I am shocked no one has mentioned The Prize by Julie Garwood. It is one of the best and sweetest enemies to lovers, and I re-read it once a year. All of these authors/books though are way better than most of what comes out today.
No list would be complete without adding KATHLEEN E. WOODIWISS. Her stories: The FLAME and the FLOWER, 1972. The WOLF and the DOVE, 1974. Are not to be missed! Should be on everyone's must read list.
‘Whitney My Love’ by Judith McNaught. I’ve read thousands of books and it is still my favorite. It’s dark. Real in the ways that things were different then and not all unicorns and dragons.
Loved The Bride and The Secret by Julie Garwood. She's definitely one of the best historical romance authors for me 💖 And btw I am excited to read the other books you've mentioned in this video. Thank you so much!!
The Came You by Lisa Kleypas made me UGLY CRY, girl... it was soooo good, and of course, we're introduced to Derek Craven in this book - such an emotional story 😍❤
The Secret by Julie Garwood is one of my favorites. All her historicals are great. Also, A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Devereau is fun. That is a time travel historical.
OMG..I was so gonna say that...knight in the shining armour was my first novel 12 years back and after that it was history..along with the secret both are my favorite..our choices click
Most of these are from my favorite historical romance authors. Judith McNaught doesn’t have a bad book. My favorites I read dozens of times as a teenager was Kingdom of Dreams, Once & Always and Whitney My Love. I love most of Julie Garwood books. The Wedding, The Bride and The Secret were my top favs. She’s like McNaught. Doesn’t have a bad or boring book and the sense of humor was great too. Johanna Lindsay has so many. Her Mallory Family books, The Magic of you, A Loving Scoundrel and Gentle Rogue were my top favs. But I also loved Secret Fire, Fires of Winter and Paradise Wild. Most of her books are golden too. Jude Deveraux Montgomery series. My BFF gave my Velvet Song for my 14 bday. I first forage into history romance. I even named my dog Raine after the hero. The Velvet Saga is still one of my favorite books of all time. And Deveraux humor is on point. Her time travel books Legend, Remembrance and A Knight in Shining Armor are great too . Brenda Joyce is another top notch author whose books you should give a try. Promise of the Rose and Violet Fire are my favorites. Sigh. I went back and time. Nostalgia took over.
My absolute favorite is Johanna Lindsey 'Once a Princess' (1991). I've lost count how many times I've read it. It's got a feisty heroine , alpha hero and humor.
Jess, read more mcnaught! Paradise is her best contemporary romance book. Almost all her historical romances are topnotch, esp kingdom of dreams, which you mentioned liking a lot. Try also julie garwoods the wedding. And her For the Roses series (claybornes fsmily). Linda howards Mckenzie family is great too, popular around the 90s (not historical, but full of alpha males galore. lol)
Theres something about old historical romances that hit different. I LOVE older historical romances, especially Julie Garwood, set in medieval times. I'm constantly looking for more
Judith Mcnaught and Johanna Lindsey are my two favorite HisRom authors. 😍😍😍😍 I think women with J in their first name are masters of HisRom novels.😍 Jane Austen, Julie Garwood, Jude Devereux are some proofs
Ransom, by Julie Garwood, is also very enjoyable. It is Gillian and Brodick's story and we see Iain and Judith Maitland again in that book when their young son is rescued by Gillian.
Omg this is my FAVORITE book. I've read it 2 times in 3 months and now I plan to read it again 3 months after the last read. I LOVE it with my whole heart and think about it really often😂😂
For me, the best part of Then Came You is what else, meeting Derek Craven. I read Ravished when if first came out way, way back. I reread it a couple of weeks ago and adored it all over again.
Johanna Lindsey is the Queen of historical romance! I never read a book from her that I don't like and i've read 15+. Savage Thunder is the one I liked best. He is a half blood and she's an English Lady. I love a good brooding hero.
Yeesss!! Love McNaught, love all her historicals and most of her contemporary books! If you love conflict/angst - Lindsey's A Gentle Feuding (deep sigh)
I've been reading Johanna Lindsey since I was a teen. *Love Only Once* is about a large family of brothers but they are her uncles not brothers. Each brother has a book and then they extend to another set of brothers. They are by far the most beloved of Johanna's books. *Hearts Aflame* was my first JL book I ever read and each Haardrad family member has a book. I think it is the best one.
@@lesliethegal4339 Gentle Rogue is my favorite too. It was one of the first romance books I read and I was obsessed with it. My cousin was pregnant at the time and I gave her the idea to name her son James after the main character. I love telling my Godson how he was named after a romance book character.
Sunset Embrace by Sandra Brown is one of her best. Before she got into writing thrillers. Published in the mid 80s. And anything by Lavyrle Spencer! All her books are lovely and gentle romances that are incredibly well written. It's so funny watching you discover these books, when I remember when they were first published! How to make me feel ancient, lol.
It's been so enjoyable and fun watching these younger women gush over 'our' older romances. Lots to be said for an oldey but a goody! Many wonderful historical romances written years ago.
Love Johanna Lindsey! Hearts 💕 Aflame is also one my favorites! Thanks for the new book ideas. I’m checking them all out.I love me a good historical romance😊
The first romances I read were by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, 'The Flame and the Flower' and 'The Wolf and the Dove' - real eye-openers for a 14-year-old! If you want to talk about DARK, there is a series of books from the '70s where the 'hero' locks the heroine in a charnel house (where decaying human skeletons are stored) because she wouldn't sleep with him!
