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These sound so delicious, Eloisa!

I discovered the traditional Regency with those 5 little gems penned by Laura London (Tom and Sharon Curtis).  Even though there was no explicit sex, the sensual tension just exploded off the page!

Thanks Eloisa for another author to find and add to my list.

IMO, I think the most sensual novel I have ever read would have to be Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. No hands, no touches, not even little kisses, just words filled with sexual tension that just wash over you and leave you breathless for the next encounter. Eloisa, you’ve just convinced me to add Diana Campbell to my TBR pile, assuming I can find it.

I loved those little Regencies from the 1980s. And earlier. I remember enjoying several by Diana Campbell. Other favorite authors were Joan Smith, Maggie MacKeever, and Clare Darcy. Some splendid writers of Regencies made the transition to historicals, including Emma Jensen, Mary Balogh, Mary Jo Putney and Susan Carroll. I might have preferred their Regencies. And Carla Kelly is in a class by herself. But my absolute favorite utterly obscure Regency was “Borrowed Plumes” by Rosellen Milne. The story and characters were endearing, and the historical details just sparkled.

My question: has anyone here read, or even heard, of “Borrowed Plumes”?

martha

I just loved the Signet/Zebra Regencies and miss them a lot.  They are my in between books.  After I read a book, I usually cleanse my reading palate with a small Regency book.

My all time favorites are: Barbara Metzger’s-Miss Lockharte’s Letters/The Worthy Wife, Allison Lane’s-the Rake and the Wallflower/Devall’s Angel and Mary Balogh’s-The Christmas Bride.

Glenda Garland is a current author who writes very charming traditional regencies.  Her book Her Other Thief remains one of my very favorites.  A kind of ugly duckling heroine and a true and honorable hero.  I will keep my eyes open for Diane Campbell, her books sound charming.

I love the wit in some of those traditional regencies, and the way some of the authors write them like little romantic comedies. 

Barbara Metzger is a favorite of mine, too, as well as Elizabeth Mansfield and Loretta Chase.  I actually enjoyed Loretta Chase’s traditional regencies more than her renowned ‘Lord of Scoundrels’.

Borrowed Plumes?  It actually sounds a little familiar.  What’s the plot like, Martha?

Eloisa

I’ve also always loved Regencies, too. They’re fun for a quick read and there are a lot of good authors.  One of my favorites was Marion Chesney, but I also liked a lot of the others mentioned here.  I’ll have to look for THE MARRIAGE OF INCONVENIENCE at used bookstored.

"Nothing in the world would induce Miss Constance Osborne to sell her beloved estate of Monksford to the notorious young rake, the Earl of Chievely. When the brash young Earl breaks his leg during a preliminary inspection of the property, he is foced into a prolonged convalescence at Monksford, under an assumed name.”

Constance is an orphan, with a cute younger sister and a dotty uncle. Chievely has a big bouncy dog that eats Methodist tracts, a wise grandmother, and a hare-brained cousin crossing-dressing in one of the funniest scenes in Regency literature.

Many copies available cheaply on abebooks.com

martha

Ooooh… I *love* these forums and the opportunities they offer to look for more books!  Some of my favourites have been found thusly ~ and I know that I have found at least a couple more here.  Awesome! and Thank you!!

And sometimes, it’s true, it’s the implied seduction that is most enthralling, because then imagination takes over and you become even more involved.  When you read the entire scene, it doesn’t have near the impact, at least to me, that the one taking place in your mind does. 
Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with “lots of descriptions of writhing limbs”, but the ones that play out in the imagination are often even more *Real* than those that you just read.

Thank you Eloisa!

This is a little Off Topic but not really since we’re talking about Regencies but last night I had this hilarious dream that I was married to Colin Firth and he came walking into our bedroom pretty much naked except he was holding his jeans and flannel shirt over his...um...the pertinent areas...as if he was about to get dressed.

So I grabbed him and steered him back toward the door just so I could watch him walk back into the room again.  I kid you not!  What on earth is going on iin my subconscious?! 

I do not know ... but it sounds like a LOT of fun!  Hoo boy!

I’m always talking about Madeline Hunter and her Seducer Series.  (The Seducer, The Saint, The Charmer, The Sinner, The Romantic) each one is fabulous for tension, plausible obstacles to happiness and sex.

