2008: Top Reads

As 2008 draws to a close, we thought it would be a good idea to make a list of our favourite books of the year. Usually such lists include mostly new releases, but for Regency Romances that is not possible since no traditional regencies are being published anymore. So instead we simply decided to list our best reads of 2008.

Alex's Favourite Regency Read of 2008:

I didn't read many trad regencies during 2008, only four to my great shame. But I did have the chance to finally find a copy of Lady Elizabeth's Comet, a delightful and believable story about a lady astronomer. For those interested, my review of this book will be published this friday.

• Lady Elizabeth's Comet, by Sheila Simonson

Ana T's favourite Regency reads of 2008:

I read quite a few books this year and found a few new authors to enjoy, I'm looking forward to more in 2009.

• Devil's Cub, by Georgette Heyer


• These Old Shades, by Georgette Heyer


• The Emerald Necklace, by Diana Brown


• My Lady Domino, by Sandra Heath


• A Certain Reputation, by Emma Lange

Ioanna's favourite Regency reads of 2008:

I read about 120+ Regencies this year, so 2008 was quite productive for me. Although I have to confess I have not finshed every single book I started. Even so, I consider 2008 a success since apart from the quantity of books there was also quality, in some of them at least. And I discovered some new to me authors, whose books turned out to be a pleasant surprise, since I usually start a book by an unknown to me author cautiously and not very optimistically. But in some cases I discovered some hidden gems. So below are the books that I thought very much worth reading.

"The exceptional"

• The Discarded Duke, by Nancy Butler


• The Whitbourne Legacy, by Marjorie DeBoer


• A Prior Attachment, by Dorothy Mack


• The Great Lady Tony, by Dawn Lindsey


• The Impulsive Miss Pymbroke, by Norma Lee Clark


• The General's Grandaughter, by Dorothy Mack

and "The very good"

• My Lady Gamester, by Cara King


• The Reluctant Heroine, by Dawn Lindsey


• Sweet Lavender, by Margaret Evans Porter


• Miss Treadwell's Talent, by Barbara Metzger


• The Irish Earl's Ruse, by Emma Lange


• The Irish Rake, by Emma Lange


• The Vengeful Viscount, by Leigh Haskell


• The Ruthless Lord Rule, by Michelle Kasey


• The Unlikely Chaperone, by Dorothy Mack


• Bath Charade, by Amanda Scott


• Lord Lyford's Secret, by Amanda Scott


• The Beleaguered Lord Bourne, by Kasey Michaels


• St. Martin's Summer, by Diana Brown


• An Uncommon Courtship, by Martha Kirkland


• Miss Thornrose and the Rake, by Geraldine Burrows


• The Arrogant Lord Alistair, by Sheila Walsh


• Rogue's Delight, by Elizabeth Jackson


• Lord Abberley's Nemesis, by Amanda Scott


• The Cockermouth Mail, by Dinah Dean

Favourite Christmas Regencies

Since it is Christmas, we thought of making a list with our favourite Christmas-Themed Regency Romances. And although in theory this sounded quite easy, and we expected to have lots of candidate books, in practice we had the problem that we have not read as many books as we initially thought, or some of those we had read were not that great to make it into the list, or some of us although they have read quite a few books they do not remember them well enough (neither had the foresight to make notes on how they liked them at the time). Despite these obstacles, we combined our efforts to make a list of Christmas themed books that we enjoyed.

This list is a work in progress. As we read (or re-read) more books, we may add or remove books from the list as neccesary. We have split the books in 2 categories: Normal (single title) Regencies with Christmas themed plots, and Christmas short stories found in Christmas Anthologies. For the short stories we decided to list individual stories, rather than a whole book, since if there is a single great story in an Anthology and the other 4 stories are mediocre, we felt it is the story that should be mentioned, rather than the whole book.

'Christmas' Regency Romances

• Christmas Belle, by Mary Balogh (Ana T, Ioanna)


• The Last Waltz, by Mary Balogh (Ana T.)


• A Matchmaker's Christmas, by Donna Simpson (Ana. T)


• Once Upon a Christmas, by Diane Farr (Ana T)


• Cockermouth Mail, by Dinah Dean (Ana T, Ioanna)


• Mistletoe Mayhem, by Kate Huntington (Ana T.)


• Christmas Promise, by Mary Balogh (Ioanna)


• Chistmas Bride, by Mary Balogh (Ioanna)

Short Stories in Regency Christmas Anthologies

Ana T.

• The Best Christmas Ever, by Mary Balogh (A Regency Christmas III


• The Best Gift, by Mary Balogh (A Regency Christmas VI)


• Hounds of Heaven, by Edith Layton (A Christmas Regency VIII)

Ioanna

• The Star of Bethlehem, by Mary Balogh (A Regency Christmas I)

Alex

• Falling Stars, by Loretta Chase (A Christmas Collection)


• The Greatest Gift, by Stella Cameron (A Christmas Collection)