The Duke’s Double is an expanded rewrite of one of Anita Mill’s Regencies. (Why the publisher does not say so on the cover or inside the book is beyond me.) Don’t expect a romp or lots of intrigue, however. This is a story about a hero who committed a nearly unpardonable act, hurting both his…
A Precious Jewel is a most unusual Regency Romance. Indeed, it is one of the most remarkable romance novels I have ever read, Regency or otherwise. The hero is not heroic by most standards. The heroine is a prostitute. My goodness, one asks, what happened to the refined comedy of manners? Where are the rakes…
Have you ever been at a play, maybe a high school performance, and it’s not working very well? All the props look fake, the rigging is showing, and the lead keeps missing his cues. The audience is left to try to indulge the performers and grit their teeth and get through it. That’s what reading…
I don’t read many Regency Romances, so I’m pretty picky when I do read one. Since I’m always eager to read a new-to-me author, I had high hopes for Dorothy Mack’s The Gold Scent Bottle, especially since the title was so intriguing. Unfortunately, I was left feeling flat by the end of the book. Four…
The Bartered Bridegroom is hardly the usual “comedy of manners” one expects from a Regency Romance. I am happy to say, however, that it is an engaging story of two people who have pretty much accepted the terms life has to offer, and who, with each other, find much, much more. Lord Benjamin Whitbury and…
The Rebellious Twin is one of those books that’s best read on a lazy afternoon under the sun. Implausible, and as frothy as cappuccino, it melts away as fast as it’s finished, leaving only a pleasant, hazy memory. Clarinda and Clariss Capelle are identical twins. Even their parents can’t tell them apart. But they, and…
There are many of us who think that if Regency Romances want to keep and gain readership, the sub-genre needs to somehow change, to become more believable, to have more complex heroes and heroines, and to deal with difficult issues. To me, this would be a good thing. This doesn’t mean, however, that there is…
Regency Sting is a traditional Regency Romance with a few variations. The hero, Jason Hughes is an American, the new Viscount Mainwaring by inheritance, who has never been in England before coming to claim his title. When he arrives, his appearance and manners are a bit rustic, so his aunt Harriet, with both social and…
The Obedient Bride takes on the issue of Regency adultery and humanizes it with the depiction of two very different people caught in an arranged marriage. Many Regency Romances speak lightly of rakes and adultery among the aristocratic classes. Many have heroes who regularly bed married women. Few examine the darker aspects of the matter….
I read and enjoyed Emma Jensen’s Best Laid Schemes last year, so when I picked up her newest novel, The Irish Rogue, I was expecting something similar – a nice little comedy of manners with some slapstick humor thrown in. I was in for a surprise, but not an unpleasant one. The Irish Rogue is…
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