Author Picks: 7 Charming, Witty Reads for Bridgerton Fans

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.