Her books have a pretty genuine Jane Austen feel, as Heyer was actually a near-obsessive researcher of the Regency period - it takes a bit getting used to all the Regency jargon she uses, but then you miss it if you read a historical by anyone else (
is a whole book of background to her novels). Heyer is an absolute RIOT, her books are often hilarious and full of people shooting at each other, cross-dressing, dueling with swords, gambling, going to disreputable parties, and generally having a very exciting time. And even though these books were written ages ago her heroines are way more spirited than the wet rags you find in romance everywhere today.
(love-hate relationship; strong-minded heroine does not take any bullshit from the rakish hero),
(more drama, plus an arranged marriage).
When it comes to modern authors who write Regency romance,
Tessa Dare is here for your light, fun, romantic comedy needs. If you aren't a stickler about historical detail, you'll enjoy her stuff. Her
Castles Ever After series (Romancing the Duke; Say Yes to the Marquess; When a Scot Ties the Knot) is 100% gold, guaranteed to make you happy. The
Spindle Cove series takes place in a village retreat for unusual ladies and is AMAZING. This series is pretty feminist, especially in
A Night to Surrender with its take-charge heroine and (my fave)
A Week to be Wicked, where the heroine is based on paleonthologist Mary Anning.
A Lady by Midnight is for fans of broody heroes,
Beauty and the Blacksmith is sexy as hale, and
Any Duchess Will Do will probably make you cry. Also try
Goddess of the Hunt from her earlier stuff.
Lisa Kleypas is another heavy-hitter in Regency (and slightly later) romance. Her
Hathaways series is all good, particularly if you like books about big, united families (but the best one is
Love in the Afternoon with its animal-loving heroine and the traumatised soldier hero). From her
Wallflowers series you wanna read
Scandal in Spring and
Devil in Winter (do NOT read the Summer and Autumn books. Especially Autumn because it ruins the hero of Winter).
Lady Sophia's Lover is also a good one from her earlier stuff.
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Courtney Milan writes Victorian romances, and they are incredibly rich, with interesting characters and original plots. Milan, a WOC, deals head-on with the misogyny and racism of the time period. Her heroines are strong and smart, her heroes are not at all like the alpha idiots in most books out there. Start with the Brothers Sinister series. The Duchess War is the perfect starter book for both Milan and historical romance in general; The Heiress Effect has a pretty fantastic heroine and a working-class hero (and an Indian hero in the excellent subplot); The Countess Conspiracy has a scientist heroine!!!; in The Suffragette Scandal the heroine is a suffragette (obvs) and there is a lesbian subplot. The novellas are also pretty great: The Governess Affair, A Kiss for Midwinter, and my fave, Talk Sweetly to Me (black scientist heroine and a feminist hero). The Turner series is also good - but you gotta read it in order, and the first one (Unveiled) is not the best. It's still worth it because Unclaimed (virgin hero, courtesan heroine) and Unraveled (a lower-class heroine and an uptight magistrate hero) are fantastic. (So is Unlocked, but that is stand-alone).
Also try Eloisa James' hilarious Beauty & The Beast / House crossover, When Beauty Tamed the Beast; Eva Ibbotson's charming early 20th century romance A Countess Below Stairs; Caroline Linden's Love and Other Scandals; Mary Balogh's lovely marriage of convenience story Slightly Married; Julia Quinn's suuuper cute Just Like Heaven; Jennifer Ashley's sexy The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie. The post-World War II The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer is a beautiful, lovely epistolary novel with a nice romantic storyline.
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The Hating Game by Sally Thorne is an excellent rom-com of workplace enemies-to-lovers. If you want a nice, funny, sexy romance, you won't go wrong with this one. Similarly, Lucy Parker'sAct Like It is a pretty funny "fake relationship" romance where two West End actors who don't particularly like each other have to engage in a PR relationship for the sake of their play.
I'm a big fan of Attachments, Rainbow Rowell's contemporary adult novel set around Y2K. The premise - IT guy is hired by a newspaper to go through employees' company emails to see if anyone's using them for inappropriate purposes, ends up falling in love with the movie critic from reading her convos with her friend - might skeeve out some readers, but I thought the weirdness was addressed in the book and, personally, didn't have much of a problem with it.