My favorite ‘chaste’ Regency stories are almost all by Nancy Butler.  She creates characters with real flaws....and some physical challenges as well.  Lends some chrono-verisimilitude to the stories....although I don’t know if she ever bothers to comment on characters’ bad teeth (as Judith Ivory does)

Martha, Borrowed Plumes sounds like a book I would love to read.  We have an awesome used book store here that has many of the older historical fiction novels that I cannot find at B&N.  I’ll check it out later today. And also see if they have any of Diana Campbell’s books.

KathyK, WOW! what an avatar!  Yumm!

Teresa, I hear naked dreams are a good sign.  Wonder what’s in your future?

These look great, and yes, Prudence, I was thinking the same thing about KathyK’s avatar....

-Oh, Judith Ivory, there is an author I haven’t picked up in a while..(always remember to have pencil and paper on Sat. blogs!)

Eloisa, I haven’t though about Diana Campbell in ages, although I do have one of her regencies still--Family Affairs. I like the generation reversal plot.

Martha, I have Borrowed Plumes on a keeper shelf too. I agree that it is a gem, and the crossdressing scene is hall-of-fame humor material. The archbishop is the crowning touch!

Some of my favorite trad Regencies that haven’t been mentioned yet include Fiona Hill’s The Country Gentleman (a wonderful marriage of convenience story with the added delight of a heroine who, having lost her money, must discover what life is like when one must awaken before noon), Candice Hern’s Miss Lacey’s Last Fling (the adventures of Miss Rosalind Lacey who, convinced she is dying, deteremines to make the most of her final days), and Judith Nelson’s Kidnap Confusion (the LOL-funny story of Miss Margaret Tilliver who is mistaken for an actress and abducted by the younger brothers of Giles Mansefield, Earl of Manseford). And then there are the books by Anthea Malcolm, Sylvia Thorpe, Joan Overfield . . . And let’s not forget Jo Beverley’s Emily and the Dark Angel, which has been on my top 100 list since I first read it in 1992.

Janga! I’m so glad someone else has had a chance to enjoy “Borrowed Plumes.” I was trying to recall other favorite Regency authors, and remembered Rosemary Edgehill, Elizabeth Brodnax, Barbara Whitehead, and Lynn Kerstan. Paula Allardyce’s are more Georgian than Regency, and, hence, excellent training for Eloisa’s Desperate Duchess series.

martha

I forgot all about Nancy Butler-my favorite of hers is Lord Monteith’s Gift.

I also loveG georgette Heyer’s:  Masquerade, These Old Shades and Devil’s Cub.

I’ve always said that talking about sex is sexier than the sex itself!  Talk is also way more intimate than the act itself in my opinion, especially back then.  People did things they wouldn’t dare talk about.

It’s so funny how the husband and wife are “having marital relations” but he wouldn’t discuss her “monthly” or any thing to do with having babies, or even what was happening in the marriage bed.  So when they do talk of these things it’s a huge intimate moment where the H/H connect on a much deeper level.  That’s why I’m so drawn to historicals.  It’s so fascinating to me how they were so emotionally disconnected from something so physically connecting. (I don’t even know if that last sentence makes sense )

Janga, I just picked up Miss Lacey’s Last Fling at my USB last week.

I must have read a Marriage of Inconvenience at least a dozen times! I lost my copy in one of my moves around the country. I recognized so many of the authors named by the others! Makes me want to dig out some of my old faorites and read them again.....

Ah, Georgette Heyer! Naming our favorite Heyers and explaining why they are our favorites would take volumes.

Irish, let me know how you like MLLF. It remains my very favorite Hern, despite the wonderful Merry Widows books.

I’d like to add Kasey Michaels and her writing as Michele Kasey to the list of favorite Regencies.  She has over a dozen or more of delightful books.

Fully agree as to Georgette Heyer and “These old Shades” and the sequels.

Okay, Diana Campbell and the woman who wrote ‘Borrowed Plumes’.  I’ll scroll up for her name later.  Thanks guys!

Traditional Regencies are some of my favorite books.  You have all touched upon some of my favorite authors of that sorrowfully missed genre.

I’ll add just a couple of names such as Allison Lane, Edith Layton, Elena Greene, Nonnie St. Claire (only two of the most delightful books I’ve ever read) and Diane Farr.

