Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

Those covers look absolutely gorgeous.  I’ve always wanted to read Georgette Heyer’s books, but I’ve never got round to it.  Those book covers make me want to read them all.

So many favourite scenes… and I can only choose one!
I think my absolute favourite scene is Devils Cub where Mary has met up with Vidal’s father and describes the scene where a tired drunken Vidal, angry and frustrated, had decided to have his way with her - whereupon she shoots him in the shoulder. His father, Devil, idly asked what happened then and she replies “It was then my lord, that he began to realise that I was not trifling, and was in deadly earnest. ” A young man of perspicacity I see” remarks Devil dryly.

Talk about synchronicity…recently, a good friend of mine lent me a stack of books and in the stack were two Georgette Heyers—Black Sheep and Cotillion. I had never read a Heyer before, but I read Black Sheep and fell in love! I am partway through Cotillion now and I am really enjoying it. To make matters even more coincidental, I was talking to this same friend on the phone today, thanking her for introducing me to Georgette Heyer! Neither of us can understand why the BBC hasn’t jumped at the chance to make a Pride And Prejudice-style miniseries from a Heyer book.

Just in case anyone doesn’t know this, three of the ten titles released this season are mysteries rather than romances (Behold, Here’s Poison, The Unfinished Clue and Why Shoot a Butler?) and My Lord John is historical fiction, rather than historical romance and was unfinished at the time of her death. There’s a review of My Lord John here.

Oh be still my beating heart!! Aren’t the new covers even more divine than the old new ones??!! When I am feeling poorly, I take to my bed and have a Georgette Heyer (Like) decline. If only I had a maid to bring me a tisane and a cool cloth for my head. Sadly, Lorelai Gilmore the Labrador pup just brings me bits of stick!! My friend truly adores GH and if I won Tattslotto I would buy her all the gorgeous new books!! (Waiting, waiting….. she.could be waiting sometime!!)

I’ve never read Heyer and I think I really need to, given all the love I’ve seen for her work here.  The artwork on all of the books is gorgeous, but the one for The Unfinished Clue is really great!

I love Georgette Heyer, it makes me very happy to know that she’s gaining a new audience of readers. I’d recommend Cotillion, These Old Shades and Sylvester to anyone new to her work.

That said, it’s a shame this interview didn’t mention Arrow Books 2004-2006 repackaging of Georgette Heyer’s works in the UK & Australia which is the clear inspiration for the Sourcebooks reprint covers. A quick search of Amazon UK will show that some of the same artwork is used, albeit on different books, and they have identical typefaces. The artwork on the US Cotillion is simply the UK Cotillion reversed. The artwork on the US Why Shoot a Butler? was used on the UK Envious Casca. Some of the other artwork is not used in the UK but the overall style remains very, very similar and to my mind should be acknowledged by Sourcebooks when they do interviews about their design choices.

I’ve many, many favourite scenes from Heyer, but I’ll choose a scene from ‘April Lady’ That book is a lot slighter than a lot of her others - more approaching farce. The heroine is young and beautiful but from a notoriously profligate family, the hero is older, a ‘catch’ and falls for her on sight. At the start of the book they’re married, but he’s beginning to suspect that she only married him for his money.
Towards the end of the book, there’s a scene where she comes to tell him that a family heirloom is missing, and he is completely sure that she has sold it, and is betrayed and furious. So he’s just quite nasty to her in a dignified kind of way. And there’s a moment at the end of that scene that I love:

‘She went rather blindly towards the door. His voice checked her, even startled her a little. “No, come back! I didn’t mean it Nell! I didn’t mean it!” ‘

I just love it - he’s sure she’s stolen from him, and that she has lied about it, and yet he still can’t bear to make her cry.

And then she leaves - to look for someone - and he thinks she’s left him, and races round London like an idiot looking for her. Sigh.

I can’t choose just one scene. It is easily a toss up between the scene on Devil’s Cub where Avon meets Mary at the in after she has runaway from Vidal again and in trying to learn exactly how she was abducted he asks her to tell him about “day-light kidnappings as practiced by the modern youth” or the scene in the Grand Sophy where Sophy pulls a gun on the money lender and he scoffs that the gun is not loaded and she informs him that :if he got up from behind his desk he would learn that the gun was loaded or at least he would be dead but he would know how it had happened”

Both of these scenes still make me smile every time I think about them.

