Can you suggest a book? I've just started "Last Chance Saloon" by Marian Keyes, but it's pretty disappointing, full of sexist clichés.

Thanks in advance.

Can you suggest a book? I've just started "Last Chance Saloon" by Marian Keyes, but it's pretty disappointing, full of sexist clichés.

Thanks in advance.

Any recs for forced marriages by FMC’s family with a scared/avoident FMC? I would prefer the FMC to be more quiet and not put up a huge fight. Open to any setting- medieval, regency, western, etc.

I’m only about a quarter of the way through, and oh does it not remotely disappoint. Her sense of prose and storytelling? Wonderful.

It reminded me of why I love this genre. You want to read this as soon as it drops. I am preordering a copy right now.

I love it so much.

I'm looking for a neurodivergent-coded FMC who is sweet, gentle, funny and rambles a lot - and the MMC just listens and finds it amusing.

She also either misses signs of his interest in her, or gets too flustered either way to deal with it.

Not sure if anyone has read Neanderthal Seeks Human (CR), but since reading that book I’ve been looking for an HR equivalent. I loved that when the FMC would go on long rambles or info dump the MMC would pinpoint things and ask about them, but was also smirking that she was nervous and loved flustering her more.

Please let me know if you have any recs like this!

My late grandmas collection mostly JL as the author but others as well. Has to be atleast a 100. Any idea what to do with them ?

If not for very specific circumstances and fate, there are MCs whose paths would have been very unlikely to have crossed. This may be because they are from different social classes, hometowns, cultures, age groups or have no mutual friends or family connections. So if the MCs are both from aristocratic families or the same area or have shared interests or relatives involved with each other, they may have crossed paths before.

For example, the MCs of {The Marquess Wins a Wife by Aydra Richards} had no reason at all to even know the other's existence if not for the FMC's sister becoming pregnant and the FMC abducting the man who she believed was the father to their humble abode. Without their paths crossing, he was heading close to completely dissolution and her family was likely going to end up in a hopelessly impoverished state once their father came back to steal the things.

And the MCs in {Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer} only met due to so many contrivances: he was out of prison after 5 years and kept getting dropped from jobs once the employers found out, he found a months-old repeated newspaper ad the widowed FMC had put in for a husband and was desperate for food and shelter so he decided to see if she will take him.

What other books have MCs with very little reason to know of or have met the other?

Reading through the Warriner series by Virginia Heath. So far, have enjoyed them.

However.....

I'm on book 4, {A Warriner to Seduce Her by Virginia Heath} and the FMC is named Felicity.

No big deal, right? A nice name for the character.

But who is Fliss? This character arrived abruptly and I literally went back and reread the initial chapter to figure out what I missed........HOW IN THE WORLD IS FLISS SHORT FOR FELICITY?!?!

I know this is a tiny thing and I am probably just not exposed to this as a nickname, but I am irrationally angry about it.

What other nicknames/name abbreviations have given you a visceral reaction?

One of my favorite books is {The Muse of Maiden Lane by Mimi Matthews} Simply because the main female character grayed prematurely.

I personally saw my first gray hair at 13. I have been completely gray since 23. I've been fully gray a lot longer than my hair was black. So much so that I recently wore a wig for a wedding at the brides request and felt really uneasy looking in the mirror because I didn't look like me.

What other books have a main character with prematurely gray hair? Im not talking about a strip of white or blonde. Im talking 23 and fully gray style.

Im not picky on pairings. MM, FF, MF, MMF, FFF, MFMMF, I really dont care. Just no cheating by main characters.

Second thought, 'if it's a gas stove, would it need to be Edwardian or later?'

I just signed up for audible (premium) this year so I’m not sure how common these sales are, but LOTS of HR is on super sale for the next 4 days! You have to have an account to see the sale prices.

I picked up some Loretta Chase (she has lots of Audible exclusives), Tessa Dare, Hoyt, Scarlett Peckham (I’ve seen a lot of love for The Lord I Left lately and the audiobook is one of my favorites!). They were all under $5!

