Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion

planning to start Friday's Child today since it showed up on Yz's Random Book Challenge list...got to get it done before the 8th (I'm pretty sure I can!) - then going to read Faro's Daughter since it fits the requirements for another challenge (published before 1960) -but I can't start it until the 1st

RRRC A Year of Georgette Heyer 2011
2/12 Completed

January - Behold, Here's Poison 19/1/11 ★★★
February - These Old Shades 22/2/11 ★★★★★
March - Devil's Cub
April - The Grand Sophy
May - The Quiet Gentleman
June - The Corinthian
July - Simon the Coldheart
August - Envious Casca
September - Pistols for Two
October - Powder and Patch
November - Sylvester
December - tbd



January read - Behold, Here's Poison - here's my review
February read - These Old Shades - here's my review

Annie, hope you don't have any family or friends near this earthquake. Just terrible!

OMG - Sandra's post just alerted me to this! Horrible Annie - hope you and your family and friends are OK! What a tragedy! And at lunchtime when so many ppl would have been in Cathedral Square... Praying for those in Christchurch!

Hi Sandra & Jane. Thanks for the good wishes.
I'm ok - with no direct family in the area. But LOTS of workmates and I'm really worried about them. That's one of the problems with working with a nation-wide service, you know people all over the country.
So, no idea when I will be visiting Christchurch next, I'm supposed to be there sometime before July.
So, while being worried and tearful, I've had to put on my professional hat, and put cover in place so that our service is covered, until all the Christchurch & Canterbury teams are able to help us again.

Altho' I'm in Auckland, it's been heartbreaking listening to talkback radio, mostly callers from Christchurch, including one little kid at home by himself - knowing his mum & dad were ok, but still...

Eftpos transactions are affected throughout the country.
And, I've just heard that drivers on the NorthWestern motorway in Auckland have been asked to keep the fast & medium lanes clear, so that the military can get to Whenuapai airforce base for deployment to Christchurch.

It's horrendous.

Yep, the pictures have been heartbreaking.

Just shocking. You can't help but tear up...

Completed: 3/13

1. Bath Tangle (1955) or The Nonesuch (1962)
2. Black Sheep (1966)
3. The Corinthian (1940)
4. The Foundling (1948) - √ 12-Feb 3.5 stars
5. The Grand Sophy (1950) - √ 26-Jan 5 stars!
6. Lady of Quality (1972)
7. The Quiet Gentleman (1951) - √ 17-Mar 4 stars
8. Sylvester (1957)
9. The Talisman Ring (1936)
10. The Toll-Gate (1954)
11. The Unknown Ajax (1959)
12. Venetia (1958)
13. Powder and Patch (1923)

I can't get The Private World of Georgette Heyer from my library (only on cassette tapes - and of course, we no longer have anything to play them in!!). I'll keep trying throughout the year, but in the meantime, I've dropped it from my list. :(

Jane - I know my local bookstore has it - do you want me to get it and send it to you? or have you looked on Amazon or Book Depository

I got distracted and didn't finish up Friday's Child...its still sitting half-finished on the nightstand...lol! I must finish it up

:) Thanks Dee - but don't worry about it, I know I can get it from the Book Depository. I'm still hoping to pick it up from the library - maybe as part of their buying program... In the meantime, it might become part of my buying program!

lol...ok

RRRC A Year of Georgette Heyer 2011
3/12 Completed

January - Behold, Here's Poison 19/1/11 ★★★
February - These Old Shades 22/2/11 ★★★★★
March - Devil's Cub 23/3/11 ★★★★★
April - The Grand Sophy
May - The Quiet Gentleman
June - The Corinthian
July - Simon the Coldheart
August - Envious Casca
September - Pistols for Two
October - Powder and Patch
November - Sylvester
December - tbd



January read - Behold, Here's Poison - here's my review
February read - These Old Shades - here's my review
March read - Devil's Cub - here's my review

LOVE the Devil's Cub!! I read that last year - such a fun romp!

Yep, one of my favs!

fell off the wagon here...got distracted and never finished up friday's child...so i'm going to try to finish it up and read Faro's Daughter as well

LOL! Is that extra book punishment Dee? :)

...I haven't read Faro's Daughter for quite a while, but it used to be a bit of a favourite of mine...

well, i had faro's daughter on the slate for March, plus it fits a challenge category for another group (a book published prior to 1960)

I think you'll enjoy it...

