The steamy scenes were very steamy and even though I despise cliffhangers, then one was so shocking and hilarious, it made me anxious to read the next book. I have so many questions about Eva now. Lol

I really liked this book in the beginning. It was wonderful. But as the story went on, there ended up being too much information about side characters and it distracted from the main story.

I’m always a sucker for a good “16 Candles” story—i.e. the sassy but plain girl lands the handsome rogue—so I was immediately pulled in by the synopsis and utterly thrilled that the first several chapters played out just as I imagined and hoped they would.
Unfortunately, this book suffers from too much unnecessary information about secondary characters and their backstories that go on and on, page after page, bogging down the story completely before returning to the present timeline.
There were also several “deleted scenes” moments that were rather bothersome. By which I mean, there was a set up for what could have resulted in some interesting and impactful scenes in the story but instead we only get the lead up to the moment and then nothing, beyond a cliff-notes explanation sometimes several chapters later.
On the plus side, while Drusilla’s shrewish behavior to mask her insecurities does start to wear a bit thin after awhile and more than once you might want to cosh Gabriel over the head for acting like an overbearing dunce, at the heart of it you always feel the connection between these two that keeps you rooting for their happy ending.
All in all, this book took a little work and patience to finish and while you can appreciate the author’s dedication to telling the broader scope of the story, sometimes less is more. With more actual time spent allowing the reader to experience the moments that drew the couple closer vs. simply referencing them to explain how it happened and this would have been an amazing story.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Drusilla Clare is full of opinions about why a woman shouldn't marry. But that doesn't stop the rush of desire she feels each time her best friend's brother, notorious rake Gabriel Marlington, crosses her path. So imagine her dismay when she finds herself in the clutches of a scoundrel, only to be rescued by Gabriel himself. And when Gabriel's heartless—and heart-pounding—proposal comes, it's enough to make Dru's formidable resolve crumble...

My notes:

Gabriel and Drusilla have a series of misunderstandings in communication, which is eventually cleared up. This novel was confusing. I kept on getting lost in who was who. For example, was Fatima his sister or his mistress? That question is answered at the near end of the story. The women characters are more fully developed than the male characters are in this story.

I liked the sartorial descriptions of what the characters were wearing.

I received a free Advanced copy in exchange for a honest review.

When I read the synopsis I was really excited to read this book. It looked like a smart, funny, sexy book about a marriage of convenience in the Regency era. But I was left disappointed.

The first few chapters were full of witty banter and teasing. It was a promising start, but the characters really didn’t build off that tension. Their consistent arguing and lack of communication just seemed immature. Both stated that they were willing to make their makeshift union work, but then neither would put in any real effort. Now they did manage to have some good sexual chemistry but other than that their relationship fell flat with me.

There were also some weird lapses in time. I didn’t fully understand what was happening, when it was happening, or how we got there. The transitions were confusing to say the least.

Now all that being said, it definitely had its moments that kept me engaged. It was a light, easy read and that kept entertained.

I am highly surprised here! This is my first title by this author and it will not be the last.

My expectations were not so high because according to my appreciation everything has already been done in this genre, but this was a surprise. The writing and pacing were good, the characters were entertaining and likeables, the plot kept me hooked the entire time. I just wish we could have seen a little more of the romance between Dru and Gabriel, some more tender and cute moments between them, although the banter was at its point.

I love a good enemies to lovers story! Drusilla is just what you want in a leading lady though it did take me a while to warm up to Gabriel.
An entertaining read with surprising levels of depth.

*review will be posted to blog and social media on release date

This was super spicy and really interesting. It was such a nice walk into that era when i feel like there are times that this time era can really seem almost too far in the past where you can't relate but Minerva Spencer did a good job bridging that gap.