Diane Farr’s ‘Fair Game’ remains one of my all time favorites and one which I’ve read countless times.  I’ve quoted numerous times the final scene in ‘Fair Game’.  Its wrought with sexual tension and heartbreak all at the same time.  Delicious!

I have to give my props to Jane Austin’s ‘Persuasion’.  Again one of the final scenes when he listens in on Anne’s conversation, writes that beautiful note....hmmmm!

Oh, and Terri, I’d like to have what you had for dinner!  Colin Firth in the flesh! Loverly!

I like Regencies. I think Georgette Heyer was the first romance author I ever read.

Anne Gracie’s “The Gallant Waif” never went beyond some delicious kisses, but it’s still my favorite Regency.  I’m always so content and pleased with the world after I read it (carefully, as the cover is pretty frayed by now).

My favourite Regencies without a physical lovescene are all by GEORGETTE HEYER Heyer.
The devil´s cup
Frederica
The Corinthian
The Masqueraders

would be my all time favourites. I love her books because her books are IMO incredibly witty and laugh out loud funny and they also take the time to let the feeling between hero and heroine develop. I also enjoy how she keeps things in the dark or just alludes to them. For example the marriage proposal in “The masqueraders” was a complete surprise for me, because so far we learned the heros feelings only through his actions. They were never really expressed up to that moment.

Anyway, I find Georgette Heyer fantastic. I usually recommend her books not only for the romance, but for the humor and for the brilliant style. I think her and P.G. WODEHOUSE´S books (another author I love) have quite a lot in common. 

As for more a more recent author, who writes ‘traditional’ Regencies, I´d like to recommend NONNIE ST. GEORGE. Her books are very humorous and there is very much sexual tension between the hero and heroine. As far as I know she only published two books so far. I hope there will be more and she will keep her style.

I adore Regencies.  I’m convinced the Indie bookstore I used to go to in Tampa stocked them up just for me.  When the owner finally told me that there was a shift in the industry and she would be selling less of them, I wanted her to shoot me on the spot.  They kept me company as a teenager and in my twenties.  They should me what a relationship should be.  They taught me history.  They made me laugh.  They made me want to write more.  Occasionally I run across these books as I usually purchase them.  The nostalgia of those days are so sweet. 

Oh, and don’t forget Marion Chesney who now does regency inspired mysteries.

Kathy K - Good goobly goob!  That man’s HOT!

Deb

Eloisa! Christina!
Congratulations on your Rita finals...haven’t seen all the the names yet..so there may be more squawkers to say Congratulations to!

Love this topic..and am going to check this book out..reminds me of my favorite G Heyer…

Rebecca

Wow, what a great topic! Lost Regency Giants! Let’s not forget Sheila Walsh (RUNAWAY BRIDE) and Dawn Lindsey (AN INDEPENDENT WOMAN and REBEL LADY). I totally love Dawn Lindsey and am always wondering if anyone else has ever read her amazing Signet Regencies! They were actually not long ago, more early Nineties than Eighties. And they were more like historicals than Regencies because they focused on Scottish history and local color more than comedy of manners. But they had so much witty dialogue and such a sophisticated innocence about them!

Has anyone else ever read any Dawn Lindsey?

Late to the party, but one of Dawn Lindsay’s books, The Talisman was the first Regency I ever read.  Helped start me into reading romance, too.

Joan Wolf’s Regencies were AMAZING. I miss them :( it took me a long time, but I finally tracked down and possess a copy of every single one.  My favorites are A London Season and His Lordship’s Mistress.

Off-topic, but...One of my very favorite books is her Arthurian book, The Road to Avalon (which is finally being reissued, yay!) Sadly however, she says on her website that she currently has no other books coming out, due to the market. I hope she finds a good publisher (her recent books weren’t promoted well, and they were not her best) and starts writing again! Anyone else love Joan Wolf?

(the other very favorite book I have, there are two, is Lois McMaster Bujold’s A Civil Campaign. It’s technically sci-fi, but you will LOVE it if you love vivid characterization, which her books ALWAYS have.)

oh, and I loved Michelle Martin’s regencies. Anyone know what happened to her? She wrote a couple of contemporaries I think, and then she disappeared…