Historical Romance discussion
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Catherine Coulter: The Bride (Sherbrooke family) series (1800's England; The Sherbrooke Bride, The Hellion Bride, The Heiress Bride, The Scottish Bride, The Sherbrooke Twins, Lyon's Gate, Wizard's Daughter); The Song series (1200's England; Chandra, Fire Song, Earth Song, Wind Song) - and, lots of other great books that feature secondary characters from the Bride series of books.
Julie Garwood: (1800's England; Guardian Angel, The Lion's Lady, The Gift, Castles); (1100's Scotland; The Secret; The Bride, The Wedding, Ransom, Shadow Music); (1200's Scotland; Saving Grace); The Rose series (1800's American West; For the Roses, One Pink Rose, One White Rose, One Red Rose, Come the Spring); all her other historicals are phenomenal, just not part of a series
Johanna Lindsey: love all her historicals but I especially recommend - The Anderson family series (1800's England; Love Only Once, Tender Rebel, Gentle Rogue, The Magic of You, Say You Love Me, The Present, A Loving Scoundrel, Captive of My Desires); (800's Norway; Fires of Winter, Hearts Aflame, Surrender My Love); Warrior series (Future; Warrior's Woman, Keeper of the Heart, Heart of a Warrior)
Andrea Kane: all of her historicals are fantastic!
Elizabeth Lowell: (England, reign of Henry I; Untamed, Enchanted, Forbidden, Moving Target (contemporary but finishes out the series))
Judith McNaught: all of her historicals
Mary Jo Putney: (England, 1800's; Thunder and Roses, Petals in the Storm, Dancing on the Wind, Shattered Rainbows, Angel Rogue, River of Fire, One Perfect Rose); The Guardian series (1800's England)
I'm sure I am forgetting some but these are certainly most of my faves. Would love to hear from other people regarding their recommendations! Happy New Year :-)
Blayre, I haven't read any of your favorites, I'll have to go out and get them. Thanks for you input!
Janelle, I think you hit every one of my favorite authors, except Julia Quinn. I loved her Bridgerton series.
Janelle, I think you hit every one of my favorite authors, except Julia Quinn. I loved her Bridgerton series.
Catherine Coulter's new book, The Wizard's Daughter, was a really good read. I enjoyed it, reminded me of some of her earlier stuff, the Legacy series. It's out in paperback, definately worth picking it up!






I agree with every suggestion I've read thus far, and Kelly, I ADORE the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn. She has such a sharp wit and a talent with dialogue. It was very difficult to say goodbye to her wonderful characters when I finished the last one. Of that series, Penelope and Colin's story (Romancing Mr. Bridgerton) is my favorite. Quinn did a great job of building up your affection for those two in the stories that lead up to their own.
Here are some of my suggestions:
The Perfect Wife, by Jane Goodger -- This is my absolute favorite of all time. It isn't particularly grand, but all of her characters are incredibly rich, and the story is beautifully contructed and fun. I re-read it every once in a while when I find myself getting cynical. Also, the book is set in Newport, RI during the Guilded Age, which is enjoyable after so many Regency novels.
Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier -- A classic romantic mystery story told in the first person by a young woman whose name, fascinatingly enough, you never learn. Have any of you all seen the movie with Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine? It's also Alfred Hitchcock's directorial debut. Fantastic! Although no steamy love scenes, sadly.
Philippa Gregory has a whole series out about the Tudors that I've really been enjoying. It's more Historical than Romantic and more Fictional than Historical, but her writing style intrigues me. So far I've read and would recommend "The Other Boleyn Girl" and "The Constant Princess."
Anything by Victoria Holt. Old-fashioned awesomeness. Especially "Mistress of Mellyn," which is governess-falls-in-love-with-mysterious-master-of-the-house-with-a-shady-past at its best.
And... that's about it for now. Yummy reading to you all!

