This latest Rec League is inspired by a discussion I had during one of my romance book club meetings. I can’t remember what book we read, though I think it was a historical romance. But in a lot of cases, in books where there is a brother/sister sibling relationship, the brother is usually an asshole or even the bad guy.
They’re judgmental about their sister’s dating life, is ruining her financially, or is somehow impeding her independence and autonomy.
So I’m personally asking for romances with healthy brother/sister dynamics!
Carrie: The many generations of Bridgertons ( A | K | G | AB ) have mutually supportive brothers who lend their names and hearts to many a spin off novel.
Claudia: That’s easy — Loretta Chase’s Carsington Brothers, and I always thought the earl dad deserved a prequel.
Carrie: Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie has a pair of brothers that start off somewhat codependent but who end up being mutually supportive.
AJ: The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer has a pretty good brother, as I recall, although he doesn’t get his own separate sequel.
Amanda: I THINK the original siblings in the first Maiden Lane books may qualify.
The brother is stuffy, but not an asshole.
Shana: If YA works, the younger brother in If It Makes You Happy is very supportive of his sister. He’s pushes her to stand up for herself against their controlling grandmother, and there’s some loving bickering. I think the fact that’s she’s older helps because she’s more protective of him.
Hold Me by Courtney Milan has a younger sister who ends up with her brother’s friend, but he’s not a dick about it. It’s an enemies to lovers plot, but the brother lets the heroine mostly fight her own battles, pointing out when the hero is being an ass but trusting his sister to handle the situation.
I feel like nontoxic brother/sister dynamics are more common in f/f stories, but right now I can’t think of great examples, except for The Alaskan Bride, where a brother and sister are trappers together until his mail order bride shows up. But, while the brother is caring and respectful of his sister’s pride, he also dies early in the book.
Maya: So, not a book, but I can’t help but think about the sibling relationship in Letterkenny (Canadian show available on Hulu). Bro is the lead, but he runs the family farm with his younger sister. They always have each others’ backs (often literally, like in a fight) and they are always supporting each other. I personally love the moments when sis is wandering around in a bikini and the brother asks her to put on more clothes. Her response is always “that’s not my style” and he’s always like “that’s fair” and drops it. The siblings sometimes have issues with the partners the other one has chosen, but it’s never about a brother controlling a sister’s sexual behavior. Everyone has autonomy and everyone is loved. Also, the show is deeply hilarious, extremely kind, and very smart.
Sarah: “Unfortunate.”
I love that show so effing much. We had tickets to the live show in mid March. Didn’t happen but maybe someday
EllenM: I think several of the sibling pairings from Maiden Lane qualify…Maximus and Phoebe had a pretty positive relationship even if he was a bit overbearing. Same with the Battens. It’s been a minute but I do remember the overall tone of the brother-sister relationships throughout the series as being supportive.
I think the Bedwyn brothers ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) all had good relationships with Freyja except the eldest one.
Oh oh! Don’t the sisters in the Consortium Rebellion series also have at least 1 Very Good Supportive Brother?
ALSOOOO Psy-Changeling has some really good brothers as well who are again kind of protectively overbearing but not in an icky way—I’m thinking Brenna’s brothers off the top of my head but I think there are probably others.
Lol clearly this is my big Rec League Moment, I have sisters now, but growing up it was mostly me and my two brothers so I track this very closely in my reading.
Amanda: I have a pretty good relationship with my brother, so that’s always a bonus to see in my reading.
Maya: OHHHH what about the brother/sister relationship in The Suffragette Scandal by Courtney Milan? I can’t remember if Oliver was a problem in Free’s book. All I remember is that Free is a delight and she let no one get in her way.
EllenM: If I recall correctly, he was a Worried brother but not like a Problem brother.
Maya: Yeah, I remember him trying to protect her during a protest and she was like actually I don’t need you, but also I think Brenna’s brothers are a good call
EllenM: I feel like brothers who are like laughs nervously, “I hope you know what you are doing!!!” qualify for this.
I’ve just thought of like 5 more brace yourselves everyone.
Maya: YESSSSS get it Ellen
EllenM: Okay so the first London Steampunk series by Bec McMaster actually has a nice brother-sisters relationship that develops a lot over the course of the series from moderately antagonistic to genuinely loving and supportive. There is also a very sweet younger brother-older sister relationship.
The Hathaways ( A | K | G | AB ) also fit this I think both with the one Hathaway brother AND because of the really close brother in law-sisters relationship.
Moving from romance to romance-adjacent, the hero in the Spiritwalker Trilogy by Kate Elliott has a nice relationship with his sister.
Also, in the Lady Darby Mystery series, Lady Darby has a really close, supportive relationship with her brother who is in the lord of the manor role.
