Ahoy, yon inbox of Smart Bitches! What appears on the horizon?
Looks like a royal flotilla of rec requests, captain!
Anka writes:
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s engagement made me crave some well-written contemporary romances featuring lovesick princes and their kickass brides-to-be.
Maybe you could recommend us some great reads focused on the Royals?
“No idea. None at all.”
Aarya writes:
I would love to have a Rec League about royalty/prices/princesses in romance. I’m a shameless fan of the British Royal Family and am SO EXCITED about Prince Harry’s recent engagement to Meghan Markle.
The recent engagement has given me a craving for romances about royalty. Please hit me up with your best recommendations! I’m not picky – historical [and] contemporary are fine.
(My personal preference would be royal prince + commoner heroine, but I’d love recs about princesses, too). Bonus points if the royal family is non-European.
“Nah, not likely.”
Emily writes:
Hey Smart Bitches! Would you be able to give me some recs for royal romances? I bet you can guess why I’m asking, so I’m really hoping you can recommend some romances with competent, intelligent, and (surprise!) royal characters.
You know we can do that. Don’t be silly!
First, before we unleash the kraken of royal recs, a few ground rules. We’re looking for romances featuring a royal, on either side or both, but we want to stay within some specific criteria.
- You have to have read it to recommend it. A list of “I think this book has a royal person in it maybe?” is not going to satisfy this regatta of requests! We want books you know and love and recommend.
- No Sheikhs. Thank you. Yes, they’re royal. Yes, there are a lot of them. The trope, though steadfastly popular, is also racist. So, no, thank you, in this thread.
- There are a lot of titled folks in romance, it’s true, but we’re specifically looking at royals.
Ready? Let’s DO THIS.
Of COURSE we have suggestions. Are you kidding? You know we’re here for this.
RedHeadedGirl: The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan.
OBVIOUSLY.
And, while this isn’t on sale yet, you can pre-order it. It won’t satisfy your itch to read right immediately now, but trust me, you will be giving your future reading self an incredible gift: A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole ( A | BN | K | G | AB ):
Between grad school and multiple jobs, Naledi Smith doesn’t have time for fairy tales…or patience for the constant e-mails claiming she’s betrothed to an African prince. Sure. Right. Delete! As a former foster kid, she’s learned that the only things she can depend on are herself and the scientific method, and a silly e-mail won’t convince her otherwise.
Prince Thabiso is the sole heir to the throne of Thesolo, shouldering the hopes of his parents and his people. At the top of their list? His marriage. Ever dutiful, he tracks down his missing betrothed. When Naledi mistakes the prince for a pauper, Thabiso can’t resist the chance to experience life—and love—without the burden of his crown.
RedHeadedGirl: I liked His Undercover Princess by Avery Flynn, too. Princess and a bodyguard!
Elyse: A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James:
Miss Kate Daltry doesn’t believe in fairy tales . . . or happily ever after. Forced by her stepmother to attend a ball, Kate meets a prince, and decides he’s anything but charming. A clash of wits and wills ensues, but they both know their irresistible attraction will lead nowhere.
For Gabriel is promised to another woman – a princess whose hand in marriage will fulfill his ruthless ambitions.Gabriel likes his fiancee, which is a welcome turn of events, but he doesn’t love her, and knows, he should be wooing his bride-to-be, not the witty, impoverished beauty who refuses to fawn over him.
Amanda: Royally Matched by Emma Chase. While I liked the heroine of Royally Screwed, the hero was an arsehair. But the sequel, Royally Matched, has two royal characters, plus a reality tv show:
Welcome to Matched: Royal Edition.
A reality TV dating game show featuring twenty of the world’s most beautiful blue bloods gathered in the same castle. Only one will win the diamond tiara, only one will capture the handsome prince’s heart.
While Henry revels in the sexy, raunchy antics of the contestants as they fight, literally, for his affection, it’s the quiet, bespectacled girl in the corner—with the voice of an angel and a body that would tempt a saint—who catches his eye.
The more Henry gets to know Sarah Mirabelle Zinnia Von Titebottum, the more enamored he becomes of her simple beauty, her strength, her kind spirit… and her naughty sense of humor.
But Rome wasn’t built in a day—and irresponsible royals aren’t reformed overnight.
Sarah: So that’ll be 200% someone’s catnip. To that person or persons: enjoy, and make sure you have plenty of water to drink while you read. See you in a few days!
