This was an average read for me. Maybe if I'd watched Brigerton, I'd like the regency element more. I thought the romance would be more edgy than it was.

The second half was better than the first. It dragged a little and was slow paced. But, if you like period dramas with a little romance then this is for you.

There's also mentions of SA in the content.

If you disliked the 2023 TV adaptation of The Buccaneers as much as I did, skip this book, this is essentially the same thing (Georgiana's "humble" upbringing is the only notable difference).

If you haven't watched the aforementioned show (and consequently don't realize how mediocre this book is), I'll just summerize it with a bunch of bulletpoints :
- Plot : Girl meets a group of rich and extravagant young people with a scandalous lifestyle. Falls in love with a rich boy.
- Anachronisms everywhere : How they talk, the way they think, what they do ... The regency era is more than cute dresses ! I honestly don't see the point of the stories set in that era if they strip it of so many things (positive and negative) that define it.
- Forgettable writing.

🎧 Narration : 4/5 pretty good !

Thank you NetGalley and Bonnier UK Audio for giving me the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this regency x mean girls romance which also has a strong focus on friendship and coming of age. The book is told from the perspective of a young, white, middle-class Englishwoman but fairly accurately represents high society in the 1800s. It doesn't shy away from the prevalence of alcohol and drugs within the upper echelons of society as well as how the wrong person spreading a rumour could damage your reputation to the point of not even your parents believing you. I feel like this book will stick with me for a while, and I even found myself speaking like the characters did. This book made ma laugh and cry and I will be reading more from this author in the future. I listened to the audiobook and I was impressed that there was very distinct accents for each of the characters and the narrator seemed perfect for the book.

Tw: alcoholism, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, implied sexual assault/rape, domestic abuse, physical assault, peer pressure

It is a closed door romance with the mc witnessing a few heavy makeout sessions, and once walking in on some people "Rolling a round in the hay".

Generally the tone of this book is fairly light, it has some hints at darker themes though substance abuse throughout the book, with rhe main character falling in with the 'bad crowd' through result if her own perpeptual boredom. And it really does do a good job of showing how dull the proper crowd could be in companionable to the thrilling and excitement of the bad crown. There is also a scene towards the end where the violence gets alot more extreme than I was expecting us to get in a book like this. However it was an enjoyable read.
I wouldn't say that it is historically accurate, more along the lines of Bridgerton accuracy where it goes off of vibes more than anything else.
But it is a nice book that's reads easily, and while this was something completely new to me as I'm trying to spread it a little more, I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Abandoned by her parents in favour of a sea view, middle class Georgiana Ellers has moved to a new town to live with her dreary aunt and uncle. At a particularly dull dinner party, she meets the enigmatic Frances Campbell, a wealthy socialite and enchanting member of the in-crowd.
Through Frances and her friends, Georgiana is introduced to a new world of wild parties, drunken debauchery, mysterious young men with strangely alluring hands, and the sparkling upper echelons of Regency society.
But high society isn't all it's cracked up to be, and the price of entry might be more than Georgiana is willing to pay . . .
Phenomenal . . . truly remarkable and amazingly unpredictable

I’ve really been enjoying Regency books at the moment and this one was delightful. The characters were really enjoyable to spend time with which I think is a really important part of enjoying a book. It was easy to read was what I was in the mood for so suited particularly well at the time, I’ve seen lots of the authors books about my experience with this one. I’ll definitely read another from them.

Wonderful narration throughout, can't rate the narrator enough.

The story was good, if not a little drawn out in parts, but enjoyable. I will look out for more Lex Croucher books in future.

The story follows a young lady in her life, as she finds her place in a new town and its society. The rollercoaster of emotions and challenges she has to face, highlighting the good and the bad decisions she makes.

Lovers of Bridgerton will enjoy this story dearly. Lighthearted, fun, however touching of the foundations of the dark side to one’s desires.

W: rape (off page), sexual assault, alcoholism, drug and alcohol abuse, bullying

This was the perfect Jane Austen gone wild (like Hangover kind of wild)!
Mean girls and Bridget Jones combined with the original P&P.
I absolutely loved it!
Georgiana spends the summer with her aunt and uncle, so her parents can spend it at the beach. At a party she meets Frances, a rich high society princess, adored by her many friends and worshipers.
Georgiana is quickly pulled in by her personality and get tangled in her lifestyle of wild parties, including a lot of alcohol, drugs and beautiful bachelors.

