Rating: 
Summary: For the essentially romantic
Review: Georgette Heyer captures not only the essence of Regency England, but also some of the secret desires of the true romantic. These Old Shades is the second of a trilogy. The first novel is The Black Moth, in which you understand how depraved the Duke is. Now her heroine pulls this man from the "depths" (at least as far as his society is concerned) of depravity and give him a new goal in life. Is that not what every romantic wants to do? And she does it almost unconscienciously! It truly touches some of the most basic chords of romance. The third book is called "Devil's Cub". I would heartily recommend all three. Curl up by the fireside and feel romance resonate through your soul
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST
Review: How can anyone not enjoy this! It is the best one ever. It's got everything i ever wanted, from a book or from life. Aventure, duplicity, revenge, humour, red hair, fencing, mystery, drama, sophisticism,wit, charm, And the moral: love conquers all. I love the way Georgette Heyer writes. Her style flows, her writing speaks and how I wish I was Leonie! From, a peasant, to a boy in a tavern, to a page, to the ward of a duke, and finally a Duchess. She is passionate, intelligent, sincere, and absolutley captivating. Who else could have won the Duke of Avon, or borne and raised Dominic from "Devil's Cub"? And Avon: he's is Omniscent, and swashbuckling, and so very inscruitable. ITS A MASTERPIECE!
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable but,
Review: I enjoyed the story overall but a little too much French especially for someone like me who knows very little of the language.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite reads
Review: I love the whole "series" of interrelated Heyer novels that begins with this one, continues on through Devil's Cub and Regency Buck and ends in An Infamous Army. Love all of the them, and simply HAVE to read them in order. I'm so glad Heyer is being reprinted right now (though I own most of them in hardback).
Rating:
Summary: An unmissable Heyer!
Review: I love These Old Shades. It's not actually Regency; it's set a little earlier, pre French Revolution. It's actually a sequel to Black Moth, although Heyer changed the names of some of her characters and a few identifying details; however, enough similarities remain to identify Avon as the villain of the earlier book. Heyer herself confirmed this, as is noted in one of her biographies.The discovery by the Duke of Avon of a young boy who reminds him strongly of an old enemy, the Comte de Saint-Vire, is intriguing; what is even more intriguing is the fact that Leon is actually Leonie. Surprisingly enough, this child-woman inspires Julian's protective instincts rather than his predatory ones, as might have been expected, and instead of seducing her - which might have been his original intention - he decides to keep well away from her. But absence, of course, makes the heart grow fonder, and not only does Leonie miss 'milord,' but he misses his brat. The denouement of this book is one of Heyer's most ingenious and is astonishingly well played out. A heartwarming romance with many twists and turns; it's definitely a keeper and shouldn't be missed. And look out for the sequel, Devil's Cub, starring Avon's son and heir, the Marquess of Vidal. It's a delight too!
Rating: 
Summary: A mixed bag for me
Review: I opened this book with great expectiations, having seen it so highly lauded by many of my favorite authors. It took me quite some time to get into it. I really did not like the Duke early in the book, although I found him highly amusing as the book wore on, and I never really became fond of Leonie--she comes across as immature rather than spirited. The enormous age difference was a little off-putting to me; I'm not convinced this couple represents one of those great love stories, despite the compelling proposal scene. The use of French in the book provided realism, but often left the reader (unless well-versed in French) a bit out of the loop. Very little of the action actually takes place in England; most is in France. By the way, ignore the cover; the book is Georgian in time period. The Duke's revenge & the intrigue behind it is well-played. Although I eventually enjoyed the book, it'll never be one of my favorites. Sorry, fans.
Rating:
Summary: these old shades
Review: I own and have read every historical novel written by Georgette Heyer. I think this one must rank as one of my favourites, which I re-read regularly. I believe that my next favourite is Frederica for the amusing and brilliant dialogue in it. I feel that if you read and enjoy one of Miss Heyer's historical romance novels then the only thing to do is read them all, because each in its own way is amusing, entertaining and an extremely pleasant way to while away the hours.
Rating:
Summary: Hands down the best Regency novel ever written!
Review: I re-read this book every 5 years or so and marvel at how I fall under its spell as I did the first reading in 1964. Compare it to today's romance writers and you can see how few people really compete with G. Heyer (Edith Layton being one of the few). Next read the Devil's Cub, the second best Regency novel ever written and fall in love all over again.
Rating:
Summary: One of her best.
Review: I'm only 14 years old, and when I first read this book I was 13. "Leon" is utterly enchanting, and becomes even more so with each subsequent reading. For those of you that seem to be confused on this point, The Black Moth was written first, with different names for the characters. Then came These Old Shades, Devil's Cub, and Infamous Army, in that order.
Rating:
Summary: Not my sort of heroine
Review: Lately, I've been grabbing all the Heyer's I can possibly get my hands on from my local library; and since this particular book had been so highly rated by everyone, I felt compelled to read it. Now let me preface my review by saying that I prefer Heyer's older heroines to her younger heroines. As a result, I wasn't as enchanted as everyone else was by Leonie. Like so many of Heyer's heroes, I'm not at all interested in ladies just emerging from the schoolroom. Leonie's behavior was just too immature and childish for my tastes. Furthermore, I wasn't a big fan of Justin Alistair, who seemed cold, scheming, and too concerned with revenge.
As others have mentioned, the random French dialogue in the book can be rather off-putting for people not familiar with the language. I don't know French myself, but I do know some Spanish and Italian, so I was able to decipher most of what was said.
In addition, this was a Georgian era book, not a Regency novel. So what you'll see in this book are powdered wigs, face patches, and other signs of French fashion. I prefer the greater sense of propriety and etiquette of the Regency period versus the more free-love aspect of the French-styled Georgian period. So, for me, this book already had 2 strikes against it.
Unlike others, however, I was not disenchanted by "These Old Shades" because of the age difference between the two main characters. One of my favorite books is Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" in which the hero is 40, and the heroine is only 18. So the age discrepancy in this Heyer novel was not an issue with me. But I do agree with other reviewers that the father-daughter relationship that existed between Leonie and the Duke for most of the book suddenly morphing into a romantic relationship was a rather strange and disturbing event. An adoption would have been more believable in Leonie and the Duke's case, in my opinion.
If you prefer older heroines like Abbie in "Black Sheep," Deborah Grantham in "Faro's Daughter," Arabella in "Arabella," Frederica in "Frederica," Sophy in "The Grand Sophy," and/or Eve Matheson in "Lady of Quality," "These Old Shades" might not be your cup of tea.
I can only recommend "These Old Shades" to people who enjoy Heyer's younger heroines. Read this book if you enjoyed Amanda Smith in "Sprig Muslin," Horatia in "The Convenient Marriage" (also a Georgian novel), Penelope Creed in "The Corinthian," and/or Phoebe Marlowe in "Sylvester." These Heyer books all feature younger, "schoolroom misses."
I suppose everyone has their own personal favorite, but in my opinion, Georgette Heyer's best book is still "Frederica." And a close second is "The Grand Sophy."
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