100 books like Unclaimed

Sapphic historical romances are few and far between, especially ones as intelligently written and historically grounded as Olivia Waite’s. My favorite moves beyond the typical Regency ballroom setting with its slow-burn romance between two 40-something women. Penelope’s a rural beekeeper, and Agatha a London printer, one whose worrisomely politically radical son might be putting her business in danger.

I admire both the lovely writing and the intelligently grounded historical setting (the story takes place against the backdrop of the Queen Caroline affair and the post-Napoleonic repression of the English press). Above all, I appreciate Waite’s deftly crafted and utterly appealing characters, two unconventional business owners who both enjoy their work almost as much as they do one another.

After life as an unpaid servant to her clergyman cousin, Annabelle Archer’s ecstatic to win a scholarship to Oxford from the National Society for Women’s Suffrage—even if accepting means participating in the group’s political campaigning. A drive to sway influential gentleman to the cause lands Annabelle and her new suffragist friends at a house party given by the haughty Duke of Montgomery, a man far more interested in winning back the family properties his father lost gambling than in debating married women’s property rights. Until he starts debating with Annabelle…

A familiar story, plot-wise. The joy here comes from Dunmore's lovely writing, deft characterizations, and the palpable tension she creates between two people on opposite sides who fall into desperate, exhilarating, and completely unwanted love.

The greatest pleasure of an enemies-to-lovers romance? Witty banter. Which you'll find in droves in Brockway's Victorian-set epistolary romance. A conservative Englishman leaves his estate to 19-year-old suffragette Lillian Bede—not because he admires Lily, but because he’s sure she’ll fail to make the estate profitable in five years.

The letters between Lily and her benefactor’s peripatetic explorer nephew Avery Thorne, the man who will inherit the estate if she falls flat, charmed me as they gradually move from competitive satirical banter to mutual tolerance, and then to something more: friendship, affection—and perhaps even love? 

I first read Cole’s novella in early 2017, when tensions between white women and women of color over planning the Women’s March were all over the news. This book helped me to understand those tensions in a way that nonfiction accounts simply hadn’t.

In early 20th century Harlem, Black whorehouse owner Bertha takes care to teach her employees how government works, so they’ll be ready to cast their ballots when New York finally grants women the vote. The “good” women of the Colored Women’s Voting League aren’t pleased by the wishes of “bad” Bertha and her girls to join their efforts, especially when Bertha calls out the racism of their purported white “allies.” Bertha’s budding romance with undocumented alien Amir, a Bengali Muslim, compellingly reinforces the larger political themes of the book.

This book is one of my favorites because it features a strong independent heroine and a duke who decides to be a better man.

Cassandra has no patience with Ashmont—none. She is appalled by his behavior, and she isn’t afraid to tell him. He, on the other hand, is almost immediately smitten with her. It isn’t easy for him to change from a disgrace to a worthy partner, but he doesn’t give up—even when she plainly tells him she won’t marry him.

She threatens to murder him multiple times, and the fight scene with the umbrella is permanently etched into my mind. He might have been wrong about a lot of things, but he loves her exactly as she is.

Lin is well-known among romance aficionados for her groundbreaking Tang Dynasty historical romances. With The Lotus Palace, the first novel in her Pingkang Li Mysteries series, she expands into crime and political intrigue. This is the only non-fantasy or science fiction title on this list, and it’s here because Lin not only crafts an engaging story of murder and romance, she also handles the historical setting like an absolute master. The world of the 9th century Tang capital Changan—from the seedy gambling dens and bars of the Pingkang Li red-light district to the luxurious family compounds of the exclusive northeast quarter—feels familiar and lived-in, rich and complete, fully detailed without reading like a history textbook.

I have enjoyed all the books in the Bridgerton Series, even though, or maybe because, they are much different than the Netflix series by the same name. Julia Quinn is the master of writing about women with an attitude, and this book is no exception. Eloise, thought to be a hopeless spinster, finds herself with a pen-pal. She never expected the widower in the letters to propose, but willing to create a new life for herself, she runs off in the middle of the night to accept his offer. The story that follows is charming, realistic, and thoroughly enjoyable. 

I love Eloise in this story. She is smart and funny and brave. She doesn’t care what anyone thinks, or maybe she simply isn’t afraid to step outside her comfort zone and go against the norm. Whatever the case, the romance in this book is smart and funny. I adore a… show more.

I literally could not stop crying through this entire book. When this novel first begins, we find Kenna Rowan has just been released from jail. She is alone, penniless, and scared with all the cards stacked against her, and she is on a mission to find her daughter. Despite the mystery surrounding the incident that causes Kenna’s incarceration, you are instantly drawn into this character’s vulnerability and sheer force of will and determination. She is at once utterly alone on an island while also strong and brave like a warrior, ready to face the demons in her past in order to find a path back to the daughter that was taken from her. I love all of Colleen Hoover’s novels, but this one shredded me. I couldn’t put it down, had to find out what happened, had to know that Kenna was safe, understood, and vindicated.   

This book is the most fun I’ve ever had reading a romantic comedy—and I’ve read a lot of them! As the title suggests, a lot of this story is told through correspondence between our main couple, and while many authors strive for banter that is funny and flirty, these letters actually were—which is not easy to do!

I had an absolute blast watching Teddy and Everett get to know each other in the midst of a well-formed plot about building a life around what is truly important to you.

Enchanting, action-packed, and full of heart, this book is everything an urban fantasy novel should be. I picked this book up at a library sale, not realizing it was a later book in a series, but the story stood on its own and made me want to run out and buy the rest. The idea of magic families as corporations was unique and intriguing, and Andrews handled it beautifully.

The plot was tightly woven and intense enough that I had trouble setting the book down and blew through it in a few days. I loved the two main characters and their lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers backstory that set up just the right amount of heat for me.