It is a truth universally acknowledged that regency romances are a sub-genre unto themselves. Perennially beloved, this literary landscape is where members of the Ton – the men in thigh-hugging breeches, getting hot under their cravats; the women in empire waistlines, dreaming of dishy dukes – navigate the marriage market of upper-crust Georgian Britain, the best of them sparkling with Austenian wit.
The popularity of such romances has only grown of late, thanks to a little Netflix show called Bridgerton (perhaps you’ve just binged the recently released prequel, Queen Charlotte) and surging interest in romance as a genre overall. In a world where all is chaos, Regency romances are an escape into order and civility – bad manners and chaos get “the cut direct,” i.e. the cold shoulder – and it always ends amiably and felicitously.
Ready to leave your everyday life for a glittering adventure among the beau monde? Here are some of the best new Regency romances hitting shelves.
To Swoon and To Spar by Martha Waters
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The fourth instalment in the delightful Regency Vows series – which follows a group of high-born twentysomethings as they find their matches, a sort of early 19th-century Friends – takes us outside London to Trethwick Abbey, a remote cliffside estate where our lovers are at cross-purposes. Viscount Penvale wants to buy back his childhood home, but his uncle will only agree to the sale if he promises to marry the man’s ward. Jane Spencer, said ward and a born curmudgeon, loves the abbey and wants to stay there, but preferably in glorious solitude. A practical woman, she’ll marry the viscount, sure, but only because she’s hatched a plan guaranteed to keep him far away. (Spoiler: It involves faking a ghost infestation.) The result is a hilarious send-up of the Gothic suspense the Georgians adored, and a thoroughly charming love story that ends spookily ever after.
Remember Me by Mary Balogh
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A stalwart of the genre – her title count is in the hundreds, to her many fans great joy – this 79-year-old Welsh-Canadian hasn’t lost her touch for satisfying, beautifully written tales of love among the Ton. This latest is classic Balogh: Part of the Ravenswood series (it’s a hallmark of the genre to spin several books off the branches of one interwoven family’s ubernarrative), this tells the tale of Lady Philippa Ware, who will never forget the face of the man who humiliated her at a party when she was still a teenager. That grudge is complicated when – you guessed it – she finds herself falling in love with him when she makes her society debut several years later.
The Late Mrs. Willoughby by Claudia Gray
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It’s not a Regency romance roundup without something that spins off some element of the Jane Austen universe. In this case, we’ve got a Darcy (Jonathan, son of Pride and Prejudice’s Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam) and a Tilney (Juliet, daughters of the couple who fell in love in Northanger Abbey). This excellent follow-up to The Murder of Mr. Wickham finds these two young people solving crime together once more, this time combining wits to solve the mysterious death of John Willoughby’s new wife. (Yes, the same John Willoughby who trampled all over Marianne Dashwood’s heart in Sense and Sensibility.) It’s a satisfying whodunnit with a sprinkling of romantic intrigue, but because Gray writes with such compassion and thoughtfulness, the real pleasure here is falling deeper in love with nuanced, complicated versions of characters you’ve known for decades.
A Lady’s Guide To Scandal by Sophie Irwin
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Irwin’s debut, A Lady’s Guide To Fortune-Hunting, was one of my favourite entrants to the romance genre last year. Her second doesn’t disappoint either. Our story takes place after the death of the Earl of Somerset, when his widow – much younger, pressured into marrying him by an overbearing mother – suddenly finds herself a wealthy woman. There’s a pesky morality clause attached to the inheritance, but that’s not a concern because Eliza’s always done exactly as everyone expected. Until, that is, she meets a rakish Byron-esque poet, Lord Melville, who encourages her to explore her latent creativity – and a few of her more unladylike impulses.
The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman
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A refreshing change of pace from the blushing 21-year-olds that can dominate this genre, our heroine this time is a self-professed “old maid” of 42 who has given up on the marriage market and taken up something altogether more worth her time instead: Saving a young woman from an awful husband. But while Lady Augusta Colebrook – Gus to her friends – is bent on this mission, love has the gall to surprise her, in the form of Lord Evan Belbrook, an old acquaintance who was banished to Australia years ago for a scandalous crime. This one sparkles with intelligence and an intriguing mystery almost as beguiling as the romantic plot.