Some romances I enjoy once and set aside. Others I return to, again and again, not because I’ve forgotten the ending–although my aging brain certainly does that far more frequently than I’d like–but because knowing the denouement lets me read the story differently than I did at the first go. A reread shifts my focus—I’m no longer racing to find out if the couple makes it, I’m enjoying the smaller actions of the characters, the way their dialogue builds, the choices that make their HEA feel earned.
This year, I’ve enjoyed rereading almost as many books as I have reading the newly published. I’ve worked my way through several historical romances by the much missed Meredith Duran–my current fave is Written on Your Skin. Her prose is just so good– every read offers me another discovery, something that I’d missed in previous reads. I also made my way, again, through Madeline Hunter’s Rarest Blooms. This series, one of Hunter’s best, is full of intelligence and intricacy–it continues to hold my attention (no small feat!). Juliana Keyes’s Bench Player is a contemporary I return to when I want heat that never cheapens the people at its center. Early SEP’s Stars books are also on my reread rotation.
So what about you? Which romances do you reread, and what keeps you turning back to them? Are you a frequent rereader? Are you genre specific or anything goes?
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve re-read The Grand Sophy, Venetia, Friday’s Child and The Toll Gate by the incomparable Georgette Heyer.
I think you are in good company. Heyer is adored by many an AAR reader!
The Black Sheep, Frederica, A Civil Contract – If I may add a few more to your list! Venetia is my personal No 1 GH and I have lost count of the times I have read it.
Another comfort read, enjoyed annually, is Persuasion by Jane Austen. I adore it.
Persuasion is my favourite Austen, although it’s been years since I re-read it.
I also love all the Heyer titles you mentioned. The only one of her historicals I don’t re-read regularly is The Spanish Bride.
I have been to Badajoz and afterwards did re-read it. An Infamous Army is reckoned to be one of the best descriptions of Waterloo. It was once used at Sandhurst as a text for trainee army officers. A hard but brilliant read.
I love An Infamous Army. I listened to the audio while looking at maps on my computer to better understand the battlefield and the battle itself. It’s a gripping story,
Austen is also a perennial reread though I hesitate to call her historical romance.
Ilona Andrews’ Hidden Legacy series (all six books) and Radiance by Grace Draven. Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. The Class 5 series by Michelle Diener. Those are the ones right now. When I find the world super stressful, I read books about other worlds. Or non-fiction. It can be impossible to read a contemporary that doesn’t reflect reality or a historical that doesn’t reflect how we got here. When the world is relatively normal, I reread SEP or Linda Howard.
When I reread a romance, it will most likely be a Carla Kelly. Her books have so much heart.
Mrs. McVinnie’s London Season (1990)
Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand (1994)
Miss Milton Speaks Her Mind (1998)
Reforming Lord Ragsdale (1995)
Libby’s London Merchant (1991)
OMG, I was just reading this question and thinking, hm, Carla Kelly. I reread Miss Chartley’s Guided Tour, Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand, and The Lady’s Companion (which seems very similar to MCGT). I also can reread Manhunting by Jennifer Crusie again and again. (It used to be Getting Rid of Bradley, but as I got older I found that one a little less charming. Lucy is a little too twee.) I also reread The Grand Sophy, by Georgette Heyer, a lot (I named my daughter Sophie!).
I’ve reread Bet Me and The Cinderella Deal by Crusie several times! I like Manhunting as well.
I’m not a big re-reader, but I AM a big re-listener, although my choices are mostly narrator-led. Sometimes it’s a combination of narrator and book, but even then, I choose the narrator first. Even though it takes longer to listen to a book than to read it, listening is my preferred way of re-visiting a story.
I think the books I’ve re-read most with my eyes are Stella Riley’s A Splendid Defiance and The Marigold Chain, Heyer’s Venetia (my favourite of hers), Black Sheep and Friday’s Child, Julia Quinn’s The Viscount Who Loved Me and a couple of Mary Baloghs. (And I’ve re-read most of those in audio as well!)
Listening is faster for me than reading print, usually by a long shot because I listen while doing other things that I couldn’t do while reading. I do most of my rereading on audio as well, since the narration makes up such a big part of my enjoyment of many books.
My rereads:
Shadow of the Moon by M. M. Kaye and Trade Wind by M. M. Kaye, which are admittedly more historical fiction with a light romance. They’re dated and potentially quite offensive to many readers (including me), but they’re still such good epics.
The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson
Dreamhunter by Laura Kinsale
My Beautiful Enemy by Sherry Thomas
I also enjoy rereading Connie Brockway. Bridal Favors, My Dearest Enemy and The Other Guy’s Bride are fun comfort reads.
Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.
Looking at the list, seems like I’m drawn mostly to re-reads that include a locale other than England. All of these involve trips elsewhere, except for one of the Brockways. But almost all spend some time in England as well.
I love to reread, or mainly relisten, to favorite books. Along with a lot of commentors, I’ve reread or relistened to many Georgette Heyer books. I’ve reread/relistened to Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion several times as well. I’ve also relistened to Stella Riley’s books, including the Rockliffe series, Marigold Chain, and A Splendid Defiance. And there are several Carla Kelly books I revisit.
I also tend to reread or relisten to series by Jay Hogan, C.S. Poe, Nicky James, and Allie Therin, often to refresh my memory when new book in a series comes out. I’ve relistened to Envy by Sandra Brown several times, as well as other romantic suspense books by her and Nora Roberts.
