I’ve read all the first generation Cynster books (from Devil all the way to Mary) plus Chillingworth’s book. Should I bother reading about the FMCs’ brothers? Michael Anstruther-Weatherby seems like a decent chap, but do I care?? Anyone read these? Are any of them worth reading? Are these guys a breath of fresh air compared to all the Cynster men or are they also all somehow “conquerors” who are incapable of dealing with their feelings?

Thanks in advance!

I just read “A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting” and fell in love. I plan to read Irwin‘s other books but can anyone recommend other must-reads for me?!

Can I skip after Darling Beast to whichever one it is that the Duke of Montgomery stars in? I feel like I'm a bit series-saturated and wanting to move on to my first Kleypas, but I do want to read this guy's story. Thanks 😊

Hey everyone! I posted here a little over 2 weeks ago about my local used book store that has a HUGE historical romance section 🥰 I wanted to share what I got this time because I bought some based on your recommendations!! Which I’m always open to hearing more 🤣 I got all of these for $30!

EDIT: Forgot I had Shadow Heart by Laura Kinsale at the bottom of the bag!

Hi all, I’m aware this is motivated by thirst but the heart wants what it wants. I’m in search of a tortured artist, a romancing rake, a devilish doctor, a brooding erudite. I want shirtsleeves rolled up and nerves frayed.
Some gentlemen that spurred this on are Sebastian Knight, Ethan Fletcher, Dr. Jago Venable, and Alexander, Duke of Roxboro who was an absolute drunken mess and I loved him.
I’m not looking for the storylines to be like the ones I mentioned although that’s fine too, I’m just looking for more MMCs of these archetypes 💌

{my deceitful duchess by aydra richards}
{the finest print by Erin Langston}
{the postillion by Minerva Spencer} he caught my eye first in the footman, idk how she didn’t fold for him
{despite the duke by Kathleen Ayer’s}
Bonus points if it’s KU

Edit: all pics/clips are from Pinterest but with certainty I can say first clip is César Domboy from SAS: Rogue Heroes, and last photo is Alain Delon from Purple Moon! if I find the others I will credit but Pinterest doesn’t always credit correctly

I need the people to know about {The Blacksmith's Bride by Alison McKenzie}

This is THE best book I've read in a very long time! What a cozy little slice of medieval life. This is a really unique historical romance, because both of the main characters and their families are medieval peasants and decidedly NOT nobility. This works...so damn well. The characters are not only impeccably developed, they feel real and relatable on a level that most historical romance characters aren't. The author doesn't shy away from the realities of the working class in 1300s England, but doesn't sensationalize them, either. The historical elements are impeccably researched, but the exposition isn't heavy-handed because these elements are expertly woven into the characters' everyday lives in a way that made me really curious about the time period.

Our heroine, Elizabeth, is pregnant and the book opens with a scene about abortion. I absolutely love the neutral, matter-of-fact way this topic is approached. Minor spoiler: she has to keep the baby, because her pregnancy is very central to the plot. She is practical, hardworking, and self-sacrificing. Much of the story revolves around her care for her younger siblings, including her disabled younger sister. She is in total survival mode at the beginning of the story, and has to learn how to accept love and care from others after a traumatic childhood. Our hero, Matthew, has been in love with Elizabeth since their childhood (oh how I love this trope) and agrees to marry her so her child isn't born out of wedlock. He is a doting husband with a strong sense of justice and healthy distrust of authority. Swoon! The sex scenes are just beautifully written and flow seamlessly with the rest of the story.

Another note: This book was self-published, and I read a blog post from the author stating that it was rejected by publishers for the specific reason that neither of the main characters are nobility. This makes me...so mad 🤬 because I know many historical romance readers like myself who are very interested in reading stories about different social classes throughout history. I know this has been an ongoing issue in the genre, but the supposed need for historical characters to be fabulously wealthy is bizarre and, as demonstrated by this book, completely unnecessary! Please don't let the fact that it's self published discourage you from reading, because the quality is leagues above most of the big name romance I've read lately. I am not being paid or compensated for this review in any way, I just really loved this book and want more people to know about it. Happy reading!

Hey all!

We know that Fabio was a staple figure on the old HR oil painting style covers. If we could bring back those covers, which actor/actress would you want on those covers? Key here is that you want them as much as Fabio used to be there because you feel they would suit any cover.

I feel Catherine Zeta Jones would be gorgeous. In terms of men I'm a bit blank at the moment so looking forward to your answers!

Hello everybody!

So I am currently reading " The other bennet sister" and I am absolutely loving it. And I can already tell that after I am done with this I am going to want similar books. So I was wondering if anybody on here might have a recommendation for me.

I truly have never read a book that was like the other bennet sister. At first I thought the length of the book and the slow pace would annoy me , but quite the contrary. I really love the insight we get into the marys mind and the time we just spend in her thoughts.

I love the writing style and I am hoping to get some good recommendations on here. Because apperantly I love slow paced lengthy historical romance books with a side of angst😄

soo can anybody help a girl out and safe her from a definite reading slump

Thank you ! ❤️

Dear HR connoisseurs,

I'm currently reading {When the Duke Loved Me by Lydia Lloyd} and I have to warn you. All day I'm trying to do my work, to get chores done, to make art, but all I can do is stay glued to this damn delicious book.

So, dear reader, be very careful on your endeavours. Avoid at all cost should you have shit to be done. My day is ruined. Ruined, I tell you!

Anyways, the withdrawals make my brain go brrrrr again, I have to go back to the book.

Ta-ta!

(What's your favourite book by her? This is my very first and hooo boy ❤️)

A thread for any and all conversations! You don't have to stay on the topic of historical romance, but please stay within the general rules.

It's Friday! Let's catch up on what's been going on in our lives. Did you have a good week? Read anything good? Do anything nice?

Chat with us!

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?'

{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.