Weekend Musings

[rhienelleth]

As Mark and his brother are engaged in playing paintball all weekend, I have nothing much to do but housework, catching up on my reading, and writing.

I just finished Julia Quinn's latest, It's In His Kiss, and a fun read it was. I'm going to sad after the next one, as it will be the last of the Bridgerton siblings, and probably the last Bridgerton book. It put me in a regency romance mood, so I ventured out to Starbucks this morning (lamenting the fact that I don't have my new espresso machine yet, and so had to venture out) and then on to Borders, where I picked up Victoria Alexander's latest. It's good, but not as good as Quinn's, and after an hour and a half, I'm regency-d out for the day.

So where does that leave me? Well, as the sky appears to be clearing, out on my deck nursing the last of my grande caramle macchiato and writing on S&S. I have the Batman Begins score playing in the CD player for appropriate mood music. It's going well.

Very gratifying indeed, even if I haven't touched the housework yet.

Comments

[annebelle-ca.livejournal.com]

So, if you had to choose (ie. recommend) any two of Julia Quinn's books which would they be? I checked her out at Amazon because a) I am a romance novel whore, b) as I will soon be unemployed, I'll actually have time to read! and c) I have to stay at my mother's for two weeks in August while she trips around Europe with my neice.

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

That's a tough one. My favorites are her Bridgerton books. If you read them in order, you'd read The Duke and I, followed by The Viscount Who Loved Me. Those are the first two. My favorite three of hers, though, are The Viscount Who Loved Me, An Offer From a Gentleman (book 3), and Romancing Mister Bridgerton (book 4).

All of her books are good, though. They have just the right touch of humor to make them stand out from the rest of the regency romance crowd.

[ms-pie.livejournal.com]

I really do like Julia Quinn... She isn't my favorite regency author, but I *heart* the Bridgertons. I'd just start at the beginning of the series and read from there as I love them all...

You both may want to check out www.squawkradio.blogspot.com -- I like the authors blogging there *and* Julia Q. will be there next week as a Guest Blogger. Lots of interesting discussion about romance, romance writing etc.

P.S. Rhien -- I really enjoyed It's In His Kiss also... Have you read Eloisa James? She is currently at the top of my "to buy" list for regency...

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

The name is very familiar...was she in those two anthologies Julia Quinn did? I'll have to check my bookshelf. Thanks for the rec! Regency authors are especially difficult for me to find ones I like. Stephanie Laurens and Julia Quinn are the two biggies I read...and the Laurens books haven't impressed me as much lately. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood when I read them.

[ms-pie.livejournal.com]

I like Stephanie Laurens, but some of her stuff has definitely been iffy lately. I'm a huge regency fan -- well not regency, per se but historical romance. It is actually what I read primarily from a romance perspective.

Eloisa James might have been in those anthologies, but not sure. I like her books -- esp. her latest, Kiss Me Annabel. The thing I appreciate about her is that she writes about women's relationships (friends, sisters etc) just as much as the romance. They feel *different* than everything else out there.

A few other good authors / books to check out (IMHO):
- Mary Balogh's "Slightly" series -- a lot like JQ in the sense that it is a long series about a family, but different as it isn't as light
- Lisa Kleypas -- I think she is probably my favorite author in the histoicals. All her books are just nice & different
- Teresa Medeiros -- "Yours Until Dawn" -- surprisingly good. I just didn't really expect it to be as good as it was...
- Connie Brockway -- "As You Desire" -- just read this and found it really lovely

[randomeliza.livejournal.com]

Oh, I LURVE Eloisa James. And I loved this latest Julia Quinn -- much better than the last one, which was a little too serious for my tastes. I read the last of the Slightly series just before uni finished for the year, and it wasn't really my thing, although I did enjoy the hero's broodingness. (Totally not a word, and yet I don't care.) And Teresa Medeiros is, in general, one of my favourites, although I haven't read any of hers in a while because I read all of them about two summers ago, and she has only come out with one or two since then. And as for Lisa Kleypas -- when is the next book after "Secrets of a Summer Night" gonna come out? Because, yeah, I cannot WAIT for that. I love the Wallflowers and as this one is going to be about the brash American and the English Lord that finds her annoying, I think it'll be my new favourite. :D

Have you read any Celeste Bradley? Her "Liars Club" series is right up my alley -- lighthearted, a little snarky, just the way I like my Regencies. Especially the last one of that series, "The Charmer", I think it was called. The spinoff series from that, The Royal Four, has only the first of the books out, but it was pretty cute.

Whee, Regency Romances!

[ms-pie.livejournal.com]

The *coolest* thing about Eloisa James is how friggin' smart she is -- and hey! she still loves romance (and is a wicked writer on top of it...) The op-ed she wrote for the NYT about Romance was fabulous.

Anyways, whee! regency romances!

(p.s. I have just read some Celeste bradley - it was enjoyable)