Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered: pamelad reads more romance

The romance addiction continues. Good historical romances are becoming harder to find, probably because over the last few years I've read hundreds of them, but it's an ever-expanding field, so you never know what will pop up. I'll be back to list my 2023 favourites.

The same tropes come up again and again, so they'll be the categories, with a special category for steamless.

1. Second Chance Romance


The Major's Mistake by Andrea Pickens
The Highlander’s Christmas Quest by Anna Campbell

2. Marriages of Convenience



Unforgivable by Joanna Chambers
Tender the Storm by Elizabeth Thornton

3. Friends to Lovers

4. Enemies to Lovers Not a favourite because I don't like to read about people bickering, but you never know!



My Once and Future Duke by Caroline Linden
The Lady Plays with Fire by Susanna Craig
The Lord of Lost Causes by Kate Pearce
The Highlander's English Bride by Anna Campbell
The Highlander's Defiant Captive by Anna Campbell
The Clergyman's Daughter by Julia Jeffries

5. Nursed Back to Health A surprising number of aristocratic men fall off horses in unfamiliar places and are found unconscious by poverty-stricken heroines. Occasionally a potential heroine shoots the hero by mistake.



Miss Gordon's Mistake by Anita Mills

6. Reforming the Rake



The Reasons for Marriage by Stephanie Laurens
A Lady of Expectations by Stephanie Laurens
An Unwilling Conquest by Stephanie Laurens
A Comfortable Wife by Stephanie Laurens
Tangled Reins by Stephanie Laurens
Fair Juno by Stephanie Laurens

7. On the Shelf Wallflowers, Spinsters, Governesses, Companions....



His Dark and Dangerous Ways by Edith Layton
Sinfully Yours by Kathleen Ayers

8. Tortured Hero/ Tortured Heroine



That Sweet Enemy by Dinah Dean
The Madness of Viscount Atherbourne by Elisa Braden
The Highlander's Defiant Captive by Anna Campbell
The Highlander's Christmas Countess by Anna Campbell
The Highlander's Rescued Maiden by Anna Campbell

9. Steamless and closed-door



Miss Gordon's Mistake by Anita Mills
The Country Cousins by Dinah Dean
The Major's Mistake by Andrea Pickens
Libby's London Merchant by Carla Kelly
One Good Turn by Carla Kelly
The Diabolical Baron by Mary Jo Putney
Carousel of Hearts by Mary Jo Putney
The Five-Minute Marriage by Joan Aiken
Ursilla and the Baron's Revenge by Alicia Cameron
The Viscount's Sinful Bargain by Kate Archer
The True Darcy Spirit by Elizabeth Aston
The Second Mrs Darcy by Elizabeth Aston
A Conformable Wife by Alice Chetwynd Ley
The Courtship of Chloe by Dorothy Mack

10. Adventures: Spies, Criminals, Pirates .... Abductions, Harems, Highwaymen.....



Pirate Next Door by Jennifer Ashley
The Pirate Hunter by Jennifer Ashley
The Care and Feeding of Pirates by Jennifer Ashley

11. Bargains ... Kindle Unlimited, KoboPlus, Cheapies from BookBub, Freebies



Fortune Favors the Viscount by Caroline Linden Kindle Bargain
Satyr's Son by Lucinda Brant Kindle Unlimited
Regency Pirates by Jennifer Ashley KoboPlus
Miss Gordon's Mistake by Anita Mills KoboPlus
The Country Cousins by Dinah Dean KoboPlus
That Sweet Enemy by Dinah Dean KoboPlus
The Madness of Viscount Atherbourne by Elisa Braden KoboPlus
Libby's London Merchant by Carla Kelly KoboPlus

12. Winners Books that are a class above; new authors worth reading more of......



The Smile of the Stranger by Joan Aiken

13. Why did I bother? Sometimes I reach the end and sometimes I get half-way and can't be bothered continuing.



A Pirate for Christmas by Anna Campbell

The Rest

Say Yes to the Princess by Charis Michaels
The Rogue's Return by Jo Beverley
Bluestocking Bride by Elizabeth Thornton
Sinfully Tempted by Kathleen Ayers

The List

December, 2023

Lady Charlotte's Christmas Vigil by Caroline Warfield
Fortune Favors the Viscount by Caroline Linden
When the Marquess Was Mine by Caroline Linden
Satyr's Son by Lucinda Brant
The Pursuits of Lord Kit Cavanaugh by Stephanie Laurens
Pirate Next Door by Jennifer Ashley
An Earl Like You by Caroline Linden
The Pirate Hunter by Jennifer Ashley

Read in 2024

January
My Once and Future Duke by Caroline Linden
The Lady Plays with Fire by Susanna Craig
Watch the Wall, My Darling by Jane Aiken Hodge
The Care and Feeding of Pirates by Jennifer Ashley
Miss Gordon's Mistake by Anita Mills
The Country Cousins by Dinah Dean
The Truth about Cads and Dukes by Elisa Braden
The Madness of Viscount Atherbourne by Elisa Braden

February

The Major's Mistake by Andrea Pickens
Say Yes to the Princess by Charis Michaels
Libby's London Merchant by Carla Kelly
One Good Turn by Carla Kelly
Unforgivable by Joanna Chambers
The Diabolical Baron by Mary Jo Putney
Carousel of Hearts by Mary Jo Putney
The Lord of Lost Causes by Kate Pearce
The Rogue's Return by Jo Beverley
Sinfully Wed by Kathleen Ayers

March

Tender the Storm by Elizabeth Thornton
Bluestocking Bride by Elizabeth Thornton
The Highlander's Defiant Captive by Anna Campbell
The Highlander's Rescued Maiden by Anna Campbell
The Highlander's Christmas Countess by Anna Campbell
The Reasons for Marriage by Stephanie Laurens
A Lady of Expectations by Stephanie Laurens
An Unwilling Conquest by Stephanie Laurens
A Comfortable Wife by Stephanie Laurens
Tangled Reins by Stephanie Laurens
Fair Juno by Stephanie Laurens
Tangled Reins by Stephanie Laurens
The Highlander’s Christmas Quest by Anna Campbell
A Pirate for Christmas by Anna Campbell
Fair Juno by Stephanie Laurens

The List

April

The Five-Minute Marriage by Joan Aiken
Ursilla and the Baron's Revenge by Alicia Cameron
The Viscount's Sinful Bargain by Kate Archer
His Dark and Dangerous Ways by Edith Layton
The Clergyman's Daughter by Julia Jeffries
The True Darcy Spirit by Elizabeth Aston
The Second Mrs Darcy by Elizabeth Aston
A Conformable Wife by Alice Chetwynd Ley
The Courtship of Chloe by Dorothy Mack
Sinfully Tempted by Kathleen Ayers
Sinfully Yours by Kathleen Ayers

I'm so glad you're doing a romance thread again -- looking forward to many BBs!

Love your topics and title! I wanna be more like you, Pam, and lighten up and enjoy my reading more!

Lol the title!

So of the three adjectives in your thread title, which is the most common descriptor of your heroes and heroines? I'm guessing "bewildered".

>18 christina_reads: I'll be haunting your thread in search of book bullets as well.

>19 Tess_W: I've had to banish that pretentious literary conscience that sits on my shoulder telling me that I should be reading something demanding and intelligent. We have to let ourselves enjoy a bit of froth!

>20 majkia: I can hear Ella Fitzgerald singing it in my head. It's my second favourite, after Begin the Beguine, but that title didn't lend itself. Welcome!

>21 NinieB: There's an awful lot of bothered ones too. All those misunderstandings in the middle of the book that keep the heroine and hero apart. The unsympathetic parents who are putting obstacles in the way of the heir to the dukedom marrying a pickpocket. The pickpocket's qualms about fitting in with the ton!

Looks fabulous! Although I read lots of Georgette Heyer, etc as a teenager, I haven't really been reading in this genre for a while. Except for Bridgerton - I am enjoying that. Penelope is my favourite wallflower/spinster ever!

Your thread promises to provide a lot of fun reading material. I'll be looking for BBs.

I have been closely following your romance read threads both for the humor and for some book bullets. I will certainly be placing a star here and following along.

I'm glad to see you're back with this. It is such an entertaining way of reading romance vicariously.

