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    If You Love "Bridgerton" Then You'll Want To Read These 16 Historical Romance Books

    Dear reader, I have an obsession.

    Brigid Flanagan
    by Brigid Flanagan

    BuzzFeed Contributor

    We've all fallen in love with the newest Bridgerton couple, Lord Anthony Bridgerton and Kate Sharma. Many Bridgerton lists emphasize books pointing to the original books, but many readers want a broader, more inclusive, larger selection of historical romances that the genre has to offer. With bated breath, we wait for every scorching look as we watch the couple fall ferociously for each other. We want to see grumpy Kate Sharma get all decked out, from head to toe, as we fall in love with her, that bomb aquamarine hunting habit, as she, in turn, falls for her curmudgeonly Viscount. 

    Whether you love the comical Bridgertons, glamorous gowns, or the glittery citizens within, here are 16 historical romances that will give you all the historical fun you experienced with the Netflix adaptation of Bridgerton. And then some! A trans heroine gets a happy ending with her best friend. A disabled Duke gets hitched to a dressmaker. A Black pirate falls in love. Bisexual criminals go on an adventure! Sink into your inner razor-witted damsel, demand some smelling salts, and do the rebellious thing: Fall in love with the happy-ever-after. 

    1. A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall

    Brooke Greenberg / BuzzFeed / Via Forever

    Alexis Hall wants us to read a riotous romance sizzling with tension, outfits for days, and a burning romance at the center of it all. Hall shows us a trans woman at the center of this historical romance. A tender story unfolds as a trans woman gets to be the center of the love, tension, and gentleness of the man she loves. Viola, who rips off the memories of her former titled life, remembers how she left her heart on the battlefield with her childhood friend. Justin de Vere, a grieving man drowning himself in laudanum within the hallowed halls of his ancestors, thinks he left his best friend on the battlefield. A sparkling, deeply brilliant romance gives us a glimpse of what the genre could strive to be in the future. Alexis Hall deserves any comparison to the greats of the genre. This historical romance belongs in the best of the genre for a reason. A Lady for a Duke will make you feel like the author ripped your soul, confirmed that romance is the highest form of art, and assure you that rereading a book a thousand times seems like the easiest thing on Earth.

    Get it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

    2. A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby by Vanessa Riley

    Brooke Greenberg / BuzzFeed / Via Zebra

    This regency romance features a Black heroine and a disabled Duke. West Indian heiress, Patience Jordan, risks her life for her freedom and newborn son. Disguising herself as a nanny, she becomes employed in a prickly military hero’s household. As expected, these two soften toward each other. The scenes between a stoic Duke and his comical responses to a baby make it a joy to read. Provided you want a bit more of the historical nuances than Bridgerton, Vanessa Riley’s got several treats prepared in this one. A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby is delightful yet full of complex historical details about Black people’s lives in Regency England. 

    Get it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

    3. Destiny's Captive by Beverly Jenkins

    Brooke Greenberg / BuzzFeed / Via Avon Books

    Many watching Bridgerton look for that sweeping escape in a historical period where falling in love seems so much more romantic against a historical backdrop. But many viewers want more historical romances by Black authors and featuring Black couples at the center of a sweeping romantic adventure. One of the greats of the genre, Beverly Jenkins is one historical romance author not to be missed. Destiny’s Captive transports readers from the ballrooms to a seaside adventure with a Black pirate heiress, a hero fencing for her love, and entire gulps of kissing. With her insistent refusal to tie the knot, Pilar’s anti-matrimonial escapades must be a dream for a certain bookish Bridgerton miss. Beverly Jenkins makes the case that historical romance can be set outside the ballroom, set beyond England, and with a loving Black couple at its heart. Part Bridgerton and part Our Flag Means Death. Beverly Jenkins states her case and does it well. With sword fights and kissing! 

    Get it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

    4. The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian

    Brooke Greenberg / BuzzFeed / Via Avon Books

    This book is what happens when you mix three parts vodka, two parts bisexual, one part triple sec, and one part frothy historical romance. Let's all get drunk on bi historical romances. Sebastian takes us back before the Regency into a gay Georgian London. Marian, a grumpy criminal, and Rob, a thief who can’t seem to stop saving kittens, become our entire focus. Between a prickly ice queen and a sunshine hero, the once scathing letters these two sent back and forth to each other develop into a smart, quick-witted road trip romance. A truly excellent mixture of Bridgerton, Harlots, and Our Flag Means Death. With the whimsy tone of Bridgerton, The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes is part feral and part sweet. 