Ok, we’re opening the floor. Royal romances, ready, set, GO!
A Queen from the North by Erin McRae. Which was written up here somewhere. I didn’t really get the “what if the other roses won the War of the Roses” stuff (how is anything different from current England?) but I really liked all the bits about how her life/privacy gets turned upside down.
I have read toooo many of these!
And i’m Going to buy all the ones recommended I have not read
The runaway Princess by Hester Browne I loved!!!
Also enjoyed to Marry a Prince by Sophie Page
Julie Garwood wrote a couple orphan princess historical novels back in the 90s. I love classic Garwood so they are a couple of my favorite re-reads. One is The Lion’s Lady ( RedHeadedGirl gave it an A-). Another is Castles, which is about an orphan princess who needs to find a husband and a wounded spy who doesn’t think he’s good enough for her. Classic Garwood can be a little crazysauce with the plot but are always charming and funny reads.
Also, Nora Roberts wrote a contemporary trilogy in the early 90s featuring a trio of European royal siblings. The trilogy is called Cordina’s Crown Jewels. I read them years ago so don’t know how they hold up. But they were some of the few books I’ve read featuring “modern” royals.
Awesome Rec League and thanks for emphasizing the racist-ness of most Sheikh stories!
Came across these two when I was going through a bit of a “they have twin babies” phase:
1. Royal Heirs Required – Cat Schield. This one is a favorite because the story and characters are pretty great. Part of a series on three princes.
2. Twin Heirs to His Throne – Olivia Gates. Angsty but a goodie
Most of the rest are HRs:
3. Lord of the Abyss – Nalini Singh. Ok, this one is fantasy but I adore this book. A bit miffed with the ending, but everything else is just gold!
4. Kisses she wrote – katharine ashe: The princess is an introvert, and a well rounded one. I have read this many times and really liked her character development!
5. A Kiss at Midnight – Eloisa James. Cinderella inspired. Fun, fluffy read.
6. Lord of Seduction – Paula Quinn.
7. A cautious recommendation because I read it a decade ago: Taj: A Story of Mughal India by Timeri Murari – I really liked this book when it all those years ago, but it’s not historically accurate. Perhaps it’s just the novelty of reading a love story set around the Taj Mahal having grown up listening to the epic love story surrounding it, but I enjoyed it (as did my sister).
Lilah Pace has a wonderful m/m royal romance. Its a dueology His Royal Secret/His Royal Pleasure, but it feels like one story. Its about a contemporary alternate history Prince of Wales and an American reporter and is full of angsty emotional goodness.
A Civil Campaign by the great LMB might also hit the spot with the Emperors wedding subplot, Royal wedding planning hilarity.
If you want an m/m twist on the royal romance, I highly recommend Lilah Pace’s duology His Royal Secret and His Royal Favorite. (AU: what if Princess Charlotte’s childbirth hadn’t been handled by highborn incompetents and the child had lived? I don’t remember if Charlotte-daughter-of-Prinny lived in this universe or not, but the survival of that child changed the succession from what we know today… Anyway, that’s backstory. The main story is: what if the PoW is gay? And the next in line, his sister, is too fragile to take over his role if he steps out of the succession… Love love love!)
Both of these are old, but they hold up well.
“Tiger Prince” Sandra Brown
“Man for Hire” Parris Afton Bonds
Seconding the Julia Garwood romances, especially Lion’s Lady. There are lots of Royal romances on my keeper shelf. Most especially:
Mercedes Lackey – One Good Knight & Sleeping Beauty – twists on the fairy tales where the princesses rescue themselves and the dragons and stepmothers aren’t the evil ones.
Tanya Huff – The Fires Stone – A prince and thief love story, with evil magic and adventure containing a brooding thief, a drunken prince, and his betrothed.
M K Eidem – Torians series – Especially Grim, the first one. Dealing with earth women spacenapped and falling for various royals etc…
For my lady’s heart by Laura kinsale. About a princess and a knight. Such good characters. And it is free on Amazon if you have kindle unlimited through prime.
For an m/m version of the trope, I’d like to recommend The Student Prince, https://archiveofourown.org/works/91885/chapters/125138. It started out as fanfic but reads as original fiction. I’ve recced it to loads of people who don’t read fanfic but enjoy romance – and they’ve loved it.
