ChristianRegency.com hosts the Thimble poll to rate all Inspirational Regency Romance Fiction Titles. The purpose is to give all readers of Regency a flavor of the book. Clicking on the Vote Button near each title launches a ballot form which ranks the following dimensions:
| Austen Style –Dry wit, slightly distanced, more intellectual than emotional. She conveys a great deal of insight into characters without much fuss or exposition. Her sentences are elegant and well-constructed, with the “punch” often saved for the end. She delights in the slight wrench at the end of the sentence which makes this funny and “true”. Her omniscient point of view allows her to comment more on the characters than is common today (except in Regencies :). But that slightly distanced POV creates greater humor. I personally think Austen was quite cynical about human beings, but basically benevolent, and her cynicism is manifested in those long sentences with the ending twist– she’s always lulling us and then stabbing us. -quote by Rita Award Winning Alicia Rasley |
| Heyer Style –Great witty dialogue, more social comedy in the Shakespearian sense (funny situations that put the main character into new and odd relationships), intense immersion into her own particular Regency universe, intelligent protagonists for the most part but plenty of (again, Shakespearian) amusing “lower” characters–often a little brother!. Some cynicism, but not as much as Austen. More ironic than cynical. As a stylist, Heyer is an utter master of the adverb. I don’t mean that as damning with faint praise, as she does almost everything about sentences right, but she’s just terrific at sliding in the perfect modifier to make everything clear. She is by far to me FUNNIER than Austen, in the LOL sense. -quote by Rita Award Winning Alicia Rasley |
| Veryan Style -This is the only one of the three I think that generally and successfully aims to create high emotion. (The end of Dedicated Villain remains my all-time absolute tear jerker.) She is truly more a “romance writer” than the other two, in that she seems to believe more fully in love and romance. She is NOT a cynic. So her style is more sincere, earnest and emotional both. She uses more intense emotion words, and isn’t afraid to risk sentimentality. Her prose is much more direct and active, especially in her action scenes (and she far more than Austen and more than Heyer writes many Georgian and Regency type action scenes, especially sword play and duelling). Her descriptions are a lot more precise and sensual too. Everything she does– the sentence lengths, the diction– is in service to the more modern goal of giving the reader a visceral and emotional experience of the story. Her POV is pretty tight– we ARE her characters. -quote by Rita Award Winning Alicia Rasley |
| Raleigh Style –The book spends equal time in the Hero’s POV as the Heroine’s? Debra Raleigh masterly showed the transformation of the hero in a way that was ground breaking for me in her Vicar Humbly Series. |
| Other –Is there a style, that this book fits, not included here? If so what? Give us an explanation, it might be included in future polls. |
| Period Accuracy –Did you feel carried away to the 1800’s? Did you feel the author’s knowledge of the times transcend the pages? Did they spell Regency correctly? |
| Beauty of the Romance –Did you fall in love with the H or H? Were you swept away in the power of the romance? |
| Cohesion and Freshness of the Plot –Does the plot seem forced, contrived, or stale? Did the author make the circumstances appealing and keep you guessing and entertained until the end? |
| Visibility of the Inspirational Message –Does the book convey a strong Christian message? Is the message cleverly woven into the fabric of the story or is it too subtle or non-existent. |
Note: You can vote as many times as you want for any title, but our poll will reflect thimbles cast for a particular title from any single IP address in a 24 hour period. So cast more thimbles for other titles and keep coming back to vote for your favorites.
Cast Your Votes Now. Press the Vote Button to Review the Titles:
