Will this be made into a TV show? I suspect it will... an excellent twist on typical Regency tropes. Thoroughly enjoyed and I imagine all the new readers looking for 'something like Bridgertonn', which this librarian is hearing A LOT, will love it.

First let me start by saying thank you for for allowing me to read this. That being said I DNF at chapter 8. I just couldn’t get into this story and I didn’t love the main character.

I loved the energy and attitude in this story, which is a Mean Girls meets Regency mash-up. The writing and plot felt inconsistent at times and readers should let go of any strict expectations they have about historical romances, but the witty, modern, and often dark romance was engaging and I enjoyed diving into these characters and their world.

DNF at chapter 6.

This one sounded like a lark. I didn't intend to take it seriously insofar as the historicity and, in fact, I think the modernity inherent to the characters plays to the story's favor.

But Georgiana is just cringe for me—or, rather, her vulnerable impressionability. She's lonely and bored and way too eager/willing to go along with her newfound friends, the Regency ballroom's mean girls. I guess I thought I was ready for that, but it's turned out to be rather more annoying than funny.

Better luck next time.

Regency-era Gossip Girl? SOLD.

This book was a treat from beginning to end. It managed to strike the perfect balance between regency romance charm & addressing some hard hitting themes that young women struggle with present day.

While many of the characters were downright unlikeable at times, Lex Croucher did a beautiful job helping each one develop into the final result they absolutely deserved.

I want more books and a TV series, please and thanks!! Definitely add this one to your 2022 TBR list!

I have complicated feelings about this one. I thought there were some really fun/heartfelt parts but then some of it was a bit bland for me. 3 Stars I think is my rating at least for right now.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me a chance to read this book before debut.

As someone who is familiar with regencies, and who also reads YA, I am glad I got to read it and share my opinions. While this book is written for YA and tho a regency, I don't think this book is quite hitting the mark for people who are looking for something enjoyable.

Things I did like:

POC! LGBTQ. We got characters that are.
The swoony moments between Georgiana and Thomas.
The zainy moments between Georgiana and her friends.

The things I didn't like:

Oh boy. This is where it gets difficult. There isn't really a plot, and when it tries to give you one it's not that strong. The girls our lead meets are undeveloped and exist just to give populace to the piece. Frances (the girl that Georgiana meets) is the most well developed of the group, the others - including the boys - are not so much. I understand this is a book centered mostly on Frances and Georgiana, but if the friends are involved they have to be more than just people who 'chime in'.

I also did not like that there was not enough moments between Frances and Thomas, and I think their development for one another was way too quick for me.

There is also a triggering issue and it comes with sexual assault. It came out rather messy and it was resolved rather badly, in my opinion.

It's not a bad book and it's not an amazing book, it just sits right in the middle. It might get YA crowd to pick up more regencies.

The plot of this book grabbed my attention even though period romances aren’t really my genre. It was a decent redemption story, but it did get really… catty. It was a decent story, though, different than you would expect for historical.

This was a lot of fun! If you are a Regency purist this will definitely get your knickers (or bloomers, rather?) in a twist but if you can avoid nitpicking every little detail (proper etiquette of the day, language etc.), I think you'll get lost in the story. I hated a lot of the characters, but in an enjoyable way, if that makes sense? There are obvious Mean Girls parallels but it's still creative enough to not feel like it's just copying the plot.
The overall tone of Reputation reminds me of the Apple show Dickinson (which you should definitely watch if you haven't already) where a ball scene starts with people respectfully dancing but to a rap song and then suddenly everyone goes from ballroom dancing to twerking and doing the splits. If you want classic Austen, she'll always be there for you but I enjoyed this fresh take. This book is bold and unexpected and a real treat to read.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the ARC.

Look, it is “Mean Girls” regency-style, almost word for word and scene for scene. I don't necessarily think that is a bad thing, I love the genre, but all together this book just didn’t do it for me. The characters are smart, funny and diverse, but the development falls apart in that none of them grow past teen drama on screen (with the exception of a few majorly out of character grand gestures), even though this is the marriage mart among titled gentry. This gives the book a distinctly YA feel (which again, is a genre I love), but not quite. There is enough sex, drugs and rock n’ roll to make this an adult romance, but the characters translate as highschoolers which ruins the effect a little. I won’t classify it as a “don’t read,” however making it a little less juvenile, or to make it distinctly about adults, would improve the novel.