It’s about a British crown prince Arthur who meets a snarky, poor Welsh boy at the University of St Andrews (where, in real life, Wills met Kate). Oh, and the Welsh boy turns out to be a warlock named Merlin, because of course he is, since it’s a modern-day retelling of the Arthurian legend.
I re-read it every Christmas, and have recced it to my godmother (who read it in one night). That’s how much I love it.
As for films, I have a weakness for A Princess for Christmas, because it stars baby Sam Heughan and my queen Katie McGrath.
For something a little different, Maryjanice Davidson wrote a some alternative history books: The Royal Treatment, The Royal Pain, The Royal Mess. In this world Alaska never joined the US and became a sovereign kingdom after Russia fell to the Bolsheviks. Warning for extreme sarcasm and sass. And the king is a hoot.
I am excited about the royal wedding. Thanks for the royal romance book recommends!
Extra upvotes for the Royal We (of all the royal romances I’ve read, it spent the most time on the challenges of dating in view of the entire world) and Queen of the North. I just finished “Royally Endowed,” the third in the series with Royally Screwed and Royally Matched, and am now looking forward to going back to the first two (although I’m not certain about either the hero or heroine of Royally Screwed). One I haven’t seen mentioned yet is The Heir and the Spare by Emily Albright. It covered a lot of the same ground (dating a royal in full view of the entire world) but was a bit sunnier than The Royal We.
An interesting SFish version is “The Selection” series by Kiera Cass about a future America where they hold a Princess competition/reality show to pick the spouse to the heir to the throne. It’s a series and the author spreads the romance arc over several books, which I know some people aren’t a fan of.
“Her Secret Prince” by Madeline Ash features an American woman and her teenage crush, who was raised by a single mom. Turns out he’s the son of the crown prince of a European country. This is a novella that picks up a decade or so after the hero disappears from the heroine’s life without as much as a goodbye, and the heroine is with him when he learns of his heritage. I wrote a RITA review for it a couple of years ago:
http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/secret-prince-madeline-ash/
It’s the 2nd in a series – I probably would have liked this one better had I read the first one first.
There is also romancing the throne- a HS version of dating a monarch.
@Scene Stealer, I think both of those are in the keeper box under the bed. I think I’ll be spelunking after work.
Seconding Jen’s rec — For My Lady’s Heart vies with The Shadow and The Star as my No. 2 top Kinsale, after Flowers from the Storm.
I enjoyed Caitlin Crews’ A Royal Without Rules a few years ago. It was a Harlequin Presents with a hero who pretty obviously seemed to have been inspired by Prince Harry. It was a RITA finalist and someone did a review of it here:
http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/rita-reader-challenge-a-royal-without-rules/
I second THE ROYAL WE. I absolutely LOVED that book and have since passed on my copy to several friends. It’s smart, it’s sexy, and I loved how funny the characters were. Also loved Emma Chase’s royal series. If you’re looking to throw it back a few centuries, I adored Sally Christie’s VERSAILLES trilogy about the women Louis XV was involved with over the course of his life (aristocrats, commoners, a group of sisters). Probably my top reads of the year so far!
I love this genre so much! Here are some faves!
– Enchanted by Alethea Kontis
– Suddenly Royal by Nichole Chase (First in The Royals series)
– The Heir and the Spare by Emily Albright
– The Prince’s Bride by Diane Alberts
I also second the rec for MaryJanice Davidson’s The Royal Treatment. That book is hilarious!
If you are willing to read historical fiction, I recommend Katherine, by Anya Seton. It is fictionalized story about Katherine Swynford, who eventually became the Duchess of Lancaster when she married John of Gaunt (son of Edward III of England). I first read this book as a teenager (in the 1970s), but it is on my keeper shelf and one that I re-read periodically. John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford are ancestors of the present British Royal Family.
Royal Scandal (Royals in Exile, #1) by Marquita Valentine
Once Upon a Prince (Royal Wedding, #1)/Princess Ever After (Royal Wedding, #2) /How to Catch a Prince (Royal Wedding, #3) by Rachel Hauck
A Royal Christmas Princess by Scarlet Wilson
Royal Date (The Royals of Monterra, #1)/Royal Chase (The Royals of Monterra, #2) by Sariah Wilson
Royal Marriage Market by Heather Lyons
The Young Royals series by S.A. Gordfon
Royal Holiday series by each book is by a different author. I liked Melissa McClone’s and Kathleen O’brien.