I absolutely loved the style of writing, it was hilarious and super easy to read for a historical fiction. P&P is one of my favourites and I love all the modern age retelling of it, so this one became an instant favourite as well.
The way this group of friends at first seems so fresh and new and exciting and soon you realise how they all have their own problems and secrets and nothing is as shiny as it seems.
The way it starts I thought this would be a fun and fluffy romance. But it was not. It totally took me by surprise, the way this story got very dark at times. I wished there were TW included in the book, as well as in the audio.
I think the heavier themes were taken very seriously though and the way the story progressed was very well done. The way the story went is a very modern take, and I was happy about it.

This group of friends immediately pulled me in and I was very pleasantly surprised how queer this story is! There were a lot of queer side characters, which is so nice to read in a historical fiction!!!
At some point in the story I wanted to strangle all of them, they were soooo mean!!! It was the perfect historical Mean Girls.

The love interest and romance in this was everything! They were so cute and romantic and hilarious together.
The letters!!! Bridget Jones would have been proud. I laughed my ass off.

Miss Walters was the real shining star of this book for me. Her (social) anxiety and general nervousness and rambling warmed my heart. It was so relatable.

The ending was perfect and made me want a sequel so badly! 10/10 would recommend if you like historical fiction with a modern twist!

Also the narrator was absolute perfection. She had different voices and accents for every character and she made this book come alive!

This is a coming of age story set in Regency England, with a means girls meets Bridgerton vibe. Georgiana is a girl whose parents are not very affectionate and have left her to stay with her aunt and uncle. She meets a young woman named Frances who is rich and exciting. Frances invites Georgiana to join her and her wealthy friends in a fun but sometimes risky lifestyle. Georgiana gets to experience fancy parties, interesting people, and a whole new world of luxury that comes at its own price.

The book is very fast-paced, and the language makes it very easy to get sucked right into the story.
Some darker themes, such as assault, rape, emotionally abusive parents, racism and domestic violence are discussed, but I found that the wit and the emotional distance of the narration made them palatable, and I personally felt no emotional stress reading about these themes or how they are covered.

A topic that got covered in greater emotional depth (in my opinion) is that of toxic friendships, which is the main plot of this book. The author does a great job depicting this dynamic. Georgina is inexperienced and naive in the beginning of the book, and she opens herself up to Frances, her friend group and their lifestyle without inhibitions. They slowly, but surely suck her in, until Georgina wakes up one day and does not recognize herself anymore. Neither Georgina nor Frances are villains or victims, they are just humans interacting with their surroundings, making choices that are sometimes more, sometimes less morally questionable. I think the author did a great job of describing this multifaceted relationship. As part of the friendship group, we get to meet a lot of other characters, as well that come up short in favor of focusing on Georgina and Frances, in terms of development and well-roundedness of their personality. I think there would be some potential here to expand the characters in future books of a series.

I think that the blurb already makes it apparent that this book is not period accurate. For example, there are no chaperones for the unmarried young women, they engage in drinking and drug use and do not follow the proper customs of the time, without being shunned from society or facing other major consequences. The language is not period accurate either. (I could somehow picture this friend group better in the 1920s, so I constantly had that in my head, instead of the regency era.) If 100% period accuracy is something you are looking for than this is not the book for you and I think that is perfectly fine.

I listened to the audiobook and would recommend the experience. Bessie Carter has a very pleasant voice, and her voice acting of the different characters really conveyed the wit and banter of the writing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bonnier UK Audio for gifting me this ALC of the audiobook to review.

Georgiana is tired of being cast aside. Her parents dump her with her aunt and uncle so that they can move to the coast. She assumes that she will rot away in boredom until she befriends Francis Campbell and her group of degenerate socialites. Francis parades George to all of the best parties and shows her a world that was out of reach. Georgiana is further smitten with this lifestyle when she meets Thomas Hawksley, a dark, brooding man that is unusually kind. Can Georgiana have it all?

The best way that I can describe this book is YA Bridgerton. The story is similar with the parties designed to get young people married. But then there are the aspects where the characters are doing some pretty seedy and questionable things that is more YA than adult. There is also no spice. There are some depictions of sexual assault. It isn't graphic, but it is a major theme. All in all, I thought that the story was good and the characters were interesting.

The audio on this was fantastic. Normally, I feel like I have to suffer through the narration to enjoy the book, but this was a different story. I believe that I read that the narrator was one of the Featherington sisters in the Netflix Bridgerton show. She is just wonderful here and I hope that she does more of this!

