2.5/5 stars rounded up

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

This was very… meh for me. I didn’t really feel invested in the characters or the plot line. I also just don’t think that regency romance is for me? I don’t know, it just felt very bland. I’m a little bummed because I thought I would like this, but you win some and you lose some.

This was extremely fun. I quite enjoy Lex Croucher's take on regency romance and it seems like she just has fun with it.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

I didn't love it...but I also didn't hate it. I was really intrigued during the first third of the book..but I felt like the rest of the book I just wanted to get to the end. It just kind of dragged on a bit.
I do have to say...I enjoyed the setting of the countryside with a "gothic" estate. I personally didn't care for either of the main characters, yet I loved the cast of side characters we met. I just felt like Eddie and Rose were quite rude to each other anytime the other didn't approve of what the other was doing. To me that isn't a very good friendship, even if there were other reasons involved. When it came to Eddie...I also felt like she just wasn't seeing any warning signs
ANYWHERE... This was frustrating to me. She may have been book-smart but not very street smart.
Overall, I am glad I read it and I can see where others would love this book. It just wasn't one of my favorites.

LGBTQIA+ Pride Month #1 ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

rep: bi, lesbian

I was promised a queer best friend romance. Instead, Eddie ("short" for Edith) spends more than half the book mooning over the poet Nash Nicholson. If he were alive today, or I suppose alive at all, he would 100% be a fuckboi screenwriter living in Silver Lake. And that's one of my red flags. An extra star for Rose, the only levelheaded character in this story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

These books are SO MUCH FREAKING FUN! I am such a big fan and it's perfect for pride month! Bridgerton with more modern twists - I love it.

It is so hard to watch a main character make mistakes over and over. I'm glad it opened with a lesbian kiss scene, because that scene carried me through so much heteronormativity.

Lex Croucher creates once again the. most lovable yet hatable characters yet. I really feel like im watching a reality tv show.
I will say i did not love the asian rep throughout this book, as an asian reader it made it very hard to want to finish and I think that is why it took me so long

I want to start this review by saying I want to be a Lex Croucher fan. Their work is super appealing to me, and I love the idea of switching up the regency tropes we know and love. That being said, this might not have been the best title to start with. It follows Eddie, an aspiring novelist who doesn't care about decorum or being a proper society lady. Instead, all she cares about is her career and her best friend Rose, which is why the end up at the lakeside estate of poet Nash Nicholson, as one last adventure before Rose gets married, and as a chance for Eddie to finally finish her novel. The premise is fun enough, and there's a fun and colorful cast of supporting characters. My main issue is with Eddie herself, who toes the line between young and naive and willfully ignorant and moronic. She is often very selfish. When Rose explicitly tells her why she must be married, Eddie still takes it as a personal attack on their friendship and her character. Nash is a classic narcissist and manipulator, and in the beginning it is clear why Eddie is charmed by him. but as time went on and he kept on showing his true colors, I grew increasingly annoyed with Eddie. Rose constantly tries to warn her, and she gets mad at Rose! I simply could not handle it.

The great thing about this book is that it is wildly entertaining. The setting of a drafty mansion with a hole in the roof is a great one, and like I said, the characters are fun. There are ridiculous parties and complicated romances and a ton of laughs. So this is why, when the book takes a murder-mystery twist in the last third, I was truly baffled. It is such a strange tonal shift and its not ever wrapped up properly. I don't get it.

I'm giving this a 2.5 maye 3 stars if I am feeling generous. Its clear that Lex Croucher is talented. And I like this because its an adult romance, but its one I would feel mostly okay telling my students who are obsessed with the genre to read. The lessons are valuable and its pretty fade to black. Also, yay sapphics!

Book Review 3.0🌟I received this book as a digital ARC and an audiobook ARC from @netgalley This is second book within the same Regency era as the other Lex Croucher (@lexcanroar) book that I had read called “Reputation”. I liked the relationship between the two main women. The climax at the end left something to be desired. I wanted the main character to get a little bit more “visceral” revenge on him for the terrible things that he had done. As usual, if you are looking for a light-hearted, Regency-era romance with an LGBTQ+ twist, I recommend this book. #bookreview #bookstagram #arc #netgally #infamous #ilovereading

Another charming period piece by Lex Croucher, but this one with a queer story line. Loved this one from one of my new favorite authors.

ARC from the publisher via NetGalley, but the opinions are my own.

What's not to love about a Lex Croucher book? Especially a queer historical Lex Croucher book. Fun, sexy, and wise. A great romp!

Infamous was the light-hearted romp that I was desperately needing in my life. The characters were fun and full of life, impressively no one felt too much like a flat caricature which in books like this, can be incredibly difficult to pull off. The romance between Rose and Eddie was both sweet and infuriating (in the best possible way) - this might be the first time I read a slow-burn where they're kissing on the first page.

There were definitely times when I gripped this book in two hands and near-yelled at Eddie about how naïve she was being - sometimes having the effect of watching a slow-motion car crash which easily could've been avoided - though at times I did have to cringe at her "friends'" treatment of those they considered below them and Eddie's near-complete acceptance of this. Let's just say that Rose tolerated a lot more from her friend that I would've put up with.

