I think that I once read a romance novel set in the 19th century with heroine called Jade. I don't know how commonly the word was actually used but in historical novels it seems to be a common term for disreputable woman which might prevent an aristocratic family from using it as their daughter's name.
I remember some Regency thing where the heroine's name was something like "Bailey"
The other thing about Regencys that drives me batty is that some authors take the
Pride and Prejudice incomes of "Five thousand a year" (Bingley) and "Ten Thousand a year" (Darcy) as sort of a benchmark. No, that is supposed to be a considerable amount! I read a series where there were there were at least half-a-dozen heiresses that had over a hundred thousand pounds
a year. The worst part was that three of them were from the same family! It was implied that their brother was getting the whole shebang and their thousands came from the leftover cash that was just lying around.
I was too lazy to research that, but I was pretty sure the author had just ascribed the entire British Gross National Product for 1815 to one Earl's family. Not to mention that said family was landed gentry who just sort of hung out on the land and never dabbled in trade or thought of anything other than ribbons.
There was also one woman who was not rich because her parents had been spendthrifts and it was up to she and her brother to pay back tens of thousands of pounds so they didn't bankrupt the property. She does so by going to London for a season and having fewer dresses than anyone else. So in other words, she saves what has to be hundreds of pounds per year instead of forgoing the Season altogether and say, NOT hiring a household full of staff, keeping an extra carriage and horses, and other expenses that are associated with keeping up two households. (Her brother stayed in the country to manage the estate.) I mean, that's crazy expensive today even if you don't have staff! Of course this woman ends up with the Earl who is worth billions (after she bravely sacrifices a few dresses to pay back insurmountable debt.)
The thing is, this silliness would have been fine if the story had been good. It wasn't a bad romance, but the author made a big deal about how tiny and frail the heroines were and how massive the heroes were. The heroes towered over six-foot men and hand arms twice the size of others' legs. There are several scenes where the heroine barely touches his mid-chest with the top of her head. It made the inevitable spats and physical overpowering sound more domestic-violence than swoon-worthy. Also, during the Scrabble scenes (all missionary)
I could not breathe in sheer empathy.
I think the writer who asked me to read this eventually got it published. I didn't read it in the published format, but I was hoping her editor at least made her switch the positions around for Scrabble.
