Those books are on my list because they sound right up my alley.

I am reading this article on Salon about a romance novel "canon". [link] The slide show of the canon describes a book as A "Regency romance with beautifully broken people and some seriously steamy sex." I thought Regencies, by their nature, had less explicit sex? Has that changed?

Also, it reminded me that I loved Jennifer Crusie's books so much I wish I could go back in time and read them again for the first time.

Oh, that looks interesting. Thanks for the link.

Anything set in the Regency period can be called a Regency, and it's remained the most popular era by far for historicals. Julia Quinn, Sabrina Jeffries, a whole bunch of authors are firmly situated somewhere between 1800 and 1820.

No one publishes "real" Regencies anymore, which were modeled after Georgette Heyer's -- they were shorter, and all about Pride and Prejudice-like banter between the hero and the heroine, and never ever featured sex. They were some of my favorite books to edit -- I had some fantastic Regency authors whose books really sparkled with all that wit and playfulness. They are mourned, but there's not a big enough market for them anymore.

Although I guess some self-pubbed authors might be doing them. I never looked.

No one publishes "real" Regencies anymore, which were modeled after Georgette Heyer's -- they were shorter, and all about Pride and Prejudice-like banter between the hero and the heroine, and never ever featured sex.

That's what I was used to calling a Regency! That's why I was so shocked by the steamy sex comment. Of course, I think I learned this when I was a young teenager looking for prurient reading material-- the Regencies never delivered! I did like Georgette Heyer, though.

I think the gothics and the medical romances might have been the first ones to get really sexy, but I could be wrong.

I wish I had some of the books I had edited -- they'd make such great, fun one-evening reads. And a lot of those authors either stopped writing or turned to mystery and other things, because they very specifically didn't want to write graphic sex.

A free Kindle ebook today that seems to be based on C,F,M - gone Terribly Real...

[link]

I "bought" it pretty much just based off of that.

Speaking of Regency romance, I just finished Mary Robinette Kowal's Glamour in Glass and really enjoyed it! The first book was a little too romance-focused for me (it was basically Pride and Prejudice, after all), but I like that the rest of the series seems to be focused on what happens after the traditional Happily Ever After: a married couple has adventures! With magic! And, on-topic, the sex scenes are not steamy but cheekily implied.

It seemed like I read a lot of 70's/ 80's romance novels where the main woman had more than one husband/lover, if not more than on "true love". Skye O'Malley comes to mind.

Speaking of Regency romance, I just finished Mary Robinette Kowal's Glamour in Glass and really enjoyed it! The first book was a little too romance-focused for me (it was basically Pride and Prejudice, after all),

I'm reading the first one right now! They just went to the ball.

but I like that the rest of the series seems to be focused on what happens after the traditional Happily Ever After:

Spoiler! (No, I kid; it's pretty obvious what the outcome will be. The fun is in seeing how it plays out.) (I assume all-naked, all-gay, right?)

I am really looking forward to the fourth book, which she describes as "Ocean's Eleven in Venice." THERE IS INDEED A GONDOLA CHASE.

Also every book includes a Doctor cameo.