I wanted to love this. It had so much potential - older main characters, sex in the Victorian Era, However, I cannot finish this. I never want to pick it up. I have been trying to read this since February. I think I find it too depressing. Also, the secondary characters are so unlikeable. They ruin the flow of the book. This is a DNF for me.

Quick and Dirty⁣
-witty, with many chuckle-worthy moments⁣
-fiercely independent female lead⁣
-secret rendezvous and liaisons ⁣
-sexy but not too smutty (open-ish door)⁣
⁣
Thoughts⁣
I freaking loved this!!! It was SO much fun. I didn't know what to expect going in, but I'm very glad I requested this one. I want to support more independent authors, and if other indy books are as good as this one I'll be requesting them all. The author's writing style was fresh and modern but also reminiscent of old favorites. There were many parallels to Thackeray's 𝘝𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘳, which made me SO happy. Becky Sharp is one of my all-time fav female MCs, and I could definitely see glimpses of Ms Sharp in Francesca. She's strong-willed and principled, but she's also a bit of a risk-taker. Heads turn when she walks in the door, but she won't let a scandal get her down. A woman after my own heart! I loved the romance, even the steamy scenes (which were tastefully written). And the ending was perfect!!! I really want everyone to give this one a shot! If you've got KU do yourself a favor and snag this one. Fans of Victorian-era romances with a healthy dose of wit and steam will enjoy it for sure.

El matrimonio de Edward y Francesca se cae a pedazos literalmente. Ella esta buscando una forma de divorciarse pero cuando él manda a su mejor amigo James a que le mande un mensaje, bueno, hay fuegos artificiales.
Aunque fue una trama interesante, me hubiera gustado ver un poco más de amistad entre los amantes. Los POV confunden por la manera en la que estan escritos, son inconsistentes. Y los personajes secundarios no son interesantes.
Los POV de Thorne y la amante no dan simpatía ni nada por el estilo. Onda, la relación que tienen es relleno porque no tiene sentido, el chabón se enamora de una mina igual de pasional que su esposa actual, la cual critica? Ahre.
Fran y James necesitan más química. Tienen un monton de potencial como pareja, tambien tienen un desarrollo de personaje importantísimo. Edward es un hdp y lo dejamos ahi.
El final fue medio meh pero se puede ver el potencial de la autora.

I don't typically enjoy Victorian reads, but this book was an exception. I love how the characters were able to work through their issues and find joy together at the end.

"The Worst Woman in London" is a captivating historical romance that immerses readers in the vibrant world of Victorian society. With its vivid descriptions and well-paced plot, Julia Bennet's novel is a delightful read for fans of the genre. A must-read for historical romance enthusiasts!

I’m going to be a hundred percent honest, I almost didn’t finish this one because it was just too slow for me.

I haven't read many historical romances and I'm actively trying to change that, which is why I requested this book. It was a good read but didn't wow me much. I don't know if that was just this book or the genre in itself that caused it. It's not a bad book, it's just not as good as I was expecting.

Who doesn't love a historical romance!?! I eat these books up like no ones business. The Worst Woman in London was such a fun read I am obsessed. Bennet did an amazing job taking you back and reliving the culture.

After binge watching Queen Charlotte this was the perfect read. It was a great read and I finished it quite quickly. Anyone a fan of women's liberation and Bridgeton esque romances will enjoy this.

Couldn’t get into it. Don’t like the affair and spying premise, the couple felt more like friends, not nearly enough heat and passion and smut,

I understand historical context but this gave off big forgive the abuser vibes simply because he didn’t love her enough to be good. He still sucks. The two leads in this are great and fine and I enjoyed their story and it was very steamy and he was good to her but her ex was an absolute piece of shit and did not deserve any of the good things that happened to him in this book. Again, I understand historical context, but the misogyny in this book was infuriating. If you like steamy historical romances you will like this book, I just want to throw hands (and rocks) and her ex husband.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the author for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The concept is really unique and the story enjoyable!

A wonderful victorian historical romance. The plot was good, I liked the husband’s best friend trope. I like the characters, but I was expecting more spice.

This one was gooood!

I enjoy historical romances. And this one was a doozy. The main character was married! Which I've only read like once.. or twice before. It makes it much more difficult to remember back in those days how hard a divorce could be.

