I don’t read romance very often, and it has to be either recommended to me specifically or stand out in some way to catch my attention. The cover art of Notorious by Minerva Spencer grabbed my attention and I couldn’t pass it up. It didn’t scream romance, and neither did the series title, Rebels of the Ton. So I gave it a chance, and I’m glad I did.

Drusilla Clare has been in love with her best friend’s stepbrother since she first met him five years ago, but she knows the handsome older man could never love a girl like her. She wasn’t ugly, but despite being filthy rich, no one had ever courted Dru. Women young and old, married and unwed all flocked to the handsome Gabriel Marlington, however. Her attraction makes Dru extremely uncomfortable, so she covers it by being cold - even rude - to the man. So when events force the two into a whirlwind engagement, neither Dru nor Gabe are pleased.

I absolutely loved this book. Filled with twists and turns, drama, and scorching hot romance, I can’t wait for the sequels. The second book, Outrageous, is slated for June 29, 2021, and the third book, Infamous, is scheduled for September 28 of this year. I’ll be buying both.

I found Drusilla way too eager to get married. Way too much dialogue between them when Gabriel "reluctantly" comes to propose to her. The misunderstanding between to the two was annoying. They hate each other...then got the hots for each other. And then back to hating each again. To me, it didn't flow right. And then end...the drama. Didn't make sense either. The "villian", didn't feel like a true villian and random people were involved that didn't make sense.

I was given this in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley and the publisher.

I will start off by saying that I enjoyed this and I am hoping to one day read the sequel(s).
I really enjoyed the main characters, Drusilla and Gabriel. Gabriel did treat Drusilla in a way that I did not like for some parts so that is why it is only getting four stars.

The plot was well-written and I liked where it went.

Once again I would like to say thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

Drusilla Clare is desperately in love with her best friend Evie's stepbrother Gabriel Marlington, but she knows he is too beautiful and popular to ever be interested in her, an average looking avowed bluestocking and with a dowry that comes from trade, she really doesn't believe that women should be forced to marry, so her frustration at her feelings towards Gabriel express themselves through animosity and lots of barbed banter. Although on the surface Drusilla is forthright and opinionated, underneath it all she has very little confidence in herself, and this leads to a lot of angst and miscommunication in the story.

Gabriel is the son of Euphemia (Mia) De Courtnay nee Marlington(heroine of Minerva's novel Dangerous), and the Sultan of Oran, he was 'rescued' from Oran, and finds it difficult to reconcile the two cultures he was brought up in. He is torn between being Jibril and missing his siblings in Oran, and being Gabriel and not quite being accepted or fitting in in the English Ton. When Godric Visel, who sems to be holding a grudge against Gabriel, engineers some trouble for Gabriel involving Drusilla, Gabriel does the honourable thing, and offers for Dru's hand.

When Dru realises she is going to get her heart's desire - being married to Gbriel, but without believing her loves her, she is devastated, and her lack of confidence in herself means she acts unnaturally, she is secretive, tongue tied, finds it very difficult to communicate openly to Gabriel. She is scared of loving, but not being loved in return.

Gabriel doesn't cover himself in glory either, early on. He has a very big secret too, and it takes him far to long to confess it, and this gets in the way of their HEA. the character development in this one was great, as they both learn to let down their defences, and let themselves give into their feelings. Yes Dru wasn't a 'perfect' heroine, but I've read enough of those, and she really did have her own, often painful, growing to do before she could find her HEA.

lots of good chemistry between the two leads and well rounded imperfect characters you want to root for.

Really good.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this book and all opinions are my own

Marriage of convenience, pining for a crush? Yes please. This book was a delight. I loved chatting with Minerva about this series.

I wanted to read the story based on the summary and once I started reading I could not put it down. I enjoyed the characters arguments and how they were able to resolve them. I do wish there wasn't so much background story on the mistresses' or the brother's problem but I do see why it was mentioned to connect the story. Overall it was a good read and I quickly finished it.

A historical fiction romance about Gabriel and Drusilla who get married to save their reputations after a vicious rumor is spread about a misunderstanding at a ball and how they learn to adjust to married life. I loved the plot, the characters, and the overall theme of the story. I didn't necessarily like the contemporary writing style or all the detailed sensual scenes in the book. I felt it was out of character for the time period. I did like reading about how Gabriel and Drusilla's relationship grew over the course of the book and how they worked together at the end. The ending was wonderful. I would recommend this book to readers that enjoy a steamy romance book!

