A review by elatedbooks
Reputation by Lex Croucher

emotional funny lighthearted
  • 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

“there isn’t another version of this story where you did everything right, and all was well….There is no way of knowing, and there is nothing about this that you can change now if you just . . . if you just blame yourself hard enough.”

Ahhhh a regency book done right!! This was absolutely gorgeous in so many ways, particularly in its depiction of a young woman making mistakes & learning from them & growing as a person. Apart from being an adorable romance, this says so much about friendships and family as well as delving into gender, race & sexuality. Lex Croucher really understands the perfect space themes need to take up in her work & discusses them just enough to get the nuance without clumsily overdoing it.

The 3rd person would occasionally confuse me & take me out of the story but generally flowed well. I liked the level of diction & their speech felt authentic while still being natural & easy to understand. The humour at the beginning of the novel feels too self aware & made me cringe a bit but as the novel goes on it gets absolutely laugh out loud hilarious so possibly I just needed to settle into it a bit more first.

“she always said she liked the least-loved things the best, because it always took her by surprise, the unfussy beauty of them. Nobody’s surprised if you like a proper rose – of course you like a rose, who wouldn’t like a rose? You can accidentally like a rose without even meaning to – but to love something like a dog rose is something else entirely – you simply can’t love it by accident.”

*spoilers*
“There will always be those who do not believe you – or those who do believe you, but who dismiss the entire affair as harmless, boyish fun – but I doubt there is a person among them who would wish to be harmed as you were.”
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