Review Temporarily Removed.

Okay, I am officially a Georgette Heyer reader now. I can see why she is touted as the best of the best when it comes to historical romance. This book was thoroughly enjoyable. I tell you, Avon is a very singular hero. I have read few books with a hero whose dialogue was so expressive, yet ironic at the same time. His wit is so sharp that it could cut diamonds. What's really interesting is that Avon is considered the worst of the worst when it comes to being a debauched rake, yet you never see h More...

This is one of my favorite romance novels, ever. I am not even afraid to review it here on this pretentious book site, I love it so much. I have worn through my copy of it. It is lovely beat up and bent back to the pages of all my favorite parts. The Heyer hallmarks are all here: great characters, hilarious plot, breaking the genre rules, a somewhat effete hero (but in a manly way). The main character, Leonie, is absolutely adorable. I don't even care if others find her annoying, she makes me la More...

Bah. I spoiled the big surprise in this book quite accidentally when researching something about Georgette Heyer on wikipedia while in the midst of reading the book. (Don’t worry, I won’t explicitly spoil it for you, though I notice that the description of the book on the cover and the goodreads description spoils the big surprise as well) I would have preferred to have read the big reveal via the book instead of through wikipedia.

The heroine in this book was quite weepy and overly dramatic. I c More...

This was a great story. I didn't even miss the sex. Despite being written years ago, it didn't feel the least bit dated.

Loved the hero with his bad self and his little "quizzing glass." The heroine was free and sassy, even as a servant, but I thought she could be a little air-headed at times and definitely bloodthirsty. I guess that would be a good match for a hero who was suppose to be the devil...and for someone who spent 7 years as a boy.

Some events at the end took me by surprise. (That cer More...

“Set in the Georgian period, about 20 years before the Regency, These Old Shades is considered to be the book that launched Heyer’s career. It features two of Heyer’s most memorable characters: Justin Alastair, the Duke of Avon, and Leonie, whom he rescues from a life of ignomy and comes to love and marry”.
My review
If you meet Satanas in a dark alley in the middle of the night and you are desperately seeking escape from a wretched life of violence and harassment, maybe you’d be as happy as youn More...

The plot was a cliche when Heyer wrote it as a young woman (basically Cinderella, underscoring that "blood will always tell") but Heyer writes it with such wit and dash that it never really stales. I think her Georgians are slightly better than the Regency tales, with an exception or two--they are tighter paced, and the world of the mid-1700s is beautifully evoked; it was obvious in later years that Heyer had read Chesterfield's letters when she created Avon.

I enjoyed this, despite one or two minor annoyances:

1. The hero was referred to by any one of about eleven different names or titles randomly throughout - "Justin" "The Duke" "Alastair" "Avon" "His Grace". PICK ONE AND STICK WITH IT, HEYER.
2. Leonie was funny but a bit of a twerp, she definitely didn't act 19 and her worshipful ADORATION of Alistavonjustingraceduke got on my nerves, as did his condescending "come here and let me wipe my feet on you, my infant" attitude to her.
3. What reference More...

Most fandom people I've talked to either love or at least rather like this book, but it seems it's my turn to feel all "bwah?" and left out, as Punk does with The Dreyfus Affair and Siria does with Swordspoint. I hated it. I despised pretty much all the characters, other than Hugh and Rupert—Leonie was irritating, and Avon was just creepy. I know he was supposed to be "Satanas"—the devil of a man who isn't really that bad, but I found him neither enjoyably naughty nor charming; he was just kin More...

The character of Leonie is immensely likeable (though, like Amanda in Sprig Muslin, she'd make more sense as a 15-year-old than at her stated age, which is 19). I don't quite see in her what Avon says he sees, the results of a life of terrible, constant loneliness.

Avon is more problematic. Partly it's a Georgian-culture problem -- it's hard for me to distinguish between an ordinary, irresponsible nobleman of fashion and an actual rake in the old, non-playful sense of the word. We know he kidnapp More...

