I enjoyed this regency romp! It was a fun read with some interesting characters. I wasn't sure the dialogue always felt very authentic but enjoyable anyway.

Francesca has been in an unhappy marriage for ten years! She’s had enough and wants a divorce! She wants her freedom and not even this new attraction to one of her husband’s friend “James” will keep her from her goal!

At Edward’s petition, James is trying to convince Francesca to forget about the divorce and content herself with a legal separation! But the longer he spends time with her the more enamoured he becomes!

I honestly cannot believe how hard it was for a woman to get a divorce in England in 1880s, it was even harder to see that there was minimal to none support for Emma in her decision to terminate her marriage with a person that doesn’t love her, cheats on her and publicly humiliates her. The worst is that Edwards is the one holding to this marriage just because he wants to “save face” 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Now Francesca is not a saint, but she is brave to fight for her right to choose what do to with herself as she prefers while risking everything she has!

Through the story we see how James shows character growth and becomes the best version of himself! Totally adore him! 😍😍😍

This story has multiple POVs so we get to see how Edward thinks! And damn he can be a nasty person! 😡😡😡 I hate how he also gets a happy ending without the hard work or the apologies Francesca deserves!

Not going to lie, at times it was a bit frustrating to read this! But it’s the 1880s and that’s just the way society worked back them! I totally liked though! Super entertainment story with amazing and at time frustrating characters!

Totally recommended

This was super fun and made m3 crave other historical romances. I loved Fran and James they had a super cute and fun relationship. I also liked that Fran was determined and never backed away from what she wanted and deserved despite what society said. women. I liked her Fran’s relationship with her husband and how James handle the situation with her husband as well. While the husband was a huge issue and conflict the issue of the husband made it possible that Fran and James had time to actually know each other. I loved their relationship and James' growth both James and Edward grow a lot. Edward learns to accept Fran and James learns to become worthy of Fran and accept the flaws of the upper class. The romance is super cute and never gets too deep. the story has super precious side characters and side romances I am kind of hoping for a second book with Edward and his wife but time will tell. The ending was super cute and I am obsessed with James and Fran I am going to go back and reread it now.

You might think that not much happens in The Worst Woman in London, and you'd be right. This is a romance between a married woman and her husband's longtime BFF. In fact, the book opens a few weeks before Francesca's marriage to Edward, when James meets her for the first time. It's not love at first sight - the next chapter is 10 years later, 10 years during which James and Francesca have only socialized in the presence of her husband. But now, she's petitioning for a divorce, and Edward asks James to negotiate on his behalf. Get Francesca to drop her suit and settle for an unofficial separation, and Edward will fund her lavishly. James isn't exactly happy to represent Edward's interests, but since he basically agrees that Francesca should just drop the idea of divorce, he reluctantly visits her. Once he renews his acquaintance, they both realize that they are almost irresistibly attracted to each other. But their romance is forbidden for many reasons: Francesca's marriage might be over in all but name, but if she doesn't maintain a pristine relationship, she won't be granted a divorce. Plus James is trying to abide by the Victorian bro code - he might be able to indulge in an affair with another man's wife, but not his best friend's.

Bennet brings off what many historical authors try but fail to achieve: the gives us characters who feel historically accurate but with a modern sensibility. The true villain of this book isn't Edward, despite his boorish and sometimes cruel actions. Instead, the obstacle keeping James and Francesca apart are societal expectations. Francesca's friends and relations have cut off all contact with her until she drops her divorce case. James's aunt has made it clear that he is expected to follow all of her demands or he will not receive the inheritance she holds over his head. And in the beginning, James agrees with all of the social strictures. Why shouldn't he have to kowtow to his aunt? Why can't Francesca see that she should just knuckle down and make the best of things?

This is a subtle book that focuses on nearly imperceptible changes in its characters' motivations, desires, and ultimate goals. With gorgeous, period-appropriate prose, appealing characters, and obviously-detailed research on divorce law, it's a great example of the best of historical romance. It's also angsty and emotional without falling into melodrama. HIGHLY, highly recommended!

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel

Genre: historical romance
London, 1882

Sometimes divorce is the most romantic thing you can do.

Mr and Mrs Thorne are horribly suited for one another. James Standish knew it from before he saw his friend Edward Thorne married to the young Francesca, in whom Edward believed he had found the perfect wife. Only James saw Fran’s lively spirit and knew they would never be remotely happy or even satisfied. Ten years after their marriage - two in misery and eight apart - Fran has requested a divorce on the grounds of Edward’s infidelity. But Edward insists it’s simply “not done” and requests that James plead his case for Fran to basically “shut up and deal with her lot in life.” Of course, James has been half in love with Fran for ten years, and finds that beneath their longstanding acquaintance something more than admiration and respect stirs.

