Reputation by Lex Croucher and Audiobook narrated by Bessie Carter is a great historical fiction that had me chuckling and entertained from beginning to end.

This is a fun, entertaining, and enjoyable historical fiction that is part Regency romance and part homage to the classic movie “Mean Girls”. It is a coming of age novel that deals with friendship, love, life, being true to one’s self, rising above the negativity, and finding one’s place and purpose in life despite the obstacles and distractions.

The author did a splendid job interweaving these potentially serious subjects with romance, humor, wit, sarcasm, and quick-paced banter, narrative, and pacing.

I enjoyed the main character, Georgiana Ellers. She is young, engaging, intelligent, flawed, but likable and has a good moral compass deep down once she begins to mature and unearths this virtue. I enjoyed her progression and the true relationships she is able to form as she weeds through life’s circumstances. I also liked Thomas and think he is a great addition to this story.

I recommend this book for the YA audience and anyone that loves a good Georgian historical fiction/coming of age story.

The audiobook was also excellent and is a great pairing with the book. I enjoyed this so much that I was able to listen to the whole book in two days!

4/5 stars

Thank you NG and Macmillan Audio for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 4/5/22.

Georgiana Ellers is quite the regency heroine. Is she a little bit selfish, immature, and still trying to figure out life? Yes, 1000%. However, she is also kind, smart, and witty beyond compare. After meeting what would most definitely be the “bad crowd” by today’s standards Georgiana finally finds herself, the true meaning of friendship, and what love is really all about. Frances is a spitfire of fun, money, and wild parties, but she is also a fast friend, and great life lesson for Georgiana. Through their adventures they learn a lot about life, consent, and what friendship truly means.
The subtle yet strong touch of romance is beyond great too! I forgot how sexy writing letters can be, and Thomas Hawksley seems like the brooding man everyone would fall for. He has is own baggage he is working through but is beyond caring and supportive of everyone around him and is genuine in every action he makes

Review will be posted on April 5, 2022 on my instagram @literarylu_

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The whole time I was listening to this book I was thinking of how much it reminded me of Mean Girls, with a Pride and Prejudice overtone. Our main character Georgiana was completely relatable, and the side characters had great stories as well. I think the writing was fantastic, I was intrigued the whole way. And I greatly enjoyed the narrator. If stories like this intrigue you, grab Reputation!

What I fun books. I am not a big reader of historical Regency fiction so this was a fun book. I was able to receive the ARC audio and LOVE it.
I enjoyed the Narrator, the narrator sounded like an actor that I have herd before.
The pace was very good which allowed me to be able to follow along without having that actual physical copy of the book.
I enjoyed the drama , some were heavy topic and light and I love the twist and turn in this story. I felt excited to keep listening and finding out what will happen.

Narrator did a great job voicing the characters because they were just not likable character not that the narrator is not a likable person but the accent that was really perfect for each person

I can’t wait to request this book/audio for my book club talk about it. I think many people who are new to Regency novels or enjoy this book/audio

Thank you to NetGalleyShelf and the author for letting me listen to the Arc of this wonderful book

This book is a unique combination of regency romance and coming of age story. The main character Georgiana reminded me very much of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey heroine Catherine Moreland. She is a young, naive woman who has been very sheltered and somewhat neglected by her parents, recently travelled to stay with her aunt and uncle. During this story, Georgiana (much like Catherine in Northanger Abbey) meets some new friends who have power and influence in society, and take her under their wing so to speak as they go about introducing her to society and all the glamorous things it has to offer. This story takes this regency romance a few steps further, behind closed doors and discusses topics including drug and alcohol use, sexual encounters as well as sexual assault. There are certain similarities between this story and the movie Mean Girls as well, which was evident as the plot thickens and becomes more complicated. While this book sometimes deals with tough issues, it tells a riveting story with twists and turns that leaves the reader guessing what will come next. The ending was rewarding and a bit about healing as well. I enjoyed the British accent and consistency of the audiobook narrator. I’d classify this as a closed door romance, nothing besides heavy making out occurs on the page except for a brief attempted sexual assault scene(about 80% of the way through the book). However, mentions of events that happen behind closed doors are mentioned throughout portions of this book.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

*I received this book for free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

3.5 stars

The audiobook reader did a great job in bringing this story to life. This was a decent read with a few memorable moments. There are some laughs and serious topics discussed. The main romantic relationship felt random and thrown in.