Yay, another romance reader! Enemies to lovers happens to be my favorite romance genre, funny enough. Maybe some of your reads will help me expand my romance reading horizons.

Sidenote: What are book bullets??

>23 JayneCM: It's a slippery slope! That's how I started - with a re-read of Georgette Heyer. Look out!

>24 VivienneR: Hoping to find many plenty of books worth bulletting in 2024: witty, grammatical, appealing characters, and not too long.

>25 DeltaQueen50: Thank you! It's a thin line between ridiculous and stupid, but books that strike the balance are very entertaining.

>26 MissWatson: Welcome! Perhaps 2024 is the year for taking the plunge!

>27 beccac220: Welcome! When people read a review that appeals, then add the book to their wish list or rush out and buy it, it's a book bullet. I'll be looking for your thread in the hope of finding some.

I do love your romance reviews and I'm looking forward to following along here, and to some BBs if you find any hidden treasures!

>30 MissBrangwen: Welcome! Some of my favourite writers haven't published anything for ages e.g. Loretta Chase, Laura Kinsale, so I hope there are some new writers of the same calibre, just waiting to be found.

>31 pamelad: Is The Difficult Dukes serries by Chase any good?

>32 Tess_W: A bit ordinary, but Loretta Chase is never terrible. Probably a bit too much steam for my comfort, but as I remember it's skippable, not like some books that have steam on every page. My favourite series is the Carsington Brothers.

>33 pamelad: Ok, I just requested a hold for Miss Wonderful.

>34 Tess_W: I hope you enjoy it. I really like Loretta Chase's sense of humour and her writing style. There's too much steam, but you can't have everything.

Good luck with your reading this year.

>36 lowelibrary: Thank you!

Normally I avoid using historical romances for CATs and challenges because I see these books as a guilty pleasure, but in 2024 I'm going to use them fill as many Bingo squares as I can squash them into.

So far the possibilities are: Eternally Yours: Roxton Letters for the epistolary square; a recent book by Mary Balogh or Loretta Chase (eagerly awaiting the next book in the Difficult Dukes series) for an author over 65; a soldier hero for the warrior or mercenary square (lots of heroes fight in the Napoleonic Wars); a book from a similar library; person's name; set in a city....Perhaps I could use them for every square.

I think it sounds like a lot of fun to fill your entire bingo card with a single genre.

Hello Pam - I love your categories! I'll definitely be following along for some recommendations.

>39 RidgewayGirl: I hadn't considered filling the whole card with them, but it's a good idea!

>40 susanj67: Welcome. Some witty, grammatical new writers would be a very good find, so fingers crossed!

>38 pamelad: Yay for Regency romance Bingo! I'll definitely be following along. :) I had forgotten that Balogh and Chase are both over 65, so thanks for helping me fill that square! I am really hoping for Chase's third Difficult Dukes book this year.

>42 christina_reads: Another possibility, not a romance, is Janet Evanovich. And Patricia Veryan wrote a lot of books after she was 65, so she's also on my list: The Harlequin Trilogy; Tales of the Jewelled Men; The Riddle Saga.

>16 pamelad: Romance Bingo is ready to go!

14. Historical Romance Bingo

Starting the Romance Bingo right now because I just read a book with twins in it. Lady Charlotte's Christmas Vigil by Caroline Warfield is a novella and has the usual novella problems: not enough space for character development or plot. Lady Charlotte, who is on the shelf and contemplating a tedious future as a useful aunt, is accompanying her twenty-year-old brother on a continental tour when he is stricken with fever. The doctor is a handsome widower with twin sons.

14. Historical Romance Bingo Set in a City (London).

Fortune Favors the Viscount by Caroline Linden is the fourth book in the Wagers of Sin series, but I read it first because at the moment it's a bargain at only $A1.49 on Kindle. I enjoyed it, so will probably read the others.

Viscount Sydenham has died without an heir, leaving a bankrupt estate and a small daughter, Lucinda. Emilia Greene, Lucinda's governess, is determined to protect her charge from the evil man whom Sydenham has designated her guardian, and has, with painstaking research, found an heir on a distant branch of the Sydenham family tree. Now she must persuade him to petition the court for the Viscountcy and take responsibility for Lucinda. He is Nick Dashwood, owner of a successful gambling club, and in no need of a viscountcy. But he is very impressed by Emilia.

Lively, grammatical writing, a fast-moving plot and engaging characters make this an entertaining read. (It's shocking that good grammar and correct spelling and vocabulary are not a given in historical romances. There are many sub-amateur writers in this genre, but Linden is a professional.)

I have The Pursuits of Lord Kit Cavanaugh by Stephanie Laurens ready to go for the Author over 65 square, and just remembered that Laurens was born in Sri Lanka, so could also fit in the POC square. Perhaps I'll read two of hers. I quite like her writing, but her books are excessively steamy and in her best-known series, The Cynsters, all the heroes seem the same. I'll have a look for another series, unrelated to the Cynsters and available in the library. Perhaps another book in the Cavanaugh series will be a goer. Laurens lives in Melbourne.

For the Another Cultural Tradition square I have The Hidden Blade by Sherry Thomas, which has been sitting on my Kindle for ages. It's partly set in China, where Thomas was born.

14. Historical Romance Bingo Paper-based item in plot

When the Marquess Was Mine by Caroline Linden

I enjoyed the fourth book in the Wagers of Sin series, so went looking on Overdrive and found the third book, which I also liked. The advantage of reading a series backwards is that the happy ending is certain, so you can relax. Georgiana Lucas is staying with her friend Kitty, who has just had a baby, when Kitty's idiot husband loses their house to the Marquess of Westmoreland in a card game. (The deed to the house is the paper-based item.) The Marquess is on his way to Kitty's home to restore the deed when he is waylaid by thugs and left for dead. Georgiana finds him and, to ensure that Kitty doesn't throw him out of the house, tells her that he is Georgiana's fiance, Sterling. When the marquess finally wakes up, he has lost his memory.

Nice and cheerful. A bit of steam, but not over the top. Engaging characters and an entertaining plot. I've put the other two books on hold in CloudLibrary.

14. Historical Romance Bingo About Friendship

Satyr's Son by Lucinda Brant

Lord Henri-Antoine, the younger son of the deceased Duke of Roxton, suffers from epilepsy and is accompanied everywhere he goes by large minders. His illness meant that as a child he had little freedom, so he manages his life so that his attacks are never public and pretends to his family that he has recovered. The heroine, Lisa Crisp, is an orphan who has been reluctantly taken in by a female cousin who is married to a doctor. Lisa works in the doctor's dispensary and helps his illiterate patients by writing letters for them. She first meets Henri-Antoine when he is on the verge of an attack. They meet again when he visits to thank her, and due to an unlikely set of circumstances end up at a house party for Henri-Antoine's best friend's wedding. The friendship between Henri-Antoine and his friend Jack is an important aspect of the book.

I enjoyed this Cinderella story. Lisa Crisp is much too good for Henri-Antoine who often behaves petulantly and childishly, but he has the advantages of being wealthy and gorgeous.

14. Historical Romance Bingo Author over 65

The Pursuits of Lord Kit Cavanaugh by Stephanie Laurens

In a fit of enthusiasm for Historical Romance Bingo I bought this book, so felt obliged to finish it. Apart from filling the bingo square it's not worth the trouble, because it's so dull and repetitive that I skimmed many chapters. Lord Kit is setting up a yacht-building business in Bristol, where he comes across Sylvia Buckleberry whom he's first met at his brother's wedding. They've both been hiding their attraction to one another but now, having undergone personality changes for the sake of the plot, they're getting to know one another. Sylvia runs a school for the children of dockworkers, and Kit's quite saintly too.

Sylvia is in danger from a man she's never seen, but whose malevolent influence she feels. He manifests himself late in the book and turns out to be someone we've never heard of!

I cannot recommend this book.

The ultimate summer reading list: 15 novels about love, lust and sex to devour

This article is from The Guardian, and has some excellent historical romance recommendations. One I haven't read is Courtney Milan's The Duke Who Didn't, which is only $A.99 on Kindle. I'm planning to read it for the POC author square because Milan is of Chinese heritage. POC is not a term we use in Australia, and I'm uncomfortable with both it and the category. I'm assuming it covers everyone who doesn't trace their ancestry back to Europe.

