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In need of a reprieve from your cookie cutter, altruistic, regency heroines, who all- if not nobly, then naively- vow only to wed for love, or die a destitute spinster? If you thought even a tentative 'yes,' then welcome aboard!

Synopsis:

Miss Celia Trent, were she placed in any other story already housing a plucky protagonist, would surely be cast the antagonist for she is- from the outside- the consummate mean girl: calculating in her husband hunting, a ringleader of a posse of snarky bullies, and of course the undisputed reigning beauty of the season.

Indeed, fictional portrayals have not held back any punches in depicting beautiful mean girls, casting them in irredeemable lights: insipid, one-dimensional creatures, that are cruel just for the sport of it.

Ahh, were it as black and white as that life would be oh so simple! But it is not of course, and Infamous affords us a complex, human, and thus intrinsically imperfect heroine, who due to a perfect storm of desperation, coercion, and fake friends makes a mistake that lands two perfectly innocent individuals- one of whom would have otherwise wed her and solved all her problems- into an undesired compromise.

Her handiwork, though unintentional, is squarely attributed to her and she goes overnight from desired and on the precipice of a brilliant match, to shunned, earning the sobriquet: 'Lady Infamous.'

We then flash forward a decade and find Celia is now companion to a Lady Yancy and goes by Mrs. Pelham. She will be forced to revisit that unhappy chapter that transformed her life & sobered her fanciful notions, when a wedding Lady Yancy is invited to reunites her and all the key players that featured in her darkest hour. The groom happens to be Sebastian Fanshawe, the Duke of Dowden, an influential & charismatic puppet master, who abuses his influence to keep others- amongst which is our Celia- under his thumb & do his bidding.

As the bride in question is Miss Redvers, it is hosted at the estate of her brother, Lucien Redvers, Earl of Davenport. He is the man victim to Celia's compromise, and was forced to wed a rather plain, on the shelf, bluestocking: Phyllida.
Lucien:

He had fancied himself in love with Celia, at least before she showed her hand with the prank. What few know is that he was never the intended target, that distinction belongs to Lucien's dorky, bespectacled, twin brother: Viscount Richard Redvers.

You've heard of resting bitch face? Well allow me to introduce you to 'Resting Dissecting Face,' a most off-putting affliction that Richard suffers; that coupled with his fascination for creepy crawlers as a naturalist marked him as a sore thumb in the upper echelons of London society.
Richard:

He also has the misfortune of earning a powerful and determined nemesis in Sebastian.

Richard, were he your 'neurotypical' sort of man would hold a grudge, and justly, against the woman who would have so carelessly tried to compromise him as a prank, and had penned a scathing 'Ode to Odious' in his honor- but Richard isn't wired as such.

Armed with an analytical mind, and likely on the spectrum to an extent, renders him enviably able to rise above such trivialities and be unbothered. Due to this objective lens, he regards Celia as a source of fascination, and undoubtedly, beauty.

When Sebastian arrives to find Celia, who knows too much of what he truly is, he threatens her to make herself scare or else...


Surrounded by those who resent her, those who have used her ill, and in great social disadvantage, in 'The Reunion from Hell on Steroids,' how will the former Miss Trent fare in the trenches?


What Worked:

♡Characters felt authentic, well rounded, and were active. They never did anything that made me want to tear my hair out- which is increasingly rare in novels.

♡Witty dialogue, good prose, and engaging plot.

♡Celia’s journey! I loved how Celia’s insecurity and it leading to her folding to peer pressure and becoming a mean girl, even as her conscience haunted her, is portrayed.

Celia was sick and tired of arguing with her conscience- a battered, bruised, and malnourished thing that refused to die no matter how badly she abused it.

Her growth is in stunning evidence. As any girl who has survived the trials of cliques in school and the petty politics therein I think it really humanized the bullies who fall into those roles. I found her well written and compelling.

♡Phill's and Lucian’s honest portrayal of a marriage and coming to care for one another.

♡Celia & Richard's love story was potent.


What Irked:
✗I had a deuce of a time getting into it, but by 40 percent I was unable to put it down and finished thereafter straight through.

✗The insight into the baser inclined mind of Richard was a bit much for me but that got better with progression of story. I will say Richard is aptly named- the abbreviation of his name becomes him- for every other thought of his is phallic centered. The brunt of his narrative is the jarring insight into an overgrown, horny teenage boys mind I had never hoped to glimpse, and reading it was an unnerving, nose wrinkling, chore.


The Brass Tacks:
I must admit that when I got this ARC I realized belatedly it was a series and decided to go read the first installment 'Notorious' and couldn't get through it. I was starting to regret having requested this but to my not so small relief I enjoyed it immensely.

There was a lot to admire about this work: the characters, the plot that kept feeding reveals, the protagonist, and the layers to it. I found this engaging, satisfying, humorous, and it compelled pauses in appreciation of certain clever wording. Reader, if you are still here, then I would encourage you to try it as I found it well worth the read.

�� Spice Scale rating: Heady Habanero 🌶 🌶🌶🌶/5 ��
Wear gloves while handling!
In the spirit of the Scoville Scale- a system that measures the degree of spicy- I am coopting it to facilitate rating the degree of sensual content in reading material. For expanded scale ref. photos.
I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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