Historical Fiction
QUEEN BEE by Amalie Howard
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Heiress Miss Lyra Whitley has come to the London Season with one goal in mind: revenge.
Her first Season shouldn’t have been like this. Lady Ela Dalvi, daughter of an earl, should have arrived in London with every expectation of making a good match, maybe even to the boy she loved: Lord Keston Osborn, Marquess of Ridley, son and heir to the Duke of Harbridge, who moved near her family’s ancestral seat when they were fifteen. But that was before her childhood best friend Poppy, consumed with jealousy for Ela’s friendship with Kes, spread a vicious rumor that ruined her reputation and got Ela banished to a reform school for “ruined” girls in Cumbria. For years, Ela stewed in her desire for vengeance, and now with a benefactor’s fortune behind her and her true identity hidden, she is going to destroy the friend who wronged her and the boy who believed the lies and turned his back on her.
But revenge is more complex than she anticipated, and although her plans go well from the start, allowing her immediate access to her enemies’ inner circles, new friendships make her question how brutal she is willing to be to take Poppy down. Worse, every time she’s with Kes, her old feelings stir to the surface–and Kes seems to be falling in love with “Miss Whitley.” Could Kes be worth letting go of years of anger? And even if she forgives him, will he forgive her for a Season of lies?
Beckoning to fans of Netflix’s Bridgerton, Howard incorporates an “anti-history” of racial and ethnic diversity and tolerance into her Regency-esque world, although she doesn’t grapple with racism and colonialism in this work they way she typically does in her adult romances. Tailoring the Regency Romance genre for a younger audience, she also eschews steamy love scenes (and sex in general) and focuses not on the more mature themes of matrimony and parenthood typically on the minds of Regency teenaged heroines but instead on cliques, crushes, and more modern-feeling teen camaraderie. It is a compelling foray into the YA sphere, and I hope that Howard continues bringing her wonderful sense of humor and perspective as a biracial author to this age group.
TO SWOON AND TO SPAR by Martha Waters
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When Viscount Penvale’s uncle offers him the chance to buy Penvale’s childhood home–on the condition that he marry his uncle’s socially inept ward, Jane Spencer–Penvale feels it’s worth the sacrifice. The lady may be insufferable, and not particularly attracted to him, but she assures him she isn’t being coerced and agrees to a chaste marriage of convenience. It’s only after they are married that his uncle reveals the second catch: the estate Penvale has just purchased is haunted.
Jane’s scheme worked too well. When she began faking the haunting of Trethwick Abbey, she’d hoped to merely drive her odious guardian to spend more time in town, to free herself from his micromanagement while getting to stay in the beautiful estate she’d come to love. Unfortunately, the bloody christening gown in his bedchamber scared the man so badly he went and sold the manor–and Jane’s hand in marriage along with it. Now she has another wealthy, controling man to frighten out of her life. But Penvale doesn’t seem as easy to scare away as his uncle, and he may be as attached to Trethwick Abbey as she is. Determined to find out which of the staff is pretending to haunt–and why–Penvale begins nightly searches of the manor, dragging an increasingly anxious Jane along with him. The more time they spend together, however, the more Jane’s feelings of antagonism warm to friendship, and as Penvale comes to better understand his abrasive bride, their determination to remain married “in name only” begins to fade until ghosts aren’t the only secrets lurking between them.
This steamy enemies-to-lovers Regency romance continuation of Waters’ series that includes To Marry and to Meddle will delight fans of the series or newcomers to Waters’ work (although I recommend reading To Love and to Loathe first since it’s hero/heroine feature prominently as secondary characters in this one, and it is also my personal favorite in the series). The antagonism is believable, the premise deliciously absurd, and the sparring full of crackle. I recommend the whole “Regency Vows” series to fans of the genre!
