With the popularity of the Bridgerton TV series, Regency novels have a newfound resurgence in young adult literature. Regency romances are novels set during the period of the British Regency (1811-1820). They include highly developed sense of social standing for characters, with an emphasis on "manners" and class issues, as well as the emergence of modern social thought. Three new Regency novels are coming out in April. An Improbable Season by Rosalyn Eves finds three cousins heading to London for their first season with plans that are immediately derailed by scandal. Queen Bee by Amalie Howard reveals an elaborate revenge plot orchestrated by a young lady whose reputation has been ruined by her former best friend. To Swoon and To Spar by Martha Waters is the fourth in her Regency Vows series. Lord Penvale, in order to regain his ancestral estate, agrees to marry his uncle's ward, who has designs of her own on the family lands.
An Improbable Season, which is set in 1817 London, introduces sisters Thalia and Kalliope, who join their cousin Charis for their first season. In alternating third-person narration Thalia's love of poetry, Kalli's of home and family and Charis's of natural science are revealed. With all of society's rules and regulations for debutantes, scandal immediately erupts, and Kalli finds herself engaged to childhood friend Adam to avoid family ruin. Adam has always been in love with Thalia, who is looking for a more intellectual match, which she thinks she's found in James. Meanwhile Charis, who wants to connect with the scientific community, finds a kindred soul in Mark, who delights in her quirky interest in bugs and birds. Although all of the girls' initial plans are thwarted by unexpected predicaments, the three band together to navigate societal expectations and find unpredictable happy endings.
The elaborate revenge plan in Queen Bee, complete with quotes from Italian diplomate Niccolò Machiavelli and allusions to chess moves, consumes Lady Ela Dalvi, as she plots to ruin her former best friend Poppy who slandered Ela with an allegation that destroyed her reputation. Ela is sent to a boarding school in Cumbria where she is a penniless nobody, abandoned even by her father. With the help of Church, a wealthy school benefactor whom Ela befriends and nurses back to health, she disguises herself a Lyra Whitley and returns to infiltrate London society. Not only does she want to take down Poppy, but also Lord Keston Osborn, the Marques of Ridley, her childhood friend and first love, who did not support her during Poppy's sabotage. She must seduce him to accomplish her revenge plan, but unresolved feelings get in the way. Church warns her that revenge is complicated, and Ela/Lyra must decide what is more important - happiness or destruction of those who harmed her.
To Swoon and To Spar, the fourth book in the Regency Vows series, focuses on Lord Peter Penvale, who lost his ancestral home when his parents died. For years he has been unsuccessfully trying to buy it back from his uncle, when to his surprise the uncle shows up in London offering to sell it, if Penvale marries his uncle's beautiful ward Jane. Marrying Jane seems a small price to pay to get his home back. Unbeknownst to Penvale, Jane drove the uncle to sell by making the estate seem haunted. With the help of the servants she continues the "haunting," hoping to send Penvale running back to London, but he is not so easily duped. As they get to know each other, their sparring gets to be more good natured, and they find themselves in love. But will they get out of their own ways to let the romance bloom? Characters from the previous Regency Vows books appear in this one as well, as they are Penvale's friends. This series is for mature readers, as there are steamy romantic moments.
