Why Celebrate One Regency Holiday When You Can Celebrate Six?

We’ve talked about a number of Regency holidays over the years such as Christmas and Easter. I’m delighted to report that I have a Regency steampunk story, in the Regent’s Devices universe, out this Thursday. Like the other stories, which are more-traditional Regencies, it centers around a Regency holidays. We cover from May Day to Twelfth Night, featuring some of your favorite tropes—enemies-to-lovers, second-chance romance, forbidden love, friends-to-lovers, and more! The collection includes the following stories:

May Day Mayhem by Ann Chaney—Intrigue, death, and love come to Horsham-Upon-the-Thames as the small English village anticipates their May Day celebration. Home Office agents the Duke of Doncaster and governess Helen Stokes join forces to uncover a missing list of French agents before an enemy discovers it. Mired in May Day preparations while chasing hoodlums and gentry, Helen and Doncaster try to fight their mutual attraction in a romantic farce worthy of Covent Garden.

My Favorite Mistake by Courtney McCaskill—Sixteen years ago, lady’s maid Fanny Price was swept off her feet by a handsome horse trainer named Nick Cradduck. The very next day, he shattered her heart. But now, at the Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake, who should Fanny encounter but the man she crossed all of England to avoid… A second-chance love story featuring Fanny, the scene-stealing lady’s maid from How to Train Your Viscount!

His Damsel by Charlotte Russell—During her annual visit to Bartholomew Fair, Eliza Cranstoun is mistaken for a lady in distress when in fact she was attempting to avenge the honor of her cousin. Now, she insists Anthony Ripley, her savior, help her bring down a lordly scoundrel. Amidst the scheming however, the independent Eliza and the confirmed bachelor Anthony, discover that love finds even those who choose not to seek it.

When I Fall In Love by Cora Lee—The Harvest Festival is a chance for reunions and love, but perhaps not for childhood friends Sylvie Devereaux and Kit Mathison. When Kit returns to renovate the home he inherited, Sylvie’s financial burdens prompt Kit to propose a marriage of convenience. But Sylvie has always wanted to marry for love, and they don't love each other…do they?

Remember by Shannon Donnelly—Over the years, Beatrice Foxton keeps meeting up with Andrew Cliffs on Guy Fawkes Night, but these two friends are separated by her family’s expectations for her to marry a well-born lord and his family’s background in trade. And, yet, they can’t stay away from each other...

The Aeronaut’s Heart by Regina Scott—Josephine Aventure was on her way to earning a place in England’s Aeronautical Corps until the dashing smuggler she’d once loved showed up. Etienne Delaguard risked much to help England win the war against France. Over a Twelfth Night masquerade, can a gentleman of the sea win the heart of a lady of the air?

You can find all the links to your favorite online retailers here.

Time to celebrate!

Are You A-Going to Bartholomew Fair?

Our county fair starts this week, with judging for produce, preserves, homemade products, arts and crafts, and animals of all shapes and sizes. It’s fun, family fare. But in early September for four days in the first half of the nineteenth century in London, young ladies and gentlemen might slip away to another kind of fair entirely.



For over 700 years, Bartholomew Fair held sway as one of London’s most important summer fairs. Originally held around August 24, the date was moved in 1753 to September 3. It ran for several days just outside Aldersgate in London. The fair started as a way to sell cloth and other goods, but it became a way to have a rollicking good time.

All classes could be found there at first. The Lord Mayor of London himself opened the fair on St. Bartholomew’s Eve. He would walking in procession with the Merchant Taylors Guild to the fair, which became the chief cloth sale in England and brought in international traders as well. Besides booths for selling cloth, the fair featured sideshows with “freaks,” prize fights, concerts, circus acts like wire walkers and acrobats, puppets shows, and even wild animal exhibits. As late as 1830, more than 200 booths for toys and gingerbread crowded the grounds and nearby streets. Young gentlemen whose parents would have been appalled at their behavior disguised themselves as servants just to get to play at the fair.

By 1844, however, the fair had outgrown its humble beginnings. A London visitor guide warns tourists “Bartholomew Fair presents a picture of . . . boisterous exuberance chiefly consisting of low apprentices, servant maids, the working classes of the lowest order, a very small sprinkling of decent people, few and far between, together with an innumerable herd of thieves, vagabonds, prostitutes, and pickpockets.”

In 1840, city authorities started making it difficult for the fair, first by jacking up the booth rental prices and then by limiting the fair to one day. The number of booths and activities continued to dwindle until the 1850s, when city authorities refused to allow it to happen because it “encouraged debauchery and public disorder.” Bartholomew Fair was proclaimed for the last time in 1855.

Me? I just go for the Elephant Ears.

And Sara from DBR visits Nineteen Teen for the history, and she won a fan! Sara, go to my website and send me a note on your address. I’ll get the fan out to you shortly! Remember to comment, all! There are two more posts in August and two more chances to win!