Minerva Spencer’s books are always delightfully entertaining. Infamous, the third book in the series, Rebels of the Ton had me chuckling. From the mother who hid in the library, the two parrots who screeched at each other, and the humor that showed up in other ways all led to the book being witty and humorous.

Celia who was named Lady Infamous was a scared young 17 year old when she came out. She was cruel to those who couldn’t fight back or didn’t know how. Then after her last cruel act, she became an outcast, used by her blackmailer and cast off to be a lady’s companion. Celia has found after all these years acceptance of her part in the past. Only to be forced to go to a house party with her employer and to run into all the people who prodded or helped her cruelty and now who seem to find her fallen from grace another way to be cruel.

Richard is the brother of the bride - the point of the house party. He always had a thing for Celia but was sure she never even saw her. Now she is a lady’s companion, paid help and therefore off limits. He can’t let it go though and is trying to convince her to take part in the festivities. He believes that Celia is not safe and wants to help her.

To top it off, Celia’s blackmailer is still trying to force her behavior, making her avoid Richard and all the other guests. After all he is the groom and doesn’t want anyone to know what a horrid person he is. Infamous by Minerva Spencer (Rebels of the Ton #3) is a great read.

Infamous (Rebels of the Ton, #3) by Minerva Spencer
This is the third book in this series and it can be read as a stand alone - but I suggest you read them all. This is Celia and Richard's story - but another couple may find their happiness too. The newspapers called her Lady Infamous and she has fallen on hard times. He is the younger of twin brothers and was always socially awkward. There is scheming, lying, bullying, angst, secrets, redemption, laughter, tears, love and plenty of steam to get us to a very HEA.
Reasons I enjoyed this book:
Unpredictable Funny Witty Easy-to-read Wonderful characters Romantic Great world building Tear-jerker Happily Ever After Entertaining Action-packed Page-turner Steamy

I have to admit since I have finished I have been in an romance heaven, thinking about the plot and all its lovely characters. Although there was indeed one character I despised from the start but let's be honest, would be the book the same considering there wouldn't have been a villain in it? I guess not.
This book was down to earth, well written and entertaining from the very beginning.
In fact there have been 2 entwined love stories ending with HEA which made this read so unique and unusual.

To sum it up... I was intrigued since I have spotted the title and read the blurb. The author delivered far more than a wonderful tale. It was like the reader was in the middle of the turmoil, a still bystander waiting for what will happen, cheering up the charackters and feel for them. So it was one outstanding book.

This book was quite a ride and has you wondering what is going to happen next and how it will all end. There was so much to surprise you as you turned each page even though at times I felt the story was dragged out a little. A very different take on the usual debutante HEA story. I loved the characters as they were so different and of course very well written. This story is really about two love stories in one. There were a few sex scenes that this review skipped as usual. I received this as an ARC and freely give my review

I always enjoy Minerva Spencer’s books and this one was no exception! Infamous was wonderful! The best part for me was that there were two love stories in the one book. The books spans many years so it was also interesting to see how one moment, one choice, one decision could (and often does) impact the course of your life. In this case, it also impacted many many others. Add this to your TBR list today!!

** I was fortunate to receive an ARC of this book in return for an honest review. **

Another beautiful cover.

If you are a fan of Bridgerton, I feel that you would thoroughly enjoy this series too.

With so many characters who you will love, then hate, then love to hate, this is not to be missed.

I would like to thank Kensington Books through NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
This is a fun historical fiction novel. It is the third book in the series. I highly recommend reading the first two novels before this one.
This is Mean Girls set in London, 1818.
Celia is a Mean Girl who ridiculed Richard, as a young girl. You will enjoy seeing how Celia reinvents herself.
This is a great book for someone who loves romance!

DNF @ 7%

Oh gosh! What did I get myself into? Just no. I can't move forward. I mean I already hated Celia. And then as soon as I started the second chapter, I was pissed. Older woman/ younger man is the least favorite trope of mine. So imagine my surprised when the idiotic Richard was banging a forty years old widow! I don't care she's not the main lead. Ugh! Why did I start this book again. It just ruined my day. I couldn't get past this and force myself to read the rest of the book. I actually enjoyed the second installment of this series. Sigh!


The ARC copy of this book was provided by NetGalley and Kensington Books in exchange of an honest review

In need of a reprieve from your cookie cutter, altruistic, regency heroines, who all- if not nobly, then naively- vow only to wed for love, or die a destitute spinster? If you thought even a tentative 'yes,' then welcome aboard!

Synopsis:

Miss Celia Trent, were she placed in any other story already housing a plucky protagonist, would surely be cast the antagonist for she is- from the outside- the consummate mean girl: calculating in her husband hunting, a ringleader of a posse of snarky bullies, and of course the undisputed reigning beauty of the season.

