Books On Sale

Holy Heyer Sale: $1.99 Heyer Digital Sale All Week

To celebrate Georgette Heyer’s birthday, Sourcebooks has put their entire digital collection of Heyer novels on sale for $1.99. NICE. Ready to shop? Hope so!

I struggled recently with The Grand Sophy, which I read last week, but Heyer’s books are, unquestionably, quite a legacy to the romance community. $1.99 is quite a nice price, too. The books should be at this price from 15-21 August at most major e-retailers, though sometimes there is a delay with switching the price. You may have to check back.

Here’s a comprehensive list for you. I’ve tried to find links to many major retailers whenever possible.

REGENCY ROMANCE

1. Arabella [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

2.  Bath Tangle [Kindle | Kobo | BN ]

3.  Beauvallet [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

4. The Black Moth [Kindle | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

5. Black Sheep [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

6. Charity Girl [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

7.  The Convenient Marriage [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

8.  The Corinthian [Kindle | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

9. Cotillion [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

10.  Cousin Kate [Kindle | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

11. Devil’s Cub [Kindle | BN | WORD Brooklyn] SmartBitches Grade: A

12. False Colours [Kindle | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

13. Faro’s Daughter [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

14.  The Foundling [Kindle | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

15. Frederica [Kindle | Kobo | WORD Brooklyn]

16.  Friday’s Child [Kindle | BN]

17.  The Grand Sophy [Kindle | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

18. Lady of Quality [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

19.  The Masqueraders [Kindle | BN]

20. The Nonesuch [KindleBN]

21.  Powder and Patch [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

22.  The Quiet Gentleman [Kindle | Kobo | BN]

23. Regency Buck [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

24. The Reluctant Widow [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

25.  Sylvester [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

26.  The Talisman Ring [Kindle | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

27.  These Old Shades [Kindle | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

28.  Venetia [Kindle | Kobo | BN]
 

MYSTERY

29.  Behold, Here’s Poison [Kindle | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

30. A Blunt Instrument [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

31.    Death in the Stocks [Kindle | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

32.   Detection Unlimited [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

33.  Duplicate Death [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

34.  Envious Casca [Kindle | Kobo | BN]

35.  Footsteps in the Dark [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

36. No Wind of Blame [Kindle | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

37.  Penhallow [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

38. They Found Him Dead [Kindle | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

39. Unfinished Clue [Kindle | Kobo | BN]

40.  Why Shoot a Butler? [Kindle | BN | WORD Brooklyn]
 

HISTORICAL FICTION

41. The Conqueror [Kindle | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

42. An Infamous Army [Kindle | BN | WORD Brooklyn]
Reviewed by DocTurtle: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V.

43.  My Lord John [Kindle | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

44. Royal Escape [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

45. Simon the Coldheart [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

46.  Spanish Bride [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]
 
NON-FICTION

47.  Georgette Heyer’s Regency World [Kindle | Kobo | BN | WORD Brooklyn]

Categorized:

General Bitching...

Comments are Closed

  1. kylie says:

    I’ve recently rediscovered Heyer- I struggled with A Civil marriage (or something along those lines) years ago,  but quite enjoyed Frederica recently.

    Sadly though, whoever publishes this does not extend the discount (or even the availability in some cases) to places outside the US that happen to speak English. curses.  I need to find a new alternate US address to link my Kindle to.

  2. Ros says:

    Almost worth moving to the US for a deal like this.

  3. Kate Nepveu says:

    Thank you for the alert!

  4. I was all happily filling my shopping cart at ARe when I realized that these are DRMd. Dammit! Do I want the Heyers enough to do the dreaded dance of OMGWTFBBQ between the unholy trinity of ADE, Calibre and my BeBook Mini? *ponders* Because the headaches that result from this messy, mismanaged menage—they smite me mightily.

    blood86—yes, dealing with ADE does make me sweat blood.

