Genre: thriller
Pub date: 7/5/22
In one sentence: MP Emma and her daughter Flora have good reputations - but a dead body in the house will change everything.

I loved Anatomy of a Scandal and Little Disasters, so I was really excited to read this book. The plot centers on bullying and revenge porn, and I appreciated the dissection of how this issue related to Emma and Flora. The courtroom scenes were dramatic, and I was turning pages quickly to see what would happen. When the ending was finally revealed, Vaughan had one last twist up her sleeve that I did not see coming. That surprise brought this one up to a 4 star thriller for me, and I'm looking forward to seeing what Vaughan writes next.

If you like thrillers with political and legal elements, I think you'll enjoy this one.

Thank you to Atria/Emily Bestler Books for providing an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely brilliant! An incredible profile of Anna Webster, a feminist politician, and her female friends, her teenage daughter, her exes’ new wife, her admirers and sometimes her detractors all think they know her and most are wrong. She is everything and more. A treatise on double standards, sexism, politics and the press is tightly wrapped up in a scandalous murder and everything is on trial. Can’t wait for the next Netflix mini series. Best book of the year list is already getting full with this one rising to the top five.

Reputation by Sarah Vaughan is the second book I've read by this author, the first being Anatomy of a Scandal. I enjoyed that book and I enjoyed this one just as much, and maybe even more. It's easy to see Ms. Vaughan's former career as a news and political journalist shining through her stories. But the deeply entrenched humanity to her characters shines just as brightly. This book tackles hot-button themes in a powerful way. Highly recommend!

3.5 rounded up
Political thriller, good characters and story
Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

This book was so good! I was totally invested from the beginning, and I was rooting for Emma throughout the entire novel. A great look at how actions from a woman's past and present - as well as her family's actions - can impact her reputation, and the novel clearly highlights the double standard between men and women in this regard. My anxiety level was through the roof, and I couldn't stop reading!

Toward the end, I found myself asking "But wait, what about this person? And this person? And what really happened on December 8??" All of which were answered in the last few chapters of the book.

A fast, thrilling read that puts a spotlight on how quickly and unfairly women are judged by others for the actions and words of themselves and others. Would definitely recommend!

I'll be posting a review for this book on Goodreads on July 5, and I will also include it on my BookTok account in July (@arc.reads.with.aj).

Thanks so much for the ARC! I can't wait to read more books by Sarah Vaughan :)

Sarah Vaughan once again delivers a thriller ripe with her signature gifts for characterization, suspense, and ripped-from-the-headlines premises. Breathlessly paced and richly peopled--proving that Vaughan is in the forefront of today's master suspense writers. Highly recommended.

Sarah Vaughn is back at it with another incredible thriller!! Multiple points of view and tons of twists and turns - a must read for all domestic suspense fans.

This book took me a bit to really get invested in this book, however I am glad that I stuck it out. I felt that this book was extremely valid to our current times and represents something that occurs, but is one of those things seldom discussed. The public eye is always a thorny one, especially when, you rise beyond the tide and try to stand for beliefs that are not supported by the majority. In this book, Emma Webster is an MP that has a split life between being a divorced mom on the weekends and in the public eye all through the week. This book was definitely heavy on the drama and created a well written story relating to politics, journalism, and the unequal treatment of women in society. I liked how it kept me guessing as to what was underneath the actual event that occurred that brought it all to a head. I felt that this book was well balanced and provided well developed characters and a great story. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

This book was a wild ride! I loved the suspense and I loved Emma's character. The online bullying with Flora is sadly very common with our current society and it was a good storyline to put in for Emma to have to deal with among her own issues.

Reputation by Sarah Vaughan


Who: Emma Watson, British Member of Parliament and mother of 14-year-old Flora.

What: A spine-tingling thriller that weaves in elements of voyeurism, public policy, privacy rights, and feminism

When: Modern-day -- 2021

Where: London

How: A divorced, four-year Member of Parliament, Emma Watson lives in a house with three other female MPs during the workweek. She has received increasing numbers of threatening messages, letters, and other ominous violent overtures since championing legislation to protect victims of revenge porn. When a man is killed in Watson’s London home, she is charged with murder.

What I Thought:

This book was jaw-droppingly good. From the very beginning, I understood Emma Watson—she regrets appearing, somehow, too attractive and/or powerful in photos accompanying a newspaper profile. She does not want to trouble higher authority figures with the death threats anonymous bullies lob casually in her direction.

There are timeline and narration jumps in Reputation, and they’re handled with aplomb by Sarah Vaughan. Too many narrators or timeline jumps can become overwhelming, but they are effective at stoking tension in this narrative.

The plot is built slowly and effectively, as at first you wonder who the dead man is and then how & why he ended up at the bottom of the stairs.

The introduction of Emma and her modern family is also handled skillfully, as we meet her ex-husband and his new, younger wife, a woman with whom Emma once had a friendship. Their daughter, Flora, is struggling in school after experiencing a friend breakup, and the attention garnered by her mom’s heightened profile in Parliament is quite unwelcome.