I'm trying to be less indiscriminate when it comes to using the stars. I think I probably gave too many books 5 stars just from memory when they might not have deserved them. On the other hand, if I remembered them, they must have been fantastic! I really liked this one. It was entertaining and funny and romantical. The only thing that prevented it from getting that 5th star was that the heroine was just a tad too innocent and silly.

I have read just about every Georgette Heyer book there is and have loved every one of them. She writes two types of genre - historical romance and mystery books. These are old-fashioned relationship/mystery books, written true to the language and customs of their day. Well written, great research - real page turners, every one of them.

"These Old Shades" is one of my particular favorites. It has a very clever plot and dynamic, engaging, even sometimes wonderfully irritating characters (I have ye More...

3 1/2
I am surprised by the sheer joy in reading this book. I laughed often and with gusto.

one nit: I found the heroine highly unbelievable as a woman of 19. Yes, nowadays we would consider her a teenage girl, then she would be married or at least a full woman. No, she reads as a ten year old and her naïve attitude doesn't add up with her previous life in a farm and then in an inn.

I liked this a lot more the second time I read it. "These Old Shades" is one of Heyer's Georgian (pre-Regency) works, and it's a doozy. Alastair is more than just a commanding, domineering rake--he's a devil. He needs redeeming, though he and everybody else thinks he's past it. He has no heart to speak of, and revels in it ... unless he's brooding on it's loss. Very Byronic. When a street waif in trouble literally runs into him one late night, the quixotic Devil buys him with a diamond cravat pi More...

Bah, as Leonie would say. I wrote a review and it didn't get saved for some reason.

Anyway, my reaction to this book can be summed up in one word: CREEPY! Here's why:

1. Avon buys Leon/Leonie from her brother. Ew.
2. The age difference between Avon and Leonie (20+ years) was a bit much for me. A Heyer hero is often several years older than the heroine, but 20+ years put Avon into the creepy old man category for me.
3. Avon calls Leonie "my infant" half the time, which just reinforced #2 for me. UG More...

4.5 STARS
I am not quite sure what to expect when I began reading this book. But from the beginning, I know that it’s goanna be different.

Writing Style

The writing style is one I have rarely encountered before. I have read a lot of historical romance so I am not foreign to the way of people in the historic era spoke or voice of the narrator created by the writer.

This one however, felt entirely unique. It's almost as if reading a historical romance for the first time-no, im pretty sure it's like More...

If Jane Austen and P.G. Wodehouse had a child, then Georgette Heyer she may be. This book was thoroughly amusing, a well-written romantic comedy that contained quite a number of the tropes you expect from a romance novel, but delivered with verve (must be all the French in it, voyons!).

I thought I might be squicked out by the idea of the 40 year-old Duke of Avon ending up with the enfant (20 year-old) Leon/Leonie--who, apart from the age difference, worships her protector with unabashed and und More...

I read this book after it was highly recommended by the author Sarah Morgan and others on Twitter. They said it was a must-read, and I wasn't disappointed. Although written in the 1920's, this book swept me away to a fantasy world and was a perfect escapist read. I particularly liked Leonie's taunt "pig-person"!

I was a bit unhappy with one aspect of this book, which is why I didn't give it 4 stars. It's the treatment of two particular characters (to avoid revealing too much of the plot, I'll jus More...

I came very late to Georgette Heyer, having read my first of her books only a couple of years ago because it was on the Guardian's 1000 Novels You Must Read list. I'm working my way through, and found that one of the most recommended books, An Infamous Army, was listed as third in "the Alastair trilogy." This is the first of those, and the first of her books I've read that is not set during the Regency period for which Heyer is best known. I believe the time period is about 1760, well before the More...

I'm a fan of romance novels, especially historical, so I tend to read quite a bit of them. I know that Georgette Heyer is sort of a legend in this subgenre, but I have never read any of her books before now. I chose to read These Old Shades because it's part of a trilogy. I thought, hey, I'll read the three books and then decide what I think of her writing. Sadly I didn't enjoy the first installment. At all.

