Author: Kat
With books spanning every time period and place, Historical Romance has a breathtaking variety for readers to choose from. Some of the most popular subgenres include Regency, Victorian, Gilded Age, and WW1/WW2. For these recommendations, I’ve chosen 3 Regency romances. The genre that gave us bodice-rippers and Fabio on book covers continues to improve upon its foundations and keep evolving – all while telling tales of days long gone.
*For the record, fans of the genre are increasingly cognizant of the realities of this time period – namely colonialism, imperialism, and slavery. A love of this time period’s HR genre is in no way an endorsement or romanticization of the actual era.*
I’ve included the Goodreads page for each recommendation, but the review sections for romance novels have a tendency to be hellscapes the likes of which would frighten Dante. As such, I suggest using the Reddit pages r/RomanceBooks and r/HistoricalRomance for reviews, synopses, and lists of books with the same themes/tropes.
These can be found at:
Wallflowers – Not the Plant
It Happened One Autumn by Lisa Kleypas
It Happened One Autumn by HR heavyweight Lisa Kleypas is the second book in her enormously popular and well-received Wallflowers series and quite possibly my number one Historical Romance novel. Since it’s not the beginning of the series, you can either a: read the first book which is also good or b:just go straight to this one without being behind on the storyline.
Dig into the story of the stoic and self-contained Marcus, Lord Westcliff, and the feisty American heiress who has an innate ability to melt his icy exterior (read: irritate him beyond the boundaries of gentlemanly restraint and good sense). Lillian Bowman and her sister Daisy have been brought to England by their parents as “dollar princesses,” hunting for a husband through which to obtain a title and social acceptance. These brash young women have found little success on the marriage mart, and it’s through this failure that they made the friends which form the Wallflowers, a group with the mission to see them all married well. You’ll fall in love alongside the characters at Westcliff’s Hampton estate. Prepare for a magic perfume, a new species of butterfly, and a tryst in the library.
For fans of witty banter, enemies-to-lovers where it’s really just them fighting their attraction to each other, and girl groups.
Reviews: Goodreads
Actual ENEMIES to Lovers
Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase
Buckle in, because Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase is considered one of the best Historical Romance novels of all time, and for good reason. Watch fascination turn to hate turn to love with the story of beautiful spinster Jessica Trent and the fearsome Sebastian, Lord Dain.
Come to retrieve her errant brother from Paris, Jess immediately clashes with the tall dark and notorious Dain. To give you a taste of the escapades contaned within: there’s a shooting, a Russian icon, and a ruination – and that’s just in the first third.
This book has it all: character development, steamy romance, and a hero who speaks Italian. What more could you want?
Reviews: Goodreads
Nothing Like the Smell of Fresh Pining
Notorious by Minerva Spencer
Notorious by Minerva Spencer is the newest of these three recommendations and a great example of how even in a genre set in the past, new and diverse stories are being told. With a heroine who’s a spinster, a wallflower, and (gasp!) a suffragette, and a hero whose transition from Sultan’s son to English gentleman provides a well-done and interestng backstory, this book is just plain good.
Drusilla Clare has sworn off marriage in favor of Wollstonecraftian ideals, but that doesn’t stop her from madly (and secretly) adoring her best friend’s brother, Gabriel Marlington. Thanks to Dru’s efforts to hide her adoration, Gabriel thinks she abhors him – which, when scandal forces them to marry, leads to prickly faceoffs full of sexual tension. Not only does this book have an unapologetic feminist and a three-dimensional POC as the leads, it has intrigue and secrets that the two must face together – or fall apart.
If you like alpha males with actual character development, the best-friend’s-brother trope without the angst from said best friend, and watching a man get yelled at by his mother in another language, pick up a copy today.
Reviews: Goodreads