The only other historical I haven't read is The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite, which I have added to my Overdrive wish list.

The same article has recommendations for contemporary romances as well. Can't tell how good these are because I only read historicals. Mistake! I read Polo years ago and really enjoyed it.

14. Historical Romance Bingo Book from a similar library
10. Adventures: Spies, Criminals, Pirates

Pirate Next Door by Jennifer Ashley

I was bemoaning the absence of a pirate square until I remembered Similar Libraries. Lo and behold! Fifteen people in my top 100 similar libraries have this book. Top of the list is LadyWesley.

The widowed Alexandra Alistair has a list of potential husbands. Her first husband turned out to be a mistake who abandoned her for a life of licentiousness, so this time she is looking for a solid, respectable man who will be a good father. But then Grayson Finlay, Viscount Stoke, moves in next door. He went to sea at twelve, became a pirate, and is now back in London after inheriting a viscountcy from a distant cousin. He had recently discovered that he was the father of a twelve-year-old girl so he is undertaking a mission from the British government on the understanding that if he succeeds he will be pardoned his pirate crimes.

I liked Alexandra, who is an appealing mixture of naivete and pragmatism. The plot is ridiculous, as you'd expect when you see "pirate". A cheerful, frothy, entertaining read.

I borrowed a three-book collection, Regency Pirates from KoboPlus, and am looking forward to The Pirate Hunter and The Care and Feeding of Pirates.

2. Marriages of Convenience

An Earl Like You by Caroline Linden

Eliza Cross doesn't realise she's entering into a marriage of convenience and, indeed, her husband Hugh Deveraux likes her very well. But he's just inherited a bankrupt estate and Eliza's father has bought up Hugh's father's debts. If Hugh doesn't marry Eliza, he won't be able to look after his mother and sisters and may well be imprisoned for debt. If he does marry her, Cross will pay off all the debts and provide an enormous dowry as well. After the marriage Hugh falls in love with Eliza.

The main point of the book is "what will Eliza do when she finds out?" It's not enough.

14. Historical Romance Bingo Featuring water (lots of sailing)
10. Adventures: Spies, Criminals, Pirates

The Pirate Hunter by Jennifer Ashley is the second book in the Regency Pirates series and not nearly as enjoyable as the first one. Too many sex scenes, too much violence, unappealing characters. And I need to know that Lieutenant Jack, a minor character with amnesia, gets his life back.

James Ardmore is the pirate hunter, a damaged and violent man seeking revenge for the death of his brother. He's from the premier family of Charlston. Diana Worthing is a beautiful woman with a nasty, violent husband. The plot doesn't make a lot of sense and neither do the characters. But I really liked the first one, Pirate Next Door.

>53 pamelad: Argh to the plot!

I'll be following your reading again in 2024! I always find interesting books on your thread.

>55 japaul22: Welcome, Jennifer. Here is my second thread, with the books I publicly admit to reading!

4. Enemies to Lovers

My Once and Future Duke by Caroline Linden

Sophie's father, the younger son of a viscount, was disowned on marrying an opera singer so, when both her parents die, she has noone. Her miserable old grandfather pays for her schooling then casts her adrift. She is pretending to be a widow and is supporting herself by gambling at the Vega Club. A reckless admirer, brother of a duke, is giving her a hard time and she'd like him to go away, but the duke turns up at the Vega Club to pay his brother's debts and assumes that Sophie has been fleecing him. He wagers $5000 against a week of Sophie's company.

This was a bit too ordinary. The writing is good, but the story is boring. It doesn't help that I read the Wagers of Sin series in reverse as the books became available at the library. I liked the last two, which I read first, the most.

4. Enemies to Lovers

The Lady Plays with Fire by Susanna Craig

Graham McKay, Lord Dunstane, is a Scottish earl who has lived through too much tragedy and is the last surviving member of his family. He inherited an earldom ridden with debt, and is restoring it to profitability from his earnings as a playwright. He's a sad and bitter man who writes cynical comedies under the name Blackadder (a distracting choice because of the famous British television series). His latest is an attack on literary critics, in particular Miss on Scene who writes for Mrs Goode's magazine for independent young women.

Miss on Scene is Julia Addison, sister of Captain Sterling and sister-in-law of Laura from Better off Wed in the Live and Let Spy series. She has taken over Laura's role of companion to Mrs. Hayes, who is Laura's aunt. Mrs Hayes and Laura share a love of the theatre, and it is at Covent Garden that they first meet Lord Dunstane, who is instantly attracted to Julia. This is a familiar plot, so it needs characters with wit, charm and sparkle to lift it from the mundane. Graham and Julia can't quite manage it.

This was a pleasant read, but I didn't find the characters engaging. I hope that the mysterious, frizzy-haired illustrator, who is potentially much more interesting, will be the heroine of the next book.

Thank to Kensington Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

So far I'm the only person with this book so I'm counting it for the fewer than 100 square of the BingoDOG.

ETA Changed my mind. It will be published in 2024, so will fit in the 24 square.

Searching Amazon for best-selling historical romances. Not many belong to my favourite Georgian, Regency and Victorian eras, and of those I've read a few (surprise!) but I'll check out some of these Kindle Unlimited books:

Married to a Wicked Duke by Harriet Caves #1 in Regency Romance
Three Rules to Wed a Duke by Patricia Haverton
Wolf in Duke's Clothing by Debra Elizabeth
Her Infuriating Earl by Tiffany Baton

So many dukes! Mainly American authors love dukes.

Fortunately I can tell in a few sentences whether a writing style is bearable, so I've rejected all of these. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

14. Historical Romance BingoDOG

On my other thread I've reviewed The Shuttle by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It's not really historical fiction because it's set in the time it is written, but it was first published in 1907, so in that sense it's historical. I'm counting it for the Only Title and Author on Cover square because the most common publication on LT is the Persephone.

This is a stretch, but it will do!

Stopping by and YAY for romance edition continuation! I am all for comfort reading this year.

>61 lkernagh: Absolutely! We all need a break from the state of the world.

10. Adventures: Spies, Criminals, Pirates .... Abductions, Harems, Highwaymen.....

Watch the Wall, My Darling by Jane Aiken Hodge

After reading Dragonwyck (reviewed on my other thread), which is a classic Gothic novel with a wonderfully dark and twisted villain and a witless heroine, I checked the Goodreads 20th Century Gothic list for another and found this. Such a disappointment!

This heroine is far from witless. She's a feisty American girl who arrives at her grandfather's dark mansion and sorts everyone out. She takes over the housekeeper's job, and the bailiff's. She has no time for the restrictions of British society. I loathed her.

There's no one villain, just an erratically-behaved French spy and some misguided smugglers. The grandfather had potential, but he's no problem to the heroine. There are two cousins, an effete short one (the heroine is tall) and a well-built handsome one who loathes women because his mother is a piece of work. He's a British spy and the head of the smuggling gang.

There is no Gothic atmosphere, very little tension, and a confused plot.

10. Adventures: Spies, Criminals, Pirates
14. Historical Romance BingoDOG Set in multiple countries

The Care and Feeding of Pirates by Jennifer Ashley

Honoria, sister of James Ardmore from The Pirate Hunter is in London keeping her brother's new wife company when she sees a man she had thought dead. He is Christopher Raine, a pirate who was once a friend of James, captured by him and sentenced to hang. He and Honoria have a history, a particularly unlikely one.

This is the third book in Ashley's Regency Pirate series. The first one is by far the best.

>16 pamelad: I've started a list of the Historical Romances I've read. It starts in December 2023, when I had a romance binge brought on by my enthusiasm fro Historical Romance Bingo, but really my aim is to read fewer romances in 2024, which won't be difficult because I'm running out of good ones. So far this year I've read four, which is less than a quarter of my total reading so far this year. Good!

Still looking for well-written historical romances with wit, charm, originality, historical detail and good grammar.

5. Nursed Back to Health

Miss Gordon's Mistake by Anita Mills

Kitty is a feisty young woman brought up in America. On her father's death she comes to England to live with his sister, but with her independent American ways she finds it difficult to obey the restrictive rules of polite society. Her cousin Jessica is in love with a neighbouring viscount but they can't marry because she was secretly married at sixteen to a reprobate earl. Kitty decides to help by kidnapping the earl and persuading him to agree to an annulment, but she kidnaps the wrong man. They are attacked by highwaymen.