A TEMPEST AT SEA by Sherry Thomas
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Following the events of Miss Moriarty, I Presume, Charlotte Doyle has spent months in hiding, isolated from her closest allies, even her lover Lord Ingram. Nothing tempts her to risk exposure to Moriarty’s numerous spies until Lord Remington offers his protection in exchange for Charlotte performing a service for the crown and retrieving a sensitive item from a possible spy. Remington’s protection might actually allow Charlotte to return to normal life, and so she reaches out to her allies and dons a new disguise to board a passenger vessel and hunt a spy. With Lord Ingram, Mrs. Watson, and Lydia aboard, Charlotte has plenty of allies to help achieve her mission, but the presence of a police inspector on board and the unexpected arrival of Lady Holmes throws a wrench into her plans and threatens her exposure. And when one of the passengers is murdered–and Lady Holmes a suspect–Charlotte must discover which of her fellow passengers is a murderer and which an agent of her most sinister enemy.
It might have been difficult to keep momentum up in an enclosed setting, especially after the dramatic finale of Charlotte’s previous adventure, but Thomas does so with seeming ease, immediately reestablishing every delightful Lady Sherlock trope–from clandestine meetings between Charlotte and her allies to disguises and hidden identities–within a tightly plotted, Agatha Christie-esque mystery. Fans of the series will not be disappointed! Newcomers, however, will want to begin with book one to fully appreciate the tie-ins from previous Moriarty encounters.
UNDER A VEILED MOON by Karen Odden
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Inspector Michael Corravan has found his stride at Scotland Yard, although some will never accept him due to his Irish heritage and background as thief and boxer in Whitechapel. Corravan has tried to distance himself from his past, but that grows more difficult when murders and vandalism in his old neighborhood get dangerously close to his foster family–leading him to suspect that his foster brother Colin might be mixed up with the vicious gang that drove Corravan out of Whitechapel years earlier.
When a tragic boat crash on the Thames leaves hundreds dead, Corravan’s superiors suspect the Irish Republican Brotherhood might be involved. Corravan has his doubts, but when the papers get wind of a possible Irish scandal–with a Parliamentary bill for Irish Home Rule gaining traction–they’re quick to leap to conclusions. The only remedy is for Corravan to continue his detailed inquiry, to shake off the threats and suspicions of anti-Irish colleagues trying to get him thrown off the case, and find out what Colin’s gotten mixed up in before he’s just another body in the gutters of Whitechapel.
Character depth and cogent themes balance high-stakes in this Victorian mystery which will appeal to fans of police procedurals. Clues unfold at an even pace while the interwoven family drama ramps up intensity toward a thrilling climax. The second in the Inspector Corravan series, UNDER A VEILED MOON picks up where the previous book left off, but includes enough context (and a wealth of character development) that it will be easy for new readers to fall right into the well-developed historical world. Both this novel and its predecessor (DOWN A DARK RIVER) are perfectly plotted, character-rich procedurals for fans of the genre!
THE DUKE IN QUESTION by Amalie Howard
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Desperate to use her privilege as a white noblewoman to contribute to the fight for racial justice, Lady Bronwyn Chase accepted the clandestine identity as “the Kestrel,” a spy not exactly in the employment of the Crown. Unfortunately, she has caught the Crown’s notice, and on her first transatlantic mission to help turn the tide of the American Civil War, the Kestrel is pursued by one of their most stoic former agents, Lord Valentine Medford, the Duke of Thornbury and best friend to Bronwyn’s half brother, the mixed-race Duke of Ashvale.
Bronwyn has long been attracted to Lord Valentine. Valentine on the other hand can’t imagine being romantically interested in the superficial personality Bronwyn projects–and he would never guess that she was the elusive Kestrel. Yet, Valentine finds himself drawn inexplicably and inexorably to Bronwyn, and when her assignment goes wrong, he is there to save her life–and arrest her. Bound together by conflicting duties, Bronwyn can no longer escape their smoldering attraction to one another. But will they be able to let one another go to save their reputations–and Bronwyn’s neck?–or will an unavoidable, passionate affair ruin them both?
