Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Infamous

This fell right in my very niche love for queer, historical romances. Yet despite this, it took me a while to warm up to this one. While I do like historical romances, I'm much more used to them being written in a more contemporary language. This one very much had that classic vibe going on which I needed to get used to before I could enjoy.
Once I did though it was smooth sailing and I enjoyed reading this book a lot. It didn't surprise me really, but it did make me feel the right things at the right moment about shitty men and yearning for a love that is taboo and wanting to make art and get credit for it.
I do wish the romance bit was a somewhat more emphasised and we had more happy couple moments, but I also understand why it would be redundant.
All in all pretty fun if you're looking for sapphic Jane Austen vibes.

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lazers28's review against another edition

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challenging tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

"Book Smart meets Bridgerton" the cover says. Hardly.

I went into this book expecting a fun, queer, friends to lovers romance with a background of bohemian regency artists. Instead I spent 50% of this book mad at the male love interest for being scummy in about every way imaginable and 40% mad at the female main character for just sort of letting him get away with

being a liar, cheat, thief, drunkard, would-be rapist, and MURDERER(?) who never gets any real come-uppance.

I wish I would have given up on this book, but kept hoping it would get better, that the queer friends romance would finally become the main focus but it constantly got sidetracked by this asshole dude.

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thrntnja's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

In a way, what I liked most about this book is how it realistically it portrays falling under the spell of someone who gaslights you. I do appreciate how delicately it was woven into this story, even if Eddie is absolutely insufferable at times. Overall I did enjoy this book, though I wish I could have had more Eddie and Rose time and less Nash overall.

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zoloft_lesbian's review against another edition

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funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

this was a very smart little book. I really fucking loved it!!!

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noxii's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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amyjoy's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

I really love a queer historical romance, and I like that Croucher showed us a diverse London society. It took me about half of the book to really get sucked into the story and the characters, and I almost quit early on because it was almost reading like a straight romance.

Eddie is SO dense throughout the whole book, and it was kind of frustrating to read! She willfully ignored her feelings and her friend/love interest's feelings and put so much faith in someone who was clearly a conman. She's young and sheltered, but still, I wanted her to have a TINY amount of self-awareness.

Also, Nash doesn't really face any consequences for his behavior. I was FURIOUS when Eddie gave him the second half of her manuscript. I really wanted her to throw it in the lake and let him suffer when he couldn't finish the book. And that still would have been the mildest consequence for his serial sexual assault! I was really disappointed that not a single person had a conversation with Eddie about how, even though it may have felt like her fault and she did have an obvious crush on him, the power dynamics between her and Nash meant that he was taking advantage of her, NEVER MIND that she was intoxicated when he first kissed her! Everyone was just like "yeah, you should have known better, Eddie, you knew he was married!" It was so flipping frustrating because he was taking advantage of his position of power as a published author, her obvious crush, her youth and naïveté, and got her drunk before the first time he kissed her! All of that really put me off the end of the book; even Rose, who loved and supported Eddie blamed her. Also, I knew from the second they arrived at his estate that he was going to steal her book. He's the worst.

I did really love the relationship between Eddie and Rose, though.

Content Warnings

13anna17's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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