I found the Duke of Avon to be a rather fashionable reptile with a fan (yes, you read th More...

This has always been my favourite Georgette Heyer. When I first read it as a dewy-eyed teenager, I thought the enigmatic hero and tom-boy heroine were the epitome of romantic. I picked up this book for the first time after some thirty years with some trepidation, but I was much relieved to see that it has stood the test of time.

The characters of Justin Alastair, the Duke of Avon, and Léonie have acted as templates for many future novels by Heyer herself and her followers. High born, yet raised a More...

I've been meaning to read Heyer for some time - An Infamous Army was recc'd to me ages ago in my Literature by Women group but I never got around to it. Then come to find out it's part of the Alastair trilogy...guess I better start with the first one.

Which is These Old Shades. It's Georgian, set mostly in Paris (and French environs, with a jaunt to England), and opens with the main character, Justin Alastair, the Duke of Avon, buying a teenage (but rather delicate-looking) boy from his boorish/c More...

This Georgette Heyer book is quite different from the other books of this genre I have read by the author. Actually, that's not completely true... each one has been surprisingly different from the others, even though they are all "similar" over all.

This one was different in, well, different ways. First of all, the story takes place mostly in France, rather than England, so many of the characters are French... that's enough difference right there. (Stereotypically French rather than stately Engl More...

Although this may be a romance, it is vastly different to other romances I have read.
I think what I liked most about the whole story is that it does not take itself too seriously. It is not dark at all, I would say it is almost comical. So many things happen throughout the story that seem strange, weird, and even outrageous. The story starts out with Justin, the Duke of Avon, known as Satanas (meaning the Devil), buys a young buy in France called Leon as his page. And Leon ends up admiring the More...

Have you read These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer?
My, how droll of you, but you verily must. I tell you, you haven’t read Heyer until you’ve read this one. It has got a bit of everything and is a very sweet romance at that!

Justin Alastiar, Duke of Avalon, takes pride in his nickname, Satanas. He is a coldhearted man, known for scandal and vice, disliked by just about everyone. When he buys (“body and soul”) a red-headed youth from the streets to serve as his page, everyone presumes it is j More...

A delight from the beginning. I was smiling a lot during the book. Wonderful storytelling.

REVIEWER’S OPINION:
Characters are so entertaining. The way Justin speaks and the things he says are so funny to me. One of his oddities is calling his younger brother Rupert (an adult) and his ward (19) “my infants.” Rupert has some hilarious action and comments. For example, someone is kidnapped, and Rupert follows on foot chasing the horse drawn vehicle. He then continues following the kidnappers doing od More...

I have been a romance novel junkie for just about as long as I can remember. After reading what seems like thousands of romance novels, I decided to finally go back to the beginning...to the queen/martriarch/legendary Regency author Georgette Heyer and finally read one of her books. These Old Shades, Devil's Cub, The Grand Sophy, and Venetia were all said to be some of her best, so I picked up These Old Shades first. I have to be honest, it took me a long time to get through this book...(almost More...

I have never read a historical romance before and a friend recommended me this book.

A rich man, Justin Dutch of Avon, holds an old grudge towards another rich man and wants him shamed out of society. When, by chance one night, Justin helps a boy on the street he suddenly finds means to do that. Justin buys the boy to be his page and shows him to society where the beautiful boy with his blue eyes and red hair really males an impact.

The page is really a girl and a shunned daughter and a fast paci More...

Georgette Heyer is one of my guilty pleasures. She wrote Regency romance novels, about the same period as the Patrick O'Brien books. I used to read her in my youth and had a shelfful of her books up in the attic. I noticed another shelfful in R.J Julia's recently, hadn't seen them in a bookshop in years and was moved to go up and dig them out of the attic. Am now working my way through and enjoy them just as much now as thirty years ago. She was a fine writer and has just the sort of period deta More...