I am in love. With books. With Romance Novels. With Regency Romance Novels. With Stephanie Laurens and Julia Quinn and Lisa Kleypas and Elizabeth Boyle and OMG I need MORE. How on earth can I take the time to write book reviews when there are so many novels just waiting for me to sink my teeth into? I am completely, hopelessly, utterly addicted to a well-written Regency Romance. I want to go to a ball. I want to ride a horse in Hyde Park. I want to cross verbal swords with witty gentleman rakes and see plays on Drury Lane and stroll through Vauxhall Gardens and tiptoe through the hallowed halls of Whites and dance through Almack’s and READ MORE. Laugh all you want (and I did because these “10 Things No One Would Say in a Regency Romance” are hilarious and undeniably true), but I am head over heels for them.

Please note I wrote a well-written one, though I suppose the purpose of a book review is to help steer you towards the gold. Indeed, when I first started reading romance novels I ran across a few atrocious ones that put me off the Regency sub-genre completely. If you have found yourself in a similar unfortunate predicament, please do not despair. Here are some authors that, if given the chance, you will truly adore. Allow yourself to taste the sweetness of a well-turned tale and discover new authors that tempt and seduce by trying one of the following anthologies:

Hero, Come Back

Don’t let the boring book cover fool you – these tales are charming. The three authors write short stories of beloved secondary characters from their full-length novels. I enjoyed all three of these emensely.

- Lost and Found by Stephanie Laurens

Reggie Carmarthen, the best-guy-friend of the Cynster twins Amanda and Amelia, opens his eyes to another “good-friend”, spinster and do-gooder Anne Ashford.

- The Third Suitor by Christina Dodd

Harry Chamberlain, Earl of Granville from Lost in Your Arms, discovers the very spunky Lady Jessica climbing through his bushes to escape a suitor. This one made me laugh.

- The Matchmaker’s Bargain by Elizabeth Boyle

A bit of magic helps the wounded ex-rake James Reyburn find that love can heal his soul.

Where’s My Hero?

Another boring cover, but I credit this book with my discovery of the fabulous Julia Quinn and Lisa Kleypas. Unfortunately Kinley MacGregor (aka Sherrylin Kenyon) pales in comparison to the deft prose of the other two.

- A Tale of Two Sisters by Julia Quinn

It’s not just that Julia is brilliant enough to live in the BE-A-U-TIFUL Pacific Northwest, or that she’s a fellow Ivy Leager (though Harvard is no Penn). It’s that she makes me laugh out loud and I don’t do that often enough. Her truly excellent writing style and dialog are a wonder to behold and I plan to read everything ever published with her name on it. In this short story Ned is engaged to one sister because she’s perfectly acceptable as a wife and he will never be in danger of falling in love with her. During the week’s festivities leading up to the wedding, though, he meets her younger sister, Charlotte, and it becomes apparent that he has much more in common with the sensible girl than with her sister. I really liked Charlotte. She was straightforward and liked the out-of-doors and I had the feeling we could be great friends.

- Against the Odds by Lisa Kleypas

I also plan to read everything ever published by this fabulous author. This story was my favorite of the three, because Dr. Jake Linley is deeper than the typical dashingly handsome rakish hero. Jake is passionate about his work, not just the usual drinking, gambling and seducing. Lydia is engaged to marry an earl who she has chosen because he is acceptable and, surprise, surprise, she will never be in danger of falling in love with him. Her romantic mother sneakily locks her in the cellar with Jake, with whom she has always had a tempestuous relationship. Turns out they fight because they like each other.

- Midsummer’s Night by Kinley MacGregor

In the Brotherhood of the Sword series, Simon, the Wraith, is Stryder’s right hand man. He started writing letters to a Scottish Lassie in Stryder’s name, but when she shows up at a tournament set on wedding Stryder, the cat is out of the bag. Predictable and slightly boring tale.

The Further Adventures of Lady Whistledown

This anthology is fun because the four tales interweave around a theater performance, a winter ice skating party and a Valentine’s Day Ball. The characters see each other during their respective stories. The tales are further tied together through Julia Quinn’s delightful Lady Whistledown gossip column.

- One True Love by Suzanne Enoch

- Two Hearts by Karen Hawkins

- A Dozen Kisses by Mia Ryan

- Thirty-Six Valentines by Julia Quinn

Ah, Regency Romance. As I told my seat neighbor on the airplane back from Sweden when he laughingly asked how I liked my book: True Love. Happily Ever After. What more could you ask for in a novel?