Had a lot of fun in listening to this story that mixes Regency romance with a pinch of contemporary rom-com.
Funny, well plotted, compelling.
Liked the narrator that makes the story even more entertaining.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I loved the idea of a Mean Girls / Jane Austen mash up and really enjoyed the first part of this story a lot. After that the tone of the story changed quite drastically and went from lighthearted and fun to quite serious and dark at times. There is of course nothing wrong with that but it just wasn't what I was expecting and it felt a bit out of place for me.

In this story a young woman in Regency or Victorian times comes to live with her aunt (as one does when one is unmarried and the parents moved away without her) While she dreads a boring summer, She meets Frances, a wild young woman of higher birth who takes her to parties and outings and intaoduces her to friends, including a charismatic and slightly serious Gentleman.
The characters turn increasingly unlikeable throughout the story and slight niggling worry about the partying getting out of hand...
But in the end Georgiana learns valuable lessons about herself and growing up.

As a life-long fan of Jane Austen and classic 90’s movies about girls who are trying to find their place in the world, I had so much fun reading this book!
If I had gone into this book expecting something like Bridgerton or even a more classic regency novel I would have been disappointed, but if you’re willing to embrace the rebellious nature of our main character you will have a wonderful time.
I thought that Georgina’s character- with her wit, cleverness and quirky traits- made the historical setting seem less stuffy and more relatable for the modern reader. And I found the focus on the less prim and proper elements of regency culture even more refreshing! Of course people from 200 years ago wanted to have fun and loose themselves in drinking, gambling and inappropriate behaviour. I loved that the author introduced us to this world of debauchery.

Great audiobook! Fab story and even better narration. I really enjoyed this over several car journeys so even with gaps in between I could still follow the story.

Regency romance always has a place in my heart and this one was one of the best. I really appreciated the more realness of the characters- of course they were out partying during the season! Although there were some tough scenes to listen to in glad our heroine got her HEA. Oh and the love interest- Darcy vibes indeed but dare I say even better?!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bonnier UK Audio for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

I've been on a historical romance kick lately and hoped this would be the next great novel. Unfortunately I didn't like it as much as anticipated. I found the main character a bit annoying and the romance a bit lacklusting. I did however like the friendship portrayed and how un-ladylike they were. That was fun in an historical setting. Seeing girls rebel.

An adult audio book to enjoy, laugh with. But also to consider has Society changed at all? Regency era set romcom. Georgiana has parents that up and leave her with her Aunt. Not moneyed to any significant extent, she finds herself/forgets herself, in the world of the ultra-rich. Will she survive as her peers draw her into new experiences? Find the man of her dreams? Then again, in this sort of story the answer is always yes. The fun is in how the author gets us there. Lex Croucher does a damned fine job of doing that!!! (Sorry, Mama. I know that language wasn’t appropriate.) Thank you to Bonnier UK Audio and NetGalley for the audio ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

Jane Austen meets Mean Girls meets Gossip Girl meets Heathers meets Bridgerton!

I love Georgiana as a main character and her development throughout the story. Her naivety at the start to becoming more experienced in life. It is a period drama with a modern feel to it which I liked.

The friendships and relationships Georgiana had and made were well developed with depth to each character with their own backgrounds. However, I just kept wanting to delve deeper and know more about everyone. There’s so many further avenues to explore it just fell a bit flat for me. Her friendships with some of the clique felt very high school. Yes there was scandal, intrigue and toxicity but something was just missing for me.

I loved Georgiana’s relationship with Thomas and how he was always by her side but felt it could have been developed further, again something was missing for me.

I think I just wanted more from this!

Lex Croucher’s novel “Reputation” can be a perfect match for fans of Bridgerton x Jane Austen x Regency era stories. Although the story is told from a single viewpoint, it is captivating from cover to cover. The experience is greatly enhance by narrator Bessie Carter, who gives the story exactly the right kind of vibes to keep one going while the listener follows the amazing miss Georgiana Ellers and her new-found entourage on their summer outings.

Special thanks to NetGalley, Bonnier UK Audio, Zaffre, and the editorial team for giving me the opportunity to review the ARC in audiobook format and to you, my reader, for taking the time to read this honest personal book review.

If you are interested in other of my book reviews, make sure to follow me on GoodReads! #Reputation #NetGalley #LifeLongLearning