This was light and frothy, with humour, but American heroines who show the British what's what are best suited to American readers.

It's close enough to steamless.

>65 pamelad: I quite enjoyed the first book in the 12 Days of Christmas Mail Order Brides series - The Partridge: The First Day by Kit Morgan. Quick and easy reading. The whole series is on KU.
I see there is another similar series, focusing on holidays throughout the year, starting with Ophelia: A Valentine's Day Bride. I will try this as well at some stage.

Thanks, Jayne. So far my range has been narrow, mainly Georgian to Victorian Britain, but I might eventually have to venture out to other countries and time periods. Laura Kinsale's mediaeval books and Stella Riley's 17th century books are on my list so far. (On the topic of westerns, I recently watched the 1935 film Barbary Coast. Miriam Hopkins and Edward G Robinson are excellent. It's on Kanopy.)

I'm currently reading Daphne duMaurier's The King's General, which belongs in my other thread because it's historical fiction rather than historical romance, but I'm mentioning it because it's set in the seventeenth century during the British Civil Wars. It's hard to read about this war, so the book is taking a while even though it's is well-written and interesting. It's putting me off Stella Riley's Roundheads and Cavaliers series.

9. Steamless

The Country Cousins by Dinah Dean

Caroline Barnes, daughter of a wealthy textile merchant, had no idea that her mother had a sister until her lost aunt's step-son, Robert Hartwell, turned up at the Barnes' house in Stepney. His parents were trapped in France, unlikely to return home soon, and he'd been left in charge of his wilful, cantankerous half-sister. Robert hoped he'd be able to persuade Mrs Barnes to allow one of her daughters to stay at his family's country house and keep his sister Julia company.

This was a pleasant, innocuous read with a bit of humour. There are spies, smugglers, a wicked deceiver and a dog named Horatio who was a bit too cute for me, but might be an asset to other readers. Caroline is none too keen on Robert in the beginning, and isn't inclined to trust him, but we all know how these things go.

Dean also wrote The Cockermouth Mail, which is a level up on this one.

8. Tortured Hero

That Sweet Enemy by Dinah Dean (writing as Marjorie May)

In 1803 the orphaned Mary Burns, who lives in a lonely, isolated English village, is travelling through Europe with her neighbours when war breaks out again. By an error of judgement, they've in a Swiss town which is controlled by the French. Captain Armand Dufour, a man too seriously wounded to ever return to battle, has the power to decide whether Mary's party can continue their journey to England, or be interned for the rest of the war. Dufour has good reason to wreak vengeance on the English and there's a very nasty story of how he received his wounds. Dufour makes a bargain with Mary. Her companions can leave if she will stay and marry him. There's a problematical wedding night that's much too rapey by current standards, but it isn't graphic.

This was a departure from the usual ton trivia, and there was some interesting historical detail, so I liked it. Not frothy though, and I had some reservations. It was first published in 1982.

>69 pamelad: Am always looking for steamless romances, so adding this to my wishlist :)

>71 bookworm3091: In case you're interested, here are last year's steamless romances: https://www.librarything.com/topic/345458#7964318

It's not easy to find entertaining, lively, steamless romances. One of my favourites is Lady Elizabeth's Comet by Sheila Simonson. I can't quite remember whether it's absolutely steamless, but I have a feeling that it is.

8. Tortured Hero

The Madness of Viscount Atherbourne by Elisa Braden

The first book in the Rescued from Ruin series, which has the advantage of being free on KoboPlus. Lucien Wyatt, Viscount Atherbourne, survives the Battle of Waterloo and arrives back in England to find that his brother and sister are dead. He blames the Duke of Blackmore for both deaths and schemes to punish him by ruining his younger sister, Victoria. But Victoria is a lovely young woman who doesn't deserve to be banished from society to see out her days as a lonely spinster, so Lucien comes up with another plan.

I've read a few books from this series, out of order, and this is the best one so far. I've given it a respectable three stars.

I have started the next book in the series, The Truth About Cads and Dukes, in which the Duke of Blackmore is behaving unducally. His character changes to meet the requirements of the plot. It won't take me long because it's almost All Steam, No Plot. Not quite, because snippets of plot interrupt the steamy scenes.

13. Why did I bother?

The Truth about Cads and Dukes by Elisa Braden

An absolute shocker. The Duke of Blackmore marries a shy, bespectacled, plump frump, Jane Huxley, to save her from the consequences of his brother's nasty prank. He's always found her tiresome, and is in the habit of pointing out her faults and telling her off, but he's suddenly overcome with lust and must prevent himself from falling in love, apparently because his horrible father trained him to avoid all emotion. He has lapses, of course, because most of the book consists of Jane's and the duke's sexual congress. But he feels terrible after!

On top of that, he's been christened with the name Harrison, perhaps the only man in Regency England ever to have borne it. I'm just relieved that Jane wasn't called Madison.

>74 pamelad: Haha, I'll pass on the book, but I'm glad it generated this review!

>72 pamelad: Thanks for the list! Added a whole bunch of them to my TBR! :)

My favorites so far have been Georgette Heyer's books

9. Steamless

The Major's Mistake by Andrea Pickens

Seven years ago when he was callow and stupid, Julian Grosvenor, now a marquess, divorced his wife Miranda because of a misunderstanding, and joined the army. Miranda is living in poverty with a small son, of whom the recently returned Julian is unaware. She's a fabulous mother and a supremely capable herbalist who has dedicated her life to her son, and to serving the poor. She can also turn her hand to a bit of surgery.

The divorce is the first problem with this book. In Regency England a divorce took years, cost a fortune, and required an act of parliament if the protagonists were to be allowed to re-marry. It was not something to be undertaken on a whim. This plot belongs in a thirties screwball comedy, and even then you'd expect the warring couple to come to their senses before the divorce was finalised. It should begin on the train to Reno with a blonde, marcelle-waved wife who is wearing arctic fox and an inappropriate evening dress cut on the bias.

The second problem is the cast of cliched cardboard characters, particularly the nauseatingly perfect Miranda.

The third is the kitchen-sink plot. There's a trio of violet men fomenting revolution in Britain in order to support the French in the Napoleonic Wars. They've recruited some poverty-stricken villages and broken up some looms. Looms? They appeared from nowhere. Why are farmhands destroying looms? Are there weavers in the village?

The fourth is the language. I do not expect English villagers to say, as though they were American cowboys, "Ain't gonna...." ( Australian and British English have separate sounds for "u" and "o" and "gonna" uses the wrong one. Mom/mum is another example. They don't sound the same.)

The fifth is the boys' own adventure morality. After a fist fight men become firm friends? Spare me.

Apparently Andrea Pickens has won awards for her historical romance writing. Perhaps she's written some much better books?

>76 bookworm3091: Georgette Heyer is the best! You might like Clare Darcy, who wrote Heyer knock-offs.

Looks like Loretta Chase has finally finished book #3 in the Difficult Dukes series! Of course, it'll still be several months at least before the book comes out, but I'm still excited! https://lorettachase.com/blog/2024/1/12/at-long-last-she-wrote-the-end

>78 christina_reads: Great news! I'm eager.

The Rest

Say Yes to the Princess by Charis Michaels

Elise, a French princess, witnessed her father's execution in revolutionary France, but was spirited away and taken to England. For years she's led a dull, restricted life at the royal court, but on trip back from a seaside holiday with Queen Charlotte and her daughters, she catches sight of a man she believes is her lost brother. The King has his reasons for leaving the young man unfound and employs Killian Crewes, the Royal Fixer, to distract Elise.

It's not steamless, but there's nothing too graphic.

Charis Michaels is patchy. I've enjoyed some of her books, but this is one of her bad ones. Killian and Elise are two-dimensional, so their romance holds little interest. The characters speak contemporary American English.

9. Steamless

Libby's London Merchant by Carla Kelly

Libby Ames's grandfather disinherited her father for marrying a woman of a lower class and now that he is dead Libby, her younger brother and her mother have been taken in by her uncle. An unlikely condition of Libby's grandfather's will specifies that her uncle cannot give any money to Libby's family on pain of losing his inheritance, so he has employed Libby's mother as a housekeeper. Libby is unmarriagable because she has scandalous parents and no dowry.

