Where to start?!?

[Jenni]

I have decided to give my 17-year-old niece her first Georgette Heyer book for her birthday later this month. She is an avid reader, loves Regency period pieces, and (*gasp*) hasn't yet discovered Georgette Heyer! My problem is, I'm not sure which book to start her off with! Since my favorite GH novel is usually whichever one I have just finished reading, my favorite changes often. Most recently it was Lady of Quality. Suggestions please!! Which would you gift?

[Tasha]

Tough decision. I'm staring at my GH collection trying to figure out which I've read the most... I think my favorite is The Black Moth but... Devil's Cub and Sylvester are great too. Good luck and let us know what she thinks.

[Sophie]

Well I am 17 myself and my first Heyer (read last year) was Cotillion which I really enjoyed. I have also read Arabella and The Nonesuch and my favourite has been Arabella :) I look forward to reading more of her work (I have Frederica, Venetia and The Corinthian waiting on my book shelf!) let us know what you choose!! :)

[Tasha]

Arabella is another great one. Soph its great to see "the younger generation" enjoying her books.

[Margaret]

Arabella also has the advantage that the heroine is about the same age as your daughter (though not knowing your daughter, I don't know how much that would matter to her). The Corinthian and Friday's Child (for example) are other Heyers with younger heroines.

[Jenni]

Thank you so much for your input! It makes me want to go back and re-re-re-read all of these titles! :) I am leaning toward Arabella, Venetia or The Black Moth. Although... I just finished with Lady of Quality and it made me giggle out loud several times. I may have to go with several titles, just because it is so hard to choose just one!

[HJ]

Jenni wrote: "Thank you so much for your input! It makes me want to go back and re-re-re-read all of these titles! :) I am leaning toward Arabella, Venetia or The Black Moth. Although... I just finished with..."

I wouldn't go with The Black Moth. It isn't truly typical of Heyer, I think, and isn't as good as most of her books. I think Arabella would be a good choice.

[Kim]

I also think that Arabella is a good choice for a younger reader. The first Heyer novel I read at age 13 or 14 was Friday's Child, which made me laugh a lot. I agree with Hj that The Black Moth may not be the best novel to start with.

[Louise Sparrow]

The first book I read was The Reluctant Widow, and I was about that age, but I agree that something like Arabella, Cotillion or Sylvester would be good choices too. Or maybe The Grand Sophy or Faro's Daughter?

[Sophie]

Thanks Tasha! I am not the typical stereotype of a 'teenager' - I am an old fashioned girl and a hopeless romantic - I have been born in the wrong era ;) my favourite books to read are (clean) regency romances like Heyer and Austen etc :)

I completely agree about Arabella and having a heroine of a similar age - I could relate to her a lot while I read it, which I always love!

[Tasha]

Soph wrote: "Thanks Tasha! I am not the typical stereotype of a 'teenager' - I am an old fashioned girl and a hopeless romantic - I have been born in the wrong era ;) my favourite books to read are (clean) rege..."

I'm a few years older but I fell in love with regency novels and GH because they are clean... Well regency novels used to be clean its gotten hard to find current regency novels that are clean since the small publishers of them were taken over by Harlequin or other large publishers.

[Sophie]

I agree it is hard and I do a lot of research before hand. I enjoy authors such as Jane Austen, Amanda Grange, Georgette Heyer, Louisa May Alcot, Heidi Ashworth, Julianne Donaldson, Diane Farr, Mandy Goff - I will stop there ;)

[Suzanne]

My preferences tend toward the novels with a little more snark and bickering. I love Regency Buck and Bath Tangle for this reason.

Have you ladies read Sarah Eden's books? They're very good and clean. Also, Danse de la Folie by Sherwood Smith is very clean and one of my favorite books.

Also, for those of you looking for clean Regency novels, there's a list here: http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/25...

[Tasha]

Thanks for the link its a great list and I see some books I've not read. :D

[Teresa]

I agree with Louise. Arabella, Cotillion, Sylvester,The Grand Sophy or Faro's Daughter would all be excellent choices. I'd also add The Talisman Ring as a good place to start (it was my first Heyer, and I followed it by reading the rest of her Regency and Georgian romances as fast as I could get my hands on them -- which took years, since not all of them were readily available, but I kept looking!).

I like some of the mysteries, but I wouldn't recommend any of those for a place to start (except for The Reluctant Widow or some of the others that are mysteries and Regency romances at the same time).

[Louise Sparrow]

Oh yes! I love the Talisman Ring too :D

[Kit]

I'll add a vote for Sylvester--one of my all-time favorites.

Having said that, my first Georgette Heyer novel (back 100 years ago when I was a teenager) was These Old Shades. It's from the mid-18th century rather than the Regency period, but after reading all her romance novels many times, I still think it's one of her best.

[chinami]

The Grand Sophy or These Old Shades.

[Cheryl]

I bet a 17-year-old would love Devil's Cub. It was by far my favorite when I first started reading her. Alas, age and experience keep my favorites changing every year!