  5. Anniejay says:

    I was so excited, then I checked kobobooks. Only Georgette Heyer’s Regency World is at 1.99. Gah. Do they not care for readers in Asia?

  6. Bri says:

    any suggestions of 1 or 2 to start with for someone with a limited book buying budget?

  7. Francesca Scaraggi says:

    Actually you can get The Black Moth for free from Manybooks.net.  Here.

    Its offered in many different formats, from kindle to epub to pdf.  Spend your money on one of the other titles instead!

  8. Ros says:

    Bri, it depends what you like.  For sheer romance, I don’t think you can beat Venetia.  For comedy, try The Grand Sophy (though as SBSarah notes, there is a note of antisemitism that might leave a bitter taste) or Frederica.  For adventure and action, there’s Devil’s Cub or The Masqueraders.  One of the things I love most about Heyer is that there’s one to suit every mood.

  9. AgTigress says:

    Excellent.  I am interested that they have included her contemporary whodunnits (published from 1932-1953), which are of rather uneven quality and difficult to find in print, and even Penhallow, which is, frankly, better avoided.  Though the whodunnits are fascinating for their insights into certain aspects of 1930s-late40s society, and one or two have very enjoyable romance elements.  Her early contemporary romances remain pretty well unobtainable (she managed to suppress them in her own lifetime), and I suspect that’s just as well.

    SB Sarah, when you say

    I struggled recently with The Grand Sophy, which I read last week,

      surely you don’t mean that you didn’t enjoy it?!!  I perfectly understand that one episode would be extremely distasteful to you (and to all the rest of us), but it should be shrugged off simply as a reminder that one offensive stereotype, which was once common, is now unacceptable.  A reminder of a small step in human progress, maybe.  Heaven knows, we need to hail any progress that our species does make:  it’s slow enough.

  10. LG says:

    @ms bookjunkie – I had the same thought. I have, to date, purchased only one DRM’d e-book, mostly because I was curious to see how well I’d fare with an ADE book. On principal, I don’t usually like to give my money to publishers or stores that put DRM on e-books. Had I wanted to read the thing on my computer, it would have been simple, but I wanted to read it on my Nook and apparently did something wrong, because it refused to work. I eventually did get to view the book on my Nook, but only after doing things that I’m sure the publisher would have frowned upon. I’d feel guilty, except I paid for the book.

    $1.99 is a nifty price, but I think I’ll pass and just continue to have Heyer on my “get from the library” list. 🙁

  11. kkw says:

    The Grand Sophy remains one of my favorite Heyer’s, incest and anti-semitism notwithstanding.  I always figured the anti-semitism was a nod to Emily Eden, part of her ongoing attempts to be as historically accurate as possible, much like cousins getting married, and using the correct posting times for the mail coaches.  If that’s not true I’m going to carry on pretending.
    Cotillion is one of my favorites as well, and A Convenient Marriage (not to be confused with A Civil Contract, which is the one most find problematic). Even her worst novels are better than most people’s best, in fact, hers are the only romance novels I own (how I wish I had an income).  And I’m pretty sure…yup, I have all of these.  So why am I tempted to buy the e-versions? Well you know she was out of print for a while and all my old copies fell apart from being reread so often…
    I do find her historical fiction a wee bit ponderous, and the mysteries are not terribly mysterious.  Still, I’d take Penhallow over Simon the Coldheart.

  12. jody says:

    These Old Shades was the first Heyer I read and it remains my favorite.  I’ve worn out two copies.

  13. becca says:

    Beauvallet isn’t a Regency – it’s Elizabethan, but still fun for all of that.

    What you list as Regencies should better be called Georgan/Regency, as they span a wider time than just the Regency.

    Just ran and got a bunch of these. Love, love, love me some Heyer.

  14. Jennifer says:

    Thanks for the post.  Between my mother & I we have most of the romances and mysteries but the paperbacks have been read so many times that some of them are falling apart (well many are over 50 years old) so it’s a great opportunity to digital versions of my favourites.  I couldn’t resist Venetia, and trying to decide on a short list – although I am tempted to buy the lot.

