Author Archives: Suzi Love

About Suzi Love

I'm an Australian author of contemporary and historical romances, plus history non-fiction. My books range from sexy to erotic, late 1700s to the mid 1800s, and with a dash of Australia thrown into the mix. My heroes and heroines challenge tradition and my stories often expose the seamier levels of life. I now live in a sunny part of Australia after spending many years in developing countries in the South Pacific. My greatest loves are traveling, anywhere and everywhere, meeting crazy characters, and visiting the Australian outback. I hope my books bring history alive and you have fun adventuring with my roguish heroes and feisty heroines.

Book Hooks: Lady Melton and the Captain held vastly different views on women’s roles. #Waterloo #regencyromance #historicalromance #BookHook

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Blurb: Love After Waterloo: Lady Melton and her son are forced to join antagonistic Captain Belling and the last group of wounded British soldiers evacuating Waterloo and traveling back to London. https://books2read.com/suziloveLAW

Book Hook: Lady Melton and the Captain held vastly different views on women’s roles, she instinctively knew he would convey them safely to English shores. Her son liked him, so she’d make allowances for the Captain’s abrasive manner and assume that his stiffness was due to the stress of conveying a party of injured men, a lady, and a child to London. 

“Captain, despite you not wanting me to tend to your own wounds, I shall still offer to help your soldiers. Changing their bandages, massaging their limbs, and that sort of thing.”

“Good grief. You’re telling me that your brothers allowed you to massage men’s arms and legs?”

Her amenable attitude towards him dissipated faster than mist on a sunny morning. “Yes, Captain.” She shifted her sleepy son to her other hip. “Brendon is a knowledgeable physician, and he not only allowed me to massage the men’s painful limbs, but he actively encouraged it.” 

“Not under my command, you won’t.” 

“Perhaps each soldier should decide for himself. I’m sure they would welcome any relief, even if a mere woman offers the only available treatment. Massaging is known to stimulate blood flow which means a limb doesn’t atrophy while a wound is healing. Faster healing means less time in pain.” 

“Humph. We’re British soldiers. Taught to keep a stiff upper lip and suffer in silence.”

She scowled. “Are you making a jest? Because I didn’t picture you as capable of levity.”

He snorted. “Yes, sorry. My pathetic attempt at a joke fell flat. I’m not capable of true levity at the moment. Not after spending days searching for friends, or what was left of them, and retrieving valuables and letters before the battlefield pickers stole items I would rather see returned to their loved ones.” He shook his head. “And why did our men charge over those hills and die?” He pointed towards the battleground where thousands of soldiers had been either slaughtered outright, or had passed their last hours in agony. “So that our fat and complacent Regent can congratulate himself on a brilliant battle. So Wellington can be proclaimed Britain’s greatest war hero.”

Anne winced. Gabe had reached his limit, and with good reason. His grief was palpable and she was back to feeling sorry for the wretched man.

LAW_Captain Belling said, “The only thing I don’t know is why you and that child are anywhere near Waterloo.” #MilitaryRomance #RegencyRomance https://books2read.com/suziloveLAW
Book Hooks: Lady Melton and the Captain held vastly different views on women’s roles. #Waterloo #regencyromance #historicalromance #BookHook https://books2read.com/suziloveLAW
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What was fashionable in Bridgerton and Jane Austen times? Mourning, riding, daytime, evening fashions plus corsets and underclothing. #Bridgerton #RegencyFashion #JaneAusten

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What was fashionable for women in Jane Austen’s times? Mourning, riding, daytime, evening clothing, plus underclothing, corsets and accessories. Fashion Women 1810-1814 History Notes Book 27 This book looks at what was fashionable for women in Jane Austen’s times, or the early 1800s, or the Regency Era in Britain. Wars were being fought around the globe so women’s fashion adopted a military look in support of soldiers. Fashions, like the lifestyle, became progressively more extravagant and accessories went from colorful to over-the-top. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashion1810-1814

