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Author Picks: 7 Charming, Witty Reads for Bridgerton Fans

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Martha Waters is a librarian and author of the Regency Vows series. Find her on Instagram at @marthabwaters.

It’s been a year since the last season of Bridgerton dropped, and fans—myself included!—are tapping their feet with increasing impatience, waiting for the next eight episodes of Regency-era scandal, steam, and—of course—true love. If you’ve done a deep dive into Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton backlist and are looking to branch out into other historical romances to tide you over, you’re in luck: the genre is one of incredible richness, depth, and diversity, and there are plenty of options for readers of all tastes. My new book, To Swoon and to Spar, takes place on a remote seaside cliff in Cornwall, as an intrepid heroine stages an elaborate haunting in an effort to scare away her unwanted husband and get some much-needed peace and quiet, and it’s a perfect read for Bridgerton fans looking for snappy banter (and a steamy scene or two!)—but it’s merely one of countless historical romances to choose from. I’ve rounded up a list of seven titles to get you started—and perhaps by the time you’re done reading them all, Season 3 will have arrived!

The Truth About Lord Stoneville
by Sabrina Jeffries

If you enjoy the sibling dynamics of Bridgerton, Sabrina Jeffries’ Hellions of Halstead Hall series is perfect for you. It features five orphaned siblings who are given an ultimatum by their grandmother that they must marry by the end of the year, and this opening installment follows the oldest brother faking an engagement to an American. Unsurprisingly, the couple’s feelings eventually turn very real; with that said, the dynamics between the hero and his four siblings are what really make this book shine.

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The Truth About Lord Stoneville
Sabrina Jeffries

New York Times bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries brings her “hallmark humor, poignancy, and sensuality to perfection” (RT Book Reviews) to this first of the sparkling Hellions of Hallstead Hall series following the roguishly handsome and rakish Sharpe siblings.

Oliver Sharpe, the Marquess of Stoneville, has been London’s most notorious rake for years. Fed up with his behavior, his grandmother threatens to disinherit him if he doesn’t tame his wild ways and wed within the year. Outraged, Oliver decides to hire a woman from a brothel to pose as his fiancée to prove that he can’t be forced into marriage.

When he meets Maria Butterfield, a beautiful American woman who is searching for her fiancé in the most unlikely of places, he knows she’s perfect for his ruse. But before long, Oliver finds himself willing to risk anything to make Maria his—even his heart, and the dark secret he hides inside it.

With “delectably witty dialogue, subtly named characters, and scorching sexual chemistry between two perfectly matched protagonists” (Booklist), this is an unputdownable and charming romance.

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Author Picks: 7 Charming, Witty Reads for Bridgerton Fans

By Martha Waters | March 20, 2023

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A Caribbean Heiress in Paris
by Adriana Herrera

Paris in the 1800s is a change of scenery from Regency England, but Adriana Herrera’s diverse, sexy historical debut is full of the drama, big feelings, and steamy scenes that Bridgerton fans love. It’s the story of a marriage of convenience between a Dominican rum heiress and a whisky-making Scottish earl who meet at the 1889 World’s Fair, and it’s an extremely fun read.

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A Caribbean Heiress in Paris
Adriana Herrera

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Author Picks: 7 Charming, Witty Reads for Bridgerton Fans

By Martha Waters | March 20, 2023

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The Ruin of a Rake
by Cat Sebastian

If you love Bridgerton but wish it wasn’t—so far—quite so distressingly straight, Cat Sebastian writes some of the best queer romance out there. This one is a love story between two men—one, an infamous rake and libertine, and the other a prim and proper trader who has worked for years to gain a reputation for his correct and upstanding behavior. The chemistry between them is off the charts, and the banter is an absolute delight.

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The Ruin of a Rake
Cat Sebastian

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Author Picks: 7 Charming, Witty Reads for Bridgerton Fans

By Martha Waters | March 20, 2023

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A Lady for a Duke
by Alexis Hall

This is another queer historical romance, but one completely different in tone, for readers who like more angst and emotion in their romance novels. The heroine is a trans woman who is presumed dead after Waterloo, and the hero, a duke, is her former best friend, who is shattered with grief after her supposed death. You’ll want to have tissues handy for this one, but the payoff is worth it—it’s a beautiful book.

