I’ve been having a little Heyer-a-thon this week.
First The Corinthian
, which I hadn’t read in some years, having decided, on a first read, that it was a little annoying. You can blame Bee Ridgway for this week’s Heyer binge: she spoke so glowingly of The Corinthian, that I had to go back and revisit it. There are some truly brilliant comic moments….
As is always the way with Heyer, once you pop, you can’t stop. (Or something like that.) From there, I moved on to The Quiet Gentleman
, whose hero manages to be quite effective despite his soft tone.
After my experience with The Corinthian, I may have to go back and re-read Faro’s Daughter
, which is another one I wrote off back in my teens and haven’t read since. I’m beginning to think my teenage self may have been somewhat lacking in literary judgment.
Which is your favorite Heyer?
And what have you been reading this week?
I’ve just finished Patricia Neal’s autobiography, which was wonderful. Last night, I started _Minding Frankie_, by Maeve Binchy. (I may have to start collecting her books via used book stores, I love her so much!)
I have read several books on my TBR list in the past several weeks: Jessica Brockmole’s Letters from Skye, Debbie Macomber’s Starry Night, Shana Galen’s Christmas Anthology Christmas at Grosverner Square and Grace Burrowes The Virtuoso.
Planning to start Garden Intrique tonight.
I read Burrowes latest Lady Jenny’s Christmas Portrait. It was pretty good. I just wish GB would pay more attention to historical accuracy when writing her books.
I didn’t care for The Corinthian, but I loved The Quiet Gentleman. Ajax and The Toll Gate have similar heroes. Ajax has one of the most comic scenes ever in a romance. I laugh just thinking about it.
My favorite Heyer is Frederica. I also am a devotee of A Civil Contract……so very unappreciated in my opinion.
I read the new Bridget Jones. It was okay. I loved her children, they made the book for me.
I won an ARC of Drew Chapman’s The Ascendant (author name is important because there are a TON of books with this title) and it was super fantastic. Not the type of book I normally read – political/military thriller involving financial trading stuff and computer hackers – I know nothing about any of the above. But the author is really good about breaking it down simply so you can follow along without feeling like he’s talking down to you. Plot is great, characters are great (even though the main character is a giant arrogant jerk, you still like him) and writing is spectacular. The author is a screenwriter and you can tell he knows what he’s doing. Very highly recommended.
All the Heyer reads mentioned here I have not read yet. I recently read Devil’s Cub out-of-sequence with These Old Shades. Devil’s Cub was GREAT with hero and heroine chasing all over France while getting shot at and ‘pinked.’
In and around the group read of Mansfield Park, I did manage to squeeze in Her Sudden Groom (vol 1) by Rose Gordon. It is a lightweight entertaining read and I’ll probably enjoy vol 2 and 3.
Next up? These Old Shades of course.
Finally finished the bad 4th Doctor Who book and am on to a good 5th Doctor Who book…
I’m currently reading Charming by Elliott James, the first in a new urban fantasy series. Before that I read The Executioner’s Heir by Susanne Alleyn about Charles Sanson, high executioner of Paris. This is the first volume and only covers into the 1760s. And before that I read Dark Diversions by John Ralston Saul, which was less of a novel than a collection of stories about people with various kinds of power (social, financial, and political) linked by a common narrator.
I really really liked Faro’s Daughter. It’s good.
I recently picked up The Corinthian, but haven’t made much headway yet. The beginning was funny.
This week I read Wicked Widow, by Amanda Quick, and finished my Halloween reading. It was creepy and suspenseful, but not my favorite Quick and the romance wasn’t as big an element. The hero and heroine kept having the same conversation over and over.
The first Heyer I ever read was “These Old Shades”. I still love it. I recently finished “Arabella” and “Frederica”. I found both very charming. In Arabella I especially love the conversations the hero has with the dog the heroine saddles him with. And I adore the children in “Frederica”.
I’m just finishing Farewell to the East End. Will start His Majesty’s Hope tomorrow.
What can I say? I love all my Heyers, but These Old Shades will always have a special place in my heart, like a first love.
I just finished Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver. Felt ambivalent. Surely it means something that I agree with parts of both the 5 AND 1 star reviews on Amazon?
I’m onto The Angel Stone by Juliet Dark. The third and last back in the Fairwick trilogy series, it’s about a half-witch teacher that lives in a small town run by faeries, vampires and such. Such a delight to read!
Just finished my umpteenth re-read of my first Heyerdahl, The Grand Sophy, one of her absolute best; also on something of a Heyer-a-thon….These Old Shades, Devil’s Cub, The Quiet Gentleman and Sylvester, or the Wicked Uncle…in the past 3 weeks.
Thoroughly enjoyed Purple Plumeria, too, as all the Carnations.
Nertz to auto correct! That’s supposed to be “Heyer,” not “Heyerdahl”
I adore Heyer! My first experience of her books was reading one of her mysteries “Behold, Here’s Poison” that I found at the public library. It was several months later that I discovered her romances. I still find myself rereading her mysteries as often as her other books. She wrote twelve mysteries, and you can find a list on StopYoureKillingMe.com (a really excellent source of information on mystery authors, titles, and series).
I am currently on an Agatha-Christie-books-with-Ariadne-Oliver kick. Fun!
I have read an re-read all Heyer’s regencies many times since I stumbled across them in the public library as a teenager. I guess I am a little different, but my two favourites are absolutely Cotillion (love that the hero is not the normal style), and Sylvester. These are closely followed by Unknown Ajax, Frederick, and Devil’s Cub, and even Reluctant Widow (which others don’t seem to like as much). Really, I love them all, but Faro’s Child is near the bottom of my list, along with Bath Tangle.
I forgot Quiet Gentleman, another top Heyer for me.