The best unexpected love stories in historical romance

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve written almost one hundred historical romances, so when it comes to making a marriage in a book swoonworthy, I know the hard work that an author has to put in. Whether it’s enemies to lovers, instalove, grumpy/sunshine, whatever it is: I have a huge amount of respect for authors who spend the time crafting a love story that makes me absolutely desperate for the wedding. 


I wrote...

A Governess of Great Talents

By Emily E K Murdoch,

Book cover of A Governess of Great Talents

What is my book about?

When a governess of great talents is required, there is only one place the nobility of England go: the Governess Bureau. Finishing with the Earl of Marnmouth's children, Miss Meredith Hubert is given her next assignment - a Duke called Alfred Carmichael with a reputation to maintain and a half-brother who needs controlling.

Archibald is eight years old, and already threatens to ruin the family's reputation as Alfred tries to maintain it. But Meredith has a secret to hide, and she's not the only one. Maids sent away in secret, items missing from the house, there is more than one mystery at Rochdale Abbey. When a Duke falls in love with a governess, there's only one way this can end - in scandal...

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of WolfeBorn

Emily E K Murdoch Why did I love this book?

I adore an arranged marriage trope, and no one does this better in the medieval period than Kathryn Le Veque.

If you adore your romance spiced with politics, intrigue, and passion. I adore how real and three-dimensional Kathryn's characters are, and I think you'll adore how this marriage turns out...

By Kathryn Le Veque,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked WolfeBorn as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Patrick de Wolfe's (Nighthawk) youngest son, Titus, is front and center in this rip-roaring Medieval Romance that will have you on the edge of your seat!


When a de Wolfe mates, he mates for life. And when he falls for a woman, he falls harder than most. But when a scorned woman is involved, anything can happen...


And usually does.


Titus de Wolfe is the youngest of four talented and accomplished sons of the Earl of Berwick. On a visit to London on behalf of his father, Titus meets the woman who will change the course of his future.


Katiana…


Book cover of Trade of a Lifetime

Emily E K Murdoch Why did I love this book?

There are plenty of dukes in historical romance (and I love them!), but I adore this book with a titled lady and a common-born man.

The ‘trade’ elements in this steamy and highly emotional romance from Rebecca Aubrey got me gasping every chapter, and I couldn't walk away until this unusual marriage came together.

By Rebecca Aubrey,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Trade of a Lifetime as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of Highland Pursuits

Emily E K Murdoch Why did I love this book?

I have never found a modern-day author who encapsulates the roaring 1920s in such a resplendent as Emmanuelle de Maupassant: the humour, the wit, the descriptions of the Highlands which Emmanuelle knows so well, and of course, the mystery of eccentric relatives who are not what they seem.

I love this trilogy, with more than one unusual marriage...

By Emmanuelle de Maupassant,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Highland Pursuits as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It's 1928 and Bright Young Things are taking London by storm, but debutante Ophelia's life is all mapped out: marriage to a cod-faced aristocrat and a life of dull respectability.

Refusing to play along, Ophelia is banished to her ancestral home in the Highlands of Scotland.
There, she'll be so bored, she'll come to her senses... won't she?

Meeting her eccentric relatives, Ophelia isn't so sure, and there's utter mayhem as guests arrive for her grandmother's birthday celebrations.

Everyone is having a ball... until tragedy strikes on a moorland shoot.

... don't miss the other two volumes in this hilarious…


Book cover of The Duke's Deceitful Governess

Emily E K Murdoch Why did I love this book?

The queen of histromcoms (yup, that's historical romcoms) Caroline Lee has a hilarious series that makes me laugh literally out loud - and so far, I've actually cried with laughter twice.

This is another governess story but this time with a Scottish laird, outrageous twins, and assassin mystery to boot. You shouldn't say no to this book.

Book cover of Up All Night with a Good Duke

Emily E K Murdoch Why did I love this book?

Any historical romance that takes place in a library is good with me, but Amy Rose Bennett takes this to the next level in this gorgeous book.

With a heroine attempting to avoid marriage, and a widowed duke desperate for a wife, any wife, you can imagine the sizzle in this gorgeous book.

By Amy Rose Bennett,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Up All Night with a Good Duke as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"I can think of the perfect way to keep you occupied and your mind diverted," she murmured. "Come to my room. If you're not too tired..."

Lust flashed in his gaze and then he caught her face between his hands and kissed her. "For you, my beautiful Artemis, I'd stay up all night."

Artemis Jones-"respectable" finishing-school teacher by day and Gothic romance writer by night-has never lost sight of her real dream: to open her own academic ladies' college. When Artemis is unexpectedly called upon by a dear friend, a fellow Byronic Book Club member, to navigate her first London…


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A Theory of Expanded Love

By Caitlin Hicks,

Book cover of A Theory of Expanded Love

Caitlin Hicks Author Of A Theory of Expanded Love

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

My life and work have been profoundly affected by the central circumstance of my existence: I was born into a very large military Catholic family in the United States of America. As a child surrounded by many others in the 60s, I wrote, performed, and directed family plays with my numerous brothers and sisters. Although I fell in love with a Canadian and moved to Canada, my family of origin still exerts considerable personal influence. My central struggle, coming from that place of chaos, order, and conformity, is to have the courage to live an authentic life based on my own experience of connectedness and individuality, to speak and be heard. 

Caitlin's book list on coming-of-age books that explore belonging, identity, family, and beat with an emotional and/or humorous pulse

What is my book about?

Trapped in her enormous, devout Catholic family in 1963, Annie creates a hilarious campaign of lies when the pope dies and their family friend, Cardinal Stefanucci, is unexpectedly on the shortlist to be elected the first American pope.

Driven to elevate her family to the holiest of holy rollers in the parish, Annie is tortured by her own dishonesty. But when “The Hands” visits her in her bed and when her sister finds herself facing a scandal, Annie discovers her parents will do almost anything to uphold their reputation and keep their secrets safe. 

Questioning all she has believed and torn between her own gut instinct and years of Catholic guilt, Annie takes courageous risks to wrest salvation from the tragic sequence of events set in motion by her parents’ betrayal.

A Theory of Expanded Love

By Caitlin Hicks,


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