Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advance reading copy of Infamous by Lex Croucher. I was excited to give this one a try.

I usually love regency-style novels, and have a love for the Romantics. I especially enjoy it when authors apply a queer lens to a period piece!

That being said, I just couldn’t connect to this one. I didn’t find much redeemable or interesting about any of the characters. In fact, Eddie’s naivety and lack of perspective made this book a real slog to get through. This is the kind of book that is very dialogue-driven, which I find especially tedious when there isn’t much behind the characters. Neither the dialogue nor the humour hit for me – cringey more than anything – and I didn’t care about the romance, leaving not much for me to connect with in the end. It was all just a shallow, unenjoyable read for me. I liked the story of Eddie as an aspiring writer, and that was about it.

This was such a fun book! Croucher did a fantastic job of not only crafting fun, witty characters but creating an attention grabbing storyline as well. I can see this being extremely popular among teen and young adult readers. Definitely see this becoming a Booktok favorite.

While I enjoyed the premise of this book, I had trouble connecting with the characters. I really struggle when I don’t find either of the main characters likeable! I so appreciate lgbtq representation in publishing, and I really wanted to like this one! Maybe it was just my mood when reading, but unfortunately infamous left me cold. Thank you to #NetGalley for my gifted ARC!

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review!!

This was a historical romance / romcom and it had me from the very beginning! 5/5 would recommend!

I've now read two books by Lex Croucher and I can't wait for more.

I really enjoyed this book. Eddie gave me major Eloise from Bridgerton vibes, with her non-conforming attitude about "polite society norms". She's a hilarious, but oh so naive character.

The LGBT+ representation throughout this book was well done. Rose was so patient with Eddie and boy did she needed it.

Maybe the only thing negative I have to say is how glaringly obvious it was that Nash was NOT a good guy from the beginning. Maybe it's just the choice to make it obvious to everyone else, but it made all of Eddie's choices regarding Nash even harder to handle. Very frustrating.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for sending me an advanced copy of this book to read and review!

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from St. Martin’s Press and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Romantic and lovely this one should warm your hearts.

This book was everything I wanted it to be. It had me turned pages without even realizing. It was so good!

4.5 stars


I had SO MUCH FUN reading this book. It has pretty much everything I've ever wanted in a historical romance(?) novel, & it had so much fun playing with the debauchery of the Romantics & a woman trying to succeed & be authentic while also being extremely messy. I hate witty writing, but Lex Croucher made it WORK; & I really enjoyed the irony of seeing a certain character for who they were before other characters did.

Overall, I REALLY liked this novel, & I definitely plan to both buy a copy & to seek out Croucher's other works!

Infamous is a fun, quirky, and hilarious book! Perfect for fans of Eloise Bridgerton. I loved reading this fast-paced novel.

I read (and loved!) Reputation by Lex Croucher, so when I was given the opportunity to read and review Infamous, I had high hopes. I am thrilled to say that I enjoyed Infamous even more than Reputation!

Infamous follows Eddie, an aspiring writer, as she and her best friend, Rose, fall into a new crowd of people, followers of published poet, Nash. However, not all is as it seems with Nash and his crew, as Eddie and Rose get more and more entrenched in Nash’s life.

Infamous has amazing representation and even better writing. The dialogue is witty and sharp; the banter between Rose and Eddie is absolutely delightful. The love story gave me true butterflies—I just loved seeing it unfold. I enjoyed and appreciated the epilogue. The whole book was a treat!

I do have an unanswered question that’s hanging heavy over my head, but I guess I will have to live with that.

Thank you to NetGalley, Zaffre, and the author, Lex Croucher, for the opportunity to read and review Infamous. It gets a 5/5 from me. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you, Wednesbooks, for allowing me to read Infamous early.

Lately, I’m enjoying historical romances more and more, especially LGBTQ+ ones. Sadly, Infamous didn’t fully meet my expectations. I loved the first chapters. Then, I started to like the story less and less, and in the end, I loved the last part again. I will be checking out other books by Lex Croucher, though.

Lex Croucher’s writing is whip-smart and laugh out loud funny. Her second novel is just as strong as her first, filled with a unique cast of characters and themes very rarely seen in regency-era romances.

Eddie was book-smart but love blind and while her character was frustratingly obtuse sometimes, this book was great from beginning to end.

I received a copy of Infamous via NetGalley to read and review.

The cover definitely gave me Reputation vibes but the two books are not related so you do not need to read Reputation first. Overall it is a good story- it is predictable but still an enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book. I unfortunately was not able to get into this book. I’m not a huge fan of historical type books, but was looking forward to reading one with an LGBTQ twist to it. For me the hardest part was trying to figure out the setting of when this book was supposed to take place and where. I did enjoy the main character “Eddie” I felt she was the most relatable character for me.

I received an eArc in exchange for an honest review.
I have a lot of mixed emotions about this book. While I liked the last 20% of it, I really did not enjoy the first part of it at all, mainly because of Eddie’s personality.

I truly disliked the main character, Eddie for majority of the book. I am totally for the young girl wanting to branch away from society’s expectations due to wanting something more for herself (umm hello eloise bridgerton) but this character does it in the worst way possible and treats everyone else around her like shit for not conforming. I found her to be selfish and rude, especially towards people that care about her. I am honestly in awe of the fact that Rose stuck around because Eddie was so mean to her in the beginning once Rose started to make choices that Eddie didn’t like. Yes, I understand the unknown romantic feelings ultimately were the main reason as to why she acted that way, but still. I could not imagine treating someone I care about with that little respect whether or not I agree with what they were doing. Rose, bless her heart, continuously followed Eddie to these events even though she was treated terribly by all parties, simply because she wanted to protect her friend. If you can’t tell I love rose and wish her all the happiness.

