This ARC was provided to me via Kindle by St. Martin’s Press and #NetGalley for my honest opinion.

Dynamic characters with electric chemistry. A delightful take on the regency genre.

Sometimes a book just hits every vibe you need it to hit.

It's the wonderful New Adult combination Pride and Prejudice and Mean Girls that we didn't know we needed. Georgiana is packed off to live with her aunt and uncle and finds that her new life is nowhere near as exciting as her books led her to believe. Soon, however, she is swept up into the scandalous world of late nights and unchaperoned parties.

I really loved this book. I laughed out loud throughout it and SQUEE'd at least twice. The characters and their development felt so frustratingly real (in a good way), and the letters, that begin with the Regency equivalent of a drunk text, are so much fun. The portrayal of getting swept up in the obsessive qualities of a new, exciting friendship with somebody who seems to command every room led to a slight existential crisis in which I realized that I have never had an original experience in my life.

Such a great LGBT+ novel! I love the Bridgerton aspect of it and I love the dynamic of the characters. It's not what I usually read but it was still quite enjoyable

Source of book: NetGalley (thank you!)
Relevant disclaimers: none
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author

Trigger warnings for drug and alcoholic use and misuse, death of family members, domestic violence, emotionally abusive families, rape, sexual assault, slut-shaming, toxic friendships, racism, violence.

This book is absolutely *chef’s kiss*. It’s basically Regency Mean Girls and I adored it beyond measure. I will say, however, that despite the arch narration and the top bants, this gets … this gets dark. It’s bit of a boiling-a-frog situation, tone-wise, in that there wasn’t a moment when I was aware of the shift but looking back on the beginning from the end I was a little startled by the emotional distance travelled. Much, I suppose, like the heroine.

Speaking of, she is Georgiana Ellers, a young woman from a staunchly middle-class family whose bookish, emotionally distant parents have moved to the seaside and left her in the care of her stuffy aunt and uncle. By chance, at a boring party, she encounters Frances Campbell. She is rich, beautiful, and reckless and offers Georgiana the opportunity to enter a glamorous and privileged world.

What follows is a romance, a bildungsroman, and a gentle morality tale that wonderfully captures both the joy and the perils of being part of the in-crowd, and the way that when you feel vulnerable in yourself, friendship that springs from a kind of manufactured invincible meanness can be really powerful. I mean, it’s a long time since I’ve been close to this age group (I think they’re all about eighteen) but I can remember how safe it seemed to be cruel and how important to be witty. I kind of think part of growing up, for the over-read and under-socialised (as Georgiana very much is), is learning that sometimes it’s more important to be sincere than clever.

I loved this arc for Georgiana. Even in my age and infirmity, it felt very relatable to me, although I think there will be some readers inclined to condemn her for her vanity (in wanting so desperately to run with the cool kids) and the MANY mistakes she makes over the course of his book. Personally, I would find that a bit unfair: she’s young and immature, and she acts like it, but she also learns. And, actually, I think one of the strengths of this book is its willingness to let its characters be both flawed, and nuanced in those flaws. Cecily, for example, is the Karen of the group: she is far from wise, and the most obviously kind of Frances’s clique. Except there’s an emotional carelessness to her that renders both her kindness and cruelty slightly arbitrary. For example, Frances observes: “Poor Ces is just too foolish to realize she’s hurting your feelings. I don’t think anyone has ever managed to hurt her, so she can’t empathize. She seems to float through life […] It’s charming […] but extremely aggravating when you’re collateral damage.” I thought this was a wonderful observation of a character type that is so often rendered comedically one-note.

As for Frances herself, she by the far the hottest mess in the book. Which is complicated because she’s both mixed race and bisexual. Her charisma is undeniable, but she’s also undeniably damaged, and her relationship with Georgiana ultimately becomes toxic, with Frances behaving extremely vindictively over a perceived betrayal. So yes: conflicted thoughts. I mean, practically everyone in this book (with the exception of the romantic lead) is to some degree a villain, including Georgiana, but while the Biggest Bad hat has to go to one of the gentlemen, Frances makes a pretty hard play for the title of “the worst.” Except for the fact she’s … you know. Really human, capable of great charm and great destructiveness, a destructiveness she’s just as liable to turn on herself.

Of course, I don’t want to say that mixed race bisexuals can’t or shouldn’t be messy (either in life or in fiction) but chaotic bisexual is kind of a … well … it’s a trope isn’t it? Although, I think in this case it’s balanced out by the fact it’s a diverse book in general—there’s multiple queer characters, and multiple POCs. Your mileage may vary here, but to me stereotypes about marginalised people tend to become problematic when that is the ONLY representation (either in a single text, or in the world at large) available. But there’s scope in a book like this to allow someone like Frances to exist without it necessarily being wider contemporary on mixed race people, bisexuals, or mixed race bisexuals. Your mileage may, of course, vary.