But I also do low stress comfort rereads, like some of Lily Morton’s books, or Rachel Reid’s hockey books.
Basically, I’m big on rereading, and it represents a decent percentage of books I read each year, although I don’t always record them on Goodreads. I think in part it goes along with my not wanting a lot of angst or stress in my books. Sometimes I just want to be sure I’m going to enjoy what I’m reading, especially if other areas of my life are stressful at the moment.
Much of the crop of historical romances currently being published aren’t my cup of tea so I do a lot of rereading. Eloisa James’ When Beauty Tamed The Beast, Courtney Milan’s The Countess Conspiracy, The Blackhawk by Joanna Bourne, Luck Be A Lady by Meredith Duran, Private Arrangements and Not Quite A Husband by Sherry Thomas are some of my favourite rereads.
Ooh, I just remembered I haven’t reread Flowers From The Storm in a while, guess my next reread has been queued up
I need to reread FftS too. Thanks for suggesting it!
Anytime!
For most of my life, about a third of my reading was rereading. In the last few years, as my tbr list has grown even faster than my age, that percentage has fallen a lot. Getting hooked on litrpg, where catching up on one new-to-me series can take a full week or more of my reading time, definitely contributed to that.
In 2021 I worked up a list of favorite books (http://www.ccrsdodona.org/markmuse/reading/mostread.html) based on reread counts in my reading log. The first several romances on that list (by descending reread counts, showing years I read them & humor stars) are:
28 A Rake’s Reform (r) Holbrook, Cindy (1995-2019) *****
26 Ravished (r) Quick, Amanda (1995-2021) *****
23 Black Sheep (r) Heyer, Georgette (1993-2018) ****
22 The Secret (r) Garwood, Julie (1995-2015) ****
22 The Mad Miss Mathley (r) Martin, Michelle (1995-2019) *****
21 The Lion’s Lady (r) Garwood, Julie (1995-2020) *****
19 Lord Sayer’s Ghost (r) Holbrook, Cindy (1996-2019) *****
18 Christmas Wishes (r) Metzger, Barbara (1993-2019) ****
18 Dangerous (r) Quick, Amanda (1995-2016) ***
17 These Old Shades (r) Heyer, Georgette (1993-2011) ****
16 The Bride (r) Garwood, Julie (1995-2006) ****
16 Devil’s Cub (r) Heyer, Georgette (1993-2011) ****
16 Autumn Glory (sr) Metzger, Barbara (1994-2004)
15 Elyza (r) Darcy, Clare (1993-2017) ****
15 The Actress & the Marquis (r) Holbrook, Cindy (1997-2019) *****
15 Mistress (r) Quick, Amanda (1995-2016) ***
15 Scandal (r) Quick, Amanda (1995-2008) ***
There are a few books by Jennifer Blake that I have reread through the years (Fierce Eden, etc.), and some Mary Balogh, Edith Layton, and of course, Carla Kelly. I keep thinking about rereading Jo Beverly’s two series, The Company of Rogues and The Malloren books. So the next time I want something familiar, I might pull those books out. Most of these are older authors who were writing in the 1980s and 1990s and several wrote for Signet Regencies. Julie Ann Long is a more current author who I would probably reread as well as Meredith Duran. Jennifer Blake set most of her books in and around Louisiana starting in the early years of New Orleans in the 1700s on up to the 1900s so the history, society, and customs are very different from Georgian or Victorian England so it’s a nice change of scene.
Many of those mentioned are favorites including Connie Brockway, Loretta Chase, Meredith Duran, Georgette Heyer, and Eva Ibbotson. I also slip back into Judith Ivory periodically.
I used to have paperbacks packed into an old dresser in the basement – easy to open drawers and pick a reread. The basement was waterproofed last summer and everything went into boxes. In a hurry. I haven’t worked up the nerve to resort the boxes so I can find my favorite rereads again. But yes to many of those mentioned. I adore Flowers from the Storm. She got so much about the political and social history right while writing an amazing love story.
There are some authors I reread repeatedly — Kathleen Gilles Seidel, Carol Buck, Stella Riley, Lucinda Brant, Mary Balogh, Loretta Chase, Mary Jo Putney, Carla Kelly, Roberta Gellis, Stephanie Laurens, Lorraine Heath, Jayne Ann Krentz (in all her various guises), Jennifer Ashley (in multiple guises), Jo Beverley, Joan Wolf and of course Georgette Heyer — and I am sure there are more I am forgetting. I tend to reread more recent books that I like multiple times, and the older books are reread less often, both because I have become very familiar with them, and because styles change and that affects my rereading.
Over the long term, the writers I have reread most often and sometimes by binge reading all the books of theirs that I own, are the writers listed above. Because Stella Riley and Lucinda Brant are more recent, I have not reread them as often. But Mary Jo Putney and Loretta Chase, plus the later novels of Mary Balogh, are reread often and really stick in my mind.
That said, lately I have varied my rereading habits. Instead of focusing on a particular author or series — which is my usual habit and fits in with my former student life as an English major — I have been rereading several books where the hero or heroine is a dedicated musician. Then I went on to read Mary Jo Putney’s River of Fire, and went on to read every romance featuring an artist that I could recall. It turns out that I really like reading about creative people — writers, musicians, artists, garden designers.
That’s a cool lens to approach reading with.