9 Books To Read If You Loved Binge-Watching ‘Bridgerton’
When you just cant get enough romance on your TV screen.
LAURENCE CENDROWICZ | NETFLIX, aywan88 | Canva By now you’ve probably watched— maybe even rewatched — Netflix’s Regency-era drama season 3 and have been left pining for a historical romance plot to take its place. If you need a book just like Bridgerton to wean yourself off the Shondaland series, this is your list of essential reading that might even last you until the next season comes out. The Netflix series is jam-packed with plenty of lust-filled scandals and the only thing better than seeing this kind of thing play out in front of your eyes is getting to read exactly what is going on in the characters’ minds as the drama ensues.
Here are 9 books to read if you love binge-watching Bridgerton:
1. The Viscount Who Loved Me: Bridgerton Book 2 by Julia Quinn
The first addition to your post-Bridgerton library has to be Quinn’s second book from her series, The Viscount Who Loved Me. Most of season one of the Netflix show was based on Quinn’s first book, The Duke & I, so if you want to relieve it — start there. But if you’re ready for a peek into the mind of hot older brother Anthony, this book takes him on his journey from an elusive bachelor to a potential husband, but who he will marry is a mystery even to him. Luckily for you, there are eight books in total in this series and Quinn has plenty of other novels, too, so your Bridgerton journey is far from over.
2. Bringing Down The Duke by Evie Dunmore
If you’re trying to fill a Simon and Daphne-shaped hole in your heart, Bringing Down The Duke will give you all the chaos of their tumultuous relationship and more. When Annabelle takes up a scholarship to attend Oxford University amid a rising suffragette movement, she is tasked with recruiting an influential Duke into the women’s rights movement. Both locked in a power play filled with passion and rivalry, drama ensues. The book is Dunmore’s debut novel and with three others in her series, you’ll have plenty of her work to binge if you like this book.
3. It Takes Two To Tumble by Cat Sebastian
It Takes Two To Tumble is the first book in this series, and it makes a great contribution to the world of queer historical romance. When Ben Sedgwick agrees to care for Captain Philip Dacre’s three children, he quickly falls in love with their father. The men get hopelessly caught up in a forbidden love story and must decide if sacrificing happiness is worth the promise of a safe life free from judgment.
4. My Fake Rake by Eva Leigh
If the whole fake courtship plot is what got you hooked on Bridgerton, Leigh’s My Fake Rake will be right up your alley. Lady Grace Wyatt is trying to get the attention of a handsome suitor but must spike some competitive interest by giving her friend Sebastian Holloway a makeover and transforming him into a rival for her love interest.
5. Rebel: Women Who Dare by Beverly Jenkins
Jenkins takes us on a beautiful but harrowing journey in Rebel: Women Who Dare. She’s a powerful writer when it comes to writing women and it’s easy to connect with her characters, even if centuries of history divide us from the time she is writing about. This book is the first in a two-book series and follows Val, a woman living in the North after the American Civil War, as she makes a journey to the heart of New Orleans to help a newly emancipated community find its feet. Her journey is filled with challenges and threats to her life, and she soon finds herself falling into the arms of Captain Drake LeVeq.
6. The Luckiest Lady In London by Sherry Thomas
High society, status, and reputation are themes that flow through The Luckiest Lady In London and Bridgerton in equal measure. Louisa Cantwell struggles to resist the pull of the mysterious Felix Rivendale, a man full of secrets that could threaten both of their reputations in London’s upper-class circles.
7. Butterfly Swords by Jeannie Lin
Butterfly Swords takes you back to the Tang Dynasty in the 8th Century. Ai Li is the only daughter of the Emperor of China, and she is fleeing from an arranged marriage to a man she doesn’t love. It features the same forbidden love plot as every good romance novel, but with something most books won’t offer you — sword fighting.
8. The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite
Lucy is heartbroken after watching her ex-lover’s sham wedding and decides to distract herself by taking on a new project — translating an astronomy text for a widowed Countess in The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics. What the two women don’t expect is that the stars have more in store for them than just scientific studies. Historical fiction rarely gives women a chance to be the orchestrators of their careers and romance, but this book does just that.
9. The Duke Of Shadows by Meredith Duran
Spread across Regency London and Indian society, The Duke Of Shadows has something for everyone. This is a plot of many ups and downs as Emma and Julian face plenty of trauma and scandal on their journey to one another— and then away from one another and back a few more times! Emma has some of the headstrong traits we love from Daphne Bridgerton and the book has tons of witty moments to break up the more serious ones.
Alice Kelly is YourTango’s former Deputy News and Entertainment Editor. Based in Brooklyn, New York, her work covers all things social justice, pop culture, and astrology.