The Lady’s Magazine said of the basis of women’s fashion that was popular for the first twenty years of the 1800s, ‘White is still the prevailing color for robes. For morning dresses, linen gowns, in large diamonds or squares, are fashionable. Indian muslins, plain or embroidered, are preferred to Florence and satins. The designs of embroidery for shawls are of infinite variety. Long gloves, which reach above the elbow, are not yet laid aside. Medallions are hung around the neck from crossed chains and some of these medallions are shaped like the bags, called ridicules. These reticules are of the lozenge or hexagon shape, with a small tassel at each angle. Reticules, or ridicules, are in lozenge or hexagon shapes with a small tassel at each angle. In capotes, or hats, and ribbands, the violet and dark green prevail over jonquil. Bracelets in hair, pear-shaped ear-rings, medallions on square plates, saltiers of colored stones, are still in fashion.’

HN_27_History Notes book 27 What was fashionable for women in Jane Austen's times? Mourning, riding, daytime, evening clothing, plus underclothing, corsets and accessories. Wars were being fought so women adopted military looks in support of soldiers. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashion1810-1814
What was fashionable in Bridgerton and Jane Austen times? Mourning, riding, daytime, evening fashion plus corsets and underclothing. #Bridgerton #RegencyFashion #JaneAusten https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashion1810-1814
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1817-1820 ca. Jane Austen and Bridgerton Style Green Silk Spencer, Or Jacket, English. #Bridgerton #RegencyFashion #BritishFashion #JaneAusten

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1817-1820 ca. Spencer, or Jacket, English. The sort of jacket worn by Jane Austen and friends over their loose Empire style dresses. Green silk Spencer, brown satin puffs, silk cord on deep V collar and sleeves. With the rise of fashionable waistlines in women’s dresses after around 1800, women’s outerwear followed suit. This jacket with very short bodice and long sleeves was known as a Spencer and was named after the male coat. via Museum of London, UK. museumoflondon.org.uk

Description Spencer: Short jackets worn for warmth over the high-waisted Empire style gowns that were popular after the French Revolution, where there was a shift away from opulence and decadence to simpler fashion. This jacket with very short bodice and long sleeves was known as a Spencer and was named after the male coat made famous by the Earl Spencer and said to have originated in accident to Lord Spencer in hunting when coat tails torn off and a cropped jacket was invented. The dresses in the early 1800s therefore became looser, lighter, and flowing and women became cold due to their very low cut and short bodices. Short fitted jackets that went easily over the dresses and provided extra modesty and some warmth. As Europe and many other parts of the world were deep in wars in the late 1700s and early 1800s, men in uniform were found everywhere. In support of these military men, fashions leaned towards military style shoulder paddings, shoulder embellishments, loops, buttons, and braids.

1817-1820 ca. Spencer, English. With the rise of fashionable waistlines in women's dresses after around 1800, women's outerwear followed suit. This jacket with very short bodice and long sleeves was known as a spencer. via Museum Of London.
1817-1820 ca. Spencer, English. With the rise of fashionable waistlines in women’s dresses after around 1800, women’s outerwear followed suit. This jacket with very short bodice and long sleeves was known as a spencer. via Museum Of London.
1817-1820 ca. Spencer, English. Back View. Green silk, brown satin puffs, silk cord on deep V collar and sleeves. With the rise of fashionable waistlines in women's dresses after around 1800, women's outerwear followed suit. This jacket with very short bodice and long sleeves was known as a spencer and was named after the male coat. via Museum of London, UK. museumoflondon.org.uk suzilove.com
1817-1820 ca. Jane Austen and Bridgerton Style Green Silk Spencer, Or Jacket, English. #Bridgerton #RegencyFashion #BritishFashion #JaneAusten https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1815-1819
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1800-1820 ca. Small Pieces Of Drawing Room Furniture as Jane Austen and the Bridgertons would have used. #bridgerton #janeausten #RegencyEra #Furniture

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1800-1820 ca. Small Pieces Of Drawing Room Furniture as would have been used in houses where Jane Austen lived. Side tables, book tables, chest and foot stool. Collage by Suzi Love.

