I have read one regency in my entire 29 years. The Obedient Bride by Mary Balogh. I liked it. I think I blogged about it but I am too lazy to look and that isn’t what this post is about anyway.
The great, grand and wonderful Keishon has a TBR Challenge going on and May was Regency. Now since I suck, I missed it. But it did get me thinking about reading them and I have picked up a few now.
I keep hearing how Mary Balogh trads are better than her historicals, so I was reading up on them here and here and good god they sound depressing.
I mean is it just me? I have picked up The Incurable Matchmaker (Signet Regency Romance) and was looking to see what else might be nifty to try. Idea’s? Her website says:
And I am constantly being asked too about republication of my older books. Finally there is news on this front! The Secret Pearl will be on sale again in an all-new edition (but with no changes to the text!) at the end of November, 2005. The WEB trilogy (The Gilded Web, Web of Love, Devil’s Web) has also been acquired, though these books have not yet been scheduled. And my novella “A Handful of Gold” will reappear in the Harlequin anthology Christmas Keepsakes this year with all-new stories by Julia Justiss and Nicola Cornick. I’ll post covers for these books with more details about them on Home Page as soon as I have them.
So I know I will be able to get those at some point. Anyway – rec away.
oh other regency’s I have picked up:
Scandal’s Reward (A Zebra Regency Romance) and Rogue’s Reward (Zebra Regency Romance)by Jean R Ewing
An Unforgettable Rogue (Zebra Ballad Romance) by Annette Blair
The Purloined Papers (Signet Regency Romance) by Allison Lane
and the above mentioned The Incurable Matchmaker by Mary Balogh
Which should I read first?
Never read these, so I’m useless to you. *sob*
I’ve heard good things about MB’s OOPs, so I’ll probably pick some up.
Ack. I’m with your. Mary Balogh is one of those authors that I can’t read. I don’t hate her writing but it comes close. And I definitely agree that her books always sound depressing to me. That I can do without.
And THE SECRET PEARL . . . oye. I don’t think I made it through the first chapter before giving up. Actually, it may have been the prologue.
But I’ve loved some traditional Regencies over the years. Of course, since I tend towards humor in a big way, the ones I really like are writers like Emma Jensen & Barbara Metzger. One of top favorite romances of all times is BEST LAID SCHEMES by Jensen. It’s probably one of the funniest books I’ve ever run across with both character and physical humor in it that works.
Oh…I just heard that Zebra is discontinuing their trad Regencies.
Beverly
hee I do like her longer stuff 😉 but the trads I have only tried one. THE SECRET PEARL is one I go back and forth on. Part of me wants to read it and part of me is scared of it 😉
Nicole:
Where did you hear that?
I think I heard it on kate Rothwell’s blog.