Hey there! Yesterday, I posted my favorite Sci-Fi & Fantasy reads of the year for Top 10 Tuesday. So today, I thought I’d show you my favorite historical romance reads of 2020. As you know, I’m a sucker for a good, swoon-worthy romance, and the ones on my list totally fit the bill!
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Let’s take a look at my favorite historical romance reads of 2020, which are alphabetized by title.
1. All Scot and Bothered by Kerrigan Byrne
Page Length: 416
Publication Date: Sep. 29, 2020
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Synopsis: They are a dangerous duke, a fierce lord, and an infamous earl—dark, bold, brave men who know exactly what they want. And there is only one woman who can bring them to their knees…
He is first and foremost—at everything. A man who’s made his own way in the world through ruthless cunning and sheer force of will. A strong and imposing Scot who can turn on the charm but does not suffer fools. His title: Lord Chief Justice of the High Court. His name: Cassius Gerard Ramsay. His mission: To investigate the goings-on at London’s most notorious gaming hell, owned and operated by one of the most intriguing and desirable women he’s ever met.
IN THIS GAME OF LOVE, THE RULES DO NOT APPLY
Cecelia Teague was an orphan facing a rather dire future—until a secret benefactor from her mother’s scandalous past swept into her life. Sent to prestigious boarding school and later to university, Cecelia believed high society was at her fingertips…Then, from out of nowhere, she became the inheritor of a gambling establishment. Now Cecelia must live two lives: one as a proper lady who finds herself undeniably drawn to Lord Ramsay and the other as a savvy gaming hell owner trying to save her business from the very same man. He has no idea she is both women…and Cecelia would like to keep it that way. But what happens when consuming passion and escalating danger threaten to reveal the truth?
LINKS: My Review | Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
2. Her Accidental Highland Husband by Allison B. Hanson
Series: Clan MacKinlay
Publication Date: Sept. 28, 2020
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Synopsis: Marian Fletcher Blackley, Duchess of Endsmere, has been on the run from the English Crown for weeks since killing her abusive husband…no matter that it was self-defense. She has only one safe place to go—the MacKinlay clan in Scotland, where her sister is the laird’s wife.
War Chief Cameron MacKinlay has vowed never to marry after witnessing his widowed mother’s grief. He has his lands and his clan, and that’s enough for a good life. When one day a sprite of a lass comes running out of the forest with hounds nipping at her heels and an English bounty hunter not far behind, he feels compelled to save her by claiming the disheveled duchess is his wife. But he certainly didn’t intend to marry her for real!
And now he’ll do anything to protect her…
LINKS: My Review | Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
3. Her Wicked Marquess by Stacy Reid
Series: Sinful Wallflowers (Book 2)
Page Length: 400
Publication Date: Dec. 29, 2020
Publisher: Entangled
Synopsis: Miss Maryann FitzWilliam is too witty and bookish for her own good. No gentleman of the ton will marry her, so her parents arrange for her to wed a man old enough to be her father. But Maryann is ready to use those wits to turn herself into a sinful wallflower.
When the scandal sheet reports a sighting of Nicolas Ives climbing out the chamber windows of a house party, Maryann does the unthinkable. She anonymously claims that the bedchamber belonged to none other than Miss FitzWilliam, tarnishing her own reputation—and chances of the dastardly union her family secured for her. Now she just needs to convince the marquess to keep his silence.
Nicholas Ives, Marquess of Rothbury has purposefully cultivated a reputation as the most ruthless, unprincipled libertine, all so he can slip beneath the guards of those whose vile actions caused him to lose the only girl he’s ever loved. Despite his intrigue, Nicolas is determined to ignore the deceitful and enticing Miss FitzWilliam. However, his enemies are drawing close, and he soon discovers he must keep her closer to protect her. Nonetheless, she rouses a soul-burning passion within him, causing him to question who will protect her from his devilish wiles.
LINKS: My Review | Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
4. The Highlander’s Unexpected Proposal by Heather McCollum
Series: The Brothers of Wolf Isle (Book 1)
Page Length: 150
Publication Date: Oct. 19, 2020
Publisher: Entangled
Synopsis: A lass begging to marry him might top the list of “oddest things to happen,” but Chief Adam Macquarie is desperate. And no matter how much he hates to do it, he’s not above lying to get what he wants. Starting with the fact that he just omitted the truth about the situation back at his home—where there are no women and only a handful of other people. Because he has a secret need for a wife himself, one she won’t be too happy about when she finds out.
