When you’re in the mood for a more unusual historical romance novel, it can sometimes be hard to find. After all, we historical romance readers love to return to the familiar. Yet there are plenty of historical romance books out there that follow the patterns we love (like starchy families, miscommunications, and happily ever afters) while exploring something a little different than usual.
In this post, I’m rounding up six unusual historical romance novels. Each one is distinct in its own way. Some take us to settings outside of England. Others feature love stories that are not heterosexual, or not in the same class and race that predominate the historical romance genre. These are just to get you started if you’re looking for a historical romance a little different than your usual read.
Check out my recommendations for unusual historical romances when you’re looking for something a little different.
Unusual: Set Outside of England
There are plenty of historical romance books that aren’t set in Great Britain. One that stands out in my mind is The Devil Comes Courting, which takes place in China with a Chinese heroine and an American hero, both of whom are navigating the bureaucracy of the British empire.
The Devil Comes Courting
By Courtney Milan
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.30
Synopsis:
Captain Grayson Hunter knows the battle to complete the first worldwide telegraphic network will be fierce, and he intends to win it by any means necessary. When he hears about a reclusive genius who has figured out how to slash the cost of telegraphic transmissions, he vows to do whatever it takes to get the man in his employ.
Except the reclusive genius is not a man, and she’s not looking for employment.
Amelia Smith was born in Shanghai, and taken in by English missionaries. She’s not interested in Captain Hunter’s promises or his ambitions. But the harder he tries to convince her, the more she realizes that there is something she wants from him: She wants everything. And she’ll have to crack the frozen shell he’s made of his heart to get it.
Unusual: Not About the Aristocracy
Much of historical romance is either about the British aristocracy or the rich and famous. However, sometimes it is fun to read about how the working and serving classes lived. That’s why Listen to the Moon stands out to me. In this novel, a maid servant and a valet get married - and then have to navigate what it means to be married while working.
Listen to the Moon
By Rose Lerner
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.02
Synopsis:
She’s a maid-of-all-work, and he’s a valet of no play...
John Toogood always prided himself on being the perfect gentleman’s skilled, discreet, and professional. But now he finds himself laid off and blacklisted, stuck in tiny Lively St. Lemeston until he can find a new job. Any job.
His instant attraction to his happy-go-lucky maid Sukey Grimes couldn’t come at a worse time. Her manners are provincial, her respect for authority nonexistent, and her outdated cleaning methods...well, the less said about them, the better.
Sukey can tell that John’s impeccably impassive facade hides a lonely man with a gift for laughter—and kissing. But she also knows he’ll leave her sleepy little town behind the moment he gets the chance, and she has no intention of giving him her heart to take with him.
John learns that the town vicar needs a butler—but the job is only for a respectable married man. Against both their better judgments, John and Sukey tie the knot. The ring isn’t on her finger long before Sukey realizes she underestimated just how vexing being married to the boss can be...
Unusual: Sapphic Series
While queer historical romances are on the rise, there aren’t too many sapphic (also referred to as lesbian or F/F) romances out there, let alone a whole series dedicated to them. That’s why Olivia Waite’s Feminine Pursuits series stands out in my mind as unusual. Start out with book number one and enjoy the quiet, passionate stories.
The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics
By Olivia Waite
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.01
Synopsis:
As Lucy Muchelney watches her ex-lover’s sham of a wedding, she wishes herself anywhere else. It isn’t until she finds a letter from the Countess of Moth, looking for someone to translate a groundbreaking French astronomy text, that she knows where to go. Showing up at the Countess’ London home, she hoped to find a challenge, not a woman who takes her breath away.
Catherine St Day looks forward to a quiet widowhood once her late husband’s scientific legacy is fulfilled. She expected to hand off the translation and wash her hands of the project—instead, she is intrigued by the young woman who turns up at her door, begging to be allowed to do the work, and she agrees to let Lucy stay. But as Catherine finds herself longing for Lucy, everything she believes about herself and her life is tested.
While Lucy spends her days interpreting the complicated French text, she spends her nights falling in love with the alluring Catherine. But sabotage and old wounds threaten to sever the threads that bind them. Can Lucy and Catherine find the strength to stay together or are they doomed to be star-crossed lovers?
