Thursday Give Away

For today’s Thursday give away, we have an advance copy of Bee Ridgway’s debut novel, The River of No Return.

Here’s the official blurb:

In Bee Ridgway’s wonderfully imaginative debut novel, a man and a woman travel through time in a quest to bring down a secret society that controls the past and, thus, the future.

“You are now a member of the Guild. There is no return.” Two hundred years after he was about to die on a Napoleonic battlefield, Nick Falcott, soldier and aristocrat, wakes up in a hospital bed in modern London. The Guild, an entity that controls time travel, showers him with life’s advantages. But Nick yearns for home and for one brown-eyed girl, lost now down the centuries. Then the Guild asks him to break its own rule. It needs Nick to go back to 1815 to fight the Guild’s enemies and to find something called the Talisman.

In 1815, Julia Percy mourns the death of her beloved grandfather, an earl who could play with time. On his deathbed he whispers in her ear: “Pretend!” Pretend what? When Nick returns home as if from the dead, older than he should be and battle scarred, Julia begins to suspect that her very life depends upon the secrets Grandfather never told her. Soon enough Julia and Nick are caught up in an adventure that stretches up and down the river of time. As their knowledge of the Guild and their feelings for each other grow, the fate of the future itself is hanging in the balance.

I am not even sure how to begin to describe this novel. I can only steal a term from Sarah of Smart Bitches and say that this book is, indeed, awesomesauce. Both the modern and the historical element are incredibly well done, and the Regency we see through the eyes of a marquess who returns to his own world after ten years in the future is by no means the standard Regency-land of your average novel. It’s a much more realistic and grittier version of that world. It’s far more than just cravats, Almack’s, and Prinny.

So, for an advance copy of Bee Ridgway’s The River of No Return, here’s your question:

What’s your favorite Regency-set novel?

The winner will be announced on Sunday.

The River of No Return comes out April 23, 2013– just two weeks after The Ashford Affair!

83 Comments

  1. Jenness Drake on January 17, 2013 at 6:12 pm

    Pride and Prejudice

  2. Nicole Orr on January 17, 2013 at 6:14 pm

    Persuasion by Jane Austen and The masque of the black tulip by Lauren Willig!!!!

  3. Elizabeth macphee on January 17, 2013 at 6:15 pm

    Pride and prejudice!

  4. Beverly Velaski on January 17, 2013 at 6:19 pm

    Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice 🙂

  5. Michele McGuire on January 17, 2013 at 6:23 pm

    The Secret History of the Pink Carnation

  6. Justina on January 17, 2013 at 6:25 pm

    I love Julia Quinn’s work. I’m not sure I could pick just one. Plus the Pink Carnation novels… And anything involving the spy wars between France and Britain…

  7. Christy Kirby on January 17, 2013 at 6:25 pm

    Simply Love by Mary Balogh is a newer find and I’m also partial to Frederica by Georgette Heyer. However, my all time favorite is Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

  8. Ashley on January 17, 2013 at 6:26 pm

    For this I have to go to the Queen of the Regency… Venetia by Georgette Heyer is one of my all-time faves

  9. Nina on January 17, 2013 at 6:27 pm

    An Infamous Army ny Georgette Heyer. A phenomenal description of the Battle of Waterloo, and a great story

  10. ruth ann on January 17, 2013 at 6:30 pm

    Definitely Pride and Prejudice!

  11. Vanessa on January 17, 2013 at 6:31 pm

    Pride and Prejudice 🙂

  12. Jenny on January 17, 2013 at 6:39 pm

    Pride and Prejudice

  13. Christine on January 17, 2013 at 6:40 pm

    A little book about a black tulip.

  14. Jennifer on January 17, 2013 at 6:44 pm

    Pride and Prejudice!!!

  15. Rosemary K. on January 17, 2013 at 6:46 pm

    THESE OLD SHADES AND THE DEVIL’S CUB by Georgette Heyer. I never did find the third book, AN INFAMOUS ARMY. These two are part of The Alastair Trilogy.

  16. Julie H on January 17, 2013 at 6:46 pm

    Could you ask a little tougher question, Lauren? 🙂

    Goodness, it’s so hard to choose. Since most everyone is going with the classics, I’ll say Austen’s Emma. I just love that one.

