Trope Roundup: Road Trip Historical Romance Books

To Hell and Back by Annabelle Anders (2019)

Book 6 of the Devilish Debutantes series. This one features the mother of one of the debutantes from earlier in the series. Eve is informed of her estranged husband’s death and needs to travel to his estate to settle the funeral and hand off the property to his heir. She takes her man of business Niles with her for the journey and they run into all the travel calamities you’d expect in a road trip like a carriage accident and stormy weather. Suddenly, Eve sees Niles in a new light and their relationship adapts from their business-like one. This one is novella-length so it’s a quick read.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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Mr. Dale and the Divorcee by Sophie Barnes (2021)

Book 1 of the Brazen Beauties series. Divorce is always a scandalous prospect in Regency times. In this case, Wilhelmina has been in a marriage of convenience with her best friend for decades and wants to release him from the marriage so that he can marry his mistress. In order to do that, they have the feign her adultery and give cause for the divorce, making her the most scandalous woman in England. Mr. James Dale is a widowed barrister with a strong sense of ethics. When he first meets Wilhelmina at a ball, he’s instantly charmed, until he learns that she’s married and an adulteress. Now he’s disgusted with himself for being attracted to her and stays away from her as much as possible. Two years later, when the divorce is settled, Wilhelmina and James encounter each other again when her daughter and his son are courting and eventually run off to elope. Both want to stop the elopement, so they’re off on a road trip together to find the kids. As they’re traveling, they get to know each other better of course…. James is questioning what he knows about women and Wilhelmina. And Wilhelmina isn’t able to tell James the truth of her divorce since the charges were basically fraudulent and she doesn’t want to get into legal trouble. It’s nice to see them slowly start to trust each other after that time together, which is the beauty of the road trip.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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If I Only Had a Duke by Lenora Bell (2016)

Book 2 of Disgraceful Dukes Series. Thea, otherwise known as Lady Dorothea Beaumont was left at the altar when the groom picks her sister instead. She wants to escape the London scene and retreat to her aunt’s house in Ireland. She’s horribly awkward and unwillingly becomes popular after being asked to dance by Dalton. Dalton who is the Duke of Osborne is actually a secret vigilante looking for the man who killed his brother. His cover story is that he’s a shameless rake. Thea blames Dalton for her sudden popularity and insists he fix the problem by taking her with him on his journey to Ireland. The escapade that outwardly looking like it will compromise Thea’s reputation may actually indeed compromise her anyway. Overall, we have a socially awkward heroine not looking to marry, secret crime-fighting hero dealing with a lifetime of guilt.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare (2012)

Book 2 of the Spindle Cove Series. Minerva is our geological scientist here aiming to go to a scientific conference in Scotland with a fossil imprint of possibly a lizard or dino skull in tow. Except she doesn’t have a way to get there. She propositions the town rake, Colin, to fake an elopement with her and escort her to the conference. From there, we face all sorts of road trip calamities with a broken carriage, highwaymen, and more. And there’s a super cute bit where Colin calls Minerva every other M name under the sun because he can’t remember her name. (But he does actually know her name). One of my fave books from Tessa Dare.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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Bride by Mistake by Anne Gracie (2012)

Book 5 of the Devil Riders series. Eight years ago, Luke had rescued a young girl from the Spanish roadside, delivered her to a convent, and then married her for her protection. Now he has found that he cannot get an annulment from her, so he has returned to claim her. Before they leave Spain, she needs to visit her hometown to find her sister, so there’s a lot of road trip travel her along the Spanish countryside. Both Isabella and Luke have lingering traumas from the war and have trouble communicating with each other. It was nice to see a road trip in a different setting here, and then uncover a few more mysteries from Isabella’s past.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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The Highlander’s Accidental Marriage by Callie Hutton (2015)

Historical romance, Regency England. Book 6 of the Marriage Mart Mayhem series. Lady Sarah is on the road to see her twin sister Sybil in Scotland and runs into many calamities along the journey. In a carriage accident, she loses her driver and footman, and is rescued by Professor Braedon on his way to his home (which neighbors Sarah’s sister). Sarah’s maid/chaperone falls ill and they need to leave her behind to continue the journey. At one inn, Sarah declares herself married to Braedon so that they can reserve the last available room for the night. Unfortunately, in Scotland, that counts as being legally married. While these two are very obviously attracted to each other, they had no intentions whatsoever of getting married anytime soon: Sarah is about to be a published novelist and has obligations in London, while Braedon is awaiting an opportunity to go on a scholarly expedition in Rome. Both are stubborn and deem their individual pursuits more important than their accidental spouse. There’s definitely a lot of conflict here between these two that needs resolving for any sort of happily ever after.

Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited.

