Book recs?

[telophase]

Specifically Regency romances, which I appear to be in the mood for. I recently read Carla Kelly's Summer Campaign, which I enjoyed, but then picked up another of hers, Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand, in which I am totally bogging down, and I think it's because of the ahistoricity.

*waits for people to stop laughing*

Yeah, yeah, I know they're all terribly not historically accurate, but the easy intimacy and informality between the hero and heroine is so incredibly modern that it's throwing me out of the book hardcore. (Well, it kind of exists in Summer Campaign as well, but there they had an excuse for it!)

Anyway. Suggestions? Preferably ones available in ebook format as I guard what precious little shelf space we have jealously and don't really want to fill it with books I'll only read once. :)

Comments

[oracne]

The shorter Regencies or the longer Regency historicals? I love Jo Beverley, who started with the short ones and moved into the longer ones; ditto Loretta Chase and Mary Balogh.

DEDICATION by Janet Mullany.

Newer authors: Susanna Fraser is fairly lightweight - I think hers are only ebooks. Christine Merrill does category Regencies. Rose Lerner is fun.

For Kelly, I'd also rec ONE GOOD TURN, THE WEDDING JOURNEY, and maybe THE LADY'S COMPANION, though that one is angstier.

[telophase]

It depends on the book, really, and whether I bounce off it or not. :)

Thanks! I've sent another batch of samples to my Kindle.

[oracne]

You are most welcome!

[intothespin]

I was going to try to do descriptions, but I am already late, so:

I second the Loretta Chase, Mullany, and Rose Lerner recs -- I was going to recommend Lerner's Sweet Disorder. The Lady's Companion is my favorite Kelly.

Sarah Lockhart's The Echo is the most period-accurate Regency I've read in a while (I think she went back to the original sources rather than Heyer), and has lovely prose. It is angsty, though, and includes a (non-explicit) rape.

Sheila Simonson's Lady Elizabeth's Comet and A Cousinly Connection.

These are all available in ebook.

[telophase]

Thank you! Samples sent!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I love Courtney Milan's books. She has two historical series (neither of which is truly a Regency; The Brothers Sinister series is set in the 1860s, and The Turner Series is set in the 1830s). In regards to historical accuracy, they've got a lot of wish fulfillment (she has a lot of gay relationships, interracial relationships, people with disabilities, class issues, feminism, etc, all of whom have happy endings), which bothers some people, but it really works for me and she's clearly done a ton of research.

I also adored "Untamed" by Anna Cowan, which is not historically accurate at all, but doesn't pretend to be anything other than trope-y goodness. The hero spends most of the book dressed as a woman, for example.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I see the first book of The Brothers Sinister is currently priced at free, which is excellent. XD It's now on my Kindle, and I've got samples of the others. Thanks!

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I love Milan too, but in terms of attitudes and how the characters relate to each other, she's substantially less historically accurate than Carla Kelly. She has historical incidents without historical attitudes. It's not the happy endings for minorities, it's the casualness, openness, and quick intimacy with which men and women interact, and people regarding this method of interaction as normal.

I don't know of any Regency romances that are historically accurate, actually.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I don't know of any Regency romances that are historically accurate, actually.

Surely Jane Austen, hm? XD

(OK, technically, late Georgian rather than Regency. And the inspiration for the genre rather than the genre. OKAY I THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY.)

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I nearly said Jane Austen, but decided those were not really Regency romances.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

It means I got a one-liner in, so I approve.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Yes, sorry, I didn't mean to imply anything negative about the people for whom Milan doesn't work. I was just trying to summarize in what way she's historically inaccurate – and doing so very quickly because I had to rush off – but, uh, I didn't actually manage to convey that very well.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Oh, I didn't think that! Sorry if I sounded snippy. I was just thinking that if Kelly's relationships seem too modern for a reader, Milan's are even further along that scale.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

The Brothers Sinister book was free, so if it turns out I hate it, I'm out only my time. :D

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Ha, well, I haven't read Kelly, so that's probably true! I wasn't sure what type of historical inaccuracy we were talking about: relationships, clothing, politics, now Napoleon has dragons, etc.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Carla Kelly is more on the restrained relationships side than Milan, and more accurate in general. Minus her tendency toward bizarre names like Omega and Scipio Butterworth.

