This collection includes 25 essays about the inimitable Georgette Heyer. Inspired by her love of Jane Austen, Heyer penned period romances of her own and ended up creating the Regency romance genre that is still widely popular today. The essays in this anthology treat on Heyer's influences, intelligence, idiosyncracies, and immortal achievements. Some of my favorite essays include:

-Georgette Heyer’s Literary Genius, by Jennifer Kloester
-A Most Excellent Influence: Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer, by Susannah Fullarton
-Gambling in Heyer, by Rachel Hyland
-Heyer’s Heirs: What to Read After Georgette, by Amanda Jones

As is usual in anthologies, the quality of the essays vary, and there were a few essays that found me skimming along rather rapidly to the next one. While Heyer is overall the recipient of much praise, there were a few essays critical of the narrowness of her societal scope and the mores of the time in which she wrote. The end of the anthology provides the contributors' favorite and least favorite Heyer titles, heroes, and heroines, a fun walk down memory lane. 

This anthology is best appreciated by those who already have experience with the Heyer canon. It is a great companion piece to Jennifer Kloester's must-have work, Georgette Heyer's Regency World.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I received this book for free from Netgalley. This did not influence my review.

I love Georgette Heyer. I’ve mostly read her Regency Romances with a quick foray into her historical mysteries. While some are more engaging than others, they are all pretty wonderful. When I saw Heyer Society: Essays on the Literary Genius of Georgette Heyer, edited by Rachel Hyland, available for review, I was intrigued. I didn’t know what to expect. Maybe literary criticism? Maybe quirky biographical sketches?

In fact, it is just what the title describes: essays about Georgette Heyer. The contributors are a number of authors in different genres united in their love for Heyer’s work. The essays are not dry literary critiques, but rather explorations of different facets of her contributions to literature, particularly Regency Romance, but also her influence on other Romance genres as well as science fiction and detective fiction. Chapters discuss such things as Heyer in film (why haven’t more of her works been made into movies?), the role of cousins in her novels (not only the rather icky question of why so many cousins marry each other, but also the larger importance of cousins in Regency Era society), and what to do with the enormous stumbling block of privilege portrayed in Heyer’s worlds (can we enjoy these very non-diverse books today without guilt?).

Written by Heyer superfans, the chapters are enthusiastic, glowing, and fun to read. References to novels I’ve read reminded me of the delightful stories and made me want to re-read. And references to the novels I haven’t gotten to yet have made me even more eager to make time to read them.

This book can be enjoyed by anyone interested in Georgette Heyer, whether you are a die-hard fan, have only dipped a toe in the ocean of her novels, or have not yet read her but are debating where to start.

Fascinating!

Kudos to Rachel Hyland for putting together these fabulous essays that really stretch our thinking and engage our reminiscences with all things Heyer!
I spent my whole time going Yes! That's so right! And underlining copious amounts of texts.
Hyland has brought together proven modern Regency romance writers, leading personalities of the Austen society, fans, and those who have made serious doctoral contributions regarding Heyer's influence.
Many of my favorite Heyer books are mentioned and discussed from various angles: Kissing cousins, Favorite fathers, The Grand Sophy: Matchmaker or Master Manipulator, Bath in Heyer's Books, and in various guises one of my faves, Cotillion.
Hyland gives Venetia such a wrap I must go and re read it--again!
Then when you have Cheryl Bolen, Anna Bradley, and Kathleen Baldwin amongst the luminaries who have contributed, well, 'the cup runneth over!'
This is a must have for all Heyer aficionados, and others who would like to investigate amongst other things, Austen's influence on Heyer and Heyer's influence on the twenty first century historical romance authors.
A wonderful contribution opening up even more the historical romance genre with a particular nod to the Regency and Georgian milieu, and the complexities involved.

A NetGalley ARC

I love Georgette Heyer so I was delighted to see this collection of essays on netgalley. It's great fun to read writer's opinions of Heyer's work and the different opinions of her characters and plotlines. This is a very readable collection but I feel that the quality of the essays is variable, with some of them focusing more on comparable reads than Heyer's work itself. Overall though I would recommend to all Heyer fans.

3.5 stars.

A cute little exploration of a number of Heyer's most popular works. I would have preferred they be longer, because it felt like they finished as soon as they started to get interesting, but it did remind me how much I love Heyer!

Confession time, I have not read a Georgette Heyer book. I accepted this book for review hoping it would encourage me to delve into this renowned author’s work. The answer to that is yes… and no. Yes, because the enthusiasm of these authors is positively catching. No, because I really need to reread these opinion essays AFTER I read Heyer’s novels. If you have read Heyer’s books then I am certain these essays will mean a lot to you and if you are like me, you will be excited about reading Heyer’s romances. Each essay is thoughtful, some literary and some are love letters to the lady and the genre. Many delve into characters and compare them, such as mentions of cousins across the books or siblings relationships to one another. None of the essays are overly long. This book is certainly a must-read for Heyer fans.

A warm and lovely celebration of Heyer, principally the historical romances, but with some mentions of her contemporary and detective stories. It's slightly misleading in the blurb to mention 'scholars' as while there has been some recent welcome academic interest in Heyer, it's not in evidence in this book. Kloester has written her thesis on Heyer but her piece here is 'popular' in tone as she compares Heyer with Austen.

Most of the essays are from bloggers, romance writers and readers, and I should warn any new Heyer fans that they're full of spoilers. Most essays are very short, five minutes or so reading, and are descriptive rather than analytical. All, though, are replete with pleasure in Heyer and reading this made me itch to both re-read favourites and discover the yet-to-be-read. I didn't learn anything new but it's fun to bask in the pleasure Heyer brings to her fans. I especially enjoyed the last section where contributors discuss their favourite and least favourite books, heroes and heroines.

Anything on Georgette Heyer is an auto-buy for me. This lovely collection fell unexpectedly into my hands, and I started reading it immediately.

I love the respect with which other authors speak of Heyer, and the humour in essays. I like that there are a wide variety of topics. The 'Bath Tangle' in the Social Media Age by Anne-Marie Turenne is a hilarious, five-page summary of the book using social media posts. And What I Owe to Georgette Heyer by Cheryl Bolen is a beautiful little love letter to Heyer.

For those who have not read Heyer's complete catalog, there are some spoilers, as to be expected.

This is a lovely resource for all fans of Heyer, and is a book that I must own in both electronic and print versions.