The term "Regency"

I came upon the term "regency" twice this week as I was surfing the internet.

The first time was when I was blog stalking Trista Lerit's blog, a photographer based in Orange County, CA. She blogged about her recent home decorating and her love of "Hollywood Regency." I seriously thought the term was made up to give the whole Hollywood thing more glamour. Oh who am I kidding? It probably is but who cares because we get suckered into these things anyway. The term "regency" just sounds so much more elite and sophisticated then Hollywood style or Hollywood decor.

Anyway, the second time I encountered that term was when I was looking for romance novels similar to Judith McNaught's writings in Whitney My Love, A Kingdom of Dreams, Once and Always (probably my favorite among the bunch), Until You, Almost Heaven and Something Wonderful. What do all of these books have in common? (OK besides being romance novels!) For the longest time, I always thought they were considered historical romance novels and they are, BUT they are also considered around the British "Regency" era. Isn't that interesting? Well...maybe not to some people but it definitely got my interest since I encountered the word "regency" only days earlier. According to wikipedia, "The era was distinctive for its architecture, literature, fashions, and politics. It was a period of excess for the aristocracy..." In any case, you can find the full excerpt about British Regency here. Another interesting thing to note, the author, Jane Austen, falls into this category as she was from this era and her books were written in this period and I love Jane Austen! Although I must admit - some of her writings require repeat reading to fully understand its meanings.