Best Historical Romance Books 2025: 12 Reads I Actually Recommend

I kept hearing that historical romance is dead.

Meanwhile, my Kindle was full of con artists, courtesans, undercover heiresses, radical wallflowers, and one Scottish hermit earl who absolutely ruined my peace. The books are there. They are just not getting the same megaphone, promo, or algorithm love as other romance subgenres right now.

So consider this your historical romance group chat recap for 2025: the 12 best historical romance books I read this year, ranked from liked-it to full obsession. Not all new releases, not all ballroom-core, and every single one worth your time.

Prefer to watch instead?

This post contains affiliate links. That means we receive a small commission at no cost to you from any purchases you make through these links.

How I ranked these historical romances

I ranked based on reread potential, character chemistry, pacing, and that very scientific metric known as: did I keep thinking about it after I closed the book. I also tried to include range: different heat levels, different settings, and different flavors of fun.

Top 12 best historical romance books 2025 I read (ranked)

12 – How to Train Your Viscount by Courtney McCaskill

This one surprised me. Caro once fell hard for Henry and he humiliated her. Years later she is in trouble over a stolen Egyptian amulet, and the only person who can help her navigate that world is the man who broke her heart. Romcom tone, witty heroine, fun side characters. The first half worked better for me than the second, and it can get a little cringey, but I still had a genuinely entertaining time.

Grab How to Train Your Viscount on Amazon

11 – The Brazen Bluestocking by Tracy Sumner

If you want community and womens roles on the page, start here. She is an earls daughter, proudly a bluestocking, and founder of an organization meant to help women on the cusp of marriage. He is the bastard son of a viscount, half Romani, and built his power from nothing, but society still wants him to be respectable. Slow burn, medium spice, and a heroine actively trying to reshape her world.

Grab The Brazen Bluestocking on Amazon

10 – Sense and Suitability by Pepper Basham

This is the cozy, low angst slot. Sweet, clean, second chance. Years ago he vanished and almost ruined her, and now he is back with a crumbling estate and siblings to support. She cannot solve the money problem for him, but she can help as a friend and matchmaker. Playful banter, adorable kids, comfort-read energy.

Grab Sense and Suitability on Amazon or read my Sense and Suitability book review.

9 – The Gilded Heiress by Joanna Shupe

A different setting, more drama, and higher heat. Gilded Age New York, a street singer who might be a stolen heiress, and a conman who decides to use her resemblance for a scheme. It’s a spicy Anastasia retelling with glamour, secrets, and that delicious problem of catching feelings mid-con.

Grab The Gilded Heiress on Amazon or read my The Gilded Heiress book review

8 – The Austen Affair by Madeline Bell

If you like Jane Austen nerdiness plus time travel, this is catnip. Two feuding costars working on a Northanger Abbey adaptation get zapped into the actual Regency era and have to fake their way through society together. Playful tone, great banter, high charm, lower spice.

Grab The Austen Affair on Amazon

7 – A Duke Never Tells by Suzanne Enoch

This is for readers who want historical romance to be FUN. An heiress goes undercover as a maid in her fiances home to see if he is actually a scoundrel. Meanwhile he has swapped identities with his butler to dodge the engagement. Two romances, mistaken identities everywhere, chaos, and big Tessa Dare energy.

Grab A Duke Never Tells on Amazon

6 – In Scandal with the Duke by Stacy Reid

Highest heat on the list. An American heiress is over fortune hunters and does not want marriage. A duke who is also not looking to marry and is her brother’s friend. They agree on a fling before she returns to America to run her father’s business. Fast burn, very spicy, but still grounded in character and story and very enjoyable.

Grab In Scandal with the Duke on Amazon

5 – Dare to Love a Duke by Eva Leigh

If you want angst plus steam plus a heroine with a backbone, this is it. Forbidden romance between a duke and a woman who runs a secret underground pleasure club. She is not there to be anyones hidden shame, and the class difference tension is the point. Loved it!

Grab Dare to Love a Duke on Amazon

4 – Never Gamble Your Heart by Lindsay Lovise

Nerdy meets rakish. A math-obsessed heroine searching for her missing sister ends up taking a governess position in the house of a gambling den owner as her way in. He may be the missing clue to finding her sister. Smart and snarky dynamic, chemistry, steam, and a thread of mystery.

Grab Never Gamble Your Heart on Amazon

3 – Someone to Watch Over Me by Lisa Kleypas

A Bow Street Runner pulls a famous courtesan out of the Thames. She survives but has amnesia, and now he has to hide her while figuring out who wanted her dead. Forced proximity, danger, and deeply imperfect, unconventional characters. Kleypas is doing what she does best here: layered emotion and messy-real people.

Grab Someone to Watch Over Me on Amazon

2 – Earl Crush by Alexandra Vasti

Grumpy Scottish hermit earl meets radical curvy wallflower, except she is also living a double life as an anonymous writer of seditious pamphlets. She thinks she has been corresponding with the perfect political earl and shows up to propose a marriage of convenience, only to learn the letters were actually written by his disaster brother. Banter, road trip hijinks, politics, and a payoff that lands perfectly.

Grab Earl Crush on Amazon

1 – Don’t Let Your Dukes Grow Up to Be Scoundrels by Louisa Darling

This whole series stole my heart, but start with book one. A lady fortune hunter inherits a dilapidated coaching inn and gets stuck in lots of chaotic inn shenanigans. The barkeeper who keeps riling her up is secretly a duke in disguise. Fresh setting, sharp banter, fun characters, and warm vibes without emotional devastation.

Grab Don’t Let Your Dukes Grow Up to be Scoundrels on Amazon

Quick FAQ

Final Thoughts

If you made it this far, congratulations: your TBR is now absolutely in danger.

If you read any of these authors, tell me which one you started with and whether it worked for you. And if you have a historical romance you loved in 2025 that I did not mention, I need you to drop it in the comments. I am always hunting for the underrated ones the algorithm refuses to serve.

Want more of my best-of-2025 lists? I have a whole series across genres. And even more historical romance books, so you can keep building your reading plan for the year.

Pin It for Later