The covers are really lovely.  I admit to having the bad habit of choosing books by their covers . . .

Sorry to say I have not read any of Georgette’s books. Covers usually draw me and from what you said the cover and quality of these reprints are wonderful. Would love to try one.

It’s really hard to pick a favorite scene, there are just too many, but if you put a pistol to my head it’s when Rule says that he’s too old in reply to his sister who’s asked him why Horry, his younger wife, hasn’t fallen in love with him like every other female on the planet.

Or when Avon tries to be noble at the end of ‘These Old Shades’ or Damerel at the end of ‘Venetia’. 

And Marianne, I’m so glad to see that there’s somebody else out there who loves ‘April Lady’!

I really wish the reprints weren’t trade-sized, because I absolutely refuse to buy those due to their weight and inconvenience.

I have yet to have the pleasure of reading any of Heyer’s work, though I do like Mary Balogh, and if Heyer is anywhere near as exciting as Frangos, I’m sure I’m in for a big treat! Mmmm, Frangos. (Catchpa: century49—I’m certain to read 49 romance novels this century.)

Ahhh.  Heyer.  Always wonderful.  Never disappoints.  New covers.  Bliss.

her42:  Too obvious.

Georgette Heyer is what started me on the slippery (with lurve juice!) slope to romance. I remember my friend pushing a copy of Friday’s Child into my hands, saying “Read this, you’ll love it,” and me looking at her skeptically after viewing the opening line:

“Do not, I beg of you, my lord, say more!” uttered Miss Milborne, in imploring accents, slightly averting her lovely countenance and clasping both hands at her bosom.

She told me to read on and withing sentences I was hooked. To this day, I have two copies of Friday’s Child - one for reading, one for hooking and reeling in new Heyer fans. Georgette got me through a some very tough times. I remember finishing Venetia in the bathroom of a dingy hostel in Camden. It was four in the morning, I couldn’t sleep and I just wanted to go hoooome.

As to my favourite scene, I find it hard to pick one. I love the scene in the Convenient Marriage where Horry offers herself to Rule in the place of her sister, with the salve, “I have the nose!”

And in Frederica, when Frederica turns up at Alvistoke’s house because her dog has been harrassing the cows in Hyde Park, and he’s claimed as a ‘Baluchistan hound’.

And of course when Mary shoots Vidal in Devil’s Cub, and that great final scene in The Unknown Ajax, where the wounded man plays drunk and the dandy plays wounded.

Ah, they’re all so good : )

Can’t pick just one scene, but the end of The Grand Sophy, with everyone converging on the Spanish lady’s house and hanging around her kitchen, sticks in my mind.  There’s baby ducks—baby ducks!—mass confusion bordering on farce, and everything is sorted out at the end.  Heyer was the master of this kind of escalating lunacy, and used iit in several of her novels.

My mother is possibly the biggest Heyer fan on the planet, so this would make an awesome Christmas gift for her, if I win.

Favorite scene?  There are so many!  I would have to say that every scene in “These Old Shades” and “The Devil’s Cub” would about do it for me.  *grin*  I’ve been reading Heyer since I was a sprout of about 12, I guess… that’s 40 years now.  I return to her books over and over again - and I still laugh out loud in delight.

Those covers ARE stupendously gorgeous!

Wow, these are gorgeous covers…they make the books very very tempting! Especially to someone like me who has Heyer on the ‘to read’ list but hasn’t gotten there yet! Too many others on the list before her unfortunately.

The cover for “The Unfinished Clue” has me itching to go order it…& risk spousal wrath since we swore to each other NO MORE NEW BOOKS until we read what we already have…

Those covers are absolutely gorgeous. I am absolutely, totally and completely covetous. There’s no way I’m going to be able to resist them. I’m going to have to buy These Old Shades...and once I begin buying I’m going to have to own them all. *le sigh*

Georgette Heyer is what started me on the slippery (with lurve juice!) slope to romance.

Oh, me too. I should have been studying for my O-Levels and instead I was devouring Heyer at the rate of a book a week (and also Hemingway, which is an odd sort of mix). I haven’t revisited Hemingway, but I did reread a few Heyers this past year and it was rather like being a ghost with a critical eye. Quite honestly I find her mixed, which is to be expected in a decades-long career and sometimes you could tell Ms. Heyer was having a lousy year.

