Review: Next best thing to a Georgette Heyer romance.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 16, 2011
What a friend we romance lovers of a certain age have in Kindle.  Can you believe that several Heyer novels are being offered right now at $1.99?  And there's this great selection of Joan Smith books at $4.00 apiece.  The Heyers are obviously the better bargain, but Joan Smith romances are not easy to come by in hard copy so I'm snapping up the Kindle versions.English romance novelist Georgette Heyer wrote most of her Georgians and Regencies in the 1930s, 40s and 50s with a handful in the 60s and pretty much set the standard.  Canadian Joan Smith wrote most of hers in the 1970s and 80s in a similar but not exactly imitative style.  Both authors are probably my 2 favorite Regency romance novelists.Well, that's all neither here nor there.  The point is that if you're a Georgette Heyer fan but have never read Joan Smith, you might want to try her out.  This one, IMPRUDENT LADY, is a great starting point.  It was written in 1978 and is considered to be one of her best.When you read Joan Smith, be expecting lots of character-driven plot, period information and really great dialogue.  If, on the other hand, you consider Lisa Kleypas, Julia Quinn et al to be the epitome of Regency and historical romance, you might not like Joan Smith.  Smith's books, like Heyer's, may have a kiss or two to express the love between H and h, but nothing at all explicit and definitely no "all-the-way" intimacy.  Yet I find them more romantic and satisfying than the recent historical romances with hot passion throughout the book.  (Am I showing my age?  Thought so.)