The book has a slow start with a rushed ending. The characters, while unlikeable, all fit within the story. Altogether, I was left wishing there was something to make this book stand out from the rest.

I confess I can't re-watch Mean Girls and didn't quite finish Gossip Girl because I tend to get annoyed when characters are just kind of shitty to one another all the time, for the sake of drama. So, I wasn't entirely sure whether I'd love this book, but was surprised to find how compelling the characters were in spite of their bad behavior. They felt - with the exception of a few caricature types - like nuanced and complex individuals doing their best to stave off boredom and find their place in a world with so many darn rules.

In all, this book was a great deal of fun while also tackling a few more complicated issues along the way. Georgiana manages to be likeable in spite of the poor judgement she displays in some of the book's climactic moments, and I very much enjoyed watching her learn from her mistakes and try to make them right.
While Reputation does include some romance, in my opinion it is first and foremost a coming-of-age story about female friendship and the ways in which it becomes complicated by issues of class, social expectations, and sexuality.

I recommend this book, which comes out in April of 2022, to fans of Jane Austen, Bridgerton, and Mean Girls. As I listened on audio I will add that I very much enjoyed the narration and would certainly recommend that format to those who like a good audiobook.

Mean Girls meets Bridgerton! This was a fun YA read that’s perfect for readers looking for a mix of teenage drama and regency era vibes. It’s full of characters you’ll love to hate!

I don't normally agree with book comparisons, but Reputation is truly a mix of Birdgerton and Mean Girls, and it was so much fun!

I think that the audiobook brought these characters to life and that the narrator captured the humour perfectly. I wonder if I would have liked it as much as I did if I had read it physically.

It silly and ridiculous, but that it the point and it was exactly what I needed right now.

I am in love.

I devoured this audiobook in one day. The pace of the book is so fast, the characters are so compelling, The narration is good, the plot is delightful, and overall it's just. Amazing.

Kind of like how 10 Things I Hate About You is Shakespeare set in high school, this is Mean Girls set in regency era. Many of the major plot points and story arcs are similar, and I couldn't help but see the parallels. Not to say it's lazy or anything- the story is so inventive! The plots are fresh! There's a horse with a bedroom!

The audiobook is a single female narrator who is does okay voices and still sounds good at 1.5 speed.

I would absolutely recommend this to any and everyone.

Thanks to NetGalley and McMillan press who provided an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This romance satire book didn't do it for me. The premise is an attempt to make romance "feminist," which ignores the fact that many feminist romance books already exist! Race is treated rather sloppily, and sexual assault is present throughout the story in a way that suggests certain kinds of unruly women perhaps...deserve it? I found this book to be problematic in those ways, and ultimately it just did not deliver the fun, sharp story I was expecting.

4 stars

A fun yet emotionally engaging regency romance that actually does evoke flavors of Jane Austen in terms of story telling & witty language. The story follows Georgiana, a young woman trying to make friends in society & getting caught up in a web of social entanglements.

[What I liked:]

•Georgiana is a decent MC: naïve, well meaning, imperfect, & she does get a decent character growth arc.

•The story has quite a few funny moments & lines! The darker subject matter was nicely balanced with comic relief.

•The ending (in terms of Georgiana’s & Frances’ relationship) is realistic I think. I’m glad the writer didn’t try to shoehorn a happily ever after in all aspects of the story, where it wouldn’t have fit.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•This is more due to genre tropes than actual flaws, but I had to suspend a teensy bit of belief to buy Georgiana’s romance with Thomas. I’m not 100% sure why he was attracted to a person he kept encountering drunk/drugged, especially considering his history.

CW: infidelity, sexual assault, substance abuse, accidental death, racism, sexism, classism, domestic violence, homophobia, physical assault/violence

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

Georgiana Ellers has been left with her Aunt and Uncle for the summer as her parents travel. While attending a party, she meets Frances Campbell, a woman of much higher social standing then she. Georgiana latches onto her offer of friendship, and the higher class that will come with it but she wasn't expecting the life of partying and sin she is introduced to.