Nez is an alcoholic duke, suffering from PTSD after Waterloo. His friend, an impecunious earl, persuades Nez to trick his way, disguised as a confectionary salesman, into the home of an heiress, Lydia Ames, in order to find out whether she is bearable enough to marry. Nez has a curricle accident and ends up convalescing at the heiress's house, where he mistakes Libby for Lydia and falls in love. Libby's other suitor is a clumsy, overweight doctor.

This was OK, but the plot depended on too many things that just wouldn't happen and there were a lot of Americanisms.

It's available in KoboPus.

9. Steamless

One Good Turn by Carla Kelly

Benedict Nesbit, the alcoholic duke, has stopped drinking and is trying to be a better man. On the way to one of his country estates he comes across a young woman trudging along the road with her small son and is prepared to drive past, but his butler shames him into taking the pair up into his carriage. Because the woman, Liria Valencia, is unmarried Benedict assumes she is little better than a prostitute, but as he comes to know her better he realises that he is quite wrong and that there is a tragedy in Luria's past.

There's no overt religion in Kelly's books, but they carry a religious message all the same. I prefer romances that don't preach so obviously.

2. Marriages of Convenience

Unforgivable by Joanna Chambers

Rose Davenport's father has arranged for her to marry Gil Truman, but she doesn't know that Gil has been forced into the marriage by his father, who lost all his unentailed properties to Rose's father at cards. Rose is recovering from a serious illness and is thin, frail and covered in scabs, so after an unsatisfactory honeymoon Gil leaves his wife at a country estate and returns to London where he lives the life of a single man. Five year later Rose, who has recovered her looks and wants a real marriage, seeks Gil out.

Even after five years, Gil is remarkably petulant and resentful. It doesn't look as though he and rsoe will be able to get their marriage on track.

I liked Chamber's writing, so I enjoyed this one. Most of her books are about relationships between men, but she's written a few traditional Regencies which are being re-titled and re-published in the Unmasked series. This is the first, and I'll keep an eye out for the others.

Using this for the Ugly Cover square because my ebook has a picture of a sad sack on the cover.

9. Steamless and closed door

The Diabolical Baron and Carousel of Hearts by Mary Jo Putney

The Diabolical Baron is Putney's first novel, a traditional Regency and, as Putney says, a debt to Georgette Heyer. I liked it better than her later books because it is steamless and almost free of religion. The baron, Jason Kincaid, has never forgotten his first love, but he is thirty-five now and it's time he was married. He settles on Caroline Hanscombe, who doesn't want him but is coerced into the betrothal by her greedy father. He invites Caroline on a visit to his country estate, and because Carolin's stepmother is not available to act as chaperone, she takes her young, widowed aunt. A complicated situation develops, involving Caroline, her aunt, Jason and a neighbour. They are all far too noble to follow their inclinations, so misunderstandings ensue.

Carousel of Hearts is another early Putney, with a similar plot to The Diabolical Baron: two well-meaning mismatched couples. The two women are very similar to Caroline and her aunt in The Diabolical Baron, except that the meek, artistically gifted one is a widow rather than a debutante. The men are different though. There's a cousin who has been in India making his fortune, and his friend, a blindingly handsome, absent-minded scientist. Once again the wrong people are matched.

I liked both of these, but they are far too similar and they dragged a bit. They're free in KoboPlus, which makes up for a lot.

>84 pamelad: I listened to my first novella by Mary Jo Putney last year (When Strangers Meet) and while it wasn‘t my favourite, it wasn‘t terrible either. I took note of these two because like many others here I prefer steamless romances.

>85 MissBrangwen: Novellas can be iffy because there aren't enough pages to get to know the characters and the plot either rushes to a conclusion or barely exists. If there's also a chapter or two of steam, there's not much space for anything else.

It's good to see these steamless vintage romances being republished. There are lots of early Mary Balogh books around too, and they're much shorter than her later books. A good thing!

4. Enemies to Lovers

The Lord of Lost Causes by Kate Pearce

The widowed Caroline Harding has been rejected by her husband's family and is struggling to support her mother and two sisters. When Caroline's mother steals the rent money for their mill town slum, Caroline strikes a desperate bargain with her landlord, Captain Francis Grafton, a bitter man who cares only for making money.

There was a lot of steam, which I skipped. The book is attempting to depict the desperate lives of the poor and there is a lot of historical detail, so Caroline's choice is probably realistic, but I didn't want to read about someone being coerced into a sexual relationship. In the afterword the author says she is attempting a mash up between Pride and Prejudice and North and South.

Kate Pearce has many pseudonyms, one of which is Catherine Lloyd, the author of the Kurland St Mary Regency mysteries.

16. The Rest

The Rogue's Return by Jo Beverley is the twelfth book in the Company of Rogues series, which started off being about a group of friends from Harrow, but expanded to include assorted hangers on. Simon St Bride is one of the originals but he's been away in Canada for four years. In order to deflect an insult from the honour of a young woman he accuses a colonial official of corruption and is challenged to a duel. Circumstances demand that Simon marry the young woman, Jancy, who is hiding a deep, dark secret.

Good writing. Moves along. Not too steamy.

>88 pamelad: I have Once A Soldier by this author in my audible library since it is for free. It seems like the Company of Rogues series is not available, at least not in Germany.

>89 MissBrangwen: There are rogues everywhere! I looked for Once a Soldier and found that it's by Mary Jo Putney and is part of her Rogues Redeemed series. Jo Beverley has another series, The Mallorans, as well as the Company of Rogues series. Also worth looking for.

>90 pamelad: Oh, you're right, I mixed them up because they are both called Jo! I'll keep Jo Beverley in mind.

>90 pamelad: "There are rogues everywhere!"

For a few months of my library career, I was responsible for putting together the book lists for our branch librarians to order from. And the thing that struck me about the romances was the ubiquity of dukes. The Duke Who Loved Me, Captured by the Duke, The Duke's Dashing Nephew, The Duke and the Nursemaid (all titles made up) -- Duke this and Duke that. It was never Captivated by the Count, Enamored of an Earl, Banging the Baron. Did I just stumble across a weirdly unrepresentative sampling of the genre? What is it with dukes?

>92 KeithChaffee: American historical romance writers love dukes. Many of them are not much concerned with historical accuracy and have seriously overestimated the duke population. The heroines have 21st century American attitudes and speak contemporary colloquial American English. I try to avoid them.

11. Bargains

Sinfully Wed by Kathleen Ayers is the first book in the Five Deadly Sins series.

The sins are the Sinclairs, the second family of the Earl of Emerson. He married his mistress, an actress who has never been accepted in society. When the Earl dies his heir, the awful Bentley, banishes the Sinclairs to a distant, crumbling property in the north of England. Jordan, the eldest Sinclair, tries to support the family by raising pigs. When Bentley dies he leaves a mountain of debts that have been bought up by the ruthless and unscrupulous Whitehall, who is using the debts to force Jordan to marry Odessa Whitehall.

There were too many steamy scenes in carriages, but I enjoyed this short and entertaining book. I'm skipping the next book in the series for now and have bought the third for $1.50. They're all on Kindle Unlimited, but at the moment I'm not a member. I'll rejoin when I have a longer list of KU books to read.

Sinfully Mine by Kathleen Ayers

The third book in the Five deadly sins series. I'm abandoning it because two unlikely characters fall into insta-lust and that's it. I'm 41% of the way through and can't be bothered. "When will they end up in bed?" is not a plot.

The first book was promising, so this is a disappointment.

Since the beginning of the pandemic I've read hundreds of historical romances, and would read more but haven't been able to find any. I have abandoned so many for bad grammar, incorrect vocabulary, dead prose, waffle, all steam no plot......

>96 pamelad: Sounds like you're a little burned out on the genre. Which I'm sorry to hear (especially since I enjoy your reviews and recommendations), but maybe stepping away from historical romances for now might be the way to go?

>97 christina_reads: I'll keep looking for good historical romances, but yes, it's probably time for another type of froth. I've just watched the 2023 season of the Great British Sewing Bee, which is light and cheerful. The competitors are not at all ruthless and are happy to give each other a hand. (My own sewing skills end with sewing on buttons and hemming).