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If you like rom-coms, you of course have to read
Sophie Kinsella, who has written faves like
Can You Keep a Secret? (her best imo)
, Remember Me, The Undomestic Goddess, Twenties Girl, and The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic. Sophie can do rom-com without making her protagonists stupid, desperate or sexist charicatures, and she is
really funny. Her books are perfect feel-good reads.
YA queen
Meg Cabot also writes the occasional adult romance, with the Boy series (yes, adult in spite of the name).
Boy Meets Girl and
TheBoy Next Door are light, fun reads. Also try
Graeme Simsion rom-com
The Rosie Project.
Big fan of 10 Things I Hate About You? There's a new modern adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew out there, and it's
Vinegar Girl, by
Anne Tyler. It's funny, it's clever, it's bittersweet. (It's not a
romance-romance like the others in this list, but I think it still counts).
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As a HUGE
Laura Florand fan, I am going to point you towards her
Amour et Chocolat and
La Vie en Roses series. If you're into chocolate, fields of roses, Paris, the Provence, and hunky guys, don't be surprised if you get addicted to them. Some of her books are very much rom-coms (
The Chocolate Thief, the novella
All's Fair in Love and Chocolate,
Once Upon a Rose), some are delicious dramas (
The Chocolate Temptation, The Chocolate Touch) and there are even some fairy-tale inspired stories (
The Chocolate Kiss borrows from Rapunzel,
The Chocolate Rose from Beauty and the Beast). If you're looking for a laugh, definitely go for Thief first, but her best romance overall is, in my opinion, The Chocolate Temptation, which I can't recommend enough.
In
Trade Me by
Courtney Milan, a hot tech billionaire offers to "trade lives" with his struggling classmate. Sure, it is wish-fulfillment, but it has a lot of heart and it is very genuine in dealing with real, serious problems.
Lisa Kleypas also writes contemporary romances, and also does the billionaire thing. The Travis series is focused on a family of Houston billionaires (a father, a daughter, and 3 sons), and they make for some delicious wish-fulfillment reading. In
Sugar Daddy, the romance is actually a pretty secondary plot, and the book focuses a lot more on the life struggles of the strong-minded and hard-working Latina heroine (in spite of the title, the romance isn't a real sugar daddy situation, don't get too excited
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wavvy).
Blue-Eyed Devil deals with domestic violence so it is a heavier read, and
Smooth-Talking Stranger tackles emotional abuse by a parent.
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Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier is a wonderful take on Beauty & the Best, the fantasy is beautifully woven and any romance fan should be left in tears by the end. If you like this one, try Grace Draven's stuff: Entreat Me (another Beauty & the Beast retelling), Master of Crows (both the heroine and the hero are wizards), and Radiance (the hero is, um, a different species; I promise it's not weird though).
Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt is a gorgeous, heartbreaking dark fairy tale and WILL make you cry.
Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente is a dark romance set in Revolutionary Russia and populated with various Russian myths. If you're into Slavic folklore try also the magic-filled Uprooted by Naomi Novik (this is only problematic if you get caught up in the fact that the Dragon is an immortal, so, technically pretty old - personally I didn't have a problem with it).
If you're looking for something lighter, go with The Princess Bride by William Goldman and Stardust by Neil Gaiman, fairytale-like adventures. The excellent and fast-paced sci-fi rom-com Crosstalk by Connie Willis will have you on the edge of your seat.
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Kids these days just don't read enough Meg Cabot, but they SHOULD. She wrote the lovely Princess Diaries series (of terrible Disney adaptations), the fun All-American Girl series (at least, the first one was good), plus the amazing The Mediator series (still the only YA book with a good Latino hero I've ever read, and he's a ghost). Under no circumstances read the recently-published additions to the Mediator series - pretend it ends with the original 6-book run!
Cassandra Rose Clarke wrote a pretty fun YA fantasy/romance duology: The Assassin's Curse and The Pirate's Wish. If you dig pirates, assassins, and sassy talking manticores, that should be a fun pick.
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell is a very sweet romance, with an interesting heroine and super nice hero - not a monster jerk like the fashion is these days. For that I will always recommend it.
