Trope Round Up: Historical Romance Books Where She Outranks Him

Someone to Hold by Mary Balogh (2017)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 2 of the Westcott series. Camille Westcott has been the perfect proper snooty earl’s daughter and probably suffered the biggest shock when she found out that her parents were not legally married and that she is now illegitimate. In the previous book, she’d suffered a broken betrothal, fled London, and very loudly expressed her distaste for her new half sister Anna. In an effort to learn more about herself and to put herself in her half sister’s shoes, she starts teaching at the orphanage where Anna grew up. Joel is a portrait painter who grew up with Anna, was her best friend, and had proposed marriage to her many years ago. He dislikes Camille on sight because of her pettiness towards Anna and her severe and haughty appearance. However, as the two spend more time together at the orphanage and as he is commissioned by her grandmother to paint her portrait, they start to understand each other and confide in each other. It’s a total opposites attract situation with Camille being the one who needs to adapt to her new station in life and open her heart to the possibility of love and affection.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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The Duchess and the Wolf by Lydia Drake (2023)

Historical Romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Debutantes of London series. Susannah is nearly engaged to a duke, but is having misgivings about it and would rather travel and see the world. While out with a friend at a gambling den, she happens to play the piano is a seemingly empty room. Rafe, the owner of the club, stumbles upon her there and is encouraged to hire her to bring more sophisticated patrons to the club so that he can secure a business deal. He offers her a large sum of money in exchange for her playing at the club. While Susannah declines at first, she soon realizes that the money would give her the opportunity to run away from her imminent engagement. Rafe and Susannah attempt to keep their relationship professional, but Rafe is an awe of her playing and Susannah sees glimpses of Rafe’s kindness towards his employees. It’s a total social mismatch here, but Susannah goes after what she wants, even at the risk of displeasing her family.

Advance ebook provided by Entangled Publishing via NetGalley.

Her Adventures in Temptation by Megan Frampton (2024)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 3 of the School for Scoundrels series. Myrtle is the outspoken, awkward, mathematically-inclined sister of a viscount who wants to avoid marriage and start her own financial consulting agency. When the painter her brother hired is asked to leave a house party, Myrtle takes the opportunity to hitch a ride to London with him. Simeon is an illegitimate orphan who was adopted by an independent female painter and basically taught to prioritize his art above all else. However, the soft-hearted Simeon seems to give away his money to the needy at every turn and has none of it himself, causing him to take on portrait commissions he doesn’t like and to take Myrtle’s money to help her go to London. As these two spend more time together, it’s clear that they have an opposites-attract sort of chemistry. Somehow Myrtle gets caught by her brother and then forced to assist in her niece’s debut. But she has no social charm or graces, so she recruits her only friend in town, Simeon, to assist. They end up in a fake engagement to preserve everyone’s reputation, but still fall in love with each other, despite wanting so much to hold onto their independence.

Advance ebook provided by Avon Books via NetGalley.

Marry Me by Midnight by Felicia Grossman (2023)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 1 of the Once Upon the East End series. Isabelle needs to marry quickly to prevent her late father’s business partner from pushing her out from the business. She and her grandmother set up a series of festivals where she invites all eligible suitors to attend and plans to declare her betrothed before midnight of the third festival. A chance meeting with the synagogue custodian Aaron intrigues Isabelle, but since he’s not actually a suitable candidate, she hires him to help investigate actual contenders for her hand. Isabelle is stubborn and cold for the most part, seeking a business partner in her future husband, while Aaron is self-deprecating and kind. Even though they eventually give into their attractions, Isabelle is adamant that she must secure her father’s legacy rather than pursue her own happiness. She’s annoyingly stubborn and consistently breaks Aaron’s heart, but luckily Aaron has his own fairy godmother on his side. The first half of the book moved pretty slowly for me, but the second half had much more action and kept me reading to find out how it all gets resolved.

Advance ebook provided by Forever Books via NetGalley.

The Spinster and Mr. Scott by Jennifer Haymore (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Highland Knights series. This book is an updated edition of Highland Heat (2015). This story takes place at the same timeframe as the prequel. Lady Grace, daughter of an earl and a spinster, has escorted her sister Claire to the battlefield to search for Claire’s husband. While there, Grace has made herself useful by caring for the wounded soldiers. She meets Duncan, one of her brother-in-law’s sergeants and forms a connection with him. Despite the social class differences between them, they converse easily and quickly fall in love. This was a relatively quick story to read with things progressing pretty predictably until we head into treacherous territory with a disapproving father and an insurgent group the men are investigating.

Advance ebook provided by Jennifer Haymore via NetGalley.