2. Marriages of Convenience

Tender the Storm by Elizabeth Thornton

France during the Terror. Seventeen-year-old Zoe Deveraux is hiding in a boarding school disguised as a much younger girl. Her beautiful older sister Claire is masquerading as a music teacher, her younger brother Leon has disappeared, and her parents are in jail facing execution. Zoe is rescued by an English spy, Rolfe Brockford, Marquess of Rivard, who is pretending to be a follower of Robespierre. Rolfe combines his spying responsibilities with rescuing people like Zoe and taking them to England. He is impressed by Zoe's bravery, and revolted by his attraction to a girl he believes is only thirteen. Later, when Rolf realises that Zoe is old enough to wed he marries her to protect her, but plans on a white marriage until she is older.

I quite liked this because there's a lot of plot and plenty of historical detail, and I didn't mind the writing style. The drawbacks are: it's too long; Rolfe is an arrogant alpha-hole; there's a sexual encounter that these days could be defined as rape.

I considered reading the next book in the series because I wanted to know what happened to Claire, but the blurb says that the revolutionary functionary, whose mistress she became in order to save her family, is really his American twin brother who is a spy. I just couldn't!

Thornton was born and brought up in Scotland, then emigrated to Canada as an adult. Mary Balogh and Jo Beverley also emigrated to Canada from Britain, so it's beginning to look like a mass migration of romance writers.

15. The Rest

Bluestocking Bride by Elizabeth Thornton

The Marquis of Rutherston promised his mother that he would marry when he turned thirty, and the time has come. He meets the witty and intelligent Catherine Hartland, who studies ancient Greek, and is smitten. She's smitten too, but is worried that he's a domineering alpha-hole, and she's quite right. Problems ensue. The ending is twee.

This was nice and short, with witty repartee. Once again though, an unappealing hero who takes the whole book to realise the error of his ways.

This vintage romance was first published in 1987, the era of the bodice ripper. In the two Thonton books I've read the steamy bits are not as lengthy or as graphic as they are in contemporary romances, but the heroes are very iffy. On the positive side, there aren't chapters of sentimental gush, and the heroines, though feisty and intelligent, aren't carrying on careers as herbalists, spies or pseudonymous portrait painters.

13. Why did I bother?

A Most Suitable Duchess by Patricia Bray

A beagle breeder becomes a duke when his estranged uncle dies. The uncle's heir died just before his father, leaving vast debts that the beagle breeder must pay. He will inherit his uncle's unentailed fortune only if he marries before he turns thirty, in a fortnight's time. A drunken evening with his brother results in an ad for a wife being published in the newspaper.

The author can't even get the titles right, which is unforgiveable in an historical romance. There's so little historical detail that it's hard to identify the period, but it's probably Regency because people are travelling around in carriages and being gossiped about by the ton.

4. Enemies to Lovers

The Highlander's English Bride by Anna Campbell

Wrong touchstone, so I'll have to add the book and come back. Added, but the touchstone isn't working yet.

Emily is the daughter of an astronomer. She has worked closely with her father and is a gifted scientist, so when she tells Hamish that there's an error in his calculations he should take her seriously. They're at a scientific soiree, and he takes her into the garden to argue in private. Everyone assumes the worst and there's such a scandal that they have to marry. Will they be able to sort out their differences? It doesn't look promising.

There's not much to the story but I liked it because I'm a fan of Anna Campbell who doesn't take herself too seriously, and because there are no dukes.

4. Enemies to Lovers

The Highlander's Defiant Captive by Anna Campbell

Campbell's The Lairds Most Likely series is available in KoboPlus (as are most of her books) so I've downloaded a pile of them. This one is set in 1699. The Drummonds and the Mackinnons have been feuding for centuries and Hamish Mackinnon wants to restore peace, so he abducts Mhairi Drummond, the laird's beautiful daughter. His plan is to marry her, unite the clans and stop the killings. But Mhairi would rather die than marry a Mackinnon, and her father doesn't want to end the feud.

This was a bit wearing because of the Scottish dialect. Lots of bonnie lassies and braw laddies. Not one of Campbell's better efforts, but her grammar is correct, her writing is lively and there's historical detail. There's steam, but it doesn't dominate the story.

6. Reforming the Rake

The Laird's Christmas Kiss by Anna Campbell

Elspeth Douglas has always been infatuated with Brody Girwan, but now that she's twenty she's decided to get over him. Brody hadn't noticed Elspeth before, but now that she's decided to stop worshipping him and actually talk to him, he's very much attracted. But Elspeth can't accept that Brody is really interested in her.

A short, pleasant nothing.

8. Tortured Heroine

The Highlander's Christmas Countess by Anna Campbell

Christobel Urquart, who is really a countess, has run away from her evil stepbrother and is working as a stable boy. Fortunately, the laird's nephew is around to give her a hand.

This one is a novella, so there's not much space for character development. The hero is kind and handsome. The heroine is brave and beautiful. But correct grammar and a dearth of dukes make up for a lot.

8. Tortured Heroine

The Highlander's Rescued Maiden by Anna Campbell

The father of the beautiful Ellen Cameron imprisoned her in a tower on a remote island because she has a limp. Will Mackinnon is blown off course in a storm and seeks shelter in the tower. Fortuitously the usual six armed guards are absent so, despite her fear, Ellen allows Will to stay in the tower. She is brave and beautiful and he is kind and handsome, like the hero and heroine of the previous book, but this book is longer and even sillier.

Despite my loyalty to Anna Campbell, who is Australian, I cannot recommend this book. I skimmed most of it, but since it's free with KoboPlus that's not a problem.

Sounds like Anna Campbell might be worth a try -- I'll see what I can find at my library.

>107 christina_reads: Anna Campbell is patchy. I liked the Dashing Widows series and the Sons of Sin series best. There's steam, but it's not the be-all and end-all.

I've been reading the early books of Stephanie Laurens, which are much lower in steam, and shorter, than her later books. I've read all four books in the Lester Family Saga, starting with the third, which was a Kindle bargain. I read them in the order 3, 4, 2, 1, which worked well because 1 was the longest and my least favourite, so I might not have continued had I read it first. I also read Tangled Reins, another early one and also a Kindle bargain. Because I ran out of cheap/free early Laurens books I borrowed On a Wicked Dawn on Overdrive, but it's all about erections already.

6. Reforming the Rake

The Lester Family Saga by Stephanie Laurens

The four books in the Lester series were published from 1994 to 1997 and are much less steamy than Lauren's later books, which is a very good thing. Although all the heroes are rakes, the books are pretty much closed door.

The Lesters are well-connected but untitled.

The Reasons for Marriage

Lenore Lester, who is twenty-four and uninterested in marrying, manages the household and the accounts for her father and three brothers. She hides her attractiveness behind glasses and frumpy clothes s that her brother's friends won't notice her. The Duke of Eversleigh never intended to marry, but the death of his younger brother and heir means that he needs to produce a couple of sons, so he is looking for a sensible and competent woman to be his duchess. He plans to settle her on a country estate and continue his hedonistic life in London. Alttough he and Lenore are very much attracted to one another, they refuse to admit to any deeper feelings.

I quite liked this but it was my least favourite book of the series because: there's a duke; he's high-handed and pompous; the problems are all due to a lack of communication and could easily be solved.

A Lady of Expectations

Jack Lester is the oldest son and it's time he married. His father is unwell, and when Jack realises how happy the old man was to see Lenore settled, he decides to get a move on. He meets Sophie Winterton at a neighbour's ball and things are going well until gossips tell her that Jack needs to marry an heiress, which isn't true because Lenore made some fortunate investments and the Lesters are now wealthy.

An Unwilling Conquest

The next Lester son is Harry. He meets the young widow, Lucinda Babbacombe, when her carriage is overturned. Accompanied by her stepdaughter, she's on her way to Newmarket. Harry feels obliged to keep an eye on Lucinda because there's a race meeting on, and because he's concerned that her carriage was overturned deliberately.

This was my favourite of the series because Lucinda is an appealing character and so is Harry. There's a malevolent cousin in the background, plotting to take over the guardianship of Lucinda's stepdaughter so he can control her fortune. Mr Babbacombe left his businesses to his daughter and Lucinda, and Lucinda has turned out to be a very competent manager.