Plus, there’s a bit of a Philip Larkin theme going on throughout the book (“they fuck you up, your mum and dad”): while it’s never explicitly explored—what young person, after all, wants to think about their parents—nearly every character is trapped within both a social and parental context they have almost no power to mitigate. Whether that’s Georgiana’s parents essentially abandoning her with her aunt and uncle, or the horrendous dynamic between Frances’ white father and her Black mother, or the loss of is mother and brother like Hawskley (the romantic lead. In some ways, I could have done with a bit more of a reckoning with at least some of this: having been absent throughout, Georgiana’s parents turn up briefly at the end of the book to be so awful I couldn’t figure out what their deal was and the reality of Lady Campbell’s situation was so grim that it casts a shadow across the whole book.

I don’t really have standing to talk about the Reputation’s portrayal of race in general: there’s a note in the back reminding us that the Regency was not as white-washed as histrom likes to pretend it is, and the book goes out of its way to ensure characters of colour are centralised, but it also does not present a completely sanitised fantasy of equality. Which I should emphasise is not a dig at sanitised fantasies of equality: I can only speak for queer stories (and even then I recognise that marginalised people are not monoliths) but I do occasionally find refuge and value in fiction that offers me an escape from, you know, the realities of living in an unequal society. I guess where I’m going with this is, that the book owns its choices. They might not be choices that work for every individual reader but they worked for me, and I admired how considered they felt.

Privilege is, of course, another unavoidable theme here and the way the book explores it also felt considered, particularly the various intersectionalities of class, race, gender and sexuality. For example, there’s a lovely line near the end where Georgiana notes that it must be the romantic for Jonathan (who is openly gay amongst his friends) to be living a life of secret meetings and secrets, to which he responses “It doesn’t feel quite so poetic when it’s all you can ever have. I’m afraid it’s not some fairy-tale story where all the pain is worth it in the end. You just get the delightful part with all the pain.” OOF. Ultimately there’s something quite merciless about Reputation: its young protagonists have the all the mingled ignorance and clarity of youth, that swaggering resistance to both bullshit and introspection, and the narrative is similarly unflinching. Refusing to offer easy answers when it comes to the inequities that shape and control us.

In case it isn’t obvious, I loved this book and everything it was doing. Though I should probably say something about its use of anachronism. I feel a bit, err, crass bringing this up because I’m aware it’s an issue germane to my own writing, but I think there will those who view Reputation as unforgivably “anachronistic”. Which is to say, that it is a book set in the past that is using the past to tell a modern story, with modern themes, and occasional modern language. I mean, the characters contrive to run around unchaperoned, while drinking heavily, taking drugs and talking about sex. This did not trouble me and, honestly, I didn’t even think it was anachronistic: or rather, I think we need a better term for this type of story. Obviously, I don’t think characters in 1816 or whatever should be wandering around flipping light switches and checking their iPhone, but the idea that any book set in the Regency must accept without challenge the notion that its ultimate goal is to do the best possible impression of Jane Austen is, y’know, nonsense. Especially when so much histrom is set in the UK and written by Americans who quite use words like “gotten” and “jackass” in cold blood, despite the fact neither are in common usage over here.

Again, I apologise if it sounds like I have an axe to grind to here. It’s probably because I absolutely do. It is, of course, beyond okay for readers to have preferences about the types of books they enjoying reading: if, for you, for your personal enjoyment, histrom must be a book where people say gotten and drink tepid lemonade at Almacks that’s cool. That’s chill. You do you, boo. But writers who don’t write histrom that way aren’t in error. They’re just making choices you don’t agree with.

Basically, Reputation is a book that knows exactly what it wants to do, and it does that thing with flair, passion and conviction. And I love it for that. As I love it for many things. Including its dryly funny, gentle-hearted hero who is allowed to come to the rescue in just the right way, having been himself rescued by a heroine who never loses her agency in their slowly developing romance. For all that it pulls not a single fucking punch, Reputation has a lot of compassion for its characters. In a book that’s so concerned with power and privilege, it need not have taken a moment to acknowledge—via its hero—that patriarchal power structures can be as destructive to men as they are too women. It need not to have done this. But it did. And that was … incredibly generous. And, from my perspective, only served the tenderness of the romantic arc.

