Regency Buck (Regency Romances)

I love Georgette Heyer's books but this lead character isn't one I can get into. Usually the arrogance is tempered by a good nature which is missing so far in Lord Worth (I'm on Page53). I've given up on this one as a lost cause. Too much like modern formulaic Regency romances. I think I'll go re-read Frederica or Cotillion!

The Kindle version of Regency Buck is riddled with flaws. Many missed spaces, extra spaces, oddly hyphenated words, oddly unhyphenated words, and other strange goings-on. It was very distracting to have an error or two per page.

If you cherish fluent reading, this is not the version for you.

Shame on the publisher/the store for inflicting this on the unsuspecting reader. Extra care should have been spent on the Kindle formatting conversion. At the very least, someone should have read this version on a Kindle and attempted to fix the formatting flaws.

Shame.

Set in the Regency (1811-1820) but no date given, this is the story of Miss Judith Taverner and her brother Peregrine who, at their father’s death, travel to London to meet their guardian, Lord Worth. They expect Worth to be an elderly man. Instead, they find him to be a man near Judith’s age and one both she and Perry have already encountered leaving them with a very negative impression. (He stole a most inappropriate kiss from her when he met her on the road.)

Though neither Miss Taverner nor Peregrine like their guardian, finding him arrogant and dictatorial, they cannot help but admire his competence to handle their affairs. When someone appears to be trying to kill Perry (Judith will inherit his wealth as well as have her own), they begin to wonder whom of their new acquaintances and Judith’s many suitors might be involved.

Much of the story is taken up with Regency entertainments and the pastimes of the rich, both in London and Brighton, but there is a mystery that grown in importance. Cameos by the Prince Regent, Beau Brummel and other Regency era stars are delightful. The dialog is witty. The story gets exciting toward the end when Perry disappears.

Though it may not be my favorite by Heyer, I enjoyed it and the rich tapestry of characters and the ending was not unexpected but the telling of it was very good.

"Regency Buck" is a Regency romance. As usual for a Heyer novel, there were many funny moments. However, I thought this novel was a bit more predictable than most and spent more time than needed describing boxing matches, fancy rooms, etc.

Also, any time a heroine does the exact opposite of whatever the hero says just to spite him, I'm not going to like the story very much. It's always struck me as a foolish way to "prove" your independence as it usually leads to poor decisions that thus prove you need a keeper. The hero figured out quickly that she was going to do the opposite of whatever he suggested, no matter how reasonable, and he started manipulating her using that knowledge. Not really an ideal basis for a relationship. Obviously this was not one of my favorite Heyer novels.

After reading several of Ms. Heyer's books during the past two weeks, I'm beginning to catch onto her style which includes lots of details about the characters and their doings - even the parts that may or may not interest the reader at all. Still, anyone who is a fan of this genre can't help but give her credit for being an amazing writer with what appears to be a very astute understanding of the regency era, obviously at some point spending hours and hours of research on the social mores, clothing, pleasurable habits, horses, equipage and so on. For example, amazing details such as the rooms in Prinny's Royal Pavilion at Brighton are often included within the pages of her books.

Having said the above, I must confess, I've grown to enjoy more romantic details and the slow build-up between the handsome hero and the lovely heroine than is offered in her stories. Please note: I'm not referring to sexual and erotic details. I do not have to have those included in my romance stories. Simply - Ms. Heyer often falls short in my expectations relative to the actual romance being played out between the major characters and often doesn't include any real romance until the last five pages. Rather, she brings romance out in the ever-so-slight looks, comments, thoughts, etc. Not really enough for my reading pleasure.

Regency Buck follows what I consider to be the typical Georgette Heyer romance story. Having stated that fact, I absolutely love the storyline premise of the younger lady being the ward of the somewhat older, more mature - yet handsome lord. In this book, Miss Judith Taverner and her brother Peregrine, - both heir and heiress of substantial wealth when they come of age, are under the impression their guardian, Lord Worth is an older gentleman, who had been their father's contemporary. What they don't know is that the current Lord Worth has never even met their father and yet - he has found himself the reluctant guardian of two young people.

