Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book!

I thought this book was really good! Normally I’m not a fan of alternating POVs but this actually helped the plot move. The slow burn relationship was very well written and the dialogue between the characters was well done. I thought it wasn’t necessary to have so many supporting characters that didn’t necessarily add to the plot but it did not deter from the main plot of the novel.

When Eva discovers a plot to kidnap her best friend, she decides to kidnap the kidnapper. But now she and Lord Visel are trapped in a carriage together, and Eva’s reputation may be ruined. When Lord Visel insists that they must marry, he shows Eva a sensitive interior underneath his brutish, bullying exterior. But he doesn’t think he’s capable of loving again.

This Regency romance takes place mostly in inns and carriages instead of balls and mansions. I didn’t like Eva and Lord Visel quite as much as I liked Drusilla and Gabriel from the first book in this series. I think it’s because of the way Lord Visel used to mock Eva and planned violence. Still, it was an interesting read with some good twists and turns. And the chemistry was fiery.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

One of the best parts about romance, are the catalysts to get characters together. The heroine can be abducted by pirates, kidnapped by your brother’s or father’s greatest enemies, or captured during war - all to bring the heroine into the hero’s presence. Cue the sparks. Rarely, however, are romance readers treated to a heroine capturing the hero.

In Outrageous by Minerva Spencer readers are treated to an even rarer plot choice to bring the heroine and hero together: first, Eva kidnaps Lord Visel, stealing him away from a masquerade to prevent the evil man from carrying out a kidnapping plot of his own centered on her dearest friend and sister in law. All goes well for Eva until Lord Visel turns the tables and takes her hostage instead.

This novel is at its core, a road trip novel. For the majority of the book the two main characters are within a carriage or inns, making their way north. Fans of forced proximity will find plenty to love: lots of time spent together talking, sexual and emotional tension, and yes - even a bit of ‘there’s only one bed!’

While I enjoyed the great majority of this book, the ending seemed rather hurried. It took meddling from three outside characters and a (rather contrived) situation to bring the hero and heroine together for their HEA. I believe the hero should have done some groveling, free from outside pressures. And the heroine should have made some strides in her communication skills. Outrageous reads well as a standalone even though it is the second in Spencer’s Rebels of the Ton series. If you’re looking for a fun road trip romp, this is the summer read for you!

Outrageous it is for a 19 year old chit to kidnap a 36 year old war veteran with a fifteen year history of military service. Equally outrageous are the coincidences that occur on their stormy ride toward Scotland with multiple meetings with implausibly honorable highwaymen, yet flashes of growing fascination spark the travelers toward a happily ever after that is delayed by a few months and an additional kidnapping. A fun romp from start to finish.

This was such a disappointment. *sighs*

Where do I even start.

The absolute first problem I had with this was that while reading Notorious, I'd made this image of Visel in my head, and it was not nice. I seemed to have missed some descriptions in the previous book of Visel, and my image was stout, slimy, and ugly, with warts and whatnot.

But 3% into this book, and I realised something was wrong. How was this guy described as the most handsome guy in the whole ton?? How was Eva crushing after this guy after he literally made their lives hell in the last book!??!

And me, being the forgiving person I am, decided to treat this book as a standalone, ignore all the past history, and read this as if it started with her kidnapping him for some unknown reason, and just enjoy the romance, the writing I loved in Notorious.

Sadly, this had none of the goodness of the previous book. *sighs*

To start off, I can't handle large age differences between the two people who are supposed to end up together. It does not vibe with me, and frankly, I find it creepy and paedophilic in nature. Usually, especially in Historical Romances of the variety I read, there is some age difference to be expected, some 5-7 years, and I can deal with that because it is the way it is. But when your love interests are some 20 (actually 17, just checked) years apart, and they regularly think of each other as much older/much younger/ father-like/old-enough-to-be-his-daughter, I draw the line.

Think all you want about the age difference, but if you're going to subject me to thoughts about how the guy thinks he should spank her like a child because she was behaving like one (to be fair, she was behaving like one, but really? thinking of her as a child?) and then thinking about 'taking' her in all the thousand ways you can think of in the same paragraph!?!? That is where I'm out.

