I’m guest blogging today over at Loveisanexplodingcigar.com (don’t you love that blog name?) on what makes a hot book hot–please come on over and visit. You have to register, but Riskies’ readers are the smartest, so you can do it…and you could win a copy of one of my books, including the now hard-to-find Dedication, the only Signet Regency with bondage.
Pimping over, I thought I might do a complementary post today on what makes a Regency regency.
Think about it. Consider your favorite Regency reads and what makes them successful as giving a feel for the age. Which books float your boat, rock your curricle and make you think, yes, this is what it must have been like. This rings true.
And why? Or how? I entered a contest once where a judge gravely told me that I should have the characters mention Prinny and Hessian boots to give it a period feel.
I tend to like writers whose work is full of careful details (although not necessarily the Hessians and Prinny) and who can include, but go beyond, the life of the ton in London. I like dialogue that flows and characters who have real concerns, passions, and occupations. I like the history to be right but not obtrusive. I like a world that I can immerse myself in, and am sad to leave once the book is over
Off the top of my head, The Slightest Provocation by Pam Rosenthal, An Accomplished Woman by Jude Morgan, and anything by Naomi Novik (whose history is certainly right in her own worldview!).
How about you?
