4.5⭐️ “It all began at a party, as almost everything of interest does.”

Reputation is The O.C. & Mean Girls meets Pride & Prejudice in this debut smash from Lex Croucher. I loved this mix of modern themes in a historical setting where the heroine finally gets the last word.

It was witty, refreshing, smart and left me with a satisfying sense of conclusion. Our heroine, Georgina, has a character arc for the ages, it will make you want to stand up and cheer!

Croucher covers a variety of themes including sex, identity and challenging the status quo with her now signature style and grace. I am already eager to get my hands on her future stories.

This book carries with it some heavy subject matter. Be sure to check out the trigger warnings before proceeding.

Thank you to @LexCroucher @StMartinsPress & @NetGalley for this eARC, all opinions are my own. Reputation is available for pre-order and will hit shelves April 5th, 2022.

“Get in, Georgina. We’re going shopping.”

TW⚠️ Abandonment, Abusive Relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Attempted Rape, Sexual Assault, Blood, Broken Bones, Bullying, Drug Use, Homophobia, Misogyny, Poisoning, Queerphobia, Racism, Rape (Off Page).

I really wanted to like this Regency romance styled in the fashion of a naughty Jane Austen novel. Georgiana has been sent to stay with her Aunt and Uncle and is introduced to a circle of men and women who are definitely not above reproach. I made it to about 30% but I just couldn't recover from the lack of a compelling storyline and had to set it aside. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this advance copy. Fans of Julia Quinn's Bridgertons series might enjoy this more than I did.

Unfortunately I did not finish, i just could not get into the book or the characters. I really wanted to like it especially based on the description but just all the characters seemed horrible, and I was not interested enough to see what happens next.

Thank you to St Martin Press and NetGalley.

I was drawn towards this book right away because it was described as Jane Austen meets Mean Girls which just sounded like a hilarious and delicious combo.

Lex Croucher does not disappoint and fully delivers on this promise. I throughly enjoyed every page and appreciated this different take on the Regency era. If anyone is sick of the Bridgerton-type romance novel, this will be the shot of whiskey in your tea you’ve been waiting for.

This is a book where characters behave badly and are to some extent all a bit of the villain. It gets messy and, as has been mentioned, pretty dark. I thought the author made some choices that required more consideration (ie. making the Regina George a mixed race girl and the only one to appear on the cover, this didn’t sit comfortably with me) but the cast is more diverse than your typical regency so snaps for this I suppose. If you want a fluffy romance then I suggest you skip this one.

I would recommend it and am looking forward to the audiobook which my friend has told me is quite excellent.

CW: sexual assault, drug/alcohol use, homophobia, racism, violence, death of a family member.

I'll be honest, when I first started this book, I didn't know what to expect. I was drawn in by the promise of an experience like the ever delightful Bridgerton. But instead what I got was something like Mean Girls meets Pride and Prejudice - as though it was actually Elizabeth Bennett who becomes swindled by the Plastics before she realized just how deeply wounded Regina George is.

There was drama, there was a love story, there was the blossoming of friendship, but at the heart of it all there was the lesson that people are only truly happy when they accept their authentic selves and are loved for no other reason than that.

What I thought would be simply an entertaining victorian soap opera was actually a deeply profound revelation of human nature. Needless to say, I really loved this one. It was full of some really memorable characters and moments.

I would recommend if your a fan of Mean Girls, Gossip Girls, Bridgerton, or anything Jane Austen!

This was a refreshing delight. I loved that it was written exactly to the tone of a regency novel, just more lively. And discussing things they would never talk about in Austen. I really enjoyed it.

If you're a fan of Fleabag, Mean Girls, and Jane Austen... this book is for you! It shows a different side to the regency era that we all have come to know. It's absolutely wonderful.

Reputation is smart, funny, and gives the audience a regency era romance that is not perfect. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was glad for the diverse cast of characters. The story moved quickly, but ended a little too soon for me. I would still recommend it to our library book club.

I have to say, this book was pretty good. I love me a good regency era novel, so of course, I knew this was a must read. The writing was good, however, the one thing that I found that surprised me a little was that the story was a little darker than I expected. After saying that, I did however enjoy reading it. While there are quite a few different themes throughout, the one I liked was that at the end of the day, the women were really just trying to find a place for themselves that wasn't just being a wife, mother, daughter, and the perfect lady that society wanted them to be. There's a good amount of romance throughout, and I loved the small references to "Mean Girls". Overall, a good book!

It really is Mean Girls meets Jane Austen! Scandalous, fun, but packed a good depthy oomph, too!

Remember when Rory, sweet, innocent Rory Gilmore, finds herself hopelessly sucked into Logan's secret society at Yale -- its kind of like that. But instead of The Life and Death Brigade doing drunken stunts in costumes, these naughty, Regency Era kids are chaperone-less with fancy wine, opium, and Lizzie-Bennett-only-knows-what! You sense it's going to end in an utter horse-drawn carriage wreck, but you can't look away!

It goes something like this... Lonely wallflower, Miss Georgiana Ellers, is staying with her Aunt and Uncle. When she meets the wild and enigmatic Francis Campbell, she is fascinated and gets swiftly caught up in her world of excess and debauchery. She's heard the rumors about Francis, and some of them seem likely, but Francis is kind to her and Georgiana feels so happy to be included.

