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allisonwonderlandreads's review
- 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
3.0
The story has a quick, biting wit akin to Georgiana's own subversive, barbed remarks. Several funny asides made me laugh aloud. Also, letter banter is the BEST banter, and this one delivers in that category 100%. I was unconvinced of the central romance plot til the correspondence started up halfway through, and then I suddenly found myself on board. It was that high quality.
While reading, my stress level was high, even though I knew all the bad decisions and situations were building up to a lesson to be learned. It comes at a steep price for many characters involved. The emphasis on needing to be cool or seem above everyone else made me cringe, with side helpings of peer pressure and harassment, bullying and exclusionary tactics. Add in quick judgments and nasty put-downs to make oneself feel superior. It offers a deep view of the root causes of the characters' behaviors. For example, our protagonist Georgiana is spinning out in bitter rebellion after being abandoned by cold, distant parents. She seeks affection and belonging at any cost.
There are several content warnings of note for this story: sexual assault on-page and other incidents that occur off-page with physical and psychological harm explored, gaslighting and victim-blaming following claims of assault, racism and slavery, homophobia/lesbophobia, domestic abuse, toxic relationships, a lot of alcohol and other substance abuse, and parental neglect. The author takes a worthy stand on the proper response to assault claims and offers a glimpse into a diverse regency world hampered by prejudice but not whitewashed or offering queer characters as mere sidekicks. It's an interesting book that manages to be difficult to read at some points, uproariously funny at others, sometimes reflective and other times barreling forward. It was a compelling read, and I am curious to see what the author does next.
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Classism, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia
Minor: Colonisation, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Slavery, and Animal cruelty
theinkedpath's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Me hubiera gustado que me encantase, pero no ha sido así.
EN:
I feel very disappointed. I was struggling to finish it.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Drug use, Homophobia, Racism, Rape, and Toxic friendship
joness13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, and Drug abuse
jacq_benoit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcohol and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Bullying, Sexual violence, Drug use, and Sexual assault
Minor: Abandonment, Rape, and Domestic abuse
briannareads1342's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Sexism, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Rape, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
amreippl's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Rape
spaghettireads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This is the sort of book that I did relatively enjoy while reading it, but when I think back to it, it really doesn't hold up. This book tries to cover a lot, and I think it doing so it falls short on covering big plot points meaningfully. It is advertised as being a queer and diverse regency era rom-com, however the diversity in the story really felt quite surface level. It doesn't feel like the author really looked into the experiences of BIPOC people in regency era to be able to write their experiences meaningfully in this book. The queer representation was better but still falls short in my opinion (one of the queer characters is probably the least developed in the whole friend group).
Not being an expert in the time period, this still really felt like there was no desire to make the world historically accurate at all. It just doesn't seem believable that there would be no consequences to the main characters' actions, especially regarding the amount of drug use and unsupervised outings. It felt like modern times basically just set in the English countryside wearing regency dresses and where the characters are on a social media break.
I don't want to get into spoilers, but I don't feel like the sexual assault plot was handled very well either. Again, it is very surface level and doesn't do justice to the severity of the topic.
I would not recommend this, there must be other fun historical romances that would be better.
Graphic: Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Rape
mandysreadinglist's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Croucher’s next book should possibly be set in a more modern era, which would allow room for the heavy drinking, drug use and the women’s empowerment movement. There are just so many details that are wrong for a historical fiction. It is definitely one of the less realistic Regency fictions I have ever read. Croucher tries to make the story readable for modern audiences by attempting to tackle some big topics (TW: rape, SA), but unfortunately the characters come across as spoiled brats instead of empowered young women.
So don’t read this if you are a stickler for historical accuracy, because you won’t find it here. I appreciate what this book is trying to do for diversity, but there are some passages that are just plain bad and positively inaccurate for any century.
I can see where the work drew inspiration from Jane Austen’s works. The romance between Georgiana and Thomas give me a very Lizzy & Darcy vibe, but Georgiana is Darcy in this tale. And in the spirit of Emma, our MC is haughty, unimpressed by everyone, and borderline rude. I started to dislike her and her “friends” around chapter five. Georgiana does get a few set-downs through the novel, though they do little to humble her. “You’d do better to apply that mind of yours to the improvement of yourself and those around you, rather than letting your cleverness fester into cruelty.” \
Graphic: Sexual assault, Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Rape
criticalbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Grief, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Blood, and Classism
dominmuenster's review against another edition
Graphic: Rape