Out of a nebulous sense of fairness, I should probably mention there were a couple of things that didn’t quite work for me. It’s such an ambitious book, with such a big cast, that not every character has space to fully develop: the “good” friend is sweet but lacks of the vivacity of the “bad” friends (I mean, such is the nature of “good” friends, I guess) Jane is kind of just a dour lesbian (no offence to dour lesbians) and the villain is very much what you’d expect when entitlement is allowed to flourish without check. I don’t necessarily feel he needed nuance, but he’s such an obvious bad’un that it made Frances look a tiny bit silly for being into him at all (although it’s possible this was the point: that vulnerability, emotional or otherwise, can make you susceptible to obvious bad’uns). He also sheds subtlety as the book progresses, his reputation for being nebulously bad to women culminating in acts of sexual and then literal violence. While it provides an appropriately dramatic conclusion to both his arc and the book’s but it still felt a tiny bit out of left field to me: maybe I’m wrong and violence is violence is violence, but to me one of the invidious things about sexual violence to women is that men feel it’s sort of their right? Whereas they would probably draw a line at literally attacking them in another context: I think because society is more direct about violence in general being Not Okay, while institionalising at every level the notion that women’s bodies are public property and therefore sex with women is something that rightfully belongs to men. But then I suppose, for the book to have any chance of bringing the villain to any sort of justice at all, he would have to do something very obviously wrong in a public place. So. Eh?

Finally, the beginning of the book has some of the funniest writing I have read in a long time. I mean, lines like this just absolutely destroy me with hilarity:

“Well, come along then,” said Mrs. Burton, eyeing her with the utmost suspicion. “Your uncle ate a funny grape and isn’t feeling at all himself. We’re going home.”

Like, it’s such a perfectly observed middle-aged thing to say to an impatient teenager at a party that is boring her. I loved it so much that it has entered our lexicon chez Hall to describe any task one wishes to get out of: “I’m sorry I can’t do the washing up right now. Your uncle ate a funny grape and isn’t feeling at all himself.”

The tone remains arch and the dialogue snappy throughout, but as the plot (and the heroine) begin to unravel, and comedy middle-aged people give way to sexual assault and toxic friendship, I missed the exuberance of the opening chapters. Here’s another “literally rolled off the sofa cackling” moment when the heroine is reflecting on the social limitations of her life with her highly academic parents:

“Her parents had often had fellow academics over for evenings of lively scholastic debate, and their children had been Georgiana’s constant companions […] Some of them were blessed with a little conversational wit, but it was mostly wasted on extensive, vicious debates about particular subsections of Roman history, or trying to distract each other into making unforgiveable mistakes during long, terse games of chess. On one particularly memorable occasion, a boy had crudely split an infinitive during conversation and they had all talked of nothing else for a week.”

Crudely split an infinitive. Oh my God.

Anyway, I could talk about this book forever. It’s so assured—such a wonderful balance of light and shade, cruelty and compassion—that I kind of can’t quite believe it’s a debut. In any case, it delighted the absolute fuck out of me. Please everybody read it. I want it to be your new favourite book.

This book was such a wonderfully fresh take on regency romance. I would read anything from this author in the future and cannot wait for this to release into stores next year!

I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley #netgalley

An amazing cake on a historical romance. I love the feminist undertones. All of this feminists have been waiting for a book like this.

I received a free copy of this story from NetGalley for preview and this is my freely given review.
This is advertised as a being a melding of Mean Girls and Bridgerton and it really reads as advertised! As I was reading this, it did feel that it was as though it was Mean Girls set in Regency times.

The protagonist, Georgiana; George, is a young lady who sounds to be of a rather nondescript background, left with her aunt and uncle, the Burton's, while her parents take off for their health. They sound to be rather thoughtless and inconsiderate of their daughter, at the very least. George sounds to be quite lonely, and bored, and grown up in a rather protected manner, where she spent a lot of time reading to keep herself company, especially as her father was a headmaster of a school before giving that up for his wife's health. She is not only lonely and bored, but likely feels a bit lost and lacking an anchor, having been essentially left behind by her parents, and losing the home she knew.

She attends a reception with the Burton's, where she befriends Frances, an aristocratic girl, who seems very charismatic, and enticing to a lonely Georgiana. She falls into a friendship with Frances and her friends, a group of youthful aristocrats who spend their days partying, drinking, and trying various intoxicants, lead by Frances. Georgiana is strongly reminiscent of Lindsay Lohan's character in Mean Girl's, and Frances is the Rachel McAdam's character, the head of the Plastics. Georgiana is happy to be part of the group and as such lies to her aunt and uncle in order to participate in the group's gatherings.