Lark Montgomerie is thrilled the brawny chief agrees to save her from her drunken father’s machinations of wedding her off to the first fool that agrees. He’s easy on the eyes and no one can be worse than her current options. Now a new life awaits her, on an exciting Scottish isle no less, and nothing will dampen her spirits. That is, until she arrives in her new homeland and realizes more than a few things are amiss…
LINKS: My Review | Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
5. Once Dishonored by Mary Jo Putney
Series: Rogues Redeemed (Book 5)
Page Length: 368
Publication Date: Sept. 29, 2020
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
Synopsis: Bestselling author Mary Jo Putney’s romantic Regency-set series features soldiers, spies—and the special redemption only love can bring…
A man who has lost his honor has nothing…
London, 1816. As a Royal Navy officer, Lucas Mandeville, Lord Foxton, has fought his share of battles on the high seas, followed by long years of imprisonment. But on this night, he’d rather be on the burning deck of a ship than in a ballroom, where it is just a matter of time before someone challenges him because of what happened on the Continent.
A woman who has lost her reputation is nothing…
When dark-haired beauty Kyla Douglas arrives, a whisper of scandal ripples through the ton. The disgraced divorcee’s entrance is an act of daring. Which is exactly why Lucas asks her to dance…
A couple who stands together has everything…
Unexpectedly, Lucas offers Kyla his aid in finding the evidence to regain her good name—and her beloved young son. Together they investigate the wicked conspiracy that destroyed her life, and in the midst of danger, find a deep love that will redeem them both—if only they can live long enough to build a future together.
LINKS: My Review | Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
6. The Price of Temptation by Harmony Williams
Publication Date: Nov. 23, 2020
Publisher: Entangled
Synopsis: Lily Darling knew that marrying a con man was a risk, but her new husband swore those days were behind him. Then he disappears without a word, taking all of her money with him. So when her scoundrel of a husband mysteriously returns, years later, hoping to set things right, Lily guards her heart. But curse the man for being just as breathlessly handsome as the day she last saw him.
Adam Darling never meant to leave his innocent, beautiful wife, but if he hadn’t, he would’ve been sent to prison and Lily’s good reputation destroyed. He can’t blame her for hating him, and now that he’s back, he’ll do whatever he must to prove he never stopped loving her, even if it takes the rest of his life.
But when Lily is blackmailed by someone from their past, she wonders if the reason Adam abandoned her is more complex than a simple con. To find the truth, though, she’ll need to do the impossible—trust him—and with the attraction simmering between them hotter than ever, getting too close could get her burned…
LINKS: My Review | Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
7. The Princess and the Rogue by Kate Bateman
Series: The Bow Street Bachelors (Book 3)
Page Length: 304
Publication Date: Dec. 29, 2020
Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Synopsis: A princess in disguise is forced to live with a rogue in order to protect her from danger in this fun, sexy regency romance.
Bow Street agent Sebastien Wolff, Earl of Mowbray, doesn’t believe in love―until a passionate kiss with a beautiful stranger in a brothel forces him to reconsider. When the mysterious woman is linked to an intrigue involving a missing Russian princess, however, Seb realizes her air of innocence was too good to be true.
Princess Anastasia Denisova has been hiding in London as plain ‘Anna Brown’. With a dangerous traitor hot on her trail, her best option is to accept Wolff’s offer of protection―and accommodation―at his gambling hell. But living in such close quarters, and aiding Wolff in his Bow Street cases, fans the flames of their mutual attraction. If Anya’s true identity is revealed, does their romance stand a chance? Could a princess ever marry a rogue?
LINKS: My Review | Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
8. A Scot to Wed by Callie Hutton
Page Length: 150
Publication Date: June 8, 2020
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Synopsis: Highlander Laird Evan MacNeil cannot believe Mistress Katie Sterling just shows up at the MacDuff castle with this faded piece of parchment laying claim to the lands he just legally inherited. Not that he really wants to be here in the lowlands, but he has responsibilities to his clan and the exasperating Katie has uprooted the remnants of her father’s clan and moved them across the country to live here. There’s no way he can leave to go back home now.
Katie has nowhere else to go and she refuses to bow down to the arrogant yet undeniably handsome Highlander. She’s had enough with men trying to control her and she is quite capable of handling herself.
Now that Evan must spar with a beautiful lass for the rights to the lands, he will fight to the end. This battle is nothing like the ones his ancestors fought with crossbows and boiling oil. They never wanted to bed the enemy.
LINKS: My Review | Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
9. Truly Madly Plaid by Eliza Knight
Series: Prince Charlie’s Angels (Book 2)
Page Length: 384
Publication Date: Dec. 29, 2020
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Synopsis: These Highland warriors are prepared to give up everything to fight for their country.
