64 books like When the Scoundrel Sins

I am in awe of Diana Gabaldon’s achievements as I relate to her writing while raising three children.

At first daunted by the 850-page length, once I started reading, I became enthralled with the fantasy of Claire’s time-traveling into the past and meeting the love of her life. I fell in love with the beautiful boy-man, Jamie. He reminded me of the love of my life. Gabaldon’s handling of the attraction between Claire and the Scottish highlander is beguiling, especially in the sexual scenes.

Weaving their love story into real history, her descriptions, plots, and prose are exquisitely compelling. I am committed to reading the entire series. In a word, Outlander is un-put-downable! 

There just aren’t enough words to describe how perfectly satisfying this novel is. I started it and couldn’t put it down until the very delicious end.

Natalie and August butt heads from the moment they first meet, constantly throwing jabs at one another, neither giving an inch. When Natalie suggests a marriage of convenience benefiting each of them, she doesn’t anticipate the feelings that bombard her from the moment she says, “I do.”

There is nothing more delectable than a man in uniform and August is a Navy SEAL through and through, but has a heart of gold who wants to help and protect those he loves. When he realizes the depth of his feelings for Natalie, it is like an explosion that only a SEAL can navigate.

Who doesn’t love a cowboy, a marriage arranged by two loving fathers, and two souls who have lost something precious?

Cowboy novels are downright delicious and Linda Broday has a knack for making you fall for tough but sensitive cowboys who passionately protect those they love. Lara and Houston meet for the first time on their wedding day. When Houston lifts the wedding veil, he finds a woman with beautiful green eyes, an ugly scar marring her cheek but a defiant glean in her hope-filled eyes.

Houston decides he will protect this woman and will avenge those who hurt her if it’s the last thing he does. I’ve loved cowboy novels for years and will devour Linda Broday’s novels as soon as they are released.

I couldn’t put this book down. I cried, I laughed, and I cheered for Finn and Beth to find their happily ever after.

This novel didn’t have what I would consider a typical marriage of convenience trope, but it developed regardless. No one is forcing them into a relationship but circumstances do push them there and both agree for very different reasons. Each have experienced a significant tragedy but one has fought their way out of the pain and wasn’t going to let it define them, while the other was still struggling.

Their chemistry was off the charts and you could practically feel it oozing off the page. Beth’s insight into Finn’s pain was touching and when Finn finally realized that he could love her, just made my heart burst.

I’m a sucker for all things Royal! Give me a prince and/or princess looking for love in today’s world, and I’m sold. This one has a princess and a prince!

Imagine you’re a princess bidden to enter a marriage of convenience with a neighbouring land’s prince. Then, on your wedding day, you get into an accident, your new husband dies, and when you wake from a coma, you find you’ve now been legally married off to the new Crown Prince, aka your late husband’s younger brother. And he’s hot as sin itself!

This one is more on the steamy side, but don’t let it deter you. Amidst all the heat is a treasure trove of feels and warring emotions and a seismic journey of falling for the "wrong" person who now happens to be exactly the right one!

I love the heroine in this book. She’s an unconventional young woman with a seemingly insurmountable flaw, or two. Her considerable knowledge about farming and her forthright nature discourages suitors in spite of her hefty dowry. If that were not enough, her eyes are two different colors and more than one person suspects her of being fey. Phoebe acts as if she doesn’t give a toss and lives her life on her own terms. When presented with an unusual solution, she acts and does not look back. I loved Phoebe, her feisty nature, and was reminded by her that there are solutions to the dilemmas in life if one holds a forward-looking attitude. This is a shorter read that left me wanting more. 

You like your small, introspective, architecture-of-a-marriage stories? Well, here’s the Romance version. Nothing really happens, plot-wise. It is simply a masterclass of two characters matched in every way that matters, ready to destroy everything they could potentially have because they’re scared of getting hurt. Humorous. Hot. Nerdy. Incisive. Affecting. This will introduce you to the basic foundation of Historical Romance—essentially, “the marriage plot”—in the quiet way you’re looking for.

Recalling Ibbotson’s personal experience of leaving Austria for England before Hitler’s Anschluss, The Morning Gift is a witty and warm marriage of convenience story between a witty and intrepid archaeologist, Quinton Somerville, and a brilliant professor’s daughter Ruth Berger. When Ruth is accidentally left behind in Vienna after her family has emigrated to England, Quin marries Jewish Ruth and protects her from oncoming Nazi occupation: under the condition that they will part ways when both are safely back in London. But Quin and Ruth continue to run into each other again and again and again. A deliciously Austrian-flavoured book. Ibbotson’s Viennese set-sequences and memories are a love letter to her city.

A steamy billionaire romance novel, this book kept me sitting at a hotel bar late into the night. It was one of the first indie romance novels I read and made me consider a world where writing romance could be my reality. A secretary and her boss decide on a marriage of convenience in exchange for two million dollars. It is an easy read that features everything we love about contemporary love stories.

I’m of Indian heritage, and when I see Indian-origin protagonists, I’m on it like white on rice! Add to it another trope: I love the marriage of convenience, and I was hooked.

Now, you can expect Indian protagonists to mean Indian families, usually big, often messy, and definitely loud. I just needed a Bollywood-style soundtrack in the background, and this one would’ve been a perfect blockbuster from Bollywood.

Vash Karuppa also knows how to write feelings, delve deep, and make you feel everything that’s roiling inside her main characters’ hearts. Definitely, a thrilling, colourful, boisterous ride where love is swept along whether it wants to or not!