A Comfortable Wife

We met Lord Philip Ruthven in the previous book when he stepped up to keep an eye on Lucinda when Harry had to leave London. Having seen how happy his friends from the first three books are with their wives, he has also decided it's time to marry. Alicia, a family friend who has known Philip since childhood, has spent the last eight years looking after her mother, who has recently died. Alicia, who has always loved Philip, is now twenty-four and hopes that Philip will accept her as a "comfortable wife", a woman to bear his children, manage his home, and refrain from interfering in his life.

6. Reforming the Rake

Tangled Reins by Stephanie Laurens

This is the author's first book. The Marquess of Hazelmere has just inherited the property next door to Dorothea Darent, so when he comes across her blackberrying alone on his new estate he doesn't realise she's a lady and kisses her passionately. Very iffy! Dorothea is comfortably off and independent and has decided not to marry, but the kiss gives her second thoughts and the marquess is a determined suitor.

I don't remember much of this book, having read it a week ago. It was pleasant but generic. The characters didn't make much of an impression.

>110 pamelad: That initial scene sounds identical to Georgette Heyer's Venetia! But I'm guessing the Heyer is a lot better.

>11 pamelad: Readable, but nowhere near as good as Venetia. The Heyers with a single name title are among my favourites: Frederica, Arabella and Venetia.

13. Why did I bother?

A Pirate for Christmas by Anna Campbell

He's not a pirate. He's an ex-navy captain. She's the bossy daughter of the vague local vicar. Nothing much happens, and even though it's a novella I skimmed a lot of it.

Perhaps Anna Campbell knocked this off over a rainy afternoon.

1. Second Chances

The Highlander’s Christmas Quest by Anna Campbell

Malcolm has been searching for his lost love for twelve years, and finds her on Christmas Eve. The young lovers were cruelly separated by his parents, and Rhona believed that Malcolm had disowned her when she was desperate and pregnant.

This novella was OK.

A Buccaneer at Heart by Stephanie Laurens

This one is terrible from the get-go, so I'm stopping early. Having no luck with pirates today.

6. Reforming the Rake

Fair Juno by Stephanie Laurens

Another early Laurens, 1994. The plot doesn't hang together well, and elements have been re-used in other books by Laurens. The hero and heroine meet when the hero interrupts her kidnapping. She keeps her name secret (?!) because she is the widow of a scoundrel, which is not a good reason. The motive for the kidnapping, which we find out at the end of the book, doesn't make a lot of sense either, and nor does the problem keeping the hero and heroine apart in the sagging middle of the book. It's still closed door, but getting steamier.

Worth reading if it's free. Laurens loves a rake.

2. Marriages of Convenience
9. Steamless

The Five-Minute Marriage by Joan Aiken

Thanks to aviatakh for this recommendation.

Philadelphia Carteret's widowed mother was disowned by her family for marrying beneath her station and Philadelphia is barely supporting them both by working as a music teacher. The father of two of Delphie's pupils encourages her to visit her great-uncle, a Viscount, and demand financial support. The miserable old man appears to be close to death, and his heir, a cousin who Delphie meets for the first time, persuades her to pretend to marry him in a fake ceremony.

Highly entertaining. There's not a lot of romance, but that's OK with me because I usually skip steam and declarations of undying love. There's humour, a mystery and some villains, and the hero and heroine become more and more appealing as the book goes on.

I borrowed the book from the OpenLibrary, and have bought another of Aiken's Regency sort-of romances, Deception aka If I Were You. Joan Aiken is the sister of Jane Aiken-Hodge who also writes historical romances but takes herself much more seriously.

9. Steamless

Ursilla and the Baron's Revenge by Alicia Cameron

I've enjoyed Cameron's Fenton series, so was pleased to see that there was an addition, but this one's a disappointment. A young man dies at Waterloo and asks his friend, Baron Edmond Grant, to look after his younger sister, Ursilla. Grant delays, and is guilt-ridden when he finds that Ursilla has been terribly injured.

The villains were too ludicrously villainous; the heroine was too self-sacrificing; there's a far-too-cute maid; there was a lot of psychological guff. I was bored, and skipped a lot of waffle to get to the end.

9. Steamless

The Viscount's Sinful Bargain by Kate Archer

A light and undemanding read, which I quite enjoyed. But there are six dukes! That's so wrong, and I had to put it out of my mind.

>116 pamelad: Ha! Title could be describing modern day marriages, especially Hollywood!

>119 Tess_W: Fortunately, despite a bad start, the hero and heroine grew more attached: Hollywood in reverse. I think you might like it.

7. On the Shelf

His Dark and Dangerous Ways by Edith Layton

Simon is a viscount who used to be a spy. Jane is a baronet's daughter, left alone and impoverished, supporting herself by teaching children to dance.

I like Edith Layton's books and this one is quite readable, but it's too colour-by-numbers with a plot that makes little sense and characters we've seen many times before. Layton's books aren't steamless but they're closed-door, or nearly so.

>121 pamelad: The closed-door aspect is good to know...I haven't read anything by Layton but will put her on my list of authors to try. Just maybe not this particular book!

>122 christina_reads: There are lots of Edith's books on KoboPlus, along with other vintage romance writers like Anita Mills, Laura Kinsale and Barbara Metzger. I've read that writers get a much better deal with Kobo than with Amazon, hence the wider range of books available. But if you didn't have a Kobo ereader, I suppose it would take a few steps to download books from Kobo.

Edith Layton likes alpha-holes. Beware!

4. Enemies to Lovers

The Clergyman's Daughter by Julia Jeffries won a Rita Award in 1984. I liked the writing, and the story zapped along, but I had two huge reservations. The first is that the heroine is the widow of the hero's younger brother, and until 1921, according to the consanguinity rules of the Church of England, a man couldn't marry his brother's widow. (I know this because I have read a million Regency romances and am keen on facts.) Here is a brief explanation.

The second reservation is that the hero is brutal. Unlike the heroine, I find this quality revolting rather than appealing.

>124 pamelad: I am not a huge romance reader, but I found the article very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

>120 pamelad: I put it on my WL!

>125 lowelibrary: Here are some articles by Jo Beverley. Some interesting historical bits and pieces including names common in Regency England, and English titles. You'd think that with this information so readily available, there'd be no excuse for getting these things wrong. I truly have come across a woman named Madison in a Regency romance!

>126 Tess_W: It has a lot of company there!

9. Steamless

The True Darcy Spirit by Elizabeth Aston

I've read a few books lately by Elizabeth Edmonson, who also wrote Jane Austen follow-ons under the name Elizabeth Pewsey. Just to confuse things, they've been republished under the name Elizabeth Aston. I don't usually read books based on Jane Austen's because they're never going to compare well, but in this one Jane and Darcy are distant background figures so it doesn't really matter.

Cassandra Darcy fell in love with a half-pay officer and eloped, but decided not to marry him and is now ruined. Her mother and step-father have disowned her and she has come to London to find work as a drawing teacher. Jane's distant cousin, Horatio Darcy, is a solicitor who has been employed by Charlotte's stepfather to pressure her into marriage with the officer, so their acquaintance starts on a bad footing.

This took forever to get moving, but it's readable. No blatant anachronisms, grammatical mistakes or incorrect vocabulary, and not too long. My expectations of historical romances are so low!

>127 pamelad: Thank you for the additional articles.

>124 pamelad: This is really interesting! Somehow I thought that, if necessary, it was common to marry your brother's widow to save her from financial ruin, but apparently I was wrong - or maybe not totally wrong, because it was a bit different for poor people, as the article explains.

A note about this topic on the side: I grew up in an old house in the west of Germany that belonged to an elderly woman, and there were many old black and white pictures in the hallway. Two were wedding pictures, and the groom was the same man. I was totally confused by this as a child, but the woman explained to me that after her mother's death, her father married her aunt (her mother's sister) - so this must be where I got the idea from at a young age. This was not a poor family, they had a farm and a butcher's shop, but still they were not upper class. The marriage must have happened in the 1910s.
It is not easy to find information about this, but it seems that in Germany the rules were different than in England and such marriages were not forbidden.