Annie MacPherson’s world was torn apart when her family’s castle was ravaged during the war. Determined to aid her countrymen, she braves the battlefield and finds Lieutenant Craig MacLean left for dead. Soon, her heart belongs to the fierce warrior.
As the English dragoons draw closer to Annie’s makeshift hospital, Craig knows they have to escape together if they’ll have any chance to survive. But when they come face-to-face with the enemy, and Craig is imprisoned, Annie will have to risk everything she has to save the man she can’t live without.
History and adventure come to life in Eliza Knight’s thrilling Scottish Highland romance. Annie is based loosely on Anne MacKay, Anne Leith and Lady Maxwell, who risked their lives to protect Jacobite soldiers by hiding them, healing their wounds, and aiding in their escape from enemy forces.
LINKS: My Review | Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
10. Twelfth Knight’s Bride by E. Elizabeth Watson
Page Length: 150
Publication Date: Nov. 16. 2020
Publisher: Entangled: Scandalous
Synopsis: Lady Aileana Grant just wants to help her starving clan at Christmastide. So she pilfers some vegetables from the bastard Laird James MacDonald–the Devil, they call him. When the Devil shows up and demands marriage as recompense for the thievery, Aileana can’t believe it when her brother agrees. Even if she’s able to negotiate a severance on Twelfth Night, that’s still two weeks to put up with the laird in enemy territory. She’s counting down the days, even if James isn’t quite the disgusting cretin she’d imagined.
James needs to marry an enemy bride in order to inherit his fortune. Cursed restrictions. He’d been unable to look away from Aileana’s untamed beauty ever since she squared off with him. He might as well handfast with the infernal lass. He’d get his money and perhaps some peace among the clans. He has a fortnight to win the heart of the lady with the voice of an angel despite her sharp tongue.
Twelfth Night is merry and bright as Aileana and James realize a true connection between them. But when Aileana discovers the reason the Devil forced her into marriage, how can she ever believe he truly wants her?
LINKS: My Review | Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
11. What the Hart Wants by Emily Royal
Series: Headstrong Harts (Book 1)
Page Length: 372
Publication Date: Sept. 29, 2020
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc
Synopsis: Five lessons in pleasure. One lesson in love.
Fraser MacGregor, thirteenth Duke Molineux, seizes the opportunity to use the title he unexpectedly inherited, to further his whisky business. He leaves his Highland home and heads for London where he’s accosted by a feisty lass, who smashes a vase over his head.
Delilah Hart should be relishing her first London season. But she’d rather be a writer than a bland society wife. Her secret occupation of writing anonymous, inflammatory articles about the notorious Molineux family, is the first step to realizing her dream.
But when the new duke makes her an offer she can’t refuse—to learn about her cause for social justice in exchange for five lessons in the art of pleasure—she begins to question her beliefs and desires. Before long, Delilah realizes that her heart, as well as her career, is at stake.
LINKS: My Review | Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
12.When a Rogue Meets His Match by Elizabeth Hoyt
Series: Greycourt (Book 2)
Page Length: 496
Publication Date: Dec. 1, 2020
Publisher: Forever
Synopsis: Ambitious, sly, and lethally intelligent, Gideon Hawthorne has spent his life clawing his way up from the gutter. For the last ten years, he’s acted as the Duke of Windemere’s fixer, performing the most dangerous tasks without question. Now Gideon’s ready to quit the duke’s service and work solely for himself. But Windermere wants Gideon to complete one last task, and his reward is impossible to resist: Messalina Greycourt’s hand in marriage.
Witty, vivacious Messalina Greycourt has her pick of suitors. When Windermere summons Messalina to inform his niece that she must marry Mr. Hawthorne, she is appalled. But she’s surprised when Gideon offers her a compromise: as long as she plays the complacent wife, he promises to leave her alone until she asks for his touch. Since Messalina is confident that she’ll never ask Gideon for anything, she readily agrees. However, the more time she spends with Gideon, the harder it is to stay away.
LINKS: My Review | Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
Have you read any of these swoon-tastic stories? Which historical romance would you recommend? Comment below!
I’venot read any of these and don’t tend to read many historical fiction despite loving historical drama series on the tv! Maybe I’ll give these a go!
I love historical romance and romance novels in general. lol
When a Rogue Meets his Match sounds tempting. I love a good historical romance. Thank you for this list!
Thanks for checking it out! 🙂
Love this list 💙 I have a few of these on my tbr.
Thanks! I hope you love them when you read them! 🙂