Exciting beginning to what promises to be a great series. An uncomfortable marriage of convenience becomes less uncomfortable and more than convenient when this unconventional hero and heroine come together. I love regencies that draw an accurate picture of how cosmopolitan the times were. Minerva Spencer's wonderful story does it in spades. Oh and did I mention the sex is wonderfully hot?
Thank you Minerva. I'm already hungry for book two.

Gahhh! I don’t even know where to begin from because this was one of my anticipated ones, but this just turned out be just okay like I was expecting way more. I love a good enemies to lovers or hate to love storyline but if it is developed well and the characters actually have a passionate angsty relationship which unfortunately this story didn’t. But because it didn’t work for me doesn’t mean others won’t like it so.

So I became a fan when I read Barbarous, and since I really enjoyed it, I read the rest. Now I feel that you should atleast read Dangerous, because those characters are in this book. So we meet Drucilla whom has had a crush on her besties brother forever, since she first laid eyes on him. He however does not like her and with good reason since she is snotty towards him. An enemy of Gabriel sets out to cause him harm, and Gabriel falls into his plan and ends up having to marry Drucilla. Now they eventually worked things out, but I wished that Drucilla was stronger with him as his wife, he embarassed her multiple times, with ex mistresses, ex-girlfriends (or who thought was his girlfriend) and he never really stepped in when they were trying to humiliate her, yes she held her own, but still. And as much as I did enjoy, there would have been no way that these two could have continued to be part of the ton with this arrangment. Now I am waiting for the next book, what has Eva gotten herself involved in?

Notorious by Minerva Spencer is the first novel in the Rebels of the Ton series. This is a historical romance novel full of wit, humor, intelligence. We see two characters Drusilla Clare and Gabriel Marlington tied together is a not so conviencing marriage.

Drusilla Clare is a strong headed, having her own opinions kinda lady who meets Gabriel and cannot stop herself from driving towards him. She finds herself drawn towards her best friend Eva's brother since the time she first saw him. Drusilla is a very sharp-tongued, exasperating woman who has her own views on marriage which does not match with the society's views of that time.

Gabriel Marlington, brother of Eva is a charming, rich yet hedonistic male who cannot stop himself but always thinks of women as lower than males. Gabriel even finds himself challenged by her unusual philosophies. But Gabriel still is very much intrigued by her intelligence and charming appearance.

The couple goes through a lot of obstacles the entire time, like Gabriel's past mistresses, Lord Visel and also Eva for that matter. Then their's Samir, who we reveal the truth about quite later on in the story. There are few events in the book which occur but are not explained properly.

I liked how the plot has been narrated and the twists and turns at very point and time in the story. I absolutely enjoyed seeing how their marriage progresses across the story as well as their own individual character development. It was full of emotions and I cannot wait for the next book in the series to come.
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Thank You to Kensington Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book!

Full review at All About Romance to appear closer to the release date. I will update with the link.

I was excited to start Notorious after I realized the novel was linked to Ms. Spencer's earlier Outcast series (which I enjoyed), but that excitement quickly faded once this story - and this marriage of convenience - gets underway.

Drusilla, our heroine, is deeply in lust with her best friends brother and wishes he would notice her. This, despite the fact that he has a reputation as a ladies man and is notoriously - and happily - involved in a three- way relationship with a pair of bisexual women deeply in love with each other, and the fact that most of their interactions are marked by animosity and teasing (of the insulting variety), AND Drusilla claims she doesn't ever want to marry. But besides all those things (huh?), she wants him.

Meanwhile, Gabriel has never paid any attention to Drusilla, is quite content with his mistresses and their arrangement, and is "sort of" dating another young woman of the ton. Kitty? He finds himself rescuing Drusilla after she's nearly raped by a madman and when they get caught alone in the aftermath, he's forced to offer for her. The set-up is clunky and obvious from the moment Drusilla leaves the ballroom to the contrived manner in which Gabriel finds and rescues her and afterwards, when they get caught. I COULD SPOT THE DASTARDLY PLOT FROM A MILE AWAY, and although Drusilla is nearly raped by a near stranger, it isn't the last time she finds herself in a dangerous situation with a man because of poor planning and just plain carelessness with her person. I digress.