These covers are gorgeous and altho you haven’t mentioned any artists’ names I believe they’re all late Victorian, so it’s a nostalgia art genre, the courtships of our grandparents when the world was young and gay. I can’t wait to see what Sourcebooks picks for The Masqueraders, the one with all the pervy cross-dressing. I remember at the tender age of 16 getting a funny sort of tingle from that one.

Well, I haven’t won a contest since 4th grade, but finding a starting point in one, or ten, books is a lot less intimidating then find one in 34.

I do have to wonder at the decision to release them as trade paperbacks. I’m not opposed to buying trades, but paying $14 for a 372pg. book seems rather overpriced. My mother’s copy of The Grand Sophy is only 416pg. and it’s a large print book.

Favorite scene? How can I choose just one? These Old Shades is just one long favorite scene… I also love the ventre a terre love declaration scene in The Talisman Ring... and in Devil’ Cub when she tells Avon that he obviously doesn’t know his son very well… or Rupert’s wine buying in the same…

Darn it, now I want to go read me some Heyer!

I would love to be able to re-read GH again!!
Please enter me in the giveaway.

OMG, I’m so excited about this post. I love Georgette Heyer, and bought a few of her books when they were released in MMPB a few years ago. I saw these new covers a while ago at Borders, and fell in love with them. I actually picked up a copy of Why Shoot a Butler? from a front table at B&N, because I loved the cover, and hadn’t read any of Heyer’s mysteries before.

My favorite Heyer romance is hard to choose, but I did love Frederica. The give-and-take between Frederica and Alverstoke was so fun; the dog scene makes me laugh (I have 3 dogs); and I love the character of Felix.

This is one contest that makes me squee.  Pick me!

I have “discovered” so many more authors since I’ve been following your blog….

Thanks for entering me in the contest.

I can’t wait to see what Sourcebooks picks for The Masqueraders, the one with all the pervy cross-dressing.

The one Arrow Books picked was pretty good, I thought. You can see it here.

In many of Penny Jordan’s Harlequin Presents books, her heroines are mentioned to be reading Georgette Heyer books.  I bought one of Heyer’s books a while back since she was mentioned in Jordan’s books so often.  I can’t recall the title of the one I bought.  The new covers look great.

I’ve only read Devil’s Cub and enjoyed it. Of course the classic scene where she shots him sticks in the mind. These new covers are beautiful and I’d love to get a chance to read The Grand Sophy. My library doesn’t have it!

I am one BIG Georgette Heyer fan and have been collecting her books for years.  Most of my collection consists of older (not very good quality) paperbacks and I would love to replace with these gorgeous reprints.  Please, please count me in for the give-away!

earlier59:  yep, by one year…born in 1958 :)

Any scene from Friday’s Child involving Ferdy, Gil and George is a favourite. Heyer has written some absolutely classic - if completely mad - last scenes, vaguely reminiscent of Wilde or Shakespeare comedies. The Unknown Ajax, The Grand Sophy, Friday’s Child and Cotillion are perfect - and priceless - examples of this, each with a large cast, deception, intrigue, romance (in some cases multiple couples) and a hilariously satisfying routing of the villain. Oh Freddy, I love you.

Count me in the camp of Never-Read-Heyer (oh, the shame!).  I keep meaning to, but my TBR pile is ginormous.  The Heyer love has me very curious, though, and free books could tip the scale (wink, wink)!

I’ve only read a couple Heyers so far, but yep, the shooting scene from Devil’s Cub is definitely the one that sticks in my head.

These are such gorgeous books. I hadn’t realized that they were reprinting the mysteries as well.

I can remember my godmother commenting once that her idea of heaven was a sunny day at the beach with a new Georgette Heyer.

I’ve been seeing these come into my library and I’ve been wanting to read them, just based on the cover. Yes, I do judge a book by its cover :-)

It’s way too early to crave chocolate.

It’s ten thirty in the evening in Australia. Perfect time for chocolate!

Well, I’m relieved to know I’m not the only one who hasn’t read Heyer yet. I keep meaning to, but I’ve never gotten around to starting one… though reading these comments really makes me want to start one. Now. Especially April Lady - the scene Marianne described sounds like it packs my kind of emotional punch. *sigh*

Also, I’m loving that cover art, especially the colours on The Corinthian. It was really interesting to read about Dawn’s process, especially purposely working on the juxtaposition of a contemporary style and classical artwork. I think it’s a great way to acknowledge Heyer’s status as a writer while making the books look interesting, instead of dated. Seriously, those covers are sexy. Rawr.

