Infamous: A Novel

by Lex Croucher

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Do you love Bridgerton? How about contemporary authors such as Jasmine Guillory and Casey McQuiston? If you said yes, then we have your next read! We love reading a romance that pushes against societal limitations. Add a hint of humor and emotional depth and voila! It's your next reading obsession.

Named a Most Anticipated Romance of 2023 by Goodreads and Bookpage

"Lex Croucher is one of my favorite rom-com authors, and they should be yours, too." ––Casey McQuiston, #1 bestselling author of Red, White & Royal Blue

"Croucher infuses this energetic Regency era friends-to-lovers sapphic romance with zany wit, joie de vivre, and a distinctive literary bent." ––Publishers Weekly

Twenty-two-year-old aspiring writer Edith (“Eddie”) Miller and her best friend Rose have always done everything together―from climbing trees and sneaking bottles of wine, to extensive kissing practice. But Rose has started talking about marriage, and Eddie is horrified. Why can’t they continue as they always have?

Then Eddie meets charming, renowned poet Nash Nicholson––a rival of Lord Byron, if he does say so himself––and he welcomes her into his world of eccentric artists and boundary-breaking visionaries. When Eddie receives an invitation to Nash's crumbling Gothic estate in the countryside, promising inspiration (and time to finish her novel, a long-held dream), she eagerly agrees. But the pure hedonism and debauchery that ensues isn’t exactly what she had in mind, and Eddie soon finds herself torn between her complicated feelings for Rose and her equally complicated dynamic with Nash, whose increasingly bad behavior doesn’t match up to her vision for her literary hero.

Will Eddie be forced to choose between her friendship with Rose and her literary dreams––or will she be able to write her own happily ever after?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250875655
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/21/2023
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	148,017
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Lex Croucher is the New York Times bestselling author of Reputation, Infamous, and the YA novel, Gwen & Art Are Not in Love. Lex grew up in Surrey reading a lot of books and making friends with strangers on the internet, and now lives in London.

Editorial Reviews

01/16/2023

Croucher (Reputation) infuses this energetic Regency era friends-to-lovers sapphic romance with zany wit, joie de vivre, and a distinctive literary bent. Edith “Eddie” Miller is distressed when Rose Li, her best friend, kissing practice partner, and primary audience for the stories she writes, backs out of their childhood pact never to marry and begins seeking the company of an older gentleman. Through Rose’s new connections Eddie meets charismatic poet Nash Nicholson, who shows an interest in Eddie’s writing. Eddie, Rose, and Rose’s beau, Albert, join an eccentric circle of artists at Nash’s rundown country estate for a retreat meant to inspire creativity. Amid the ensuing drinking, seances, and chaos, the women get the chance to be more explicit about their true feelings for each other—even as Nash’s behavior toward Eddie becomes increasingly dubious. The physical connection between Eddie and Rose is sweet and gentle, if not electric, and the fact that Eddie’s reaction to Nash’s passionate aggression is disillusionment rather than swooning gives the story a refreshingly contemporary feel despite the period setting. Bookish readers who wish that Alcott’s Little Women were a bit more explicitly queer will lap this up. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Witty and light, this is sure to be a hit with anyone wanting a queer Jo March-ish historical heroine." ––BuzzFeed

"Croucher’s novel is witty, well-written, and heartfelt and will intrigue those looking for writerly heroines and friends-to-lovers romance between women." ––Library Journal

"Gleeful and unruly, Infamous brings Gen Z zeitgeist to some seriously hilarious Regency angst. Croucher is a rare talent, with a genius for hijinks, hot messes, irrepressible characters, and turns of phrase that will stick in your mind until the end of time. Eddie's coming-of-age arc shines with insights into the wild, worthwhile work it takes to find yourself, and find love." ––Joanna Lowell, author of The Duke Undone

"This historical-ish bildungsroman with a big side of friends to lovers sapphic romance is set in the Regency period but written with a decidedly 21st century queer and feminist sensibility." ––Autostraddle

Praise for Reputation:

There’s nothing prim or proper about Croucher’s dazzling debut, which is so boldly, audaciously modern in its portrayal of 19th-century mean-girl culture that I kept waiting for someone to inform the heroine that on Wednesdays, they wear pink." ––BookPage, starred review

"Think of Bridgerton crossed with Sex Education and you have Reputation...reminding us that the process of coming of age really hasn’t changed for centuries." ––Good Housekeeping (UK)

"Reputation is the fresh, fiercely feminist, and utterly irreverent sendup of Jane Austen that I didn't know I needed." ––Martha Waters, author of To Have and to Hoax

From the Publisher

12/01/2022

Two best friends travel a rocky road to a happy ending in Croucher's Regency romance. Edith "Eddie" Miller and Rose Li have grown up as neighbors and the closest of friends, but as they become adults and enter polite society, the differences between them grow. Rose enjoys parties and the whirl of society while Eddie is focused on her dreams of literary glory. As Rose begins to talk of marriage with an older man, Eddie meets her hero, a Romantic poet whose charisma draws her into an unconventional circle of artists and writers. When the two friends are invited to a country house with this wild crowd, Eddie will have to choose what really matters to her. This is a sapphic romance, but one that centers the character growth of Eddie, from emotional immaturity to greater wisdom and self-knowledge. While this arc is satisfying, it may frustrate more seasoned romance readers, and some may find the ending, although happy and optimistic and perhaps realistic for the times, to not be as much of an HEA as they would want. VERDICT Croucher's (Reputation) novel is witty, well-written, and heartfelt and will intrigue those looking for writerly heroines and friends-to-lovers romance between women.—Sierra Wilson

Library Journal

Narrator Ellie Kendrick does an outstanding job portraying the time and place of this friends-to-lovers sapphic romance, set in the Regency era. Kendrick's evocative narration captures the drama and contrasts the diversity of the characters, along with their moods and personalities, with distinctive voices. The romance blooms gradually over the course of the audiobook. At its center are two friends, Edith and Rose, who are both coming of age and learning what they want out of life and love while discovering new things about themselves. Kendrick makes the quirky characters so much more special with her ability to project personality and British humor. A.P.D. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

MAY 2023 - AudioFile

Narrator Ellie Kendrick does an outstanding job portraying the time and place of this friends-to-lovers sapphic romance, set in the Regency era. Kendrick's evocative narration captures the drama and contrasts the diversity of the characters, along with their moods and personalities, with distinctive voices. The romance blooms gradually over the course of the audiobook. At its center are two friends, Edith and Rose, who are both coming of age and learning what they want out of life and love while discovering new things about themselves. Kendrick makes the quirky characters so much more special with her ability to project personality and British humor. A.P.D. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

MAY 2023 - AudioFile