Unusual: Deals with alcoholism
Most historical romances shy away from dark, complex topics in order to provide a light, escapist read. However, sometimes, you want to see beloved characters go through the healing process. That is certainly true in The Rakess by Scarlett Peckham, where the heroine struggles with alcoholism, and ultimately has to reckon with it in a realistic recovery process before she can create her own happily ever after.
The Rakess
By Scarlett Peckham
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.86
Synopsis:
She's a Rakess on a quest for women's rights…
Seraphina Arden's passions include equality, amorous affairs, and wild, wine-soaked nights. To raise funds for her cause, she's set to publish explosive memoirs exposing the powerful man who ruined her. Her ideals are her purpose, her friends are her family, and her paramours are forbidden to linger in the morning.
He's not looking for a summer lover…
Adam Anderson is a wholesome, handsome, widowed Scottish architect, with two young children, a business to protect, and an aversion to scandal. He could never, ever afford to fall for Seraphina. But her indecent proposal—one month, no strings, no future—proves too tempting for a man who strains to keep his passions buried with the losses of his past.
But one night changes everything…
What began as a fling soon forces them to confront painful secrets—and yearnings they thought they'd never have again. But when Seraphina discovers Adam's future depends on the man she's about to destroy, she must decide what to protect…her desire for justice, or her heart.
Unusual: Middle-eastern protagonists
Most British historical romances feature white characters whose families have lived in Britain since William the Conqueror. I found it very refreshing to discover Diana Quincy, who often writes nineteenth century romances featuring middle-eastern characters. In The Marquess Makes His Move, both protagonists are Lebanese, a fact and identity that bonds them together.
The Marquess Makes His Move
By Diana Quincy
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.94
Synopsis:
The new footman doesn't seem to know his place...
London's most renowned mapmaker is a woman...but nobody knows it. If anyone discovers that Rose Fleming is the power and talent behind the family business, the scandal could ruin them. Rose's secret is tested by the arrival of a handsome new footman who shows far too much interest in his new mistress. Rose battles an intense attraction to the enigmatic servant, but maintaining a proper distance isn't easy when you and temptation live under the same roof.
She makes him forget he has a score to settle...
Few have met the reclusive half-Arab Marquess of Brandon, who is rumored to live with a harem of beauties among his mother's people near Jerusalem. Brandon couldn't care less what society thinks of him, or that his fellow peers are disdainful of his common blood, but he won't stand for being robbed. That's why he's disguised himself as a footman in the home of a respected mapmaker who cheated Brandon out of his land. But the nobleman's plans for retribution are complicated by his growing attraction for the secretive lady of the house.
When Brandon uncovers the shocking truth about Rose's role in his stolen birthright, can a love born of d
Unusual: Heroines who know about sex
Many historical romances cast heroines who have no idea about sex, even if they are widows (sometimes referred to as the surprise virgin trope). Yet we know that women had sex frequently back in the day, not only from primary sources but also because we all exist today. While it doesn’t seem unusual to me that heroines might know about sex, many reviewers comment that my heroine Sophia is unusual because of her sexual agency in The Governess Without Guilt.
The Governess Without Guilt
By Katherine Grant
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.72
Synopsis:
Sophia Preston wants adventure, excitement, and self-determination. She hired herself out as a governess to gain independence, and now she has it at Robin Abbey: every day, she gets to mind the Cosgrove children, eat the Cosgrove’s food, and live by Cosgrove’s rules.
When John Anderson arrives as accoucheur ahead of Lady Widlake’s next baby, Sophia immediately sees the potential for excitement. Who wouldn’t want to seduce the handsome young doctor who is guaranteed to move on once Lady Widlake’s baby is born?
John doesn’t mind flirting with the intriguing governess - as long as they aren’t caught. He has goals, and they don’t include ruining his reputation. Still, he must admit that Miss Preston is everything he ever wanted in a woman: smart, beautiful, unlike anyone else he has ever met…
When counterfeit bank notes surface in town, the authorities suspect someone at Robin Abbey is the criminal. Suddenly, both Sophia and John are put under the microscope. They have no choice but to band together to find the true culprit. The only question is: will they find true love, too?