Completed: 4/13

1. Bath Tangle (1955) or The Nonesuch (1962)
2. Black Sheep (1966)
3. The Corinthian (1940)
4. The Foundling (1948) - √ 12-Feb 3.5 stars
5. The Grand Sophy (1950) - √ 26-Jan 5 stars!
6. Lady of Quality (1972)
7. The Quiet Gentleman (1951) - √ 17-Mar 4 stars
8. Sylvester (1957) - √ 13-Apr 5 stars. The book is maybe more 4.5 stars but Richard Armitage was the narrator and he was fantastic, so it was easy to bump this to 5 stars...
9. The Talisman Ring (1936)
10. The Toll-Gate (1954)
11. The Unknown Ajax (1959)
12. Venetia (1958)
13. Powder and Patch (1923)

I'm hoping to read two books this month. I will read Black Sheep as well...

Just saw this topic-- I'm actually reading my first heyer now and wondering if it's typical-- An Infamous Army . I'm enjoying it. But she's spending a lot of time on the military history part of it and that wasn't my impression of her style from the reviews I'd read. Fine with me, though-- it's certainly holding my interest!

Hi Jennifer: An Infamous Army is about the most different book she ever wrote as far as I understand. It is most definitely not typical of her normal novels.

Heyer's novels have terrific characterisation and dialogue; she takes her time setting up the plot and always has a secondary story to her romance - sometimes the romance is in fact secondary to the other part of the story. Generally her heroines are atypical; sometimes the heroes are as well.

I'm sort of ashamed to admit this (*hangs head*, sorry Annie), but I haven't read An Infamous Army - mainly because of the amount of military history I had heard was involved. I understand that students reading the the Battle of Waterloo are encouraged to read this book because the details are so accurate and well-researched...

I see what you mean about the secondary story-- in "army" the romance actually is secondary to the historical circumstance, but there also seems to be a secondary romance (secondary to the main romance, that is) developing in the background as well. We'll see.

Yes - she does that as well - has a main and secondary romance in the novel... Not every time, but often enough... Hope you continue to enjoy the book :)

i'm reading Faro's Daughter right now

A Year of Georgette Heyer
1 January - 31 December 2011

Completed: 5/13

1. Bath Tangle (1955) or The Nonesuch (1962)
2. Black Sheep (1966) - √ 28-Apr 5 stars
3. The Corinthian (1940)
4. The Foundling (1948) - √ 12-Feb 3.5 stars
5. The Grand Sophy (1950) - √ 26-Jan 5 stars!
6. Lady of Quality (1972)
7. The Quiet Gentleman (1951) - √ 17-Mar 4 stars
8. Sylvester (1957) - √ 13-Apr 5 stars.
9. The Talisman Ring (1936)
10. The Toll-Gate (1954)
11. The Unknown Ajax (1959)
12. Venetia (1958)
13. Powder and Patch (1923)

A Year of Georgette Heyer

so, apparently i'm sucking balls at this one...

1. Regency Buck - Finished January 8
2. Faro's Daughter - Finished May 5

LOL! It's just nice that you have finally read some :)

next up...to finish up friday's child that has been sitting half-finished for a while...lol! (I got totally distracted)

BTW Dee - the group (which isn't overly active ATM bar you and me!) is meant to be reading The Corinthian in June. Just thought I'd mention it :)

*I might PM them*!!

i remember and i have it sitting in the pile...lol!

I've remembered, changed my list to have it for June :D

Sandra wrote: "I've remembered, changed my list to have it for June :D"

Yay Sandra and Dee!!

A Year of Georgette Heyer
1 January - 31 December 2011

Completed: 6/13

1. Bath Tangle (1955) or The Nonesuch (1962)
2. Black Sheep (1966) - √ 28-Apr 5 stars
3. The Corinthian (1940)
4. The Foundling (1948) - √ 12-Feb 3.5 stars
5. The Grand Sophy (1950) - √ 26-Jan 5 stars!
6. Lady of Quality (1972)
7. The Quiet Gentleman (1951) - √ 17-Mar 4 stars
8. Sylvester (1957) - √ 13-Apr 5 stars. The book is maybe more 4.5 stars but Richard Armitage was the narrator and he was fantastic, so it was easy to bump this to 5 stars...
9. The Talisman Ring (1936) - √ 14-May 5 stars
10. The Toll-Gate (1954)
11. The Unknown Ajax (1959)
12. Venetia (1958)
13. Powder and Patch (1923)

