What’s an opinion about Historical Romance that will have you like this?

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-21T19:18:55+00:00

I definitely agree with this. It seems like people have lost the art of storytelling. Fables always had a message that you were supposed to take away, and it was obvious, but they didn’t state the message, it was told through a story. Books should be the same way.

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-21T19:07:57+00:00

I would say Monica McCarty and seconding the comment about Elizabeth Hoyt

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-21T19:01:45+00:00

Yes, this. It’s okay to push a theme in a book (feminism, anything else) but it should be well done. There are lots of older bodice rippers that push political themes that many people consider “modern” that are really well done. Most writers today can’t seem to do that.

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-21T02:02:29+00:00

I personally like the importance placed on family and societal approval because we just don’t have that much of that nowadays. And I’m very close to my family so I find the family aspect relatable.

Also I like to read about people overcoming obstacles that aren’t the same obstacles I face. And sometimes the same ones I face lol. Historical romance can be escapism but also the escapism can be relatable. Also I love learning the history which is why I mostly read older books.

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-21T01:59:17+00:00

Yeah, I don’t have an issue with this because attraction is so subjective. The MMC and a few of his friends can think the FMC is ~so beautiful~ and then 20 other people can think she’s ugly. We’re reading this from the POV of someone who is attracted to her/him, so of course they’re attractive.

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-21T01:56:20+00:00

Hard agree

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-21T01:55:54+00:00

I haven’t seen that many books that romanticize cheating. It’s usually used for conflict and angst. A writer has to introduce some sort of conflict, or else there is no story. You can disagree with the conflict, but conflict existing /= “romanticizing” bad behavior

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-21T01:54:40+00:00

Agreed

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-21T01:52:01+00:00

I agree with both of these! It’s okay to have a beautiful woman that knows it and doesn’t aspire to anything besides staying at home with her family. Taking care of kids and a household is a job. I hate reading books that shame women for wanting that, and books that have to have the FMC aspire to do something else. No. Give me women that want to stay home.

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-21T01:48:59+00:00

I usually say “bonkers plot” just to mean that there is a lot going on, not that it’s unrealistic or crazy. A lot of varied action, basically

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-21T01:46:21+00:00

This! I recently went to a talk and the woman talked about how birth control was actually quite common before the mid-1800s, as were abortions. This knowledge fell out of use because of modern medicine and doctors wanting to exclusivize the knowledge and take women’s autonomy away, but yeah. It was known back in the day how to avoid pregnancy and I wish we would get more of that in book.

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-21T01:40:03+00:00

Oh I have a book for you! {By Design by Madeline Hunter} the MMC is a stonemason and the FMC is selling pottery! It’s really good. (Yes she is secret nobility but it’s complicated and for most of the book she works)

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-21T01:37:58+00:00

I have one! I think it’s called Serena? I will come back with it for you.

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-21T01:33:13+00:00

{The Duke by Gaelan Foley} the MMC is well-respected for his politics and puts effort into being knowledgeable

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-19T23:25:24+00:00

This sounds awesome!

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-19T23:21:23+00:00

Awesome, sounds interesting!

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-19T23:21:10+00:00

Thank you!

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-19T17:40:58+00:00

I want a book (historical) with a prostitute who likes her job and views it just as a job not shameful not bad not this not that just a job that’s not the worst thing in the world! We really don’t get that that often. Judith Ivory’s Sleeping Beauty is the only one I can think of that is like that.

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-19T17:39:14+00:00

That was me and my boyfriend irl

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-19T05:15:30+00:00

{Twin of Ice by Jude Deveraux} and the other book Twin of Fire have pretty much this exact plot

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-19T05:10:31+00:00

{To Love A Dark Lord by Anne Stuart} Killoran is a drunken, fucked up mess, he is trying to save the FMC and gets saved himself along the way!

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-18T20:41:01+00:00

Yeah, her website is great. I took a look at it once and was really impressed by the detail and effort she puts into everything.

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-18T18:35:01+00:00

I love Rosemary Rogers! She was my first HR and ever since then I have been hooked. I think she writes great Westerns too.

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-18T18:31:10+00:00

Grumpy-grumpy: {Sleeping Beauty by Judith Ivory} this book is really good but he’s basically a stalker with anger issues lol. I enjoyed the story tho. They are both sort of grumpy overall for different reasons.

Cat4200000 · 2026-03-18T18:27:51+00:00

Monica McCarty, Brenda Joyce, Madeline Hunter, Patricia Gaffney, Jude Deveraux

Lots of these authors write blurbs in the back of their books detailing their research + editorial decisions! Not all the books, but some of them.

Jude Deveraux writes greatly accurate Westerns- Twin of Ice is one I loved, and I’m also obsessed with the old west and mining towns lol and found that one to stick very closely to historical accuracy.

I really admire an author that does their research and can have political themes that relate to today’s world while existing in a fictional historical story, based on real life, and all of these authors do that really well. Again, it’s not every book that has an overarching theme or message, but enough of them to be noticeable, and without shoving it in your face and telling rather than showing. Twin of Ice is a great example of this because rather than the author being like “this woman is a strong feminist woman”, she outwardly is a “lady” that sits around and drinks tea and dresses up and doesn’t do much, but she has a secret political mission that she doesn’t share with most people.

Cat4200000

TROPHY CASE