Royally Ever After by Loretta Chase
Royally Screwed by Valerie Seimas
Some Like it Royal by Heather Long
Unruly Royals series by Megan Mulry
Royal Scandals series by Nicole Burnham
Suddenly Royal by Nicole Chase
This is probably enough. Love this trope! Thank you!
Julianna Keyes just put out a new royal novella called “Bad Princess.” Kind of whimsical, fun and sexy. Lighter than her other stuff, but still smart. I enjoyed it.
One of my favorites is Plain-Jane Princess, a 2001 Silhouette IM by Karen Templeton. And I very recently read and enjoyed (a LOT) His Runaway Campfire Princess by Gwen Hayes. It’s a super fun runaway princess novella.
I remember The Runaway Princess mentioned above being fun.
Of the recommendations in the post, l was working my way down the list, reached Royally Matched and the surname ‘Von Titebottum’ and noped right off that one.
Henry and Meghan 4-Ever, because they are so very pretty.
I’ve read The Royal We (excellent) and A Kiss At Midnight (my first Eloisa James, I’m a sucker for a fairy tale retelling), and have already pre-ordered A Princess In Theory (read the excerpt, saw the cover art and that was that). I think I own Royally Screwed, but haven’t read it yet because I’m a trash person). I’d also throw in:
Charming the Prince by Teresa Medeiros – prince gets stuck with all the plot moppets, and needs to find them a biddable, non-desirable mommy, and you can guess how that goes.
The Princess Bride – it’s a classic for a reason
My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand and Brodi Ashton-a fun little romp where the Nine Days Queen doesn’t get the rawest of all raw deals and also she’s a shifter, there’s a lot going on in this book.
Leia: A Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray – what? She’s a princess. It also does hit on some of what being royalty means for Leia as she prepares to undergo the trials that mean that she is fit to lead her planet. There is also a romantic subplot that is written with the author clearly thinking about her future romantic possibilities and how Leia’s first experience affects her later on.
re Linn’sComment
If you are falling down the fanfic rabbit hole a lot of Merlin (TV) series fic would work since ya know Arthur is a prince.
I also recommend Drastically Redefining Protocol in Archive of our own for another free m/m that really can just be seen as a Arthurian legend retelling. I reread that one a lot. It’s more zany though. But hilarious.
Also 100000 votes for His Royal Secret Which thanks to this thread I realized I read when it started as an online story and it is one of my favorite things ever so running out to buy it.
I’ll add Princess Daisy by Judith Krantz. Read it when it was published back in 1980 and it has remained on my keeper shelf since. I think the irrepressible Daisy holds up through the years despite the lack of electronic devices. Her father was Russian nobility and her mother an American movie star. I also cast another vote for both the Julie Garwood princess books and A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James.
@Another Anne: Me too! Katherine has been on my keeper shelf for years, highly recommend it.
Undercover Princess by Suzanne Brockmann is one of her old category romances and I remember it being very cute. The princess is pretending to be a commoner in the US and gets a job as a nanny to a widower. It’s set in “modern” times (at least as of the time it was written which was late 90’s or early 2000’s I think.
The Princess by Jude Devereaux was an old favorite of mine but I confess it’s been years since I read it. It’s set during WWII and is about a Princess of a small European country who is rescued by a handsome soldier who is an American “Montgomery” (they are in all Deveraux’s books of all time periods going back to the Middle Ages) and ends up in the US. The government forces the couple to marry and be undercover and they end up in Florida on a US military base with other military spouses etc for a while. They eventually end up in her Genova-like small European country where he calls in favors from his family to help him and her modernize the place. There is a lot of “I hate you, I like you” but I really loved the time period and the setting.
@Another Anne:
I’m glad to see you’re mention of Katherine since it was the only book I could think of. I’m not well versed in this subcategory yet.
The Royals of Valeria series by Marianne Knightly. They’re kind of romantic suspense meets royalty, because there’s someone trying to kill every member of the royal family at some point, and the legions of children that the rulers of Valeria produced all have to find love.
Do illegitimate royals count? Because Vanessa Kelly’s Renegade Royals series is all about illegitimate sons of the royal princes. And now she’s doing an Improper Princesses series for the illegitimate daughters of the princes. I read all the prince books and enjoyed them, especially “tall, Dark and Royal” which is a touching second chance romance with an older couple.