I was a little nervous at the outset, with one main character trapped in a loveless marriage and the other a close friend of the estranged husband and half-engaged to someone else, but this is a novel where you trust the writer to take you where the characters need to be and not worry about propriety. You understand at the outset that Fran and Edward are miserable and that theirs has no hope of being a real marriage ever again.

You also quickly realize just how unfair it is for women in the Victorian era to seek a divorce, even for blatant infidelity. My blood boiled as Francesca speaks with her lawyer and realizes she’ll have to prove he has harmed her while Edward only has to give suspicion of her own infidelity and she’ll lose her case. This is probably the first historical romance in which I’ve read at length about divorce, and it really emphasizes the importance for women to have access to divorce rights.

If Edward is made out to be a piece of work, James isn’t all that much better. He’s a bit lazy and loves living in comfort as heir to a wealthy aunt. But his friendship with Fran makes him want to do better and prove himself. He realizes very quickly as his aunt thrusts a new debutante in his path that there really hasn’t been anyone but Francesca for ten years. And yet as the story progresses, James has a refreshing change of heart. He is desperate to prove himself to Fran at any cost.

Francesca is fascinating, because at the outset of the book, we assume she is exactly what Edward wants in a bride, and it turns out Edward is too young and Fran not precisely biddable. She’s not stereotypically-romance-heroine-feisty or bluestocking (though she is both of those things in her own subtle ways), she just wants more out of life than a loveless marriage. I found her clever and kind, and remarkably mature as she looks to create boundaries for herself in search of true freedom.

And yet none of the characters are truly bad or good.They are multi-dimensional people who have complex needs and desires. Even Edward (who quite rightfully deserves a punch to the face) isn’t entirely bad. Despicable, maybe, but not bad. These realistic qualities bring the book to life. There isn’t a lot of driving plot, and it doesn’t matter because the character development and social interactions move the story along.

Thank you to NetGalley and Julia Bennet for an eARC for review. This is out 2/3/23!

I feel that the author may have bitten off a bit more than I personally would advise chewing. This book isn't that long--but there's a lot of character development packed into it, and I don't think I could really... fully believe it, even if I believed in Francesca and James's relationship in essence.

thank you NetGalley for this ARC! I enjoyed this way more than i expected to! the first couple chapters were just okay but once i got into it i was endeared to the characters and curious to see where it would go. the main relationship was very cute and healthy, lots of communication and understanding. the second relationship was a bit questionable but turned out good in the end i guess? i think this book is really cute for what it is, a quick read historical rom com, this is not really an entirely accurate historical portrayal (Lol) but it’s fun and easy to read, leaves you satisfied with the story.

If your husband has abandoned you and is repeatedly unfaithful, what do you do? File for divorce, obviously. Although not, of course, if you're a woman in the upper classes of 1880s England, where such a move automatically earns you the epithet that forms this book's title.
It took me a while to warm up to this book. It dragged a little to begin with, although there were some pleasing turns of phrase, but once Francesca and James were together on the page, their interactions and quick-witted banter were a delight. In contrast, the alternative points of view and developing relationship were a distraction and felt unnecessary: it could have been a tighter plot and equally as effective without most of that. Overall though, this is a detailed and probably depressingly accurate portrayal of the strict social mores and blatant double standards that existed for many in this era, and a fresh take on a romance between two complicated and appealing characters.

I got hooked with the tittle and I was so glad I received an advanced copy to read.

I love regency/victorian novels and I was really looking forward to this read.

It took me a while to get through the story, but once you are done with that hill the view is quite good.

It made me think a lot of how far we are in terms of women's rights and to read these kind of things make me see red, it also made me appreciate the time where I live honestly.

Friends to lovers

Romance in Victorian era

A woman that wants a divorce!

Well, well, well…this was a fun read for sure!

A Victorian wife asks for a divorce…let the scandal begin! Society has rules but Francesca just can’t seem to conform to them. This book is spicy and sweet! You’ll find gossip, secrets, and scandals all wrapped up in the perfect package. I definitely recommend for a fun historical romance read!

Thank you to the author and NetGalley!

I love a good romance in the regency era. This one did not disappoint. The characters, their motivations and the events were consistant. The unique angle - a divorce in the regency - was pretty well developed and it was really interesting to discover the consequences and procedure of such a phenomenon.
This book created potential for other books with some of the characters, I hope it will be followed.

