Books

Favorite First Lines

Since school started last week, I’ve been up to my neck in summer reading papers. So I thought now would be a good time to celebrate one of the fun parts of reading by sharing the opening lines of some of my favorite romances.

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“When Tiberius Lamartine Flynn heard the tree singing, his first thought was that he’d parted company with his reason.”  —Grace Burrowes, Once Upon a Tartan

“In the tender green time of April, Katherine set forth at last upon her journey with the two nuns and the royal messenger.” —Anya Seton, Katherine

“The spy called Saint hunkered down in the bottom of the wardrobe she’d occupied for the last four hours and attempted to stifle a yawn.” —Shana Galen, Lord and Lady Spy

“Kate squinted up at the sky. Her nine-year-old imagination raced as fast as the wooly clouds that floated above her. A lamb, a dragon—and that big one, surely that was a giant with a horrid hooked nose.” —Anne Easter Smith, A Rose for the Crown

“ ‘Whatever fool claimed females to be the weaker sex never met my sister.’ ” —Candice Hern, The Best Intentions

“He was dead. However, his nose throbbed painfully, which he thought odd in the circumstances.” —Diana Gabaldon, Voyager

“Everyone knew that Sophie Beckett was a bastard.” —Julia Quinn, An Offer From A Gentleman

“Not every fairy tale begins with a prince or a princess. Some begin with a kiss that turns a man into a frog, or a tumble on the road that turns a basket of eggs into scramble.” —Eloisa James, Storming The Castle

“Gwen’s pulse beat so loudly in her ears, the sound drowned out the rumble of voices in the hall. He was here! And he still loved her!” —Sarah Woodbury, The Uninvited Guest

“So this was how it felt to be a conquering hero.” —Courtney Milan, Unveiled

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Okay, so which ones did I forget? What are some of your favorite first lines?

Fashion, Friday Favorites, Society

Friday Favorite: Candice Hern’s Regency World

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Our Friday Favorite this week is a treasure trove of information. Regency romance author Candice Hern recently revamped her website, and now it’s bigger and better than ever!

Features include:

The Illustrated Regency Glossary

A Regency Timeline

Collections of Regency fashion prints, accessories, and other household objects

There’s even a section called Bridgerton Couture, featuring Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton heroines and their fashion selections.

This is one of those websites you can visit and quickly become absorbed in–an excellent resource for the Regency reader or writer 😀

Regency

What is the Regency?

When I first started working on my novel, I was intelligent enough to ask a good friend of mine (who is an excellent writer in her own right and a British subject to boot) if she would please, please, please be my beta reader.  I let her know that the story was set during the Regency era, and asked how much she knew about that period of time.  She replied that she knew there was a Regency era in British history, but that was all.

That, of course, is not a slight on her intelligence (because I secretly think she’s smarter than me), but it occurred to me that a lot of people might not know much about the period beyond the shirtless man on the cover of the historical romance they saw at the bookstore.  It also occurred to me that an introduction to the period would make a good introduction to this blog, but there are a lot of great articles already out there.  So rather than rehash what’s already been said, I’ve included links to some of the best articles I’ve found so far to get you started.

The teacher in me is yelling “No, no! It’s not a credible source!” but Wikipedia has a good article on the British Regency, complete with a timeline, lists of important people, places, and publications.  There are also some nice images for the visual learners among us—the Frost Fair  picture reminds me of a pack of ice fishing shanties.

Greenwood’s 1827 map of London  has been a big asset to me, both as a read and a writer.  Click on any part of it to zoom in, then click again to zoom in further.

Here’s a beautiful website dedicated to the 95th Rifles, formed in 1803 as the first regiment to use rifles instead of the less accurate muskets.  They saw a lot of action during the Peninsular/Napoleonic Wars.

Regency Romance novelist Candice Hern  has compiled a wonderful timeline running from 1788 through 1820 that gives more detail than the one listed in the Wikipedia article.  Political events, literary milestones, musical accomplishments, theater history, and social developments of the extended Regency can be found here in chronological order, color coded by category.

This is a nice article by Michelle Jean Hoppe  that talks about the London Season.  I like it because it’s not too long, but it’s well written and gives you enough detail to be worth reading.

These are just a few of the websites I’ve frequented.  What other good websites are out there for the Regency period?  What are your favorites?