This book grabbed my attention partially for the cover art and partially because of the regency time period. There were some interesting parts but as a whole was just too mean girls.

This wasn't quite the romcom story I expected from the cover and synopsis, but I did enjoy it. It's got funny moments, dark and serious themes, and more than a touch of Mean Girls thrown in the historical mix. I liked the setting, though I think this could have been set in a modern time period without too many changes, and I adored a couple of the side characters (I never did warm to the protagonist). The endless parties became a bit wearisome to read but maybe that was the point, given all Georgiana goes through! There's some witty dialogue and vibrant scenes, and a careful exploration of the novel's themes. Overall, it was a quick and interesting read.

A Wise & Wild Romp

If you love a good "mean girls" trope with a great redemption story, then this is the book for you. If you can't stand the idea of a historical romance heroine smoking pot or coming home drunk after unchaperoned outings, you might want to pass. Reputation is well-written, exceedingly wise in parts, and highly-entertaining (I read it almost in one sitting and I have two toddlers, so that's saying something), but I don't believe historical accuracy is one of its primary goals--which is absolutely fine. It's a fantastic story nonetheless.

Reputation is Mean Girls meets Emma meets Bridgerton with a lot more wine chugging and imbibing of psychedelic substances. But it is not lacking in other kinds of substance. Croucher has a great read on human character. Her characters are captivating, fully-realized individuals, full of flaws and grit.

"She had a very particular way of smiling that seemed almost entirely sincere but threatened to transform into a smirk at any moment; her eyes often sparkled with a barely concealed mirth that did not quite match the situation, and it gave Georgiana the impression that she was always enjoying a private joke that belonged only to her."

Frances Campbell is the "Emma" of the piece--a biracial young lady of wealth and fortune whose privileged position is somewhat belied by the fact that her father violently resents her mother for having had the misfortune of being a person-of-color who he fell in love with and chose to marry in his youth. To make up for her unhappiness with her home life and herself, Frances indulges in any kind of behavior she wishes, rightly assuming (at least in this fantasy Regency world) that she will be able to get away with just about anything thanks to her monied status.

Georgiana Ellers is the Harriet of the story--a much more fully-rounded Harriet than we get in Emma, however. Georgiana is desperate to be drawn out of her staid existence, feels equally apathetic towards her own parents who have ditched her with her (extremely kind and loving) aunt and uncle, and loses any moral commonsense she initially possesses quite quickly the more time she spends in Frances' company. She also quickly finds her own human kindness disintegrating as she associates with a clique of jaded debutantes who enjoy making sport of the misery of others (to varying degrees).

Georgiana is horrified when she finally realizes how far she has sunk and extricates herself in a melodramatic climax that is very "Me Too."

There is something YA about Reputation, but it is such a well-written, clever piece of fiction that being YA is no disparagement. I would not classify it as straight historical romance or even romance. It's more "womance" than "romance" as the relationship between Georgiana and Frances as well as the relationships between Georgiana and Frances' clique takes centerstage for most of the book.

However, there is a hero (also biracial, though this was passed over almost entirely until the end of the novel that I almost missed it) who is flavored liberally with the shades of Mr. Darcy and a spoonful of Mr. Knightley--thus ensuring the reader's quick attachment. The love story that blooms between Thomas and Georgiana, while underplayed, is very satisfying.

Thanks to Netgalley for the early review copy!

Steam Level: 0/5

Other TW Content: Drug use, alcohol use, mention of sexual assault, attempted sexual assault

As a lover of both historical fiction and romance, I’ve surprisingly only recently started reading historical romance. That being said, I have been binging Regency and Victorian era romances for the past couple of months. Something about them just never gets old, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be formulaic. Reading Reputation made me realize just how similar the other books I had been reading were.

