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What To Do When You’ve Finished Bingeing Bridgerton Season 2

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What To Do When You’ve Finished Bingeing Bridgerton Season 2

If, like me, you have found yourself bereft after watching Anthony and Kate’s HEA, gazing out windows (not, alas, onto Mayfair streets) and humming the orchestral version of Robyn’s ‘Dancing on My Own’, you are in need of Bridgerton therapy.

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A few gentle suggestions, dear reader:

Croquet

Why not set up your own croquet party with friends? The Bridgerton siblings play an early form of this mallet, ball and hoop game, Pall Mall, which was once played on the streets of London – and gave its name to the street ‘Pall Mall’, outside St James’s Palace. Whether you abide by the Bridgertons’ own rules, including ‘no honour and honesty’, ‘no sportsmanship’ and ‘instant victory if you send Anthony’s ball into the lake’, may depend on how much you value your friendships.

Dance cards

Mount a campaign for the reintroduction of the dance card. You’ll be returning etiquette to the dance floor … wouldn’t you rather a prospective dance partner politely requested to add his (or her) name to your card instead of invading your personal space, probably pissed as a parrot and displaying the verbal capacity of a baboon? (You know you would.)

Early morning rides in the park

No horse? No problem. Quidditch has become an international sport despite the lack of actual flying broomsticks. In a similar vein, this is a call for a resurgence in hobby horse riding, preferably in Regency dress with tears pouring down your cheeks as a storm threatens. You won’t have to hire a groom or even provide hay and oats for your noble steed. Coconuts optional.

Embroidery

All the ladies of the ton spend much time with needle and embroidery frame in hand – the exceptions being Eloise and Penelope, who are too busy conniving, writing gossip columns, and in Eloise’s case visiting unsuitable young men in unsuitable places. This means you have two excellent options: create a masterpiece with thread and needle, or go out and behave badly. At least one of the Bridgertons will be behind your every choice.

Afternoon tea

Also, morning tea. Delicate, Earl Grey tea, of course – unless you’d prefer to mimic Kate and mix your own brew. And something to snack on? Season 1 involved the serving of many, many biscuits to Daphne’s suitors. In Season 2, the cakes have taken over: they are taller, brighter, eminently toothsome. No one apart from the jeweller seems to eat them but this can (and should) be remedied at your own gatherings.

Read Regency Romance

Of course you can begin with Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series. But once you’ve finished that (or if you want to avoid spoilers) we have so many Regency faves!

The Unworthy Duke by Charlotte Anne

The Unworthy Duke

Witty, passionate and fast-paced, this sparkling debut Regency romance is a must-read for any fan of Georgette Heyer, Julia Quinn or Loretta Chase.

‘Secrets and scars that run deep … a delightful Regency twist on Beauty and the Beast!’ Alison Stuart, author of The Postmistress

She’s running from her past; he’s hiding from his.

Miss Ellen Burney doesn’t have a penny to her name. Determined to escape scandal, she flees to London and becomes Miss Smith: spinster and lady’s companion. London offers security in anonymity. So long as Ellen can rein in her overactive imagination and become the perfect picture of propriety.

Calum Callaghan spent ten years in the Royal Navy fighting Napoleon and has the scars to prove it. Now he’s a duke, but all of London thinks he murdered his brother. Heartbroken and battle weary, he’s locked himself away for four long years, a prisoner in his own townhouse.

That is, until Cal’s grandmother comes to stay with him for the London Season, her new lady’s companion in tow. A lady’s companion with a passion for life and love that can hardly be contained by even the most spinsterish of lace caps. She’s fooling nobody, especially not this grumpy duke.

‘Charming characters, witty banter, a delightful romp from a sparkling new voice in historical romance.’ -Allison Butler, author of the Borderland Brides series

Find it here

Collector Of Hearts by Cassandra Samuels

Collector Of Hearts

‘History comes alive when love is in the air and the heart collected this time is for keeps.’ Tome Tender Book Blog

A heart worth collecting just might be a heart worth keeping.

Thanks to a wastrel father and a laudanum–addicted mother, Arabella Fleming and her twin sister have one – and only one – season in London in which to find suitable husbands.

Robert Mallory, Marquis of Shelton, is not suitable. Known as the Collector of Hearts, Shelton is a master of seduction, and he never fails when he sets his sight on a new target. And this season, he wants Arabella.

Arabella is too clever to be swept up in Shelton’s wicked amusements, but she finds herself unable to resist the temptation of his company. And when she tastes his kiss, she discovers there’s more to him than a mysterious past and an infamous reputation. Arabella soon realises that, in order to protect her own heart, she has to collect that of another – the heart of the most notorious rake in London.

Find it here

Lord Somerton’s Heir by Alison Stuart

Lord Somerton's Heir

First love left them desolate … can a new love heal their wounds? A tale of second chance love in aristocratic Regency England, for lovers of all things Bridgerton.

Sebastian Alder’s sudden elevation from penniless army captain to Viscount Somerton is the stuff of fairy tales, but the cold reality of an inherited estate in wretched condition leaves him little time for fantasy, and the memory of his wife’s brutal death haunts his every moment. When he learns of the mysterious circumstances of his cousin’s demise, he must also look for a potential murderer … surely not Isabel, his cousin’s ladylike widow?

Isabel, Lady Somerton, is desperate to bury the memory of her unhappy marriage by founding the charity school she has always dreamed of. Her hopes are shattered from beyond the grave when she is left not only penniless but once more bound to the whims of a Somerton … although perhaps the new Lord Somerton is a man she can trust … or even care for?

Suspicion could tear them apart … honesty and courage may pull them together.

‘In the wake of Waterloo, a richly detailed historical romance with plenty of danger, deception and derring-do.’ – Anne Gracie, international award-winning author

Find it here

My Lady Original by Elise Clarke

My Lady Original (My Lady Love, #2)

A hilarious regency romance where truth is stranger than fiction…

Jack, Lord Darenth is London’s favourite paragon, staggeringly handsome, always fashionable, and unshakeably single. But when The Conqueror, a smash–hit novel casts him as a thinly veiled, lovelorn Prince Charming searching for the perfect match, all of society loses their collective heads – and their hearts – and pandemonium breaks all over Jack’s well–ordered life. 

Lady Herminone thinks Lord Darenth is handsome enough, when she bothers to think about him at all. For her, he is but the best friend of her own dear friend Sandy, the man she is considering for a husband. But when the sequel to The Conqueror is published featuring her as a drippy Cinderella heroine to Darenth’s hero, she is galvanised into action. Ignoring the book doesn’t work, so it’s best to proceed as if it doesn’t matter. Until life starts imitating art, and suddenly the possibility of a love story in truth becomes all too real…

Find it here

Off to live my best Regency-core lifestyle!

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By Nicola Robinson

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