Overall though, it was a very fun romance with some good things to say, and I am excited to read Croucher's next book.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I generally love Regency romance. I love sapphic romance. This one felt a bit forced in many ways due to some of the plot points causing the characters to make choices that felt wrong or forced. It detracted from the story as a whole and that left me feeling unsatisfied with the novel as a whole.

✨ Review ✨ Infamous by Lex Croucher; Narrated by Ellie Kendrick

Important note: You don't need to remember ANYTHiNG from Reputation, the previous book in the series, before reading this one. New characters and events all around! (I needlessly hustled around trying to remember the plot of the last one lol)

Eddie (Edith) and Rose have been best friends since they were kids -- and the book starts with them in their tree house. But now Rose is engaged and Eddie has met famous author Nash Nicholson, and they must grapple with their changing lives -- can they stay best friends after Rose marries? After meeting Nash, Eddie, and Rose by association, fall in with a wild literary crowd that doesn't live by regency societal norms and proprieties.

Nash, fascinated by Eddie, encourages her writing, and sets up a long stay at his remote lake house that included him and his wife (sometimes estranged?), Eddie, Rose and her fiancee, and a few other artsy characters. Constant shenanigans ensue as this raucous bunch takes the literally crumbling lake house by storm.

This book was SO MUCH fun. I loved Eddie's wild family, filled with silly kids full of personality (I was almost sad when we left them behind early in the book). I really enjoyed the more relaxed setting of the gatherings Nash hosted and the way they broke with societal norms, in the pursuit of fun, drama, and art. The book lagged for me a bit in the middle where it just felt like it was dragging without a lot of development, but otherwise this was such a fun ride!

Like the first, you have to be willing to sacrifice some historical accuracy perhaps for a fun adventure, but I was totally here for this.The audio was enjoyable; occasionally I felt confused about who was actually talking in the story, but this is a minor complaint.

Best of all, this reads almost like really well written Anne and Diana fan fic! This maps onto their personalities so well, and I loved it for this (even if not intended), I shall now always imagine this for them 😂

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: historic f/f romance, friends-to-lovers
Setting: regency era London and middle of nowhere lake house
Reminds me of: Anne and Diana fan fic! :D; Reputation
Pub Date: out now!

Read this if you like:
⭕️ drunken regency lakehouse romps
⭕️ f/f friends-to-lovers stories
⭕️ writers & artists

Thanks to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and #netgalley for advanced copies of this book!

Not sure why this was archived before I got to download it, but I read this book elsewhere because I wanted to get my review in––I loved loved LOVED Infamous!! I'm only beginning to get into regency romances, and I'm thrilled to say this one blew me away. It's clever, romantic AF, and it definitely filled the "I wish Eloise from Bridgerton were gay"-shaped hole in my heart. I can't wait to read Reputation!

I went into Infamous expecting to love the sapphic historical romance. I enjoyed many of the characters and their interactions, but I found the romance lacking. While I appreciated the exploration of sexuality and how real that process felt, I wished there had been more relationship development between Eddie and Rose. Too much of the story seemed to focus on the other plot points that were less interesting and only seemed to lead the main character to make decisions that harmed the relationship. I found myself to feel bored some of the time, and that was usually when the other plot points were developing.

This was a great story! I would compare this to an Emily Dickinson x Bridgerton x Jo March queer combination retelling. It was a fun read and a sweet way to representing the LGBTQ community in this time period,

Infamous is a sapphic romance set in the Regency period. Edith (Eddie) and Rose are best friends from childhood who, now in their early 20s, are getting pressured to find husbands and fit in with society. Rose decides to accept a marriage proposal while Eddie continues to focus on writing and can't understand why Rose would want to change her position. The two end up going to the estate of Eddie's favorite author and hijinks ensue! I thought this book looked cute and was excited to read it!

I really liked the diversity novel. Rose and her family are from China and I liked hearing their story. Regency romances are not exactly known for their diversity and I thought that it was done very naturally. I also enjoyed the many queer characters and how they expressed their gender and sexual desires in a sometimes suffocating setting. I thought that Eddie and Rose's romance was cute, although Eddie was super slow on the uptake!

I think my main issue with this book is with Eddie and Nash. They just annoyed me so much. And Eddie is the POV character. She's plucky and charming in a very Jo March kind of way but didn't have enough charm to really pull it off. I cringed through a lot of her relationship with Nash and ended up a skimming a lot of it to get back to Rose. I'm also just not super amused by the ~quirky~ habits of creatives and found myself having the same thoughts as the stick-in-the-mud characters. Get off my lawn!

Overall, I had a fine time reading this book. If you are really into the Regency period and love Jo March this book will absolutely be your cup of tea. 3 stars from me. Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the electronic advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I get what Lex Croucher is trying to do by making her main characters unlikable but it still bugs me. Don't want a perfect character for a high society period romance? Sure. But Eddie was so rude and idiotic that I can't believe anyone would want to be her friend.

Rose and Adam (Or whatever his name is) saved the book.

While I did like this more than reputation, I think this is my last Lex Croucher book. She's talented but I'm just not the right audience for her work.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for an eARC of this book.

I started reading this book three times, but couldn't get into it. I'll likely try to pick it up again, but at this time, it just isn't the book for me.