And me, being the forgiving person I am, decided to ignore this as well, because surely the amazing writer of Notorious would win me over by writing a fantastic romance?

The answer is no, because this was more smut and sex thoughts than this was romance.

*sighs* *deep breath* IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR AN EMOTIONAL CONNECTION THESE DAYS!??!?!

And me, being the forgiving person I am, decided that enough was enough, this was too much, and this book was going to pay in the review.

There was so much smut. So, so much smut. Oh God, and they would keep thinking of the age difference while having sex, and can I just ...NO. Just NO. This was exactly the problem I had with Fix Her Up, where the love interest would keep calling her baby girl, and then they would have sex, and more sex, and (this is not the review for that book so I'm going to shut up now).

I will admit, I did like some portions of this book. A lot, in fact, most of which were when Visel had his mouth shut, and we were in Eva's POV (who was the better POV only because she wasn't thinking as much of sex as he was.) Nearly all of the emotional scenes were done really well, with me rooting for the romance (being the forgiving person I am, I'd forgive the book and forget about all the stuff I hated in those regions) and then Visel would open his mouth, or one of them would see the other and it would all go to hell.

On the whole, perhaps just not for me. I will admit, I had some really high hopes, and they might have played a very big role in me not liking this, but this was still not very good had I been reading this as an independent book. I would recommend it to people looking for sex heavy books, and who don't mind the age difference. I would not recommend it to people who loved Notorious and who're looking for more of the same, keep in mind that this is heavier on the sex, and has a big age difference.

Eva de Courtney overhears Godric Fleming, Lord Visel, planning with his cousin to kidnap her sister-in-law (and BFF) Drusilla and ruin her. Being an impulsive sort of girl Eva determines to kidnap Godric to foil his plans. Unfortunately, whilst Eva is stunning beautiful it is of the china doll variety and Godric quickly overpowers her when he wakes from being hit over the head.

Eva's personality belies her appearance. She might look like a little doll but she hates Balls and dresses, preferring to spend time in the stables and watching mills (boxing matches to you and I). Indeed, her dream is to open her own stud farm and breed horses. She also swears like a stable-boy!

Godric lost his entire family to an attack by pirates while he was at war fighting Napoleon. It also sent him slightly mad with grief, determined never to love anyone ever again because he couldn't bear the pain of losing them. Nevertheless he knows that what he planned to do was wrong, and Eva's actions mean that the only honourable thing to do is to marry her, if he doesn't strangle her from frustration first.

This feels to me like a modern interpretation of a raunchy Georgette Heyer (no greater compliment can I give), a feisty heroine dressed in boys clothes, a broken-down carriage, shenanigans (OMG I loved the ostler who gravely says this feels like shenanigans and the master told him to report shenanigans to the mayor!), a succession of inns, each worse than the last, and kidnappings galore.

This was fun, fast-paced and funny. I can't wait for the next book in the series.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in return for an honest review.

I enjoyed that this book had a Regency setting, but without the usual trappings of ballrooms and house calls, etc. It occurs entirely outside of the ton's world, despite the main characters' roles in society.

I called this book a series of unfortunate events because truly, from the ill-conceived kidnapping plot Eva conceives to the carriage accident to their kidnapping by highwaymen, it's a miracle any is alive at the end. Still, it's fun, sexy and adventurous.

I did not read the first book in the series, so I was disengaged from Godric Fleming’s role. Still, he was a typical dark hero, haunted by the ghosts of his past and determined never to get married or have children as a result, and of course, following his honour, decides to marry Eva to save their reputations.

Eva, on the other hand, felt wholly unique to me. She is a farm girl who will get dirty and wants to breed her horses and wear breeches and is talented at what she does. I loved her ferocity and spirit.

There is a large age gap between the pair, but it's not strange for the genre; even Austen’s Emma and Mr. Knightley let had a 16 year age gap. It was familiar and didn't feel odd to me. Godric struggles with the age gap because he's been a military man for 20 years and is a widower, but I found it typical.

I did wish as could dive more into their family histories. Their past trauma is not explored much, but it shapes both of them, and I wanted the author to flesh that out more. I would have also liked an epilogue that further in the future rather than the same day as the last chapter but from another character's perspective.

