Heyer rankings poll

[kate_nepveu]

Because skygiants asked, and because I don't mind using search & replace to generate DW poll code off of Wikipedia's novel list (hence the years, because it would take too long to edit them out): a poll about Heyer's Regency romance novels, what your personal top-tier are and, bonus question, what (if any) one you suspect is probably underrated generally.

Because there are a lot of books and the first question involves ticky boxes, it's behind the cut.

Poll #15180

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 74

View Respondents

Your personal top-tier of Heyer romance novels consists of . . .

View Answers

The Black Moth (1921)
0 (0.0%)

The Transformation of Philip Jettan (1923) (later republished as Powder and Patch) (1930)
0 (0.0%)

These Old Shades (1926)
16 (21.9%)

The Masqueraders (1928)
16 (21.9%)

Devil's Cub (1932)
21 (28.8%)

The Convenient Marriage (1934)
7 (9.6%)

Regency Buck (1935)
0 (0.0%)

The Talisman Ring (1936)
20 (27.4%)

An Infamous Army (1937)
6 (8.2%)

The Spanish Bride (1940)
2 (2.7%)

The Corinthian (1940)
6 (8.2%)

Faro's Daughter (1941)
13 (17.8%)

Friday's Child (1944)
11 (15.1%)

The Reluctant Widow (1946)
3 (4.1%)

The Foundling (1948)
6 (8.2%)

Arabella (1949)
8 (11.0%)

The Grand Sophy (1950)
31 (42.5%)

The Quiet Gentleman (1951)
5 (6.8%)

Cotillion (1953)
51 (69.9%)

The Toll-Gate (1954)
11 (15.1%)

Bath Tangle (1955)
2 (2.7%)

Sprig Muslin (1956)
11 (15.1%)

April Lady (1957)
2 (2.7%)

Sylvester, or the Wicked Uncle (1957)
20 (27.4%)

Venetia (1958)
31 (42.5%)

The Unknown Ajax (1959)
27 (37.0%)

A Civil Contract (1961)
24 (32.9%)

The Nonesuch (1962)
6 (8.2%)

False Colours (1963)
10 (13.7%)

Frederica (1965)
39 (53.4%)

Black Sheep (1966)
11 (15.1%)

Cousin Kate (1968)
0 (0.0%)

Charity Girl (1970)
1 (1.4%)

Lady of Quality (1972)
3 (4.1%)

The Heyer romance you think is probably underrated, if any, is:

View Answers

None/don't know
7 (15.9%)

These Old Shades (1926)
0 (0.0%)

The Masqueraders (1928)
3 (6.8%)

Devil's Cub (1932)
3 (6.8%)

The Convenient Marriage (1934)
0 (0.0%)

Regency Buck (1935)
0 (0.0%)

The Talisman Ring (1936)
6 (13.6%)

An Infamous Army (1937)
2 (4.5%)

The Spanish Bride (1940)
0 (0.0%)

The Corinthian (1940)
0 (0.0%)

Faro's Daughter (1941)
2 (4.5%)

Friday's Child (1944)
0 (0.0%)

The Reluctant Widow (1946)
1 (2.3%)

The Foundling (1948)
0 (0.0%)

Arabella (1949)
1 (2.3%)

The Grand Sophy (1950)
0 (0.0%)

The Quiet Gentleman (1951)
2 (4.5%)

Cotillion (1953)
0 (0.0%)

The Toll-Gate (1954)
4 (9.1%)

Bath Tangle (1955)
0 (0.0%)

Sprig Muslin (1956)
2 (4.5%)

April Lady (1957)
0 (0.0%)

Sylvester, or the Wicked Uncle (1957)
0 (0.0%)

Venetia (1958)
1 (2.3%)

The Unknown Ajax (1959)
3 (6.8%)

A Civil Contract (1961)
2 (4.5%)

The Nonesuch (1962)
0 (0.0%)

False Colours (1963)
1 (2.3%)

Frederica (1965)
0 (0.0%)

Black Sheep (1966)
4 (9.1%)

Cousin Kate (1968)
0 (0.0%)

Charity Girl (1970)
0 (0.0%)

Lady of Quality (1972)
0 (0.0%)

Ticky?