This story is full of ups and down and twists and turns. One of the things Ms. Heyer does best of all is give some of the secondary characters the types of personalities that are humorous and, in the case of Peregrine, full of a young man's juice. Peregrine does have a strong and honorable character but tends to get in a bit over his head gaming, thinking he is a better whipster than he is and so on. The three characters - Judith, Peregrine and Lord Worth get off to a very poor start relative to the manner in which they meet for the first time. Unbeknownst to Lord Worth, his wards are on their way to London to set up a home for the Season. They stop to spend the night in an area which just happens to be hosting a major boxing match. Gents from miles around are gathered to watch the match including a tall, handsome lord Judith and Peregrine happen to keep running into under the most awkward circumstances. Yes, the tall handsome lord is none other than their guardian - Lord Worth. They don't know who he is and he certainly has no idea who these young country yokels are but he soon figures it out, well before they do. By that time, he has planted a very undesirable kiss on Judith which has her in quite an ill humor and causes Peregrine to call him out - all contributing to the buildup in the reader's mind as to their coming meet and greet when they all get to London and are actually introduced for the first time.

As time goes on, Judith is courted by one of her cousins, someone is obviously attempting to kill Peregrine, Lord Worth is acting on their behalf publicly and privately in his attempts to keep them spot on socially and safe. All the while, he is the victim of a slow burn in his heart toward Judith (which is of course primarily conjecture on the part of the reader because it is Ms. Heyer's style to be V.E.R.Y V.A.G.U.E. about these matters. Even Judith appears to be totally unaware of Worth's heart - after all, he can't come right out and declare himself because she's his ward. Eventually everything comes to a head. For me, the storyline is great, the characters are well drawn out but there just isn't enough romance to suit.

Not all of Heyer's humorous romances set in Regency England follow the same pattern -- there are notably original exceptions like Grand Sophy -- but, like any successful franchise, most of them do adhere to a more or less predictable underlying formula. The most common aspect of this is that whatever irritating and unpleasantly egotistical male the heroine first runs into is going to end up being her Prince Charming. In some of her books, including this one, that outcome is decidedly less convincing than in others.

The set-up here is that Miss Judith Tavener and her slightly younger brother, Sir Peregrine (a newly minted baronet following their father's recent death), both being minors -- and both being extremely wealthy -- are traveling by chaise from their provincial home in Yorkshire to London to meet with their guardian, Julian Audley, Earl of Worth. (They've never before visited the capital, which I think unlikely, even though their father was a recluse.) There they find that their father, being rather sloppy about such things, has screwed up his will, putting them in the care and under the authority of his old friend's son, not the father -- a guardian not much older than they are. And that they already are acquainted with Lord Worth, having had an unpleasant couple of encounters with him on the way to town. Worth, as the male lead seems to be in nearly all these books, is fierce, grim, cold, and sardonic, and Judith, being of an independent turn of mind, bridles at being told exactly how to live her life and not being allowed to make her own decisions even in personal matters. She has a cousin, though, the son of her uncle, the Admiral, who takes her part in the continuing tension-filled relationship with her guardian, and so she comes to lean on him. Peregrine comes up against their guardian's uncompromising will a few times, too, but he's much more willing to go along -- as long as he can acquire a typical wealthy young man's playthings, and as long as he is allowed pursue the girl who has taken his fancy. The thing is, if young Peregrine should die without an heir, most of his share of the inheritance will go to his sister -- which someone else appears to be aware of, as well, because attempts begin to be made on his life. Worth has as much as told Judith that he intends to make use of his authority to marry her himself; could he be the one trying to bump off her brother? There really aren't that many viable suspects and most readers will have figured out who the villain is long before the last chapter -- but it isn't the semi-mystery that matters here, of course, but the romance. If you can call it that, because it's difficult to see how Miss Tavener could ever undergo her very abrupt change of heart with regard to her guardian.