Reputation follows Georgiana, a 23-year-old middle-class woman whose emotionally distant parents have left her with her aunt and uncle. While her aunt fusses over her every move, Georgiana meets Frances, a bold and somewhat wild companion. Gerogiana is entranced by Frances friendship feeling she was “being left out of the real fun if not by her side”.Through Frances upper-class connections Georgiana also meets her love interest, Mr. Thomas Hawksley, who has a Darcy-esque presence compared to the rambunctiousness of Frances and her friends. Georgiana gets swept up in trying to keep up with Frances’ squad and as a result finds herself facing the horrifying possibility of being ruined. I would assign TW for sexual assault and drug use.

The first thing about this novel that felt fresh and unique to me was the fact that it was grounded in realism. Historical romance can often lean towards the fairy-tale or comical perspectives, but from start to finish this book felt true. While the debauchery and freedom of Frances and friends may not be entirely historically accurate or common (though I’m not a history expert so I don’t know), it modernized them just enough to feel relatable. As a 22-year-old myself, I can genuinely describe Georgiana as relatable. She is not a pure-of-heart, perfect heroine. She can be kind and a good friend, but she also makes mistakes with large ramifications, often getting swept up in the grandeur of the upper-class. At the end of the day though, she is still worthy of love. While Frances seems to make even more mistakes and betray more people than Georgiana, she is not cast away as some evil villain to be excommunicated, she receives the same duality as Georgiana. These are young, unmarried women trying to find their way in a world of courting, less supervision, and temptation and they don’t navigate it perfectly but as multifaceted people.

Something else that made these characters relatable, was the fact that, while maybe not perfect, this novel contained representation of both characters of color and LGBTQ+ characters. We know that POC existed within the peerage and that there were gay men and women throughout all of history, but it is so often glossed over, especially in romance novels that often shy away from these topics. This novel presents these characters in multi-dimensional ways, and these traits are represented in more than one character.

The blurb of the novel itself draws comparisons to Jane Austen. I first fell in love with Pride and Prejudice many years before I dove into historical romance. I have found that these recently written historical fiction doesn’t always catch the essence of Austen. Reputation is a definite exception. It does so for several reasons. First, it focuses on more than titles. We have middle-class representation, and not everyone is a duke! But also because we get to see a young woman navigate family relationships, the prospect of her future, love and desire, and her character all while making mistakes.

This was a solid read that I thoroughly enjoyed. I highly recommend picking this up if you enjoy realistic female characters, representation, and romances that go beyond the love story.

Abandoned by her parents, bookish and sheltered Georgiana Ellers is spending the summer with her stodgy aunt and uncle at their home in the English countryside. At a particularly dull party, she meets the enigmatic Frances Campbell, a wealthy member of the in-crowd who delights Georgiana with her disregard for so-called “polite society.”

Lonely and vulnerable, Georgiana quickly falls in with Frances and her wealthy, wild, and deeply improper friends, who introduce her to the upper echelons of Regency aristocracy, and a world of drunken debauchery, frivolous spending, and mysterious young men. One, in particular, stands out from the rest: Thomas Hawksley, who has a tendency to cross paths with Georgiana in her most embarrassing moments. Sparks fly, but Thomas seems unimpressed with the company she is keeping. And soon, Georgiana begins to wonder whether she’ll ever feel like she fits in––or if the price of entry into Frances’s gilded world will ultimately be higher than she is willing to pay.

This is regency Mean Girls. More importantly, it's one of the funniest historical book that I have read...Lots of LOL moments, funny quotes, sarcastic observations, I love the feminist tone throughout the book. It's not preachy or righteous..... Love, love this funny book. :)

Thanks to the publisher for providing an arc.

Reputation is the debut novel by Lex Croucher. I love Regency era books and this on was a good read. I did not love it but did not hate it either. The protagonist, Georgiana, was a good character. Coming of age in this period could not have been easy. Add friends that range from crazy to creepy and you are having a rough go through life’s complex journey. All in all, a solid read if you enjoy historical fiction.

