Venetia, by Georgette Heyer

I love Georgette Heyer novels, and this one is no exception. In fact, this is one of my favorites, mostly because it features an older and more mature heroine (all of 25!) and a genuine friendship between the main characters--they laugh and joke and basically just "hang out." Heyer's model of romance is so much better than the stereotypical romance-novel junk, her plots so much funnier and more interesting, and so much less focused on romance, her language so much harder and wittier, that I hesitate to even put her in the romance-novel category. Certainly, I feel no shame in admitting to people that I read her. So I'll admit to the internet: I love Georgette Heyer!