Another small difference with this story in comparison to most of her others is that a number of real people Heyer brings in as active participants in the plot, including George "Beau" Brummel, who undertakes to advise Judith on her entrance into Society, and the Duke of Clarence, younger brother of the Prince Regent. Clarence, in fact, pursues Judith with the object of matrimony (his ten bastard children by Mrs. Fitzherbert notwithstanding), and reassures her that there are several people ahead of him in the succession and that she therefore needn't be concerned about the future -- though, of course, he later became king as William IV, and one supposes there could have been a "Queen Judith."

No one wrote Regency better than Georgette Heyer. I love her stories. They sparkle. This romance is among the best with an audacious hero placed in a situation definitely not of his choosing. His two wards are wealthy heirs/heiresses who are not at all grateful for their situation, either. What ensues is nothing short of hilarious, as the guardian does his best to protect his wards, they do their best to circumvent his strictures. and the villain exposes his nasty plot. Wonderful, through and through.

It always feels like a cheek reviewing a Georgette Heyer as she's a legend. I loved this story of the h and her brother being wards of the H. The H continually had the upper hand with the h, no matter how hard she tried. There's a villain trying to kill of the h's brother and the brother's own romance going on in the background. A great read

The nice thing about the earlier Heyer heroines is that they could be frivolous without apology. The downside is that the plotting of these earlier efforts is often a bit strained. For my money, "The Grand Sophy" and "The Unknown Ajax" are the best (albeit essentially the same concept), but almost all of Heyer is worth reading, and "Regency Buck" is no exception. The battle of wills between Judith and Worth is genuinely entertaining, but what makes this book a must for any Regency fan is that Heyer takes us more in-depth into topics which in later books she merely alludes to--topics such as men's clubs, the sport of boxing, or the mysteries of snuff. Heyer was deeply versed in the social life of her chosen period, and even if she sometimes seems to be showing off what she's learned, she always makes it a pleasure.

This is the first Georgette Heyer book I've read. I enjoyed it but a little repetitive writing was hard to get through. Editing probably was not much of a thing when this book was published. I will try another one of her books.

Regency Buck has one of Heyer's fantastic heroes - The Earl of Worth - with his sardonic humour, clever conversation and social position. The romance between him and Judith Taverner, his ward, is not necessarily the major thrust of the book. Although the slow-burn romance between them is there in the pages, there is a great deal more to keep your attention. In fact, if I had any criticism of the book it is that we are not there when Judith's sentiments change towards her guardian; presumably it's when she spends Christmas at his house with a group of people, but it's left to our imagination; most of the scenes between the two of them are arguments.

The setting of the book, in London and Brighton, is of course flawless historically. It's fascinating reading of travel in Regency times - the journey from London to Brighton by curricle taking 4½ hours and listing all the posting houses and towns that they travel through. I loved reading the detail of the Royal Palace at Brighton and the Royal Dukes and their behaviour. Many of the characters are historical ones and it set me off reading up on their history - not many novels can get me doing that.

The threat to the life of Peregrine Taverner is a side-plot which works reasonably well but it was always clear to me that Lord Worth wasn't trying to kill his ward, and therefore that his cousin had to be responsible. However, it was fun reading the scrapes that Perry gets into, and his enthusiasm over sailing at the end is great fun.

It has also been interesting to read An Infamous Army, a sort-of sequel to both this book and Devil's Cub as it contains characters from both. Captain Charles Audley who features in Regency Buck is the hero of An Infamous Army, but it is good to see Lord Worth and Judith after three years of marriage - that the spice to their relationship is still there, and the witticisms of Lord Worth haven't been dimmed. However, Peregrine and Harriet do less well in that book; whether that is a background comment about marrying too young from Heyer I don't know.

Regency Buck is certainly worth adding to your Heyer library. It's perhaps not as immediately engaging as some of the other books but it's detail and the strength of the characters are well worth the time spent with them through these pages.

