Hi and welcome to Book Addict – the site for lovers of traditional Regency Romances, from Heyer to Smith and beyond.
I have always loved the style of these books, ever since reading Jane Austen as a young girl and then discovering Georgette Heyer in my late teens. The wit and humour of these books appeal to me much more than the sexy exploits of historical romances.
And I read a lot of them! It used to be in paperback but nowadays I get most of my fix via e-books though occasionally I can still find some classics through second-hand bookshops and book-fairs.
Why did I start this website?
Trying to find books to read has been getting harder and harder though – I’ve grown increasingly frustrated with Amazon’s automated algorithm that pushes the same books over and over to me (including books I’ve already bought!). Face it Amazon, if I didn’t buy the book the first 100 times you showed it to me, I’m not going to buy it now am I? And even if I did click on a suggested book, I didn’t find the poorly written reviews (many of which just really regurgitated the plot or the blurb, or both!) helpful at all.
So I turned to specialist Romance review websites which provide wonderfully written reviews but for lots of different types of romance genres, not just my catnip – Regency Romances. It was painful wading through all the different types of genres to find just the reviews I was interested in. Also, I didn’t just want the review – I wanted recommendations!
You know, like you get at a wine shop: If you like this type of wine (author/writing style) then you might like this type of wine (author/writing style!). I just wasn’t finding that in any of the websites I visited, so I created what I wanted here!
I hope it provides you with what you’re after as well. But if you’ve got suggestions, feedback or questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!
What are traditional Regency romances?
The romance sub-genre known as ‘traditional Regencies’ for short was essentially created by Georgette Heyer who wrote 24 romances set in the Regency period.
How are they different to historical romances?
The essence of the books is the conversation and non-sexual interaction between the main characters (though there may be sexual tension and of course married couples). Think Oscar Wilde’s mannered comedies or Jane Austen’s finely detailed characters.