Well-written historical romance with memorable characters?

[AKAmyself]

I'm pretty sure i've been on here before begging for recommendations after I emerged from my Outlander binge last year, but I find myself a bit lost and in need of more memorable romance! I thought I would be bored of the genre by now, but apparently not...

So, romance readers, what are your favourites? Needs to be well-written, well-researched, with credible dialogue and characters...

I have read a lot of Regency, enjoyed Mary Balogh, Loretta Chase, Grace Burrowes, Julia Ann Long, Lisa Kleypas etc. Have loved Laura Kinsale (the closest to Outlander in both themes and quality), and have even strayed into the fantasy world with the Kushiel trilogy.

I am sure there must be more great romance novels out there... any recs gratefully received :)

[TheHiphopopotamus]

The tv series is good. The books are not

[strikealight]

Second (third, whatever we are up to) Sharon Penman. Agree not romantic fiction but she tackles it well enough in historically accurate novels- dh and FIL are both specialists in her subject area and both told me separately about SP.

[Flightywoman]

If you like civil war then The Moon In The Water and its 2 sequels by Pamela Belle is great.

And I've recently enjoyed the Blackshear series by Cecilia Grant - they're lots of fun with great characters.

Ive also recently enjoyed Courtney Milan,Tessa Dare and Amanda - generally well written and fun.

Happy reading!

[thereallochnessmonster]

Liz Harris - I loved her Heart of the West series -www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01E6P89U2?ref=series_rw_dp_labf&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

[grannytomine]

Georgette Heyer, I fell in love with her Regency heroes when I was about 11. Her books are funny and romantic.

[Byrdie]

I love outlander too! And the series. It does get a bit less good the further on you go into the series though. Also love game of thrones and phillipa gregory a little too! There's another series about rome that I was recommended that was also good - by steven saylor which I would recommend. I also love the piers anthony books which are neverending 'trilogies'! They are more sci fi rather than historical. Have you ready the jodi taylor st mary's series? Great too.

[Persemillion]

Sorry AKAmyself. I believe I was still writing my post when you first mentioned how much you like Outlander.

[bemusedbewildered]

i love outlander - although sam heughan adds a certain element for me - i did find the later books not as good.

[TheHiphopopotamus]

Tbf, I enjoyed the first Outlander book (if you can excuse the wolves in Scotland and the magic pool of lurve) but then they just veered off into something bizarre. And eventually tedious. Why write one descriptive paragraph when you can write a thousand?

[GraceGrape]

Flighty You've just reminded me that I read the Pamela Belle books about 20 years ago. They're the ones where the heroine has a very Puritan name? I thought they were great. I didn't know they were still in print. Might have to hunt them down.

[bookbook]

Remembered Barbara Erskine too - the first couple I really enjoyed, if you like a bit of ghostly stuff as well as history/romance - Lady of Hay and Kingdom of Shadows

[AKAmyself]

this is great - i'm really excited about all these recs!

[Flightywoman]

GraceGrape the puritan ones are the Wintercombe series - she is called Silence! The Moon In The Water is Thomazine Heron...

They're newly reissued

[sassolino]

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset is a real gem

[lucydogz]

Norah Lofts is the greatest IMO.
Phillipa Gregory is awful, especially the Wildacre trilogy.

[GraceGrape]

Ah yes, Silence! I will try The Moon in the Water too....

[endofthelinefinally]

Anya Seton Avalon

[Emilyclimbs]

Have just emerged from the outlander obsession myself I have sympathy and am sitting here racking my brains for you
Georgette Heyer is an absolute must and I envy you starting out on the journey. Her books are mainly stand alone but wit and charm permeate them all.
Sherwood smith - two romance novels - I particularly recommend Rondo Allegro which was just charming.
Sagas - I am currently hoarding the vorkosigan saga - space opera but wonderful word building, amazing characters, romance and I am half in love with Miles.
In an effort to source Heyeresque I downloaded some
Patricia veryan on kindle

• not bad.
  

Eloisa James (my guilty pleasure)
Hope these are of some help!

[Lessstressedhemum]

I really, really love Outlander, too. I've been fictionally married to Jamie Fraser for more than 25 years I like the later books because Jamie and Claire have aged as I have. They are a mature couple still madly in love with one another, what's not to like? Although, I would agree they could use a strong editorial hand.
They are the only romance books I read though, so can't recommend any more. If you like historical books, though, Simon Sparrow, Conn Inngulden, C J Sansom are all good. The Grail Quest books by Bernard Cornwell are well worth reading and, controversially, I really like SJ Parris' Bruno books.

[Sadik]

Excited to see other Pamela Belle fans. I absolutely love Alathea (one of the sequels to The Moon in the Water) - have never met anyone else who's read her books :)

[GoingSlightlyCrazy09]

They're oldish books now but my late stepmum introduced me to Judith McNaught and her books are just wonderful....though there aren't many of her regency romances. Whitney my Love is one of my favourite ever books!!
Also, anything by Jude Deveraux - she writes a whole mix of genres but never come across a bad one. I also love Nora Roberts, Julia Quinn, and Johanna Lindsay too.

[Lessstressedhemum]

Oh, I forgot about Panels Bells. I read them years and years ago. I had a bit of a teen crush on Francis. Loved Althea.

[Flightywoman]

Jude Deveraux! I used to LOVE her...

I also used to love Philippa Carr, who I gather was also Jean Plaidy AND Victoria Holt!

[iismum]

Definitely Dorothy Dunnett - absolutely wonderful, thought not easy reading.

Another wonderful series set in Scotland is the Flight of the Heron trilogy - set during the Jacobite rising about the relationship between a Scottish laird and an English soldier. Just brilliant, esp the first one, and easy to read.