Reading in Reykjavík

Genre: Historical romance; Regency romance. Themes: Marriage problems, love, misunderstandings (big mis, no less), gambling, damsels in distress.  Reading challenge: What's in a Name 2016 Challenge book no.: 3/6, a book with the name of a month in the title. First I must say that when I was looking for a picture of the cover of the edition I read, I found so many nice ones that I decided to post several. The one on the left is the cover I was looking for and you will find the rest below. This one and the next one (from the original hard-cover edition) are my favourites.  If you know anything about fashion history you will soon spot the errors in some of the cover images (e.g. too early, too late), and if you have read the book, you will spot more (wrong hair-colour, events that did not take place in the story). This is a story that hinges on one of those plot elements that I hate: the big misunderstanding . It doesn't help that there is also a spoiled, ...

Originally published in July 2005, on my original 52 Books blog. When wealthy Lord Rule offers for the hand of the eldest Winwood sister, she knows she must accept, even if she loves another man. Her brother has sunk the family into debt and the only way of extricating them is for one of the sisters to marry a rich man, and Elizabeth is by far the prettiest. However, the youngest sister, 17 year old Horatia, is determined that her sister shall marry her beloved Edward, and so goes to Lord Rule to explain and offers herself in her sister’s place. To the family’s surprise, he accepts. It appears to Horatia that Rule does not love her (he has a mistress), and that bothers her, especially as she begins to fall in love with him. This leads to several misadventures, especially when Horatia becomes determined to conquer the heart of Lord Lethbridge, an old enemy of Rule’s, and thus make her husband jealous. The plan misfires and Horatia finds herself in deep trouble. Lord Rule, however, has...

Originally published in May 2005, on my original 52 Books blog. This is a delightful Regency romance from the mother of the genre, Georgette Heyer. It should perhaps rather be classified as a historical novel with a romantic twist, because, like in all the Heyer novels I have read so far, the romantic element doesn’t come in until about 3/4 of the way into the story and takes second place to adventure. All the way through it is a delightful romp with a plot that would not feel out of place in a Shakespearian comedy. Sir Richard Wyndham, dandy and sportsman supreme, is about to give in to family pressure and marry a young woman who only wants him because he’s rich and can get her family out of financial trouble. As he walks from his club one night, slightly the worse for drink (as they would have put it back in those days), he sees a young woman, dressed as a boy, struggling to climb out a window. She turns out to be the Honourable Miss Penelope Creed, an heiress who is attempting to ...

Such drama! Such romance! I must admit to having gone through a bit of a crisis with Georgette Heyer a couple of years ago. I love her historical novels but I got so thoroughly fed up with a couple that prominently featured silly-beyond-suspended-disbelief young females making trouble that I was filled with dread every time I tried to pick up a Heyer novel I hadn’t already read. You might say I was suffering from a surfeit of farce. This weekend, however, I finally got up the momentum to read The Spanish Bride , which I knew was based on a true story and took place during the Peninsular War and the battle of Waterloo, but beyond that I had no clue. The cover for it is pure romance, but what I discovered was actually a history of certain battles the male protagonist, Harry Smith, took part in, tied together with the story of how he met his wife, Juana, and their first four years of marriage. The military theme may be daunting to some, who like me are not particularly interested ...

Originally published in August 2004, on my original 52 Books blog. Edited to remove spoilers. Couldn't find the original cover Author: Georgette Heyer Year published: 1965 Genre: Romance, historical (Regency) Where got: Public library The cast: Him: Vernon, Marquis of Alverstoke, 37. Her: Miss Frederica Merriville, 24. Others: Her siblings: Charis, Harry, Jessamy, Felix; Lufra the dog; Alverstoke’s secretary, Mr. Trevor; Alverstoke’s 3 sisters; Alverstoke’s heir, Mr Endymion Dauntry & his mother and sister. The story: The Marquis of Alverstoke is known for his perfect dress sense, impeccable manners and self-centered lifetyle. It is therefore as much a surprise to him as to everyone else when he decides to answer a request for assistance from Frederica, the daughter of a man distantly related to him by marriage, to whom he is by no means beholden. Frederica’s sister, the exquisitely beautiful, airheaded Charis, needs to be launched into society and as Freder...

Originally published in July 2004, on my original 52 Books blog. Edited to remove spoilers. Author: Georgette Heyer Year published: 1951 Genre: Romance, historical (Regency period) Sub-genre(s): Mystery Where got: Public library The story: Soon after Gervase arrives at Stanyon castle to take up his duties as the Earl and landowner, it becomes apparent that someone wants him dead. The most likely suspect is Gervase’s passionate younger brother and heir, Martin, but Gervase is not ready to believe that without further evidence. Complicating the matter for the would-be killer is Drusilla, a practical young lady who is staying with the dowager Countess, and who always seems to be there when Gervase needs protection from the would-be killer.  Technique, characterisation and plot: The book is absorbing and funny, not just chuckle-chuckle funny, but laugh-aloud funny. The romance was subdued - in fact neither hero nor heroine gave any indication of being in love until t...

