Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Infamous

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Infamous by Lex Croucher

14 reviews

internalnonsense's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

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

2.5

This story is more than a rote romance, taking its time to explore the complexity of our protagonist, Ed’s character and her ambitions outside of love, but will quickly lose its ground and take things too far, creating an overall unlikeable protagonist and contrived conflicts.

Ed’s a young woman in Regency society, needing to find her place in life but still holding on to her idyllic childhood with her best friend Rose. Rose, however, is ready to move forward, and begins seriously looking for a husband. Ed does not react well, but cannot deter Rose from her future. Ed, instead, finds herself acquainted to her favorite poet, Nash. When he expresses an interest in her, Ed’s previous fantasies of being a writer take on a reality, as Nash could open a whole new world for her. So as Rose becomes engaged, Ed does her best to get closer to Nash. Tensions rise, scandals threaten, and Ed has to confront exactly how she feels about Rose.

The central conflict of this story is ambition vs values (values being propriety, then self-respect and love). While spirited and funny, Ed’s very short-sighted and self-involved, which is perhaps appropriate for a sheltered, upper class Regency girl. It’s not a bad place to start a story, but Ed’s growth one step forward, two steps back. It reaches a point where you have to ask ‘what does Rose see in her?’. However, I appreciate a flawed protagonist more than a perfect one, and much of the time I understand Ed’s inconsistency. She’s been trapped her whole life and she sees a way out, so she ignores the red flags along the way.

Rose, the primary love interest, is a complete contrast to Ed. She’s figured herself out entirely, is steady, a good judge of character, and kind. Honestly, her biggest flaw is (her love for Ed) is lack of ambition; she starts the story giving up, settling into the easiest life available to her. I think the story would have improved with a Rose POV; a break from Ed’s stuttering character development and a better understanding of Rose’s own motivation. What drives her out except Ed being stupid? Rose also had known she was a lesbian at an early age, and was of Chinese descent, in Regency England. There was a lot of depth to her character we did not explore through Ed’s eyes.

Nash, the rival love/antagonist is initially a well-realized manipulator. Older and married, his interest in Ed is incredibly inappropriate, but we also sense the opportunity Ed does in him—the connections to creatives, editors, an alternative society, and he has just enough vulnerability and charm to see why his friends and Ed put up with him. His escalating poor behavior coinciding with his moves on Ed is the primary drive of the story. However, I feel the author doesn’t trust that we’ll see him as the villain, so continues to pile on his crimes, which in turn makes Ed’s judgement seem steadily worse and worse. The finale depends on Ed making a choice, effectively, between Nash and Rose, but the weights are so absurdly stacked against Nash it’s almost insulting to Rose that Ed would even consider him.

The prose is well-written with a consistent voice and a lot of humor. Sometimes, especially during banter, character’s would blend together, but, honestly, that sameness helped characterize Nash’s crowd. It’s not a plot-heavy story, which is fine, but when it decides to have a plot it’s kind of out of nowhere and discordant with the larger story. Obviously, there’s strong LGBTQ+ rep—Ed is probably bi, Rose is confidently a lesbian, and there are other characters across the rainbow. Ed herself I read as a little non-binary, as she found herself drawn to more masc ways of presenting herself and resisted a more feminine nickname, but I wouldn’t say that was clearly explored at all.

Overall, it was sometimes fun, often times frustration, and occasionally genuinely compelling moments.

Content Warnings

lexnicole's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted tense fast-paced

4.5

I really hate Nash Nicholson

Content Warnings

capybooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted 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

4.0

Content Warnings

courtney__bernard's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious 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

4.25

A historical romcom novel with touches of Booksmart, Bridgerton, and Jane Austin.

Lex has done it again! I loved the first novel I read of hers, Reputation, and this one has the same vibes that I thought the characters would certainly be friends. There is a lot of fun that happens in the novel and more than a couple of times I laughed out loud. I really loved this one and loved Eddie and Rose as a pair but I did get a little annoyed at how thick Eddie could be with her and their relationship.

All of the characters are messy but that makes them even more loveable. Albert, Dayo, Kitty Liza and Nash all made for a diverse cast and I loved to root for them through this story. Even with the amount of frustrating choices they made throughout the novel I still wanted everyone to end up happy (Well almost everyone...).

I felt like I was watching a romcom where you don't want the plot to get too much because you just want to have fun reading.

🌶️ Spice Meter 🌶️ : 0 out of 5 Peppers

Final Thoughts: If you are looking for a fun, sapphic, historical book, this is for you. It is a chaotic, funny, entertaining read for the right crowd. Thankfully I was in the right crowd for this.

TW: Toxic Relationships, Alcohol, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Disclaimer: Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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