Outrageous is the second book in the Rebels of the Ton series by Minerva Spencer. I was excited when I read the premise of this book as Eva had my heart in the first book. She was probably my favorite character in it. While it's not totally necessary to read the first book to read this one (Spencer does a good job of filling in any pertinent information), it will make for a fuller reading experience.

I've broken my thoughts into pros and cons:

Pros
EVA!! (I loved her in the first and was SO excited to see a book that featured her.)Super engaging beginning
The banter between the leads
As in the first book, interesting and fun side characters
Well written and fleshed out characters

Cons
Some of the events seem a bit...outrageous ;)
Some of the characters have very, VERY modern ideals - this could be viewed as neg or pos, depending
I thought some of the traveling bits were a bit long

I found Godric's character interesting in the first book, and I was excited to see how he would be in this one. I would have liked to have seen a more gradual shift. He seemed to regret a lot of what he'd done too quickly - at least to my mind. This didn't bug me too much, but it was something that I would have loved to have seen more of. That being said, I loved seeing his growth. He had been through a lot and he was bound to have some problems. It was great to seem him working through all of his grief.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I loved the interaction between the two leads...and the secondary characters. (I'd love to see some spin offs for Andrew and James!) And, the opening! I started off thinking this was going to be a five star book. Of course, it ended up leveling off - but in a good way. This was great to see since I found the first book had a slow start.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book for review. All thoughts are my own.

This a great story, I loved the characters, the writing is amazing but this book left me a bit disappointed and I cant say why exactly. Its a great book though and this is only my opinion.

I have had the first Rebels of the Ton book on my to-read list, and am usually a stickler for reading series in order. I jumped at the chance to get an ARC of Outrageous though! While you do not necessarily need to read the first book in order to understand this book, reading it prior does probably help with knowing a bit of background about the characters. I will admit during the first two chapters I was at a complete loss for the lack of introduction to the characters, but quickly found my footing after that.
I found the situation of Eva abducting Godric to be highly implausible, but that came to be part of it that I loved. I could not put it down. I feel like the emotions and actions of Eva and Godric towards each other gave me whiplash. Still, despite it all, I found myself rooting for them and their undeniable chemistry for each other. This was a leisurely read and highly entertaining during a time when all of us need happy endings no matter how outrageous the road to them may be.
I will say that if you read the first book beforehand, you will not be lost for the first two chapters. Having now read the first book, I am shocked by the 180 Godric's character takes and find it to be a bit far-fetched after his heinous actions and general repulsive behavior in the first book. I am also shocked that Eva could overlook his actions towards her best friend, beloved step-brother, and herself to be attracted to him. This is the main reason I ended up giving it four stars.
Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Books for providing an E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I love Minerva Spencer's books and I looked forward to reading this one. This is Eva's story. Eva is the outrageously behaved daughter of the haughty Marquess of Exley and his first wife, who was mad. Society gossips whisper that Eva's antics are due to her bad blood, but Eva is an independent spirit who does not want to marry but instead to be free to live her own life. I already knew some of Eva's background from Notorious, one of Spencer's earlier books, which is the story Eva's half-brother, Gabriel's marriage to her best friend, Drusilla. Their story ended with a teaser about Eva's story and I could not wait to read it!

This story has many of my favorite tropes: enemies to lovers, kidnapping, bumbling sidekicks, and unrequited love. I enjoyed the characters, the plot, and the drama. Eva is devoted to her family and when she discovers that Godric Fleming, the Earl of Visel, plans to kidnap her sister-in-law, Drusilla, Eva attempts to foil his plot by dressing as a boy and kidnapping him instead. However, the gambit backfires and Eva now is faced with a possible marriage to her enemy because the kidnapping the Earl ends up compromising her instead. There were plenty of plot twists in the story and a few bumpy transitions that left you wondering about the fate of some of the characters in the book. (Maybe their stories will be resolved in future books by Spencer.) Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and it kept me up at night to read "one more chapter."

*3.5 stars*

I adore Minerva Spencer, and I usually rate her books extremely highly, but her Rebels of the Ton offshoot series hasn't exactly been my jam. However, though it took me some time to get into Outrageous, I will say that it grew on me over time.

