This was an okay book which takes place during the Regency times and is about a woman who moves to a new town and joins Frances and her friends where she is exposed to drugs and parties. After Bridgerton and stumbling upon historical romances, I knew I had to pick this one up. But sadly I was disappointed with how modern this supposed historical romance was. The writing style didn't seem right for it and felt more of a mix between YA and New Adult. The overall plot of the book was okay but there wasn't much of anything huge that was going on. The book was a smooth ride on the plot mountain instead of readers getting their climax. The pacing was great and I liked the approach that the author was going to.

I enjoyed the main character Georgiana as I felt kind of close to her in a way as I moved before and know the feeling of trying to blind in and just going into any friend group that will take you. I enjoyed her character development as she knew that she needed to keep her true self and worth. There are many side characters in this book who are diverse and lgbtq+ representations. I really enjoyed how Croucher put these characters into the book and how they played out. There is romance in this book but it wasn't the main factor of the story and was just simply there. I was disappointed of the lack of romance as that was what I was mostly looking forward to.

The ending was well done but I wish I got more from this book then what I actually received. I think so many parts of the book could have been straighten out through marketing like correct labels as the book was great but I didn't get the things I wanted. Overall this is a great book and I think many readers will enjoy it especially those who are fans of Bridgerton meets Gossip Girls and Mean Girls.

Goodreads tagline is “A classic romcom with a Regency-era twist, for fans of Mean Girls and/or Jane Austen.”

What I loved:
✨Representation in a Regency novel: LOVE this - we have BIPOC characters and LGBTQ characters!
✨Sarcasm: lots of laugh-out-loud funny scenes and lines
✨Side Characters: Betty, Thomas, Thomas’s father, and eventually Mrs. Burton.
✨Romance: Thomas and Georgia’s letter writing was my favorite scene in the book.

What I thought could be better:
✨RomCom Genre: Marketing as a romcom does a bit of a disservice to the book. The book is about Georgia’s self-discovery of who she is and how she wants to represent herself. Obviously, a romance brews in the book since I listed it as something I loved. But the romance between Georgia and Thomas plays as a side story rather than a major plot point.
✨Pacing: The story's beginning moves rather slowly; maybe that’s a function of all the characters in the novel. Personally, I loved the last 40% of the book, so stick with it; a lot happens at the tail end of the story!

Please note that the book does have some content warnings, and Lex Croucher does post these on her website. Bravo!

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of REPUTATION by Lex Croucher. There were parts I really enjoyed about this book and other parts I enjoyed less. I didn't really enjoy the partying/getting really drunk and/or high scenes. I understood why they were necessary, they were just definitely the parts where I wasn't loving reading the book. I did very much enjoy the romance between the main character Georgiana and Thomas. Their tension made my heart ache, which is a very good thing. The writing in this book was also genuinely funny and there were even a couple blatant but clever Mean Girls references that made me laugh out loud—"Get in, we're going shopping." In the end, Georgiana's character development was strong and well-done and it made this book well-worth the read.

Well if this isn't the Gossip Girl/Mean Girls/Bridgerton crossover we didn't know we needed!

This book was such a good time! It was fun imagining what it would have been like if Kady from Mean Girls had happened in the 1800s. Georgina was definitely primed to be the character that we initially like, then hate, then learn to forgive.

Though there is a romantic subplot going on, the focus of this book is really more on Georgina and her new friends. The debauchery they get into is truly jaw dropping, if not a tad unbelievable. While I do believe that such things did most likely happen behind closed doors of the rich at the time, I find it hard to believe that middle class Georgina could be seen coming and going at all hours of the day (drunk no less!) and face no consequences simply because she has rich friends.

But other than that, I enjoyed coming along for the ride that was this book! There are more than a few content warnings to consider with this book however, including SA, abandonment, and loss of a loved one just to name a few.

What a mix of gossip girl, mean girls, and bridgerton. It’s a cute book that neither let me down or wow’d me. Overall just cute.

The characters are a love/hate relationship just like the rich kids in gossip girl. They are privileged and rude but yet you’re still rooting for them. Betty and Thomas were obviously the best out of everyone.

Reading this book did feel like a YA novel even though it’s not advertised as such. The characters feel young even though they are talking about heavier topics.

