If you like reading steamy romance novels, but you also love stories rooted in real history, then you have come to the right place. Today, we want to take a closer look at the 7 best historical romance books for you to immerse yourself in.
The Best Historical Romance Books
Let’s take a closer look at some of the most love and lust-filled historical romance books that you could possibly get your hands on.
1. A Delicate Deception
A Delicate Deception is written by Cat Sebastian, and if focuses on our heroine, Amelia Allenby, who manages to escape to the Derbyshire countryside from a suffocating London ballroom. On her daily walks throughout the countryside, there is a man who disrupts her walks. Before she knows it, Amelia is enthralled with long kisses, lemon cakes, and romantic walks.
On the other hand, we have our hero, Sydney, who is forced to live in Pelham Hall, a property that he inherited, yet managed to steal everything from him. Sydney waits in his hall for his good friend, the Duke of Hereford, but quickly becomes enthralled with nonother than Amelia. Before he knows it, he is deeply in love with her.
Sydney is torn between his love for Amelia and his desired to keep his ownership of Pelham Hall. Once the Duke of Hereford arrives, Sydney’s deception is revealed, and although one might think that this would be the end of the romance, it’s actually just the beginning, and it sees two very lost souls find comfort and romance in each other.
What many people love about this particular book is that Cat Sebastian does an amazing job at describing them in great detail. Combined with a slow brewing romance filled with lust and deception, it makes for a great read.
2. Sweet Disorder
Sweet Disorder, written by Rose Lerner, is the first installment in the Lively St. Lemenston Series, and it grips readers right from the onset. Here we have Phoebe Sparks, the widow of a newspaperman, who promised to herself that she would never marry another man again. However, the city of Lively St. Lemenston is having an election which is hotly contested, and Phoebe wants to have a husband that she can make a voter.
Then, we have Nicholas Dymond, and honorable man who told himself that he would never get involved in the aristocracy and politics of his family. However, his career in the army, due to a severe injury to his leg, is done, and having a little brother that he needs to help win an election seems to be the perfect thing to get his mind off of his leg and his low confidence.
Nick is tasked to go to the countryside and make sure that Phoebe marries a man before the election begins, but not matter how handsome and charming he is, Phoebe is set on not being married off. However, when her sister suffers a disastrous fate, Phoebe is forced to consider selling both her hand in marriage, and her vote, to what is essentially the highest bidder.
As the election draws nearer, both Phoebe and Nick begin a slow brewing yet powerful romance that only gets more powerful with each page. Between the amazing connection between our hero and heroine, the main conflict, and the historical accuracy, Sweet Disorder is definitely one of the best historical romances worth checking out.
3. Outlander
Although the author herself, Dianna Gabaldon, doesn’t consider her own book, Outlander, to be a romance novel, anyone who reads it certainly would. For one, this is an amazing book thanks to all of the fine details that the author includes, details that are actually historically accurate. Plus, who doesn’t love a bit of time travel?
Here, we see Jamie and Claire, our hero and heroine, a couple that starts off very slow in a light romance that quickly buds into something very fierce. Here we see Claire, a combat nurse who has just returned from the war, and when she does, she is supposed to have a second honeymoon with the husband she hasn’t seen since her deployment.
However, just when everything seems to be going right, she is transported back in time to Scotland, to 1743. Scotland at this time is filled with war and murder, and this is where she meets Jamie, and young and strapping Highland warrior who whisks her off of her feet. Filled with a great story and even better characters, Outlander is certainly worth your time.
4. Three Nights with a Scoundrel
Three Nights with a Scoundrel, written by Tessa Dare, is a book that sees the hero and heroine having a very strong bond right from the onset of the book, and it’s full of love, angst, love, and more. Here we see Julian Bellamy, the bastard child of a nobleman, who is witty, charming, smart, and devious. In the background, he is scheming and plotting to overthrow all of the lords of the land, while also plotting to take as many women for himself as he can, all to get back at the society that scorned him.
However, Julian meets a man by the name of Leo Chatwick, a good man who is also the owner of a high end gentleman’s club, where he meets Leo’s sister, Lily, who becomes the heroine of our novel. Julian is forced to reconsider his behavior when he realizes that Lily is the woman of his dreams. Leo is unfortunately killed, and it sees Julian embark on a quest to ensure that Lily marries a man who is equal to her in terms of her societal standing.
Lily on the other hand has her own ideas, and she wants the man of her dreams, which in this case happens to be none other than Julian himself. Despite his behavior and shortcomings, Lily is absolutely in love with this man. The more Julian insists on marrying her off to some other nobleman, the more she wans Julian. Julian becomes obsessed with finding Leo’s murders, which makes Lily have to work just that much harder to gain his attention and love.
5. A Kingdom of Dreams
If you are looking for a historical romance novel written by one of the all time best, A Kingdom of Dreams, written by Judith McNaught is a fantastic option to consider. Here, we see Jennifer Merrick who is kidnapped by the Duke of Claymore.
However, Jennifer is not some quiet heroine that takes it as it comes. She makes her own destiny. This is one of the things that we really like about this book, that it features a loud, brash, and headstrong heroine that is not afraid to speak her mind or do as she pleases.
Of course, this creates a lot of tension between here and Royce, the Duke of Claymore. This enemies to lovers historical romance novel is filled with lust, love, intrigue, mystery, and a slow budding romance that will have you at the edge of your seat.
6. Slightly Dangerous
Mary Balogh is the author of this tantalizing historical romance book, Slightly Dangerous. Here, we see the city of London brimming with energy with the anticipation of the arrival of the Duke of Bewcastle, Wulfric Bedwyn, and it’s all happening at the biggest even of the year. Some people say that he is totally without passion and love, while others assume that he has suffered the most tragic love affair.
However, on the most important afternoon of the year, there is one woman who managed to grab his attention, the one and only woman in the room who wasn’t even trying to get his attention.
Christine Derrick is enthralled and intrigued by the Duke, who also wants her to be his mistress. Here we see these two become passionate lovers out of the eye of the public, all without any strings attached.
However, Christine infuriates Wulfric at every turn, as she has very distinct views on love, marriage, and more. The Duke wants to seduce Christine, but she resists at every turn, and yet, she can only resist for so long. Here we see a woman who loves pleasure slowly fall in love with a man who is a slightly closed off aristocrat, and yet somehow it all comes together to form the perfect love story.
7. The Beast of Beswick
If you are looking for a historical romance book that closely resembles The Beauty and the Beast, then The Beast of Beswick, written by Amalie Howard, is a fantastic read to consider.
Here we see Lord Nathaniel Harte, a very brash, arrogant, and totally disagreeable Duke of Beswick, who spends his day shattering dishware, being mean to his servants, and being generally rude to anyone in his vicinity struggle to find love. He has a ruined face and he spends all day braving the rather indecent proposals of the harpies who litter his castle.
We then have Lady Astrid Everleigh, who wants nothing more than to keep her sister safe from this notorious wrongdoer. She does so by offering herself up to this horrible man, which means that she offers to marry him.
However, as the story progresses, the Duke begins to lighten up, with his true emotions becoming much clearer with each page. This enemies-to-lovers historical romance is absolutely worth checking out.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there are plenty of great historical romance books out there, and here we have really just scratched the surface. That said, the 7 books we have talked about today are widely recognized as being some of the best out there.