The intensity of the Brontë heroes

Mental Floss has selected '10 of the Greatest Love Stories in Novels' including

9. Jane Eyre (1847) // Charlotte Brontë

Jane Eyre’s road to romance with Edward Rochester is long and windy. Jane lives a troubled, and at times tragic, life—but her refusal to stray from her principles allows her to ultimately find the love she has longed for. Several parts of the novel were inspired by Brontë’s own life: Like the main character, she too had once attended a cruel school and worked as a governess; Brontë also once visited an estate that had its own “madwoman” hidden away. (Kerry Wolfe)

Observer recommends '10 Must-Read Retellings of the Best Classic Books' and no, it's not Wide Sargasso Sea that's on the list.

Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye

There are a lot of ways to update the classics, but converting a meek Victorian orphan into a serial killer has to be among the most creative. “Reader, I murdered him,” announces Jane Steele, early in the novel that bears her name. Lyndsay Faye harnesses the rage women feel, both on and off the page, at being at the mercy of the patriarchy. The resulting work of satirical historical fiction not only channels Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre but also Charles Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby and Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. Wicked fun. (Jessica Allen)

A contributor to The Daily Star writes about being a 'romance reader'.

The young adult series The Princess Diaries (HarperTrophy, 2000) by May [sic] Cabot was my first foray into any sort of romance during my preteens. However, Brontë and Austen were the gateway to my fascination for not only romance genre, but also a particular brand within it, mostly featuring Byronic heroes with a touch of dark, broody and mysterious demeanors. Add some banter, troubled past, a mix of possessiveness and jealousy—and you had me at hello. [...]

The intensity of the Brontë heroes, on the other hand, personified the Byronic trait to me. While Mr. Rochester, for me, was the only redeemable quality of Jane Eyre (Smith, Elder & Co. 1847), a book whose plot and pacing underwhelmed, Heathcliff, despite being an anti-hero, made Wuthering Heights (1847) far more interesting to me with his volatility. (Towrin Zaman)

IndieWire discusses how Bridgerton has 'Changed How Period Shows Dress'.

But if one looks at costumes from Regency romances 10 or 15 years before “Bridgerton” first aired in 2020  — your “Pride & Prejudice” circa 2005, your 2011 “Jane Eyre” — that visual language of Regency romances is a little different than it is now. One finds lots of Regency heroines in white or muted colors, with rather modest fabric patterns, and at least sometimes wearing the bonnets and cloaks that were part of women’s dress in that era. Shiny fabrics, richer colors, and bigger or more geometric, sculpted shapes appear rarely and only for the high society women we are meant to regard with suspicion.  

“Bridgerton” goes much farther and way harder. The show has created a heightened, alternate version of Regency England, and its costumes echo that in their more fantastic, stylized approach to clothing. (Sarah Shachat)