Today, while waiting in the drugstore, I was perusing the books and came upon the above novel by Elizabeth George and immediately thought some idiot had reused the Shifing Love cover but zoomed in so you couldn’t tell it’s a shower curtain. Now that I see them together I can see they aren’t the same, just humorously close. Ms. George’s cover wouldn’t be so bad if I could only get the shower curtain out of my head. Oye!

In Romance Novel Land covers are more often embarrassing than weird (Shifting Love is quacky). As one romance blog so tactfully put it, It’s Not Chick Porn. So why do so many covers blatantly reinforce this notion? Sex sells, but we want to be able to read these books in public! I wonder if you can buy tactful jacket covers for paperback romance novels. Covers are powerful, and a badly designed one can often put me off a book completely, even though I know the old adage.

Lets look at a variety of Stephanie Laurens’ covers, because you know I just adore her.

So tell me, which of these books would you be most likely to read? Which would you be most likely to read on an airplane? And which would you expect would make you roll your eyes repeatedly? Right. But they all contain the beautiful addictive goodness that is Stephanie. Oh Stephanie, how could you let them malign your masterpieces? (Not counting the third one, of course – it’s quite fetching.)

Who am I kidding? All it needs to do is say “Stephanie Laurens” on the cover and I will snap it up before you can say “Wuv, true wuv”.

My extremely long journey home from Sweden was redeemed in the Philadelphia Airport: the news store had Stephanie Laurens’ latest novel Beyond Seduction. HALLELUJAH! I was ecstatic. My mother thought I was quite insane. The remaining five hour layover and five hour flight passed by quite enjoyably. I adore Stephanie Laurens! The store also had a program where you could return the book at any airport for 50% money back when you were done reading it. Why on earth would I want to give back a Stephanie Laurens book? What would I do when I want to read it again? I can think of a number of other books on which I’d be more than glad to get my money back, but not Stephanie. Never Stephanie.

Where was I? Oh right, Friday in Trollhättan. We drove to Vänersborg where my great grandmother, Dagmar, was born and where her father, Anton Johansson, was a brew-master at the Bluchers Brewery. My mother made friends with the research librarians at the library and we were able to locate the quarter of the city where the brewery was located (it closed and was demolished in the ’50s) and where my great great grandparents lived. We wandered around the few blocks, taking photos of the houses that were in existence at the time. Then we visited the church to which the family belonged. The librarian pointed out a book in Swedish that showed old photos of the town and had a photo of the brewery. My mom bought it at a local bookstore, and looking through it that night found a photo of my great great grandfather!!! He is pictured in a group photo of the brew-masters (front row, second from right). This is the very first photo we have of him.

We then drove out onto a large peninsula that juts out into Lake Vänern to see the castle Läckö Slott, and just missed the last tour. It was very pretty: a collection of white towers overlooking the lake. We drove back and it poured. I was certain we were experiencing the second Great Flood.

Saturday morning mom made friends with an elderly couple staying in our hotel who turned out to be from Seattle. It’s a small world. We went for a walk along the lovely Trollhättan Canal and drove six hours back towards Stockholm, stopping for dinner in the picturesque ancient capital city of Sigtuna. You know the rest – a looong journey home where I was greeted by my cat; my husband is traveling for work for another two weeks.

Ciaralira’s Quick Overview of Sweden:

Food
The Swedes love cucumbers. Who knew? We can’t figure out why a country with so many lakes and so much coastline doesn’t eat fresh fish – they pickle it. Lots of good breads. I ate cheese, cucumber, and red or green peppers on a piece of bread for two meals a day. A breakfast buffet was included in all hotels and consisted of the same things: pickled herrings, cultured milks, cucumbers, peppers, cheeses and meats, and breads and crackers. Everyone served Lipton tea, yuck, but apparently they have really good coffee (which I don’t drink). Swedes take Fika every afternoon like the Germans, which consists of coffee (or tea) and a small pastry or cake. We indulged in the tradition. Some of my favorite were the cardamon rolls, the Napoleons and Princess Josephines. My mom reports that reindeer is a tough, not very tasty meat. I’ll report that being a vegetarian isn’t that difficult unless you object to bread and cheese for many meals, or, heaven forbid, don’t like cucumbers. They also seem to like McDonalds, which were everywhere. Oddly we didn’t see a single Starbucks.