View Answers

Ticky.
29 (46.8%)

It is dreadfully flat here since you have been gone.
9 (14.5%)

I can't imagine why you should say such an extraordinary thing.
8 (12.9%)

We simply must do something!
15 (24.2%)

Kate, you can't fool me, these aren't _Heyer_ quotes!
23 (37.1%)

(If you're curious, it was prompted by this discussion, but don't look until you've answered or you'll prejudice the data.)

Comments

[skygiants]

I'm voting with my opinion of 48 hours ago for consistency's sake!

[pendrecarc]

I disliked These Old Shades on first reading and quite liked it on the second--may change my mind if I get back to it again. Venetia made me incredibly uncomfortable on the first reading, but on the reread I found it far more deftly handled than I'd remembered. Cotillion is charming and funny; Frederica is surprisingly sweet; and Talisman Ring wins hands-down for best couple, in part because I honestly thought for the first several chapters that she was writing her book about the wrong characters and was terribly relieved when that turned out not to be the case.

[kate_nepveu]

I don't remember the last two well to say how I'd think they'd hold up now--I remember liking _Frederica_ well at the time, but I didn't check it off now because I couldn't be sure. (I don't remember _These Old Shades_ at all, and suspect I never read it.)

re Venetia

[mme_hardy]

"You shall have your own orgy, my dear delight, and you will enjoy it very much!"

::swoons::

Re: re Venetia

[ailbhe]

Yes!

[sovay]

a poll about Heyer's Regency romance novels, what your personal top-tier are and, bonus question, what (if any) one you suspect is probably underrated generally.

Done!

(If you're curious, it was prompted by this discussion, but don't look until you've answered or you'll prejudice the data.)

Huh. Now I feel slightly bad about not including a title, but it isn't in the first rank for me; I just like it a lot.

[kate_nepveu]

No need to feel bad!

[thistleingrey]

TBH, sadly, I have the sense that I don't remember a few that I liked well enough upon reading. (I didn't choose any that I don't remember at least middlingly.)

[kate_nepveu]

They do sometimes blend together. I'd queue up a re-read but now honestly I want to re-read _Sorcery and Cecilia_ more. =>

[thistleingrey]

Hee. I reread it during the last year or two, and it seems to hold up. What I wish is for recapturing what it was like to read Mairelon the Magician before reading any Heyer; S+C survives mostly by dint of Stevermer's contributions, IMO.

[genarti]

I voted, but I probably ought not to've, because I've only read two in total. But I have a clear favorite of the two and I was told I'd probably dislike a lot of her others more, so I went ahead and voted for it.

[kate_nepveu]

Clearly I need to put _The Talisman Ring_ at the top of my list when I'm in a Heyer mood again! I'm not even sure whether I've read it.

[skygiants]

TALISMAN RING IS MY NEW CONTENDER FOR "MOST UNDERAPPRECIATED." It's tied with Faro's Daughter! THIS IS THE OUTSIDE OF ENOUGH.

[saramily]

I CHOSE IT! Because it is MY FAVORITE because for once, the troll hero is a girl! (I will firmly rebut any suggestions that Sarah is not the hero of that book, unless you want to make a case for Abel. I might allow that.)

[pendrecarc]

Sarah is absolutely, positively the hero of that book.

[athenais]

I adore _The Talisman Ring_. I am a huge fan of her Georgian romances, even more than her Regencies.

[lacewood]

The Talisman Ring is absolutely MY contender for underrated! For years the only reason I even knew this book existed was because I had seen ONE person mention it years ago, and then I couldn't... find the actual book... This is also true of The Toll Gate, actually, which I STILL haven't found a copy of...

[genarti]

I very much liked it! It has long-suffering Sensible Relations of the wacky young impulsive couple, which always makes me far more tolerant of wacky impulsive shenanigans.

[nextian]

I adore Talisman Ring-- one of my top all time comfort reads.

[wordweaverlynn]

Oh, The Talisman Ring is utterly delightful -- though technically it's not a Regency, being set during the French Revolution. I suspect the inn at Hand Cross was or is a real place; it shows up again in Regency Buck. One of my very favorites.