Indeed, fictional portrayals have not held back any punches in depicting beautiful mean girls, casting them in irredeemable lights: insipid, one-dimensional creatures, that are cruel just for the sport of it.

Ahh, were it as black and white as that life would be oh so simple! But it is not of course, and Infamous affords us a complex, human, and thus intrinsically imperfect heroine, who due to a perfect storm of desperation, coercion, and fake friends makes a mistake that lands two perfectly innocent individuals- one of whom would have otherwise wed her and solved all her problems- into an undesired compromise.

Her handiwork, though unintentional, is squarely attributed to her and she goes overnight from desired and on the precipice of a brilliant match, to shunned, earning the sobriquet: 'Lady Infamous.'

We then flash forward a decade and find Celia is now companion to a Lady Yancy and goes by Mrs. Pelham. She will be forced to revisit that unhappy chapter that transformed her life & sobered her fanciful notions, when a wedding Lady Yancy is invited to reunites her and all the key players that featured in her darkest hour. The groom happens to be Sebastian Fanshawe, the Duke of Dowden, an influential & charismatic puppet master, who abuses his influence to keep others- amongst which is our Celia- under his thumb & do his bidding.

As the bride in question is Miss Redvers, it is hosted at the estate of her brother, Lucien Redvers, Earl of Davenport. He is the man victim to Celia's compromise, and was forced to wed a rather plain, on the shelf, bluestocking: Phyllida.

He had fancied himself in love with Celia, at least before she showed her hand with the prank. What few know is that he was never the intended target, that distinction belongs to Lucien's dorky, bespectacled, twin brother: Viscount Richard Redvers.

You've heard of resting bitch face? Well allow me to introduce you to 'Resting Dissecting Face,' a most off-putting affliction that Richard suffers; that coupled with his fascination for creepy crawlers as a naturalist marked him as a sore thumb in the upper echelons of London society. He also has the misfortune of earning a powerful and determined nemesis in Sebastian.

Richard, were he your 'neurotypical' sort of man would hold a grudge, and justly, against the woman who would have so carelessly tried to compromise him as a prank, and had penned a scathing 'Ode to Odious' in his honor- but Richard isn't wired as such. Armed with an analytical mind, and likely on the spectrum to an extent, renders him enviably able to rise above such trivialities and be unbothered. Due to this objective lens, he regards Celia as a source of fascination, and undoubtedly, beauty.

When Sebastian arrives to find Celia, who knows too much of what he truly is, he threatens her to make herself scare or else...

Surrounded by those who resent her, those who have used her ill, and in great social disadvantage, in 'The Reunion from Hell on Steroids,' how will the former Miss Trent fare in the trenches?

What Worked:

♡Characters felt authentic, well rounded, and were active. They never did anything that made me want to tear my hair out- which is increasingly rare in novels.

♡Witty dialogue, good prose, and engaging plot.

♡Celia’s journey! I loved how Celia’s insecurity and it leading to her folding to peer pressure and becoming a mean girl, even as her conscience haunted her, is portrayed.
Celia was sick and tired of arguing with her conscience- a battered, bruised, and malnourished thing that refused to die no matter how badly she abused it.

Her growth is in stunning evidence. As any girl who has survived the trials of cliques in school and the petty politics therein I think it really humanized the bullies who fall into those roles. I found her well written and compelling.

♡Phill's and Lucian’s honest portrayal of a marriage and coming to care for one another.

♡Celia & Richard's love story was potent.

What Irked:
✗I had a deuce of a time getting into it, but by 40 percent I was unable to put it down and finished thereafter straight through.

✗The insight into the baser inclined mind of Richard was a bit much for me but that got better with progression of story. I will say Richard is aptly named- the abbreviation of his name becomes him- for every other thought of his is phallic centered. The brunt of his narrative is the jarring insight into an overgrown, horny teenage boys mind I had never hoped to glimpse, and reading it was an unnerving, nose wrinkling, chore.

The Brass Tacks:
I must admit that when I got this ARC I realized belatedly it was a series and decided to go read the first installment 'Notorious' and couldn't get through it. I was starting to regret having requested this but to my not so small relief I enjoyed it immensely.

There was a lot to admire about this work: the characters, the plot that kept feeding reveals, the protagonist, and the layers to it. I found this engaging, satisfying, humorous, and it compelled pauses in appreciation of certain clever wording. Reader, if you are still here, then I would encourage you to try it as I found it well worth the read.

I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was hands down probably one of the best ensemble romances I have ever read. It takes place over a wedding house party for twins Richard and Lucien's little sister, Toni.

