The 10 best historical romance novels to check out this year

Whispered words in drawing rooms. Shuddering breaths in high castle towers. Romantic trysts on the highlands. Moonlight encounters in the manor garden. Oh, if only high school history class had been a little more like this, then we all would have paid more attention. Who cares about the Magna Carta? These historical romance novels are way sexier than a boring piece of paper.

Outlander

Diana Gabaldon quite literally wrote the book on historical fiction. Outlander is a classic (if not THE classic) of the genre. The plot? Imagine you’re a nurse fresh off a World War II medical duty tour. You just want to relax with your husband, so you book a little romantic getaway to the Scottish highlands. While you’re there, you unknowingly place your hands on a magical rock and BAM, suddenly you’re transported back through history to the era of the Jacobite Risings when Scottish Highland clans warred with the English crown in a power struggle. You just so happen to encounter the leader of one of those clans in the hills, and he’s really, really hot. He needs your medical expertise to help his people. You need him because … well, look at him. Strong. Compassionate. Brave. Rugged. What your future husband doesn’t know won’t hurt him, right?

The Song of Achilles

Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles is not technically historical fiction, but it damn well feels like it, and I’ll ride for this novel ’til the day I die. The action takes place during the Trojan War, which many people may be shocked to learn didn’t actually happen. But they don’t have to know that! The star-crossed lovers here are demigod Achilles and his paramour Patroclus, an exiled prince. They become best friends as boys, lovers as teens, and true, war-forged partners in their early 20’s. In classic Greek style, that’s the ripe young age they live to. You’ll sob your heart out, and love every brutally romantic second.

Green Darkness

Anya Seton’s 1972 classic Green Darkness is another genre staple, paving the way for the historical romance novels of today. The plot concerns the young Celia, who seems to be living the mid-century dream. She’s married a fabulously wealthy English aristocrat and is living in his lavish country estate. But something’s wrong. Her husband is withdrawn, and she can’t escape this vague feeling of dread. A spiritual advisor tells her she must go back into her past lives to discover the source of her buried trauma, and she travels 400 years into the past to live as a servant in Tudor-torn England. She becomes wrapped up in a scandalous romance, and the ramifications will ripple through time!

Solomon’s Crown

A forbidden gay romance between kings? God, yes. Natasha Siegel’s Solomon’s Crown is the story of the newly crowned King Philip of France, trying to restore his nation to the heights of glory. The problem? France’s age-old rival England is standing in the way. One Englishman in particular, King Henry, is coming for Phillip’s country. What’s a young king to do? Ally with the English king’s son, Richard. Torn between love and duty, the two men will be forced to decide between their love and the future of their nations. Oh, what a cruel, sexy choice.

A Delicate Affair

Lindsay Evans’ A Delicate Affair reverses the common “polite society girl set free by dashing rogue” trope and brings us a novel where the lady makes the man break bad. Golden Worth had a violent past, sure, but the man fully intends to spend the rest of his days on the straight and narrow in Washington, D.C. Plans go delightfully awry when he meets the debauched debutante Leonie Harper, whose passion for danger has Golden u-turning back to his old law-breaking ways.

The Price of Salt

Harold, this one’s for you. The sapphic historical romance novel that inspired Carol is a doozy. Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt revolves around a disgruntled department store worker named Therese Belivet, whose life is turned upside down once the glamorous Carol walks through the door. Carol is stuck in a marriage just as soul-sucking as Therese’s day job, and the pair bring the fires of passion back into each other’s lives. Their romance may be forbidden in 1950s society, but they can’t bring themselves to care.

A Kingdom of Dreams

A Kingdom of Dreams by Judith McNaught is the story of Jennifer Merrick, a beautiful young Scottish woman wasting *ahem* her life in a convent school. One day, she is abducted by the fierce Royce Westmoreland, Duke of Claymore. Jenny is undaunted by this English enemy and meets his advances with scorn and derision. But Royce “The Wolf” Westmoreland is one deviously charming dude, and Jennifer finds her passions enflamed by the man. It’s a 1989 enemies-to-lovers classic.

Arabella

Georgette Hayer’s titular protagonist Arabella got a pretty sweet deal. She was born as the penniless daughter of a county clergyman, but she’s invited to live with her glamorous godmother in bustling London. Later, Dad! Thrown into English high society, Arabella is on the hunt for a dashing husband. After her carriage breaks down in front of a hunting lodge, she finds … the opposite. The lodge’s owner Robert Beaumaris is a rude, arrogant sort, determined to see Arabella fall from society’s heights. Bella’s got some tricks of her own up her sleeves, though, and Robert won’t know what hit him. An enemies-to-lovers arc, that’s what.

Almost Heaven

Judith McNaught’s Almost Heaven is a tale of scandal! The young Countess of Havenhurst, a lady of noble repute, finds her 19th-century life upended after she’s caught falling into the arms of the salacious gambler Ian Thornton. Her reputation is in ruins, and she spends the next years of her life as an outcast from high society. As fate would have it, she and Ian cross paths once more, and the pair’s passions (against their better judgments) are reignited. Will this dashing rogue bring paradise or damnation? Time and turned pages will tell.

What the Wind Knows

Sick of parlor room romances between rich people? Amy Harmon’s What The Wind Knows is the historical romance novel for you. Anne Gallagher has spent her young American life enraptured by her Irish grandfather’s tales of the old country, but when she finds herself transported back in time to 1921 Ireland, she finds herself in a nation on the brink of war. She’s taken in by the kind (and totally hot) Dr. Thomas Smith, and after the good doctor decides to join the struggle for Irish freedom, she finds newfound flames of love and patriotism burning bright in her heart.