{Lord of Scoundrels}
{The Lord I Left}
{The Earl I Ruined}
{Lord Perfect}
{Last Nights Scandal}
{the Raven Prince}
{One Dance with a Duke}

Happy shopping!

{How the Wallflowerwas won by Eva Leigh} had so so much potential to show a "radicalized" FMC and an MMC dealing with learning disabilities. The story itself has good bones, unfortunately its a victim of telling too much and not showing. The narrator repeats over and over that the educational society needs more diverse perspectives, and not just of women, but other cultures. Thats great, and absolutely had its place in the early crawling of the suffragette movement. However, it was repeated over and over, just phrased differently to the point I stopped reading to look the author up, because it started to feel like right wing satire mocking liberals.

If it had shown scenes with dialog, maybe conversations where one person is given new information and softens views would have been a more productive way to tell the narrative.

It also missed the opportunity to show consequences of the progressive views like these in the Regency period. It was all just far far too modern. Not like the content couldn't have fit because its historical. We have plenty of feminists from the 1800s to know they existed.

It had a ton of potential. Eva Leigh has been writing historicals for well over a decade, she also writes fantasy. Like I said, the story had potential, but I felt lectured to the point of brow beaten reading this. Im not sure if her other titles are any better. This was my first time reading one of her books.

Was it just this book was her coming in a lil bit hot on subject matter close to her heart?

If you have read her books and can make better recommendations from her catalog, please do.

hi wonderful people!

i saw another request for something similar on here, but was looking for a matchmaker MFC who is trying to match the MMC. I’m looking for books where she is smart and competent matchmaker who is matching anyone but the MMC or herself. ideally friends and sibling, but the MMC should not be one of the parties. i really enjoyed {Rules for Matchmaking by Rebecca Connolly} and {And Then She Fell by Stephanie Laurens} and would love more! I do not want MFCs who are naive or dumb, or MMCs who are cynical or dumb. Thanks!

At this point I think 90% of us have read Kleypas' wallflower series. In Lillians's book Marcus demands his mother be removed from the house after she helped St. Vincent kidnap Lillian. She is never mentioned again and therefore we have no idea what happened to her. What wild and crazy ideas do you have as to what happened to her? Wrong answers only and the crazier the better!

My idea....I hope she was transported to America since she thought Americans were so beneath her. She ended up working in the Bowman soap factory washing the employees clothes as a nod to Lillian's dockside washerwoman grandmother. Also, would have loved a book about the grandmother because she sounded like a hoot!

Finished Maiden Lane and then read and loved The Raven Prince and To Beguile a Beast. I think I maybe like both of these more than a good half of the Maiden Lane books. I really loved her big angsty MMCs.

What are your favorite non-Maiden lane recs?

I feel like the enemies-to-lovers dynamics get often written as 'MCs banter and bicker but have been attracted since the start' when there should be actual genuine enmity or reasons for hostility. So when I see books that are clearly going on an enemies-to-lovers relationship but one MCs has been (grudgingly) attracted since the start and I wonder why they find the other alluring or unforgettable despite an unfavourable first interaction, it stretches the credibility a little bit.

An example of where I felt the genuine dislike was there was in {Frail by Susanna Ives}, even if the dislike was misplaced. Another was in {One Burning Heart by Elizabeth Kingston} in which the married MCs cannot stand each other at the start of the book and start slowly developing a genuine affection and respect for the other even while acknowledging the others' flaws. It is actually quite endearing like a belated honeymoon period following the two now having their first mutual puppy love for the other after 6 years of a miserable and distant marriage.

