Most read Regency books

Elizabeth Bennet, a spirited young woman, navigates the rigid social expectations of Regency England. When she meets the wealthy and proud Mr. Darcy, their initial disdain for each other sets the stage for a complex dance of wit, misunderstanding, and unexpected attraction. This story explores themes of class, reputation, and the search for true love amidst societal pressures.

• enemies to lovers
• grumpy sunshine

Left with little after their father's death, the Dashwood sisters meet love and heartbreak differently: reserved Elinor hides her feelings for Edward Ferrars, while impulsive Marianne gives her whole heart to the charming Willoughby. Jane Austen's first published novel is a witty, clear-eyed study of prudence, passion, and the marriage market.

Handsome, clever and rich, Emma Woodhouse has decided she will never marry — but she is certain she knows exactly whom everyone else should. Her campaign to find a husband for the naive Harriet Smith sets off a chain of misreadings that exposes how little she understands the people of Highbury, or herself. Austen's 1815 comedy of manners is her most intricately plotted novel, and Mr Knightley is the one person willing to tell her the truth.

• friends to lovers
• coming of age
• slow burn

Viscount Anthony Bridgerton means to marry the season's diamond for practical reasons—but her fiercely protective older sister Kate stands in his way, and the more they clash, the harder he falls for the wrong sister. Book two of the Bridgerton series: a sparkling enemies-to-lovers Regency romance.

• enemies to lovers

To fend off suitors and matchmaking mothers, Daphne Bridgerton and the guarded Duke of Hastings stage a fake courtship—then struggle to keep it fake. The first book in Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series and the basis for the Netflix show: a witty, sensual Regency romance.

• fake dating

Eight years ago, Anne Elliot was persuaded by family and friends to break off her engagement to Frederick Wentworth, a naval officer with no fortune and uncertain prospects. She has regretted it ever since. Now twenty-seven and quietly overlooked in her vain, spendthrift family, Anne watches as their debts force them to let out the ancestral estate and economize in Bath. Fate returns Wentworth to her circle, now a wealthy and admired captain, seemingly indifferent to the woman who once refused him and openly courted by younger, livelier girls. Anne, steady and self-effacing, must endure his coolness and her own undimmed feelings while navigating the small humiliations of a family that undervalues her. Persuasion was the last novel Jane Austen completed, published after her death in 1817. Quieter and more autumnal than her earlier work, it is a story of constancy, second chances, and the slow vindication of a woman who feels deeply but says little, widely loved as Austen's most tender romance.

Catherine Morland, a naive young woman raised on Gothic novels, gets her first taste of society in Bath, where she befriends the witty Henry Tilney and the scheming Thorpes. Invited to Northanger Abbey, she lets her imagination conjure dark secrets that reality quickly deflates. Jane Austen's affectionate satire of Gothic fiction and coming-of-age.

A Cinderella retelling: Sophie, an earl's illegitimate daughter turned servant, shares one anonymous night with Benedict Bridgerton at a masquerade, then disappears. Years later he meets a housemaid who stirs the same longing—never guessing she's the same woman. Book three of the Bridgerton series.

• secret identity
• forbidden love
• family saga
• slow burn

Wallflower Penelope Featherington has loved Colin Bridgerton for years—and hides an explosive secret: she is Lady Whistledown, London's anonymous gossip columnist. When Colin finally sees her clearly, her double life threatens everything. Book four of the Bridgerton series: a beloved friends-to-lovers Regency romance.

• friends to lovers
• secret identity

Half her soul stolen by a fae lord as a child, an unflinchingly blunt debutante teams up with England's most powerful (and rudest) magician to solve a string of vanished workhouse children.

• grumpy sunshine
• slow burn
• fish out of water

Michael Stirling has been in love with Francesca Bridgerton since the moment he met her—which is a problem, because that moment was at the dinner where she announced her engagement to his cousin and best friend, the Earl of Kilmartin. For years Michael has hidden his feelings, playing the charming rake while quietly loving a woman he could never have. When John dies suddenly and young, both Michael and Francesca are shattered, bound together by grief and by a secret Michael can never confess. He flees to India to escape it; she stays behind, a widow far too young. But grief does not last forever, and when the two are finally in the same room again, the feelings Michael buried and the guilt they both carry rise to the surface. The sixth book in Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series, When He Was Wicked is one of its most emotional entries—a Regency romance about mourning, longing, and daring to love again after loss.