While the book was very well written and the characters highly developed I just couldn't like it. I've never been so frustrated by a person in my life. They were both awful to each other, hated each other (at least through their actions) and then fall in love on Friday, seriously?!? I've never been so unimpressed with Ms. Buck, and I love her work. They both deserve to be roundly slapped.

Judith Taverner, 20, has finally taken it upon herself to head to London with her brother Sir Peregrine,19, to visit their guardian. Lord Worth, their guardian ends up being an arrogant and tyrannical earl but is a good match for the strong willed and tempered Miss Taverner. Since she is an heiress, Miss Taverner meets several suitors and her cousin Mr. Taverner.

I was a little hesitant to read this book due to the low ratings but I was surely suprised on how captivating it was. It is very descriptive, clean, mysterious and I couldn't put it down until I finished it.

Liked it until the ending. Heyer weaves a 19th century romance of the Jane Austen type but without the Austen sensibility and subtlety. But, she does create an atmosphere of the 19th century with the drawing rooms and card playing and wealth that pervades the upper classes (with nary a glance at the poorer types). If you want to be wrapped up in upper class English society in the classic story of the rich girl with many suitors trying to determine who to marry, this one fits the bill.

Judith and her younger brother Peregrine decide to move to London a year before Judith attains her majority despite their guardian, Worth's, disagreement. Their father has died and left them in the care of Worth, a man they have never met, rather than their uncle because the Uncle is such a bad character. So, the two main men vying for Judith's care are the Uncle's son and Worth himself. But as is typically the case, Worth and Judith to not get along at first because of their strong personalities and Judith finds herself spending more and more time with her cousin.

To add to the plot, someone is attempting to murder Peregrine, supposedly so that when he marries Judith the entire inheritance will be all his. This part of the plot is very poorly developed, and Peregrine is so shallow that at times it's hard to care whether someone murders him or not (in fact, there are times when it seems like it might be a good decision. He's a silly boy who imitates all the latest fashions, gambles far more than he has, engages in cock fighting and horse racing but Heyer still tries to maintain his honor (not very successfully from my perspective).

The story is predictable--you know who will win out in the end. But this is okay. It's still somewhat engaging to watch how it unfolds. What makes the ending so unsuccessful for me was that it has this typical detective story ending where all the little leads are nicely tied up in this rather anticlimatic scene where the bad guy runs off with Judith and is rescued by the good guy (who also tediously explains what most readers already know).

I really enjoyed reading this novel. The characters were likeable and the story was well developed. I just loved the banter between the heroine and her guardian. This author does a great job with regency books.

Nearly forty years ago I bought this paperback, after staring at it at Woolworth's for several weeks, for the whopping price of 75 cents. There began my love affair with all things Regency, and Georgette Heyer's Regencies in particular.

I am knocking a star off this because, though Heyer's writing craft is divine, her two main characters, in retrospect, are not very appealing. Worth is overly arrogant and Judith is childishly temperamental.

What I will give is props to Heyer who, with the exception of the immediate Worth/Taverner family connections, used historical figures as filler. What a tremendous amount of research she must have done! From Worcester to Poole to "Poodle" Byng, she used real people of the Regency Era to flesh out the rest of her tale.

Brava, Georgette!

Absolutely love Georgette Heyer's books. However, this book was frustrating and a disappointing exception. By the time the mystery is solved, one doesn't care because the characters aren't that likeable or developed. It is also not related to These Old Shades or Devil's Cub, even though it is listed as book 3.

more interesting and enjoyable than some of hers. only problem for me was the excessive descriptions. my personal bias. at times I found it tedious and got in the way of the story line. overall pleasant to read.

I really enjoyed the plot a lot of historical atmosphere a little mystery and suspense and a slowly building romance with a very satisfying ending. I very much recommend this book and can't wait to start my next Georgette Heyers book.

I read this novel as a teenager. Every few years I reread it and remember how much I enjoy the plot, the descriptions of Brighton and the fanfare of regency England. Not my favorite Heyer that would be Frederica or The Grand Sophy, but a relaxing Sunday afternoon read!

