Regency Romances Anyone??

Vandhana · Feb 17, 2007

Dear IL book lovers,

Since we are still having a hangover from Valentines Day, i thought why not discuss the phase in our short sweet 17 years when we read these Romances. Of course the first person who comes to mind when we talk about Regency Romance is the proclaimed Romance Queen:

BB -BB-B-BARBB-BARA CC-CCCARTLL-LAND !! ( With all her stuttering and stammering innocent dove eyed heriones).
The heriones are usually penniless orphans or a Vicars daughter( which is worse??:icon_frown: ) and they are forced to be a companion ( dignified name to be at ones beck and call ) to an elderly lady who just happens to be the aunt of the Hero who is an Earl, Count, Duke, marquis, Baron, ( take your pick).
Ofcourse, the herione is as pure as the white snow and the hero is always the most incorrigible rake in all of England. And yes, the Hero will never show anykind of emotion in his face( owing to all the tight clothes of those times and also finding it difficult to breathe with the Cravat tied with n number of knots around his neck). of course, i keep thinking by the time these people finished dressing, where was the time for anything else??:idontgetit:

Then along comes the villain to interfere in the affairs, and ofcourse our poor dainty darling has to faint the minute the Villain happens to sneeze loudly( owing to allergies to the overly powdered wigs he was wearing). Well , Alls well that Ends Well in the end. And ofcourse we have the such titles like the The Dandy Duke or the The Constipated Count or some such !!

To think she churned out hundreds of these books with the same story line but different use of the class levels wow is the word!!. My friends and i used to read BC just to have great time parodying the whole book for laughs. But seriously I did not like the way she portrayed her ladies as such weak characters. no spunk at all. On the other hand, i did like the way she describes the England of those days, the settings and the gowns and the waltzes etc......
The M and Bs were a class apart and ofcourse the Doctor Nurse romances( oh the doctors were always these TDH men with black hair and a streak of Silver running through it!!):-(

Well ladies, come out with your thoughts please.
Vandhana

vidyasarada · Feb 21, 2007

Nice write up Vandana. I think all our Tamil Films borrowed heavily from her !

vidyasarada · Feb 21, 2007

Hi Vandana,
Teenage and Cartland revisited ! All those sweet, swooning, delicate darlings ! Yes, as you say she kept recycling the same themes, but how the world lapped it all up in those days ! She churned out something close to 700 titles i think.

Her heroines seem to us now as weak charcters, but in victorian and the regency times, it was supposed to be fashionable for women to appear like that. Whether they really were so, not known. But I have a suspicion that all those tight whalebone corsets and ruffled collars and severe hairdos must have tortured the women so much that they just could not help being weak - they could hardly have breathed properly, poor things !

And that Cartland PINK ! As she aged, she started looking more and more like a caricature isn't it ? what with outsized pearls and flouncy feathers ! I think our own Shahnaz Hussain used to be her personal beautician.

Georgette Heyer was another Regency author who enjoyed a cult status. Her romances were not worth reading, but she did have a flair for mysteries. Can remember only a few titles " Duplicate Death" , "Here's Poison" . Friends and I did hugely enjoy the expressions ( slang maybe) she used and we often peppered our own chats with them , thoroughly confusing those unfortunate ones who did not read R.Romances. Colourful idioms like:"made a cake of himself"( foolish), "prime articles" ( naughty women), "swimming in lard" (rich), "cucumberish"(poor) "bag of moonshine"(lies) etc.

VS

sudhavnarasimhan · Feb 22, 2007

Ha ha Ladies, so going back to those sweet teenage times.....i guess most of us have read all these romances...whatever we could lay our hands upon.....and wonder what was Romance all about!:idontgetit:

In fact i think i am still wondering what it is all about...he he.....maybeshould just get hold of Mand Bs , only the ones doled out are not romantic but something else!:mrgreen:

Yeah, looks like gone are those innocent, moon eyed ,weak women characters, swooning and moaning!

Varloo · Feb 23, 2007

Hai,
I was not fascinated with BC or Mand B in teenage-may be because I ws a tomboy. I preferred James Hardley Chase then, very gripping suspense stories.
My dislike for the romances were due to their repetition of theme and characters.I remember many of my classmates going about with dreamy eyes and with these books in their hands.
But it was enjoyable to read your post, Vandhana.

Abha · Mar 1, 2007

hey vandana..

hahaha, first of all i cant stop laughing, seriously, i mean on myself... i used to read so much of romantic novels... i mean, i have read so many mills and boons and Silhoutte romances... and used to get sooo lost in these that i was in a different world...

and these regency romances are really too much... with those long and formal dialogues... those gowns and those horse carts...

each story was just the same... a guy and a girl meet and i dont know how but they were absolutely fascinated by each other and they fall in love and then a problem comes in between... which only the guy is able to solve and there they go... there love is rekindled and they live happily ever after.

but really that was a different time altogether... those were the days of sweet, too good to be true world...

wat say ?

Kamla · Mar 2, 2007

Dear Vandhana,

I think all of us have crossed the same paths eh...may be the time loop is the difference

Oh yes, I too did devour Georgette Heyer and Barbara Cartland, loads of them. They were the sides as compared to the Gone with the Winds, which is a main course ofcourse.

Oh my...how did the time fly..

L, Kamla

Eljaype · Mar 21, 2007

Dear Vandhana,

Only now I saw this thread. That was nice, good olden days... reading M&B's , Silhuotte romances and BC etc... will those days come evr again?
I was a mix even in those days. I used to read whztever I used to get, from Suspense like JHC, and detective - lawyer stories Perry mason - of Earl Stanley gardner ... etc. These days I just don't get time to read much. I was into Jeffrey Archer and most of his books , which my son got me.

Yours was a nice write up- It brought about , just the feeling - when we read those books.. Time has flown..
Can I get hold of a M&B now and create the old magic?? I wonder???

Latha :wave

sene · May 14, 2007

Hi
I love reading includig Regency romances. IT helps me relax after a full day. I specially love Judith McNaught, Jude Deveraux and Johanna Lindsey in this category

sunkan · May 14, 2007

dear vandhana,
u have taken me back in time not for self but as a mother, both my daughters started with M&B and have libraries of their own now, and what romance yes, they would tug me to read, telling! Ma u were not exposed then just get one now...so yes the scenes created the food arrangement, and the hero is always dark and wicked, the heroine the ever innocent white bloom, u r right, but when it started just a kiss and hugs were great then, but later it became more a porno for the kids...with all scenes of love worked in detail... regards sunkan