It’s way too early to crave chocolate.

What are you talking about? It’s NEVER too early to crave chocolate - there are plently of places in the world where it’s currently an acceptable time for chocolate. Just set your watch to one of those time zones. (And this is why my old clothes don’t fit anymore.)

In my hurry to post and qualify for the contest I forgot to mention:
1)  Enjoyed your Dawn Pope interview.  I’m intrigued by the cover art process and her lovely renditions are a huge step above the norm. 
2)  I have many favorite Heyer scenes but I recently re-read The Grand Sophy and just love the ending.  Madcap chaos and a happy ending for all (or at least those deserving one!) and a great last scene: ” ’ Charles!’ uttered Sophy, shocked, ‘You cannot love me!’  Mr. Rivenhall pulled the door to behind them, and in a very rough fashion jerked her into his arms, and kissed her, ‘I don’t:  I dislike you excessively!’ he said savagely.  Entranced by these lover-like words, Miss Stanton-Lacy returned his embrace with fervour, and meekly allowed herself to be led off to the stables.”  Pure Heyer and sigh-worthy even after almost 60 years!

I…gasp!...am a Heyer virgin…I would love to be lavishly seduced into her world with these covers and chocolate.

Is it wrong that I have this image in my mind of myself in a silky robe with flowing sleeves an lots of ruffles on a chaise lounge in a gazebo, chilled champagne resting on a table nearby, as I repose with a book in one hand and an occasional chocolate in the other?

Devil’s Cub will always be my favorite—it was my first Heyer.  It also set me up for what I like in a heroine: the courage to shoot the hero.  It made quite the impression on me when I read this at age 12.

Perhaps why Lord of Scoundrels is a fave too?

Oh my. How do you pick a favorite scene? I have to say that I think These Old Shades and Devil’s Cub are my two favorite books. Something about the very wicked men falling hopelessly head over heels and the way Heyer reveals that to us, the readers, without the heroine having the slightest clue.

One of my favorite scenes is a very minor one in Devil’s Cub, where Mary’s dandyish cousin(?) comes to visit wearing an appalling puce outfit and proceeds to try to cheer her up by telling her how much more attractive he finds her than he finds Sophie, her feckless but very beautiful sister. To which Mary retorts, dryly, “yes, but then you chose puce.”

I haven’t read any of Heyer’s mysteries or several of the other books in the giveaway and would love, love to have them. As a graphic artist I have so enjoyed these new Sourcebook editions.

So what you’re saying is, my stomach is Australian?

What I’m saying is, your stomach claims asylum from whatever nation state is currently in the designated “chocolate dessert time zone”.

Oh, and great interview, it’s always so fascinating to hear about the process a book goes through before we see it on a shelf.

As to the art…I love that first image on The Cotillion, it seems like a real moment, the characters are more approachable than the traditional “portrait” style images. So more like that.

I have every Heyer Regency already but some are in tatters so I would dearly love to win. I might even return some Heyers to my mum ... gee, they’re only on a longterm borrow LOL.

Regency Buck was my first (and Pamela Regis wrote about it in her marvelous meander through the centuries of romantic fiction). I’d be hard pressed to choose between Friday’s Child, Cotillion and Devil’s Cub. April Lady is an intensely different, sweet and occasionally chilling book—how marriages can come close to crashing, even when there’s love. And who could forget the burly footman staggering under the weight of the young sister-in-law’s diamond chipped dressing case (April Lady)

Please, please pick me to win! I have yet to read a Heyer book because my library has old nasty copies.  I would love a brand new book(s).  Thank you for holding this give-away!

Fredericka returns to Whatshisname’s with her dog and an entourage of tradespeople and one interfering old biddy. Whatshisname solves the problem of the Baluchistani hound scattering the dairy cattle.

I luvs me my Heyer’s. And, as an illustrator, I really appreciate this interview.

I have just started reading Heyer and I can’t stop.  My twelve year old daughter hears me laughing, so she has started reading them, too.  Her favorite is The Grand Sophy.  I love the new covers and the feel of the books.  Our library has most of them so I am very happy!