>127 pamelad: Thank you for linking the articles. I read the one on names and found it to be very interesting because since I started reading these romances, I have wondered about the names. Currently I am listening to Make Me Love You by Johanna Lindsey and the female protagonist is called Brooke, which feels so wrong. I couldn't find any information about if that name already existed back then, but the sound feels so off for that time and I don't think it was a common name even if it existed.

>130 MissBrangwen: That's interesting about the two wedding pictures. It probably was different in Germany, because the English marriage rules come from the Church of England. It could also have something to do with entailed estates, because if you can leave your property to anyone you like, no one would gain an advantage by having a marriage declared invalid.

I was looking up the rules in Australia, and found that here, today, in the 21st century, it's legal for a woman to marry an uncle or nephew and for a man to marry an aunt or niece. I'd thought that the rules of consanguinity were based on preventing inbreeding, but that's a close genetic relationship, closer than first cousins!

I've read two books by Johanna Lindsay and didn't like either of them. She gets such good reviews that I thought perhaps the first was an aberration, but the second was just as bad. They're not really historical. Brooke indeed! What next? Skye falls in love with Jayden?

>131 pamelad: I have only started with the book and yes, so far it does not seem really historically. I do like the atmosphere of this particular story (a bit gothic), so I'll continue and see how it goes.
"Skye falls in love with Jayden?" That made me chuckle!

>130 MissBrangwen: That was not uncommon in the U.S. in the 17-19th centuries.

>130 MissBrangwen: Jo Walton has talked about what she calls "the Tiffany problem." The name Tiffany is hundreds of years old, but it's perceived as being so contemporary that a writer of historical fiction simply can't use it because the reader will think it's anachronistic. The language-focused podcast The Allusionist interviewed her about that; the episode is about 28 minutes long:

https://www.theallusionist.org/allusionist/tiffany

9. Steamless

The Second Mrs Darcy by Elizabeth Aston

Octavia's mother was an inn-keeper's daughter who married a baronet, then died in childbirth. Octavia's half-brothers and sisters have always loathed her and treated her as a poor relation. They sent her to India to find a husband and she married Captain Darcy who has since died, leaving her with very little money. An aunt from her mother's side of the family, whom Octavia had never known, bequeathed her a fortune, so Octavia returns to London and sets up her own establishment. The half-siblings are furious, and Captain Darcy's wicked heir wants to get his hands on Octavia's fortune. Fortunately, Sholto Rutherford (an earl?) is there to lend a hand.

An easy, pleasant read which I liked better than The True Darcy Spirit because it got moving a lot faster.

I also started Mr Darcy's Daughters, but have put it aside because of a dull beginning.

A Conformable Wife by Alice Chetwynd Ley

Ley wrote Georgette Heyer knock-offs. Some of them are a bit dull, but this was a good one. Henrietta is twenty-five and almost on the shelf because after her mother died she devoted herself to caring for her father and sisters. Now that her father is dead Henrietta's brother has taken over the estate, and his wife wants Henrietta to get married and move out. Henrietta has had two offers, both for marriages of convenience, but she wants more, so when a widowed school friend invites her to stay in Bath, Henrietta is pleased to go. One of her rejected suitors realises that he is much keener on Henrietta than he thought he was, and follows her there.

There's a mystery about Henrietta's friend's husband, a charming Irishman who might not be all he seems, a disaster-prone school girl, and a ship captain who is in love with Henrietta's friend. A pleasant read, with historical detail and engaging characters.

Many of Alice Chetwynd Ley's books are available in KindleUnlimited, for which I currently have a free two-month subscription.

9. Steamless

The Courtship of Chloe by Dorothy Mack

Chloe, daughter of a doctor, agrees to help her godmother's sister, Lady Montrose, plan her daughter's wedding. The daughter, Mary, has been railroaded into the betrothal and is desperately unhappy but too weak to stand up to her mother. Mary's older sister, Patricia, has recently been widowed and has gone into a decline, leaving her young daughter to be looked after by servants. The younger brother is a careless flirt and Ivor, the earl, is perfect. Chloe sorts everyone out, despite interference from nasty Lady Montrose.

This took a long time to get started. It's full of descriptions - clothes, furniture and decor, landscape, flower gardens and flower arrangements - which I found tedious, and both Ivor and Chloe are a bit too perfect for my liking. But it's grammatical and readable, with historical detail and no glaring anachronisms.

Available on KindleUnlimited.

8. Tortured Hero

Rules for Engaging the Earl by Janna MacGregor

Jonathon, an earl's heir, left home at seventeen to become a sharp shooter in the Napoleonic Wars (unlikely!), leaving behind his best friend Constance and telling her not to wait. Now he's back, crippled by a leg injury and with the threat of court martial (absolutely undeserved) hanging over him. He has become a hermit but when Constance, who married a man who turned out to be a trigamist, asks him to marry her to make her unborn baby legitimate, he agrees.

I liked Constance and Jonathon and wanted everything to work out for them, but the book had plenty of drawbacks. It's really gushy, with public declarations of love and devotion. Jonathon's dog takes up too much space. There's little historical detail. The characters speak contemporary US English.

I'm pretty sure I read the first book in the Widow Rules series, A Duke in Time, but I haven't recorded it. Or perhaps the description seems familiar because there's another similar series, The Three Mrs by Jess Michaels. I've read the first one, The Unexpected Wife. Janna MacGregor is a better writer than Jess Michaels, whose every second word is "like".

The Rest

Sinfully Tempted by Kathleen Ayers is the second book in the Five Deadly Sins series. The sins are the Sinclairs, off-spring of an earl and an actress. They're notorious because their mother was the earl's mistress, and married him when his first wife died. The earl's heir, half-brother to the Sinclairs, ruined the estate before he died, so the Jordan Sinclair, the new earl and the subject of the first book is trying to restore it. This book is about Jordan's beautiful, belligerent sister, Tamsin, and the eccentric Duke of Ware.

I'm enjoying this series despite the insta-lust (too much groin-tightening) and steamy interludes. The Sinclairs and their love-interests are different from the usual romantic heroes and heroines, and Ayers doesn't take herself too seriously. Short, cheerful and amusing.

I've already read the first and third books and have started on the fourth. They're available in KindleUnlimited.

7. On the Shelf

Sinfully Yours by Kathleen Ayers

Malcolm was a soldier in the Napoleonic wars, and when they ended he sold his commission and became a mercenary. A theft leaves him penniless in Europe so he agrees, despite misgivings, to kidnap a young woman in England, choosing to believe that it's what she wants so she can marry the man she loves. He kidnaps the wrong woman, the thirty-year-old spinster chaperone. Insta-lust, steam and misunderstandings ensue in the usual way. I liked the characters, but after reading four books in this series I'm finding them too generic.

I started books from two more of Kathleen Ayer's series, The Wickeds and The arrogant Earls, but didn't get far. They lacked the charm of the Five Deadly Sins series, and showed no originality.

9. Steamless and closed door.

The Mock Marriage by Dorothy Mack

Claire Yelland, an actress but a good girl all the same, is hired by Sir Egon Hollister to marry him so that he can inherit his grandmother's estate, and that's where the plot falls apart. It's Regency England, not Hollywood!

I finished the book because the characters and the writing were OK, but I shouldn't have because I'm annoyed that the plot made no sense. I don't mind ludicrous plots, but they have to be consistent with the rules of the time.

I might have to give Dorothy Mack's million other books a miss.

12. Winners Books that are a class above; new authors worth reading more of......

The Smile of the Stranger by Joan Aiken

Joan Aiken is such a good story-teller, with such verve and good humour, that she carries you along. I skated past the wildly unlikely plot that's full of holes, the ludicrously malevolent villains and the perfunctory and barely necessary romance, and enjoyed it all.

Juliana lives with her impractical and unwell father, Charles Elphinstone, in Florence. He's a successful writer, trying to complete his latest book on Charles I, and Juliana acts as his secretary. When Juliana reports to her father that an unpleasant woman she had just come across in a shop is looking for him, Elphinstone leaves Florence with great urgency, taking Julia on a difficult journey through France in order reach the coast and catch a ship back to England and to a grandfather Juliana didn't know she had.

This is the first book in the Paget trilogy, and I'm ready to read the next one.