1800-1820 ca. Small Pieces Of Drawing Room Furniture. Side tables, book tables, chest and foot stool.
1800-1820 ca. Small Pieces Of Drawing Room Furniture as Jane Austen and the Bridgertons would have used. #bridgerton #janeausten #RegencyEra #Furniture https://books2read.com/suziloveOLD
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Tortured duke reunites with mysterious lady to unravel past secrets and expose evil men. #RegencyRomance. #HistoricalMystery #ReadARegency #historicaleroticromance

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FTAV_A Regency Noir, a darker historical romance set in London. When confronted by the self-assured Countess of Dorchester, the Duke of Stirkton is stunned to discover that this breathtakingly beautiful widow is the naïve girl he met years before at a country inn and has searched for ever since.

As the Duke of Stirkton, Max was well accustomed to being watched. Young pups copied his dress style. Toad-eaters mimicked his behavior in futile attempts to ingratiate themselves into his life. Conservative groups applauded his somber public behavior, while cartoonists ridiculed his straight-laced demeanor and suggested he take a mistress. Or two. 

Whichever way people viewed him, no one had dared ridicule him to his face. Until this evening. The Countess had side-stepped his butler and marched into his drawing room as if an unannounced call upon an unmarried duke was something she did regularly. Max had informed her, in great detail, of the extensive search he and his cousin had undertaken to locate her and the other women. She’d huffed and rolled her eyes.

Normally, his month-about- mistresses gleefully accepted his proposal because sharing a duke’s bed for a month would set them up for the rest of their lives. Apart from the financial benefits, he was a generous lover. One benefit of his abnormal upbringing had been an early and full education into what women wanted in a bed partner. Until the Countess had laughed at him, he’d never had reason to doubt his sexual prowess. In the brief time she’d been in his house, she’d challenged several of his beliefs. 

“It’s the ideal solution.” And something he needed. “I will help you search my grandfather’s boxes by day and, in exchange, you’ll make yourself available to me in the evenings.” Max waited, unsure what to expect. An odd situation for a man who prided himself on reading adversaries as easily as he tallied the accounts. books2read.com/suziloveFTAV

Tortured duke reunites with mysterious lady to unravel past secrets and expose evil men. #RegencyRomance. #HistoricalMystery #ReadARegency #historicaleroticromance books2read.com/suziloveFTAV
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1830-1850 Romantic Era Corsets Provided Support and Gave Fashionable Silhouette. #Corsets #RomanticEra #HistoricalFashion

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History Notes Book 18 Corsets 1830-1850This book shows how corsets changed to both provide support and also fit well under clothing to give a fashionable silhouette. Corsets started being a fashion item, rather than simply underclothing to be hidden. Romantic Era women’s fashionable corsets. Corsets worn from 1830-1850, or the Romantic Era of fashion. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook18

Information or drawings on corsets through both the Regency and Romantic Eras is difficult as underwear wasn’t shown in British publications for modesty sake, and only occasionally seen in French magazines. Therefore, most of our knowledge about corsets from the Regency and Romantic Eras is through actual garments, especially those donated to museums. Surviving corsets show that shorter corsets weren’t as common and corsets were generally of a longer length. Many of these corsets were still front fastening, plus many were laced at both the front and the back so our aristocratic fictional heroines could indeed dress and undress themselves without the assistance of a maid.

Corset makers became more skilled and cut garments much better, so the body was controlled and shaped by the cut and grain of the fabric. They developed long corded corsets to suit the classical gowns of the period. A wooden busk was created to help keep the undergarment garment lay flat and to lift and separate the breasts. Busks stopped women from bending at the waist, which encouraged good posture. 