However, things aren't exactly as carefree and easy as they seemed with the in-crowd, and Georgiana learns this the hard way. (IT GETS INTENSE!)

This book was almost impossible to put down (especially the second half!) and so much fun to read. I expected more of a historical romance, which I wouldn't really consider this, even though I enjoyed the romantic aspects. At times it felt like a Young Adult/New Adult novel, and a very well-written entertaining one too. It isn't all cute fun, however, the themes and events in this book get dark and heavy -- it is balanced incredibly well and I thought it was fantastic. Immediately after finishing I told my historical romance book club to keep an eye out for this one if they like the sound of Mean Girls/Gossip Girl combined with historical romance! I mean, who can resist that?!

I wanted to love this book but I think Julia Quinn and Bridgeton ruined me. Reputation was described as Bridgeton meets Mean Girls which had ME so excited, but the book just fell flat for me.

Although it took me a while to get into, this story ended up being a fun read, and I appreciated what the author was going for! I think for any fan of Bridgerton and comedies like Mean Girls then this book is absolutely perfect.

There were a lot of modern topics thrown in, and the language used didn't really feel right to me so I couldn't really get into the setting. The story also covered a lot of really dark topics and got a little messy while doing so.

I feel like this would be great played out on the big screen, but for me the idea/concept fell a little flat and felt unoriginal.

This was a difficult book. The publicity for the book is falsely advertising that it is Bridgerton-esque or like Jane Austen. Yes, it is set in the Regency, but any and all connections to Julia Quinn’s and Jane Austen’s work or other current histrom are non-existent. There is a love interest, but it is not a romance; it is more women’s fiction with a romantic subplot. This is not the usual rom-com as the publicity would lead you to believe. While there is some witty banter and some LOL moments, I feel British sense of humor is rather different from American. The story is rather dark with drug and alcohol abuse, death, emotionally abusive families, rape, sexual assault, slut-shaming, toxic friendships, racism, and violence. While none of these in the singular or plural is cause for my disfavor, all of it together is too much to balance with the love sub-plot. As far as the writing goes, it is well written, astute, and assured and does not read like a debut book. And I loved the diverse cast of characters in terms of race, gender, and sexuality. Yes, the book is popular on GoodReads, but I simply cannot recommend it.

This was marketed as Bridgerton meets Gossip Girl, and perfect for fans of Jane Austen's sass. It is all of that, but also misses the mark just slightly in my opinion.
I did love the witty Mean Girls inspired banter between the characters but I honestly couldn't connect with any of them. Meaning, I kind of hated all of the characters. This may well be the point seeing as most of the book had the characters in scandalous situations...and demeaning any one who did not partake in those situations.
For me, the characters hostile "popular girl" attitudes were a bit much and I didn't feel a kinship to Jane Austen.
Thank you to the publishers for an early copy of this book to review.

As I read in the promo, "Reputation" is "Mean Girls" crossed with Jane Austen. Georgiana Ellers is abandoned by her parents at her aunt and uncle's home while they move to a seaside community for her mother's health. Georgiana is bored to tears with all of the activities her aunt has for her which includes counting embroidery needles at the most exciting. While at a party where a local couple are showing off their new painting, Georgiana encounters Frances who leads her into a world of alcohol and drug use along with some heavy petting not common in the Regency era for young girls. When Georgiana declines to go along with Frances (and friends), She finds herself on the outside of the "in" crowd.

"Reputation" explores situations that are more modern and not typical to a Regency romance. It definitely put a spin on what Regency readers are used to and thus, may not be for all readers who like this genre.

this was such a fun book! I loved the setting of the book, the characters, and the vibes i got from this book! i want to read more books set in this time period after how much i enjoyed this one!

This was a slow burn for me until the halfway mark. Once I hit that, this was addicting and I finished the book very quickly! Bridgerton meets Gossip Girl is the perfect description of this novel. Thanks to Netgalley for the read! I think many will enjoy this delicious story.

3.5🌟s! This book had moments of brilliance and moments where it draaaaged. It’s touted as a romcom, but I didn’t find it very funny. Engaging yes, but more as a cautionary tale.

Georgina is send to live with her aunt and is hoping for her own version of “hot girl summer” - historical romance style., which is to say, in many layers of clothing. She somehow befriends the local bad girl and engages in a lot of inappropriate shenanigans for the time period.

This is definitely an interesting read as Georgina’s journey of self discovery. She’s never had much freedom and suddenly she is overcome with choices. You cannot help but root for George, even as she is making bad decisions, to become the person we know she can be.

Her romance with Thomas is a minor part of the book, but he definitely brought out the best in her. My favorite part were the letters that Thomas and Georgina wrote back and forth - definitely the wittiest part of the book. I was disappointed we didn’t get much of an ending for them. Instead, mean girl Frances gets the last word again.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press and these are my honest opinions.

I loved the new take on the princesses and the way the author wrote the stories. It never seemed to go too overboard into the truly unbelievable category which was nice.

3.5 stars-fun and cute book. It wasn't a favorite of mine, but fans of means girls and bridgerton would love it.