Anyway, these two are forced to marry and lust saves the day. For real.

Since this is a marriage of convenience plot, I assume the author heaped on the unnecessary character details to prove how very unlikely it would be for these two to wind up together and find happily ever after in their fake marriage. Unfortunately, she did too great of a job at it! I was skeptical of these two from the start, and nothing - except their sexual chemistry (which appears out of nowhere) - about their relationship convinced me they were meant to be.

Gabriel hates giving up his mistresses, while Drusilla is thrilled she snagged the man of her dreams despite her objections to marriage (ahem). She's happy, but still treats Gabriel like she hates him, and the two of them bicker and fight over every stupid thing in their lives because neither of them is willing to be honest with the other about...ANYTHING! They have odd friends/siblings/moms who make everything about the relationship harder and stranger (no one wants sex advice from their mom), and super amazing sex is the glue that keeps them sticking together. I mean, Gabriel is some sort of Casanova in the sack and Drusilla, brainy Drusilla, is a quick study in bedroom too. FRIENDS! COME ON. It's almost impossible to understand why Gabriel is attracted to Drusilla - she's mean, dismissive, and secretive, or to believe Drusilla would so easily settle into a role she swore never to play. She's against marriage! Oh, and there's a villain - sorry two, and neither of them do much more than complicate an already overdone mess of a story.

I had high hopes for this one, but I can't and won't be recommending it.

This is my first Minerva Spencer book, and, for the most part, I enjoyed it and will be looking for more of her books!

I super wanted to love this because of the awesome premise, but the writing style is just not clicking. Wouldn't be fair to the book if I finished and rated it lowly. DNF.

I wanted to like this book but I found it kept surprising me unpleasantly. The first chapter was great. The banter! I liked the heroine quite a bit, but at times she was frustratingly reserved to the point of not talking to the hero about things that would have been natural to discuss. We spent a lot of time in their heads avoiding each other and not enough action. The sex scenes were lovely but seemed somewhat arbitrarily placed and the first one especially did not feel earned. The hero spent more time being lovely to his two mistresses in the first 40% of the book than thinking much at all about the heroine. I think this was supposed to show him as a good kind of harem keeper as opposed to his father (who was an Algerian sultan) but that rubbed me the wrong way as did descriptions of the hero as "exotic."

There was a lot of telling of scenes in past tense that would have been better to have experienced in real time and not skipped over. There was a general lack of action, then an arbitrary dramatic event involving danger to a minor at 90% as a part of a villain subplot that honestly did nothing for the book.

Others may enjoy this book. Overall, the writing itself at times was quite good, but the story was not executed well, had some problematic elements, and the plot went off the rails. I would have DNF'd but I pushed through in order to write a valid review. I thank the publisher for allowing me to read and review.

Delightful & steamy!

I love a story about strong women, especially in a time where women were ornamental at best. Strong, sassy, and self-sufficient, Drusilla Clare knows who she is and her worth. She isn't the belle of the ball, but she has a fantastic friend in Elizabeth (cannot wait for her story to come out!), and spends her time trying to raise up women and help the impoverished improve their lot in life.
Then, to protect her honour, she must marry Gabriel, a man that she is sure despises her for all they do it battle and poke barbs. He is the brother of her dear friend, and she is a wallflower.

One thing I loved about this book is the fact that Gabriel is not just another English gentleman. He knows what it is like not to fit in, and to be town between two world. His mother is firm, fierce, and uncompromising in her views. He respects her greatly, and knows that she will take him to task if required.

Loved how this book was true to the time -Spencer did not put the virtues and values of women today on these women. Rather, she showed how they were strong in their own right, and how they navigated society to create their own autonomy.

Also - STEAMY. Not contrived, awkward, or gratuitous , and actually served to further the plot.

