I really like historical fiction or fantasy. Past that, I don't think I am too picky. I just like to be able to relate to the characters. And, with this book, (A Knight In Shining Armor), I am not.... (No real spoilers here, this all happens in about the first 20 pages) It's about a woman who's dating a man. But the man is so awful, that I can't relate. If she was afraid of him, or if they had kids together, or something like that, I probably could. But that's not the case, so I can't. So anyway, they go on a trip out of the country, and almost immediately, his daughter steals the woman's purse and then she and her father strand the woman at a church with an old graveyard. So she starts sobbing on an old grave, saying "Help me... I need a knight in shining armor," which I think it a bizarrely unrelatable thing to say, out loud, to yourself.... So then a knight in shining armor who died 400 years ago is magically brought to her. I'm now 68 pages in, and I guess there are no real spoilers here either because all they've done so far is take baths (not together) and go shopping, which I also find bizarrely unrelatable because they're both basically homeless, but they're buying books, and paper, and paint, and tapes, and a tape player (it's set in the 80s).... I just cannot relate....

Oh, and it's one of those books where things are just too convenient. (Minor spoilers from the beginning incoming). So, from the guy's point of view, he's just sitting there, in regular clothes one minute. And the next minute, he's transported 400 years in the future, wearing his best clothes, his best armor, with his best sword, with a sack full of mint condition 400 year old coins. So they go to a coin shop, which was conveniently right there. The guy who runs it conveniently knows all about not only coins but also clothes and armor from 400 years ago, as well as jewels. So he, on the spot confirms that it's all real and offers them some money. It's just... Ok, I'll suspend my disbelief about him being magically transported. But why was he transported with different clothes? Why did the coin guy know all about 400 year old clothes? And, even if you knew all about 400 year old clothes and armor, it still seems to me like if you saw what appeared to be 400 year old clothes, yet they looked new and someone was wearing them, it seems like you wouldn't declare them to be genuine on the spot, it seems like you would be more likely to say something like, "These are the best reproductions I have ever seen," you know? Just... bleh!

Hm, I have the most trouble with historicals, because it's always a balancing act between if it is believable or if it has sympathetic characters.
I mean, the whole zeitgeist was so incredibly different, and the further back you go the more prevalent attitudes have changed.
So a character who is believably FROM THAT TIME PERIOD would pretty much NEVER be someone I'd want to hang out with, or have sympathy for. I've done far too much reading and know too much about their social attitudes.
Which means either I can't believe they're really from that time period, or they are jerks that I don't care about....


I tend to enjoy more the books that ignore historical accuracy and make characters who have modern attitudes (believing in personal agency is a big one for me).

So with that caveat, here are some historical romances that I still managed to enjoy:

(Most of these will have been out for a while; a library or a used book store is more likely to have them than something new. Although if you get ebooks I have no clue how that works for out-of-print):


"Desire" by Amanda Quick (particularly prone to Plot Convenient Coincidence, but the humor appealed to me)
"Mistress", same author (again, mostly because the set up really really entertains me; the plot itself I didn't find terribly compelling)
Pretty nearly anything by Judith A Lansdowne, but particularly her "The Mystery Kiss", "Shall We Dance", oh, heck, just any of them. Again, it's all about the humor.

Slightly less comedic, I do almost always check out the new books at the library by Mary Balogh, Jo Beverly, and Mary Jo Putney. (These three authors write books so similar to each other that I sometimes mix up which books are by which of them. So if you try any one of those three and enjoy it, go ahead and try the others, but if it isn't to your taste then skip the others.)


For fantasy romances, I mostly only have recommendations that are primarily fantasy genre and happen to have a romantic subplot.

The YA version, check out "The Changeling Sea", by Patricia A McKillip. I've had to buy a couple copies of that because I loan them out and people don't want to return them.
Sorcery & Cecelia (Or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot), by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer, is also slightly more YA in feel, but capture regency romance as well as fantasy elements very well.

C.E. Murphy came out fairly recently with a fantasy remake of Pride & Prejudice. It's called "Magic & Manners" and really does feel very Austenian.

"Glamour in Glass", by Mary Robinette Kowal is also like an Austen novel with fantasy elements. That turned into a series so if you like it, you can continue.

The romance in Mystic and Rider, by Sharon Shinn, was long in developing but rang very true to me, and made me mist up at the end. But I admit that I primarily like the book for the political and magical portrayals of the world she created. The romance is not a big portion of the book.

The romance in "The Iron Duke" is much more overt, but that's more steampunk fantasy than straight fantasy, and it's STILL not primarily about romance.

eeeehhhhhh, that's all I can think of.

Great, thanks, I'll check those out! I read Sorcery & Cecelia and liked that, and I love Pride and Prejudice! Oh, also, I loved Lady Fortescue Steps Out, if you're familiar with that and know of anything similar to that too!

Sanssouci wrote:Great, thanks, I'll check those out! I read Sorcery & Cecelia and liked that, and I love Pride and Prejudice! Oh, also, I loved Lady Fortescue Steps Out, if you're familiar with that and know of anything similar to that too!

Oooh! Okay, try Clare Darcy's books, and of course I presume you are already familiar with Georgette Heyer's works.

And for more pointed satire, the Lucia series is set later by about a hundred years (1920s instead of 1820s) but... well... I think a quick peruse of a few random paragraphs will tell you pretty quickly if that sort of writing amuses you or not.

I haven't read any Georgette Heyer yet, but she's on my to read list!