[wyrdness.livejournal.com]

I'm not much of a Regency Romance reader, but I am currently (nearly finished) reading Sabrina Jeffries When the Rogue Returns, which hasn't made me want to chuck in across the room because of stupid misunderstandings (it has them, they just end up talking them out like normal people). Technically it's the second of a series, but I never read the first one and it's made no difference to me. It also manages to include nobles but not the ton as it's primarily set in Edinburgh and the author seems to have forgotten that rich people in Scotland could be just as snooty as anyone in London.

I kind of remember liking Sarah MacLean's A Rogue by Any Other Name but I don't remember anything about it now and all my notes seem to say is "I liked Penelope". Thanks past me, very helpful. I know I only read it because an author I like mentioned it on their blog, which is perhaps not a glowing recommendation...

Other than that... Hmm, I can't recall anything I'd actually want to recommend (at least not to someone I like and don't want to get brain lesions from Teh Stupids).

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Samples sent! Thank you! (And wow...the dresses on those covers are so incredibly not Regency! XD)

[wyrdness.livejournal.com]

Technically I think both of the ones I suggested are early Victorian rather than true Regency (not that the genre seems to care about that trifling small detail), but yeah, I know what you mean about the cover dresses (and their disappearing corsets).

[telophase.livejournal.com]

The description on the second one claims "Regency-era," but they may be doing that to market it to Regency readers. XD

[wyrdness.livejournal.com]

I went back and checked and it seems that both of them are set in the latter Regency/mid-Georgian period, but I thought I should also come back and mention they're not very "starchy" (because I'm not a big fan of that) so you probably wouldn't be able to tell anyway.

I've now moved on to Amanda Scott's The Bawdy Bride, which is not only completely mis-titled, it begins in 1799 and so isn't a proper Regency either. XD However, the setting is more formal than the others I suggested and if you can get past the first 35% which involves a lot of "good little wife" nonsense and metaphorical pats on the head (I'm sure not every marriage could have been so condescending back then no matter how awful the laws were and general aristocratic beliefs and morals) things start to pick up. I'm still reading it because of the suddenly mute niece who is implied to know something about her mother's (apparent?) suicide and the "secret" misogynistic sexual deviant lurking about preying on the maids who I want to know if I've properly identified (it seems obvious but at the same time I'm hoping that in a twist it'll turn out to be some "harmless" guy that's been slinking around in the background unnoticed).

I still claim I'm not a proper Regency romance reader no matter what my current reading list looks like. I'm just holding out until I can find Robinson Crusoe in space. XD

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I'll give the sample a try, thanks! :D

[badtzphoto.livejournal.com]

I've enjoyed the "Poor Relations" series by Marion Chester/M.C Beaton. It's about a few people who are considered relations that had to depend on their wealthier counterparts for their livelihood. They got together and ran a posh hotel. It's fun and short. The first one in the series is "Lady Fortescue Steps Out." I can't remember if you had read Georgette Heyer, my favorite is "Sprig Muslin."

[telophase.livejournal.com]

The description of the first book in the Poor Relations series sounds so familiar that I think I've read it before, some time ago. I may even have read a few others in the series. Hmmm.

I've read various of Heyer's novels, but can't remember if Sprig Muslin was one of them. I should probably download the sample and see. XD

Thanks!

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Oh, Sprig Muslin is really fun! I assumed you already knew about Heyer. She's not super-accurate either, but the attitudes are way closer than I've seen in any recently-written Regencies.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I'm finding out there are some conventions I'd prefer that lip service was paid to. I think Summer Campaign worked for me while Mrs. Drew isn't is because there's a reason for the forced intimacy in it (although the way he blithely dismisses all the heroine's PERFECTLY ACCURATE points about why he shouldn't marry her is a bit enh for me, but it's near the end so it didn't stop me). In Mrs. Drew, the wealthy divorced man is a bit forward even for a 21st century man, I feel! also his name is Fletcher and I don't have good associations with people of that name

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Hey, I have a couple of them out. Ebook form, too.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's right! :D Samples sent to Kindle!

[kungfufighting.livejournal.com]

Courtney Milan is a definite yes. Also Loretta Chase. Excellent, witty dialogue. :)

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D