In the first few pages of the book, the white heroine, Dru, mentally describes the biracial hero, Gabriel, as exotic. I’m presuming the author is white as well, though if I am wrong, I would appreciate being corrected. While ten years ago this may not have seemed like a big deal, it’s 2020 and romance readers know better. Romance writers should, too. A white character describing a non-white character as exotic is at worst a microaggression, and at “best” fetishization. I highly doubt that the author had a racist intention here, but it’s still not okay, and while I can roll my eyes at statements like this in older books, I don’t want to see it in this decade at all without the context that it is bad.

I gave Notorious a few more chapters, hoping it would redeem itself. I considered that it was possible Dru would realize the error of her thoughts over time. However, I found myself bored with what I would normally find an exciting scene in other romance novels. Dru and Gabriel are forced into an engagement, and argue during the proposal scene. Dru’s thoughts and comments aren’t overtly racist, nor are Gabriel’s overtly misogynistic, but they’re still racist and misogynistic. Even if they both wind up realizing they are wrong at the end of this book, I don’t want to read about two people with crappy beliefs “fixing” one another. I think it most likely this winds up being a book about a character I recognize to be a bad (clearly not fully intersectional) feminist turning her husband into a feminist, too. On Tinder, I swipe left on moderates, and I want my heroines to do the same.

I peeped the other Goodreads reviews and saw that the book doesn’t seem to get better. This was the deciding factor for me. What a shame, as the author’s previous series appears to be a hit. I doubt I’ll check it out now.

Of course, I could be entirely wrong about this one. It could have a fabulous twist at 20% through, but I gave up at 19%, and I’m glad I did. I have other romance novels with themes I stand for to waste my precious time with.

There are portions I enjoyed, but my modern self does struggle with the sexism & misogyny inherent of these times. (We'll put aside Gabriel's biracial "exoticness" for now.) Basically, despite trying to be caring, Gabriel, who grew up in a harem, has no problems following the "I can do anything I please/you can't" philosophy of marriage, which should make Drusilla, a supposed acolyte of Mary Wollstonecraft, run for the hills, lifelong crush on Gabriel be damned. But I guess she chokes on her impotency when Gabriel pushes it too far, turning it inward at times, and I hate that. And she caves on her principles and causes, despite having more than enough funds to be independent, because of always being in love with Gabriel.

I guess as a middle-aged woman, I struggle with books re: the immaturity of characters in their early 20s, even though that immaturity helps fuel conflict. I've heard that glimpses of Gabriel in one of the author's other series made people excited for his own book and were disappointed.

Gabriel's polyamorous entanglements with a female bisexual couple (who happen to be looking after one of Gabriel's young relatives) was perhaps more interesting than his and Dru's relationship. And it looks like Eva might have a more interesting story in the next book.

Thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book!
I am afraid this was a rather mediocre read for me. I wasn't able to connect with the characters nor the storyline. After some point, I realized that I wasn't really invested in the story at all and it's quite unfortunate as I really wanted to love this based on the blurb!
Drusilla and Gabriel just couldn't stand each other from the beginning of the book, Drusilla often came across as bitter and judgemental, while Gabriel the stereotypical "womanizer". There is some satisfactory character development as the story goes on, we see why Gabriel was the way he was, the complexity of his personality but unfortunately until we reached that point I was far too detached.
I just felt I have read the same story so many times before that I really knew where it was going from the very begginig.

This is my first book by this author and now I plan to look for more to devour! I couldn't stop reading once I started because I loved the plot and the characters so much. Gabriel was so sexy and intuitive about his wife as he paid attention to her for the first time and Druscilla was open minded and open hearted as she accepted everything with grace even as she struggled internally. The plot in the background which was, of course, for money, was intriguing and in the end the bit with Eva was quite the twist. I look forward to seeing how that plays out.

Overall, I would say that the book was emotional in parts, funny in others, and intriguing throughout. I loved it! #notorious #netgalley

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me an eARC of this book.
I wanted to like it. I did. But I hated Gabriel until the last couple chapters. Their entire relationship was based on the bedroom and honestly it was too graphic for me. Dru gave no evidence of being devoted to causes like they implied. I just think Gabriel was such a hypocrite over and over and the next one is about a jerk who tried to kill him and his sister?!! What?!?

Fairly standard historical romance that I wish I enjoyed. I understand since it’s a historical book but having the male lead be a misogynist isn’t really cool so that took away the romance part of it for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book, I chose to request the ARC from NetGalley because it sounded like a book that I would love! It had all the elements for me, regency era historic fiction tends to be a favorite for me, but the story sort of fell flat for me. Why would a woman treat a man so poorly if she secretly fancied herself in love with him? Why should Gabriel get mad at his "fiancé" for "holding" another man's hand, but then run off to his mistress directly after? And something about the way the bedroom scenes were written just made me cringe! There were several moments that were laugh out loud, and the story ended well, but this just wasn't a favorite read, for me.