First in a series of Ton rebels in regency England. As with many regencies, the "rebels" are pretty mild and mostly due to circumstances of birth than actual questioning or rejection of societal values.

Gabe and Drusilla are forced to marry after being caught touching in public. He is very unhappy to marry his sister's BFF, but she is cool with it bc she's been in love with him for years. Their relationship is constantly tested by both internal anxieties and pride as well as other people - Gabe's son/nephew, his mistresses, and a traumatized vet/Earl and his Nice Guy cousin who wants Dru for himself.

Gabe and Dru and likable but very different from one another. For internal conflicts, they work through understanding each other and trying to communicate and spend time together. I was a little disappointed to see that a lot of the bending and reaching out first was done by Dru. While Gabe did reach out to make the best of their situation, he immediately went alpha male when one thing happened that he didn't like.

The ending was a culmination of all the external factors getting together in a very (extra) dramatic ending. I did not like the choices the author made for Dru at the end - I found it a little slap-stick with tragic results which was odd.

There is a cliffhanger ending for the next book about Gabe's half-sister/Dru's BFF. I'm not sure if I'm going to be in on it.

I thought the author did a nice job of developing the MCs relationship and the siblings and family surrounding Gabe.

#Notorious #NetGalley

I am not a big fan of historical fiction but the blurb of "Notorious" pulled me in.

A savage protagonist, Drusilla, who refuses to be oppressed by society's norm and conventions with a hate to love transformation with lots of witty and engaging chinwag. I did get that but after a few chapters it became sophomoric and I was not quite interested as I was when I started it, it died out.

Thankyou NetGalley and the publishers for an e ARC in exchange of an honest review.

The book is generally written well. There were a few surprises that made for an interesting story and allows the reader to keep pressing forward to find out what will happen. I think many readers will find this to be an enjoyable book because it does have its moments, but I do not think it was a good fit for me. I had high expectations for the novel but was left disappointed. It became difficult to finish reading when it was clear Drusilla was relegated to a supporting character in Gabriel’s story as opposed to sharing a leading role with him. He often dictated and she had to respond to him.

The summary of the book paints her as a liberal thinker, shunning the expectations of marriage and creating a group that takes up social causes. In the first half of the book, she at least seems to be that person. She banters with Gabriel while trying to hide her feelings about him. She doesn’t mind that people are aware of her ideologies. By the second half of the book, she is boxed into the role of a wife and the independent thinking woman disappears. The Drusilla we are left with is one who pines after Gabriel and who continually reminds herself that he doesn’t love her. So much unnecessary angst and frustration for characters and the reader could have been prevented had Drusilla and Gabriel just talked to one another. Outside of the bedroom, the most we get from Drusilla is excitement when Gabriel accompanies her to the seamstress. We see a spark of who she used to be toward the end, but by that time I was already frustrated. It was infuriating to see her turn into one of her greatest fears. She stopped standing up for herself, going so far as to take the blame for some of Gabriel’s flare ups and hardly ever demanding an apology. We don't see her do anything about the social causes she claimed to care about despite her insistence earlier on that she be able to continue to do so should she and Gabriel be married. Then the book shifts focus to Gabriel, despite alternating viewpoints, leaving us to accept this new version of Drusilla. If there is one thing that I dislike, it is how female leads like Drusilla go from independent to complacent as soon as they are paired up, which feels completely out of character. I would have been more understanding had I seen it coming, and the expectation was that she would change for marriage. The argument could be made that it was the time period and this should have been expected, but Drusilla verbally fought against this. After giving up on Drusilla, I found Eva becoming an interesting character but by the time she became interesting, the book was already coming to an end.

Individuals may be able to pick it up and enjoy it especially if this is a time period that is of interest to them. It is fast-paced filled with unexpected twists. On the other hand, if individuals are looking for a strong, independent female lead, they may be left disappointed.