What a pen.

My first Georgette Heyer book was a delight. I definitely see that she is worthy of her reputation. I don't know the history of historical romances but I believe she is a pioneer of the genre and I was so surprised that a book from 1927 could be so similar to books released yesterday. I loved how unique the heroine was. I was shocked at the amount of freedom she had given the time this book was written.

I enjoyed the slow burn aspect of the book, but my smutty self was upset there was no 'wedding night' scene. Kind of weird actually, despite the slow burn, there was an insta-love but that love shifted between types of love and grew throughout the book. That was surprisingly really nice to experience.

The hero calls her 'my infant' or just 'infant' which is kind of off-putting but if you learn to replace that word with a modern day 'babe, or 'baby' it becomes less so. You know like "Babe, you can't call him stupid" just fits better in my brain.

Also, I hated this notion that you can tell a person has good blood because they are born good looking, with soft hands and are able to learn languages better. I hated even more the assumption that if you were born to poor people, you will be born stocky, ugly and longing to work on the farm despite growing and being raised in complete opposite places. That blood and breeding effect you that much not your life's experiences or the way you're raised.

This book was apparently meant to feature characters and stories from her first book but it didn't properly work out so she used those characters' pasts and stories as a slightly different back story to the some of the characters in this book. There was a large ensemble cast and it did become difficult to remember who is who at times and I definitely forgot some people and I don't know a lick of french so the titles all confused me. Sorry i'm getting off topic. Point i'm trying to say, is that because I'm used to modern day series. If there is something hinted at in one book, then I just expect there to be whole separate book about it featuring those characters. But this doesn't have that. It was so strange every character had some sort of story. There was kidnapping wives, multiple marriage offers choosing love instead, there were hints about side characters romantic preferences with feelings of loneliness that would spark a whole book making them happy later. And sooo many rivalries. I don't know if I like or hate that the side characters and main characters had so much life in them because on one hand they seem very real and full but on the other I hate I don't get to experience those things. Despite my frustration with not quite getting the full picture of our hero's life before the book starts, it does put us in the place of the heroine and really feeling the difference in age of the characters. I felt he had lived this whole life, he wasn't fresh and shiny. I have a thing for older men so I dug it. Don't analyse that, please :p

Lovely writing, as always from Heyer. I didn’t care for the 20+ year age difference, especially as Leonie is written much younger than 19. Avon was a great hero - I would have liked to have seen him match wits with a woman his own age. Enjoyable secondary characters.

Titular “shades” refers to The Black Moth - these are those characters with different names. You always know something is up [prequel/sequel wise] when you read about improbable past scandals (duels, abductions, famous card games). The sequels to this are Devil’s Cub, Regency Buck, and An Infamous Army.

The men’s clothes were glorious - colors, luxurious fabrics, lace, jewels. Damn you, Beau Brummell, for spoiling menswear! *shakes fist*

Ambivalent. Surprisingly charming and actually a bit funny at times, though the whole born sexy trope creeps me out. (Not the right period but the ostentatious Brit amongst the French kept flashing me forward in time to the Scarlet Pimpernel series.)

This is the second Georgette Heyer novel I’ve read. The first was Sylvester which I liked a lot. Sadly, I couldn’t stand this one. Maybe I’m just in a really bad mood today but I was bored by the storyline and I found the characters irritating, histrionic, and forgettable. I did not like Léonie at all. I found her to be gaggingly naïve and open (she was often at times "consciously naïve" as Simon from I Capture the Castle would say.) Her utter adoration for zee Duke of Avon seemed groundless. Okay, good for him for rescuing her but still, he didn’t deserve the god-like status she gave him. Of course, I’m not sure why everyone thought of him as the devil. He didn’t seem anywhere near that bad. Annoying, on the other hand, yes.
I am not giving up, though! I will try to read more Georgette Heyer since I did enjoy Sylvester. These Old Shades just rubbed me the wrong way.

I'm trying to be less indiscriminate when it comes to using the stars. I think I probably gave too many books 5 stars just from memory when they might not have deserved them. On the other hand, if I remembered them, they must have been fantastic! I really liked this one. It was entertaining and funny and romantical. The only thing that prevented it from getting that 5th star was that the heroine was just a tad too innocent and silly.

Listened to the audio for the first time having read the book plenty of times.
3.5 stars to the audio
But the story and the book remains an all-time fave, so always a 5+ starred reading experience...

His Grace of Avon buys a soul. He actually buys an urchin from his half brother to become his page. The Duke is not a good man, he has plans for revenge. Leon becomes his page, but Leon has secrets of his own...

I really enjoyed the feisty female character and Rupert's brother. I laughed out loud.