Tag: Regency

Books

Book 852: It Takes Two to Tumble (Seducing the Sedgwicks #1) – Cat Sebastian

Geoff W

Who doesn’t love a little bit of historical romance? I mean these, or at least the hetero versions, are the books I grew up watching my mom read (oh hey Harlequin) and let’s be honest, it was only a matter of time until I dabbled.

This is another one chalked up to I saw a sequel that got my attention (A Gentleman Never Keeps Score) because it had diversity on the cover and the premise was interesting. Add in that book three in the series has a pun-ny title, Two Rogues Make a Right, and I was here for it. Thankfully, my local library came through and after a short wait, I once again dove back into the regency period, this time with a gay lens.

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Book 845: A Case for Christmas (The Lords of Bucknall Club #2) – J.A. Rock & Lisa Henry

Geoff W

When this one came to my inbox I of course said yes. I enjoyed A Husband for Hartwell, the first book in the Lords of Bucknall Club series and wanted to see where Rock and Henry took it. And if I’m a little bit honest, I was really hoping to read about the protagonists starting a family and adopting the little girl on the cover, but you’ll have to read it to find out about that.

For the most part, I wasn’t disappointed with the story, even though it felt like this book took a bit of a left turn from the first one. I was mostly expecting another Regency era romance, but instead got a regency era mystery with a bit of romance on the side. That’s definitely not a bad thing and I enjoyed both aspects of it, it’s just like I said a little out of left field for me.

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Book 822: A Husband for Hartwell (The Lords of Bucknall Club #1) – J.A. Rock & Lisa Henry

Geoff W

Of course, I’m going to say yes to a review request that has “It’s Bridgeton but make it gay!” in it.* Even though I never read the series, I thoroughly enjoyed the Netflix adaptation and we all know I’m obsessed with Jane Austen and the Regency era.

For the most part, I was curious about how they were going to get the gay thing in and it was pretty clear from the beginning with the book starting with a proclamation that all pairings are allowed as long as they’re within the marriageable class and that it was mostly designed for second or third sons of the gentry.

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Books

Book 587: Longbourn – Jo Baker

Geoff W

I can’t believe I’ve had this on my shelf for as long as I have. It’s been almost TWO YEARS since I bought it. TWO YEARS! I’m not sure I would go so far as to say this is THE pinnacle of Jane Austen fan-fiction, but it’s pretty close.

I say this for a couple of reasons the primary being that Baker didn’t deviate too far from Austen’s characters, she stayed true to them and only played with the background characters (they’re less than minor) and filled in their back stories. The secondary reason I say this is because it received reviews in the major publications and was fairly mainstream for Austen fan-fiction/inspired fiction. I mean sure you’ve got the major adaptations like Bridget Jones’s Diary and Clueless, but those are both modern adaptations.

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Book 567: Mary B – Katherine Chen

Geoff W

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this one. I’m always open for a bit of Austen fan-fiction so when someone from the publisher reached out to me about this one I figured why not?*

I’m not one of those who is obsessed with any particular character of Jane Austen’s like the author. I love the broad strokes of her stories and the general caricatures and stereotypes she works in across all her work. So when the fan-fiction gets super specific, like this one, I’m never quite sure what will come out of it. Will I enjoy this authors take on the character? Will they stay true to not only Austen’s works but the generally accepted views of the character? Will it be enjoyable and readable?

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