    Get it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

    5. The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite

    Brooke Greenberg / BuzzFeed / Via HarperTrophy

    Olivia Waite writes Sapphic romance like a dream. In The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics, Waite writes historical astronomy academics between a widowed Countess and an aspiring astronomer. Burned by her ex-lover, Lucy Muchelney takes her life elsewhere and to the door of Catherine St. Day, the Countess of Moth. In between translating a French astronomy text, Lucy and Catherine find longing in the nights spent gazing and wondering about the stars. Olivia Waite writes beautifully about women in academia and the intimate courtship between them. If you wanted more Sapphics in Bridgerton, The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics is your true north.

    Get it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

    6. Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean

    Brooke Greenberg / BuzzFeed / Via Avon Books

    It seems that Sarah Maclean, at almost every point of her career, goes against what is expected. Fat girls in historical romances often get ignored in favor of the slim and delicate heroines that dominate the genre. Lady Henrietta Sedley plans on being her father’s heir. Her dream is to make her own fortune. Before she truly becomes a spinster, she seeks out a devastatingly gorgeous man to have her way with him. When she finds a cantankerous, all-around grump tied up in her carriage, he offers her a deal. If you loved seeing a fat ambitious girl in Bridgerton, but you want to see more the tension and romance, read Brazen and the Beast. 

    Get it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

    7. Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas

    Brooke Greenberg / BuzzFeed / Via Avon Books

    That moment Anthony Bridgerton says, “Do you think there is a corner of this Earth that you could travel to far away enough to free me of this torment?” Without a doubt, that's Rhys Winterborne to Lady Helen. If you want that searing, agonizing tension between Kate Sharma and Anthony Bridgerton, put this one on your list. In Marrying Winterborne, Lisa Kleypas tackles the class prejudices typical of 19th century England. Born lower class, Rhys fought for every penny to become a respected businessman. Lady Helen and her sisters have been isolated in their estate, away from the shimmering ballrooms, and the highbrowed Tom who always gave Rhys the cold shoulder. Lady Helen is into botany, always tending to difficult, nearly impossible-to-care-for flowers. It’s that which convinces her she would thrive in marriage to Rhys. The descriptions of clothing, the spaces between Rhys and Helen, and the buildup between them is the perfect way to enjoy yourself after a Bridgerton binge. 

    Get it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

    8. The Duke Who Didn't by Courtney Milan

    Brooke Greenberg / BuzzFeed

    A grumpy neat freak falls for a sunshine Duke in Courtney Milan's comforting romance. Unlike Bridgerton, Milan discusses racism directly. Set in a cozy village with Asian immigrants, away from the ballrooms, this is for readers wanting a bit more of a soft romance to the high drama of Bridgerton. First and foremost, this is about the romance between Chloe and her childhood sweetheart. As an English-Chinese man, Jeremy never expected to inherit the dukedom. Jeremy is the sweetest love interest. He’ll appeal to those wanting kind, friendly love interests. Chloe Fong is a socially awkward heroine for the organized list makers out there. There’s competence. Tasks! Time management! All the works. Neurodivergent romance readers, you’ll love Chloe and Jeremy. The Duke Who Didn’t is a kind romance that deals with the complexities of family. 

    Get it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

    9. Silk is for Seduction by Loretta Chase

    Brooke Greenberg / BuzzFeed / Via Avon Books

    If you love Bridgerton dressmaker, Genevieve Delacroix, but you want to read more historical romances featuring the hardworking women that sewed, designed, and embroidered the dresses of the Ton, meet Marcelline Noirot. Bridgerton meets She’s All That in Loretta Chase’s historical romance between an ambitious dressmaker and the Duke that hires her to glam up the worst-dressed lady of the Ton. Winning the patronage of the future Duchess of Clevedon would be a game-changer for Marcelline and her sisters. Things turn into a scandal even Queen Charlotte would eat up. Loretta Chase is masterful in her prose and language, wringing out such intimate detail in every moment you read. She’s as predatory as she describes the romance between Marcelline and Clevedon.  

    Get it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

    10. The Luckiest Lady in London by Sherry Thomas

    Brooke Greenberg / BuzzFeed / Via Berkley Books

    In the latest season of Bridgerton, Anthony became the most eligible bachelor of the season, very promptly after his intent on seeking a Viscountess. The Luckiest Lady in London is what would happen if Anthony had a slow-burn arranged marriage rather than marrying the woman he loved. The Marquess of Wrenworth, the Ideal Gentleman, is the gorgeous It Boy. Idealized by all, but underneath is a horrible childhood. Louisa Cantwell, daughter of a failed fortune hunter and his society bride, has four sisters to protect. Instead of marrying a boring lord, she marries the most eligible gentleman in town. A reluctant arranged marriage between them ensues. They build a love for desire and laughter just as they do for astronomy and academia. Get yourself a beautiful regal boy in this historical romance if that suits your fancy. 