Immediately following RULES FOR HEIRESSES, this sizzling enemies-to-lovers romance continues Howard’s nuanced exploration of gender, class, and race in the Victorian Era with the same perfect execution of historical romance tropes that will thrill fans of the genre, plus a dash of romantic suspense a la Sherry Thomas’s HIS AT NIGHT and MY BEAUTIFUL ENEMY. Wrestling with their privilege and desire to be allies, the white hero and heroine consistently run up against barriers of systemic racism, while injustice constrains characters of color–even those advantaged by wealth and title. Yet like all satisfying romances, the plot ends with hope and love–plus a thick cloud of steam. Highly recommend to readers of the genre and fans of the Netflix adaptation of BRIDGERTON.
RUST IN THE ROOT by Justina Ireland
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As a Floramancer and young woman of Afrikan ancestry, Laura has always known the Prohibition targeted her people specifically. When the Great Rust set in in the 1930s, the small-time Negro mages bore the brunt of the blame, even though white Mechomancers were the ones who’d taken the purity of the power imbued in in nature (the Possibilities) and exploited it for financial gain in their Industrial Revolution. But the Blights are getting worse, and the U.S. government has put the dangerous burden of fixing it on the Bureau of the Archane’s Colored Auxiliary.
With few options for gaining a license to practice Floramancy–or even earn enough money to live–Laura takes a new name (the Peregrine) and an apprenticeship with the Floramancer known as the Skylark who is tasked with finding the source of a particularly rotten Blight in Ohio. But when the Colored Auxiliary arrives, the Peregrine and her mentor realize something is wrong. The Blight bears an alarming resemblance to the Klan’s Necromancy–a horrific evil that touched the Skylark’s life once before. And as they travel toward the heart of the dark magic, the Peregrine realizes that there were secrets within her power she was keeping even from herself.
Justina Ireland once again proves herself the queen of historical fantasy, crafting a richly grounded world with a detailed, inventive magic system that both accentuates past evils and demands that readers recognize and analyze alarming trends in the modern world. She perfectly balances her voice with historical colloquialisms and modern sensibility and weaves a cast of nuanced secondary characters to support her heroine. This novel is a must-read for YA and NA fantasy fans! I cannot recommend it highly enough.
TO MARRY AND TO MEDDLE by Martha Waters
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Julian’s proposition is perfectly logical. By gaining a respectable wife, he will be able to shake off some of the scandal that surrounds his operating a theater business. And by marrying, Emily will no longer be a pawn of her father, who plans to insist on her engagement to the loathsome man who holds his gambling debts. The marriage will be convenient to both of them.
But once she is wed, Emily finds that she is no longer content to be the perfect, respectable lady, caring for the household and the whims of the man who controls her life. She wants to be helpful to her husband in more ways than by entertaining the ladies of the ton. She wants to take an active role in her husband’s work. Julian is horrified–the entire point of the marriage was to pull his theater out of scandal, not embroil it in more! But the only thing more inconvenient to their marriage of convenience would be if Julian and Emily actually fell in love…
Waters is quickly becoming one of my favorite Regency Romance authors! She hits the tropes spot on for a fun, devourable read. Heroine and plot are both more subdued in this novel compared with the previous two of the series, but Violet and Diana and their much-aggrieved gentlemen make substantive appearances in the novel’s most hilarious scenes. (Diana and Jeremy’s wedding is quite spectacular.) I recommend this title to fans of the genre, especially the “Marriage of Convenience” trope.
A DUKE, THE SPY, AN ARTIST, AND A LIE by Vanessa Riley
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Felton knows immediately that the landscape of Port Royal his friend found in Covent Garden was painted by his estranged wife–and now he has some idea of where to search for her. He doesn’t blame Cecilia for leaving him, not after he accused her of infidelity with his father. But since realizing that he was actually in love with the beautiful woman he married to save his own life when a spy mission turned deadly, he has been desperate to find her.
But Cecilia has been back on the island of her birth searching for her own family–her true family. Marriage to Felton was nothing like the adventure he promised. With him gone for months at a time on missions and most of his family discriminating against her for the color of her skin, her artistically-minded father-in-law was her only defender and source of happiness. Her husbands accusations were merely final blow to a marriage that was already dying. But when she finds her free-born sister, who was sold into enslavement by Felton’s cousin, just in time for her to die in her arms, Cecilia realizes she may have to return to her estranged husband. Because a former spy might be the only person who can help her achieve her greatest desire: revenge.