HN_18_Corsets 1830-1850 History Notes Book 18 This book shows how corsets changed to both provide support and also fit well under clothing to give a fashionable silhouette. Corsets started being a fashion item, rather than simply underclothing to be hidden. Romantic Era women's fashionable corsets. Corsets worn from 1830-1850, or the Romantic Era of fashion. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook18
1830-1850 Romantic Era Corsets Provided Support and Gave Fashionable Silhouette. History Notes Book 18 #Corsets #RomanticEra #HistoricalFashion https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook18
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1810 ca. Cotton Dress Ensemble With Train, French. #RegencyFashion #JaneAusten #historicalfashion

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1810 ca. Cotton Dress Ensemble With Train, French. Cut out in back, lace shawl with sequins can be added to cover shoulders, small low cut bodice, all over embroidery and very short decorative sleeves. Front, Back and Side Views. via Metropolitan Museum New York City, U.S.A.  metmuseum.org

1810 ca. Cotton Dress Ensemble With Train, French. Cut out in back, lace shawl with sequins can be added to cover shoulders, small low cut bodice, all over embroidery and very short decorative sleeves. Front, Back and Side Views. via Metropolitan Museum New York City, U.S.A. metmuseum.org
1810 ca. Cotton Dress Ensemble With Train, French. Cut out in back, lace shawl with sequins can be added to cover shoulders, small low cut bodice, all over embroidery and very short decorative sleeves. Front, Back and Side Views. via Metropolitan Museum New York City, U.S.A. metmuseum.org
1810 ca. Cotton Dress Ensemble With Train, French. Cut out in back, lace shawl with sequins can be added to cover shoulders, small low cut bodice, all over embroidery and very short decorative sleeves. Front, Back and Side Views. via Metropolitan Museum New York City, U.S.A. metmuseum.org
1810 ca. Cotton Dress Ensemble With Train, French. Cut out in back, lace shawl with sequins can be added to cover shoulders, small low cut bodice, all over embroidery and very short decorative sleeves. Front, Back and Side Views. via Metropolitan Museum New York City, U.S.A. metmuseum.org
1810 ca. Cotton Dress Ensemble With Train, French. Cut out in back, lace shawl with sequins can be added to cover shoulders, small low cut bodice, all over embroidery and very short decorative sleeves. Front, Back and Side Views. via Metropolitan Museum New York City, U.S.A. metmuseum.org
1810 ca. Cotton Dress Ensemble With Train, French. Cut out in back, lace shawl with sequins can be added to cover shoulders, small low cut bodice, all over embroidery and very short decorative sleeves. Front, Back and Side Views. via Metropolitan Museum New York City, U.S.A. metmuseum.org
1810 ca. Cotton Dress Ensemble With Train in Jane Austen style. #RegencyFashion #JaneAusten #historicalfashion https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashion1810-1814
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1820 ca. Typical Regency Wrap Corset worn in Jane Austen and Bridgerton years. #Bridgerton #JaneAusten #RegencyFashion #Corset

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1820 ca. Typical Regency Wrap Corset.. Worn over a chemise. Cross-over fabric and lacing at the back. Tied around at the front. via Roger-Viollet Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris.

Corsets changed at the end of the Regency Era to fit well under clothing,  give maximum support and comfort. Corsets pushed up breasts and showed off the bust line beneath a square-cut and low-cut neckline as in the early 1800s, or Regency years. The Bridgerton ladies, Jane Austen and their female friends would have worn this type of soft wrap corset. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook17.

1820 ca. Typical Regency Wrap Corset worn in Jane Austen and Bridgerton years. #Bridgerton #JaneAusten #RegencyFashion #Corset https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook17
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1817 March. Blue Opera Dress And Hat as worn in Bridgerton and Jane Austen years. #Bridgerton #RegencyFashion #JaneAusten

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1817 March. Opera Dress, English. The sort of outfit Jane Austen and her contemporaries or the Bridgerton women would wear for an evening at the opera or theatre. Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann’s ‘The Repository of Arts’.

