I read quite a bit of historical romance, most of it set in Regency England (roughly, though not precisely, the early 19th century period when George III's son, also George, acted as his regent). These novels tend to come in series based on a particular extended family, so one can easily gobble them up in sequence. There are, of course, differences in how various authors treat the historical period, the characters, their romance arc, et cetera. One such difference that has struck me lately is how two authors in particular approach villains.
The villains in Grace Burrowes' novels can be vividly nasty, but sooner or later the reader is likely to learn something about how they got that way. They can (though not all do) even end up moving in the direction of being more sympathetic characters. Such surprising shifts can give the book added depth, with the reader given the chance to leave the book with a broader, more thoughtful perspective. On the other hand, Mary Ballogh's villains tend to be utterly and consistently despicable. (In the only Ballogh book I've read so far where a villain is eventually characterized as more foolish and shallow than wicked, his father has no redeeming qualities whatsoever.) This makes it particularly satisfying when she provides a devastating comeuppance.
I've also written a villain or two. My sci-fi thriller Playback Effect features a sociopath, and wasn't he fun to write! (What that says about me is for you to decide. . . .) As for my historical romance series -- Cowbird Creek, set in latter 19th-century Nebraska -- there's a significant villain only in the fourth one, What Wakes the Heart. The book description mentions the heroine's "traumatic encounter with the president of her teacher's college," but that understates how persistent his villainy proves. Otherwise, all you'll find is a loudmouth bully here and a self-important, narrow-minded preacher there, along with the occasional family members who do harm by not understanding their relatives better or not being flexible enough to step outside their own world views.
How do you like your villains? Do you prefer the "love to hate" kind, or the more nuanced?