All Regency romances stretch the historical truth, embellishing the “Marriage Mart” into a ton where Dukes are plentiful and “love matches” abound. Riley allows Black characters to into that world–not only through the romanticized history of marriage in the peerage but also in the historical realities for people of color in Regency England: the tens of thousands of free Black people as well as the free and enslaved people Black people in colonized Jamaica. Riley’s romances are more history-laden than most historical romances, and her writing style is more literary, so be prepared for a slower but richer read. I highly recommend all three of Riley’s Rogues and Remarkable Women books to fans of Regency Romance novels and to fans of the Netflix series “Bridgerton.”
THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEWOMAN WITCHES by India Holton
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There are no such things as witches. Charlotte Pettifer certainly isn’t one. And she certainly hasn’t been selected as the future leader of the secret League of Gentlewoman Witches because no such organization exists because witches don’t exist. And if they did exist, their future leader would certainly be discrete enough not to mount her broom in St. James’ Square in broad daylight and fly over the crowded streets just to escape a confrontation with a despicable and distressingly attractive Irish pirate.
But of course, Charlotte is a witch and the League’s rightful heir and therefore the only person with the legitimate right to steal the amulet that belonged to the foundress of the League (and, I suppose it must be mentioned, the creator of the spell that gave the pirates the ability to fly their battle houses over London). And when one such pirate steals the amulet for herself, Charlotte does not hesitate to commandeer a pirate’s house to give chase–both to retrieve her amulet and to get a second taste of the delightful freedom of flight. That she happens to commandeer the house of the Irish pirate is purely coincidental. That they appear to have formed an alliance is merely a distortion of the true reality that they are committed enemies who very maliciously kidnapped each other. That they occasionally find themselves locked in a broom closet together, their eyes locked, their bodies pressed close…well, everyone needs a bit of exercise…
Sometimes I skim books. Shameful, but true. But not this book–I couldn’t risk missing a single, hilarious word! From the absurdity of this series’ premise to the banter between the hero and heroine to the wealth of cleverly overturned literary allusions, I was laughing aloud the whole time. Add to that the deliciously steamy romance, thrilling adventure plot, and substantive cameos from the hero/heroine of the previous book, and you have a five star historical romance that you won’t be able to put down. I cannot recommend this series highly enough!
THE RED PALACE by June Hur
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Hyeon worked her whole life to become a palace nurse. It wasn’t an easy path for her, especially without the support of her father, a prominent justice who barely acknowledges her and her mother, who was once his concubine. Hyeon’s success as a nurse and rise to the prestigious palace position was largely thanks to her mentor, Nurse Jeongsu.
But when a massacre at the student hospital leaves four women dead, Nurse Jeongsu is arrested under suspicion of murder. And when an anonymous pamphlet circulates accusing the Crown Prince of the murders, Hyeon realizes two terrible truths: first, that Nurse Jeongsu will be convicted and executed to divert suspicion from the Palace, and second, that Hyeon herself has unwittingly provided the prince with a false alibi by claiming to treat his illness that night. She knows she must investigate the massacre herself if she has any hope of saving her mentor from execution, even when it means defying her father and forming an unlikely alliance with the young and unconventional police inspector who seems to respect her, despite her being a woman and a commoner, but who has the power to destroy her life–or maybe break her heart. But Hyeon will risk her heart, her job, and her father’s disapproval to uncover the truth. Unfortunately, with so many bloody secrets hidden within the Palace walls, the truth may cost her life.
Suspenseful, romantic, and rich with the fascinating history of the Korean Joseon Dynasty, THE RED PALACE is perhaps my favorite June Hur novel yet! She seamlessly weaves together the story of a young woman struggling to find her place in her family and her society with a based-on-a-tragic-true-story murder mystery–plus, a swoon-worthy romance that delighted my historical-romance-loving heart. I highly recommend this novel for any YA collection and to any teen and adult fans of historical mysteries.
Susan the Librarian 