  17. Hollidae on January 17, 2013 at 6:48 pm

    I really liked Shades of Milk and Honey and its sequel by Mary Robinette Kowal, and any Pink book!

  18. Lauren on January 17, 2013 at 6:49 pm

    Posting for Ruth, who had difficulty posting: another vote for P&P.

  19. Lizzy on January 17, 2013 at 6:55 pm

    Something Wonderful by Judith McNaught!

  20. Renee on January 17, 2013 at 6:58 pm

    Other than Austen, anything Heyer. She’s the queen of Regency!

  21. Susan on January 17, 2013 at 6:58 pm

    The Slightly series by Mary Balogh. Wulf, Freyja, and Aidan are my favorites.

  22. Tamara Pickerel on January 17, 2013 at 7:04 pm

    i love the Carnation series (of course) and with Laura’s recommendation got hooked recently on Andrea Penrose series.
    I adore the Bronte sisters, and Austin.

  23. Pat on January 17, 2013 at 7:04 pm

    Yeesh. I can never pick one favorite anything, except husband and son! Lauren’s books, Sebastian St Cyr books, Captain Gabriel Lacey books, Tracy Grant’s regency books, I’m sure there are others. I tend to lean toward heroes who are war veterans, maybe because I have 2 in my family.

  24. Alexis on January 17, 2013 at 7:12 pm

    Would be the Pink Carnation, expect the last time I saw you speak you noted that it really “Regency” since the there wasn’t a Regent yet. So my favorite of all time would have to be Emma.

  25. E on January 17, 2013 at 7:27 pm

    I think I have to say Persuasion by Jane Austen, but I like your novels, Stephanie Barron’s Jane Austen mysteries, and for younger readers,
    Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot: Being the Correspondence of Two Young Ladies of Quality Regarding Various Magical Scandals in London and the Country by Caroline Stevermer and Patricia C. Wrede (ha, that was a mouthful).

  26. Gina on January 17, 2013 at 7:29 pm

    Well, not a particularly creative answer, but I’d have to go with Pride and Prejudice. Also, your Garden Intrigue, if that fits into the category of Regency.

  27. Courtney F. on January 17, 2013 at 7:30 pm

    Persuasion!

  28. Céline on January 17, 2013 at 7:33 pm

    There just are so many books that I read that take place in the regency period that it is impossible to pick just one. So. I’ll pick my all-time favourites : Jane Austen’s books, each and every one of them, of course…
    (and your books too, of course! :D)

  29. leslie on January 17, 2013 at 7:42 pm

    Mary Jo Putney’s Shattered Rainbows. It’s a Waterloo novel in the spirit of An Infamous Army by Georgette Heyer. Both are great reads.

  30. bn100 on January 17, 2013 at 7:42 pm

    Don’t have a favorite

  31. Desiree on January 17, 2013 at 7:45 pm

    Persuasion by Jane Austen
    Pink Carnation Series love them all!!!

  32. Lynne on January 17, 2013 at 7:46 pm

    The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn

  33. Rachel R on January 17, 2013 at 7:46 pm

    Mansfield Park

  34. Carrie bryant on January 17, 2013 at 7:50 pm

    Georgette Heyer or Patricia Veryan. 🙂 and Lauren Willig

  35. Chelsea on January 17, 2013 at 7:50 pm

    Besides the good old P&P – The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins is an all time fav! It’s maybe just edging on the later period, but it’s SOO good for anyone who likes murder, mystery, a superb villin and an epic love story.

  36. PS on January 17, 2013 at 8:20 pm

    Devil’s Cub will always be a favorite. Mary is the ur-heroine – plucky and resourceful but full of endearing self-doubt!

  37. Nadine on January 17, 2013 at 8:20 pm

    ” The Spymaster’s Lady” by Joanna Bourne – I was just so surprised when I read this, it felt so different from anything I’d read before.

  38. Valerie on January 17, 2013 at 8:21 pm

    These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer, the Lady Julia Grey series by Deanna Raybourn, and of course your books!!!

