Infamous

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.