I know it is not right period but I would love to see a John Singer Sargent paint for one of the covers. He’s work is so beautiful and I think it would complement Heyer writing.

Almost every Heyer I’ve read, I have a favorite scene for, but really, in my heart of hearts, my most beloved scene is at the end of Cotillion where Freddie actually manages to “land a facer” on Jack, much to every single person’s surprise. Oh, Freddie! My most beloved unlikely hero of them all. I would take you above even Monseigneur (sorry Leonie) because really, just like Kitty, when am I ever going to need a hero riding into a ball on a white horse? I am always going to need one who always knows exactly what to do in company.

...thanks k for the remark of the Arrow Books 2004-2006 repackaging of Georgette Heyer’s works in the UK & Australia - before that I thouhgt I was having a deja vu :-) But I only bought my last Heyer books in the UK

I’ve a lot of favourite scenes from Heyer, and a lot of them were already mentioned. I love the romantic and the hilarious scenes, one of the latter that wasn’t mentioned so far: In Cotillon, after Freddie rescued Kitty from an awkward social situation, Kitty and Freddy’s sister, Margaret, talk about the perfect hero (Kitty thinks, it has not to be someone, who carries a lady off from a a party on a horse, like Walter Scott’s Young Lochinvar, but a socially adept man like Freddy), and then they imagine what Freddy would say about Lochinvar and have a collective laughing fit - I always have to laugh then, too (I’m writing this with a big grin, good thing, that my colleague doesn’t sit vis-à-vis)

I too am a Hayer virgin.

/shame

Please enter me, though, because reading some of these excerpts/scenes is really making me want to get that fixed.  With them being trade, though, I’m hesitant to run out and buy them having never read any of her work.

The back of covers of the new editions of Heyer’s books are nice also.  (not to mention the stuff between the covers - Heyer’s books deserves to be read and reread).
Thanks for this comp: I’d love to win books and the choccies.

My best friend is a Heyer fanatic and almost at gunpoint made me read The Grand Sophy. It was like eating a Frango: you want to gobble it up but you have to take the time to let it melt on your tongue…

I’m so glad they’re doing the reissues. I was ordering the books used from Britain and now woo-hoo!! the library doth grow!

I haven’t read Meyer yet…. I just got back into romance about 6 months ago but I’ve read a lot about her on here so if I win some of her books I’d be delighted because, really, I don’t know where to start….

Wow, never read any Heyer, but those look gorgeous!  Okay, added to the “to do” list.

I hugely enjoyed reading this interview - thank you for putting it all together! I’ve often wondered how cover art is chosen (sometimes it seems truly arbitrary, sometimes it’s just perfect) and I love the choices that Sourcebooks have made. Although Heyer’s one of my favourite authors, I don’t own copies of her books, so I’d be tickled pink to win - and equally tickled for anyone else who won, because everyone should experience the joy of Heyer romances!

I haven’t read a Heyer in years.  With the new releases, I must start again. Books that come with chocolate is a great way to start!
The covers are lovely. In this case you CAN judge a book by it’s cover. 
“Miss Craigie” by Allan Ramsay looks like she would be a great heroine. He painted lots of portraits that would be great cover art.  A lesser known artist and a potential romance hero himself in my eyes, I was smitten at the Portarait Gallery in London. As you can tell I’m a bit of an Allan Ramsay fan…OK, my husband calls it an obsession.

Wouldn’t it be nice if more publishers spent that kind of time creating gorgeous covers for other authors?  They really make me want to read Heyer’s work.

For Georgette Heyer, I de-lurk.
As others have said: there are just too many good scenes. There are many scenes in Faro’s Daughter that got me laughing out right. The scene where Deb was first introduced to Lady Mablethorpe; the kidnapping of Mr Ravenscar (ooh, that name!) episode and the whole back and forth about the debt papers.
I love it when Heyer wrote of a hero who seemed to have a high regard of himself as being serious/stern/no-nonsense, only to have the heroine let him see the lighter side of things and have him fall full-tilt into the adventure, like Deb and Ravenscar in Faro’s Daughter, Sarah and Shield in The Talisman Ring.
And “thumbscrews”, “boiling oil” and “restorative pork jelly” are some of the favorite words I picked up from reading her books.