Georgiana also befriends Thomas Hawksley, a young man labeled by the others as being dull and boring, but they are very attracted to each other, though he does seem to be put off by some of her new behaviours, including drinking, and her poor treatment of others, such as another girl, Betty Walters, introduced to her by Mrs. Burton. Betty is not popular, and looked down on by the Plastics, uh, Frances's group group of aristocratic bon vivants, but turns out to be a true friend in the end, as does Thomas.

There is some conflict and tragedy that forces Georgiana to come to grips with her innate belief in honesty, morality, and fortitude, and find out what true friends are and how they help each other, including her behaviour towards others.

This was a rather enjoyable read, but it was so reminiscent in so many parts of Mean Girls, that I could see in my mind's eye all the actors from the film acting their roles with era-appropriate language, and period clothing. Regardless, transplanting it to that time period was refreshing and I did enjoy some of the dialogue and the written messages between characters.

FYI - no one was run over by a carriage and ended up in a body brace or halo at the big ball in the end, in case you are wondering. But I do feel that urge to go and watch Mean Girls again...
This was a 3.0 out of 5 stars for me; enjoyable, but seemed too similar to the movie (... and I never read the book the movie was based on, so cannot say how similar the two written stories are).

Darker than expected, but not unpleasant. The cover could be a little more interesting, and the characters could have used a touch more supervision, it read a little like a caricature occasionally.

I loved this book! While the first third took a little while for me to read, the second two thirds flew by so fast. The modern twist on this era did not feel forced and I found myself intrigued by the depicted behavior because parties and this type of bad behavior is very rarely shown in regency era books. I wish there were more run ins with our heroes love interest earlier on in the book … but the wait was worth it! I finished this book on the beach - I highly recommend.

I received an ARC for this book and I’m so very glad I did because I would have been so heartbroken had I purchased this book, given how utterly disappointing it was for me.

Make no mistake, the writing was excellent and witty and interesting. I’m sure this book will be a favorite for many, but for me, the main character became so damn unlikeable it made the rest of the book a chore to read. I truly dreaded coming back and having to read Georgiana’s internal monologuing of how bored she was, I hated it even more when her wit and smarts were a vehicle for her cruelty and even worse, when she did it to fit in. Just a couple chapters in and I seriously disliked her. Which makes everything complicated when the whole story revolves around her. Truly it didn’t help that we never once were introduced to another point of view (a thing I enjoy about reading Regency novels is getting BOTH the hero and heroine’s pov) perhaps that would have ensured I enjoyed some of the story. Although this book was less about her love life and more about her obsession with Frances. I didn’t really like her either so i don’t think it would have helped after all. Alas it was all from Georgiana’s pov and I was sick of her.

Overall my heart wasn’t in it. I wasn’t rooting for any of these characters (except perhaps Betty Walters) and I quickly remembered that the only thing I liked about Mean Girls were the funny memes that came from it.

I don't give a damn 'bout my reputation! Living in the past, it's a new generation!
A girl can do what she wants to do and that's what I'm gonna do!
I think this smart, entertaining, unputdownable book deserved a powerful start with Joan Jett and Blackhearts’ Bad Reputation song’s opening lyrics!

Can you imagine what kind of intriguing concept the author presented to its readers:
Bridgerton with more Gossip Girl meets Mean Girls with Austen novel vibes is dreamy concept for a bookworm like me who easily relate with quirky heroines because once upon a time I was one of them who fantasize million ways to kick those mean, spoiled girls’ skinny arses!

Of course as soon as I read the blurb, I was sold! And at the first chapter when I read Georgina’s voracious interest about Viking funerals and the reaction she got from dear auntie and uncle she’s sent to live with, I thought that girl is my teenager self’s spirit animal! I was so sure, my love for this girl would grow at next chapters and I wasn’t wrong!

Georgina is unique, smart, quirky as hell but she lives inside the wrong body in the wrong place at the wrong time. She’s sheltered, voracious reader, having hard time to form proper relationships but thankfully or regretfully she meets enigmatic mean girl Frances Campbell who may be the key for Georgina to take her first steps to a secluded, special circle for being part of wheels of Regency Aristocracy.

Georgina is shell- shocked after her quick introduction to a new world filled debauchery, extreme spending, drinking and partying ( poor girl: she feels like she’s spending another ordinary weekend in Hollywood Hills! )

Then at her lowest point, she meets Thomas Hawksley, a quiet complex gentleman she coincidentally bumps into several more times under humiliating circumstances. But she thinks she has unrequited feelings as she realizes he’s acting reserved and unimpressed.

Bigger question of her was not about the rejection she feels. She still have issues to fit in the gilded world her friend Frances introduced her. If she cannot adjust in the rituals, the forms, the traditions and the rules she’s forced to obey, what will happen to her?