There are a lot of characters from previous books that make an appearance so if you are a fan of Minerva Spencer, you will love that. However, you don't have to have read those books first to read this one.

Ten years ago, Lady Celia Trent played a cruel prank on Richard and his friend Phyllida, unfortunately, it resulted in Richard's twin Lucien compromising Phil and being forced into a marriage of convenience. Celia loses her status among the ton and is forced into servitude and ruin. When Toni's wedding party to the Duke of Dowdon reunites everyone 10 years later, it becomes an opportunity for Celia to make amends and eventually fall in love with Richard. Married couple Lucien and Phil are also forced to reexamine their marriage and start over.

I loved this book so much. I especially love Celia's journey from queen bee to ruin to redemption. I love that she's actively thinking about how her past behavior has hurt others and become a better person. I believe people can change and this book is a great illustration of how someone does that.

I found myself completely drawn into the different stories of all the characters during the house party = Sebastian and Toni, Lucien and Phil, Celia and Richard, etc. This book is steamy but ironically I found myself skipping over it to get to the drama. I had no idea where this story was going. The villain was pretty terrible and it wasn't a certainty that he was going to be outed so that had me on the edge of my seat.

Every time I read a Minerva Spencer book, it's like opening a present. Each and every story she writes is so refreshingly different and rich with character details and the heroine's journey. I also just went and read Postilion, another book of her's and it is beyond excellent. So I can recommend that book too!

Infamous is book three in the Rebels of the Ton series, and while I enjoyed all three, I found this one the strongest of the three. The synopsis says this story centers around Richard Redvers and Celia Trent. And while that's true, it's not the entire story. This book is really a twofer. We also get a lovely second story about Lucien Redvers (Richard's older twin brother) and his wife, Phil. I don't know if this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I preferred the secondary story to the primary. It's touching, sweet, and heart-breaking. I almost wish Lucien and Phil's tale had been the central story.

Celia, with the help (or hinderance) of Sebastian, accidentally traps Lucian and Phil into marriage. The entrapment was meant for his brother, Richard. Now ten years later, a servant, she's stuck at a house party in the Redvers home with all of the key players in her infamous scheme. Of the three books in the series, I found Infamous to have the most well-developed characters. They were all three-dimensional, with beautifully drawn strengths and weaknesses. The pacing in this book was also spot on. Something I felt the first book had a few problems with. At no point did I want to put this book down.

My only complaint was at times characters were mentioned that I had no knowledge of - after reading all three books. I went digging through reviews, trying to find if I was the only one who felt this way. It turns out that this series is a spin-off of an earlier series by the author. These characters are the children of those characters. While you don't need to know those books to understand these, be prepared to have names mentioned of characters that you do not meet.

Overall, I really really enjoyed this book and read through it very quickly. (In the best way.) I look forward to reading more from this author. Though this is part of a series, I felt it could be read alone. I didn't need any of my knowledge from reading the other two books to enjoy this book. It almost read as a standalone. Infamous is fun, fast-paced, and touching, full of characters that you will love and love to hate!

I received an ARC from Netgalley and Kensington Books in exchange for my honest review.

I never managed to warm up to Celia. She had a very wicked history as a bully-mean girl. The author does a credible job redeeming her character in the plot but I still thought her to be quite “trashy”. Richard was not my favorite hero either but he did make for a good guy even if he comes off as a bit self absorbed. The villain in the story is truly evil, the kind that makes you shiver. There are some very hot sex scenes from more than just the hero and heroine.

Minerva Spencer can tell a very good tale and write superbly nuanced characters. Celia and Richard are original to the genre in the exploration of their depth of character. Their banter can be witty and sexy. Ms. Spencer has penned a very original, enjoyable read.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thank you to Kensington Books for providing me this arc via Netgalley!
Wow, I do not know where to start. I had zero expectations since I haven't been lucky with my romance arcs lately but this was great.
I'm usually very picky about my romances and don't love when they stray a lot from the norm but in this case I loved it. A reformed mean girl? Perfect, we only ever see the good ones. A nerdy, but hot guy? Couldn't have asked for better.
There were revelations that had me literally gasping and I love that we got two romances in one. Seing Luce and Phil navigating through their marriage was amazing. Also, I loved that Lucien's nickname is supposedly female and Phyllida's male. Great detail.
Overall, I really loved and recommend this and there's really nothing bad about this that I can point out.

Everything Minerva Spencer writes is great! Great story and the characters are interesting. Celia’s past is a mystery- I love that you get to see the mean girl type back story. Great read!,

Loved it! An amazing, many layered story from the always reliable Minerva Spencer. In the most recent entry in the wonder Rebels of the Ton series, we meet a heroine, Celia, who was once the queen of the “mean girls” during the season in London and eventually is reduced to being a companion due to a cruel trick that she is involved with. Her fall from grace has prompted her to take a long, hard look at her past behavior, and even though her pettiness and spitefulness stemmed from her insecurity and defensiveness, she no longer wants to be that person.

