Just by way of introduction:

i've been a fan of gothic and gothicky romance since just about forever, so I think this will be a fun group.

Gothics were really popular in the 60s and 70s, but of course the genre itself goes waaaay back. A lot of the original gothic romances, like Jane Eyre, contain tropes still used today: the brooding hero with secrets in his past, the mouldering mansion with forbidden rooms, the housekeeper who knows more than she's dares to tell.

So join us, tell us what gothic romances you've read, which ones you've liked, which ones you laughed at, which ones you've almost forgotten and would love to read again!

I'm really excited that you had the idea to start this group!

I grew up long enough ago that the YA category barely existed, so I started reading from my parent's bookshelves once I graduated from Nancy Drew. My mom was a fan of the gothic romance, and I used to check them out from the library in stacks. I liked the historical gothics of Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney in particular.

I've basically forgotten all of them, but when I saw that some of Holt's books were being reissued for kindle, I downloaded The Shivering Sands and read it. In the last few years, I've really reverted to reading books published before 2000. I still enjoy a current read, but I really like older books because I've found that the quality of the writing is reliably competent, and that is not true of current publishing, which is pretty hit or miss in quality.

I read Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart and thought it was exceptional.

Great idea Linda!

Like MM, I grew up seeing all these titles on my mom's bookshelves, but unlike MM, I was so easily frightened as a kid I couldn't watch Scooby Doo, so I never read from her shelves, until I was in Uni. Then I picked up Window on the Square by Phyllis A. Whitney and was thoroughly hooked.

Over the years I've read one or two here and there; mostly Barbara Michaels, since they were easy to find, but recently I've made more of an effort to search out the old gothic titles to give them a try. I've got one Victoria Holt and a couple of the Mary Stewart's currently on my TBR. I've found with these older books that even when the story is weak, I'm still vastly more entertained than I am with a great contemporary book.

I'm so excited about this group! I started reading gothic suspense/ romance about ten years ago. The librarian at one of the branches in my area is an avid gothic romance & mystery reader so the adult section is is compiled of a majority of these genres. I told her one day you can tell who buys the books around here. : ) She really introduced me to the genre. I can't wait to start reading & rereading some of my favorite authors- Stewart, Kaye, Michaels, Whitney, Brent, Holt & a more newer published author- Raybourn.

I'm notoriously bad at buddy reads, but I've joined and I'll try to participate. I've been meaning to read Jamaica Inn after all.

Hi all!

I'm not entirely familiar with Gothic or Gothic Romance, but going by the list of authors, I'm familiar with some names, have an interest in others, and mainly I've read Deanna Raybourn, as well as The Thirteenth Tale by Setterfield. I've never read the most celebrated Gothic novels that my closest friends in real life talk about all the time: Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre... anything written by the Bronte sisters, really...

So I'm really here to learn about the genre and maybe expand my reading diet. I very much enjoyed the Ammie, Come Home buddy read and wouldn't mind joining another one.

Jamaica Inn sounds interesting, though I don't have access to that book unless I buy it. I had also been eyeing some of the Simone St. James books and had wondered if I'd be able to insert one into my Halloween Bingo somehow.

Reply to post #8 (show post):
Have you done your ghost/haunted house or Supernatural squares yet? If not, any of the Simone St. James books will work for those. One of her books - The Other Side of Midnight, I think - would work perfectly for the Mystery square. I could also mount a rather convincing argument for Maddy Clare and Silence for the Dead being contenders for Genre: Horror. And of course there's always the free square. :)

Reply to post #9 (show post):
I am considering Maddy Clare for the horror square, actually. Right now, my tentative pick is a book by Amanda Stevens, but all of the tentative picks for Halloween kind of started swapping around and changing.

*waves* Hola!
This is such an amazing idea for a group!
I pretty much grew up with the gothic romance with my Mom being a huge reader herself and a big fan of Jane Eyre and oddly enough Dark Shadows series- even though a tad campy, still had that gothic underline.
From there it was Radcliffe, Stoker, the Bronte sisters and recently amanda Stevens, Simone St.James and Jane Hodge

Well, I'm not the world's most avid romance reader, but I will read anything by the Brontes or Daphne du Maurier, and I used to enjoy Victoria Holt / Jean Plaidy back in the day. And this looks like tremendous fun -- so count me in!