Georgette Heyer Fans discussion

Hi Everyone!

It has been a long time since we have had a Bridesmaid Poll - November 2015. Back then, the Bridesmaid Poll was for books that had been repeatedly nominated but never won. This time it will be for books that haven't been read in a very long time (plus possibly one that has never had a group read.)

Definites
Footsteps in the Dark (last read 2014)
Powder & Patch (last read 2016)
The Convenient Marriage (last read 2017)

Possibles
I would like to add April Lady & Bath Tangle. They were both read just the once when we were reading the Regencies in order in 2019. In other words, they have never won a poll.

The above are the 5 choices I would like to offer.

But I thought I would also suggest Simon the Coldheart & The Conqueror instead of the Regencies. Simon the Coldheart has never had a group read. I read it in 2017 & it wasn't as bad as I remembered. (there was a small amount of discussion in the book folder, no one else reread it) I gave it 3.5★ & The Conqueror last had a group read in 2016.

It's just that after The Great Roxhythe (last year) I'd rather not tackle another GH historical yet - even one I love as much as The Conqueror.

& just to clarify - the poll will just have five books as usual. & we could have just one Regency & one historical.

So, I'll leave this open for discussion till Saturday afternoon (my time)

Carol
Oh, this sounds interesting.
I like your 3 definite titles as entries. I cannot remember the last time I read Footsteps. Convenient Marriage is always fun (I love Rule).
Regards your two Regencies--neither is one I really want to re-read (especially Bath Tangle). But I can't think of any alternative titles right now.
Re: the historicals. I'm a fan of Simon, and I honestly can't remember the last time I read The Conqueror.

Lovely idea, I'd be interested. I re-read Bath Tangle recently, but the others I haven't in a while! :)

Splendid idea!

I would like to re-read "Powder & Patch", "April Lady", and "Bath Tangle".

Perhaps, I will join in re-reading "Simon the Coldheart" and "The Conqueror" (not sure yet, although I gave them 5 stars).

Among the candidates, there are 3 I have never read: Powder and Patch, April Lady, and Footsteps in the Dark. So that would be an opportunity to fill gaps, if one of them wins the poll.

If you add one historical and one Regency, we would have a poll across all the genres - not a bad idea.

sabagrey wrote: "Among the candidates, there are 3 I have never read: Powder and Patch, April Lady, and Footsteps in the Dark. So that would be an opportunity to fill gaps, if one of them wins the poll.

If you add one..."

I was thinking that! :)

So far I am seeing a preference for StheC & April Lady, but I will leave this up till Saturday my time, Friday American time.

I like Bath Tangle a lot. I can't stand April Lady and Footsteps in the dark wasn't very good.

To the best of my recollection I haven't ever read Powder and Patch aka The Transformation of Philip Jettan, and Simon the Coldheart.
I think both have come up in polls for monthly reads in the past, but they never quite 'got there'.

So these would be my first choices, but there others I've read but don't recall in detail so wouldn't mind reading them again, such as Footsteps in the Dark

This sounds intriguing, I like your three definite choices, don’t remember much about April Lady but remember Bath Tangle well. Wouldn’t mind rereading either of those. I’ve never finished any of the historicals that I can recall, so really can’t offer an opinion. I agree that a poll across genres would be fun!

Edit: ok, checked my reviews, wasn’t a great fan of April Lady, but Bath Tangle or Powder and Patch or Convenient Marriage all have some of the humor I enjoy, and Simon sounds like an adventure, which can be fun, so I definitely feel like I’d find something to vote for!

I like this idea. I would vote for one of the definites, Powder and Patch, which I've never read. But it's been a long time since I've read any of the others, so I would consider a re-read (not that I can say they were favorites...).

I've never read The Conqueror but it sounds like that one won't make the list as we are still recovering from the Great Roxhythe.
{grin}

What a great idea Carol!
I’ve read them all but if I were to pick three which I think will generate discussion - they’d be April Lady, The Convenient Marriage and Bath Tangle.

The three Regencies would be my favourite. I liked Bath Tangle but haven't read it in a long time. I'm not quite sure how this works. Do we read one along side our monthly read or is it for the September read?

Teresa wrote: "The three Regencies would be my favourite. I liked Bath Tangle but haven't read it in a long time. I'm not quite sure how this works. Do we read one along side our monthly read or is it for the Sep..."

Hi Teresa
Just two of the books are Regency. :)
- - - - -
Just in case I've confused anyone else.

Definites - these will be in the next poll
Footsteps in the Dark - Mystery (last read 2014)
Powder & Patch - Georgian (last read 2016)
The Convenient Marriage - Georgian (last read 2017)

We usually have 5 books in our poll. So the discussion is for the 4th & 5th book.

The Possibles for the next poll are,
April Lady Regency (last read in 2019)
Bath Tangle. Regency (last read in 2019)
Simon the Coldheart Historical (never had a group read)
The Conqueror Historical (last read 2016)

I'll be closing this discussion tomorrow (my time) & putting the poll up tomorrow or Sunday. )

Sheila (in LA) wrote: "I like this idea. I would vote for one of the definites, Powder and Patch, which I've never read. But it's been a long time since I've read any of the others, so I would consider a re-read (not that I can ..."

