Thank you NetGalley and Xpresso Book Tours for the chance to read and review The Worst Woman in London by Julia Bennet!

“You could never be unwomanly. Impractical perhaps, but then ideals are rarely practical.”

When Francesca decides to file for divorce she knows that she'll be removed from polite society! After all, her husband, is no worse than most men of the ton and she should know better than to have her own indiscretions, or at least be more discreet. With her family abandoning her, no money, and her divorce at risk (at a time where a woman had to be faultless and prove desertion and abuse to given the right to divorce and remarry) she's still willing to go through it all, if only to have her freedom. When James is sent by her husband to try and negotiate a more informal separation instead of a divorce, sparks fly. But that would put it all at risk.

The Worst Woman in London is the first regency romance I've read with this premise. And it's also got a woman facing the very real things that happened in society at the time. Her husband hasn't bothered to see her in 8 years. but if she has an affair she won't have a full divorce. He can flaunt his mistress openly and give her expensive diamonds, but can withdraw financial support, and keep all of the money she may have inherited. If a woman has a more "stimulating" interest, her parents can refuse to indulge her (like how Sylvia Randle could only read for an hour on certain days" and marry her off to the highest bidder. Even with a happy ending, which is a necessary part of a regency romance, we aren't sure what the happiness will be and will it be only a certain measure of happiness. We don't see a reconciliation with the family and we don't see material wealth, even if we do see love. We also know that the happy ending was entirely due to another mans power. ( )

A very young Francesca quickly marries Edward Thornton, and they soon find the marriage in complete disarray because of their incompatibility. After ten years, she wants a divorce, not something easily gotten in Victorian England. Edward is content with his mistresses, so he sends his friend James Standish to dissuade Fran from taking action. But James and Fran find something in each other that she didn't have in her marriage.
It's an interesting read. It's a bit hard to remember that men at the time could indulge in however they wished to treat their spouses, and wives had no say but were basically property. Fran is very courageous, Edward is a rotter, and James develops some character for a satisfying read. ( )