• forbidden love
• friends to lovers

After a correspondence with widowed botanist Sir Phillip Crane, outspoken Eloise Bridgerton impulsively runs off to meet the man who proposed by letter—only to find a gruff father of two unruly children, nothing like she imagined. Book five of the Bridgerton series: a tender marriage-of-convenience Regency romance.

• marriage of convenience
• epistolary
• grumpy sunshine

Hyacinth Bridgerton, the youngest and sharpest of the eight siblings, is used to speaking her mind and scaring off suitors who cannot keep up with her. Gareth St. Clair is at odds with his cruel father and adored by the grandmother whose Italian diary he cannot read. When Hyacinth offers to translate the diary—rumored to hint at a hidden family treasure—the two are thrown together in a search that has them climbing through windows and trading barbs at every turn. As their treasure hunt draws them closer, Hyacinth discovers there is more to the roguish Gareth than his reputation suggests, and Gareth finds that the one woman who can match him is also the one he cannot stop thinking about. But Gareth's father guards secrets of his own, and the truth threatens both the treasure and their future. The seventh book in Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series, It's in His Kiss is a playful, banter-filled Regency romance about wit, family, and finding your equal.

Sent away as a child to be raised by wealthy relatives at Mansfield Park, Fanny Price grows up an overlooked outsider. When the charming Crawford siblings arrive and unsettle the household, Fanny must hold to her convictions even as it costs her everyone's approval.

• coming of age
• love triangle
• slow burn

Gregory Bridgerton believes in true love, and he's sure he's found it. There's just one small problem: the woman he's fallen for is in love with someone else. His friend, Lady Lucinda Abernathy, tries to help him win her over, but ends up falling for Gregory herself. The catch? Lucy is already engaged, and her uncle won't let her break it off. Now, on the way to the wedding, Gregory must race against time to claim the bride he truly loves.

• love triangle
• forbidden love
• friends to lovers

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels takes place in a magical alternate Victorian England where a small society of women has learned to fly their houses. Cecilia Bassingthwaite is one of them: outwardly a demure young lady, she is in fact a talented thief who flies around England drinking tea and stealing treasure for the Wisteria Society. Ned Lightbourne is a sometime assassin who is instantly smitten with Cecilia, an inconvenient problem since he has been sent to kill her. When Cecilia's pirate father, Captain Morvath, moves to destroy the Wisteria Society and its rebellious sisterhood in favor of a strict patriarchal order, Cecilia and Ned are forced into an uneasy alliance against him. India Holton's series opener is a whimsical, tongue-in-cheek romantic fantasy about flying houses, dangerous women, and a very reluctant assassin falling in love with his target.

• enemies to lovers
• heist

The Duke of Ashbury, in need of a wife, proposes a marriage of convenience to Emma Gladstone, a vicar's daughter turned seamstress. Both enter the arrangement with specific terms, but as they navigate their new life together, they find themselves unexpectedly falling in love.

• marriage of convenience
• grumpy sunshine
• slow burn

Amelia Hathaway is struggling to keep her eccentric family together after an unexpected inheritance thrusts them into London's high society. She finds an unlikely ally in Cam Rohan, a wealthy man who feels trapped by the very aristocracy Amelia is trying to master. While they both try to maintain their independence, a powerful attraction threatens to change their lives forever.

• fish out of water
• family saga
• forbidden love
• court intrigue

Oliver Bennet has spent his life being forced into dresses and called Elizabeth, longing for the freedom to be seen as the boy he knows himself to be. In this trans reimagining of Pride and Prejudice, Oliver navigates his family's expectations, society's judgment, and an unexpected connection with the prickly, wealthy Mr. Darcy, all while trying to find a way to be loved for who he actually is.

• coming of age

Everyone knows Billie Bridgerton. She's smart, independent, and always getting into scrapes. But there's one person she can't stand: George Rokesby, her neighbor's insufferable older brother. When a twist of fate leaves Billie in a precarious situation, George is the only one who can help, forcing them to see each other in a new light.

• enemies to lovers

A Cinderella retelling: a Regency housemaid strikes a bargain with a faerie lord to win the heart of the gentleman she loves.