I listened to this on audio, and I do think the narrator did a great job with the overall vibe of the story... but I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this, hence the three star rating. At times I was really enjoying it, and wanted to keep reading to see what would happen next... but then a few moments later I'd be extremely bored and had to force myself to continue reading. It definitely dives into much deeper topics, such as drug and alcohol abuse, sexual assault and rape, than I originally thought it would. Georgiana was a fun character to get to know. I enjoyed her wit and sarcasm, but hated how easily she was sucked into Frances' mean spirit. It was interesting to see the power dynamics in the friend group though and I definitely think Frances was the most intriguing of the characters. I didn't care much for the romance though, and probably could have done without - but the banter was at least cute.

Overall, it was fun, but nothing entirely memorable in my opinion.

3.5/5 ⭐️s

I was lucky enough to receive an audiobook ARC of this, and I’m glad my first experience of it was via narrator because I just can’t imagine in my head the various British accents and they’re different flavors of judginess that Alex Croucher was aiming for with this book. It was far more fun to sit back and listen!

Georgianna has led a sheltered life, but when she goes to stay with her aunt and uncle and meets Frances Campbell, she’s pulled into a world of parties, drinking, excitement…and impropriety. Will her reputation survive this whirlwind friendship?

What I Loved:
- Thomas Hawksley. There’s a lot of wild and crazy in the world Georgianna’s pulled into, and it often felt like being thrown around in a hurricane. But then Thomas would come onto the page, and he grounded the story AND Georgianna. I loved that so much. He was the calm to their storm.

- Betty Walters. Gotta love an underdog, and the way she has nothing but goodness in her was such a breath of fresh air after all the underhanded and malicious fun Georgianna experienced with Frances and her friends.

- The fall from grace. When Georgianna inevitably realized how little glamor and joy this new world really held, I absolutely adored how her true friends and loved ones rallied around her (looking at you, Mr. and Mrs. Bertram). I wish there’d been more consequence for the people who used Georgianna, but I can’t find fault in it because it was realistic to the times. Nobody’s going to act on a man of such fortune on the words of a girl with no wealth to her name.

What I Didn’t Love:
- This book could’ve been shorter. The plot got a little redundant towards the middle of the story.

Overall, I really loved this story and will definitely be looking for more Lex Croucher reads in the future!

CW: Sexual violence, racism, substance abuse

This book was a miss for me--a satire that seemed to want to criticize historical romance without really having a direction, this book contained far too much sexual violence for my tastes (there is rape off-page, as well as attempted rape on-page, and physical violence from the rapist late in the novel) and though this novel is pitched as a "feminist" spin on romance (and this book gave me the vibes not of a satirist who actually likes romance, but who sort of disdains it), there's the distinct sense that being one of the "improper" women of society is the thing that opens the door to this sexual violence?? ("Good girl" Betty never deals with any of this, and Georgiana's character resolution is to stop going to more improper parties.)

The novel is also really lackluster in how it talks about racism (It Girl Frances is mixed race, but aside from overheard conflict between her parents and a weird scene in which it's implied that enslaved poet Phyllis Wheatley was actually the racist one after all?, this is dropped), substance abuse (it doesn't seem clear how much the novel treats drinking to excess and drug use as an actual problem).

Romance fans would be better served elsewhere, in my opinion.

Reputation is a historical fiction about a young girl, Georgiana, who is sent by her uninvolved parents to live with her Aunt and Uncle and her attempts to form friendships and have a social life. Reputation is categorized as a romance by the publishers, but really the bigger stories here are Georgiana's relationships with her new peers, her own self-discovery, and her realization of where her limitations lie. The audio narration was really good and was a bit more of the "old-school" narration in which it's more of a read through vs. full character voices for each individual in the story.

Georgiana is so desperate to have a circle of friends that she goes along with whatever shenanigans her new clique, led by Francis, get into. These new friends are wealthy and unsupervised, and Georgiana finds herself repeatedly in circumstances that facilitate debauchery and bad decision-making. Eventually, she has to make a choice between doing the right thing and risking friendships and reputations. I have seen this frequently compared to Mean Girls, but I got more of a Heathers vibe (could be the Gen X in me). It wasn't terribly historically accurate, but sometimes these Regency-era stories can get bogged down following all of the rules of the era, so I actually found it refreshing to do away with many of the societal requirements of the day and take some liberties with character activities.

I really enjoyed this story and would definitely read more by this author.

The idea of Mean Girls meets Regency romance sounds so fun, but this was just a bit too much. It was a little over the top for me and my reading preferences these days. The narrator was great and did an excellent job.
The story just wasn't for me. Thanks for letting me give it a shot!