I also found it frustrating how oblivious Eddie was to everything. I mean how many red flags have to pop up before she gets the hint. Nash was constantly overstepping boundaries with people and Eddie consistently brushed it off.

Once Eddie finally started to gain some common sense and empathy for Rose, I finally started to enjoy the book. I thought the ending was well put together and I liked her character development.

I was just left with such a dislike from the beginning of the book, it really made it hard to like once I started enjoying it.

infamous is a historical romcom that follows eddie, who is an aspiring writer, as she grapples with meeting her idol and falling in love with her best friend.

eddie was an interesting character. she was naive and very annoying at parts but she had a decent amount of development. i did want to see more out of her at the end and i thought that rose forgave her too easily. however, i did appreciate the talks around eddie’s sexuality and that we got to see her try to figure herself out.

rose was lovely!!! i wish we got to read from her pov because i wanted more! i liked how she was very sure in herself and her sexuality, i thought it was a nice contrast to eddie. you could really tell that she cared for eddie a lot which was so obvious from the beginning (eddie’s feelings were also very obvious).

now nash, he was a horrid character. he was so frustrating to read about but i did appreciate how it showed the disgusting behaviours of men who think they can take advantage of younger women who idolize them. he deserved so much worse than he got but i get it’s not always realistic.

i really enjoyed seeing eddie and rose’s relationship develop from practicing kissing to admitting they’re in love with one another! i also loved albert so much!!!

thank you to netgalley and st. martins press for giving me this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

A historical romcom novel with touches of Booksmart, Bridgerton, and Jane Austin.

About: Edith 'Eddie' Miller is a 22-year-old aspiring writer whose dream is to become published. She has done everything with her best friend Rose - climbing trees, throwing grapes at boys, sneaking bottles of wine, practicing kissing . . .

But recently, Rose has been starting to talk about marriage, and Eddie is horrified. They promised to become spinsters together and Eddie has not forgotten.

When Eddie meets the charming, famous, and handsome 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 wants in order to forget Rose and finish her novel.

Review: Lex has done it again! I loved the first novel I read of hers, Reputation, and this one has the same vibes that I thought the characters would certainly be friends. There is a lot of fun that happens in the novel and more than a couple of times I laughed out loud. I really loved this one and loved Eddie and Rose as a pair but I did get a little annoyed at how thick Eddie could be with her and their relationship.

All of the characters are messy but that makes them even more loveable. Albert, Dayo, Kitty Liza and Nash all made for a diverse cast and I loved to root for them through this story. Even with the amount of frustrating choices they made throughout the novel I still wanted everyone to end up happy (Well almost everyone...).

I felt like I was watching a romcom where you don't want the plot to get too much because you just want to have fun reading.

🌶️ Spice Meter 🌶️ : 0 out of 5 Peppers

Final Thoughts: If you are looking for a fun, sapphic, historical book, this is for you. It is a chaotic, funny, entertaining read for the right crowd. Thankfully I was in the right crowd for this.

TW: Toxic Relationships, Alcohol, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Disclaimer:
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO HENRY???? :( I mean... I think I know, but do I??

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-arc in exchange for this review. I enjoyed Reputation but found I had to suspend my disbelief of the time period a bit more than I did with this. Which is not to say that Croucher doesn't play with boundaries of respectability and society, but I did find this book slightly less anachronistic.

I was also impressed by the portrayal of Nash. I felt it was very realistic the way Eddie's eyes opened to his true character. Eddie was not the most sympathetic protagonist but I do think she was very believable.

I enjoyed this book and will absolutely hunt down Croucher's next book should she decide to write more!

This book was so much fun to read! It was absolutely hilarious with witty banter and bonkers situations. I cannot say enough about how much I loved Eddie’s sense of humor. She’s just brilliant!

Rose was a lovely character as well. She was so supportive of Eddie and her dream of becoming a published author. You just couldn’t help but root for her to get the girl and seize her happiness.

I highly recommend this to readers who enjoy sapphic romance. It’s such a sweet and touching friends-to-lovers story with the added bonus of a regency setting. It’s so good! Seriously, do yourself a favor and pre-order this one now!

Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A romcom novel with historical elements that reminds you of Booksmart, Bridgerton, and Pride and Prejudice. A chaotic, funny read for the right crowd.

Infamous by Lex Croucher follows Eddie and her best friend Rose navigating growing up. Eddie is an aspiring writer that rejects the social norms of polite society and expects Rose to be on the same wavelength as her. This is why Eddie feels betrayed when Rose starts to get courted for marriage-- this is also why she tries to convince her there is more to life than marriage.

This novel is definitely for a certain audience-- if you're looking for a fun, sapphic, historical book, this is for you. It's a lot of fun, and reminds me of watching a romcom where you don't want plot intricacy because you just want to have fun reading. Its not serious, and it doesn't have to be!

Some of my grievances-- I know this is a fun book, but I cannot stand when historical aspects and ignored. A woman would not be able to live in this way and think she is going to be okay in life if she does not eventually get married. Its so unrealistic for the time. Infamous has an Asian love interest and while that is great, she is conveniently not connected to her culture.

Infamous is great for a certain audience, but personally I could not really get into it. If you're looking for a light read that reminds you of Bridgerton and Booksmart, this is definitely for you. If you are looking for Regency period accuracy and something more developed and serious, maybe skip Infamous.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.