I've never tried her books before. From the summaries she seem to have a very large cast of characters in each book, which I feel would detract from the story of the main couple as she devotes parts of the book to various other secondary couples. Plus I'd probably get confused about what is happening to whom with so many characters running around. However, the synopsis for some of her books sound interesting (I just can never keep straight which one is which). So what do you think about her books? Are they worth trying, and if so, which ones stand out the most?

She's hit or miss for me, though I don't especially mind the large casts.  Of her recent books, I thought Duchess by Night was the best, but it might be hard to follow without having read the previous books in the series.  Her sisters quartet might be a better place to start - it begins with Much Ado About You. If you care about historical accuracy, be warned that she doesn't. :-\

I agree with Willa.  She is about humor and falling in love but not a historically rich story.  I love the Essex sisters books that Willa mentioned.  Lots of characters, but good romance for each sister and each story is very different from the one before.  I also loved her book When the Duke Returns.  I haven't read all the others yet, although I scored a hardback of each of the Pleasures books.

My first read for her was  A Duke of Her Own and I really enjoyed it. It did have other characters from other books, but I didn't feel lost. I then moved on the the Four Sister's Quartet and those I did and would read in order. I have liked everything I have read from EJ, but I have liked some more than others.

I really cant stand secondary romances but I do read her. I have read all but 3 of her bks. She hits the right tone of light and witty with me. She is probably the only romance author that I dont read for the romance. Once I adjusted my thinking on that, i enjoyed her bks a lot more.

she DOES have a large cast of characters but the first bk of hers I have ever read was the fourth bk of the series and I didnt feel lost at all.

as for her and historical accuracies, she's made a lot of boo-boos but she actually does try. Whenever a new book of hers comes out, she welcomes any mistakes that readers find in her books and later lists them on her website. When she first got published, her first book was a mess and she made some stupid remark b/c she didnt know that accuracy was that important to her readers. She later republished her first book revised and corrected.

I personally don't care for her although I've only read one.  I had one in my TBR and didn't like it-since my TBR is huge I see no reason to give her a second try at this point. 

The book was hardly even about the couple mentioned on the back of hte book. There were like 4 other romances going on and the hero/heroine hardly spent any time together in the book. I was very disappointed.  I don't mind continuing story lines in teh books and when an authors does a bit of an update on a previous books characters. But it seemed like only an 1/8th of the book was actually about the couple described on the back cover.  The rest of hte book was about all these different people.  By the end I didn't even care if any of hte couples found happiness. I ended up skimming a lot just to get to the parts about the main couple. It probably didn't help that it wasn't hte first book of that series.

" if you care about historical accuracy, be warned she doesn't"-absolutely love that comment Willa!  It's my first major complaint with EJ-the 2nd being that large cast of characters that's been mentioned.  Those two are the reasons that she's gone from an auto-buy for me to a get-it-used-and-read-it-when-I-can type of author for me. 

That said, I'd recommend starting with the Essex sisters series.  IMO it's the easiest to keep track of the characters.

And is it EJ or Julia Quinn, who's made character updates or expanded chapters available only to those who PAY for them?  just another pet peeve of mine.....

Jan

PS:  I'm loving the Carolyn Jewel's you sent me-"Lord Ruin" is terrific!

She's like a very wordy Suzanne Enoch:P  I read her books and I can't think of any that I really disliked, but there's not a lot of depth there.  It's all about the romance, but IMO, she's a little too detailed with all of the fashion, hairstyle & hair powdering (which I detest, for some odd reason), makeup, blah-blah-blah tidbits.  I like some detail in the costuming, etc. and agree that it does enrich the story/setting.  I've read enough books that didn't have any of it, and they were definitely lacking in something.  But I just think she carries it to extremes.

Jan - that was Quinn. Eloisa James does epilogues, etc. as well, but you can read them free by signing up at her site. Which is a good thing, because she mostly seems to do them to fill in gaps that bug her readers. ("when the hell did *that* happen?" is a common complaint.)

Thanks, everyone, for sharing your opinion. I think I'll start out with the Essex sisters since my library has all 4 books. I guess she won't be an author I'll order until I'm sure I like her, but from what you said about the details and too many secondary romances going on, I think I might be meh. I'll give her a try though. I do have a lot of books on my TBR though, so I don't know why I'm seeking out more new authors when there are so many already to be read.

Jan - I'm glad you like them. I couldn't get into Lord Ruin because the awkward writing jarred me from the story. I thought the first sex scene was kinda hot though. :D I really loved The Spare. I'm glad I got another copy from my bookstore because I think it will be a keeper for me. It makes me want to read Scandal (have on my TBR) and Indiscreet (on my WL).

I read one, didn't get what the fuss was about, and haven't tried her again since. A lot of people seem to like her though.

I've read them alll, I liked the earlier ones better.  The last set (if I am thinking right) was Georgian, with the hair powdering, which is not a period I am fond of.