Looks like the earlier posts have all covered my favorites except for one author: Lisa Kleypas - she also has series and repeating characters.
I haven't read any by Catherine Anderson or Victoria Holt- seems like she has been getting good reviews (I searched amazon). Hey April, I will definitely let you know.
My top author is Judith McNaught - her historicals are so good.
Johanna Lindsey and Catherine Coulter have not been upto snuff for the recent books.

Lisa Kleypas is definitely one of my favorite authors. "Dreaming of You", "Suddenly You" and the Wallflower series ("Devil in Winter" is great!) are her best novels. I didn't care too much for her most recent novel "Mine Til Midnight". The ending was very rushed and non-conclusive.
I recently discovered Rona Sharon. "Once A Rake" is a great book if you like your romances sugary and sweet. Has anyone read her first novel "My Wicked Pirate"? I've been searching for a copy of it.
I look forward to getting to know all of you!

Manju, I love Judith McNaught, too! Ironically, I've only read her more contemporary stuff, so I absolutely have to get into her historicals. I've never read Lisa Kleypas or Rona Sharon. Thank you for the suggestions, Tammy!

I love Judith McNaught's historicals and have read them repeatedly.
Tammy, it seems like we have similar interests because just last night I picked up a copy of Rona Sharon's "Once a rake." It sounded really good in the bookstore and I am glad to hear someone stay that it was good. Now I can't wait to read it!!!!
I

You will love "Once a Rake". I am a HUGE sucker for reunion romances. "Once a Rake" came highly recommended to me in a discussion thread on the romance forum of Amazon.con - I had asked for recommendations of reunion romances. If you haven't done so yet, go to Rona Sharon's website and read the his/her perspectives of this book!
http://www.ronasharon.com/booklist_oa...
The only thing I didn't like about this book was Ashby's first name - Paris. It kept reminding me of the Hiltons!
Hanley and Manju:
Oddly enough, I have never read any of Judith McNaught's historicals either. I have read "Paradise" (another reunion romance that came highly recommended to me). I normally read contemporaries and switch to historicals when I crave a change. Do you have any favorite McNaught historicals?
Tammy = )

I love Eugenia Price, her Stranger in Savannah books are awesome...another favorite is Catherine Coulter, her historicals are the best, I have yet to be able to sit down and read her latest one The Wizards Daughter, but I fully intend too...I can read just about anything, but historicals remain my favorite, which I think is the reason why I write historicals, my first book came out on August 16th last year from Light Sword Publishing, entitled Ravenwood: Night's Salvation, if you are interested in reading an excerpt of two of it, I have them posted on my profile, currently I am working on getting the second in the series done. I love being part of this group, and I am very glad I found it, I have discovered several books I want to find to read.
Laurie Sorensen
www.lightswordpublishing.com
www.myspace.com/nights_salvation
www.freewebs.com/lauriesorensen
Take flight on the wings of romance.

Judith Mcnaught my all time favorite is Whitney my love in historical and Perfect in contemporary. I have lost count of the number of times I have re-read these books.
--Manju

There is a very good list of reunion romances, broken down by genre, on this website ...
http://www.likesbooks.com/reunited.html
Besides "Once a Rake", another one of my favorite reunion romances would be "Must Love Mistletoe". It is a fun, light-hearted read with a very sexy hero. = )
Manju:
Thanks for the recommendation. I saw "Whitney My Love" at my local bookstore. I will have to pick up a copy. I've seen several posts about it in the discussion forums on Amazon also!


One I would NOT recommend is Rachel Gibson's "I'm In No Mood For Love". I hated this book!



Another series I really liked a lot are the Governess series by Christina Dodd.
-Manju

Books mentioned in this topic
I'm In No Mood For Love (other topics)The Saving Graces (other topics)
The 39 Steps (other topics)
Here are mine:
Redeeming Love- Francine Rivers
Brooklyn Rose- Rinaldi
Bound- Jo Napoli