Honestly, I’m not sure I’d say this was a rom-com. Yes, parts were funny. Yes, there was romance. But there were some darker moments that took it more just fiction, for me. I did enjoy the book once I was able to get into it. The first part dragged and I kept stopping & coming back.

I think for me personally i needed a physical copy of the book instead of the audio version. It was funny but there was just too much going on for me to follow solely through audio. might try again as an ebook.

A wonderful queer regency romance! This is a great friend's to lovers read in a time or a regency renaissance. We follow Edith (Eddie) as she struggles with society pressure and her best friend deciding to settle down. Eddie has to realize her feeling for Rose and learn how to accept the changes being forced on her. This was a great listen and I'd definitely recommend it!

This book was such fun. With its wit and cheekiness. There were a few places were it seemed to drag a bit but it was easy to get past it. The characters made it enjoyable to read.

Infamous is a queer, period tale of friends navigating love, expectations, and the disappointment that is handed to us via our ideals.

Lex Croucher's books are always funny and modern, but in historical settings. This is one of my favorite series.

Addictive, salacious, and really well written. I loved this book! Normally second books are always a bit less exciting for me, but not the case here. I loved it. The narrator was perfect to match the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Infamous is a period romance. There’s an extended house party in an island in a lake that takes some darker turns that good chaperones would not approve of. I loved the friendships that this book highlights and dedication to one’s art. I did feel like the story dragged a bit.

This freaking book!!!!!!!!


Thank you soooooo much netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced review copy if this book💗
"I voluntarily read and reviewed the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

DNF :(

I just couldn't get into this one. The premise was interesting -- a fairytale, coming of age novel -- but the execution didn't work for me, at least in the first 10%, which is as far as I got. I'd be willing to give this one another try in the future, but it just didn't work for me right now.

For a book sold to me as a 'romcom', Infamous is sooo much heavier than I anticipated."Historians will call them".... Comes to mind. A queer friendship (?) wherein the ladies are trying to categorize their feelings for each other but have no reference. An older married man is grooming one of them, and the other is engaged. There is much debauchery, sad and hysterical moments in equal parts and a few moments that might make you cry a bit. Full disclosure, a lot of this book made me feel *uncomfy* because some of our prominent characters were just sooooo unhinged.

I LOVE how Lex Croucher prioritizes incorporating diverse stories into their books, it's so refreshing for a historical. And if you're in to queer found family, this one will give you some good hope.

The narration is very well done. It's only one narrator/one POV and for this story, that worked well!

Infamous by Lex Croucher is a Regency-era queer romance and I LOVED it. This is not something I’d typically pick up but I absolutely enjoyed it and highly recommend especially after reading Reputation prior by the author. This one was as cleaver as the last and super fun and hilarious. The narration was just as great as the story. It was a great listening experience.

Many thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for sharing this listening copy for me in exchange for my honest review. I can’t wait to see what Lex comes out with next.

Listen, this book is not for me. This is a funny, sexy, queer book for a younger audience. Does it make me full body cringe? Yes. Am I so glad to not be a teen? Yes. I hope people enjoy this book but I can’t stop blushing.

Infamous
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Genre: Regency Romance
Author: Lex Croucher
GR: 3.65

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: 22-year-old aspiring writer Edith 'Eddie' Miller and her best friend Rose have always done everything together-climbing trees, throwing grapes at boys, sneaking bottles of wine, practicing kissing . . . But following their debutante ball Rose is suddenly talking about marriage, and Eddie is horrified. When Eddie meets charming, renowned poet Nash Nicholson, he invites her to his crumbling Gothic estate in the countryside. The entourage of eccentric artists indulging in pure hedonism is exactly what Eddie needs in order to forget Rose and finish her novel. But Eddie might discover the world of famous literary icons isn't all poems and pleasure . . .

My Thoughts: I was fortunate enough to get a digital and audio ARC for this story. This story is a regency romance set in historical era with a queer twist with humor along the way. I loved that the author touched a bit on negative racial stereotypical behavior. Our protagonist main character is bi and some of the supporting characters are queer. I loved all of the representations in this book and felt the author did it well.

The story is narrated in a single person POV by Eddie. Eddie and Rose are secretly unknowingly in love with each other. Rose gets a proposal for marriage and Eddie cycles down, this frustrates you to no end, but it is written purposefully. This is a character driven book. The characters were well developed with witty banter, charismatic, and just written vibrant for life. The author’s writing style was complex, crisp, engaging, and flowed very well. The storyline is set in the regency era and everyone knows that queer love was extremely taboo during that era, if at all, and a female writer was unheard of, however, I loved Croucher’s ability to get you lost in the story and era truths are suspended a bit.

The narrator does an amazing job at voice variation and stepping into each of the characters, they really immerse you into the storyline. From the first page, I rooted for Eddie and Rose’s love. If you loved Croucher’s first book, Reputation, this one will be right up your alley. I would highly recommend picking up for a read or listen.

Infamous by Lex Croucher was a sweet slow-burn romance. If you're interested in Regency Era romances or in women writing in historical fiction, I think this could be a good fit book for you. It at times made me think of the Emily and Sue plotlines in 'Dickinson', and the focus on the main characters writing also made me think of Zelda Fitzgerald and all the other writers who were thought to be published under someone else's name. But, while the cover advertises this book as Booksmart meets Bridgerton, I didn't totally feel either the laugh-out-loud humor of Booksmart or the sexy tones of Bridgerton through the majority of the book.

At times I questioned how old the characters were. While I was glad the author aged the characters up more than the typical regency-era romance characters may be, they sometimes came across as sort of immature. I think my favorite part of the book was the plotline surrounding the main character's book and writing aspirations and I would have loved to hear more about this story expanded. However this understandably wasn't the main focus of this romance novel, but I didn't quite feel the tension between the two women serving as the romantic leads in the novel.

**Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Goodreads for this ARC in exchange for an honest review**

Thank you to the publisher for this ALC. Lex Croucher doesn't miss and her audiobooks are truly just the best time.

These books are honestly so much fun and I devoured this one on audio! Absolutely loved and enjoyed it so much. Just a fun time.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* This was a really great book!! i love historical fiction so i knew i would likely enjoy reading this book but it being a romance i was a bit worried, it was super cute though! would recommend!

OH MY. I really just heavily disliked this book. I took a couple days to been review because i wanted to digest and decide how i truly felt but i just did not enjoy this at all.

I felt that our MC was excruciating frustrating and just continued to make dumb decisions. I couldn’t connect and due to that it was painfully difficult to get through this.

I hated the end of the book, and just wouldn’t recommend this to anyone.

LGBTQIA+ Pride Month #1 ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

rep: bi, lesbian

I was promised a queer best friend romance. Instead, Eddie ("short" for Edith) spends more than half the book mooning over the poet Nash Nicholson. If he were alive today, or I suppose alive at all, he would 100% be a fuckboi screenwriter living in Silver Lake. And that's one of my red flags. An extra star for Rose, the only levelheaded character in this story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

What a cute story! I’m pretty much obsessed with anything that remotely feels like Bridgerton, so INFAMOUS gave me all of those vibes and more.

The audiobook narration was fun, and I highly recommend this addition to the story of friendship, and queer romance.

*many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the gifted audiobook.