😁 Shout out to John DeSalvo for being the cover model of many of these books. Without him gracing these covers, romance of the 90's and 2000's just wouldn't be the same. Forever and ever one handsome man.
Have you read anything from Bertrice Small yet? Skye O’Malley series is a good start. Bertrice Small research the history for her books to make them more real. (For her time it was very amazing)
Judith Mcnaught is one of my favorite old school romance authors! Have you ever read Virginia Henley? I love her books Tempted, Dream lover, and The Pirate and the Pagan.
Every and I do mean every historical romance book reader must have in their collection is Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase. I promise you will love it - you will have every emotion reading this book.
Georgette Heyerdahl writes the absolute most hilarious conversations. I don’t remember when I started reading romance/historical books, but it seems like forever. Books are the best antidote for a host of maladies! I almost always take a book with me wherever I go.
oh i love u already i am a big fan of JULIE GARWOOD❤️❤️❤️ i kept repeating reading all of them the bride, the gift, oh em gee i have to write all of them here...
Hearts Aflame is my favorite of that series. Fires of Winter (Book 1) is about Kristen’s parents. It’s not a light hearted read. There is some questionable consent. I also enjoyed Love Only Once but I think Gentle Rogue is the best book of the series.
Jess, really "problematic" historical romances came out long before 1992. The 90s is when they started to get tame. Thank you for reading and discussing the older books.
@@MsBluheart I go back to older books there was more challenges, adventure, action and higher stakes. I find a lot of current romance too talky and the stakes are "daddy issues" or communication, and other psychological issues.
Also, finding out so many reccomedations for historical romance books feels like I've just touched a piece of heaven. Big thank you to all the reccomendations in the video and in the comments!💜
Omg I think like 5 books on ur lists are my favorites too 🤣 Johanna Lindsey is what introduce me to hisrom genre, and Lisa Kleypas is the one who made me stay :') I have the Secret by Julie Garwood already on my tbr, just gonna find time to read it, and from ur review I think I might like it. I need more hisrom book with medieval themed background tbh, the regency one kind of bored me lol 🙈 anyway, I would recommend The Joining by Johanna Lindsey as one of the best old school his rom books ever. Just the childhood-enemy-to-lovers trope in medieval settings with a hard headed and a bit tomboy-ish female lead is such a chef's kiss for me 🤣
My favourite old school H.R is definitely 'Suddenly You' by Lisa Kleypas! It's actually my favourite Lisa Kleypas book ( and I've read them all!). I think I love it so much for the combo of a strong independent heroine ( but she is still very sweet!) and I like the fact that it was not strictly based on the aristocratic, restricted and idle world but in a book publishing world where people actually work and have some depth of character! Julie Garwood historicals are generally very good!
Isn't it wonderful how books connect us. After reading your comment I started reading it last night and just finished it. Loved it beautifully written just 2 characters but drawn such beautifully you totally carried away. I have read her Ravenals If you could recommend any other would be delighted💙
I LOVEEE Ravished so much! I can't believe it was published in the 1990s. It felt like I could have been reading an adventurous Julia Quinn novel, so I feel like it will always have timeless appeal
I love seeing the comments of so many of my favorite books ❤️since I was a teenager I loved used bookstores with the older historical romance books. Johanna Lindsey The Mallory/Anderson brothers books, “Prisoner of my Desire” Kathleen E. Woodiwiss “Petals on the River”, “The flame and the Flower” Julie Garwood “The wedding” “The secret” Betina Krahn “The paradise Bargain” Tracy Anne Warren “The Husband Trap”& “My Fair Mistress” Candace Camp “The Hidden Heart” Catherine Coulter “The Hellion Bride” & “The Sherbrooke Bride” Beatrice Small “A Love for all Time” was one of the first romance books I read as a teenager in 2008 😅
I have all the Stephanie Laurens of the Cynster series and there’s a lot of them She has a few other great series as well I adore her books had them all on paper back and slowly have gotten them all on my Kindle also the same with Julie Garwood read everything she’s ever written historical and re-read them at least once a year
Even though I'm a guy I love romances, Historical, Fantasy, High finance, si-fi, etc. A while ago I read a detective/police romance series called "Fatal" series (6 books) by Marie Force since then I've looked for other books and authors in the same category but without success.
Have you read the "In Death" novels by J D Robb? First one is "Naked In Death", they take place in the near future in NYC. She's a Homicide Lieutenant, he's an ultra rich mostly-former criminal mastermind from Ireland.
The first historical romance I ever read was Fires of Destiny by Linda Barlow (published 1986) - such a great story! It's got everything - Elizabethan murder mystery, the Queen's court, heretics, an old witch who lives in the forest, disguises, an abduction to a pirate ship, the Tower of London - I could go on!!
I’m sure I have several since I started reading romance early but my all time fave is probably Annie’s Song by Catherine Anderson! It has stuck with me ever since I read it as a kid. Very cathartic but worth the read. 🥲😮💨👌🏽
With your comments on The Bride, I believe you will love Honor's Splendour by Julie. The scene at the end of the book is great. I always thought it would make a wonderful scene in a movie. Another Amanda Quick you may like is Scandal. I thought it was really well written along with introducing a very small amount of Eastern culture.
Something wonderful and Whitney, My love got me feeling like getting my heart broken again everytime I read it. And other books that I so dearly love were A Rose in Winter - Kathleen Woodiwiss; Your's until dawn - Teresa Medeiros; The Awakening - Jude Deveraux; Hummingbird, Years, November of the heart - Lavryle Spencer
