Historical romance book series in reading order

by Michelle Willingham

by Bonnie Vanak

by Lisa Kleypas

by Terri Brisbin

by Lynne Connolly

by Miranda Jarrett

by Eugenia Riley

by Danelle Harmon

by Janette Oke

by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

by Beth Williamson

by Danelle Harmon

by Jade Lee

Barbara Cartland

702 books• 3 series

Barbara Cartland, born Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland on 9 July 1901 and died on 21 May 2000, was an English romance novelist and socialite. This directory catalogues 702 titles under Cartland's name, from His Hour (1910) through to A Heart in the Highlands (2024), with the 1980s the heaviest decade. The Eternal Collection, the Pink Collection and the Camfield Novels Of Love group the bulk of that output. Cartland wrote contemporary as well as historical romance, the historical novels set mainly in the Victorian and Edwardian periods, and ranks fifth among the most translated authors worldwide.

Cassie Edwards wrote historical romance set on the American frontier. Her 117 catalogued titles open with four books in 1982, Rapture's Rendezvous among them, and are organised into long runs: Savage, Savage Secrets, Wild Tribes, Wild Arizona, Chippewa and the Dreamcatcher Indian novels. Native American subjects, Ojibwa settings and women pioneers recur throughout. Edwards published with Dorchester, Signet, Kensington and Harlequin, and her output stopped after it emerged that she had extensively plagiarised other writers. The catalogue records titles through 2015.

Johanna Lindsey wrote historical romance across pirates, Vikings, the English aristocracy and the American west. Captive Bride (1977) opens a catalogue of 57 books, and the Malory-Anderson family novels are the best known strand, alongside the Reid family, the Viking Haardrad family, Sherring Cross and the Ly-San-Ter books. The run closed in 2019 with Temptation's Darling.

Heather Graham is the name under which Heather Graham Pozzessere, an American writer born on 15 March 1953, publishes mainly romance fiction; Shannon Drake is a further pen name. Graham's work has been published in about 25 languages, with more than 75 million copies printed. The catalogue records 311 books from Tender Taming (1983) to Destiny Rising (2026). Krewe of Hunters, Harrison Investigation, Cafferty & Quinn, Alliance Vampires, Keepers: L.A., New York Confidential and Finnegan Connection are among the Graham series. Subjects span historical, paranormal, contemporary and suspense romance.

Hannah Howell, born in Massachusetts in 1950, is an American writer of historical romance, much of it set in medieval Scotland. Howell has also published as Anna Jennet, Sandra Dustin and Sarah Dustin. The catalogue records 56 books from A Taste of Fire (1988) to The Scotsman Who Swept Me Away (2019) and marks the run likely complete. Series include Murray Family, Wherlocke, Camerons, MacEnroys, Seven Brides for Seven Scotsmen and Highland Brides, the last written as Anna Jennet. Compromised Hearts (1989), Stolen Ecstasy (1991) and Silver Flame (1992) are early titles, and subjects include knights, inheritance, psychics and the paranormal.

Connie Mason, who also publishes as Cara Miles, writes historical romance: more than fifty novels and novellas, set in American and overseas locales. Romantic Times named Mason Story Teller of the Year in 1990 and gave a Career Achievement award in the western category in 1994. The catalogue holds 64 books from Tender Fury (1984), the first published work, to Between a Rake and a Hard Place (2014), with series including Delaney, Royal Rakes, Beyond the Horizon and Flame. Mason lives in Tarpon Springs, Florida, and the list is marked likely complete.

Jane Feather, born Jane Robotham in Cairo, Egypt, in 1945, is a British–American writer of historical romance with more than ten million books in print and New York Times bestseller status. In 1984 Feather wrote five contemporary romances under the pseudonym Claudia Bishop. The catalogue lists 52 books from 1984 to 2021, including Love's Charade (1986), Smuggler's Lady (1986), Reckless Seduction (1987), Chase the Dawn (1988) and Venus (1988), and ends with Ravish Me with Rubies (2021). Series include Charm Bracelet, Matchmaker Duncan Sisters, Cavendish Square, Blackwater Brides and London Jewels Trilogy, and England, aristocracy and inheritance appear in the subjects.