If you’d like an Indian princess “Forbidden Jewel of India” by Louise Allen is very good.
I don’t have any contemporary royals books to recommend because I’m allergic to those imaginary little European countries they always seem to come from, let alone the imaginary Middle Eastern ones. It’s hard for someone who knows geography to suspend disbelief.
I would also second the Lilah Pace Duology, I don’t read a lot of m/m, but these books focused on the relationship in such a realistic manner, especially the angst related to the Prince’s debate about if he should come out. Oh and there are, of course, lots of sexy times. I would add a trigger warning for the sister’s pretty severe anxiety disorder and I think she previously attempted suicide, too.
For an outside the box rec, Mercedes Lackey’s Winds of Fate Trilogy (Winds of Fate, Winds of Change, and Winds of Fury, part of the Valdamar Series) are fantasy, set in a world that has talking horses for their police/militia/royalty, but not magic, because everyone seems to forget magic exists in Valdamar. But, the spell that has been making them forget about magic is starting to fail. So, the Princess goes on a mission to find someone to train new magicians for her country so they can end a 15 year long war that they are losing by inches. She stumbles onto the Hero in the first book, they get to know each other in the second book, and then they go back to her country in the third book (this is all mentioned in the cover copy for these books, so not a spoiler). Oh and the hero’s people all have pet birds that they can mentally talk to and they all live in tree houses.
It’s been 15 years since I’ve read these books, so I don’t think there are any war scenes until the third book, and they aren’t overly graphic, but your mileage may vary. Their enemy’s kingdom is run by an evil crazy person (naturally), who tortured a secondary character in an earlier Trilogy, so that is mentioned in the first and third book, I think.
If you decide to read the rest of the Valdamar series, some of the other books I would add trigger warnings too. That said, I first read and loved these books as a teenager and didn’t have any issues with them, if that helps.
I don’t have any actual books to recommend since romances involving royalty usually have me rolling my eyes before I’ve finished the blurb, although I do love real royal history (probably the reason for my impatience with this trope). However, if anyone wants a dose of real life romance and you haven’t seen it before, check out YouTube videos of the wedding of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark to commoner Mary Donaldson (she’s Australian so that wedding was very big news here). Imperious music, stunningly elegant gown, teary bridegroom – best royal wedding ever…..
I second His Runaway Campfire Princess by Gwen Hayes.I finished it last week and loved it. It features a wonderful strong and rebellious princess and a brooding guard/duke hero and their chemistry is of the charts. It only has about 40 reviews on Goodreads for the moment but it should be so much more. (and even though it is part of a series, it is a stand alone).
A Princess on the run…
Just once, Princess Merriam would like to make her own choices, but independence is in short supply when your father, the king, is of the royal opinion that princesses are for looking pretty and being obedient. When she overhears him talking to her broody, sexy, and oh-so-aloof bodyguard about her future wedding, a surprise to her as she’s not currently engaged to anyone, she plots her first rebellion: slip past her protection detail in NYC and board a tourist bus bound for Camp Firefly Falls where she plans to spend the week incognito as a normal twenty-something looking for love during Singles’ Week.
A Duke in pursuit…
Harmon Maxwell , Duke of Carlisle and Commander of the Royal Palace Guard has no patience for spoiled little rich girls who think security is a game. The tempting princess has tormented his dreams for years, but he’s a man of honor and duty, and he intends to bring the reckless beauty to heel until a real threat to her safety means a week at camp might be the safest place for her. It’s his duty to keep her in close protection, and that means she only gets one suitor during Singles’ Week: him.
To Marry a Prince by Sophie Page totally fits the bill–commoner woman meets Prince of an alternate United Kingdom.
Ordinary Girl in a Tiara by Jessica Hart – I LOVE this book. Gorgeous hero, lovely warm heroine, a it-could-happen-to-you-plot and a pitch-perfect conflict.
“Sweet Revenge” Nora Roberts…a jewel thief who happens to be a princess.
I have to laugh. I started plotting/research for an M/M Royal Wedding Romance in August without a single thought of Harry/Meghan. A Prince Among Men became my NaNoWriMo project this year. It isn’t close to being ready for human consumption as yet, but I’m working on it. I wasn’t meaning to be topical, I had never seen one in M/M and thought it would be fun to write. Now I have to push to get it done ASAP to take advantage of my apparently latent psychic ability.
So, you can expect A Prince Among Men sometime this spring. I hope.