The hero in the book is Richard, who readers of the Outcasts series will recognize as one of the twin sons of Lady Davenport from Barbarous. A bonus for fans of Barbarous is that the reader gets introduced to the entire Ramsay family, especially Richard, who is now an entomologist and his brother, Lucien. The secondary romance focuses on the marriage of Lucien and Phyllida, which was forced as a result of Celia’s “prank,” and has never been a happy one. These four, along with others from Celia’s former clique, are reunited when Celia’s employer is invited to the wedding of Richard and Lucien’s sister, and Celia must attend in her role as companion.

Richard and Celia, and Lucien and Phyllida are all wonderful characters, who each undergo some kind of growth and transformation during the story.

Can’t wait to see what’s next from Minerva Spencer! Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington for a free copy of the book.

Celia, the mean girl of the story, has had to learn her lessons in the school of hard knocks. Her belle of the ball days ended abruptly when her spite backfired on her and she was forced to make some very hard life choices. Ten years later, mature and humble, she comes face to face with the very people she hurt and the man who encouraged her nasty tricks. And he is still holding something over her head. I enjoyed following the unfolding of this story, the changes in the characters and their relationships over the years, the catalyst that draws them all together in one spot, and the final "catastrophe" that reveals all! Very dramatic and satisfying!

3.5 Stars

Richard Redvers was a studious boy, secretly infatuated with Celia Trent, the reigning beauty with more than a little mean streak. While Celia seemed to have everything, she lost it all when a prank went horribly wrong. Now, ten years later, she is living a quiet life as a companion to an elderly lady while Richard has it all – the looks, the wealth and the fame. They meet again at a society wedding and while Celia just wants to avoid everybody present and blend into the background, Richard can’t wait to get reacquainted with her.

Minerva Spencer is a truly talented author who excels at weaving unique characters and refreshing plots together, but this book was a miss for me.

Celia Trent was a difficult character to like. She was a petty and mean- spirited person who made quite a few people miserable. After that introduction, I could not warm up to her, even knowing that she was had been manipulated at times. Added to this, her lukewarm romance with Richard lacked the required angst and chemistry.

There were parts which kept me going, namely Richard's twin brother, Lucien and his wife Phyllida. Their story was much more captivating. It had more angst and chemistry, and I was more invested in how they would get their happily ever after. I wish this could have been a book by itself.

Part of a series, very good as a standalone. This really is two stories in one read. That Redvers’s brothers, which are twins, both fall for the same girl. Luce the older is in love, Richard in lust. At the young age of 19 years old, Luce has plans to ask for Celia hand in marriage.
Celia is in dire straits, she is bitter and angry with the world. Being beautiful isn’t enough, she needs to marry rich. Her eyes are set on Lord Davenport, Luce to his friends. She thinks she has him in the palm of her hands, but he seems to be slipping through her fingers. With the help of the Duke of Dowden, she plans to embarrass Luce brother, Richard. That had backfired on Celia and now she is a outcast of the Ton.
Ten years later and employed as a companion, she finds herself in the last place she ever wanted to be. At Lord Davenport manor, for the wedding of his sister to the Duke. The story has flashbacks, but does seem to drag in parts. Hang in there, overall a enjoyable read.
I am voluntarily posting an honest review after reading an Advance Reader Copy of this story.

When I requested this book, I didn't realize it was part of a series. Luckily for me, The Rebels of the Ton consists of standalone novels. In the era of Bridgerton taking Netflix by storm, Regency novels are trendier than ever. And this book lived up to the trend. The banter was phenomenal and the characterization was phenomenal. My favorite part: it wasn't just one love story, there was a bonus love story thrown in as well! This book was completely satisfactory and made me smile while reading.

My biggest qualm with this book is that there was never a full description or explanation of what happened on THAT dreadful night. We were only given passing comments and hints, but never a full play-by-play. There was enough to gather the gist, but I think if a book starts in a flashback to the time in question, why not explain in full? Especially in a regency novel where the customs are so different from our current times that it might need to be spelled out for some readers why what Celia did was so wrong.

All in all, I highly recommend Infamous, and I will be reading the others in the series!

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. I made it about 1/3 through the book and tried to get into the story but could not. In my opinion, there were too many characters and jumping around to really get an idea of who was who and where the story was going. The beginning had a good hook, and potential for a good love story, but I could no longer put any more time into the book to find out. I did not read the 1st or 2nd book in the series which may have filled in the gaps I felt missing. I prefer books to be fast or medium paced and this one was just too slow.