The Worst Woman in London follows two very interesting main characters. Francesca is a woman bent on escaping her marriage of roughly a decade to a spouse that has taken on many mistresses and doesn’t care to give her much of a glance since he found out that she wasn’t the naïve young woman he thought he needed to marry (this becomes a plot point later in the book). James is a respectable gentleman who must toe the line of polite society in order to inherit his aunt’s title and fortune. When Francesca’s estranged husband requests that James meet with Francesca with an offer of a heavy allowance in exchange for her dropping her pursuit of divorce (strictly to stop embarrassing him, of course), James is surprised to find a woman with a backbone of iron unwilling to budge. She’s not at all the woman that his friend has been describing to him the last nine or so years as cold and unwelcoming. Instead, he sees a fire and passion that he finds quite intriguing, and he can’t quite blame her for her ire given that her husband not only has been keeping mistresses, but doing so in a very public and quite embarrassing way. James is not the man that Francesca assumed, either. He seems to understand her predicament and her feelings. They form a sort of friendship that quickly leads to secret feelings. However, if Francesca is going to get all she wants from this divorce—her freedom and a possible ability to remarry if she so chose—she needs to avoid further scandal at all costs. James is in the same position. He knows that in order to inherit, he must be prepared to let his thoughts of Francesca go and do what is expected of him. Marry a respectable debutante who can sire an heir to his aunt’s fortune and title and eventually inherit it himself.
However, as James and Francesca’s friendship develops into something more, they both must question if the futures they had planned for themselves are really what they most desire or if what they truly need is each other.
I really enjoyed this one. It explored what divorced looked like back then, and how hard it was for a woman to obtain one when she was part of polite society. A man could absolutely flaunt his affairs in the face of society but even a whiff of scandal from a woman—true or false--and her entire reputation was in tatters. It is enough to boil my feminist blood to see how poorly women have been treated and disproportionately blamed for all of society’s ills when the majority had no true society-given power (but of course, it was also imposed on them by all other women in a self-feeding patriarchal societal system…), but I digress.
Applying our modern sensibilities to the less than well-aged parts of past society is what I like most about historical romance and is also why the feminist undercurrent of these books is so appealing. Watching women take back their power is a personal kink and if you agree with me, you’ll find this book to be one of the ones where the heroine is what we all aspire to be and the hero is just what we want.
Thank you Netgalley and Julia Bennet for the advanced ebook in exchange for this review.

This is such a strange yet fresh take on historical romance. There were parts I really enjoyed. However, so much of it felt historically inauthentic and rang too modern.
The main characters were complex and fun to read about. I did not like skipping to the POV of side characters. If it had been less often I might have been ok with it, but for me it really made the book drag.
Overall, there are enough bright spots in this to make it worth checking out, and I will absolutely be looking for more from Julia Bennet because of how unique and refreshing this read was.

Star Rating: 3/5

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Giving this book a generous three stars. I liked the characters and was definitely rooting for them, but I feel the book needed to be longer in order to give them the depth and connection I really craved.

We also got these 3rd and 4th POVs from her husband and the woman he was interested in which I honestly could not have given a single care about. That whole side relationship made no sense to me. Were we supposed to be rooting for them? Her husband was terrible and all of a sudden seems to be into this new girl who has the same personality traits he criticized his wife for? That whole situation didn’t add anything to the story for me and was cringe.

However, I didn’t rate it lower because I really enjoyed the take on an aspect of Victorian life that doesn’t get written about often: how difficult it was to get a divorce as a woman and the double standards about what was an acceptable reason for divorce. It is so bizarre to me that courts were able to keep two unhappy people married for the sake of Christian and high society values. It was an alternative take on the historical Victorian romance in that regard.

Thank you to NetGalley and XPresso Book Tours for the ARC copy.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In Victorian London a unhappy wife in high society is expected to suffer her lot and make the most of her marriage. Francesca, however, has decided she is not this woman and has risked scandal and being cast out by society and family in order to divorce her adulterous husband Edward.

When James is sent by Edward to attempt to bribe Francesca to end this silly idea of divorce, he didn’t expect to fall for this strong headed woman. But can he risk his social standing and looming inheritance for such a woman.

Thus begins a tale of forbidden love and struggle for freedom.

A nice love story that highlights the lack of freedom and inequality faced by women of society in Victorian London.
Unfortunately for me although the story had bones I found it was very slow moving and couldn’t grip my attention. The side characters point of views broke up the main story and seemed more of a late add in. Plus it made me feel even more icky about Edward when I think the author may have wanted us to find ourselves more sympathetic towards him by the end of the novel.