  39. Ellen on January 17, 2013 at 8:34 pm

    One! The Unknown Ajax, Frederica (almost anything by Georgette Heyer!) Definitely Sorcery and Cecilia… One! No can do, sorry. :-/

  40. NikkiB on January 17, 2013 at 8:41 pm

    I agree with just about everyone.. there are clearly too many to choose from. But if I had to choose one, I would have to go with Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

  41. Claire on January 17, 2013 at 8:56 pm

    Pretty much anything set in the Regency period, but I do enjoy Emma. She’s a fellow busybody.

  42. Meredith A on January 17, 2013 at 9:05 pm

    Pride and Prejudice is just assumed. Venetia by Georgette Heyer. An Offer From A Gentleman by Julia Quinn. Aaaaaand Mischief of the Mistletoe by one of my all time favourite authors…I wonder who that is 😉

  43. Lauren on January 17, 2013 at 9:14 pm

    Georgette Heyer’s Arabella is probably my favorite non-Austin.

  44. Patty on January 17, 2013 at 9:25 pm

    I am partial to Persuasion
    thank you for the opportunity to win

  45. AmandaB on January 17, 2013 at 9:39 pm

    Pride and Prejudice!!!

  46. Mary D. on January 17, 2013 at 9:48 pm

    The Scarlet Pimpernel is my favorite, but I’m really enjoying the continuing adventures of the Pink Carnation!

  47. Amanda V on January 17, 2013 at 9:49 pm

    You want me to pick one! just one!??! Oh very well then.. Persuasion!

  48. Lauren R. on January 17, 2013 at 10:30 pm

    The regency novel that started it all for me: Pride and Prejudice. The year: 1995. My sister wanted me to record (on VHS) the BBC version of P &P with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. From that moment i was lost!

  49. Jody M. on January 17, 2013 at 10:34 pm

    Sense and Sensibility.

  50. Caitlin on January 17, 2013 at 10:51 pm

    I love the Pink Carnation series and the Sebastian St. Cyr series as well as the obvious Austin.

  51. Jessica C on January 17, 2013 at 11:29 pm

    Gosh so hard to choose! I’ll be predictable and pick an Austen and a Heyer – Emma by Jane Austen and Arabella by Georgette Heyer.

  52. Cameran on January 17, 2013 at 11:33 pm

    Pride and Prejudice <3

  53. Jocelyn Wang on January 17, 2013 at 11:38 pm

    Wow this harder than I thought. If I HAVE to choose, i’ll pick the Pink Carnation series and Emma. Love Emma’s matchmaking skills!

  54. Sarah on January 17, 2013 at 11:58 pm

    Persuasion, by Jane Austen. Because what’s not to love about second chances?

  55. Ashley P on January 18, 2013 at 1:08 am

    If I have to pick something other than a Pink book, then I would have to say Sylvester by Georgette Heyer. A little romance & oh so funny!

  56. Debbie R on January 18, 2013 at 1:37 am

    The Pink books and Persuasion (my favorite Jane book) are at the top of the list, but I also LOVE Stephanie Barron’s Austen mysteries and Wilkie Collins!!

  57. Allison (Allure of Books) on January 18, 2013 at 2:36 am

    Slightly Tempted by Mary Balogh!

  58. Laura R on January 18, 2013 at 4:32 am

    Jane Austen’s Persuasion. I still vividly remember the first time i read it.

  59. aniko on January 18, 2013 at 6:15 am

    Pride and Prejudice, I guess, since it’s great; it started a wonderful sub-genre; and there are too many Regency-set novels to choose from, so one may as well go back to the queen of all of them! 🙂

  60. Andrea Luciano on January 18, 2013 at 8:05 am

    Pride and Prejudice, hands down. After that, the Pink Carnation series — love all of them, but my definite favorite is Masque of the Black Tulip.

  61. jeffrey on January 18, 2013 at 9:00 am

    Jane Austen’s Emma….my portal into the incomparable realm of romance literature.

  62. Emily on January 18, 2013 at 9:06 am

    Crimson Rose, Secrets of a Lady, the entire Poldark series (sort of fits? It’s Napoleanic in any case…) and anything Austen.

  63. Rebecca B. on January 18, 2013 at 9:15 am

    I’ll add another vote for Pride and Prejudice!