***** I received an ARC from NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my honest review. *****

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle by St. Martin’s Press and #NetGalley for my honest opinion.

Dynamic characters with electric chemistry. A delightful take on the regency genre.

Sometimes a book just hits every vibe you need it to hit.

It's the wonderful New Adult combination Pride and Prejudice and Mean Girls that we didn't know we needed. Georgiana is packed off to live with her aunt and uncle and finds that her new life is nowhere near as exciting as her books led her to believe. Soon, however, she is swept up into the scandalous world of late nights and unchaperoned parties.

I really loved this book. I laughed out loud throughout it and SQUEE'd at least twice. The characters and their development felt so frustratingly real (in a good way), and the letters, that begin with the Regency equivalent of a drunk text, are so much fun. The portrayal of getting swept up in the obsessive qualities of a new, exciting friendship with somebody who seems to command every room led to a slight existential crisis in which I realized that I have never had an original experience in my life.

Such a great LGBT+ novel! I love the Bridgerton aspect of it and I love the dynamic of the characters. It's not what I usually read but it was still quite enjoyable

Source of book: NetGalley (thank you!)
Relevant disclaimers: none
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author

Trigger warnings for drug and alcoholic use and misuse, death of family members, domestic violence, emotionally abusive families, rape, sexual assault, slut-shaming, toxic friendships, racism, violence.

This book is absolutely *chef’s kiss*. It’s basically Regency Mean Girls and I adored it beyond measure. I will say, however, that despite the arch narration and the top bants, this gets … this gets dark. It’s bit of a boiling-a-frog situation, tone-wise, in that there wasn’t a moment when I was aware of the shift but looking back on the beginning from the end I was a little startled by the emotional distance travelled. Much, I suppose, like the heroine.

Speaking of, she is Georgiana Ellers, a young woman from a staunchly middle-class family whose bookish, emotionally distant parents have moved to the seaside and left her in the care of her stuffy aunt and uncle. By chance, at a boring party, she encounters Frances Campbell. She is rich, beautiful, and reckless and offers Georgiana the opportunity to enter a glamorous and privileged world.

What follows is a romance, a bildungsroman, and a gentle morality tale that wonderfully captures both the joy and the perils of being part of the in-crowd, and the way that when you feel vulnerable in yourself, friendship that springs from a kind of manufactured invincible meanness can be really powerful. I mean, it’s a long time since I’ve been close to this age group (I think they’re all about eighteen) but I can remember how safe it seemed to be cruel and how important to be witty. I kind of think part of growing up, for the over-read and under-socialised (as Georgiana very much is), is learning that sometimes it’s more important to be sincere than clever.

I loved this arc for Georgiana. Even in my age and infirmity, it felt very relatable to me, although I think there will be some readers inclined to condemn her for her vanity (in wanting so desperately to run with the cool kids) and the MANY mistakes she makes over the course of his book. Personally, I would find that a bit unfair: she’s young and immature, and she acts like it, but she also learns. And, actually, I think one of the strengths of this book is its willingness to let its characters be both flawed, and nuanced in those flaws. Cecily, for example, is the Karen of the group: she is far from wise, and the most obviously kind of Frances’s clique. Except there’s an emotional carelessness to her that renders both her kindness and cruelty slightly arbitrary. For example, Frances observes: “Poor Ces is just too foolish to realize she’s hurting your feelings. I don’t think anyone has ever managed to hurt her, so she can’t empathize. She seems to float through life […] It’s charming […] but extremely aggravating when you’re collateral damage.” I thought this was a wonderful observation of a character type that is so often rendered comedically one-note.

As for Frances herself, she by the far the hottest mess in the book. Which is complicated because she’s both mixed race and bisexual. Her charisma is undeniable, but she’s also undeniably damaged, and her relationship with Georgiana ultimately becomes toxic, with Frances behaving extremely vindictively over a perceived betrayal. So yes: conflicted thoughts. I mean, practically everyone in this book (with the exception of the romantic lead) is to some degree a villain, including Georgiana, but while the Biggest Bad hat has to go to one of the gentlemen, Frances makes a pretty hard play for the title of “the worst.” Except for the fact she’s … you know. Really human, capable of great charm and great destructiveness, a destructiveness she’s just as liable to turn on herself.

