12 of the Best Queer Historical Romance Books

12 of the Best Queer Historical Romance Books

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R. Nassor may spend more time with books, tea, and ceramic mugs than recommended by professionals but it hasn’t failed her so far. Nassor has a MA in English Literature from Georgetown University, where she looked at the way medieval and early modern literature reappear in fantasy books today. She’s been writing about romance, fantasy, science fiction, and pop culture for quite a while, starting at Book Riot in 2020. She’s also written for Tor.com. You can follow her on Tiktok and contact her through her website.

Radically reimagining queer joy is the project of the best queer historical romance books.

Historical research and fantasy are the founding pillars of historical romance. There are certain things about the past that any historical romance is willing to hand-wave away. In return, readers of the genre buy into that imagined past.

Queer historical romance is perhaps more radical in its approach. Not because it is less historically accurate than any other historical romance but because it works against the myth that queer people never existed in the past.

Patriarchy, Teleology, and Queer Historical Romance

Patriarchy and teleology undoubtedly work against queer historical romance. The teleological view of history is the idea that history works in a forward march of progress to a single unified goal. Teleology works against historical romance’s aim to humanize people from the past. The genre gives characters access to joy and agency that often feels anachronistic, especially to readers unfamiliar with the periods.

Pair teleology with a frankly overwhelming body of historians using patriarchal lenses to interpret history, and many dismiss all historical romance as entirely inaccurate. Not to mention, a general de-prioritization of joy and the humanization of people throughout history complicates the idea that everyone should view the past one way.

As historical romance books continue to include queer and BIPOC characters, arguments of historical inaccuracy continue to pile onto the genre. Queer historical romance rejects the claim, “In the before times, things were bad, everyone was horrible, and queer people or non-white people didn’t have power.”

So, while all historical fiction will include fiction by its genre category alone, diverse historical romance bears the brunt of historical inaccuracy claims.

What Makes a Great Queer Historical Romance?

So maybe it is unsurprising that I love queer historical romance quite so much. It’s radical, fun, engrossing, and sometimes downright silly.

Selecting just a dozen books to feature in this list was difficult, especially when so many queer historical romance authors have excellent backlists. If I were you, I would start with the twelve best queer historical romance books here and then go into each other’s backlist for an even better time.

Iconic Queer Historical Romance Books

Something Fabulous by Alexis Hall Book Cover

Something Fabulous by Alexis Hall

Hall’s historicals are his best work, and the chaotic queerness of the Something Fabulous series is the place to start. Valentine Layton’s strong sense of duty and homoromantic demisexuality has led him to the incorrect conclusion that he should propose to his family friend, Arabella Tarleton. Arabella has always dreamed of a grand romance, so when Valentine offers her a marriage of convince, she runs away with her best friend in the middle of the night. Now Valentine and Arabella’s twin brother, Bonaventure, must trek across the British countryside to get her back while perhaps, maybe, certainly falling in love along the way.

That Could Be Enough by Alyssa Cole Book Cover

That Could Be Enough by Alyssa Cole

Eliza Hamilton’s maid and assistant, Mercy Alston, knows avoiding the kind of love Eliza had with her late husband is in her best interest. Especially after she and Eliza have spent so long preserving Alexander’s memory. The beautiful and talented dressmaker Andromeda Stiel changes all that with one interview. Andromeda is working as a seamstress, shopkeeper, and burgeoning boarding house owner. She doesn’t have time for someone as interesting as Mercy, but in this sapphic historical novella, both Mercy and Andromeda will have to forgo their fears of heartbreak if they want to live a life full of love.

Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian Book Cover

Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian

In Regency London, Robert “Robin” Selby’s only concern is finding his sister a proper match. Robin doesn’t have connections or money, and he used to be a housemaid named Charity Church. Charity knows she feels at home in between her life as Robert and Charity, but that life will disappear when her best friend and faux sister marries. Robin’s situation worsens when she asks the upstandingly handsome Alistair, Marquess of Pembroke, for his help securing said match. When layers of truths begin to unravel, Alister will have to decide if he wants to cling to the respectable life he built or rearrange his plans to be with someone as wonderful as Robin. You cannot go wrong with any Sebastian, but I love to introduce people to her mass market with nonbinary and bisexual representation whenever possible.

An Island Princess Starts a Scandal by Adriana Herrera Book Cover

An Island Princess Starts a Scandal by Adriana Herrera

It’s the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris, and the streets are full of sapphics. Manuela del Carmen Caceres Galvan is spending her last summer before marriage showing her paintings and thriving with her two friends in the city. Hearing Manuela has land she swore to never sell, Cora Kempf Bristol, Duchess of Sundridge, knows this is her chance to get ahead of her business rivals. They come to an agreement satisfying both parties: Manuela’s land in exchange for a fun and fearless summer with Cora. Their business proposal creates a hot summer and a scandalous path to happiness that could change their lives forever.