Georgette Heyer I have only just discovered, to my delight, that Austenprose, a blog dedicated to celebrating all things Jane Austen is celebrating Georgette Heyer's birthday (August 16th) by having a Georgette Heyer marathon that began on August 1st and will end on the 31st. Being late to the party, I have a fair bit of reading to do to catch up, but I'm not complaining. Austenprose is a blog I visit occasionally - something like every couple of months, just to see what's new, but now I have added it to my feed so I will not miss anything.

Tsk, tsk! Blue eyes on page 87 and brown on page 125? I had expected better from someone of your exactness in all matters historically correct. For that matter, I would have expected better proof-reading. Please, someone tell me that this was not Heyer's mistake, but a dreadful proofing error and that it's one colour or the other all the way through the first edition.

Rich, proud and respectable Mr. Ravenscar pays a visit to his aunt and finds her distraught over her son's plans to marry Miss Grantham, a young woman who works in a gaming-house (an illegal casino), a most disreputable profession for a woman at the time, just above the level of actress or courtesan. He goes to the gaming-house to check out the young woman and assess how much she will have to paid to make sure she doesn't marry his cousin. Of course, things aren't really that simple. Like all Heyer's novels, this one promises to be full of quotable stuff, both conversations and descriptions, but I will stick to two (at least to begin with). I am only on chapter three, and already I have found several echoes of Jane Austen. It certainly looks like the interchanges between Miss Grantham and Lord Ravenscar are going to be of the Darcy/Elizabeth type. Here is part of one - see if you recognise the Austen scene it echoes and reverses: 'Oh, I have been familiar with gamin...

Venetia by Georgette Heyer. A reread. 'Don't waste a thought on any of the eligible suitors you've found for me, dear ma'am! There is more of my mama in me than you have the least idea of, and the only eligible husband for me is a rake!' Venetia, to her aunt, on the subject of suitable husbands Now, in real life, marrying a rake would probably be a huge mistake, but in Romancelandia you know they're going to live happily ever after, so it's allowed to give a sigh of pleasure as you close the book and reach for the next one.

A commenter on the Smart Bitches blog mentioned that the plot of a book a reader was looking for the title of sounded like a modern rip-off of Georgette Heyer's Devil's Cub and set off a discussion of that book. So naturally I had to read it to see for myself what they were talking about. I am ashamed to admit that I have several of Georgette Heyer's novels sitting on my TBR shelf, waiting to be read. You see, I love Heyer's writing. She is my favourite writer of historical novels, and yet I have had some of those books for several years and never tried to read them, because I have just never felt like it. In the meantime I have re-read most of my Heyer favourites at least once. Well, the discussion finally got me into the mood to read more Heyer, and need I say I loved it? I did, although not as much as These Old Shades , in which the Duke of Avon and Léonie, the parents of the hero of this book, found each other. The Marquis of Vidal, their son, is not as attractive...

Series detective: Inspector Hemingway No. in series: Year of publication: 1961 Type of mystery: Murder, whodunnit, howdunnit Type of investigator: Police Setting & time: Rural England, 1960s Some themes: Story: Inspector Hemingway of the Scotland Yard is called in to investigate a mysterious murder in a small English village. Several people had reason to dislike the victim, who was an unpleasant man, a social climber who was not above using blackmail to get his way. Most of the suspects were on their way home from a tennis party when the murder took place, and Hemingway needs to establish their alibis or lack thereof before turning to finding out just how the murder was done. Review: This is a clever puzzle plot, worthy of Agatha Christie, and written in Heyer's deft style. While I had the murderer figured out after not too many chapters, I was unable to figure out the howdunnit of the plot until the Inspector began unravelling it. Rating: Another clever and interest...

Author: Georgette Heyer Year published: 1926 Genre: Historical novel Sub-genre(s): Romance The Story: The devilish, rakish Duke of Avon rescues Léonie, a young woman disguised as a boy, from the streets of Paris, thus winning her everlasting love and adoration. His reasons are at first purely selfish, as he recognises in her the tell-tale family appearance of his worst enemy, and he believes he can use her to exact revenge. But before long, he begins to really care for her, and his mission of revenge begins to revolve around getting justice for Léonie, who has been wronged by her family. Review: I really hate it when people dismiss Georgette Heyer as a “mere” writer of romance novels (their wording, not mine). Sure, she did write some that were pure romance (and very good they are too, Venetia for example), but mostly they tended to be humorous historicals about adventures and mishaps where people also happened to fall in love (often apparently as an afterthought by Heyer), whil...

I have been a fan of Heyer’s historical novels ever since I discovered her some years ago. When I found out that she also wrote mysteries, I decided I had to read those as well. As this is a change of both genre and era, I think I’m justified in including her in the challenge. I read two of her mysteries back to back and have started reading a third. I will review the books separately, because they are so different that they could have been written by two different authors. Titles: Death in the Stocks (alternative title: Merely Murder ) and Footsteps in the Dark No. in series: 1, non-series Published: 1935 & 1932 Settings & time: London (mostly), 1930's; country manor and small village, 1930's. Type of mystery: Murder; pseudo-supernatural + murder Type of investigators: police and amateur sleuths Death in the Stocks begins when a village constable on his way home from making his night time rounds finds the corpse of a well-dressed man in the stocks that are on d...