One of the parts of the book I found most fascinating was the introduction to British Parliament and the court system in Great Britain. Prosecutors refer to themselves and their office as “The Crown,” much like district attorneys represent the state in the United States.

Emma commutes on a bike, which sounds lovely, but can cause trepidation when she finds herself being followed on her way home from work.

The author does an incredible job of bringing several pertinent issues together in this story: how the levers of power and networking are two-sided, and the ways in which not all victims of crimes are protected (and defended) equally. The ways in which public figures are targeted, and have zero expectation of privacy, are at the forefront of Emma Watson’s narrative, culminating in the trial at the end and highlighted most effectively in the testimony of the female newspaper reporter.

The only part of the book I wasn’t fond of was the way texting / messaging between and amongst the teens was depicted, and that may be because of the e-book format. The text was significantly smaller, emojis are hard to decode, and I don’t speak adolescent, so the acronyms were kind of tough to figure out. These issues might be fixed in the final e-book version, and other readers might not face the same struggles.

Overall, I highly recommend this book and I’m going to look out for Vaughan’s previous books—I’ve already requested one from the library.
My thanks to Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for an advance copy of Reputation.

Sarah Vaughn has delivered another amazing thriller!! Starting with a flash forward, then going back to show how the events happened, I was fully invested right away! I enjoyed the multiple POV, to get a well rounded sense of what was going on. This is a great procedural thriller, with a few twists that were well timed and executed perfectly!

Utter perfection. I was immediately drawn into to the story of Emma, a MP in England fighting for the rights of women. Soe.unexpected turns with her daughter and her lover makes this a twisty wonderful novel of suspense. Loved it!

This was an okay political thriller. It had a strong female characters which is always great to see in a book. The promise of the story was really good. What knocked it down to three stars for me was the book was very slow and monotonous at times, especially the courtroom sections. Overall the book was well written, and as stated before if it picked up the pace just a little bit more it would have definitely been a four or five star book. If you're looking for a political thriller with a bit of feminism and don't mind a slower paced book this one may be for you. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this Arc and exchange for an honest review.

2.5 rounded up. Honestly just didn't hit it for me. I wish it did, I loved the premise and plot, but for reasons it just dragged on and on for so long that I couldn't regain momentum.

Enjoyed this political drama. Lots of looks into the female psyche. Just how far will a mother go to protect her daughter or herself? Don’t ever underestimate that power! Great characters in this story.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book

Gripping, unputdownable, high tension political thriller/ courtroom drama with well crafted, strong female protagonist with powerful feminism and anti- bullying declaration!

Even though it started a little bit slow, the pace picked up after a few chapters later. In the meantime we have opportunity to know more about characters’ backgrounds and their problems, struggles.

Aspiring politician Emma Webster at the age 44, working so hard to keep her career and home life in harmony till a dead man is found at their house. She gets arrested from the crime she didn’t commit and her poor daughter Flora starts dealing more than cyber- bullying and public humiliation right now because of her mother’s possible conviction.

The long courtroom chapters slowed them the pacing but I didn’t care. I love elaborated, dramatic, long written court scenes on scripts so the author’s realistic approach fitted well with high tension of the mystery.

Overall: this was not my favorite book of the author! But I still enjoyed it enough to give four legal drama mixes with mystery thriller stars!
I’m looking forward to read more works of her including Anatomy of Scandal before its adaptation hits the steaming services.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books/ Emily Bestler Books for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

This book. Geez. I was expecting to like it so much and yet, here we are. The beginning opens with a bang and the rest of the book never lets up.

This was thrilling and yet, hit close to home at the same time. As a family member of someone in politics, it was scary how relevant it was. Such a great read! Without giving away too much, some of the twists really had me shocked!

Another fantastic story by Sarah Vaughan!

I am a thriller/suspense fan at heart. It has and will always be my favorite genre. This past year has seen that tested, however. I’ve suffered through some of the worst books I’ve ever read and been disappointed by authors I’ve previously adored.

But that disappointment has ended today! Wow! This book is fantastic and gives me hope that thrillers are coming back, better than ever.

This one has it all and I’m here for every word!

Emma is a politician who is finding the position to be difficult with all of the criticisms that come with being a public figure. Her teenage daughter Flora is also experiencing some public humiliation as she receives online bullying of the worst kind. Then the unthinkable happens when a man is found dead in their home. Will Emma and Flora be able to escape this nightmare and regain their reputation?

I am a fan of Sarah Vaughan. I was excited to read her latest release, REPUTATION. It was a bit of a slow start for me, I was having a hard time connecting with the story and the characters at first. But I thought it picked up considerably around the halfway point and overall was a good story. I found the online bashing and bullying topics to be timely and relevant in current times. And I appreciated the author to take on the tough topic of unfair treatment of women in today’s society.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This review will be posted to my Instagram Blog (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.