[glass_icarus]

I didn't fill out the underrated question as I've only read the few I could get my hands on in the library... this poll reminds me that I should go request some more. *g*

[metaphortunate]

I wish you had included a most OVERrated Heyer, as I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would prefer Frederica to another Heyer!

[kate_nepveu]

If I have time tonight, I will do a sum-up, and I will add that in too!

(ISTR there is a fairly substantial age difference in _Frederica_? -- whoa, I totally misread your comment, never mind. I think people like _Frederica_ because it has fun family stuff, and maybe a dog?)

[skygiants]

I think Frederica tends to come out high in the polls because it is really inoffensive! Like, ok, I'm sorry, that sounds like super faint praise -- I actually like Frederica a lot. I mean, I don't think it ever reaches quite the comic heights of some of the other favorites, but it's really sweet and all the relationships are really warm and kind, and there's nothing for people to trip over -- a minimum-to-zero amount of lurking antisemitism and misogynistic condescension and raging classism.

[kate_nepveu]

There is something to be said for comforting and non-offensive!

[mme_hardy]

Jane Aiken Hodge says "A Civil Contract appeals to the sort of reader whose favorite Austen is Persuasion", and she is right. It's by far the most melancholy Heyer regency, and I love it.

Other than that, cross-dressing FTW forever.

[wordweaverlynn]

Bingo.

[roadrunnertwice]

(hence the years, because it would take too long to edit them out)

Hey, do you wanna learn regular expression find-and-replace? It lets you do things like delete all those dates in one pass. I could teach you the basics really fast, and it's actually pretty fun if you're the kind of person who would use find-and-replace to convert a list from Wikipedia into a poll.

[kate_nepveu]

Thank you, but no. I have occasionally cargo-culted my way through s&r expressions--cleaning up files to go on my ebook reader, before Calibre and Sigil made that unnecessary, things like that--and it always made me fucking miserable. I suspect it was partly bugs or non-standard syntax in the text editor I was using, but I'd already customized the program so heavily that I couldn't drop it and start over, but anyway: regex = NO GO AWAY in my backbrain.

[roadrunnertwice]

Aw, sorry to hear about that. There're still a bunch of things I won't mess with for similar reasons, so I hear ya.

[rushthatspeaks]

I put down Arabella as underrated, because, while it is not my absolute favorite, I never hear anyone talking about it, and it is the one in which the small and undistinguished dog wraps the hero around his paws and basically takes over his life.

Somehow I can never remember which Heyer it is in which the heroine is being guarded by her scapegrace brother's dog, who won't let her leave her chair, and all she can reach to read is the racing forms. That's right up there as my favorite scene in Heyer.

But the all-time holder of my heart forever are the poker scenes in The Convenient Marriage, which are among the two or three passages in the entirety of fiction which to me are funny-always, never-fail, laugh-out-loud unbreakable. I sometimes pick that book up just to read those chunks.

[mariness]

I can't rate Arabella as underrated, since although 90% of that book is brilliant, vintage, Heyer, the ending continues to give me a very creepy feeling.

The Heyer where she's guarded by the dog is The Reluctant Widow.

[wordweaverlynn]

There is so much to like in Arabella, but a very great deal to loathe in it -- and in April Lady. Heroes who let the woman they love suffer needlessly worrying about money do not appeal to me.

[mariness]

April Lady is just a mess all around. According to her biographers Heyer was just recovering from a major bout of illness and financial troubles, and her most recent biographer hints that Heyer found out that her husband was having an affair at about this time. Result: borrowing plot from previous books, a lot of repetition, more jargon than usual, and the hero letting the woman he loves suffer needlessly worrying about money. AUUGH. Not to mention the girl who is like, sure, I'll steal an incredibly valuable set of jewels from the woman I'm supposedly friends with so I can run off with a guy that I'm going to want to divorce in three months anyway.

I laugh all the way through Arabella until I reach the last twenty or so pages and then...auugh.

[ailbhe]

Beauvallet?

[kate_nepveu]

I dunno, I was just copying from Wikipedia!