I’ve got at least one favourite Heyer scene per book… Right now, out of all of them, I’d pick one at the close of Cotillion: “I like you to have anything you want. Wish it was me, that’s all.” Those simple words are so poignant, because by then we know the speaker well enough to realize he means every word of them.

And I’d like to add that I’m a bookseller and a lover of books, and these Heyer books are among the prettiest I’ve seen. They’re mouth-watering. It’s a joy to own something that’s not just beautiful, but made with a real care and respect for the book itself.

I just read my first Heyer last fall. It was scrumptious even without chocolate.

“The Grand Sophi” is my favorite Heyer.  The new cover looks beautifu.

I quite like the new covers for a Convenient Marriage and the Grand Sophy. Cousin Kate’s anachronistic though. :P

My favorite Heyer novel is Frederica. The main couple is great, but I really enjoyed the way the younger siblings play such a prominent role in the plot. I was nearly in tears when Alverstoke was looking after Felix, who had been injured and become sick.  Here is the jaded Marquis, with no interest in his family members’ offspring, staying up all night to take care of a boy of twelve with a rather overdeveloped taste for adventure who has hitched a ride on a hot air balloon!

Just to be totally contrary, one of my favorite Heyer scenes is from Devil’s Cub and it is the one in which Mary Challoner’s mother goes to see Avon’s sister (because she is the only one that Mrs. Challoner can find) to try to blackmail the Alisdair family into forcing Vidal to marry her daughter. 

It’s a very funny scene as Fanny at first thinks Mrs. Challoner is there to collect a bill, then the two ladies continue to talk at cross purposes.

I also like the breakfast scene between Venetia Lanyon and her younger brother that opens Venetia.  Heyer was a mistress at laying out a back story without being either boring or doing an “as you know, Bob.”

I’ve only recently started reading Heyer, but so far I love her. Count me in!

This was a great behind the scenes look at cover art. I loved to learn a bit about the thought and effort goes into it. Far superior to most of the crap tossed onto romance covers.

I have never read Heyer before…. I have heard that “The Grand Sophy” is a great place to start. 

Frango mints as part of the package?  I grew up in Chicago, and no trip to Marshall Fields was complete without a box of Frango Mints.  They melt in your mouth….

fall83: by fall, I hope my tbr pile is down to 83 books!

I have never read her books but would love to.
For my piece of art I will say The Cradle by morrisette.

Um, I like chocolate. And I’m starting to get hooked on romances too. Yes, plz!

Finally, tasteful covers for romance books.  Why can’t all romance books be given this much thought?

I’ve been reading Heyer’s boosk since I was about 11-12 and the covers are indeed very beautiful. I think These Old Shades and Devil’s Cub both could be said to be one big favourite scene for me, though if I had to name only one particular scene from these, it would be when Mary short Vidal.

Too funny! I just bought my first Georgette Heyer last night (The Grand Sophy). I’m so excited to start on it, it’s been moved to the top of my TBR pile.

The covers are beautiful.  My favorite is the one with the three girls, it just pulls you right in.  I’ve been meaning to read me some Heyer romances.

Such beautiful covers. I have just started reading Heyer-I have read The Unknown Ajax, These Old Shades, & Devil’s Cub. I started An Infamous Army, but put it aside when the new Eloisa James came out. I will have to check some of these out!

I still have yet to read Heyer but that was more about many of her books being hard to find prior to these wonderful editions coming out.

The look so pretty and I am excited about the actual effort that goes into designing the covers.

Those are some gorgeous covers! My local library has purchased a few and they’re a delight to read.

give42: Yes, please give me 42 Georgette Heyer books and 42 pieces of chocolate to go with them!

I have only recently “found” Heyer and so don’t have any specific fav scenes or characters ... so far, I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read! And I LOVE the new covers!

— Bonz

SPOILER BLACK SHEEP
SPOILER BLACK SHEEP
SPOILER BLACK SHEEP
SPOILER BLACK SHEEP
SPOILER BLACK SHEEP
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One of my favorite scenes is the “abduction” scene is Black Sheep.  I love it when Miles says that he is perfectly willing for Abby to make a sacrifice of herself, but he’ll be damned if she makes a sacrifice of him as well.

These covers are beautiful! I love how much thought and research is being done to create them. I haven’t ever read a Georgette Heyer book, but I’m thinking I need to pick one up soon!