Having gone through a list of Heyer books recently (I can't seem to get enough of them, and I thank Arrow publishing for those nice covers so I can read them in public without people eye-rolling at me), this is definitely one of them that had me thinking for a while. I usually jump from one heyer to the next as soon as I finish the last line. But for Regency Buck, I actually went back to reread some of my favorite paragraphs. Love this one!

Such a great story! This is definitely my favorite Heyer that I have read. Judith is a great heroine and Lord Worth, well, of course he is great! ;) The story had lots of interesting moments as well as many hilarious ones. I also feel like it focused a tad bit more on the romance than some of Heyer's other novels (which I like!) ;) I've read the book twice and I'm sure I will read it again. :)

This is one of my favorites! The secrecy the intrigue. Of course we all know what happens... But it is how she sets it up... How she creates the villain.... And how she frames the heroine. We want to love them all... Even the ones we deplore. Well worth the read and worth the effort. I would encourage all fans of regency romance to read regency buck!

I love Georgette Heyer and am quickly reading through her entire works. Most I love and read over and over. There are a few that I just make it through. This is one that I could not even finish. I could not get over Lord Worth's arrogance and overbearing demeaning behavior. And that Judith would fall for him at all! Maybe I missed something. It has been a while since I read this book, but even after all that time, I still felt as if I had to write something. I did not like him and could not watch poor Judith fall in love with him. There are so many other wonderful Georgette Heyer books (try Arabella) that it is a shame to waste any time on this one. Or at the very least, save this one until last to read.

Georgette Heyer has no equal when it comes to that wonderful brand of regency fun and laughter. Her research is so true to that age I feel as though I am riding in Hyde Park with the characters, or on the battlefield at Waterloo, Regency Buck lead me to read "An Infamous Army" And many of her other wonderful books. I have had to hunt in second hand book shops, and garage sales for the books I now have. Most are really dogged eared, and faded, and have pages falling out. I can"t tell you how happy, I am to be able to buy NEW - UNREAD - copies..where I am the first reader to leaf thru the pages of these wonderful stories. I hope to be able to purchase all of her works. She was one in a million.

Although I didn't particularly like this book, I'm giving it five stars, just because giving Georgette Heyer anything less would be sacrilege. That said, this was not a very fun book to read. The mood throughout was quite somber, though there were delightful moments, such as Judith's first meeting with Beau Brummell. His presence in this book was one of the saving graces for me, because I really had to force myself to finish it. I just never warmed up to any of the characters at all. The adventure was interesting enough, but when all is said and done, I just found myself not caring who Judith ended up with, and still not liking Lord Worth very much. Oh well. Heyer is still incomparable!

Georgette Heyer was one of the best authors of the easy to read historical novel. This is one of her best. Many, like me, are happy to reread her novels many times. On the other hand others criticise her for a shallower period detail than, for example, Patrick O'Brien but they miss the point that each has merits and enjoyment not enlightenment is her forte._@

So, this Heyer is my favourite. Truthfully, I think it one of her best. The characters are hi-def and real, the descriptions are amazing, and at times I could hardly keep from laughing out loud (and several times I did). Heyer is witty and humorous at all times, but this is one of her better efforts. Well worth a read.

This book is not one of those romance novels with ripping bodices and hot and heavy scenes. The most that happens is they kiss twice. But it's wonderfully sweet and romantic. Judith Taverner is strong willed and loves to go against anything her guardian says. her guardian holds her life in an iron fist. It's wonderful to watch her affection for Julian change through the book until the satisfying end. Every girl should read this book.

The Earl of Worth becomes the guardian of the wealthy and beautiful Judith Taverner who has captivated London with her charm and grace. She has also stormed the walls of her guardian's heart, but can he win the lady of his heart without shocking the ton?
Nash Black, author of QUALIFYING LAPS and SINS OF THE FATHERS.