TW: drug use, rape, sexual assault

Reputation by Lex Croucher definitely had some good moments. This is a rom com very akin to Mean Girls but set in the Regency era. My fave parts in this book were the funny parts. Several times I actually laughed out loud. I think I was expecting more romance which is why I didn’t love this one. This is more a story about a girl finding herself and being a fish out of water dealing with a higher society. I liked the setting a lot. This is a good fun light read. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was very good!
.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my advance review copy!

This is supposed to be a coming of age rom-com set in a historical romance. It is funny in a Mean Girls way but it also covers some very dark territory. Georgina Eller’s is left with an aunt and uncle while her neglectful parents move to Bath. She falls in with a rich and fast crowd when Frances Campbell befriends her at a party. Georgina is proper, middle-class and loves books. Now she is running with a crowd that drinks, parties without parents or chaperones and indulges in illicit drugs. There is humor in the writing but the darker side includes mentions of sexual assaults, alcohol and drug abuse. This doesn’t fit in with the traditional historical romances I frequently read. The review are mostly positive so maybe it is geared to a younger audience than me. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Regency years are one of my favorite eras, so I was very excited about the opportunity to dive into this new book. To be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, and I wondered if whether this book was supposed to be YA, given the age of the characters and the comparisons to Mean Girls and Gossip Girl. The answer to this question, Dear Reader, is no, but this reviewer feels that the book holds immense appeal to both adult readers as well as YA ones.

I’ve read a few good novels lately, but this is the one I had the most fun reading. Imagine Stefon from SNL saying, “This book has EVERYTHING—coming of age, wild parties, and the true meaning of friendship!

Seriously though, this is simply a delight from start to finish. The plot summary says it all: Georgiana falls in with a crowd of Bright Young Things, who flaunt their disdain for the rules and structure of the upper class whilst also consuming copious amounts of drugs and alcohol.

The prose just sparkles with wry descriptions and asides. Georgiana is an intrepid narrator who is easy to like, even when she doesn’t always do the Right Thing. Readers of all ages can emphasize with the intoxicating desire to want to fit in and the price one often pays to reach that upper echelon. However, as I alluded in a previous paragraph, true friendship is never superficial, but one must often endure a great deal of turmoil before learning who one’s true friends are.

There is a romance element, but it’s not the focal point. It’s more like a romcom, and I mean that in the best way. There’s much more of an emphasis on Georgiana’s relationship with her new friends and adjustment (or lack thereof) to her new fast-paced lifestyle. But the romance is sweet and there’s a whole spectrum of feelings starting with, “You’re tolerable, I suppose” and progressing to “I must tell your how ardently I admire you” and it’s just wonderful.

I would absolutely recommend Reputation. This book had me hooked from start to finish. I know I’m going to be purchasing the Audible, and probably the paperback as well. I’m going to recommend it to all my histrom friends as well as anyone else who will listen. I’m going to be like [insert annoying meme] for at least a month about this book. Everyone’s getting copies for their birthday. Seriously, 12/10 would definitely recommend.


I received a digital ARC of this book from St. Martin’s Press/NetGalley.

Reputation is Pride and Prejudice meets Mean Girls meets Bridgerton meets Gossip Girl. While it was a slow start for me I fell in love with the characters and their rise and fall throughout their summer in Regency Era England. Reputation shows that serious issues like substance abuse, depression and sexual assault have unfortunately been around forever and we got a glimpse into how these topics would be handed centuries ago. Also, we see that there has always been peer pressure and the struggle to find your place in this world.

Based on the premise alone I really should have fallen head over heels in love with this story and the characters, but something about the writing never hooked me into the story. Unfortunately, I found it dreadfully boring and struggled to get through it.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me an e-copy!

Reputation provides an interesting take and perspective on the regency era - one that I personally haven't seen yet in other novels. Though I was a little uncertain and hesitant about it in the beginning, I was curious to find out what would happen next about a third of the way in. This book features imperfect and flawed characters, but I personally found it difficult to root for any of them. All in all, I found it to be a quick read that satisfied my historical fiction mood.

3.5

I really enjoyed this book, however I wouldn’t say it’s a romcom or really a historical fiction as it isn’t historically accurate.

Now this is now something that bothers me, however, I do want to alert other readers who are looking for historical fiction books, this may not be what you expect.

I would describe this book as more of mean girls meets Bridgeton. As someone who is a fan of the show, I wanted to read this book.

Although this book is marketed as YA, and reads very YA, I will say there are some heavy themes throughout the book that I have not typically seen within this genre.