I did enjoy Frans friendship with Caroline and her husband and their discussions. I just wished the book has a slightly faster pace to keep the reader focused.

3.5 STARS!!!

The Worst Woman in London is the anguish-filled story of Francesca, a woman who is just trying to get divorced in a time where a woman asking for a divorce is the very pinnacle of indecency, wickedness and depravity - and that's exactly how Fran is treated by the world. It is physically painful to see the way she is maligned and denigrated by her husband, family and society at large.

What I liked -
This book is certainly a novelty amongst other books of its genre due to its unusual topic. The author has not shied away from showing the ugly side of humanity, rather than a sanitized or romanticized version. The writing and dialogues are excellent, plus there is an undercurrent (that often becomes overt) of wistfulness and despair that runs throughout the book - and that is quite powerful in setting the tone of the book, right from page 1.

What I did not like -
Well, first of all - Edward. I did not like reading his apparent redemption arc, but oh well, the world is not black and white and the author is cognizant of that.
That being said, my major (and only) issue with this book is that the pacing seems rather off. The way the passing of time, and the changing of people/thoughts/circumstances with time could have been depicted in a much better way. Also, I wish more time was given to James' character development. He seems a bit half-baked.

What I liked but my nose definitely did not -
I cried. This book made me cry and my nose got stuffy and red.

If you're in the mood for a little heartbreak and a little hope, definitely check this one out!

Thanks to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for the ARC!

This is a historical romance with some themes like a woman wanting a divorce which was really interesting considering this time period. I think the the main couple was sweet and I enjoyed reading this book. The MFC's defiance in the Victorian Era when meeting a man who fuels her desire was a story worth telling. I really like the romance between these characters and how the main character was following her heart instead of settling for her POS husband.

Historical romance has not always been appealing to me to read, but as of late it has become one that I enjoy but can also be picky about. The Worst Woman in London did not disappoint.

Francesca and Edward Thorne got married after a short engagement ten years ago, but soon realized they would never be happy together. Edward moved out and moved on shortly after, but left his wife to grin and bear his infidelity as every "good" wife should. Francessca has finally had it, she wants a divorce but Edward refuses to make it easy on her due to what society will think. Francesca, shunned by her family and society, finds an unlikely relationship blooming with her estranged husband's good friend James Standish.

Francessca was the headstrong and independent woman who wished to break out of the traditional role of a woman and wife that I deeply enjoy in stories set in this era. Reading someone so fed up with what is expected of her is refreshing when you can read many historical romances where the woman is content with her role. I enjoyed her flaws and all her mistakes, and I admired her willingness to lose everything to gain an ounce of the freedom she deserved.

James was an excellent example of love interest character growth. He grew in part because of how he fell in love with Francesca, but also because he realized what he himself valued and cared for when he was allowed to choose outside of what society and his family deemed acceptable of him.

My only slight gripe is that I didn't enjoy the dynamic of Edward and young Miss Raddle. For a man who appeared to not change at all his sudden interest in a woman who showed the same fire and passion that he disliked about Fran... felt a little weird to me. I also found it hard to believe that he would ever change his stripes for any woman. I could have done without their side romance, even though it is what pushed James to break ties with Edward and later helped Fran's case in the divorce proceedings.

The book covered many topics, like breaking the norm of what was expected of women in 19th century England and breaking ties with those that wish to control you. But at the center of it was a beautiful and well-developed forbidden love story, with lovable characters who had exceptional chemistry and good spice scenes as well! (Lifting her onto the desk will always have me kicking my feet!)

I highly recommend this book! 4.5/5 stars!
Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

Julia Bennet’s The Worst Woman in London was absolutely my cup of tea.

Not only is this book a delightful, swoon worthy historical romance, but it also is a study in women’s history and a tale of one woman’s struggles for autonomy and freedom in the late 19th century. (Spoiler: Women’s rights were appalling!)

From the start, you can tell this book is well researched. Julia Bennet knows her stuff, and the language and voice used for each character is just spot on. I loved having to look up a few words here and there to learn 1870s colloquialisms!

Intelligently written, compelling characters, spicy romance. This one checks the boxes. I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the genre or perhaps wanting to dabble in historical romance. I will definitely be keeping an eye out more books from Julia Bennet!

Not a ton of historical romance I read ever centers on divorce, so I thought this book was unique in that at the center of the story is a woman who is unhappy in her marriage and wants out of it. I thought the relationship between the two main characters was very sweet and slightly slow-burny, but there was some outside plot points I felt were a little unnecessary.