Of course, I don’t want to say that mixed race bisexuals can’t or shouldn’t be messy (either in life or in fiction) but chaotic bisexual is kind of a … well … it’s a trope isn’t it? Although, I think in this case it’s balanced out by the fact it’s a diverse book in general—there’s multiple queer characters, and multiple POCs. Your mileage may vary here, but to me stereotypes about marginalised people tend to become problematic when that is the ONLY representation (either in a single text, or in the world at large) available. But there’s scope in a book like this to allow someone like Frances to exist without it necessarily being wider contemporary on mixed race people, bisexuals, or mixed race bisexuals. Your mileage may, of course, vary.

Plus, there’s a bit of a Philip Larkin theme going on throughout the book (“they fuck you up, your mum and dad”): while it’s never explicitly explored—what young person, after all, wants to think about their parents—nearly every character is trapped within both a social and parental context they have almost no power to mitigate. Whether that’s Georgiana’s parents essentially abandoning her with her aunt and uncle, or the horrendous dynamic between Frances’ white father and her Black mother, or the loss of is mother and brother like Hawskley (the romantic lead. In some ways, I could have done with a bit more of a reckoning with at least some of this: having been absent throughout, Georgiana’s parents turn up briefly at the end of the book to be so awful I couldn’t figure out what their deal was and the reality of Lady Campbell’s situation was so grim that it casts a shadow across the whole book.

I don’t really have standing to talk about the Reputation’s portrayal of race in general: there’s a note in the back reminding us that the Regency was not as white-washed as histrom likes to pretend it is, and the book goes out of its way to ensure characters of colour are centralised, but it also does not present a completely sanitised fantasy of equality. Which I should emphasise is not a dig at sanitised fantasies of equality: I can only speak for queer stories (and even then I recognise that marginalised people are not monoliths) but I do occasionally find refuge and value in fiction that offers me an escape from, you know, the realities of living in an unequal society. I guess where I’m going with this is, that the book owns its choices. They might not be choices that work for every individual reader but they worked for me, and I admired how considered they felt.

Privilege is, of course, another unavoidable theme here and the way the book explores it also felt considered, particularly the various intersectionalities of class, race, gender and sexuality. For example, there’s a lovely line near the end where Georgiana notes that it must be the romantic for Jonathan (who is openly gay amongst his friends) to be living a life of secret meetings and secrets, to which he responses “It doesn’t feel quite so poetic when it’s all you can ever have. I’m afraid it’s not some fairy-tale story where all the pain is worth it in the end. You just get the delightful part with all the pain.” OOF. Ultimately there’s something quite merciless about Reputation: its young protagonists have the all the mingled ignorance and clarity of youth, that swaggering resistance to both bullshit and introspection, and the narrative is similarly unflinching. Refusing to offer easy answers when it comes to the inequities that shape and control us.

In case it isn’t obvious, I loved this book and everything it was doing. Though I should probably say something about its use of anachronism. I feel a bit, err, crass bringing this up because I’m aware it’s an issue germane to my own writing, but I think there will those who view Reputation as unforgivably “anachronistic”. Which is to say, that it is a book set in the past that is using the past to tell a modern story, with modern themes, and occasional modern language. I mean, the characters contrive to run around unchaperoned, while drinking heavily, taking drugs and talking about sex. This did not trouble me and, honestly, I didn’t even think it was anachronistic: or rather, I think we need a better term for this type of story. Obviously, I don’t think characters in 1816 or whatever should be wandering around flipping light switches and checking their iPhone, but the idea that any book set in the Regency must accept without challenge the notion that its ultimate goal is to do the best possible impression of Jane Austen is, y’know, nonsense. Especially when so much histrom is set in the UK and written by Americans who quite use words like “gotten” and “jackass” in cold blood, despite the fact neither are in common usage over here.

