Iāve loved history and historical fiction since childhood and have been writing historical fiction/historical romance for about ten years. To give readers a sense of what life was really like almost three hundred years ago, I do extensive research: the weight of a 1717 French musket, the terrain where my story is set, and guardianship law, among other details. Titled men, gentlemen smugglers, and ballrooms are mostly absent because although theyāre the stuff of daydreams, our most common problems center around family relationships. Making ends meet, difficult relatives, loyalty to family versus honor, or oneās own best interests or duty offer plenty of scope for conflict (and excitement and romance, too).
I hated having to put this book down to sleep, go to work, go back to work, eat, or whatever. I love Heyer's humor.Ā After reading the book many, many times for its warm, feel-good story, I still laugh at some of the predicaments Frederica's adventurous young siblings fall into. And Endymion Dauntry, her silly sisterās cork-brained beau!Ā
Her writing style is polished and the dialogue is witty. The love interest is believable as is not always the case with romance novels. Accuracy in detail and depiction of the period is important to me, too, and Heyer delivers it. The story is engaging and fun without being silly, and as itās an older book, itās free of tedious sex scenes. Itās a feel-good story.
New York Times bestselling author Georgette Heyer's beloved tale of an entertaining heroine stumbling on happiness when her marital machinations for her sister go awry.
Determined to secure a brilliant marriage for her beautiful sister, Frederica seeks out their distant cousin the Marquis of Alverstoke. Lovely, competent, and refreshingly straightforward, Frederica makes such a strong impression on him that to his own amazement, the Marquis agrees to help launch them all into society.
Normally Lord Alverstoke keeps his distance from his family, which includes two overbearing sisters and innumerable favor-seekers. But with his enterprisingāand altogether entertainingācountry cousins chasing wishes andā¦
I like books with strong and sensible female characters and male characters who are not the stereotypical āalpha male,ā thatās why Iāve read this book several times.
When widowed Samantha is faced with the prospect of being forced to live with her hateful in-laws, she neither dithers nor worries about the impropriety of fleeing her home with the help of a male acquaintance. Crippled in the Napoleonic wars, he is feeling somewhat oppressed by his own relatives.Ā
Another āplusā for me is that they do not so much fall in love as slide into it. The tendency of romantic characters to kiss and immediately tumble into lust, if not love, strikes me as unrealistic. I also like good writing and the occasional plot twist, and Mary Balogh excels at both.
After surviving the Napoleonic Wars, Sir Benedict Harper is struggling to move on, his body and spirit in need of a healing touch. Never does Ben imagine that hope will come in the form of a beautiful woman who has seen her own share of suffering. After the lingering death of her husband, Samantha McKay is at the mercy of her oppressive in-laws - until she plots an escape to distant Wales to claim a house she has inherited. Being a gentleman, Ben insists that he escort her on the fateful journey. Ben wants Samantha as much as she wantsā¦
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man sheā¦
This book delighted me. I expected the usual boy meets girl, they fall in love, have a temporary setback, and then makeup. Instead, itās much more complicated than that.
Itās not love at first sight: Evan rescues her small son but is not immediately attracted to her. Widowed Deborah is wary after a disappointing marriage and a childhood with little affection and too much fear. Evanās loving family is of a wealthier and higher social position and is not inclined to accept her.
I very much appreciated that there were real obstacles to overcome on both sides, unlike romances in which the hero and his relations do not boggle at the heir marrying a woman of a lower class with no dowry. I insist on some realism even in romance.Ā Ā
"A stunning and refreshing novel in the Regency genre."First Place Regency, Chatelaine Awards (Chanticleer Book Reviews)
Deborah Moore has learned her lessons wellāfeel nothing, reveal less, and trust no one. Now widowed with a child of her own, she leads a lonely, cloistered existence, counting her farthings and thinking she is safe. When five-year-old Julian is lost one bitter December day, she discovers how tenuous that safety is.
Evan Haverfield has lived thirty carefree years, hunting, laughing, and dancing among London's high society. His biggest problem has been finding excuses not to marry. But his life changes when he findsā¦
This book reminds me of my favorite Georgette Heyer romances in its depiction of the Georgian period. When I read historical fiction of any kind, I want to feel Iām in that time, not reading about modern people in costume.
The story of a blind young woman confined to a country estate because her brother feels she is unable to deal with society was compelling. I liked the characters, and the story carried me along so successfully that I regretted finishing it (after keeping me up after I should have been in bed).Ā
Iām a critical reader, and I couldnāt find a thing in the book to annoy me.
The Marquis de Amberley falls in love with Rosalind, a blind girl, but when he learns that he was responsible for her loss of sight, he is convinced she will never accept him
The Time of Terror: An action-packed maritime adventure of battle and bloodshed during the French Revolution (Nathan Peake Book 1).
The first gripping naval thriller in Seth Hunter's historical adventure series is sure to enthral fans of Julian Stockwin and Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels.
I loved that the hero of this book was illegitimate, raised in a workhouse, is a naval hero and a genius who remembers everything he has read, and is also incapable of tying his neckcloth neatly.
Itās a compelling story with good writing, humor, and a believable love interest, and itās not populated almost exclusively by the titled and wealthy. All those things appeal to me very strongly.
Teaching at St. Brendan the Navigatorās School for workhouse boys intended for the navy, Sailing Master Six and his bride turn frightened, deprived children with no experience of kindness or affection into a family. That made a heartwarming novel that enchanted meāand Iām not easily enchanted. Iāll be re-reading it.
Sailing Master Able Six, Royal Navy, is a man like no other. To call him a mere polymath is to sell him short. Someone with his extraordinary gifts should rise to the top, unless it is the 1800s, where pedigree and money govern Regency society, as sure as Napoleon seeks world domination. A bastard raised in a Scottish workhouse with nothing in his favor except his amazing mind, Able must navigate life ashore on half-pay during the uneasy Truce of Amiens, and find a way to provide for his charming bride Meridee Bonfort, a gentlewoman to be sure, but lackingā¦
Alasdair, a dragoon long estranged from his remaining family, sells out and returns to the family estate summoned by his dying brother, Sebastian, to serve as his childrenās guardian and trustee. Their negligent mother and her wastrel brothers canāt be trusted with their education or the estate.
He hires a governess for the little girls, a woman he loved but was forbidden by Sebastian to marry, the reason he turned his back on his home. She is now a widow and needs to find a new home now that her brotherās family will soon need the room she is occupying. This book is about conflicting duty, love, and family, about taking chances and second chances.
David Fletcher needs a surgeon, stat! But when he captures a British merchantman in the Caribbean, what he gets is Charley Alcott, an apprentice physician barely old enough to shave. Needs must, and Captain Fletcher takes the prisoner back aboard his ship with orders to do his best or heāllā¦
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother hadā¦
