Reputation is rather scandalous Regency RomCom. Georgiana has been left to the care of her Aunt, after her parents retreat to the sea for some respite. She soon befriends a group of pompous, wealthy, individuals led by Frances Campbell. She is exposed to the in-crowd and begins to partake in the debauchery she's only heard whispers about in society.

In reputation we meet the "Mean Girls," of the ton and the lengths they will go to for the right hand in marriage. Even if that means stabbing each other in the back, and the very naive Georgiana is just another victim of their devices. That is until a mysterious handsome man soon comes to her rescue, after ALL hell has broken loose.

This lot of characters are sharp-witted, incredibly fun and the parties are ever so WILD. This novel is a such a distinctive regency romcom read.

Thank you MacMillan Audio for the advance listener copy and St. Martins Press for the advance reader copy. .

When I saw "Bridgerton meets Gossip Girl" I thought, yes, Reputation is going to be right up my alley. I love a British period piece. I love YA. I'll happily read about spoiled rich kids going wild. But somehow Lex Croucher's version of these themes did not work for me at all. I found the characters to be underdeveloped and wholly unlikeable (but not in an interesting way.) I was excited about the realistic inclusion of true-to-period queerness and POC, but these themes also felt largely underdeveloped and included just for the sake of having it rather than being important to and fully integrated in the plot. I had high hopes here, but this one was a flop for me.

What a fun story! Georgiana learns so much about society, life, and love through Frances, who will try just about anything. The situations were funny with a few lessons about different issues that were prevalent in the Regency (marrying for money) but also are relevant to life now (wanting to fit in). There’s a sweet romance thrown in but for me, the highlight was the gossipy humor.

This book is a tough one to review. It's labeled a "historical romance," but it doesn't fit the genre conventions. It's really more like a YA/NA mashup set in Regency England with a chaste HFN at the end.

It does a lot of really interesting things: although the book is told from a limited 3rd person perspective from the viewpoint of a young, white Englishwoman, it presents a historically accurate multicultural England. It also doesn't shy away from portraying alcohol abuse and just how dissolute the "upper class" could be. It also gives us a flawed heroine who consistently makes bad choices. When she's called on them, she apologizes, but her growth takes a long, long time. This is partly what makes the book feel like historical NA: Georgiana is learning what it means to grow up, and this is the main theme of the novel rather than the romance.

CW: Racism, sexual assault, drug use, bullying

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC! It has been on my TBR since Lex Croucher first announced its release, so I'm so glad I was able to read it in advance!

As all of the marketing for this novel proclaimed, it truly was a cross between Mean Girls and Bridgerton, and it did not let down. I really loved all of the characters and the journey that they went on. The romance was really sweet and definitely kept me hooked and wanting more.

I really, really enjoyed reaching this and I cannot wait to read more of Croucher's work in the future!

A fun yet emotional coming-of-age story about discovering who you are and who your true friends are. Despite this novel being set in the 1800s, it feels very modern. Maybe it's all the teenagers drinking and doing shady things when their are no chaperones around, but wanting to feel included, wanting to be liked, wanting to have fun as a teenager are all universal.

I will say that I wanted to like this book more. I liked following Georgiana's story -- seeing her grow and have fun and learn to stand up for herself and make mistakes, but at times the plot seemed very slow. I felt like I only got to know Georgiana and Frances, despite their being several friends in their group. Of course the story revolves around Georgiana's meeting and befriending Frances, but for more than half the book I kept forgetting who the other girls were and couldn't keep track of who was who.

I did really enjoy the romance! It's subtle and takes a backseat to the friendship, but it evolved nicely with cute letters full of banter. This was one of my favorite parts of the book! I also enjoyed Georgiana's aunt and uncle and how she think they're ruining her life by being boring, but they're just looking out for her and it made me laugh throughout.

Definitely a fun read if you like historical fiction that feels modern and slow pacing books.

I enjoyed reading this book. I found the diversity of the cast refreshing with the time period. I have always wondered if there was more diversity back then but it was always swept under the rug. Georgiana went from being frumpy & almost old maidish to being the life of the party. She indulges in all manners of debauchery with her new found friends, led by Frances Campbell. They drink, smoke, do drugs, etc. This would be shocking even today. The group of friends are interesting & it's well worth the read to see if "George," as Frances nicknames her, is able to keep up to their level of society or will time not be on her side.
Thanks to the publisher & NetGalley for advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

This was a fun and fast read. I love the modern take, but regency setting. I did feel the last third of the book devolved into melodrama. However, I can see this being very popular among a certain type of readership at my public library.

