The United States in 2020 and England in 1812

Now that time travel has proven possible -- and safe -- Dr. Serenity Steele, PhD, is one of three chosen by the United Anthropological Institute to spend a year studying the past via the Time Displacement Wave. Serry's field of study is to be Regency England during the time of the Napoleonic War. After a period of orientation during which Serry learns the manners and speech of the time and is provided clothing and gold bullion, she's ready to go.

After a period of nausea and disorientation, Serry lands relatively safely where she's supposed to land -- if you don't count a collision with a tree -- outside Bath. In a short while, she's set up in town as Mrs. Gerald Steele, widow of an army captain from an obscure country village. The finery of her clothing and her bearing mark her as a lady, and she quickly makes the acquaintance of a friendly young miss in the Pump Room who is concerned about the health of her married older sister. By sacrificing her cache of penicillin to cure Lady Georgiana Trent of pneumonia, Serry is taken up by her family, the Marquess and Marchioness of Rotterham. The family invites Serry to London where young Lady Zeena is to make her come-out. The Wycliffe family boasts one more married daughter and the heir, Nicholas James Edward Basil Wycliffe, Lord Brockton, widely known as a care-for-nobody rake, in spite of his gallant service in the Royal Navy. And also, a confirmed bachelor, target of many a matchmaking mama, as well as matrons bored with their husbands.

Nicholas and is father have an adversarial relationship, mainly due to Nick's refusal to marry and produce the next heir. But when it looks as though a conniving widow is worming her way into the family with an eye to seducing Lord Rotterham as a protector, Nicholas's familial feelings are aroused. But that's not all that's aroused. Though Serry lacks the plump curves he usually admires, and she's not eager to please him, Nicholas can't deny his desire to seduce the lovely widow.

An episode in her youth left Serry with an antipathy toward men of the upper classes, yet a mere brush in passing with Nicholas causes strange delights. Nothing can come of it, however. She's destined to return to her own time, to her family and career, in a matter of months. Still . . .

REGENCY SOCIETY REVISITED opens with an interesting concept and a couple of other futuristic or paranormal touches, but it's also a traditional Regency romance with parties and balls and an appearance by the Prince Regent. Serry makes good headway with her monograph of Society's attitudes toward the war with the French, however, and the class division of the times, thanks to characters of the serving class. Readers will enjoy the several passionate scenes, a villain, and two secondary romances. And there's the added heartbreak of the choice for Serry between giving up love in 1813 or her family in 2021 to further distance this novel from the ordinary. Regency lovers should enjoy this one.

Jane Bowers