As the year draws to a close, we find ourselves with more time on our hands than we know what to do with. And a way to spend it would be with family. But even with family, we want to spend time by ourselves. And so I propose reading new fiction. Travel into a time and era you would never experience. The past is gone and so we call them history. And historical genres are one we can only imagine. Here are excerpts from various historical fiction authors you might want to curl up and read in this season.
The following are excerpts of works from Mary Balogh. I am partial to her for her writing style feels a lot like home and warmth. If you ever come across Slightly dangerous, go for it. It is a wonderful book.
“My happiness has to come from within myself or it is too fragile a thing to be of any use to me and too much of a burden to benefit any of my loved ones.”
“But it is only people who have plenty of money who can despise it. To the rest of us, it is important. It can at least put food in our stomachs clothes on our backs, and it can at least feed our dreams.”
“The ugliness at the heart of beauty. Is there always ugliness, do you suppose? Even when the object is very, very beautiful?”
“Why did people assume that the beautiful among them needed nothing but their beauty to bring them happiness? That behind the beauty there was nothing but an empty shell, insensitive shell?”
“Occasionally we all do wrong things from right motives. Only time can prove us right or wrong. The past is the past. Nothing can change it now, and who is to say that it was all wrong, anyway?”
“I would be consumed by you,’ she said, and blinked her eyes furiously when she felt them fill with tears. ‘You would sap all the energy and all the joy from me. You would put out all the fire of my vitality.’
“Give me a chance to fan the flames of that fire,’ he said, ‘and to nurture your joy.”
“What price did William pay for your life, for your loyalty sworn by oath? Could I purchase it from him?”
Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, The Wolf and the Dove
“There is revenge and then there is justice. Sometimes the two are met as one.”
Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, A Rose in Winter
“In your madness you said you loved me”
Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, Shanna
“You don’t know how easy death is. It’s – it’s like a door. A person simply walks through it, and she’s lost to you forever.”
Eloisa James, Duchess By Night
“I don’t want to have to earn love by giving up my ability to make decisions that determine how I live.”
Eloisa James, When the Duke Returns
“Discretion is a synonym for intelligence.”
Eloisa James, The Ugly Duchess
Seduction is merely encouraging a man to do something he already wants to do.
Lisa Kleypas
I love you, he thought, looking at Win. I love every part of you, every thought and word…the entire complex, fascinating bundle of all the things you are. I want you with ten different kinds of need at once. I love all the seasons of you, the way you are now, the thought of how much more beautiful you’ll be in the decades to come. I love you for being the answer to every question my heart could ask.
Lisa Kleypas
I for one believe historical authors have no shame, and never get embarrassed or feel shy. Because no one says these words. We would die of embarrassment I believe, so I welcome you to indulge in the fiction where you find them, for you are unlikely to hear these words in real life.
