Regency Romance

When I find a genre of book that I like I always seem to go overboard and read the genre to death. Literally. And usually it's for random topics like English monarchs, or Ancient Egypt, or English monarchs again (seriously, I have read the crap out of the English monarchy, if you have any recommendations send them my way!) Lately it's been for Regency Romances. I've read Pride and Prejudice a few times, and I even found a trilogy written from the perspective of Mr. Darcy that I really enjoyed a few year ago. But recently I have been on a regency romance kick. I'll admit a few of them have been extremely sappy and almost embarrassing to read, but the majority have been excellent. I love a good clean romance, where just reading about them holding hands or looking at each other gets your heart racing. No raunchiness, something you can recommend to your mom.

I've mixed them up with some good old fashioned Jane Austen along with more recent novels. Here's what I've been reading lately along with my thoughts.

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen: Let's start off with Jane Austen. And this is the book that started my recent romance kick. I wouldn't have read this if it wasn't my book club's pick for October. Sometimes I find Jane Austen books hard to get into at first. She's kind of wordy and takes a bit to set up the romance. Not perfect for the impatient reader (me). But I always enjoy her books once I get into the thick of it.

Persuasion - Jane Austen: Another Jane Austen. If you haven't read any Jane Austen books and you like a good romance you should. Persuasion is about Anne Elliot. Years ago she walked away from the love of her life when she was persuaded that he wasn't a good match for her. Years later they meet again and it seems she is given a second chance at love.

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte: I became interested in this book because I read that it was autobiographical. And honestly, if even only a small part of this book is fact then Charlotte Bronte led a crazy life. I honestly can't imagine going through half the things she did.  It's a bit wordy, like books from this time seem to be, but there is definitely enough drama going on to keep you reading.

Edenbrooke - Julianne Donaldson: If you only read one of the books on this list, read this one! I read it in one day and totally ignored my kids. After her mother's death and her father's abandonment Marianne Daventry leads a sad, boring life in Bath with her grandmother. An invitation from her twin sister to join her at Edenbrooke offers Marianne an escape from Bath. A run in with a dangerous highway man, and a flirtatious handsome stranger soon proves to Marianne that it's not going to be the summer that she was expecting.

Blackmoore - Julianne Donaldson: Not as good as Edenbrooke, but still a good read. Kate Worthington is obviously in love with her best friend, Henry Delafield, but has made the decision to never marry. She's invited to visit his family's estate, Blackmoore, for the summer and it's there that we find out why.

The Kiss of a Stranger - Sarah M. Eden: This was one of the embarrassingly sappy books, but I still enjoyed it. Just a disclaimer, expect a whole lot of mushy sentimental moments. Crispin spontaneously kisses a servant while trying to convince a determined woman of her unwanted advances. He soon finds out that Catherine was in fact not a servant and is forced by her large uncle to marry her. He brings her back to London with him and tries to pass her off as his wife with as little scandal as possible, all the while pursuing a secret annulment. But an annulment would ruin Catherine's reputation and while delaying Crispin finds that he has grown fond of his unexpected wife.

Friends and Foes - Sarah M. Eden: The last on my list, and probably the least as well. It was just a little too sentimental for my tastes, and a bit far fetched in it's story line in some places. I didn't mind it, and finished it rather quickly, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.