  15. SArahS says:

    I didn’t much enjoy The Grand Sophy either. The anti-semitism was unpleasant, which probably goes without saying, but that’s not the reason I didn’t care for it.

    I just didn’t like the title character—I found her obnoxiously controlling, fairly unpleasant to be around, and didn’t buy into her romance for a moment. And that’s said by a new Heyer fan, who read and loved Frederica, Cotillion, and the Black Moth.

  16. joykenn says:

    Warning!  I ordered a lot of these including Sylvester: or the Wicked Uncle which I remember with delight.  Unfortunately on Amazon, it is NOT $1.99 but $9.39.  I’m not sure if they mistakenly are charging the print cost or what.  I’m trying to cancel my digital order since I didn’t notice this until I clicked buy. 

    LOVE the covers of these newly issued print and digital editions.  Even the worst Heyer have pretty delightful dialog.  AND, these were the first…the pattern that created Regency Romances.  Most classic Regencies use variations of Heyer’s plots.  They are a very worth carrying on your ebook reader.

  17. joykenn says:

    Re-read my post and perhaps it wasn’t clear.  Only Sylvester seems to be offered at the $9.39 price (that I have discovered!).  But I’m cautioning you to double-check the price on Amazon.  The (too-many) others I bought at the same time were a marvelous $1.99.  So much great reading for less than a latte!

  18. I love The Grand Sophy, and she is one of my favorite characters.  I like that she’s so strong.  Just differing points of view!  Like some others, I kind of squeeze my eyes closed through the Merchant of Venice bits.  (I mean, The Merchant of Venice itself is still a very important play to read, although its anti-semitism is ghastly.  I have the same issue with the racism, the homophobia, and, particularly in romances, the sexism that occurs in older books.  But I understand some things are harder to ignore than others, depending on how hard it hits you.)

    For favorite first recommends for people:  The Masqueraders (just suspend disbelief about…well, when you read it you’ll know what).  Devil’s Cub.  My two personal favorites.  I also personally love These Old Shades, although I understand not everyone does.  A Convenient Marriage.  Faro’s Daughter is a lot of fun, with the huge battle of wills.  The Talisman Ring is hilarious, particularly the relationship between Miss Trent and Sir Tristam. 

    Personally, to me, there is something to be gained from all of them.  I also really enjoy some of her “older” (written when she was older) ones like Black Sheep, where the romance is more mature, two adults treating each other well, less drama.  It just depends on my mood.  Thanks for the head’s up about the sale!

  19. Emily says:

    @ Becca The Masquarades takes place during the Jacobian Rebellion. The Black Moth, These old shades, Devil’s Cub, and The Convient Marriage are all Georgian. They just call all Heyer Regency.
    The Black Moth is available for free on-line. $1.99 is over priced.
    @SArah S
    Many Georgette Heyer books include a controlling character- usually the hero. Part of the fun with The Grand Sophy is seeing the gender roles reversed. My least favorite controlling hero is Ned in the Reluctant Widow.
    @kkw
    Several of the Heyer modern mysteries end with cousins who marry each other. this apparently is something she just didn’t have problem. One of the Heyer says this is an American thing (to object when first cousins marry). I kinda laugh when modern authors jump through hoops to make them more distantly related.
    @SB sarah can we do a Heyer book chat? I know she is dead.

  20. SarahS says:

    @ Emily—I know that she uses controlling characters a lot. She’s riffing on, among other things, the “managing character” from Shakespearean comedies and problem plays.

    I just found Sophy a decidedly unlikable example of that genre of character.  I thought it was worth mentioning because the commenters seemed to be jumping to the conclusion that the only thing one could dislike about the book was the anti-semitism.

  21. I noticed that Amazon had screwed up the price on Sylvester! Argh. It’s $1.99 on the Sourcebooks site. It’s the dreaded ADE, but you all know how to get around that, right? 😉

  22. jody says:

    Amazon will probably fix the price, Stephanie.  It’s pretty good about corrections.  Actually there are a couple with a higher than 1.99 price.  I’ve saved them to my wishlist and will check back later in the week.