Truly have no words for how much I loved this book. It combines so many things that should work but Croucher makes them all blend together perfectly. Reputation is a mix of Jane Austen, Mean Girls, Bridgerton, and a little bit of Fleabag. A trigger warning for sexual assault.

The story follows Georgianna who comes from a middle class family and moves in with her aunt and uncle for the summer. At a party Georgianna first meets Frances who will change her summer and introduce her to a world she didn't know existed. She meets Frances's friends Jane and Cecily and their male acquaintances well as Thomas who she feels an immediate connection to.

I loved Georgianna so much as a main character. She is not perfect but what I love is how she owns up to her mistakes and is honestly just figuring herself out. Frances is one of the most fascinating characters I have read in a book. She is the Regina in this group of friends but like Regina, there is more to her beyond the surface. All the other characters also all feel so real.

I loved how this book felt both modern and like it could have been from Jane Austen times. Croucher adds a lot of elements that are more prevalent today like the Me Too movement, more open sexuality, and women standing up for themselves. All of these issues felt completely in place in this story and added to what made this such an engaging and unique book.This book is also very very funny and clearly relishes in its nods to Jane Austen and breaking what would have been traditional.

I was lucky enough to receive the audiobook for this book and I want to say how amazing Bessie Carter is. Her narration and voice work added to a story I already loved and if you truly want to feel immersed in the story I recommend the audiobook. Carter happens to be on Bridgerton and that just adds to her amazing performance. Each character has their own unique tone and personality and Carter is a knockout.

Overall I could not recommend more.
*I received an early copy from NetGalley for my honest review.

4 Maybe 4 and ½ Stars!
This was such a fun read.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my gifted audiobook.

Reputation doesn't come out in the US until April of 2022 and I already want more from this author. I am very grateful to have been granted an advanced copy.

What I Loved-

*The Narration- Reputation is narrated by Bessie Carter. She is amazing! Upon researching I only see one other audiobook under her name. I hope that changes soon. She was delightful.

*The Humor- This book really made me laugh. I've been reading thrillers lately and this was exactly what I needed to lighten the mood.

*The Characters- I really loved these characters. I would definitely not mind this turning into a series or even a duology. GIVE ME MORE (please).

*The Drama- The friendships, the entanglements, the jealousy and cattiness. I was here for all of it! So entertaining.

*The Romance- The romance between Georgiana and Thomas. Perfect. They were a couple I could root for.

Why This Wasn't a 5 Star Read-

It took me a while to get into. If you are having the same issue please stick with it.

Overall- Highly Recommend. I will be reading more by this author.

well, this was extremely average.

This is a quintessential 3-star read for me: it wasn't egregiously bad, but it didn't really impress me in any way either. Reputation is being touted as a mashup of Mean Girls and Bridgerton, and I think this is one of those rare instances where the comparisons are actually accurate. This book is basically Mean Girls, but in the Regency era: there's the group of popular rich kids, the cattiness, the drama, the parties, and the normie main character stuck trying to navigate it all.

Does this mashup work? I don't know. Yes and no. Though it was certainly fun to watch the characters getting up to all sorts of highly illicit (by the standards of the Regency era) antics, at a certain point it just felt like more of the same. Like oh what a surprise ! another scene where the characters are being shitty to each other while also getting drunk and doing drugs ! we definitely haven't seen one of those scenes before ! :) Lex Croucher attempts to infuse humour throughout their protagonist's narration to lighten things up, and it's not that that humour didn't work at all, but it just ended up feeling like Croucher was trying too hard. Like I could recognize that a sentence or situation was supposed to be funny, and I could recognize that the author was in fact actively trying to make it funny, but it was just never actually funny to me. (Then again humour is very subjective so take this with a grain of salt I guess.)

I did enjoy some of the exchanges in this novel, especially between the main character and her love interest, but overall I felt like it was a bit paint-by-numbers. Not necessarily in the sense that its plot was super predictable (though it is mostly predictable), but in the sense that nothing in Reputation really surprised me in any way. (The audiobook, narrated by Bessie Carter, is great though! She does all the voices so well and acts the hell out of some of the more dramatic scenes in the book.)

Thanks so much to Macmillan Audio for providing me with an audiobook ARC of this via Netgalley!