I’m excited to introduce a new Regency novel today. It’s entitled Moonlight Masquerade and written by Regency Reflection’s own Ruth Axtell.

To celebrate Moonlight Masquerade, we’re running a special week-long contest. Starting today through next Friday, March 22, we’ll feature Regency quiz questions at the end of each post. To enter the contest, you’ll need to correctly answer the questions in the comment section below. For every correct answer, your name will be added into the drawing for a $25 Amazon gift card . There will be five questions in all, which means your name can be entered up to five times (if you get all five questions right). The deadline to answer ALL CONTEST QUESTIONS will be Saturday, March 23 at midnight.

Before we get to today’s quiz question, let me tell you about the story.

Lady Celine Wexham seems the model British subject. French by birth but enjoying life in 1813 as a widowed English countess, she is in the unique position of being able to help those in need–or to spy for the notorious Napoleon Bonaparte. When Rees Phillips of the British Foreign Office is sent to pose as the countess’s butler and discover where her true loyalties lie, he is confident he will uncover the truth. But the longer he is in her fashionable townhouse in London’s West End, the more his staunch loyalty to the Crown begins to waver as he falls under Lady Wexham’s spell. Will he find the proof he needs? And if she is a spy after all, will he do the right thing?

Moonlight Masquerade has garnered some excellent reviews from both authors and reviewers alike:

“All the elements of suspenseful romance and clandestine spying encounters twist through Ruth Axtell’s latest page-turner set in Regency London.”  Ruth Leubecker, Machias Valley News Observer.

“Take a French emigre who is the widow of British nobility and add in a British foreign office employee who is posing as her butler and you have a recipe for a book filled with tension. Add in a dash of spying, a pinch of counter-espionage, and a dollop of intrigue stirred with a generous helping of interest in each other and it created a recipe for a book that drew me happily to its pages.”  author Cara Putman

“When danger comes looking for Lady Céline what will Rees do? Will her charms blind him to who she really is so that he betrays the crown or will he unmask her to the world?
Moonlight Masquerade is an interesting look at the war between Britian and Napoleonic France and the various parties with an interest in the outcome. If you like court intrigue, the Regency era, and subterfuge you will love Moonlight Masquerade!” M. Myhren-Bennett, Blooming with Books

I’m personally reading this story now, and I absolutely love the French spy angle. It’s neat to see England through the eyes of a French woman and compare the different cultures. And then there’s the whole spy question. Is Celine a spy, or isn’t she? I’m looking forward to finishing the novel, and I think anyone interested in the Regency Era will find this spy twist entrancing.

Today’s Question: The summer of 1814 was known as the victory summer in Britain because the war with France was over. But in 1815 they were mobilizing troops once again. Why?

a) Napoleon had escaped from Elba.
b) Napoleon had allied himself with Russia.
c) Napoleon had escaped from St. Helena.
d) Napoleon had escaped to America.

Originally posted 2013-03-15 10:00:00.

This is so exciting. Queen of Exiles is a Sunny Lit Pick!!! On August 2nd, she introduced Queen of Exiles to The View.

Meet Queen Louise. This is a historical fiction about a true queen, Hayti’s 1st and only queen. It’s a sweep tale which will take you through the politics and intrigues of the Haitian Court to the twists and turns of Regency and Victorian England and France and Italy. Queen Louise was a brave woman who dared to be Black, royal, and happy.

Queen of Exiles is a good book to read.

It’s a good book to listen to.

The audiobook performed by Robin Miles won an Earphone Award from Audiofile Magazine. It’s an Editor’s Choice Selection for the Historical Novel Society.

Riley’s historical novel feels timely and relevant, commemorating a time when Black women were queens. – Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Originally posted 2023-08-09 04:02:11.

(Adapted from, Regency House Christmas: The Definitive Guide to a Remarkably Regency Yuletide by Linore Rose Burkard)

The Christmas card, (the first of which was not printed until 1843- and even then, was not in color) became affordable with the introduction of the penny post–cheap mail. So this catapulted the onslaught of a huge mass of printed Christmas scenes which we still see today.

The Regency never knew the lavish Christmases of the late 1800s, the Victorian ideal. England had still not fully recovered from the former ban on all things Christmas made
in the 16th century as a response to subversion. The fact that they celebrated as we shall see they did, is in fact evidence of a great desire to keep the holiday.

Originally posted 2012-12-19 10:00:00.

Kristi here. Did you know the Christmas season has arrived? To be honest, it’s pretty hard to miss, at least where I live. Driving down the street you see the lights on the lamp posts and the town square, baked goods wrapped in red and green cellophane are already appearing on our counter, and the jingling of bells greets you as you enter nearly every store.

I love Christmas. I especially love Christmas music. I’ve been known to break it out in June. While some tunes gracing the airwaves today are clearly modern inventions, others we tend to feel have been around for centuries.

Most of them haven’t.

The plethora of Christmas carols as we know and love them today came about mostly in Victorian days. Several composition dates fall in within ten years of 1850. I find it hard to believe that music wasn’t part of an English Christmas celebration, though. Given that the entertainment at many a party involved one or more young women displaying their musical prowess, I think that for many music would have been part of Christmas as well.

So, if you’re like me and you can’t help but picture your favorite Regency heroine belting out a exalting song or two while celebrating the birth of Christ, what do you have her sing? Here are a few possibilities of songs that Regency families might have had access to:

The First Nowell… sort of

The First Nowell (or Noel, as it is commonly written in America) was first published in 1823, though evidence suggests it was sung long before then. The words, however, are slightly different that the ones we sing today. At least one published version of the song had the angels singing “O well” instead of “Noel”.

Joy to the World, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and Angels From the Realms of Glory… sort of

While each of these songs had words closely relating to those we sing today, their tunes were very different. Many of these songs were poems or lyrics sung to the tune of other, year-round hymns. It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that these songs began getting their own music.

Silent Night… sort of… not really

Unless your hero had connections in a small German town, they would not have heard of this song as it was written in 1816. Even if they did have it somehow, you’d still be singing it in another language.

Songs you could likely have sung with your favorite hero around the pianoforte:

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, O Come All Ye Faithful (Although you were more likely to hear it in it’s original language as Adeste Fideles, English translations existed as early as 1799.), The Twelve Days of Christmas, We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Some songs you wouldn’t hear because they had yet to be written:

Away In A Manger (1885), O Holy Night (1847), Good King Winceslas (1853), It Came Upon a Midnight Clear (1849), O Little Town of Bethlehem (1867), We Three Kings of Orient Are (1857).

What’s your favorite Christmas carol? Do you prefer the older carol-style songs or some of the more modern compositions?

Originally posted 2012-12-03 10:00:00.