I’ve never really been able to get into the Georgian Heyers - maybe I need to try again. 

Favorite scenes: the end of The Unknown Ajax (I think the valet needs his own standalone novel!), the scene in Cotillion where Freddy punches out Jack, and the entire short story in Pistols for Two - I think it’s called Hazard - where the hero (Leo?) drunkenly wins the heroine in a card game.  That one makes me swoon!

I have never read Heyer.  Therefore, I need to win some don’t I?  :)

I’m going to repeat previous posters but I love the scene in The Devil’s Cub when Mary shoots Vidal and in The Convenient Marriage when Horry convinces Rule to marry her. I just love Heyer!

I’ve only read a very few of Georgette Heyer’s books, but after reading all these comments, my new life’s goal is to read Cotillion.

Although I liked Charity Girl—-except that Cherry is prototypically TSTL and Henrietta, who isn’t, could do far better—-think I prefer Pistols for Two, a collection of short stories.  There are an assortment of plots, from cross-purposed lovers—-the hero, that noble idiot, thinks the heroine is being forced to marry him and so tells her he won’t so she can be free, which is the last thing she wants to hear—-to a lady won in a card game.  And all with gift-wrapped happy endings!  These aren’t uncommon plots now, but I always thought that Heyer got there first. 

I will say, though, that the cover of the library’s copy of Pistols (Dutton, 1964) has the butt-ugliest cover art ever.  It’s all brushstrokes and the girl’s head protruding from a dueling scene.  I didn’t know they had mascara (or wroe quite that much of it at once) and bublegum pink lipstick in Regency times.  I don’t have a piece of art in mind for a reissue, but anything will be an improvement.

I actually discovered Heyer via A Blunt Instrument, one of her murder mysteries.  I laughed myself silly during that book, and was a rabid fan by the time I got to Death in the Stocks.  I remember being utterly thrilled to find out she was a romance writer also, in fact, more famous for that—because I had run through all her mysteries and wanted more. 

I’ve been eyeing the new reprints wistfully, but since I’m trying to be virtuous about book buying sprees, have been holding back.  Entering a contest though—that’s virtuous enough, right?

want. please?

I want them!!!  Just started reading Heyer, and I can’t get enough.  Please, please, send me more awesomeness!

Yay, please enter me in the contest! Woohoo! Lovely books and Frango mints!

So far my favorite scene is at the end of Devil’s Cub, when absolutely EVERYONE starts pouring into the inn, during the swordfight. It was pretty wild.

That new Cotillion cover is just the sweetest, funnest, nicest cover. Those three ladies just look so bright and happy and interested and even hilarious, and the colors are so bright and the title bar somehow complements it—it’s a great cover.

How do these covers look so much like Penguin Classics and yet not at all like Penguin Classics? It’s very interesting.

Once upon a time, a male friend questioned my tastes in reading romances.  The book I happened to have with me was Heyer’s Masqueraders.  “Sit down and shut up,” I said.  By the time I finished a dramatic reading of chapter one, he was hooked.  “Are they all this good?  My god, what have I been missing?”

Choosing a favorite Heyer is like choosing a favorite child. 

No one has mentioned A Civil Contract.  I always felt that that one would have been better than An Infamous Army to showcase as the consummate historical.  The real historical elements enhance the plot and don’t overwhelm it the way the battle descriptions do in Infamous Army.  The cautious lord getting reckless and betting everything on his knowledge of the army was perfect.  And how can one argue with a realistic HEA that follows a such very mixed marriage?

Hard to pick a favorite scene.  It’s either Sophy with the ducklings in The Grand Sophy, or Mary’s supper with the mysterious elderly gentleman in The Devil’s Cub.

One point though regarding the covers:  Many of Heyer’s books, like These Old Shades and The Devil’s Cub are actually Georgian era, not Regency.  It’s always bothered me a bit when they feature Regency era art or styles.

I’m loving those covers.

I love the culmination of The Unknown Ajax best, watching it all come together.

The three mysteries are my favorites—they convey the mood and time period of the stories beautifully, and above all they are FUN! Of the romances, Lady of Quality is my favorite.

I’m a total sucker for covers like this;they look so lush,like a box of chocolates:)

Interesting enough, Stephen Fry is a big fan of Georgette Heyer-he even admitted it on a BBC special called “Guilty” back in 2007:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzc0y4n7Xzg