Where this book falters is the set up and in a few key aspects. First of all, Visel had a total personality change in the beginning of the book, which I found to be completely unbelievable. It helps if you've read Notorious first, but it isn't totally necessary. Nevertheless, you'll get the gist about how the book begins, which makes it just incredible that the author had Visel have some self-awareness all of the sudden. I didn't buy it. Also, the way he treats Eva is nothing short of... creepy. The age gap is very vast, and it skeeved me out how Visel viewed her as a child most of the time. Just, no. It got better as the book went on, but I almost DNFed in the first half.

Honestly, for Minerva Spencer this book wasn't as angsty as it could have been. Usually, this author puts her characters through the ringer, but we get a spitfire of a female MC with a relatively happy upbringing (despite her mother's death and family history of madness), and a male MC with a pretty tragic backstory but it isn't dwelled upon as much as it could have been. I think the angst level was just right for my tastes.

I think I enjoyed the side characters almost as much as the main characters. I'm smelling an M/M romance here, Minerva!!!! There were a lot of complex and interesting personalities to enjoy, and I think it made the second half of the story feel more fleshed out. I was frustrated near the end by a ridiculous self-sacrificing act by one of the MCs, but by that time I was hooked in the story and could barely put it down.

A little inconsistent for Minerva Spencer, but very much worth it in the end. I'm very excited to see where this series goes next.

*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*

The second installment of the series, Rebels of the Ton, was not as compelling as the first one. Even though it was a fun story, with sometimes ridiculous but funny situations, I didn't enjoy the characters as much as in the previous book. I think the chemistry between the MCs was not there and even though, they were interesting individually, together they were rather messy.
On the other hand, they were quite unique so that makes you wanting to keep reading.

I received and ARC of this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is the first book I read by Minerva Spencer and I liked it quite a lot but there were a few issued that kept me from giving it all five stars. The story starts out in a very weird way <spoiler>the heroine kidnaps the hero because he was set to kidnap one of her friends - yeah, didn't make much sense to me either</spoiler> and for half the book it is unclear what on earth they are doing or why - basically they are stuck in a carriage going somewhere. Then the second half of the story goes completely bonkers as it seems the weather and every highwayman, inn keeper and strange young lad wants to get them. I have read this second part in a somewhat ironic key and it worked for me but I suppose it could be annoying for other readers.
The love story itself it ok, there is a lot of chemistry and the sex scenes are hot <spoiler>though I would have preferred that the heroine didn't lie about her experience or at least come clean when they were in the middle of the action sort to speak</spoiler> and there is a bit of groveling at the end on his part which I always enjoy.
All in all a good read with equal parts adventure and love.

I loved this book! It was heartwarming and strong. It was exactly what I needed with everything going on in the world! A happy little escape!

This book starts immediately after the events of the first book. The reason I picked up this book was because I really liked Eva's characterization in book 1. This book was an expansion on the wild and crazy young woman.
I was a bit uncomfortable with the age difference but since it is a book from the olden times, it was easier to digest.
The first book was not that interesting. I could not connect with Drusilla's character and was instead observing Eva's scenes. This book was much better than the 1st.
I really loved the occasionally homages to the author in the book as Minerva Press. :P

It was ok, definitely not one of my favorites of Minerva of mine, but I am noticing that I tend to like her first books and not her second ones. so 2 1./2 big age gap which honestly which grossed me out when he kept calling her child, had he not kept calling her that, it probably wouldn't had bothered me as much.

Eva is outrageous. She wears pants, wants to breed horses, and has a fiery temper that leads her to do impulsive things. She kidnaps Godric. Godric is a man tortured by his past. He is attracted to Eva and in turn hopes to make the best of the situation by marrying Eva. I received an ARC from NetGalley and Kensington Books for my honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for a arc copy for a honest review.

I did not want to DNF it Outrageous I wanted to give it a chance. I was getting into the story but when it mentioned sex trafficking, I don’t understand how I got through read the book. 2 star for me ⭐️⭐️

This is like Georgette Heyer, only with sex thrown into the mix of romance, humour and emotion, I particularly enjoyed the bit where Godric says he reads Gothic novels published by the Minerva press. In fact I thoroughly enjoyed it, so I am going to give it five stars. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for giving me an advance copy to read.