Notorious spins a new and exciting romance from characters we met in Spencer’s The Outcasts, specifically Mia’s son Gabriel, introduced in Dangerous. While Notorious is slightly more tame than Dangerous, at least in the action department, the romance plot is full of tension and ultimately very satisfying. A terrific opening to Spencer’s newest series.

I was so hopeful for this book based on the summary but I couldn’t get into it. It just didn’t catch my attention. I will try again but at this time I just couldn’t get into it.

DNF- Unfortunately, as much as I tried to connect with the characters or storyline, I could not finish.

My problems in particular are the lack of connection I feel towards Drusilla and Gabriel. Their interactions felt stilted, Drusilla felt really immature and Gabriel was just boring.

As much as I wish I could give a more thoughtful review, I did not get far enough to give a complete opinion,.

An unexpected twist to the enemies to lovers Regency-era romance.

Forced marriage to right one's reputation? A marriage of inconvenience of two unlikely people? That is only the beginning of Notorious. This book had me laughing and cheering Gabriel and Drusella on from the very first page. Spencer deftly wrote a romance her readers wanted while giving them something new to ponder. What if the couple actually talked about their feelings instead of ruminating all day in their heads? Instead of insolence for insolence's sake, what if the characters had motivations behind those snarky comments and sharp side-eyes.

I loved how Drusella remained true to herself and allowed herself to grow as a person. Instead of letting people make decisions for her or assuming Gabriel's worst, she let her reason AND emotions about him guide her actions.

Gabriel is a good guy who lets his assumptions get the better of him sometimes, AND he admits when he is wrong. The best part of this book isn't the twist at the end, but how two characters put work into their marriage. Not everything is rainbows and unicorns from the moment they say I do, and neither is there a horrible sense of dread in the reader, believing that there isn't consent between the husband and wife.

Spencer's book adds a needed voice to the rising repertoire of strong heroines and caring heroes without the problematic storylines of the past's historical romances.

Fans of Evie Dunmore, Martha Waters, and Julia Quinn will enjoy the world Spencer creates in the Rebels of the Ton series.

NOTORIOUS is the first book in Minerva Spencer’s “Rebels of the Ton” series. This book as not as light and breezy as I first supposed – but that’s not a bad thing. I initially thought this would be a fun romp with a “marriage to save a lady’s reputation” and “reformed rake” theme. I was too quick to judge. These characters are infinitely complex, and they prove to be the greatest stumbling block to their shared happiness. The angst, passion, and complicated plot twists are like something out of a telenovela. I was alternately rolling my eyes and chuckling as I read along. Enjoy!

There are several classic romance tropes at work in this tale. Gabriel “Gabe” Marlington is the notably charming and wicked stepbrother of Drusilla Clare’s BFF, Lady Eva de Courtney. It’s a small mercy that this story is told from alternating perspectives, because these characters have secrets upon secrets and keep their innermost feelings on lockdown. Most of the conflict between Drusilla and Gabriel – both before and after their sudden marriage – would be solved if they communicated better. Gabe is convinced that Drusilla has always firmly disliked him. He has a bit of a chip on his shoulder and assumes it has to do with his upbringing and the fact that his father was a sultan. No. Drusilla finds Gabe wildly attractive but is insecure about her appearance and general attractiveness. Her chip on her shoulder centers around the fact that most men are turned off by her feminist leanings. Sigh. Normally I’d be incredibly frustrated by such misunderstandings between the hero and heroine, but Minerva Spencer does a spectacular job of weaving a tangled web with characters who have depth and are realistically flawed. Sometimes you root for these characters, sometimes you want to strangle them, but the story keeps you engaged throughout.

NOTORIOUS has duels, dualities, passion galore, and a rickety road to romance. I feel like NOTORIOUS would make a great film. I am itching to read the next installment to see how Eva makes out, and to find out what becomes of the scheming Godric Fleming.

Although this book is getting quite a bit of attention, I don’t think its one of Spencer’s best. I just didn’t like Gabriel and Drusilla. Neither one of them seemed to have enough common sense to fill a thimble, and kept flying into a rage about each other’s behavior with what seemed minor cause. The whole foreign prince theme that Gabriel had going on was a distraction, and didn’t make him a more compelling character in my opinion. Overall, meh!