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Lord Holt Takes a Bride by Vivienne Lorret (2020)

Book 1 of the Mating Habits of Scoundrels series. A female friend group finds one of their own ruined and banished to the country, so they want to do some research on how to avoid rakes and scoundrels. They somehow kidnap Lord Holt so they can question him about his habits while complaining about one of them not wanting to marry the oaf that her parents picked out. At some point, Winnifred has run away from that wedding she doesn’t want and into a waiting carriage. That carriage contains a certain Lord Holt, otherwise known as Asher. And off they go to run away from London and her unwanted wedding. There’s some drama here involving ransom and whether Asher was an unwilling participant in the road trip, but the circumstances here push them together.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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Heartbreaker by Sarah MacLean (2022)

Book 2 of the Hell’s Belles series. This one is a road trip romance with a starchy duke and a criminal’s daughter. Adalaide is one of our Belle’s, part of an underground Victorian girl gang network and she’s tasked with protecting a young lady who witnessed a murder. Before she can catch the girl, that girl runs off an elopes with a duke’s brother. The same duke that she had previously run into while stealing something from her old man’s warehouse. So now Adalaide and Henry are racing each other to find his brother and bride-to-be, until they need to team up together. Henry’s got a big dark and scary secret that he needs to protect, while Adalaide is also trying to hide her connection to her estranged father (and overall crime boss). My favorite part of this book is that Adalaide prides herself on being hidden in plain sight, but Henry has always noticed her everywhere and can’t understand how anyone could overlook her.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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The Rogue Not Taken by Sarah MacLean (2015)

Book 1 of the Scandal and Scoundrel series. We start here with Sophie who has witnessed her brother in law having a tryst at a garden party with someone who is not her sister, so she pushes him into a fountain and causes a scandal. As she runs away from the party, she hops in a carriage and somehow ends up leaving the city with a scandalous marquess. They’re sort of trapped together along the road, get separated for a bit, reconnect, and it’s all one calamity after another including a gunshot wound at some point. This one is the ultimate in things that could go wrong on a road trip.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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A Perilous Flirtation by Felicity Niven (2022)

Historical romance in Regency-ish era England; Book 3 of the Lovelocks of London series. The youngest Lovelock, Arabella has been in love with Dr. Alasdair Andrews since she first laid eyes on him by chance. However, the good doctor has not come to call, so after some time passes, she finds herself enjoying the attentions of another man. That man has ruined her reputation, turned out to be married, and left her to scandal. Arabella runs off to Scotland, where she hasn’t been seen by her family in two years. Meanwhile, Alasdair has been pining for Arabella the whole time and unable to believe he deserves her, so he never makes a move. When he finally asks Arabella’s sister where she is, he finds out about her scandal and disappearance. Circumstances bring Alasdair to Scotland and Arabella’s sister asks him to find her an bring her home. We then embark on a flirtatious road trip, snow storm, fake marriage, and a run-in with the ruiner from the past. This book was great with the delicious pining, the road trip hijinks, and you almost even felt sorry for the scandal-maker towards the end.

Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited. Advance ebook also provided by Felicity Niven.

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The Lord I Left by Scarlett Peckham (2020)

Book 3 of the Secrets of Charlotte Street series. I will start by saying this book has a lot less mainstream than the others on this list. I would say it’s more explicit and grittier than the happy brightly colored books I often talk about. The central setting for this series involves a BDSM club in London, and the heroine in this book has been a maid at the club and now apprenticing to be a whipping governess. She’s being called home to see her ill mother and needs to travel through the Winter weather. Henry, who is a minister, is working on governmental reform on prostitution houses and dens of sin. He’s in the process of writing a report and has visited the house for research. Now, this man is terribly pious and thinks that he’s always doing the right thing in refusing pleasure of any kind. I think he doesn’t even take sugar in his tea. Somehow, he’s feeling chivalrous towards Alice, even though he looks down on her, and decides to escort her to her mother’s house. She of course doesn’t like him because of his extremely moral and religious stance on pleasure and prostitution. Of course, along the way, they start to talk, and somehow see each other’s point of view, but it’s a bit of stretch for me. There’s a huge amount of shame being piled onto Alice here, even though she is confident on her own position and desires.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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In Which Margo Halifax Earns Her Shocking Reputation by Alexandra Vasti (2022)

Historical romance novella. Margo is a scandalous young lady known for causing trouble with her twin sister. When her twin has eloped with a much older man, Margo seeks out the calm and steady Henry (her brother’s solicitor friend) to assist in chasing her down. Of course, Henry has been in love with Margo forever, knows it’s a bad idea to be in close proximity to her, and goes with her anyway. Steamy road trip romance that’s a quick read and I highly recommend it.

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