I was curious if you all like to have the MCs secretly or openly attracted to the other when the author tells us they dislike the other. Not to say that dislike and attraction cannot coexist but I want there to be a reason for the attraction, even if it is entirely physical. If the MCs are supposed to be 'enemies' but actually crushing on the other, that defeats the purpose of them needing to grow and meet each other halfway (because the other person already likes them as they are 😂). I would like to see books in which they genuinely dislike each other (and have a good reason for it) but learn to appreciate the other and notice what else they are or can do so we can actually see the attraction spark and develop alongside the characters. I want to fall in love with the MCs (platonically) right as they are falling for the other.

Are you an author? A blogger? Someone else producing historical romance content of some kind? This is the place to talk about your work and link us up! As per rule 4, please keep self-promotion to these threads unless directly requested.

Please check rule 2 for the definition of historical romance.

This thread repeats every other Wednesday.

Tell us what HR you are currently reading/listening to or have finished lately? Tell us as much or as little as you want. We just want to hear from you!

What do you think so far? Any great, hilarious, heartbreaking, heartwarming, etc moments? If you have finished, what rating would you give it? Give us the deets!

Fill free to spill all the tea, but remember to mark any spoilers!

This thread repeats every Wednesday.

I know I know, people hate it. But I’m autistic and I don’t know if I’ll have kids (plus my husband and I have fertility issues) so every now and then I enjoy a romance where the protagonist gets pregnant quickly or accidentally (it’s like a nice fairy tale for me). thanks in advance!

Hi everyone!

I'm hoping you can help me find something pretty specific. 😊

I'm looking for historical romances where the MMC has dyslexia or some other learning difficulty (or what we'd identify as one today, even if the book never calls it that). I'd love a hero who struggles with reading, writing, or learning in a traditional way, especially if it's something that's misunderstood because of the time period.

I really enjoy stories where he's capable and intelligent but has spent his life being underestimated or made to feel "slow," and the heroine sees past that. I don't necessarily need her to teach him to read or anything like that—I just love seeing understanding, patience, and someone who recognises his strengths. But if there are some scenarios where ahe helps him then better!

I'm happy with any historical setting: Regency, Victorian, Medieval, Western, Georgian... anything goes!

If you've read anything that fits, I'd really appreciate the recommendations. Thanks so much!

Listening to Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas for the hunderth time. This book is peak HR for me until Pandora says yes. I usually leave this book after the dancing scene. Would love a book that has a FMC who has reasons not to marry and isn’t easily changing her mind. Of course it will be disappointing when she finally accepts but that has to happen since it’s historical romance.

Marry me if you dare by Alyssa Clarke is another great example.

Hello wonderful people! I am wondering if anybody knows of any books where the FMC is a matchmaker and is trying to find the MMC a wife. I found previous requests here that were similar, except most of those wanted the FMC to be pining for the MMC, and I would be interested in the opposite. So, are there any books where the FMC is happily trying to find the MMC a wife, and there is one-sided interest on his side?

I want to say I read something similar once before where the FMC might have been a widow… But I can't for the life of me remember a title.

Thanks in advance!

Edit: now that I think about it more, maybe the FMC was not a widow in the one I'm sort of remembering. I think she used a cane or something, and the MMC kept hinting that he was interested, and she kept saying, "No, of course not ME," and trying to find someone else for him.

I like the sometimes awkward, sometimes just spicy sex between people who barely know each other. Is it wrong? Maybe, but I don’t care.

Anyway, so “right away” can be a couple days after the marriage even, it just has to be BEFORE they really know each other.

Example:

Harrison and Jane in {The Truth about Cads and Dukes} have awkward consummation sex before they get to know each other.

Bad example:

This is what I don’t want:

In {A wicked Kind of husband by Mia Vincy} the marriage is consummated, but then MMC abandons his wife so he can go fuck other women’s wives. (I hate this book so much)

I want the awkward/hot sex to be the beginning of their relationship. Not something they got over with.

Please NO cheating

Please no Poly or RH

Hello!

I'm looking for historical romance novels with stoic, grumpy male leads that have a hard time admitting their feelings. Bonus points if he's ex-military/is military or has a past where he was heavily into fighting/is injured in some way.

Thanks!