Historical Romance 101
Recs for the baby histrom readers
“I want to read historical romance but I don’t know where to start!” Literally say less.
If you’re subscribed to this newsletter/listen to the pod, you probably already read a bit of historical romance (or maybe you don’t and you’re just here for the vibes! Tbh concerning that we haven’t convinced you to read any yet tho…?). But if there’s one thing we’ve noticed from being in the horrible hellscape that is X and Threads, it’s that with all the Bridgerton season 3 discussion, there are a whole lot of romance readers willing and wanting to jump into some histrom—they just don’t know where to start.
Reader, if this is you, your friend, a random person on the internet, we are here to help. And if it’s none of the above and you just want more histrom recs, we are ALSO here to help.
(The other thing we’ve noticed on X and Threads is the uptick in eye-twitch-inducing “I don’t want to read a dry boring history lesson” and “it’s just straight white people” comments from people who’ve clearly never ACTUALLY picked up a historical or bothered to look at the many authors of color and/or queer authors writing historicals with diverse characters. Obviously there is always more work to do! But if y’all kill historical romance right as the genre is becoming more diverse than ever before, we will have so much beef!! If one day Caroline suddenly launches into a Dennis Reynolds-esque monologue beginning with “I SHALL UNLEASH MY FURY UPON YOU LIKE THE CRASHING OF A THOUSAND WAVES” before disappearing into the ether never to be heard from again, just know this is probably what sent her over the edge. Rant over.)
Anyway. On that cheerful note, let’s get into our “I want to read historical romance but I don’t know where to start” recs!
First of all, we’re just gonna pop this at the top of the list as a bonus, because it was both Caroline and Hannah’s first foray into the genre and a long-standing favorite that we talk about: Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore. We’ve discussed it several times on the pod, but it’s just such a perfect intro to the genre and holds a very special place in both of our hearts. And it features one of our favorite blonde dukes named Sebastian!
Caroline’s Recs
Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, Sarah MacLean: Sarah is HUGE in the genre, so it’s no surprise I wanted to include her. I’ve enjoyed most of her books, and I recommend reading them in order because each interconnected series spins off into the next and sometimes you’ll get spoiled on major twists if you read out of order. But also this is just…a perfect book. It’s got all the perfect tropes, a spinster enlisting the help of a rake she’s been crushing on for years to help her complete a scandalous to-do list, a DUEL. It’s long, but worth it.
The Duke Who Didn’t, Courtney Milan: From what I’ve read so far, CM has literally never written a bad book. And this one might be the absolute best. It’s friends to lovers in a tiny, incredibly diverse English town during a silly annual trial, and our hero Jeremy is trying to convince Chloe that she’s perfect for him by…having her help him make a list of the qualities he’s looking for in a wife?? It’s silly, it’s sweet, there are too many beds at the inn but don’t worry, Chloe takes care of that. And it perfectly and hilariously side steps the third act breakup!
The Duke Gets Desperate, Diana Quincy: This actually isn’t my personal favorite of Diana’s books, but I love it and think it’s an excellent gateway historical. An Arab-American businesswoman inherits a castle that a duke is expecting to inherit, but he still owns the land it’s on, so they have to deal with each other despite literally hating each other so much they’re constantly at each other’s throats (sometimes literally, and in a hot way). You know that scene in The Princess Diaries 2 where they’re like “I LOATHE YOU” “I LOATHE YOU” “I LOATHED YOU FIRST” and then they kiss passionately and fall in a fountain? This is like that but in a book.
The Duke Heist, Erica Ridley: Another of my first ever historicals! This is the first book in a very silly and outlandish series about the Wynchesters, a family of adopted orphans who all have wild, niche skills that they use to carry out heists in the name of vigilante justice for the oppressed and downtrodden. In this one, Chloe is trying to steal back her family’s painting and accidentally kidnaps a duke, as one does. It spirals into an elaborate plot from there, and the whole series is so delightfully fun and sweet, I just adore it. [I work for the publisher; all opinions are my own.]
Now that I’ve got all my dukes in a row (cue the laugh track), on to...
Hannah’s Recs
Lorraine Heath’s Once Upon a Dukedom series: I often recommend this series to new histrom readers, because while some of us start our Lorraine journey with the gorilla twinswap book (The Earl Takes All)...these three books are more of an “ease into it” option. Each book is a great intro to many popular histrom tropes:
Scoundrel of My Heart, Book 1: Best friend’s brother, good girl/bad boy, loss of status, gambling hell, class difference, daddy issues
The Duchess Hunt, Book 2: Boss/employee (aka forbidden romance), starchy duke, similars attract, ruinous secrets, epilogue that will ruin you, daddy issues x2
The Return of the Duke, Book 3: Revenge, mysteries and spies, bareknuckle boxer, his father’s mistress???, the Monarchy, daddy issues x3
The Soldier’s Scoundrel, Cat Sebastian: Cat Sebastian writes some of my favorite queer historical romance, especially since she’s got a large backlist and even has a series set in 1960! Like Caroline mentioned in last week’s episode, Cat Sebastian almost always writes a grumpy/sunshine or golden retriever/black cat pairing that somehow never gets old. “The Turners” series is a wonderful place to start if you want rompy shenanigans, lonely characters finding love and acceptance, and a BANGIN time at the opera (The Ruin of a Rake, Book 3). The first three books are m/m, and there’s an f/f novella that wraps up the series!
The Duke Makes Me Feel, Adriana Herrera: Since Caroline and I have made it NO secret that we love Adriana Herrera’s “Las Léonas” series, I want to recommend (a) something of hers I talk about less frequently, (b) another histrom featuring a Caribbean heroine, and (c) a bite-sized novella for a little histrom taste test! Arlo (duke) enlists Marena’s (apothecarist) help finding his newly-revealed half sister. French letters, deaths of the French variety, French cuisine...France for the win (this time)! There was simply so much eating. He just wanted to eat all the time. Breakfast, lunch, and fucking dinner.
Hathor and the Prince, J.J. McAvoy: I know Hathor and the Prince is technically book three in J.J. McAvoy’s “The Dubells” series, but honestly you should full send and read it out of order. Gasp! I enjoyed books one and two, but for those NEW new to the genre, this one is the perfect transition from contemporary to historical: It’s dual first-person POV, diverse, new adult-esque (the main characters are in their early twenties), fast paced, sexy, and literally Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” in histrom form. She vows he’s the last person she’ll marry; he vows that too, for like two seconds. What follows is the switch from them fighting each other to fighting for each other, and it was peak Romance.
Ending these is hard [just like a histrom hero in close proximity to delicate toes] so I’m hoping Hannah jumps in here with something delightful to wrap it up [and tie it with a ribbon, iykyk]. Live laugh love historical romance idk!
Xoxo,
&[The result of Hannah jumping in.]
PS: There were so many intro authors and books we could’ve added, so stay tuned for HistRom 102, 103, etc. And who knows, maybe we’ll do a HistRom 201 for when you’re ready to graduate (into the bonkers)...
PPS: If you know or see anyone looking to get into historical romance, please drop them our link! The more people talking about histroms the better!!!
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Yes I love Cat Sebastian! The Davenports is a great historical romance featuring people of color too! Thanks so much for the recs! I’m gonna have to check some of these out!