RRRC A Year of Georgette Heyer 2011
4/12 Completed

January - Behold, Here's Poison 19/1/11 ★★★
February - These Old Shades 22/2/11 ★★★★★
March - Devil's Cub 23/3/11 ★★★★★
April - The Black Moth
May - The Quiet Gentleman 29/5/11 ★★★★★
June - The Corinthian
July - The Grand Sophy
August - Envious Casca
September - Pistols for Two
October - Powder and Patch
November - Sylvester
December - Simon the Coldheart



January read - Behold, Here's Poison - here's my review
February read - These Old Shades - here's my review
March read - Devil's Cub - here's my review
May read - The Quiet Gentleman - here's my review

i'm reading Why Shoot a Butler? right now - enjoying it so far, i'm about half-way through...I have Friday's Child and The Corinthian on the pile for June (yay for group read!!)

I'll pm everyone tonight to see how many are 'on board' for The Corinthian. I'm sure we have 3 so far... :)

Thanks for the PM, Jane! I already had The Corinthian on my June list, but my emails for this group failed me, and I lost track of this discussion. I have been reading my Heyer, tho!! Every time I would pick one up, I'd tell myself to look for this thread, but **sigh** I apparently don't listen too well!!

So hopefully, I now have this thread back, and look forward to the group read.

Now to get my list of Heyer reads and post an update!


Jane (PS) wrote: "I'll pm everyone tonight to see how many are 'on board' for The Corinthian. I'm sure we have 3 so far... :)"

I've been really bad about writing reviews this year, but I do have a few.

I now have 15 on my list - I added a couple but didn't take any away.
7 completed through May.

Georgette Heyer

Read one a month (** by the year means it fulfills that year in my Lifetime of Books challenge)

The Private World of Georgette Heyer
√ A Blunt Instrument (1938) - Feb 2 - 4* my review
√ They Found Him Dead (1937) - Feb 26 - 3.5*
Black Sheep (1966)
Venetia (1958)**
The Corinthian (1940)**
√ Faro's Daughter (1941)** - Jan 8 - 4.5*
Frederica (1965)
√ The Nonesuch (1962)** - Jan 17 - 4* my review
The Quiet Gentleman (1951)
Sylvester or The Wicked Uncle (1957)
√ Friday's Child (1944)** - Apr 21 - 4*
The Reluctant Widow (1946)**
√ Cousin Kate (1968)** - May 15 - 4* my review
√ False Colours (1963)** - Feb 22 - 5* my review

I have it, just let me know when you guys are ready...I should be able to finish up the mystery i'm reading by her in the next day or so...

and if anyone is interested - The Grand Sophy is only 1.99 from amazon on kindle right now

A few of us can't start for a week or so. How about we start The Corinthian at the end of next week - say Friday 10th June?

In reality, we'll all read at a different rate, so maybe the best solution is that we just recongregate here in a couple of weeks to have a 'chat'...

What do you think?

sounds good to me, whatever works for you guys - i'm flexible because I normally read multiple books at once

Works for me :)

That works out great for me as well. I have 2 library books to finish by the 8th.

Ok - let's post comments on the book (spoilers allowed) anytime after Monday 20 June...

...Let's face it, half of us have already read the book sometime in the last few years ago, so any comments on the plot outcome won't come as a spoiler to us... ;)

Cool!!!

A Year of Georgette Heyer

1. Regency Buck - Finished January 8
2. Faro's Daughter - Finished May 5
3. Why Shoot a Butler? - Finished June 4

Completed: 7/13

1. Bath Tangle (1955) or The Nonesuch (1962)
2. Black Sheep (1966) - √ 28-Apr 5 stars
3. The Corinthian (1940) - √ 15-Jun 4 stars
4. The Foundling (1948) - √ 12-Feb 3.5 stars
5. The Grand Sophy (1950) - √ 26-Jan 5 stars!
6. Lady of Quality (1972)
7. The Quiet Gentleman (1951) - √ 17-Mar 4 stars
8. Sylvester (1957) - √ 13-Apr 4.5 stars
9. The Talisman Ring (1936) - √ 14-May 5 stars
10. The Toll-Gate (1954)
11. The Unknown Ajax (1959)
12. Venetia (1958)
13. Powder and Patch (1923)

niquae wrote: "Cotillion is available for free on Amazon Kindle!

"

Thanks Niquae :) (Love that book...)