If You Like….

… and news! I have been inveigled into Lady Beaufeatherstone’s ballroom with promises of parrots and lobster patties. (Stiles is tremendously jealous that Lady B has a real parrot rather than a stuffed one.) You can now find me at the Ballroom Blog every fourth Monday and for select Saturday salons.

In honor of the Ballroom Bloggers, today’s if you like is:

If you like Regency romance, you’ll probably like:

— the classics of the genre, anything by Georgette Heyer (my personal favorites are The Nonesuch, Arabella, and Sprig Muslin);

— Judith McNaught’s Regencies, which were my introduction to the genre– they’re unabashedly Old Skool, with nicer than nice heroines and more brooding than brooding heroes (my favorite is still Almost Heaven);

— Lisa Kleypas’ pivotal Dreaming of You, which put lower class heroes (and owners of gaming clubs) on the Regency map;

— Amanda Quick’s sprightly Regencies, from the one word titles, like Ravished and Rendezvous to my personal favorite, With This Ring, which makes merciless fun of “horrid” novels (hint, hint, there may have been some Miss Gwen inspiration here);

— Gaelen Foley’s Knight Miscellany, particularly The Duke and Lord of Fire (a prototype for the Hellfire Club in The Temptation of the Night Jasmine);

— for something a little more, well, British, Mary Balogh’s Regencies and Jo Beverly’s Company of Rogues;

— and, of course, what Regency list could be complete without Julia Quinn? By now, most of you know that I’m particularly partial to To Catch an Heiress (spies!) and The Viscount Who Loved Me (Kate would so be best friends with Hen);

— along similar lines, but less well known, one of my favorite Regencies is Jessica Benson’s The Accidental Duchess, which has the same sort of witty dialogue, crazy side characters (er, I meant “eccentric” side characters) and laugh out loud humor as Quinn;

— on the less beaten path, while I don’t go in for vampires (enough with the sparkling already!), I do love Teresa Medeiros’ vampire Regency send-ups, After Midnight and The Vampire Who Loved Me;

— in the “up and coming” department, the new sensation in Regency romance is Sarah MacLean, particularly the first of her “numbers” trilogy, Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, and her new gambling club series, starting with A Rogue by Any Other Name.

It’s a huge genre, and even after this massive list, I know I’ve only just brushed the surface. Which are your favorite Regency-set novels?

12 Comments

  1. AngelB on March 19, 2012 at 10:23 am

    I’m really like the Regency Romances of Candice Hern. Besides the fact that the book covers are from her personal art collection, the stories are fun in the realm of Georgette Heyer, but a little bit more kissing. 🙂

  2. Lisa on March 19, 2012 at 10:32 am

    Hi Lauren!
    I am a Ballroom regular and I’m so excited you’ll be joining the blog!!! I’m sure you’ll be bringing a lot of mystery and intrigue. 🙂

    You’ve definitely listed some of my favorite regencies, especially Sarah’s Nine Rules and JQ’s The Viscount Who Loved Me. (How can you not love the Mallet of Death? lol). I also like Judith McNaught’s historicals, though my fav is Something Wonderful. There’s also Eloisa’s Essex sister series, which is fantastic too.

  3. Shelli on March 19, 2012 at 11:58 am

    I just finished Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer, and it had me giggling out loud for most of the book…. which is really saying something since it was one of *those* days, and I was about to kill anyone outside of the fictional world. I love everything Heyer puts out.

  4. Virginia on March 19, 2012 at 12:06 pm

    I love Stiles with an unconditional love. In the past had I thought he’d actually win an extra chapter I totally would’ve voted for him.

    I think that’s all I have to share for this post. 🙂

  5. Vicki on March 19, 2012 at 12:08 pm

    Great suggestions! To me Balogh is the queen, but along with those you’ve mentioned, I’d recommend almost anything by Carla Kelly, Elizabeth Mansfield, Joan Wolf and if you can find them, the few memorable Regencies that the wonderful Elsie Lee turned out.

  6. jeffrey on March 19, 2012 at 1:17 pm

    If yours, Lauren, are classified as regency era, then they go right to the top of the list.

    My favorite Georgette Heyer novels are: A Lady of Quality, The Grand Sophie, and Friday’s Child. Of the some 20+ Regency novels I have read of hers, there is nary a dud in the bunch.

  7. Sheila on March 19, 2012 at 2:16 pm

    Well…all the above are wonderful, but no one has mentioned the classic Regencies of Marion Chesney, now writing her two mystery series about Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin as MC Beaton. But before that she wrote many wonderful regency novels, some in series of six, many stand-alones. Several have recently been released to Kindle, and as I have just spent the greater part of 3 days on the Interstates, I was thrilled to re-visit these old favorites. Biting wit, great plotting, funny secondary characters, use of pets as plot devices, very like Heyer. One scene describes two men enjoying the fun “of a bachelor existence any right-thinking female would want to put an end to.”

  8. Sheila on March 19, 2012 at 2:46 pm

    Marion Chesney’s classic regencies have recently been released on kindle format, and what a treat they are. I just finished a marathion road trip and was thrilled to revisit herbooks. Very witty, great plots, animals, secondary characters, all very Heyer-esque. You may be familiar with the mysteries she writes as MC Beaton. She describes two men enjoying “the bachelor life, which any right-minded female wants to put an end to.” Some books are in series of six, some stand alone. Very quick and fun.

  9. Jessica @ Quirky Bookworm on March 19, 2012 at 3:37 pm

    The only author I’ve read on this list is Georgette Heyer. I think Sprig Muslin and The Nonesuch are both on my favorites list…as well as The Grand Sophy and Frederica. Or maybe the Talisman Ring instead of Frederica? Hm, so hard.

    I’d add Patricia Veryan to the list: her League of Jewelled Men Series is Regency era.

  10. Sheila on March 22, 2012 at 3:33 am

    Somehow it took two days to post my original message, sorry every one for the duplication. (But Chesney is worth it !)

  11. CathyW on January 30, 2014 at 5:04 pm

    You can’t leave Stephanie Laurens off of any Regency list. Her Cynster books are classics.

  12. Brenda Clark on June 9, 2022 at 9:33 pm

    I am so happy I found this site. I’ve read everything I could find of Georgette Heyer and Marion Chesney. I like them because they have fun, usually are not so lengthy. I was looking for other authors like them. Thanks everyone for contributing your favorite authors.

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