by Tiffany Dawn Kohnen
Regency England is synonymous with Jane Austen’s classic, beloved novels. Today, a new generation of authors are adding magic to this romantic historical period. Tiffany Dawn Kohnen gives us five reasons to be excited about regency fantasy romance.
If Jane Austen was still alive, she would probably faint at the thought of mixing magic with romance. It’s scandalous. We don’t live in those days. Here are some reasons why the happy marriage between Regency historical romance and low fantasy is perfect. Imagine if you will, a Mr. Darcy as a fae! (There are no such books as far as I know with him being one, and I would love to know if there is…) Without further ado, on to the reasons!
1. The slow burn romance—with magic!
I love a romance where the two love interests don’t confess their love until the very end. To see them waver back and forth about their love… Their heads are rife with doubt… and then they finally—during a black moment—admit to themselves they love the other. On the final two pages of the book, they confess!
In an amazing love story, Olivia Atwarer’s Half A Soul had the heroine not realize she is falling in love until a black moment occurs. Whenever her thoughts of love came to her mind, she denies it, thinking the only usefulness she had for the man is being a fun puzzle to be solved. She also denied the truth because she believed the hero would never love her. I loved the slow pacing of their romantic journey because it tugged at my heart in such a heady way.
2. Fae pairs so charmingly together with Regency-era Folks
When you have ladies and gents not forthcoming about their feelings, and they have to dance around one another—sometimes literally! This sort of behavior reminds me of the fae. Faeries cannot lie, and they have to dance around the truth. They twist it in a way that is still true. It makes for a fun read!
For example, the Stariel series by AJ Lancaster is not precisely set in the Regency era but in the same Gaslamp Fantasy Romance genre. The fae and humans do what they can to maintain secrecy. However, the heroine, Hetta, has a habit of speaking her mind, it’s funny to read because she struggles with that and her fae lover doesn’t. When Hetta successfully said something fae-like, she thought to herself, “…feeling very fae…”
Fae and High Society sure love to talk in circles in London, or in the case of Stariel series, Meridon.
3. Describing magic in a historical voice is so delicious to read
There’s modern voice, and there’s historical voice. There’s a fear of reading and writing extremely pompous and unnecessary purple prose; but—somehow—that’s not an issue in these books. Writing historical voice to describe romance and magic gives that whimsy feel that I love so much about Regency Fantasy Romance.
I highly enjoyed the author’s voice, Melissa McShane, in her Extraordinaries series. I was enraptured by each standalone love story book in the same world for a multitude of reasons. I could not stop reading and even broke my Kindle’s daily reading streak tracker because of this series (75 consecutive days!). Part of that is because I loved the word choices she chose, her worldbuilding, the characters she brought to life with her words… it was magical. I can’t wait for the next installment of the series, Beguiling Birthright!
4. The plots of Regency get even more dramatic and fun when you involve magic
There are some amazing Regency historical love stories that have many subplots, including heat levels of their romance. Throw in some magic, and it takes these subplots to a whole new level.
Sure, we’ve got a sister who wants love in her future marriage, a brother willing to sue to get his inheritance, another sister doing her familial duty and find a man with good status, another brother wants revenge for what happened to his father. Sounds like a charming Regency family saga, right? But what if you made them all dragons?
There’s the premise of a story I found that looked amazing to read, and it is next in my reading pile, Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton. It was published two decades ago, and that goes to show that Regency Fantasy Romance is a timeless subgenre. I can’t wait to read it!
Then there’s the heat levels of romance to change things up and complicate matters. Regency ladies are supposed to maintain their virtue until marriage. But some throw that out the window for story reasons.
I don’t often read or write spicy scenes, but I enjoyed the slow-burn tension that is built up between the two characters in Unmasking Miss Appleby by Emily Larkin. The buildup of the characters in the story with a magical twist is quite something else! If you like it steamy, you must read her Baleful Godmother series by the same author!
5. The Regency era’s problems were simpler
How does the heroine solve her family’s finances? Marry a titled rich gentleman, of course. How do you avenge a murder and get away with it? There’s not exactly a CSI unit in those days. Throw in some magic into those stories, and it makes the problems a little more fantastical and charming reads. Regency Fantasy Romance is an excellent escapist wish fulfillment with problems that doesn’t remind us of our own. Their world is both familiar and different enough from ours to allow for that. How do you throw in magic into a rags-to-riches billionaire story? Perhaps a magician duke will save the lady’s family from financial ruin if she will marry him… because she has magic he wants.
That’s why I love to write Regency and Gaslamp Fantasy Romance stories. They are so much fun to plot, write, edit, and read them. My first fiction series, Lenses of Magic, lets me explore this beautiful genre. In A Lady’s Lens by Tiffany Dawn Kohnen, we have Holly whose magic is out of control and learns to control it with her apprentice master, Brandon. However, a villain to have her is trying to keep Holly from Brandon because he wants her powers… Mmm. It is so much fun to write the series!
About Tiffany Dawn Kohnen
Tiffany Dawn Kohnen is a Gaslamp Fantasy Romance indie author with dabblings in other genres. She is surrounded by attention-seeking cats and magic-loving young girls while she writes. Get her books through her website: KohnenBooks.com and be sure to follow her on social media.