Marion Chesney

184 books• 22 series

Marion Chesney, later Marion Gibbons (1936-2019), was a Scottish writer of romance and mystery whose published career began in 1979. Historical romances appeared under the Chesney name, the Travelling Matchmaker and Daughters of Mannerling books among them, while the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth mysteries appeared as M. C. Beaton; both of those mystery runs were adapted for television. Helen Crampton, Ann Fairfax, Charlotte Ward, Jennie Tremaine and Sarah Chester are further pen names on the record. This listing gathers 185 books dated from 1979 onward, including later titles on which R.W. Green is credited.

Bertrice Small

58 books• 9 series

Bertrice Small wrote historical romance on a large scale, much of it around the O'Malley family in the Skye O'Malley Saga and Skye's Legacy. The Border Chronicles, the Friarsgate Inheritance, the Silk Merchant's Daughters, the Wyndham Saga and the World of Hetar, where magic enters, fill out a catalogue of 58 books. Publication runs from Love Wild and Fair and The Kadin (1978) to Serena in 2014.

Lisa Kleypas, born November 5, 1964, is an American author of historical and contemporary romance novels. Before writing professionally, Kleypas was Miss Massachusetts 1985 and competed in the Miss America 1986 pageant in Atlantic City. The catalogue lists 50 Kleypas books from Where Passion Leads (1987) to Queen of Lombard Street (2026). Series include the Wallflowers, Hathaways, Ravenels, Travis, Friday Harbor and Bow Street Runners, and subjects on file include nobility, aristocracy and London.

Born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Stephanie Laurens is an Australian romance novelist and a winner of the Romance Writers of America RITA Award. The catalogue counts 105 books between Tangled Reins (1992) and Who Killed The Earl Of Moran? (2026). Cynster Next Generation, Bastion Club, Black Cobra Quartet, Casebook of Barnaby Adair and Legend of Nimway Hall are among the series, and subject tags name the Cynster family. Subjects also include historical Regency romance, England and the nobility.

Dorothy Garlock (1919-2018) wrote historical romance, much of it set on the American frontier. The catalogue runs to 63 books published between 1980 and 2017, from Love and Cherish (1980) to The Nearness of You (2017), with the 1980s her heaviest decade. Series include Wyoming Frontier, Dolan Brothers, Wabash River, Route 66, Colorado Wind and the Tucker Family books. Garlock also published as Johanna Phillips, Dorothy Phillips and Dorothy Glenn.

Kasey Michaels is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author credited with more than 110 books, and the catalogue lists 123 from The Belligerent Miss Boynton (1982) to Her Royal Pain-In-The-Highness (2023). Early titles include The Tenacious Miss Tamerlane (1982), The Rambunctious Lady Royston (1983), The Savage Miss Saxon (1985) and Compliments of the Groom (1987). Michaels has received a RITA, four Publishers Weekly starred reviews and a Romantic Times Career Achievement award for Regency historical romance, and is on the Romance Writers of America Honor Roll. Series include Maggie Kelly, Romney Marsh, Redgraves, Daughtry Family, Crown Family and Sunshine Girls.

Jo Beverley (1947-2016), born Mary Josephine Dunn, was an English-Canadian author of historical and contemporary romance. Regency England and its nobility supply most of the settings, with the Mallorens and the Company of Rogues as the two groups readers follow across books. Beverley's 63 catalogued titles open with Lord Wraybourne's Betrothed (1988) and end with Merely a Marriage in 2017. Translations into several languages and multiple awards followed the work.

Historical romance and FBI suspense make up Catherine Coulter's two main bodies of work. Regency and medieval romances such as the Sherbrooke Brides and Medieval Song sequences date back to the 1979 debut The Rebel Bride, while the FBI Thriller series and A Brit in the FBI follow government investigator Dillon Savich. Coulter's catalogue runs to 95 books, reaching The Heir of Whitestone in 2026.

Jude Deveraux

78 books• 14 series

Historical and contemporary romance make up Jude Deveraux's 78 catalogued books, many following the Montgomery and Taggert families across generations. Edilean, James River, Summerhouse, Nantucket Brides, Peregrine, Providence Falls and the Medlar Mystery books are among her series. The catalogue begins with The Enchanted Land (1978), runs densest through the 1980s, and reaches Order of Royals in 2026.