• slow burn

Isolde "Izzy" Goodnight grew up as the beloved inspiration for her father's famous serialized fairy tales; the whole nation adored the fictional Goodnight girl. The real Izzy, now twenty-six, orphaned, and penniless, has learned that fairy-tale fame does not pay the bills. Then a mysterious bequest hands her the deed to a castle, and with it, a chance at independence. There is only one problem: the crumbling Gostley Castle already has an occupant. Ransom Vane, the Duke of Rothbury, is furious, half-feral, and unwilling to surrender the ruin he has been hiding in since the accident that changed his life. Neither will leave, so they strike an uneasy truce, and as Izzy digs into the castle's secrets and the duke's guarded heart, the disillusioned romantic starts to believe in her own happy ending after all. The first book in Tessa Dare's Castles Ever After series is a swoony, playful historical romance about fandom, reinvention, and the difference between the stories we are given and the ones we choose. It pairs a warm-hearted heroine with a brooding, wounded duke for a slow burn inside a castle that needs as much saving as they do.

• forced proximity
• slow burn

Billie Bridgerton always thought she'd marry one of the Rokesby boys, her neighbors. But it's George Rokesby, the one she can't stand, who she keeps ending up with. Their mutual dislike is legendary, but when circumstances force them together, unexpected sparks fly. Can these sworn enemies find affection beneath their animosity?

• enemies to lovers
• rivals
• forced proximity

Wealthy and ruthless, Gabriel Duke clawed his way from the lowliest slums to the pinnacle of high society — and now he wants to buy the house next door. To an undaunted wallflower, he's just the beast next door. Lady Penelope Campion is a woman who loves everything and everyone, but her animal-filled home is about to be sold to the formidable Duke of Ruin. Can she find a way to save her beloved menagerie and maybe even soften his cold heart?

• grumpy sunshine
• forced proximity

Honoria Smythe-Smith, nicknamed "Bug," is a violinist who believes she's terrible at it and certainly not in love with her brother's best friend. Earl of Chatteris, Marcus Holroyd, has his own doubts about his feelings for his best friend's younger sister. Despite their initial hesitations and a shared fondness for chocolate cake, they must navigate a dangerous fever and a disastrous musical performance, all while falling deeply in love.

• friends to lovers

The beautiful, unscrupulous widow Lady Susan Vernon descends on her in-laws' estate, scheming to secure a rich husband for herself and force a loveless match on her gentle daughter. Told in letters, Jane Austen's early epistolary novella is a biting comedy of manipulation with an irresistible antiheroine.

• epistolary

Gwen thought she had her life figured out, but being the final member of the Circle of Twelve means her world is about to change. She's got questions about Count Saint-Germain and Gideon, and she's determined to get answers about the Circle's secrets and her own destiny. Get ready for a journey filled with love, mystery, and the very essence of time.

• chosen one
• coming of age

Captain Will Laurence must give up his dragon Temeraire, a Celestial promised to Chinese royalty, or follow him to China. On a ship full of assassins and sickness, then in an imperial court, he faces a choice between his country and his friend.

• court intrigue
• fish out of water
• found family

Kitty Talbot has three months to marry a fortune, or her four younger sisters will lose their home. Arriving in Bath with her sister Cecily, Kitty quickly sets her sights on Archie de Lacy, a younger son with just enough money to save her family, and nearly secures a proposal, until his older brother, the wary Lord Radcliffe, arrives to put a stop to her scheming.

• enemies to lovers

On the cusp of her first London season, painfully shy Madeline Gracechurch does the unthinkable: she invents a Scottish sweetheart. Her fictional Captain gives her cover from the marriage mart and a reason to stay home with her butterflies and sketchbooks. And when the fiction grows inconvenient, she simply writes him killed in battle. Problem solved. Or so she believes. Years later, the very real Captain Logan MacKenzie turns up on Maddie's doorstep — alive, gruff, and holding a stack of the love letters she never meant anyone to read. Wounded in body and spirit, Logan needs the respectability a wife can offer to secure a home for the men who served under him. Maddie's invented promises are suddenly a debt he intends to collect, as a marriage of convenience that neither of them expects to feel quite so real. The third book in Tessa Dare's Castles Ever After series is a warm, witty Highland romance about the stories we tell to protect ourselves and the people who see through them. Set against a crumbling Scottish castle and a ragtag band of veterans, it pairs a bookish introvert with a battle-scarred soldier for a slow thaw from pretense to genuine devotion.

• marriage of convenience
• enemies to lovers