A blue crape dress over a white satin slip; the dress trimmed round the skirt with a deep blond lace, which is headed with a light and novel trimming, composed of white floss silk and small pearl beads: this trimming is surmounted with a beautiful deep embroidery of lilies, surrounded by leaves. The body and sleeves of this dress, as our readers will perceive by our print, are extremely novel. Head-dress, toque à la Berri; it is a crown of a novel form, tastefully ornamented round the top with lilies to correspond with the trimming of the skirt, and a plume of white feathers, which droop over the face. Ear-rings, necklace, and bracelets, sapphire mixed with pearl. The hair dressed in loose light ringlets on the forehead, and disposed in full curls in the back of the neck. White kid gloves, and white satin slippers.

1817 March. Opera Dress, English. Blue dress with flowers around the hem above a lace frill, long draping shawl, blue hat with white feather. Fashion Plate via Rudolph Ackermann's 'The Repository of Arts'.
1817 March. Blue Opera Dress And Hat In Bridgerton and Jane Austen Style. #Bridgerton #JaneAusten #RegencyFashion https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1815-1819
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1815 March Evening Full Dress For the Opera in Bridgerton and Jane Austen years. #Bridgerton #RegencyFashion #JaneAusten #HistoricalFashion

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1815 March Evening Full Dress For the Opera or Theatre, English. As would have been worn in Bridgerton and Jane Austen years. Rich burgundy velour dress with white under dress with short puffed sleeves over long straight sleeves, rows of puffings for hem trimming, white lace shawl collar with Vandyke points, matching burgundy velvet turban with white feathers or plumes. Fashion Plate via John Belle’s La Belle Assemblée or, Bell’s Court and Fashionable Magazine, London.

Dress Full Dress:  The most formal and complete ensemble, worn for day or night events, and includes the fullest range of accessories that could be added to the outfit to make the most impressive display. 

Definition Evening Dress: There were minute distinctions between ball, dinner, evening and opera gowns meant different quality of fabrics and designs. A Ball Gown differed from an evening dress as expensive silk fabrics were usually worn, light or heavy, decorated with lace, embroidery or beading, with low-cut bodice, short or no sleeves, and full skirts. In the early 1800s, white cotton dresses were considered suitable for many evening events, but not for balls. And definitely not for an evening event in a palace or at the opera or theatre.

Definition Van Dyke Points: V-shaped lace and trims named after a 17th Century Flemish painter, Sir Anthony Van Dyck, known for painting V-shaped lace collars and scalloped edges on sitters.

1815 March Evening Full Dress For the Opera or Theatre, English. Rich burgundy velour dress with white under dress with short puffed sleeves over long straight sleeves, rows of puffings for hem trimming, white lace shawl collar with Vandyke points, matching burgundy velvet turban with white feathers or plumes. Fashion Plate via John Belle's La Belle Assemblée or, Bell's Court and Fashionable Magazine, London. Definition Van Dyke Points: V-shaped lace and trims named after a 17th Century Flemish painter, Sir Anthony Van Dyck, known for painting V-shaped lace collars and scalloped edges on sitters.
1815 March Evening Full Dress For the Opera or Theatre, English. Rich burgundy velour dress with white under dress with short puffed sleeves. Fashion Plate via John Belle’s La Belle Assemblée or, Bell’s Court and Fashionable Magazine, London.
1815 March Evening Full Dress For the Opera in Bridgerton and Jane Austen years. #Bridgerton #RegencyFashion #JaneAusten #HistoricalFashion https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1815-1819
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Fashion Women 1815-1819 History Notes Book 28
What did Jane Austen wear? This book looks at what was fashionable for women in the Georgian Era and at the end of the Regency Era in Britain and the reconstruction in Europe after the wars. Lifestyles were freer and fashions expressed this by becoming the focus of most women’s lives. A wardrobe full of opulent accessories was requisite. Includes mourning and riding fashion, dresses, hats, shoes, reticules or bags, underclothing, and fashion accessories.