    Get it from Bookshop. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

    11. The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare

    Brooke Greenberg / BuzzFeed / Via Avon Books

    The Duchess Deal is what would happen if the Duke of Hastings had a rather comical arranged marriage with the Bridgerton dressmaker, Genevieve Delacroix. After the Duke of Ashbury comes home from war, he’s scarred. But instead of giving him a hero’s welcome, the Ton marks him as a beast for the burns on his body. Ashbury closes himself off and begins to hate them as well as himself. When struggling seamstress, Emma, enters his home, he offers his hand in marriage. He’s got a dukedom to care for after all. This is Tessa Dare’s greatest historical romance. It’s Tessa Dare at her most hilarious, most swoonworthy. If you'd like to read more historical romances with disabled characters with lighter tones, read The Duchess Deal. Do you love Beauty and the Beast but want something Bridgerton style? Pick this one. It’s wonderful.

    Get it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

    12. My Fake Rake by Eva Leigh

    Brooke Greenberg / BuzzFeed / Via Avon Books

    Eva Leigh is the John Hughes to Bridgerton’s historical romance. An academic friendship turns into a matchmaker romance by fake dating. To catch the guy Lady Grace Wyatt likes, she asks her best friend to play a rake. As science nerds, Grace and Sebastian have always been much more interested in scientific study than the ballroom. Grace transforms Sebastian from a nervous academic to a smirking rake. But pesky feelings get involved in their academic study. A heroine gets fluttery. A gorgeous nerd wonders, is it a heart attack or love? Eva Leigh writes neurodivergence with such honesty, placing us in those unflinchingly real scenes with true feelings about self-love. Sebastian’s anxiety feels impeccably accurate and richly detailed to those of us that know what it’s like to have panic attacks.  

    Get it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

    13. The Lord I Left by Scarlett Peckham

    Brooke Greenberg / BuzzFeed / Via Nancy Yost Literary Agency, Inc

    Rihanna had it correct when she sang, “I may be bad but I’m perfectly good.” It seems entirely unfair that romances should include many of the struggles of marginalized genders and the working class in historical periods, but sex workers get left out of the conversation. They're rarely treated as a real person with a traumatic history. In Scarlett Peckham’s The Lord I Left, religion, sex, and a smoldering romance swirl together in this feminist historical romance. Lord Henry Evesham, a minister, has been appointed by the House of Lords to investigate prostitution in London. Alice Hull, an apprentice to London’s most notorious whipping governess, abandoned her home for the pleasure houses. If you ever thought about the more underprivileged, lower-class characters like Siena Rosso, you’ll find complexity and a daring romance in The Lord I Left.

    Get it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.

    14. The Summer of You by Kate Noble

    Brooke Greenberg / BuzzFeed / Via Kodansha Comics

    Like many of the Ton, heroes came back from the war scarred. Byrne Worth, a disabled war hero, ices himself off from society. Preferring to be by himself, he’s suddenly threatened with company in the form of a Sunshine heroine, Lady Jane Cummings. A city girl moving to a small country village, away from the lush London parties, Jane finds herself charmed by the town but even more so by its most disliked grumpy citizen. The Summer of You is a slow burn grumpy/sunshine regency romance. It’s high on the swoons. The prose is top tier. The chemistry is on high. The Summer of You is the closest you could ever get to Bridgerton meets It Happened One Summer. 

    Get it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound.

    15. A Summer for Scandal by Lydia San Andres

    Brooke Greenberg / BuzzFeed / Via Gallery Books

    Similar to Kate Sharma and Anthony Bridgerton’s romance, A Summer for Scandal by Lydia San Andres features a bickering "bane of my existence" historical couple. Set in 1911 in Arroyo Blanco, a literary couple falls slowly and fiercely for each other. When Emilia Cruz accompanies her sister to a boating party, she meets the darling literary world. Emilia pens romance stories under a secret name. Ruben, a critic, writes negatively about her work. Like Emilia, he also writes under a pseudonym. This is Anthony Bridgerton and Kate Sharma if they became literary rivals. Read this if Bridgerton meets The Beautiful Ones sounds like your cup of tea.

    Get it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound. 

    16. The Marquess Makes His Move by Diana Quincy

    Brooke Greenberg / BuzzFeed / Via Avon Books

    Very few romance imprints publish historical romance featuring Arab characters. Palestinian-American author, Diana Quincy, will appeal to those wanting diversity in their Regency romance. An Arab marquess takes revenge on none other than Rose Fleming, London’s most famed cartographer. It features "I disguised myself as a servant to enact my revenge but oops I fell in love with you." The Marquess Makes His Move packs a punch if you love the angst, tension, and drama of those smoldering scenes between Kate and Anthony in Bridgerton. One of the best things about the second season of Bridgerton is that Anthony and Kate have no intention of falling in love, but like a pair of fools, they go absolutely feral for each other. That’s what you’ll find in The Marquess Makes His Move. With its Regency romance beat, you’ll love this cartography twist.

    Get it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound. You can also try the audiobook version through Libro.fm.