    Can’t face the ADE mess.

  23. cbackson says:

    These Old Shades is probably my favorite romance ever.  I know that it is, in so many ways, weird, but I love it.  Can’t be helped.

    I have to admit, however, that I find Heyer’s historical fiction excruciating.  I tried to read both Lord John and The Conqueror (because I apparently forgot how dreadful Lord John was) and both experiences were not to be repeated.  They were both lifeless and under-characterized.  Heyer is, I think, a writer for whom the comedy of manners is the ideal form, and outside of that realm, she’s not particularly strong.  I don’t care much for her mysteries, either.

  24. SB Sarah says:

    @agtigress:

    surely you don’t mean that you didn’t enjoy it?!!  I perfectly understand that one episode would be extremely distasteful to you (and to all the rest of us), but it should be shrugged off simply as a reminder that one offensive stereotype, which was once common, is now unacceptable.

    Nope, that is indeed what I meant. I was really enjoying the adventure until the book went to hell with that scene and character. It wasn’t shruggable (is that a word? Is now!) to me because (review forthcoming…I think in an hour or so) the character is so stock, stereotypical, and shabbily done. It was a significant weakness in the structure and character, and highlighted the other weaknesses of the book.

  25. AgTigress says:

    The Grand Sophy remains one of my favorite Heyer’s, incest and anti-semitism notwithstanding.

    Incest?  WHAT incest?!  There is no incest.  Sophy and Charles are first cousins:  that has not been a forbidden degree of consanguinity at any time or place in Christendom, nor, as far as I am aware, in any other major religious system.  On the contrary, cousin marriage was extremely common in the past, when (as I have mentioned before) marriage choices were often severely limited by small, non-mobile communities and by complex social rules that we can ignore.
    I can accept that double first cousins (where both parents of one partner are siblings of both the other’s parents, e.g. the children of two sisters who married two brothers) might have given rise to some debate, but that is actually quite a rare situation even in a small community. 
    Of course, first-cousin marriage may be inadvisable if the family carries some genetic faults, but it has never been considered either immoral or illegal.
    I find it really strange that so many contemporary Americans are hyper-sensitive to issues like a distant blood-relationship, or a wide age-gap, between partners, and yet at the same time cheerfully unfazed by some sexual practices that make my flesh creep!  🙂  Takes all sorts…

  26. Diva says:

    I know that Heyer was extremely influential and has a lot of ardent fans.

    I struggled and waded through Frederica and although I finished it, it took a valiant effort to do so. I wish so much that I liked it better but it seemed dense and slow to me.

    I thought it would be more like Eva Ibbotson. Don’t ask me where I got that idea.

  27. AgTigress says:

    the character is so stock, stereotypical, and shabbily done

    Yes, it is.  But Heyer was writing comedy, and comedy, then and now, deals a lot in stereotypes, many of which are, by their very nature, unfair and offensive.  Many such stereotypes that people unthinkingly laughed at in the past can now be seen to be completely unacceptable (Heyer is pretty objectionable on homosexuality, too). 

    Practically all of us belong to a social or ethnic group which, at some time or place, has been unfairly and maliciously stereotyped as wicked, devious, dishonest, stupid…  Think of the Irish jokes, the Polish jokes…  As a Welshwoman, I cringe at many traditional English characterisations of my own people (welching on a debt;  ‘Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief…’), but it is now a fairly long time since the Welsh and Irish were actually punished and killed simply for existing.  Jews have been persecuted for longer, more savagely, and more recently, than most of us, so of course the anti-Semitic stereotypes are even more revoltingly powerful and immediate, even to those of us who are not Jewish.
    I’m absolutely not making light of this at all.  I do understand why, for you, Sarah, it would taint the whole book, but I think it is a shame that it should be so.  🙁

  28. Ms. M says:

    As a contemporary American, I will take kinky sex with an age-appropriate non-relative over the alternative ANY DAY OF THE WEEK.