A Rulebook for Restless Rogues by Jess Everlee Book Cover

A Rulebook for Restless Rogues by Jess Everlee

The underground queer club The Curious Fox is run by former socialite and current bisexual David Forester. In 1885 London, there is no safer place to cross-dress or be comfortably queer, but if David wants to keep it that way, he will have to contend with the baron who owns the Fox and is looking to close the establishment. David’s best friend since boarding school, Noah Clarke, is one of the best tailors in London who uses his talents off the clock to create beautiful gowns for her outfits as Penelope Primrose at the club. Noah will do anything to protect the best friend he is almost certain he is falling for, even if it risks the stability of his life outside the Fox.

Masquerade by Anne Shade Book Cover

Masquerade by Anne Shade

In 1925, even the prohibition could not stop the masquerade drag balls, revelry, and cultural exchange in Harlem. One nightclub chorus girl, Dinah Hampton, was just looking for a better opportunity to support her family. She never expected to meet a woman like Celine Montre in the Harlem nightlife. The Montre family’s scandal pushed them out of New Orleans, and Dinah was the first person to help Celine find a foothold—and someone to love—in New York. But when a notorious gangster decides to seduce Celine, he threatens everything. Now Celine and Dinah will have to determine what they are willing to do to secure a future together.

Any Duke in a Storm by Amalie Howard Book Cover

Any Duke in a Storm by Amalie Howard

When the demiromantic, pansexual, international spy Lady Lisbeth Medford assumed the role of a feared pirate to infiltrate a smuggling ring in the West Indies, she never expected to meet a smuggler quite like Raphael Saint, the Duc de Viel. Not only is the man infuriatingly handsome, but he is also kind and noble, and he keeps saving her life. Raphael has worked as a merchant with ties to smugglers for years, all to get revenge on his uncle for his father’s death. Meeting Beth, someone who also wants to take his uncle down, is pure kismet. Raphael might even be able to convince Beth that they could both benefit from a mutual attraction while making the high seas a slightly safer place to fair.

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by K.J. Charles Book Cover

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles

Sir Gareth Inglis, unused to comfort since growing up with a detached father, does not know how to react when he dies, and Gareth is left with a family title and a manor in the far-flung, smuggler-run Romney Marsh. Running into his former hook-up, Joss Doomsday, in a heated courtroom was the last thing the new baronet thought he would encounter. Joss, it turns out, is the head of the Doomsday smuggling clan, and he will do anything to stop his sister from hanging for smuggling, even if it means blackmailing his former lover. The gentleman and the smuggler will have to learn how to live together if they want to secure peace for everyone in the Marsh.

The Companion by E. E. Ottoman Book Cover

The Companion by EE Ottoman

Ottoman brings his best to this trans, polyamorous historical set in 1949 New York. Madeline Slaughter is done trying to become New York City’s next great literary mind. So, she accepts a position as bestselling novelist, Victor Hallowell’s live-in companion in Upstate New York. Madeline expects a chance to pause, but between her attraction to Victor and his charming neighbor, Audrey Coffin, time is flying by. After all, Victor and Audrey are ex-lovers, and she is unexpectedly falling for them both. But who knows, maybe if they are all together, they can write a new ending to their story.

cover of Don't Want You Like a Best Friend by Emma R. Alban

Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend by Emma R. Alban

Alban delivers a Victorian sapphic Parent Trap hot enough to make you swoon. Beth and her mother only have one season for Beth to secure a match before they will be thrown out of their home. It’s Gwen’s fourth season, and her carefree attitude and charming smile are the only things that make Beth want to go out. They have one brilliant realization: their parents are single, and if they get married, Beth won’t have to. Unfortunately, their parents are still holding a grudge over a failed courtship from their youth. Gwen and Beth will just have to match-make harder, but in doing so, they might just start falling for each other.

cover of Three To Love by Rebel Carter

Three To Love by Rebel Carter

Florence Wickes-Barnes is said to be Montana’s most dramatic, passionate woman, and she is determined to find a love like her mother and father’s. When she meets the new to town and clearly in love Ansel Ortega and Brenden Black, she falls fast. The only question left is if they have room in their hearts to fall for her too. Book four in the Gold Sky series continues to offer readers queer interracial relationships flourishing in the American West.

A Shore Thing by Joanna Lowell Book Cover

A Shore Thing by Joanna Lowell

The seaside offers former painter Kit Griffith the perfect opportunity to create a new life for himself after leaving the Sisterhood of Women Artists to become a bicycle seller in Victorian England. He hasn’t been able to paint since he left his former community, so when botanist Muriel Pendrake commissions him to illustrate British seaweeds, he wants to decline. But Kit needs Muriel’s help proving to the local all-male cycling club that women can cycle just as well as men, so now they are on a seaside bicycle trip, and Kit has promised to complete the illustrations. Their unexpected trip is leading to an unlikely romance that might be made to last.

The twelve best queer historical romance books here cover a large swath of radical queer joy. Many books reimagine what platonic, romantic, and familial relationships can be. They say the past is bigger and queerer than you may imagine. They insist that queer people have always existed in all periods of history, and I think that’s lovely. If you happen to want more, be sure to check out some more of the best historical romance books, some must-read queer historical fantasy books, and these sapphic historical romances.

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