A brooding duke in a lonely, windswept castle—at first glance, the Duke of Gracewood appears to be your typical Gothic Romance hero. But Viola Carroll already knows the good-hearted and sensitive man that lies beneath this gruff exterior. If only he could see Viola for who she truly was…. A Lady for a Duke is a queer Regency romance that came out last year and is my first experience with the work of the prolific and versatile Alexis Hall, though I’ve long been aware of his stature in the genre. If you love romance novels that pull at your heartstrings and seeing trans characters represented in historical contexts, don’t miss this one! Continue reading Review of A Lady for a Duke—Queer Regency Romance
Tag: regency
Review of Sorcerer to the Crown–Ambition and Fairy Bargains
Magic is drying up in Great Britain and the blame is about to be placed on the country’s most hated magician.… Sorcerer to the Crown was the debut novel by Zen Cho, which came out back in 2015. It’s a striking read-alike to a more recent release, The Midnight Bargain by C. L. Polk. Both explore sexism and clashing cultures in a magical alternate Regency setting. But Sorcerer to the Crown adds one more element that I love—the fae. Continue reading Review of Sorcerer to the Crown–Ambition and Fairy Bargains
Review of The Quiet Gentleman—Regency Romance with a Gothic Flair
When the black sheep of the family inherits the title and estate, you know some Gothic inheritance drama is about to go down. Gervase Frant has succeeded his father as Earl, only to find himself fending off attacks on his life while living amongst the family that always hated him in Georgette Heyer’s The Quiet Gentleman (1951). The Romancing the Gothic book club I’ve been participating in this summer recently introduced me to Heyer—the prolific twentieth-century British author who essentially established historical romance as a genre, specializing in the Regency romance. The Quiet Gentleman is a prime example of her work and also shows the clear influence that the Gothic often had on the budding romance genre. Continue reading Review of The Quiet Gentleman—Regency Romance with a Gothic Flair