For the past, I would say, two years I’ve been reading more and more historical romance, and I don’t regret it at all. I’m not sure why I put off reading historical romance for so long. It’s the combination of two of my favourite genres, historical fiction and romance. And the way that I love it shows. 

I’m not sure why I put off reading historical romance for so long. I guess it did take me a long time to even read romance. Therefore it taking a while before I moved into something different in romance is not strange. About two years ago now, I picked up my first real historical romance novel – and now I will never look back. 

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Reading Romance in General 

There is something about romance in general that always makes me happy reading it. I spoke about it briefly in my stigma and genre discussion, but I do want to expand on it here. I’ve always loved reading romances in books. It didn’t matter if it was YA or fantasy or even historical fiction. 95% of the time, I loved having some sort of romance in the book that I was reading. So me naturally moving on to read solid romance wasn’t a massive surprise for me.

Like I said reading romances just makes me happy. I love the way it makes me feel. They are just great pick-me-up books. I know that if I am feeling down or just need something good – romance books are there for me. One of the reasons why I love reading romance is the predictability, not in regards to the plot – but in the fact that there will be a happily ever after. I know that the couple will get together in the end, and things will start to be right. It’s a safety net of sorts. I know that no matter what happens in the rest of the book, all will be good by the end. And that makes the reading experience so much more enjoyable. 

Another thing that I love about reading romance is the fact that I can binge read a series. That sounds so strange when I write it down. But I love binge reading series. I love getting to fall in love with all the characters and just keep on reading and reading. And historical romances do that so well. The series are long, and sometimes some series connect with other series, and it just goes on and on. This makes for a fabulous reading experience for me. 

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Loving Historical Romances 

Now on to what you came for. Over the past two years, I’ve been reading more and more historical romances. It was something that I wanted to do for a while but just didn’t know where to start. At this point, reading romance had become common for me, but I wanted to try some new subgenres in romance. Historical romance had been on my radar for some time, and I thought it was time to give it a go. 

I think that is the problem with starting a new genre. You have no idea where to start, what author to start with or what book. And there is such much historical romance – so much. I think the way to go about it is to do a little research. Firstly figure out what time frame you would like to start with. And then go from there. See what authors are popular and then see if anything catches your eye. It can be very overwhelming at first. I know it was for me. But once I stepped back starting looking for what I might enjoy, it was so much easier. 

Like with reading romance in general, reading historical romances just makes me so happy. But it’s a different feeling and sometimes an even better one. I can’t explain what the difference is between reading romance and historical romance. There is this vibe that historical romances give off and unless you read it, I don’t think you will know what it is. Most of the time, when I’m read a book, I just smile. There are times when I cry and get frustrated. But I’m still smiling throughout. 

As I said before, I love binge reading romance series and historical romances series are even more fun. I’m going to use Lisa Kleypas here as an example. As of right now, I’ve finished three of her series. And they all connect in one way or another. Some characters pop up from one series to another. Sometimes it’s just for one book and other times it’s for the whole series. It changes the reading experience for me and just makes me love it even more. But it also doesn’t hinder the reader experience. If you haven’t read the other series, you aren’t going to be confused or feel like you’ve missed something. 

Further on this, I love reading series with many books. It’s just so much fun. Especially when each book relates to a different family member, that is my jam. 

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Range of Historical Romances

One of the things that I enjoy about historical romances is the range that there is. I’m not necessarily talking about the number of books, but the plots and characters that follow. There are certain tropes that most if not all historical fictions have embedded into them. But I love the diversity in settings, and types of characters and everything that’s follows that. 

Is there room for more diversity – hell yeah there is. It’s not perfect; nothing is. However, I enjoy that there is a range of stories to be told. I think historical fiction does a great job of including disability, and it’s not just the same thing over and over again. I’ve read quite a few books now that have included disabled protagonists. They have ranged from physical to mental and even invisible disabilities. For me, this makes me want to read even more historical romances.   

Over the past year, I’ve also expanded on where the books I read were set. While I love reading in England. I’ve loved reading about different places as well as different times. It’s a great way to change things up and introduce new characters. I recently read Rebel by Beverly Jenkins and loved it, and I can’t wait to read more from her. I’ve also read a few books from Felicia Grossman books as well. I feel that it creates this better experience reading about different times and it’s also so much fun. 

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It’s been over two years now since I began reading historical romance and I’m never going to go back. It is fun and emotional, and they are great to pick me up. I love falling in love with characters, their stories, their lives. Historical romance novels take me on a journey, and it’s one I never want to get off. 

What is a genre that you started reading and just feel in love? Do you love reading historical romance as much as I do? Let’s Chat!