  64. Ashley on January 18, 2013 at 9:49 am

    Vienna Waltz by Tracy Grant!

  65. Becky G. on January 18, 2013 at 9:50 am

    I DO love Pride and Prejudice, but I think I’m going to go with Sense & Sensibility!

  66. Diane on January 18, 2013 at 10:49 am

    Another vote for Sylvester by Georgette Heyer!

  67. Liz on January 18, 2013 at 11:02 am

    Pride and Prejudice, your books and Friday’s
    Child by Georgette Heyer…find that book so charming and fun.

  68. Sue Rice on January 18, 2013 at 11:44 am

    Georgette Heyer’s The Grand Sophy–great fun!

  69. Theresa J. on January 18, 2013 at 12:25 pm

    Lauren, I really love your Pink series!

    The River of No Return looks SO GOOD. Thanks for doing it as a giveaway!

  70. Kylene on January 18, 2013 at 12:45 pm

    I have a lot of favorites, but Persuasion is probably my favorite favorite.

  71. Jorie on January 18, 2013 at 4:07 pm

    I have to attest that although I have been a Janeite for a long time, it took me quite awhile to sink my teeth into Pride and Prejudice. Afterwhich, I think my footing on the Regency era was firmly set! 🙂 I must confess also, that the Pink Carnation had me at “hallo!” as eagerly as “Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy!” I am not sure if Jane Eyre is considered Regency, but I am betwixt knowing which of the three to pick… so I saw simply go with “Pride and Prejudice” as its both timeless and emmesely enjoyable… whether read or watched! 🙂

    Thank you for offering such a wicked sweet giveaway! I am always wondering if there is a time travel book out there that will capture my curiosity and this one,… ooh boy! Did it ever! 🙂

  72. Tiffany on January 18, 2013 at 7:57 pm

    Persuasion is my cup of tea!!

  73. Elizabeth E. on January 18, 2013 at 8:06 pm

    I love love love Venetia by Georgette Heyer. It’s simply one of the best books EVER 🙂

  74. Karen H on January 18, 2013 at 11:44 pm

    The Pink Books!!!

  75. Bekah on January 19, 2013 at 8:36 am

    Other than the Pink books? I really love the Sebastisn St. Cyr books and if we’re going classic, then P&P of course!! 🙂

  76. Am7 on January 19, 2013 at 2:56 pm

    Persuasion is an all time favorite.
    Too many to chose! I am reading Andrea Penrose’s Sweet Revenge and really loving it. (It’s a regency mystery!)

  77. Alice on January 19, 2013 at 3:58 pm

    I love all of Joan Wolfs Regency set novels with a favorite being “The American Duchess.” Also, “Vienna waltz” by Teresa Grant.

  78. Emily on January 19, 2013 at 5:46 pm

    Persuasion!

  79. Heather on January 19, 2013 at 9:19 pm

    you can’t forget Stephanie Laurens Cynster series and Bastion club series, Mary Baloghs Slightly series, Julia Quinns Bridgerton series, Lisa Kleypas Hathaways series ( on another note don’t miss the wallflower series but its set at a later date)Johanna Lidseys Mallory family series, you also can’t forget Julie Harwood and Judith McNaught, I can’t pick just one….

  80. Kiley on January 20, 2013 at 11:54 am

    Oh my goodness that is such a difficult question. The list is too long to just pick one! Austen was my intorduction to Regency based romance and I will forever love her books, but I am goig to have to go with the first Regency Romance written by a contemporary author – Patricia Cabot’s An Improper Proposal. (I also have to mention Gaelyn Foley’s Knight series – they are just too good to not gice a quick shout out too.)

    • Kiley on January 20, 2013 at 11:57 am

      * give

  81. Rhonda on January 21, 2013 at 3:06 pm

    Pride & Prejudice! This book sounds great, so I will definitely have to check it out!

  82. Kari P. on January 21, 2013 at 4:09 pm

    Did you just ask “If a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound?” Talk about a question that is almost impossible for me to answer! Jeez!! If put at gunpoint I guess I would go with “The Gamble” by Joan Wolf or Blood Lily by yourself. Although, does it count as regency if it is in India? I guess so…

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