If you’re just getting started with reading historical romance, the options can be overwhelming! You could start with Bridgerton if you’ve been a fan of the series, but I have to tell you that those aren’t my faves. To get a great mix of a variety of writing styles and tropes, I recommend the twelve picks here. I’ve listed them in alphabetical order by author last name, so you can pick and choose which you want to read first!
What a Difference a Duke Makes by Lenora Bell (2018)
Book 1 in the School for Dukes Series This one is a bit of a Mary Poppins retelling, with our serious duke with rebellious twins needing to hire a new governess. Because his kids keep running off the other ones. Of course our duke underestimates her at first, but then is impressed by her ability to connect with his children. It’s pretty much your classic governess-widower story.
Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.
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The Highwayman by Kerrigan Byrne (2015)
Book 1 of the Victorian Rebels series. You can just imagine that a prologue that starts with two kids in an orphanage becoming friends, teaching each other to read, protecting each other, and getting pseudo-married in the chapel with the guy’s clan tartan is going to lead to heartbreak. And that’s exactly what happens. Our girl-child gets assaulted by a priest, her child-husband stabs him to death, he gets sent to prison, and she runs away. Flash forward to adulthood, she’s a respectable “widow” working for the police station, almost courting the chief inspector, and gets kidnapped by the most notorious criminal in London. High drama indeed.
Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.
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The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare (2017)
Book 1 of the Girl Meets Duke series. If you’re looking for an easy-to-read, super funny, historical romance, this is the one for you. We start with a seamstress barging into a duke’s home wearing his ex-fiancee’s ugly ass wedding dress and demanding payment for it because his ex-fiancee didn’t. And then this duke decides to propose to the woman! He needs a wife and heir, and since his last fiancee left him after he was all scarred from the war, and this new girl seems to need the money, it’s win-win. She accepts with several conditions, including saying she’ll bring her cat. (She doesn’t actually have a cat and just finds one on the street that day) Of course they’ll need to stay together in London til she gets pregnant, and then she’s going to be shipped off to his country estate to raise the kiddo. Both our main characters have past hurts in their lives, but they work through them and open up to each other. And there’s just so much humor in this story. Tessa Dare is just so great at bringing levity into her stories.
Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.
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When a Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare (2015)
So I have yet another Tessa Dare book to recommend. When a Scot Ties the Knot is Book 3 of the Castles Ever After series (though it’s not connected to the other books in the series). Madeline knew her London season would be a total bust so to keep everyone off her back, she invented a fiancee who was in the army. And she would write letters to him. And send them. Years later, when she’s in Scotland and doing research on lobsters, her army captain has come to claim and marry her. Turns out her letters were actually delivered to a man with the same name. He needs to find a reason for his men to work and keep going, so he’s come to marry and take care of the land. If that isn’t a great set-up, I don’t know what is.
Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.
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Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore (2019)
Book 1 of the League of Extraordinary Women So this one is your classic social class difference type of romance, with a woman who is unequal in station to a duke. Even worse, she’s a university student campaigning for women’s rights. And our duke is a staunch defender of the stuffy old laws. While she’s trying to sway his politics, he’s trying to both resist her and make her his mistress. And she’s not interested in a mistress-like arrangement at all. This book is probably a great example of how a cartoonish cover on a book can be misleading. There is plenty of on-page sex in this book, despite its cutesy cover.
Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.
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Texas Destiny by Lorraine Heath (1997)
Don’t know where to start with Lorraine Heath’s massive backlist? Here. Start here. Texas Destiny in Book 1 of the Texas Trilogy and will bring you all the feels. Our guy Houston is all sorts of wounded and is sent to pick up his big brother’s mail order bride from the train station. They’ve got a two week journey back to the farm and everything that can go wrong does go wrong, including falling in love with each other. When they get to their destination, the story doesn’t stop there. We have the brother to deal with, poachers, violence, and more.
Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.
