Rating: 
Summary: Interesting facts and beginning source for info...
Review: This book is especially slanted towards the Victorian era but does contain some Regency info that is helpful when wanting general information without indepth research. I would recommend backing up any facts with another source though. Some facts weren't dated so it was difficult to ascertain if they pertained to the Regency or Victorian era. All in all an enjoyable dive into history and helpful as simple research for history buffs or writers of light fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Good general writer resource, but not very specific
Review: This is an enjoyable, easy-to-read book to read alongside your historicals. It brings some light to various things like currency, fashion, and food; but knitpickers beware: everything is in broad terms. There isn't a lot of specific detail and the pictures are only somewhat helpful, serving mainly to decorate the book and not necessarily educate. For writers, this would definitely help flesh out the book, but if you want specifics, you have to dig a little deeper and do more research. I gave this book 4 stars because it is great as a starting point. I found it helpful as a starting point for researching, but going deeper into the book, I found I needed more detail. It does save time because you do learn to focus, and general information is right at your fingertips.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing and boring
Review: This poorly laid out, badly written book claims to have covered both Regency and Victorian England, but really only covers Victorian. Worse yet, it isn't always specific about what year it's covering, so it can be confusing since the two time periods are so different. If you're looking for a good Regency reference, get What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew. It's a better resource by ten fold! If you're looking for an OK Victorian reference, this might be the book for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Not up to quality of its peers
Review: This work is structured more like a history book with various topics of life. A major flaw, it lacks a glossary of period terms and expressions. While there are many interesting and amusing quotes and anedotes cited, as a whole it seems to like the style and flair of "What Jane Austen ATe and Charles Dickens Knew" by Daniel Pool. Its basic emphasis on giving you a historical account of facets of the period rather than a true insight as to what life was like.
Rating:
Summary: I 'VE READ BETTER
Review: Very poorly organized and researched. Subject matter was presented disjointed and incomplete. Too many passages were simply exerpted from other sources and pasted in wherever the author felt like it, and jumped about with no logical flow. I feel Daniel Poole's book What Jane Austin ate and Charles Dickens Knew was a much superior work. In fact I bought this book hoping to supplement what I had read in Daniel Pool's book, but it gave me no new insights.
Rating:
Summary: Great starting point
Review: Whereas other reviewers were turned off by this book's inadequacies, I found it to be a good starting point for someone interested in the nineteenth century. Though by no means is it a definitive guide, its introduction to the era through categorized chapters makes for an interesting and informative read. I've found the bibliographies in each chapter to be very useful, since they provide leads on other works that would've taken me much longer to track down. With chapters on military, food, home life, business, and other topics, this book does a decent job of detailing the ins-and-outs of the upper- and middle-class Victorian lifestyle.
Rating:
Summary: Too dependent upon a few original sources.
Review: While interesting and entertaining, this should not be considered a definitive guide to daily life in Regency and Victorian England. Kristine Hughes does a good job of giving the reader examples of historical writings on subjects such as etiquette and dress. Nevertheless, these few anacdotal resources do not constitute authoritative evidence that this is actually how people behaved in their everyday life. Just as a modern etiquette book reflects an idealized view of modern life rather than an accurate picture of how we really live, these original sources do not necessarily reflect the real lifestyles of the times. So long as you keep this caveat in mind, you will find this a very entertaining and readable book. The scope is extensive - everything from household appliances to travel to the various social institutions. There are many topics that will peak your interest, but consider this to be just the starting point for your research.
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