Music
The Swedes have on average five radio stations, one of which plays a single melody in electronic chimes, like a clock. The radio stations play a few old American songs, but most of the time play four songs on repeat, one of which is Fergie’s “Big Girls Don’t Cry”. My mom and I, driving for hours across the country, almost started crying after listening to it the five-hundredth time. We eventually gave up and turned off the radio altogether. Perhaps our rental car radio was broken? Perhaps most Swedes have satellite radio? Perhaps Swedes don’t listen to music? Who knows, but if you go to Sweden, bring your own music.

Transportation
Though the trains go most places and seemed quite efficient, it isn’t that cheap a way to travel. We ended up renting a car because it gave us greater flexibility and allowed us to visit the tiny village of Kannestubba. Swedish roads are very well engineered and Swedish drivers are über polite. Swedes bike everywhere. There are bike lanes and bike and pedestrian thoroughfares in all the towns. It was awesome. Apparently they even bike in the winter. I’ve never seen so many bikes in my life! My mom said it was like Holland. Unfortunately we didn’t get to go for a bike ride because of the rain.

Population
There are hardly any people in Sweden, which explains why there is no sprawl. One Swede explained to us that Sweden is twice the land size of the island of Britain, with a smaller population than the city of London. People are very well behaved, don’t litter, and are whiter than Seattlites, which is saying something. Everyone speaks English.

Highlights
Go to Stockholm and Lund. If I went again I might spend the whole time in Stockholm. It is, at this time, the most beautiful city I have ever visited.

More photos are up on flickr!

Picturesque buildings topped with mansard roofs and turrets, decorated with stone carvings and painted in peach, cream, apricot, rose, saffron, and buttercup, line the curving cobblestone streets on the small ancient island of Gamla Stan, “Old Town”. Along the waterfront float white archepelago boats, while bicyclists and pedestrians wander over bridges connecting the fourteen colorful islands that compose the city. Stockholm is beautiful. Forget London – Stockholm has the romantic setting, cosmopolitan culture, and court intrigue to make it an excellent setting for a Regency-style romance novel. Take Gustav III for example – the king instituted a renasaince of high art and culture, building a royal opera and theater in the 1790′s, and creating a noble society where the opera was the place to see and be seen. He was murdered by assassins at a masquerade at the opera, which was the inspiration for a Verdi opera. What better backdrop for a novel?

My Great Grandparents traveled back to Sweden in 1914 and my mother and I are loosely following my Great Grandfather’s trip journal. It took them sixteen days to reach to Stockholm by boat and train:

…after having traveled the whole night we arrived there the next day, August 6, at 10 o’clock in the morning, hungry and tired after having traveled 2 nights without any sleep to speak of. On our arrival there the town was full of refugees and in a mild uproar because of the war.

Fortunately it only took my mom and I forteen hours or so to reach Stockholm by plane. Today is our third day in the city. On Thursday we visited the “New” Royal Palace, so called because it has only been in existance for 250 years, as opposed to the previous Tre Kronar Castle that existed in its various forms since the 13th century, until it burned down and the new palace was built. It is fairly boring as palaces go, square with little detailing or carvings. There are no formal gardens attached. We walked around a few of the nearby small island parks, admiring the bike lanes and the historic boats and the fabulous architecture that makes me drool. I adore Stockholm!

Yesterday we walked to Skansen, the world’s first living history museum founded in the 1890′s, where historic buildings from all over Sweden were relocated. A few of the buildings were open with historians in traditional garb available to answer questions. I wish there had been more. It differs from an experience like Sturbridge Village or Colonial Williamsburg in that the buildings represent It also has animals from around Sweden, many of which are endangered. In the late afternoon we took a two-hour boat tour under the bridges of Stockholm and finally saw the modern part of the city. I prefer the historic districts, of course. It rained.

Today we will see the Vasa Museusm, the 17th century worlds-largest warship that, Titanic-like, sank on its maiden voyage. Fortunately it sank into some brackish mud that preserved it. Then we are taking the train to Uppsala, the original capital of Sweden built on a pagan sacrifice spot.

The weather is colder than we had anticipated, and we may have to indulge in the scandinavian’s talent for knitted wool sweaters. Fortunately for us, everyone speaks english here. I’ve finished two books by Stephanie Laurens, my new favorite Regency author. Her heroes are the epitome of true romance alpha-males: possesively protective, always honorable, gentlemen to the last. I intend to write a post on all her wonderful books, but it will have to wait till I get back from my travels.