My one critique of this book is the one friend of color trope. It’s very bothersome. It feels as though this character was only placed in the story to give the book diversity and to help the main characters story move forward. I’m not against characters of color in books; however, it needs to be done well with lots of thought for me to enjoy it.

With that being said I liked the book, didn’t love it. If you’re some one enjoys fast paced books, with some historical fiction with a side of romance, you would enjoy this book. Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review

Mean girls meets gossip girl set in the Bridgerton era? Yes please. I loved how this felt both modern but added themes of womanhood, friendship and family in the Bridgerton era. It was a fun quick read that was hard to put down at parts!

This is a mashup of Jane Austen novels with the added drug use, partying and sexuality of Gossip Girl and the meanness of Mean Girls. This cover makes it look much cheerier and optimistic than it is, which makes the sexual assault more jarring. This was pretty grim.

This book was a good book. It was a little slow in places but definitely got better the more I read. George is lonely and suddenly finds herself among the popular crowd. But at what cost? Thomas Hawksley seems to constantly be rescuing George. But finds he doesn't really like her when she is with her friends.

Romance blossoms as the two spend time alone. A good book about learning who you want to be.

“It all began at a party, as almost everything of interest does.”

Do you like Jane Austen? Do you like Mean Girls? If so, you’ll most likely enjoy Reputation.
Georgiana starts as most regency heroines do - a little bit bored and with hardly an money to her name. But all that changes one summer when she befriends the strikingly beautiful and obscenely wealthy Frances Campbell, who allows Georgiana into her world of the elite, where the members are above restraints of early 1800s society and hardly anything is off limits.
It’s also how she comes to know Mr. Thomas Hawksley - a tall, dark, stoic, and exceptionally wealthy man who also turns out to be exceedingly kind… you get where this is going.
This book was such a fun read and definitely put a different spin on your normal regency era romance. You can definitely see where both Austen’s novels, as well as their movie adaptations, have a hand in much of the story’s inspiration. The characters are fun and interesting, and the writing is funny and witty. (I personally laughed out loud several times while reading.)

This book is a historical fiction that takes the humor of Mean Girls and the drama of Gossip Girls. While it was hilarious at times, there were some dark themes introduced, so check the trigger warning.

Georgiana moves to a new town, after being abandoned by her parents. Here she meets Frances and is immediately introduced to the "indecent " behavior during a time when reputation is the only thing that matters.

This character-driven novel was a rollercoaster, as Georgiana tries to find where she belongs while making subjectively and obliviously bad choices. At times this journey was frustrating but you grow to love all the characters and their stories.

Thank you, Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press, for this eArc!

Coming straight off the high of Bridgerton Season 2, this was exactly the kind of read I needed in my life! This book was pitched as a regency era Gossip Girl/Mean Girls vibe and that is so accurate!

From the beginning, the cleverness of the narrator and the witty dialogue just captured my attention.

I loved the inclusion of diverse characters. The general lack of diversity has always been a pain point for me with historical romance, so this was just such a breath of fresh air.

There were moments that got surprisingly dark (definite trigger warnings for rape and sexual assault) but I think the author handled those topics well.

Overall, I had a such a great time with this read and would recommend it for fans of Netflix’s Bridgerton adaptation!

I loved Mean Girls and a mashup between Mean Girls and Jane Austen sounded like a great idea. And it was!

I loved this historical novel. I didn't think it was exactly a romcom as there were some darker threads in the story. But it was also fun and I laughed my way through it. I sincerely wanted a cocktail, as well. ;-)

Georgia Ellers is sent to live with her fussy aunt and uncle as her parents take a break from her? Or their lives. Georgiana is bored out of her mind until she meets Frances Campbell at a party. The two become fast friends and "George" is thrilled with being included in the wild life of her new, extremely wealthy friends.

Reputation is an excellent debut novel. I absolutely loved how funny and entertaining it was!

I've seen this book described as a mix of Mean Girls and Bridgerton and I couldn't have said it better myself! Georgiana just wants to fit in and makes a some mistakes along the way, but you get to see her character grow because of it. This was a fun read about a girl finding herself in a world that is different than anything she's ever known and how she navigates her way through it.

Do yourself a favor and read the acknowledgments at the end of the book. I know sometimes they're overlooked, but this was amazing. This novel portrays a multiculural Regency Britain, which is more accurate than the whitewashed version the media usually portrays.

"Now it's time to roll up my sleeves and acknowledgment the hell out of some people." Go Lex Croucher!!