Historical Romances for After Your Bridgerton Marathon

Elle Burns is a formerly enslaved Black woman living in the U.S. during the Civil War. She gives up her freedom to spy as an enslaved woman within a household of white people who appear to be living a pampered life despite those suffering around them. Malcolm McCall works for the Pinkerton Secret Service, and is also spying for the war effort. The two have a connection, but trying to maintain their covers in public may destroy their relationship. I haven’t come across many spy adventures set during the American Civil War, much less ones that are also romances with complex characters, so this is a win all around.

This fun little novella takes place in the Caribbean, where Graciela is determined not to marry the island’s most sought after bachelor. Even if it means tarnishing her family’s reputation. Graciela’s aunt hires Vincente to keep her together, but of course, he ends up being amused and enthralled by her antics. Side note: Talia Hibbert (author of Get a Life Chloe Brown) likes this book, so you know it’s good!

Within the Pingkang Li, beautiful courtesans, imperial scholars, and bureaucrats all intermingle. Yue-ying was forced into prostitution, but isn’t considered to be one of these beauties on account of a red birthmark on her face. She resigns to being her mistress’s maidservant when she meets Bai Huang. She chalks up the aristocratic socialite’s interest in her to drunkenness, but it proves to be much more than that. The pair’s relationship deepens once a courtesan is murdered and they both become involved in the aftermath. The mystery isn’t at the forefront of this story, though. Instead, the main focus, and what will probably appeal most to you, is how Yue-ying and Bai Huang fight insecurities and social standards to find a place where they can be together.

This is another book that takes place around the time of the Civil War, but this one is right after, during the Reconstruction era. Spring Lee is a Black woman has been through it. She’s been able to find some semblance of peace, though, through owning a ranch in Wyoming where she trains wild horses. When she stops to help Garrett McCray, a Black man who’s come from Washington, D.C. to interview her brother, she’s not really looking for love like that, but you can guess how that goes. This is an interesting look into a time in Black history that isn’t explored much, with a fiercely independent heroine.

This cute romance takes place in a small town, which just so happens to be owned by Jeremy, the Duke of Lansing. Now, Jeremy kind of banished himself from the town years ago when he told Chloe about his feelings for her and she told him to get serious. Ouch. Now he’s back to convince type A personality Chloe to accept him as he is, even though he’s never told her his title, and she has all these other plans for her life. This is a friends-to-lovers type of romance with lots of characters of color and a dash of the sunshine/grumpy trope.