I enjoyed that it wasn't instalove. They grew into it. And of course it was made more difficult that she was married... to his friend. Yikes. I respected Francesca so much. She knew what she wanted, and she was accepting of her what her circumstances were going to be if she kept on towards divorce.

I really wish her ex could have been flogged or jailed though. He was awful. Not like, abusive awful but I wanted him punished, for being a louse and a cheat.

Defiant wife, historical fiction, a fun and quick read? All things I love

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Worst Woman in London is one of the most fascinating romances I’ve read in some time. When divorcees appear as characters in romance, it’s often after the fact; they’re independent women, and while they might be dealing with the consequences of a divorce, it’s something in the past. In The Worst Woman in London, divorce is fully in the present, as Francesca has decided to divorce her husband when no one but Francesca wants her to do this.

James is her husband Edward’s friend, and Edward enlists him to try and convince Francesca to return to him when seemingly nothing else is working. But as James meets with Francesca, he realizes that his old feelings for her could easily deepen into something more. And Francesca, scarred by her marriage, is both interested in and scared of James and their potential feelings. But her situation, and his need to marry someone his elderly aunt approves of to gain his fortune, are dampers on their mutual interest.

This is a melancholic romance—Francesca is dealing with an impossible situation, and she and James fight their attraction because she must appear blameless. I loved how Bennett delved into this complex subject, and that made for compelling reading.

However, I struggled with the men in this book. James doesn’t want to move forward with Francesca because of his friendship with her husband, but once that’s resolved in his mind, he immediately makes advances on Francesca. So it’s OK if his issues are resolved, but all the problems that a current relationship would create in her divorce suit if they’re discovered—are fine? This diminished James in my eyes, and I had a cynical view of him for the rest of The Worst Woman in London.

The secondary plot centers around Edward, and Bennett creates an intriguing situation with that. Edward has to be rotten enough for us to support Francesca’s divorce decision, and he makes decisions over the course of the book that made it challenging to consider the ending Bennett gave him. This combined with James’ actions dragged the book down for me.

Bennett creates a telling portrait of what it was like to be a woman in a divorce suit in Victorian times, and it was not pretty. Seeing a romance dig into a matter that’s often glossed over made this book a unique romance read.

This is a fun read to pick up between seasons of Bridgerton. The writing is pretty good, the second half has some steamy scenes and lots of complicated romantic entanglements. It was a fast read that I generally enjoyed. However, I will forever object to the attempt at rehabbing Mr. Thorne after making him so unbearable and awful. I feel like there wasn’t enough development there for redemption.

No lo termine, tal vez más adelante lo siga, pero me resulto un poco aburrido lo que leí y no me engancho.
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I didn't finish it, maybe I'll follow it later, but I found what I read a bit boring and I wasn't hooked.

Can honestly say this is the first regency-era romance I’ve read about a divorce and it did not disappoint.

Fran is ten years into a sham of a marriage with her cheating husband Edward. Instead of doing what society expects her to and just accepting his awful behavior, she files for divorce. Even though this means getting the cut direct from her relatives and most of society and the legal barriers she has to overcome require her to basically be a pious saint.

In the midst of this she does quite possibly the worst thing for her case — she starts to fall for her husbands best friend James. The two just can’t seem to say away from one another, despite the consequences.

This book was filled with nuanced and complex characters that felt both modern but appropriate for the era they were in. The book also felt incredibly well-researched from a legal standpoint. I loved getting a glimpse into each of the main characters motivations, even when they were contradictory and confusing at times.

A unique read for this genre & I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and Julia Bennet for gifting me a copy of your book in return for my honest opinion.

2.5/5

This was a hard one to get through. It was a very slow read and throw in chapters that were in the secondary characters pov and it was hard to get through. I did really like reading about divorce in Victorian London but even that couldn't help the pace.

I found myself struggling to really root for the main characters, Francesca was a likable enough character but other then her and a few minor/secondary characters I wasn't really drawn in. I will say that the characters did experience growth through out the book that did keep me entertained but I still found them bland and unenjoyable.

All in all this was a great concept that needs some tweaking to help push this book over the edge and fix the pacing problem. I really wanted to like it but it wasn't it for me.