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A Lady for a Duke
Alexis Hall

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Author Picks: 7 Charming, Witty Reads for Bridgerton Fans

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Like No Other Lover
by Julie Anne Long

If you loved Season 2 of Bridgerton, with its enemies-to-lovers plot and crackling chemistry between its two leads, this book will charm you. It’s set at a country house party, and it’s the story of a beautiful heroine in a rush to marry an eligible gentleman before word of a scandal ruins her reputation, and the man who promises to help her find a husband. This book is everything I love in a romance novel—very steamy, full of emotion, and also incredibly, delightfully funny.

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Like No Other Lover
Julie Anne Long

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Author Picks: 7 Charming, Witty Reads for Bridgerton Fans

By Martha Waters | March 20, 2023

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Bound by Your Touch
by Meredith Duran

For readers looking forward to the pairing in the next season of Bridgerton, in which a wallflower overlooked by the ton finally finds true love, this book scratches a similar itch: the heroine is a spinster who helps her father with his business importing Egyptian artifacts, while the hero is a dissolute, rakish viscount. Meredith Duran’s writing is beautiful, and her hero and heroine are perfectly matched; it’s all the more satisfying watching a scholarly heroine, who has been previously overlooked, finally achieve her happily ever after.

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Bound by Your Touch
Meredith Duran

In the vein of classic authors like Julia Quinn, Sarah MacLean, and Eloisa James, award-winning and USA TODAY bestselling author Meredith Duran returns with a bluestocking bent on justice who plays a dangerous game of seduction with London’s most scandalous viscount.

Silver-tongued Viscount Sanburne is London’s favorite scapegrace. Alas, Lydia Boyce has no interest in being charmed. When his latest escapade exposes a plot to ruin her family, she vows to handle it herself, as she always has done. Certainly she requires no help from a too-handsome dilettante whose main achievement is being scandalous. But Sanburne’s golden charisma masks a sharper mind and darker history than she realizes. He shocks Lydia by breaking past her prim facade to the woman beneath...and the hidden fire no man has ever recognized. But as she follows him into a world of intrigue, she will learn that the greatest danger lies within—in the shadowy, secret motives of his heart.

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Author Picks: 7 Charming, Witty Reads for Bridgerton Fans

By Martha Waters | March 20, 2023

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The Duke Who Didn't
by Courtney Milan

The casual diversity of Bridgerton is part of what has endeared the show to many viewers, and Courtney Milan has done something similar here: this book is set in a tiny village in the south of England in the 1890s with a large Asian population. (I’d love to find more settings like this in historical romances, please!) It’s a childhood sweethearts-to-lovers romance, and it’s charming—funny, soft, and, at its heart, a true comfort read.

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The Duke Who Didn't
Courtney Milan

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Author Picks: 7 Charming, Witty Reads for Bridgerton Fans

By Martha Waters | March 20, 2023

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To Swoon and to Spar
by Martha Waters

TO SWOON AND TO SPAR is available on April 11!

The Regency Vows series that is “sure to delight Bridgerton fans” (USA TODAY) returns with this story about a standoffish viscount and his irrepressible new wife, who hopes to chase her husband from their shared home so that she can finally get some peace and quiet—only to find that his company might not be as onerous as she had once thought.

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To Swoon and to Spar
Martha Waters

The Regency Vows series that is “sure to delight Bridgerton fans” (USA TODAY) returns with this story about a viscount and his irascible new wife who hopes to chase her husband from their shared home so that she can finally get some peace and quiet—only to find that his company is not as onerous as she thought.

Viscount Penvale has been working for years to buy back his ancestral home, Trethwick Abbey, from his estranged uncle. And so he’s thrilled when his uncle announces that he is ready to sell but with one major caveat—Penvale must marry his uncle’s ward, Jane Spencer.

When the two meet in London, neither is terribly impressed. Penvale finds Jane headstrong and sharp-tongued. Jane finds him cold and aloof. Nevertheless, they agree to a marriage in name only and return to the estate. There, Jane enlists her housekeeper for a scheme: to stage a haunting so that Penvale will return to London, leaving her to do as she pleases at Trethwick Abbey. But Penvale is not as easily scared as his uncle and as their time together increases, Jane realizes that she might not mind her husband’s company all that much.

With her trademark “arch sense of humor and a marvelously witty voice” (Entertainment Weekly), Martha Waters crafts another delightful romp for all historical romance fans.

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Author Picks: 7 Charming, Witty Reads for Bridgerton Fans

By Martha Waters | March 20, 2023

11 Epic Historical Fiction Love Stories

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Photo credit: iStock / Jelena990

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