Sheila, I was going to say that nothing could be as bad as The Great Roxhythe - but then I remembered My Lord John!

hm ... can you put 7 to the poll? - In which case I'd suggest to do just that instead of having a discussion with no result.

sabagrey wrote: "hm ... can you put 7 to the poll? - In which case I'd suggest to do just that instead of having a discussion with no result."

Seven would IMO result in too fragmented a vote. Our last three polls have had 20, 14, (that was for a mystery though, where we always have a lower response) 20 voters.

Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "Sheila (in LA) wrote: "I like this idea. I would vote for one of the definites, Powder and Patch, which I've never read. But it's been a long time since I've read any of the others, so I would cons..."

Ha ha, I have never read My Lord John--and I see it didn't even make the bridesmaid poll!

Sheila (in LA) wrote: "Ha ha, I have never read My Lord John--and I see it didn't even make the bridesmaid poll!"

I've always said that if anyone wants to do MLJ as a group read they have to be prepared to be the lead as I will never read it again! 😅

I think some more of the mysteries have only been read once - I will look at that next year. 😊

Ok, I was confused, but now I see! I didn’t get that the first three were definitely in the poll, we needed to choose 2 more. 🤪 Thanks for clarifying!

If you need a 4 and 5 for the poll (I agree, 5 is about right or we won’t get a conclusive result), I say Simon to represent historical, and Bath Tangle for the Regency. That way we can still choose across genres.

Thanks, dear Carol, for trying to keep us fresh!

P.S. Mysteries are my favorite genre, so I love the idea of doing this with mysteries next year, I know we’ve only read Duplicate Death and Detection Unlimited once, and they were both entertaining!

I would enjoy a re-read of Footsteps, Powder & Patch or The Convenient Marriage so happy to vote for one of those.

Like all the mysteries, Footsteps in the Dark wasn't something I liked the first time around but it grew on me and Powder & Patch has at least one very funny scene, so I'd be up for that one.

I'd add April Lady and Bath Tangle.

As someone who has nominated Powder and Patch a few times, I am excited to see it here!

Sigh. &, as always, I have made things wwwwaayyyyyy too complicated!🥴

Would anyone object if I withdrew Footsteps & added Simon instead? The Regencies & Simon have roughly the same number of votes.

So it would be then
Simon
P&P
The convenient Marriage
April Lady
Bath Tangle

I could either nominate Footsteps for the October poll or next year I could do a poll of the GH mysteries that have only been read once.

Carol

i think you came up with a nicely balanced poll:
1 Medieval, 2 Georgians, 2 Regencies.

I suggest leaving Footsteps for next year.

I'm ok with what's decided because to be honest I'm a bit lost here:):)

Barb in Maryland wrote: "Carol

i think you came up with a nicely balanced poll:
1 Medieval, 2 Georgians, 2 Regencies.

I suggest leaving Footsteps for next year."

I agree with Barb, I think you’ve given us a nice balance. Save Footsteps for an October poll or next year. Halloween in October makes it a good time to read mysteries!

Never read Simon, never had any interest but I don't object to removing Footsteps.

Cool. I'll close this now & set up a poll soon.

Edit for Teresa - don't worry if you are confused!

I couldn't have made this more confusing if I tried!

& the poll is up!

Here it is https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1...

It is also on the group home page.

I'm going to be interested to see what everyone chooses! :)

Edit; This is for our September read!

Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "Cool. I'll close this now & set up a poll soon.

Edit for Teresa - don't worry if you are confused!

I couldn't have made this more confusing if I tried!"

🤣🤣

In case it makes a difference, this year is 100 years since the publication of Powder and Patch. It is being discussed at the upcoming Heyer conference in Sydney in September (recording will be available for sale for those unable to make it in person; please let me know if You'd like to be added to the list!)

Footsteps in the Dark would be excellent for Halloween. :-)

That’s what I thought!🎃👻

lol, GMTA

Susan in NC wrote

Halloween in October makes it a good time to read mysteries!

Just a reminder that the poll will be closing in a couple of days! :)

Looking forward to Bath Tangle. Long time since I read it.

& we have a winner - Bath Tangle by a clear margin! I think this book should generate some interesting discussion! :)

We cross posted Teresa!

LOL!! I had just checked!!

Hooray! I like that one. It was my second or third ever Heyer and the one that inspired me to keep reading her books.

Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "& we have a winner - Bath Tangle by a clear margin! I think this book should generate some interesting discussion! :)"

Oh, that's putting it mildly!

I think I’ve only read this one once, don’t remember much about it, looking forward to a reread!

Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "& we have a winner - Bath Tangle by a clear margin! I think this book should generate some interesting discussion! :)"

I think that’s a definite! Looking forward to the discussion!

Powder & Patch is brilliant and I love it; it would be great to discuss it with others.
I don't particularly like Bath Tangle (regretfully I find all the characters annoying) but again, it will be interesting to see others' views on it.