    (Yes, yes. I know no one is advocating sex with your grandfather. Even so.)

  29. @AgTigress, here in the States, there are a number of states in which first cousin marriage is illegal and a number of other states in which it is only legal if the cousins are of an age at which they cannot have children. There was a big concern in the 19th century that cousin marriage produced bad offspring and I believe that attitude continues in one form or another in U.S. culture.

    As for the Heyer books, well, I am very grateful for the head’s up but also worried about my book buying budget.

  30. DreadPirateRachel says:

    A Civil Contract, which is the one most find problematic).

    @kkw,
    Why is it problematic?

  31. LizW65 says:

    I think it’s considered problematic because of the bittersweet, rather than happy, ending.  IIRC, the hero “settles” for marrying the daughter of a wealthy Cit instead of the girl he’s passionately in love with, and while he grows to be fond of his wife over time he never really gets over the other girl, and his wife knows it.

  32. cleo says:

    @ Bri – the best advice I’ve received about where to start with Heyer is to start with the one’s with a person’s name for the title – Fredricka, Venetia, Sylvester, Arabella, etc.  My brother told me this – I’m still not sure if he’s actually read them (seems unlikely) or just picked this up from his wife and mother-in-law who are big Heyer fans.  It works pretty well.  I also like The Nonesuch.

  33. I just read Sylvester for the first time, and really liked it: the heroine writes a novel (!)  and has a male best friend who’s like a brother to her (!!), two of my favorite things in romance.  Oh, also an awesome, no-nonsense governess.

    Also, no creepy anti-Semitism (or anti-Irish or anti-French sentiment, either, two other points of potential ick in Heyer).

  34. Karenmc says:

    I just received an Amazon gift card for my birthday. Woot! I picked up nine books this morning and will keep an eye out for the price drop on Sylvester. Now I can go on a Heyer bender : )

    Thanks for the head’s up, Sarah (and I think a chat about a Heyer book sounds really great).

  35. SB Sarah says:

    @Emily & @KarenMC: You want to hold a live chat on Heyer?

    Sure! We could do that. How about Thursday evening? You guys free then? Anyone…? Anyone…? Bueller?

  36. Alex says:

    *bitches and moans loudly about the fact this doesn’t apply to Amazon UK*

    Grrrrrr.

  37. Chelsea says:

    I would be totally up for a live chat, but first I have to actually read a Heyer lol. Guess I know what I’m doing with my day off.

  38. DreadPirateRachel says:

    @LizW65,

    I’m familiar with the plot; it’s actually one of my favorite Heyers. I was just wondering what, if anything, would render the book “problematic.” I don’t think that a mere lack of fluffy HEA counts; I thought maybe KKW had an objection to some content in the book, as SBSarah objects to The Grand Sophy. If people object to the plot alone, then it’s not really problematic, is it? It’s more just a matter of personal preference—as in, some people prefer the HEA to be uncomplicated. That doesn’t indicate a problem with the book; it just means that some people don’t like it.

  39. Karenmc says:

    I’m up for a chat, but I’ve only read Arabella. The most I could do in a chat this week is ask questions and nod my head appreciatively at all the intelligent comments. By next week I could have at least one more book read.

  40. Lee Rowan says:

    Wow—thank you!

    I’ve found The Black Moth free online, public domain—and glad to get it at that price because it wasn’t very good—her first novel, I think.

    As for the others—I have several favorites, but since adopting a puppy last year who is quickly becoming Bouncer, I’m most looking forward to getting Reluctant Widow on my e-reader. 

    I love all Heyer’s Regencies except Regency Buck, in which I think the heroine married the wrong guy.  But her other books, and the mysteries, leave me cold.  Funny how she could be so very good in one narrow genre and not so hot on the others, because the Regencies are such fun.

    Off now to grab the Regencies from ARe!

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