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The Last Wicked Scoundrel by Lorraine Heath (2014)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 5 of the Scoundrels of St. James series. Widowed duchess Winnie thinks she might be going mad because she keeps losing track of her items and catches glimpses of her late husband’s scent around the house. When she confides this information to William, the physician who saved her life many years ago, he rallies his friends to protect her. Turns out her husband might not be so dead after all, since the scoundrels sent him away at the end of Book 1. Winnie and William have developed a longstanding attraction for each other over the years, and they finally make a move towards a physical relationship, even if William knows that he can’t marry someone so far above his station. This one was a pretty short and quick novella and it’s always good catching up with all the scoundrels.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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Courting Scandal by Ally Hudson (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Most Imprudent Matches series. Michael is the illegitimate son of a viscount who owns a gambling hell with a shaky relationship with his late father’s family. In an attempt to bring the brothers together, the new viscountess (Michael’s sister-in-law) invites Michael to weekly family dinners. Meanwhile, in a seemingly separate part of town, Juliet is being forced by her cruel and overbearing father to marry a duke who she doesn’t know at all. Juliet soon learns that her father owes a huge debt to a gambling hell and is receiving payment from the duke in exchange for Juliet’s hand in marriage. She overhears Michael (said gambling hell owner) confront her father over the matter and it helps put all of her father’s odd behavior into perspective. Somehow both Michael and Juliet cross paths again as they’re both invited to the same country house for the next couple of months. Juliet’s best friend turns out to be Michael’s sister-in-law and although this isn’t a matchmaking scheme, Juliet and Michael fall in love anyway. However, Juliet is still engaged and Michael believes he’s not good enough for her, so there’s still a bit of drama to overcome before they can actually be together for good.

Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited.

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The Fake February Rake by Charlie Lane (2024)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 2 of the Rake Review series. Hades is a respectable doctor in London, until his greatcoat goes missing and is sighted on a man escorting women away at night time. This all gets reported upon in the gossip columns, ruining Hades’ reputation and causing his patients to seek medical care elsewhere. He’s out to confront the coat thief and reclaim his coat and finds Lady Ophelia wearing it to escort women away from their abusive situations and guide them to safety. They argue a bit and he eventually reports her actions to her father; who suggests that they marry each other to restore the good doctor’s reputation. Ophelia refuses at first since she’s totally untrusting of men, but he decides he’ll convince her to come around. As they spend more time together, she starts to see that Hades is not at all like the other men in her acquaintance and starts to admire him. In turn, he supports her acts in rescuing women in horrible conditions and admires her even more because of it. The romance here is relatively straightforward, with both parties communicating pretty directly about their stance and objectives.

Advance ebook provided by Charlie Lane.

A Rose Blooms in Brooklyn by Ginny B. Moore (2023)

Historical romance. Gilded Age New York. Book 3 of the Flowers Sisters series. The beautiful and spoiled Rose has not had a success of her many Seasons in London and now she faces a pending engagement to a man she doesn’t love or to serve as companion to an elderly relation. She told her parents that she’s bound for Boston to reconcile with her twin sister, but she’s really headed to New York City to enjoy the high society her cousin lives within. However, she’s shocked to learn that her cousin is living in Brooklyn, estranged from her family, and working to support herself. Rose is completely out of her element and has to adapt to such unfamiliar surroundings. Ben is a widower and political activist who owns the building where Rose has landed and scoffs at Rose’s naivete. He’s also uncomfortably attracted to her even though his heart is all sorts of closed off after the death of his wife in childbirth. The romance between Rose and Ben involves a lot of push-and-pull, with Rose realizing that she has been completely sheltered all her life and with Ben learning to embrace life and joy again. Running through the entire book is the opposition towards laws that prohibit the distribution of contraception and the movement for women’s suffrage. We get to admire Ben’s selfless dedication to the cause as well as Rose’s increased awareness and understanding of such matters. A great read, with lots of support from Ben’s found family.

Advance ebook provided by Ginny B. Moore.

One Night to Remember by Erica Ridley (2019)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 5 of the Wicked Dukes Club series. Lady Felicity who is the sister of a duke who grew up in poverty and is looking for a wealthy and titled husband so that she will find financial security plus have money to be able to start a charity to assist poor children. Secretly, she is a mechanic who loves to fix up her brother’s carriages. Her brother enters a curricle race and has tasked local blacksmith Giles with riding in the race and working with Felicity to make sure the vehicle is in the best racing condition. Giles is gruff at first with having to work with a partner, but very quickly becomes impressed with Felicity’s skill. These two are obviously a perfect match for each other; Felicity just needs to get over her desire to wed a wealthy and titled lord.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.