This book surprised me more than any other historical romance I've ever read. This book very nearly bucks the conventions and expectations of romance (but in a good way). Lex Croucher's debut is billed as a Jane Austen Mean Girls, and I couldn't describe it any better. It really IS the Mean Girls of Regency Romance. George is a rather unlikeable heroine, but I found myself rooting for her, anyway. This book is well-written and laugh-out-loud funny. Betty and Thomas are absolutely the best characters in the book. It's outrageous and over the top, and once I was about a third of the way through it, I absolutely devoured this story. It's witty and sympathetic. George's journey in the last part of the book is immensely satisfying.

I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. I really wanted to like this book, but I couldn't really get into it. The writing was well done. But the plot was repetitive, and almost all of the characters are very unlikable.

I enjoyed this book! I’ve read a lot of historical books and Reputation was new and fresh and I loved every minute of it!

Oh dear, this book has a mean streak. I wanted to love this. I really really wanted to love this. And it must be said there is character development but wow, some of these people are so cruel and it was very uncomfortable to read. I can't recommend this one.

This Mean Girls meets Jane Austen story is so far from your average historical romance. What this book gets so right is the timelessness of floundering in early adulthood- to find your place, to find love, to find community and connection and looking in all the wrong places. Georgiana is desperately seeking a life beyond the world in books she's long experienced, and when she falls in with a privileged group her own age, she's exposed to a great deal more than she'd ever dreamed. Don't miss the author's important note at the end about the tendency of the genre to whitewash the era's history. This story is a fresh and significant breath.

Described as "Gossip Girl meets Jane Austen," I was excited to read this irreverent take on the traditional regency romance. I'm not sure what I think about the result, though. The first third almost had me putting it down, and yet I kept reading despite how much I loathed almost every single character. The writing is quite good, and I actually like how Lex Croucher turned the traditional regency romp upside down. Georgiana is a young woman who longs for friendship and adventure, and when she befriends Frances, the wild child of the ton, she falls headfirst into a world of dazzling parties, handsome men, and illicit assignations. But is this life everything she'd hoped it would be?

Georgiana does eventually find her redemption and gets her happily ever after, but the journey there was fairly terrible. I think if I'd read this ten or even five years ago, I would have found it funny and enjoyable. But I was just bothered by how terrible the ton treated people they believed to be below them. I know it happened but the cuts were vicious, like Mean Girls on steroids.

I would give it 4 stars for the quality of writing, but 2 stars for plot, so maybe it all evens out at 3 stars?

Trigger warnings for rape, attempted rape, drug use, alcoholism, absentee parents, assault

If Skins were a CW-drama set in 19th-century England (think Netflix's Bridgerton meets Riverdale), I might like it more than I did this novel. Reputation had so much potential but, filled with unlikeable characters making bad choices and a drama-filled plot (which also touches on sexual assault), it was a slog to get through. When all was said and done, I didn't even think Georgiana deserved her happy ending.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this one, but since it had two of my favorite genres/themes (Regency-esque setting and Mean Girls), I thought I would give it a try. To be honest, the first twenty pages took me a few times to get into, but I pushed through and did not regret it! Did I find Frances and Georgiana absolutely frustrating for large parts of the novel? Yes. But did that stop me from turning pages quickly to see what happened next? No!

The basic premise of this book is that Georgiana is sent to live with her well meaning aunt and uncle. She is solidly middle class, but earns the appreciation of Frances, who is basically Serena van der Woodsen — beautiful, master manipulator, queen bee. Georgiana is left trying to fit in with Frances and her friend group, even though sometimes she finds their behavior absolutely appalling (warning: some of the activities the gang engages in do not feel like they were Regency-era). Her friendship with Frances — where she is constantly trying to impress Frances — is juxtaposed with that of her friendship with Betty — a sweet neighbor that Georgiana’s aunt wants her to befriend. There’s also a lukewarm romance side story, but the main feature of this one is a tale of friendships gone right and wrong and whether we stay true to what we know to be right or wrong.

I grew very invested in seeing on which side Georgiana would end up on. I agree with many prior reviews that this book is definitely a bit darker and thought provoking than one would think, but I think the complexity for me was a positive. I expected it to be a lighter read from the pastel colored cover and description as a “romantic comedy”, and it wasn’t, but I walked away thinking about this book for longer than I thought I would.

Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and Lex Croucher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Reputation reads like Jane Austen set in a CW universe. Think of Jane Austen's naive, thoughtless, and self-centered heroine Emma, in a fish-out-of-water situation like Austen's other heroine Catherine Morland, except instead of the mostly decent Tilneys, we get a cast full of Wickhams. It's a bit of a mish-mash of a novel that seems to be going for witty social commentary, but ultimately (to me anyway) falls short. The humour isn't quite sharp enough to bite; the more earnest explorations of deeper social issues like rape, sexist double standards, and sexual assault aren't quite developed enough to really land its mark; and with the exception of a few scenes, the characters feel more like roles than fully developed human beings. The romance subplot between Georgiana and Thomas is a highlight, mostly because of their witty banter over letters, and because Thomas seems genuinely sweet, but it was a minor thread in a more glossy story that never quite find its heart.   

Middle-class heroine Georgiana Ellers gets drawn into a world of parties, drinking, and drugs when she meets the beautiful and charismatic Frances Campbell. Frances and her friends are all super wealthy; while enjoying a bit of snuff, one of them enthuses about how much better "peasant drugs" are, because the misery of poor people's lives require much stronger doses to escape from. One of Frances' friends Jane bluntly tells Georgiana that she doesn't belong; all the super wealthy people at the parties can get as hedonistic as they want because their wealth will protect them from consequences, but Georgiana's circumstances don't offer her the same protection. A rude remark, but actually with a kernel of truth, and it's a shame the story didn't quite explore that as much as it could have. There's a shopping scene where Georgiana feels the stark difference between her and Frances' finances, but mostly, we don't see much of how Georgiana's partying affects her any worse than it does Frances.

That shopping scene was also a bit meh for another reason: the narration makes a big deal of how Georgiana gives what little money she has to a beggar, while Frances buys a million new outfits. And then Georgiana suggests they help the poor and Frances kinda brushes it off. Because of the novel's confusing tone, I'm not quite sure how to read that scene: this is probably the only time Georgiana shows any interest in a social conscience, and despite giving alms to the beggar, it's not like she suddenly goes off to volunteer at soup kitchens afterwards. So: is this scene meant to be satirical, poking gentle fun at Georgiana's faux-conscience? Or is it meant to be earnest, like, look how much more superficial Frances and her friends are. I wasn't sure, and so the scene just made me roll my eyes, but had little impact otherwise.

I think part of the confusion as well is that in many ways, the novel reads like a contemporary. The characters' dialogue, their attitudes, even so much of how they approach things, feels contemporary. I know it's Regency-era because of some nominal scenes where Georgiana's aunt and uncle mention marriage and reputation, and because of how formal Thomas and Georgiana are with each other. But I can't help feeling that we could transplant this novel into the 21st century without changing much. And it's not that I don't think heroines in the Regency era can have modern values. But I've read lots of historical romances where those modern values were portrayed really well within the atmosphere of the time period. I'm thinking of Courtney Milan and Tessa Dare's books as examples, and there are lots of Harlequin historical romances that have forward-thinking heroines and on-point social commentary, while still very much feeling like a historical novel. In the case of Reputation, it feels like a CW adaptation where the CW elements took over.

All that being said, there are some things I did really like about this novel. I already mentioned enjoying the romance between Georgiana and Thomas; it's sweet, it's clever, and I looked forward to any scene where Thomas appeared. I also really like that Frances was bisexual, and that we actually see her in a romantic moment with another woman. The ending to Frances' story was coyly done, but also really nice. 

And finally, the cover art is fantastic! It's the kind of art that I can imagine will translate very well to a poster, if this book does get picked up for a show.

+

Thank you to St Martin's Press for an e-galley of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Love that the cover includes a person of color. This story reminded me of Bridgerton (Netflix) and Mean Girls.

There is definitely a repetitive nature to the scenes. Girl lies to guardians regarding her whereabouts or the presence of chaperones, girl gets sloshed, girl regrets actions the following day but continues to repeat these actions. Unfortunately, she continually places herself in precarious situations. It is even more unfortunate that Georgiana decides hanging with the popular kids and excessive alcohol are no longer her main priorities at the expense of a sexual assault incident. I do commend her for standing up for herself.

It's still quite a mystery how she develops a love interest in all of this because she does not spend much time with male suitors.

A smart, sexy, wild, interesting look at romance, friendship, and chasing notoriety in the regency area with thoughtful character development, world-building, and believable friendships and romance

Calling all Regency-era fans, here is your Mean Girls version of this timeframe. Wow, this book was so entertaining especially for a debut author. Georgianna is a character to love, and Frances is a character to hate! The character development was fantastic and this was a fun book to read or listen to! I recommend it to historical romance fans!