The plot involving a bastard of a nobleman marrying a pristine noblewoman who eventually succumbs to his charms is not a new one, but when done well, as in The Barbarian Earl, you end up with engaging characters and a book that leaves a smile on your face. Years ago, the Earl of Stratham pursued…
Miss Darby’s Duenna is a funny, clever story and beautifully written to boot. In spite of this, it was a tough book to grade. Despite its delightfully dry wit and elegent manner, it’s not very romantic. At times it seems as much a takeoff on a Regency Romance as it is a Regency Romance. The…
Catherine Coulter and Mary Jo Putney have both rewritten their old Regencies as longer historical romances, but The Scottish Legacy is the first rewritten Regency I’ve read that is still a Regency. Originally published in 1981 as The Covington Inheritance, the book now has somewhat different characters, a different ending, and is told from the…
Need a laugh? Need a pick-me-up? Have I got the book for you. Deborah Simmons newest, The Gentleman Thief has the light frothy appeal of traditional Regency Romance with the extra advantage of some very warm love scenes. It’s a kind of a 19th century screwball comedy with a ditsy-but-tenacious heroine and an appealing Remington…
Double Deceit is the aptly named story of a hero and heroine who both hide their identities while they are courting. I’ve read a lot of books in which one of the main characters assumes a false identity, and they can be tricky; it’s hard to build upon a relationship based on deception. Fortunately, Lane…
Most books that earn an F really earn it, usually because the characters do something to provoke a violent, unpleasant response. The Dangerous Baron Leigh isn’t like that, and indeed I am sorry to be giving it such a poor grade, because I’m sure if another author had written this book with the same plot…
I always look forward to Signet’s Regency Romance Christmas anthologies. In every one I have read, I have always found at least one story that is a keeper and this one is no exception.
The title of Mutiny at Almack’s gave me grave misgivings. I’m about as tired of the Almack’s setting as any reader of Regency Romance has a right to be. Too many Regency writers mistake setting for story and the title Mutiny at Almack’s had me ready for a lot of forced repartee conducted in period…
I don’t really read much Regency Romance, but I make an exception for Patricia Oliver. She transports me into the period in an authentic manner that doesn’t have this neophyte Regency Romance reader looking for the dictionary to understand Regency jargon. And, while the set-ups for her stories are not necessarily novel, the manner in…
When Stephanie Laurens wrote Devil’s Bride, she seemed to take the romance world by storm. Lots of people (including myself) loved it. Others didn’t, but it seemed like almost everyone read it. By now, most people have formed an opinion on the Bar Cynster Series. If you didn’t care for the preceding books, then you…
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