Swoon! 10 romantic books you’ll love if you blitzed Bridgerton

Because of Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

The Netflix show was adapted from Quinn’s first book, The Duke and I, in the Bridgerton series. Each one focuses on a different sibling, in this case Daphne. New converts might prefer to delve into the Bridgerton family’s past by reading Quinn’s prequel Rokesby series, which goes back a generation to Daphne’s aunt Billie (Sybilla) Bridgerton and the  Rokesbys, who are neighbours.  As a child Billy loved playing with Edward and Andrew Rokesby but they’re grown up now. 

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

The genre can be traced back to 1813  when Austen wrote her most popular romantic novel featuring Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters coming under pressure to make good marriages. When Elizabeth - headstrong, wilful and impulsive -  meets Mr Darcy - taciturn, handsome but socially awkward - it’s pride (his) meets prejudice (hers), which they must both overcome to find happiness. Less bodice-ripping than its modern counterparts but cleverer and funnier.

These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer

From the first lady of 20th century swoon comes this absolute riot of a yarn with a fiery, mysterious, beautiful (and French) heroine Leonie, a laconic and badly-behaved hero - the Duke of Avon, who has a seemingly endless supply of one-liners - plus an irredeemable villain, a breakneck coach chase, frequent outbreaks of cross-dressing and ball after glittering ball stuffed with people in outfits that make Bridgerton's parties look like country dances. Loving it? Try the sequel, The Devil's Cub, next.

Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean

If Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings, half-naked in the boxing ring had you in a sweat, wait till you get your hands on Sarah MacLean’s Bareknuckled Bastards series. Yes it really is called that! In this adventure, feisty heroine Lady Henrietta Sedley has set her heart on being a business-oriented spinster, until she sets eyes on anti-hero Whit, known locally as Beast. He fights dirty and talks dirtier, and fans have called this the filthiest of MacLean’s books.  

Four Nights with the Duke by Eloisa James

More dukes! And James dips a toe into BDSM territory. This time the business exchange - there’s always one -  involves Vander, the Duke of Pindar, who prefers the company of horses to polite Georgian society, agreeing to marry heroine Mia, with the proviso that he will only spend four nights a year with her. Ideal for many you might think. But guess what, once he gets a taste for her, four nights may not be enough.  From the aptly-titled Desperate Duchesses series. 

Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore

A feminist ’n’ frocks iteration of the genre featuring Annabelle Archer as the destitute daughter of a country vicar, who in return for a scholarship to Oxford, must support the rising women’s suffrage movement and recruit influential men to champion the cause. Step forward Sebastian Devereux, the influential but cold Duke of Montgomery. Oooh! The first instalment in Dunmore’s League of Extraordinary Women series, set in 1879 is full of witty banter and quite funny.

Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas

It’s a horny viscount, not a duke this time. Desperate to escape her family’s insistence that she marry a cousin, shy, stammering Evie Jenner proposes a marriage of convenience to extreme bad boy, Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent. The deal is that she will sleep with him but only if he can stay celibate for three months. Steamy! A lot of melting takes place, and not just the snow on the journey as the couple elope to Gretna Green. Part of the Wallflower series, which obsesses its core fans.  

Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding

She came into our lives twenty-five years ago, so it seems reasonable to include lovable Bridge in a ‘historical’ romance round-up, even if no dukes are involved. The 32 year-old singleton’s life revolved around trying to lose weight, stopping smoking and drinking less. Plus of course finding Mr Right, as she chronicled in her diary with disastrous consequences. Boss Daniel Cleaver was demonstrably, deliciously Mr Wrong, but what about handsome stuck-up Mr Darcy?

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

There’s a lot of under-the-kilt action in this terrific time-travelling love story between a Scottish highlander and a doctor, in a series, like Bridgerton, that has already been adapted for TV.  It’s 1946 and Claire Randall walks through a circle of standing stones and is transported back to 1743. As an outlander she is in danger from both Jacobites and Redcoats. Hello Jamie Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior. Utterly preposterous? You bet!

An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole 

Part one of this award-winning spies and slaves Civil War saga features former slave Elle Burns trading in her life of freedom in Massachusetts to spy for the Union Army in the South. When she meets attractive white Detective Malcolm McCall, who is posing as a Confederate soldier and is trained to lie, can she trust her growing feelings for him? Praised for its nuanced portrayal of the racial politics of the era, it’s also a rip-roaring espionage adventure.