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Never Fall for Your Fiancee by Virginia Heath (2021)
Historical romance in Regency-ish era England, Book 1 of the Merriwell Sisters series. A carefree and jovial earl prevents his mother’s matchmaking from America by writing to her about a fictional fiancee and her tragic tales that have prevented them from marrying. When his mother comes to visit, he hires a woman to pretend to be his fiancee. This book is full of far-fetched tales and silliness and it totally works. Expect a light-hearted and humorous story here. Though there is actually heartbreak in both characters’ pasts, those experiences have made them stronger and most of the book contains witty banter and calamity.
Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.
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Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean (2010)
Book 1 of the Love by Numbers series, and the first historical romance published by Sarah MacLean. This one finds spinster Callie facing a life in the country after her younger sister marries, so she makes a bucket list of London adventures to complete before she goes. One of the items is to kiss a gentleman passionately, so she sneaks into her long-time crush’s house and kisses him. He offers to assist her in the items on her list. So of course they spend lots of time together doing things that proper ladies shouldn’t, like fencing, smoking, and sneaking into clubs to gamble. Such a fun book and covers a lot of the usual locations in a typical regency romance.
Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.
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Ten Rules for Marrying a Duke by Michelle McLean (2022)
I love when a woman does the proposing in this era because it’s so unexpected. Arabella goes straight to a rakish duke’s house and proposes to him. She’ll give him an heir if he marries her. She’s out to save her family’s reputation after her older sister eloped and wants to protect her younger sister’s prospects. They arrange ten rules for the marriage. I love this clear and open communication between the two. Well, until they start to have feelings… This one is another lovely low-angst humorous book.
Advance ebook provided by Entangled Publishing via NetGalley.
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Ravished by Amanda Quick (1992)
Ravished by Amanda Quick is one of the older historical romance that I’ve read, but it is a really great one. Surprisingly, it’s a standalone novel that is not part of a series. We have our original bluestocking lady Harriet who is more concerned with discovering new fossils in her caves than anything else. When she finds that smugglers are storing stolen goods in her caves, she writes a letter to the viscount of the region to come take care of it. So Gideon comes back to town and he’s got a terrible reputation there because his past fiancee died and he’s rumored to have killed her. But he’s just ignoring it all and off to take care of the smugglers. Harriet was told to stay behind and out of trouble, but she doesn’t. And so these two end up getting stuck in a cave with the tides overnight. And when they come out, her reputation is compromised and they have to marry. At first, she’s not having it since she doesn’t care about her own reputation, but then realizes that if she refuses, then Gideon’s honor and reputation is at risk. What I love most about this book is that there is absolutely no miscommunication between Harriet and Gideon. They are on board with each other and supporting each other a hundred percent. Even when Gideon is being accused of any wrongdoing, Harriet is defending him and so sure of his honor. It’s really kind of rare to read in a romance. There’s no underlying insecurity between these two, just teaming up, working on their fossil project, and integrating into society.
Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.
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Her Night with the Duke by Diana Quincy (2021)
Book 1 of the Clandestine Affairs series. Two strangers meet at an inn and hook up and go about their merry way. He’s a duke who is going to meet his soon-to-be fiancee, so he gets there and meets with the girl’s family. And her stepmother is the woman he met at the inn! Talk about awkward. They eventually agree never to bring it up again. Everyone tries to do the honorable thing, etc. But the attraction is obviously still there and we’re just waiting to see how it breaks through. And also wondering how the issue with the impending engagement is going to be resolved. Such a sticky situation and satisfying to read.
Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.
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Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match by Sally Thorne (2022)
This book gets bonus points for just being really weird. We have poor sweet, kind of spoiled, Angelika who is the sister of Victor Frankenstein (the mad scientist). While she’s assisting him with his science project, she makes a creation of her own to be her suitor. The guy she creates though has a very strong moral fiber, and even though he’s attracted to her, he doesn’t act on it because he has no memory of who he is and he might be tied to someone else. So then we start the mystery part of the story where they team up to try to find this guy’s identity. In the meantime, Angelika does catch the attention of another man and there’s a bit of a love triangle thing happening. It’s just kinda crazy how we’re rooting for Angelika to get together with this monster man. And it’s really humorous. Definitely recommend this book.
Advance ebook provided by Avon Books via NetGalley. Print book provided by Avon Books.
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