Again, I apologise if it sounds like I have an axe to grind to here. It’s probably because I absolutely do. It is, of course, beyond okay for readers to have preferences about the types of books they enjoying reading: if, for you, for your personal enjoyment, histrom must be a book where people say gotten and drink tepid lemonade at Almacks that’s cool. That’s chill. You do you, boo. But writers who don’t write histrom that way aren’t in error. They’re just making choices you don’t agree with.

Basically, Reputation is a book that knows exactly what it wants to do, and it does that thing with flair, passion and conviction. And I love it for that. As I love it for many things. Including its dryly funny, gentle-hearted hero who is allowed to come to the rescue in just the right way, having been himself rescued by a heroine who never loses her agency in their slowly developing romance. For all that it pulls not a single fucking punch, Reputation has a lot of compassion for its characters. In a book that’s so concerned with power and privilege, it need not have taken a moment to acknowledge—via its hero—that patriarchal power structures can be as destructive to men as they are too women. It need not to have done this. But it did. And that was … incredibly generous. And, from my perspective, only served the tenderness of the romantic arc.

Out of a nebulous sense of fairness, I should probably mention there were a couple of things that didn’t quite work for me. It’s such an ambitious book, with such a big cast, that not every character has space to fully develop: the “good” friend is sweet but lacks of the vivacity of the “bad” friends (I mean, such is the nature of “good” friends, I guess) Jane is kind of just a dour lesbian (no offence to dour lesbians) and the villain is very much what you’d expect when entitlement is allowed to flourish without check. I don’t necessarily feel he needed nuance, but he’s such an obvious bad’un that it made Frances look a tiny bit silly for being into him at all (although it’s possible this was the point: that vulnerability, emotional or otherwise, can make you susceptible to obvious bad’uns). He also sheds subtlety as the book progresses, his reputation for being nebulously bad to women culminating in acts of sexual and then literal violence. While it provides an appropriately dramatic conclusion to both his arc and the book’s but it still felt a tiny bit out of left field to me: maybe I’m wrong and violence is violence is violence, but to me one of the invidious things about sexual violence to women is that men feel it’s sort of their right? Whereas they would probably draw a line at literally attacking them in another context: I think because society is more direct about violence in general being Not Okay, while institionalising at every level the notion that women’s bodies are public property and therefore sex with women is something that rightfully belongs to men. But then I suppose, for the book to have any chance of bringing the villain to any sort of justice at all, he would have to do something very obviously wrong in a public place. So. Eh?

Finally, the beginning of the book has some of the funniest writing I have read in a long time. I mean, lines like this just absolutely destroy me with hilarity:

“Well, come along then,” said Mrs. Burton, eyeing her with the utmost suspicion. “Your uncle ate a funny grape and isn’t feeling at all himself. We’re going home.”

Like, it’s such a perfectly observed middle-aged thing to say to an impatient teenager at a party that is boring her. I loved it so much that it has entered our lexicon chez Hall to describe any task one wishes to get out of: “I’m sorry I can’t do the washing up right now. Your uncle ate a funny grape and isn’t feeling at all himself.”

The tone remains arch and the dialogue snappy throughout, but as the plot (and the heroine) begin to unravel, and comedy middle-aged people give way to sexual assault and toxic friendship, I missed the exuberance of the opening chapters. Here’s another “literally rolled off the sofa cackling” moment when the heroine is reflecting on the social limitations of her life with her highly academic parents:

“Her parents had often had fellow academics over for evenings of lively scholastic debate, and their children had been Georgiana’s constant companions […] Some of them were blessed with a little conversational wit, but it was mostly wasted on extensive, vicious debates about particular subsections of Roman history, or trying to distract each other into making unforgiveable mistakes during long, terse games of chess. On one particularly memorable occasion, a boy had crudely split an infinitive during conversation and they had all talked of nothing else for a week.”

Crudely split an infinitive. Oh my God.

Anyway, I could talk about this book forever. It’s so assured—such a wonderful balance of light and shade, cruelty and compassion—that I kind of can’t quite believe it’s a debut. In any case, it delighted the absolute fuck out of me. Please everybody read it. I want it to be your new favourite book.