Definitely predicaments of a young woman’s self discovery journey is told with vivid, sarcastic and thought provoking tone that I truly enjoyed!

I couldn’t put it down and absolutely rooted for Georgina from the beginning. It was so satisfied to witness how the character evolved, changed and learned to stand for herself!

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press / St. Martin’s Griffin for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

If you ever want to see what Mean Girls in the 1800s would look like, look no further. Reputation is here to clear that mystery right up! Honestly this is a harder review because this book is so different than I expected. It is described as Bridgerton meets Gossip Girls, so I tucked in ready for a light, sexy, dramatic rom com and instead got a sprawling tale of what Mean Girls would look like if it were written by Jane Austen. And to call Reputation a rom com definitely doesn’t come close to encompassing everything this book has. It follows Georgiana after she is left at her aunt and uncle’s and falls into the glamorous world of high society, and more specifically the world of Frances Campbell. This high society is captivating and so vivid. Georgiana had a lot of qualities that had me thinking about Jane Austen’s Emma. She is frustratingly naive at times while also being charming and endearing with such potential. Her journey is so beautiful and I just love her coming around to finding herself and fighting for what she wants. And these side characters! Frances is just the best Queen Bee of high society; if we’re talking Gossip Girls, she puts Blair to shame! She is so intricate and glamorous and mischievous, and her clique is full of such wonderful side characters too. With other characters like Thomas, the broody, quiet man with sharp, dry humor that catches Georgiana’s eye, and and the overly chatty and enthusiastic Better, I was so charmed by this book. I did wish at certain bits that Georgiana would see some of the Mean Girls antics for what they were, but watching her really come to her own self was so well done. There is romance in this book, but it, more than anything, is about Georgiana and her journey (the romance is just a great and superbly done bonus), and it tackles such deeper issues too. This feminist read is fun and funny, and these characters have such great chemistry, these parties are wild, and it all comes together in such a satisfying way. Such a unique regency read!

I hate it when authors use a time period as a setting and aesthetic without actually reckoning with the realities of the time period itself. It's difficult to commit to characters who, for all intents and purposes, are modern women riding the third wave of feminism but a few hundred years too early. It's just incongruous and pulls me right out of the story. The dialogue was interesting but ultimately not enough to save the book for me.

The Bridgerton fans will enjoy this! I figured there would be a sort of Hallmark-like misunderstanding that is quickly patched up at the end. I was surprised that it went a bit deeper than expected as far as the topic of abuse, etc. The relationships are interesting and there are some witty comments.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Regency Mean Girls? REGENCY MEAN GIRLS!

This book is fun, well-written, and DEEPLY charming. If you're looking for something with low stakes, this is the book for you. I was able to read this all in one sitting because the prose is good, the characters and their dynamics are great, and the plot is just so fun. Cannot recommend it enough.

Bridgerton, Mean Girls, Pride and Prejudice... You can find all this and so much more in this book!

I think this book managed to get me out of my reading slump that I had been in recently. I loved it. Georgiana is suddenly thrust into the world of the social elite and while throughout the story she is clearly torn as to whether she can actually fit in with them, her transformation throughout this book is truly beautiful! The book is fast paced, filled with scandal and drama, I loved the characters, and Lex Croucher's writing style is such a treat! I felt like I was actually a part of the story. I really enjoy Regency Romance novels and this one will no doubt be a top recommendation for my bookish friends who love the same. Such a great read.

A REGENCY MEAN GIRLS BOOK? HELL, YEAH. I loved reading about Georgiana Ellers and how she deals with the in-crowd.

I absolutely devoured this book!

Imagine Mean Girls meets Bridgerton… need I say more?

Georgiana is sent to live with her aunt & uncle on the outskirts of a summer town for London’s elite. Being used to a simple, intellectual life, Georgiana is surprised to be pulled into the high class socialite world when she is befriended be Frances Campbell. Frances and her friends are the exact opposite of proper. It’s not long before Georgiana begins to fall for Thomas Hawksley, who seems to stand out from the rest of the crowd. During her wild summer, Georgiana wonders if she can truly fit in and continue to masquerade in high society.

This romantic, historical comedy is everything. There is high paced drama throughout that makes it extremely hard to put down. The cast of characters are unique and there are equally as many likable characters as there are unlikeable ones. You get to see Georgiana develop from a meek character to an outspoken, independent one. There is scandal after scandal infused with humor. As you’re reading, you feel fully engulfed in English high society.

I can only hope to see more from this author! What an amazingly witty and un-put-downable novel!

Like Brigerton and Pride in Prejudice…I really enjoyed this updated period story. The characters were dynamic and the story captivating.