Infamous by Lex Croucher | Book Review

This book some weird turns.

Infamous by Lex Croucher

Released July 2022

Source: Received for Review Consideration

Goodreads  | Amazon

22-year-old aspiring writer Edith 'Eddie' Miller and her best friend Rose have always done everything together-climbing trees, throwing grapes at boys, sneaking bottles of wine, practicing kissing . . .

But following their debutante ball Rose is suddenly talking about marriage, and Eddie is horrified.

When Eddie meets charming, renowned poet Nash Nicholson, he invites her to his crumbling Gothic estate in the countryside. The entourage of eccentric artists indulging in pure hedonism is exactly what Eddie needs in order to forget Rose and finish her novel.

But Eddie might discover the world of famous literary icons isn't all poems and pleasure . . .

My 2 Cents for Free!

Infamous is set in the Regency period and is a story about emotional growth, learning some very hard lessons, and discovering what (and finally who!) is truly important in life. There’s some treachery and mystery afoot and an ever-present thread of romance.

Eddie (Edith) and Rose met when they were 8 and have been the best of friends and perhaps a little more for 14 years. At 16 Eddie coerces Rose into making a pact that they would not bow to the expectations of London society and agree to never, ever marry. Rose agrees but she has reservations because her family is not nearly as unconventional or as well-to-do as Eddie’s and back in ye olden times women like Rose didn’t have much of a choice.

Anyhow, now they’re both 22 and Rose has decided to betray Eddie by marrying a boring (perfectly nice), 30ish man (or maybe he was 29, I can’t keep up) who raises rabbits. Eddie is mortified and deeply injured and really pissed off about rabbit man interfering in their lives. She hates on him, she hates on his bunnies, she rages at Rose and this causes a major rift in their friendship. Nash Nicholson, a handsome, charming, narcissistic MARRIED poet causes the other one. Nash is a friend (acquaintance?) of Rose’s fiancé and meeting him opens Eddie up to a whole new world.

Eddie idolizes Nash. Who wouldn’t? He showers her with attention, praises her writing, and promises to introduce her work to his editor. He invites the three of them to join him at his secluded crumbling old mansion for a few months with some other friends to work on their creative endeavors and off they go. Tensions, sexual and otherwise, soon run hot and wild and things get weird and I don’t really want to say anything more than that.

This book started out as an amusing romp with some sweet romantic tension between Eddie and Rose. The reader gets to meet Eddie’s delightfully cute family and I loved it all. I thought it might be a 4 ½ or 5 star story for me but then it takes a decidedly darker turn as Nash whisks them away to his home filled with booze, drugs, and debauchery and it became something else entirely. It was full of strange turns and I did like that because I never felt quite sure where it was going or what was going to happen next. But the tone change was a bit jarring, not gonna lie. It’s an odd mix of humor, and emotional stress with a mystery tossed in that didn’t work for me and felt entirely unnecessary. And something happens at the end that leaves me wondering what happened to one of the characters. Dead? Alive? Ghostie? I don’t think I’ll ever know and it’s going to bug me forever.

I need to mention that there is some really dubious consent going on here with the Nash character who is MARRIED and reading about Eddie’s endless crush on him was disturbing. Her ability to ignore all the 🚩’s was quite something. Quite a talent actually. It made me feel gross for Eddie and for poor Rose and I wasn’t a fan of that storyline even if it did eventually cause Eddie to figure her shit out. In my opinion, it took way too long but I’m not a 20-something and I’m probably impatient for that nonsense.

I did adore the end and the way things wrapped up romance-wise. I adored the sweeter moments Rose and Eddie shared in their room at the moldy mansion. I wish we (me) could’ve had more of the sweet and the lovely but I’m probably being greedy.

⭐⭐⭐1/2

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