Kat Martin is a pen name of Kathleen Kelly Martin, born July 14, 1947, an American writer of romance novels who has also published as Kathy Lawrence and Kasey Marx. The catalogue holds 81 books from Magnificent Passage (1988) to The Unseen (2025), split between historical romance and romantic suspense, with private investigators among the recorded subjects. Series include the Raines of Wind Canyon, Maximum Security, the Brodies of Alaska, the Sinclair Sisters Trilogy and BOSS, Inc. Martin is married to the writer and photographer Larry Jay Martin.

Christina Dodd's catalogue holds 82 books published between 1991 and 2026, opening with Candle in the Window and Treasure of the Sun in 1991 and reaching Teach the Torches to Burn in 2026. Dodd writes historical romance, much of it Regency, alongside romantic suspense; recorded subjects include England, governesses, princesses, and manners and customs. Series credited to Dodd include Governess Brides, Virtue Falls, Chosen Ones, Cape Charade, Darkness Chosen, Fortune Hunter and Knight. Dodd is a recipient of the RITA Award.

Lorraine Heath writes historical romance among the English aristocracy, with widows, scoundrels and titled families at the centre. Sweet Lullaby (1994) is her earliest catalogued novel, and her series include the Scoundrels of St. James, the Scandalous Gentlemen of St. James, the Lost Lords of Pembrook, Sins for All Seasons, Hellions of Havisham and Rogues in Texas. Sixty-eight books reach A Tempest of Desire in 2024.

Cowboys, ranchers and ranch life run through Linda Lael Miller's 134 catalogued books, in historical, contemporary and western romance alike. Miller's families and places include the McKettricks, the Montana Creeds, Stone Creek, Springwater Seasons, Painted Pony Creek and the Brides of Bliss County, with a Tremayne vampire sequence off to one side. Desire and Destiny (1983) is the earliest title and The Silver Hills Boarding House the newest.

Amanda Scott is a historical romance novelist whose catalogue lists 61 books from The Fugitive Heiress (1981) to The Kissing Stone (2018). More than twenty-five Scott novels take place in the English Regency period of 1810 to 1820, and others are set in fifteenth-century England or sixteenth- and eighteenth-century Scotland, with three contemporary romances as well. Scott began writing on a dare from a spouse and has sold every manuscript written. Awards include the RITA/Golden Medallion and Romantic Times honours for Best Regency Author and Best Sensual Regency. Series include Highland, Secret Clan, Border Trilogy, Galloway Trilogy and Lairds of the Loch. Scott lives in northern California.

Jennifer Blake is one of five names used by Patricia Maxwell, an American writer in the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. Love's Wild Desire (1977) was her first romance novel and became a New York Times bestseller, while the gothic mystery-suspense titles appeared as Patricia Maxwell, among them The Secret of Mirror House (1969) and Night of the Candles (1978). Louisiana anchors several series, from Louisiana History and Louisiana Gentleman to Louisiana Plantation and Louisiana Knights, across 69 catalogued books ending at True Gentlemen (2017).

Brenda Joyce writes historical romance. The American author, born in New York State around 1963, has 50 catalogued books published between 1988 and 2014, from Innocent Fire (1988) to A Sword Upon The Rose (2014). Family sagas organise much of the work: the deWarenne Dynasty, the Bragg Saga, the Delanzas and the Saint Georges. Francesca Cahill heads a separate sequence, and other series include Masters Of Time, the Spymaster's Men and a Scottish medieval set. Joyce has also signed a novel as B.D. Joyce. No new title has appeared since 2014.

Julia Quinn

39 books• 12 series

Julia Quinn is the pen name of the American novelist Julie Pottinger, born January 12, 1970. Quinn writes historical romance set among the English nobility, and the catalogue holds 39 books from Dancing at Midnight (1995) through to titles dated 2026. Series include the Smythe-Smith Quartet, Bevelstoke, the Lyndon Sisters, the Two Dukes of Wyndham and the Bridgerton short stories. Quinn's novels have been translated into 41 languages and reached the New York Times bestseller list nineteen times, and the Bridgerton books became a Netflix television series of the same name. The Romance Writers of America inducted Quinn into its Hall of Fame.