When the latest AAR Top 100 came out, many long-time romance readers on the message boards complained about the relative newness of the books and authors. It seems newer readers did most of the voting or just out-voted some older favorites. One reader posted about the dearth of iconic romance authors on the list and also mentioned a few names I'd never read - Julia Ross, Patricia Veryan, and Eva Ibbotson. The library had no titles by Ross, but quite a few by Veryan and Ibbotson - I grabbed at random.
Though it took me weeks to finish "Some Brief Folly" by Patricia Veryan was pleasantly surprising. It's one of those stories that isn't so much a mystery as a snowglobe. The answers are shaken up and trapped, and seem really obvious when they settle down. Veryan was known for her Regencies, especially the "Golden Chronicles" a series of five novels which was given a DIK review. While I wouldn't just grab any Veryan again, (she has two "F" grades as well as that "A") As for "SBF" I found the hero pompous in a bad way, but I did enjoy the intelligent heroine and cast of kooky characters, even if the story did tie itself up too neatly in the end.
