Darker Regency Romances

[Critteranne]

I just started listening to Jo Beverley's An Arranged Marriage, and now I'm in the mood for "traditional" Regency romances again. However, I like the darker ones, and while there are a lot of indie authors publishing Regency trads again, most seem to be the lighter stories. Those are nice sometimes, but darn it, I want the really screwed-up Regencies. and I'm not sure where to start.

Some of the names are familiar because they used to publish with Signet and Zebra, and some are new to me. So I've added some of the Signet InterMix reprints to my wishlist, but I don't want to miss a great new author.

If it helps, I tend to prefer the darker, rule-breaking Regency writers -- Jo Beverley, Mary Balogh, Mary Jo Putney, etc. So I guess I'm looking for nnontraditional traditional Regencies? I also have almost all of the Carla Kelly books already.

Edited to Add: I also like the lighter ones, sometimes. However, the reviews for the editing of the indie published Regencies have made me cautious. I don't want to read a book where someone drives his "handsome cab" down a "rode."

Although her books are more traditional, I have a lot of Heyer eBooks and have to get around to them someday.

[worktolive]

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by darker, but I'm guessing you want Regencies where that have a high angst quotient. Personally, I love my Regencies with a big serving of angst. I would highly recommend the following books/authors:

- Sherry Thomas, especially Not Quite A Husband and Private Arrangements. Time period on these is Victorian rather than Regency, and big bonus, they are $3.99. Both books made me cry.
- Anna Campbell's first two books, Claiming the Courtesan and Tempt The Devil. I'm not wild about her later books, but these were really good.
- Anything by Elizabeth Hoyt, but I especially like her Princes trilogy. She writes in the Georgian period, rather than Regency, so late 1700's
- Laura Kinsale - Flowers From the Storm is a classic dark regency, but my favorite of hers is Prince of Midnight.
- Anne Stuart's House of Rohan trilogy
- Ashley March - Seducing the Duchess
- Judith James - Broken Wing (mid 1700's I believe, and features a hero that worked in a brothel). Plus it's only $3.82 on Amazon.
- Delilah Marvelle has some very interesting plots and deals with heavy subjects. I've only tried one of hers though.

That should get you started. Oh, and these are all large publisher books, not self-pubbed.

[Critteranne]

Thanks! I have some of these in print, but wouldn't mind paying a bargain price to get the eBook. The print on mass market paperbacks is getting smaller with each year. Or I need bigger eyes.

[worktolive]

Sorry, if you are looking for self-pubbed recs, I can't help. I'm looking back over my list, and realizing that I almost never pick up self-pubbed Regencies, and when I have, they are usually lighter, not darker. I would recommend Laura Landon - she's published by Montlake now. I read one of hers, Shattered Dreams, that was quite good.

I'm also hoping for a price drop on Emma Locke's books, specifically her second, The Problem with Seduction. They sound good and feature former courtesans, but they are at the top of my price range for an unknown self-pubbed author and I have too many other books on the TBR mountain.

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by worktolive

Sorry, if you are looking for self-pubbed recs, I can't help. I'm looking back over my list, and realizing that I almost never pick up self-pubbed Regencies, and when I have, they are usually lighter, not darker. I would recommend Laura Landon - she's published by Montlake now. I read one of hers, Shattered Dreams, that was quite good.

Ooh, deception and an "imperfect" heroine. I want it already.

"Indie" e-press authors are fine, too. Although the definitions of "indie" get vague when an author is published by an ebook publisher. I wouldn't consider Samhain authors "indie," but maybe some would? And what about publishers backed by big presses, like Carina or the new Loveswept line? And of course, I'm sure Montlake is too big to be indie, but at least they tend to keep the prices lower.

Originally Posted by worktolive

I'm also hoping for a price drop on Emma Locke's books, specifically her second, The Problem with Seduction. They sound good and feature former courtesans, but they are at the top of my price range for an unknown self-pubbed author and I have too many other books on the TBR mountain.

Hurray for books with former courtesans!

[Xanthe]

Regency writers that I always enjoyed:

Eloisa James
Mary Balogh
Georgette Heyer
Jo Beverley
Barbara Metzger
Julia Quinn
Lauren Willig
C. S. Harris (dark Regency mystery series)
Madeline Hunter
Anne Stuart
Edith Layton
Elizabeth Thornton
Christina Dodd
Catherine Coulter
Elsie Lee

If you can find a copy of it, anyone who enjoys Regencies should read Elsie Lee's "The Nabob's Widow". It's on par with Georgette Heyer's best.

[Critteranne]

Ooh I wish the Elsie Lee books were available as ebooks. Someone should whisper to her estate. I saw a cookbook by Elsie Lee in the Kindle store, and it might be that Elsie Lee because the copyright was from 1962 or something like that. I don't know what that was doing there!

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by Critteranne

I just started listening to Jo Beverley's An Arranged Marriage, and now I'm in the mood for "traditional" Regency romances again. However, I like the darker ones, and while there are a lot of indie authors publishing Regency trads again, most seem to be the lighter stories. Those are nice sometimes, but darn it, I want the really screwed-up Regencies. and I'm not sure where to start.

Anne Stuart is nice and dark and screwed-up. I think you'll like her.

[Xanthe]

Not Regency, but Anne Stuart's book "Ritual Sins" really does a good spin on the "bad boy" protagonist. Talk about dark....

[Graham]

If you want a different sort of darkness, in Jo Walton's Tooth and Claw all the characters are dragons...

Graham