I’m trying to think of good fantasy romance brothers, but I’m drawing a blank on that, for some reason it seems like the heroines are all either only children or their brothers are evil.
Catherine: Anne Gracie’s Marriage of Convenience series has a brother who starts out well-intentioned but rather rigid and uninvolved, but who develops over the series and is just lovely.
Definitely seconding Oliver in the Suffragette Scandal! He is busy being overprotective in The Heiress Effect, but by the time we reach Free’s story, he is great. And a shout out to Chermont, who desperately wants to be her brother, and does a pretty good job when the opportunity presents.
Which set of siblings would you recommend?
I loved THE BENNETT FAMILY series by Layla Hagen when I read them. May even be time for a re-read.
The Secrets of Wishtide by Kate Saunders is a mystery but the heroine (who is in her 50’s or 60’s!) has a WONDERFUL relationship with her brother.
Sarah Maclean’s Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake has a supportive brother. Then in turn, the hero of that book and his brother are supportive of their sister, the heroine in the third book of the series. And then in turn the hero of that book becomes supportive of his sister, more so when she has her book in the Rules of Scoundrels series.
Lorraine Heath’s current Sins for All Seasons series is all about supportive siblings, brothers and sisters. There are also good sibling relationships in many of the books in the Scandalous Gentlemen of St. James series.
As much as I love Cal in the Marriage of Convenience series , I wouldn’t exactly call him a super supportive brother, at least when comes to who his sisters choose to marry. To be fair his feelings of protectiveness are entirely justified and he’s a great brother otherwise( after character development), but I’m not sure he fits the rec.
As for a recommendation of my own, I can’t think of one at the moment, but it’s early here, so I might add one later.
Grace Burrowes The Windham series
KJ Charles’ Band Sinister has a lovely brother/sister relationship
Lauren Dane, The Brown Family series. The sister’s book opens the series with Laid Bare; her brothers are super supportive of her when her second chance romance becomes a triad. (Not a spoiler, it’s in the blurb.)
The Obsession by Nora Roberts. There’s a good sibling relationship in that. I actually was kind of hoping NR would give the brother his own story since I like his character, but that unfortunately did not happen. She tends to be good about writing good sibling relationships, although no other titles immediately spring to mind.
Got to shout out to my all time favorite hero, Harry Fairfax/Earl of Longmore from Loretta Chase’s Scandal Wears Satin. Always has his sister Clara’s back, and supports her as an autonomous person while doing anything to help her out in a pinch. Just an all around great big brother.
Sophy looked at him.
“What now?” he said.
“She’s lucky to have you for a brother, and your parents are lucky to have you for a son,” she said.
He laughed.
“It’s true,” she said. “To a point.”
“To a point.”
“So many other men would not be understanding at all,” she said.
“I don’t understand,” he said. “I don’t understand anything about it.”
Yet he was kind, unexpectedly kind. Men weren’t, always. They didn’t necessarily mean to be unkind. But they were so accustomed to the world rolling on according to their desires that they never noticed when it rolled over women and crushed them.
“You understand that your sister needs help, not judging,” she said. “That’s a great deal.”
Just…HEARTS for days. We at House Fairywine stan Longmore forever.
The Winston brothers in Penny Reid’s Beard series are very close and supportive of each other.
The adopted brothers in Nora Roberts Inner Harbor series look out for each other.
Jenny Crusie’s Welcome to Temptation and Faking It are loosely connected books with a strong sense of family. The hero of Faking It is brother to the heroine of WtT.
Cathy Pegau’s Charlotte Brody mystery’s have a supportive brother who being the doctor aids her investigations.
GA Aiken’s dragons have somewhat supportive siblings. In their manner of dealing with each other. And if the brothers don’t display the right attitude their wives correct them.
Tracy Ewens has an extended series that first follows siblings and then the siblings of partners. The first group is brothers with a sister (Sage – her book is Reserved) and they’re supportive.
Kate Canterbary’s Walsh series is about siblings. Most of them work together and when the older sister had her romance she gets support. The younger sister has a mostly long distance secret romance mixed with family drama so it’s different. (TW for implied through memory child sexual abuse.)
Sarina Bowen’s True North series has some supportive brothers. Her best supportive family is in her Him series (mm) with Jamie’s family. Jamie in a later book is supportive of his sister Jess.
Jessie Mihalik’s Consortium Rebellion series features supportive brothers although they are minor characters.
Nora Roberts has a lot of good sibling relationships in her books (a lot are found family, and lots of brothers!) I can think of the brother and sister in the Bride Quartet series immediately. I also like the 3 brothers in the Inn at Boonsboro trilogy and their relationship with their mother (and her romantic life).
I remember the brother in The Liar by Nora Roberts being pretty supportive too, after he and the heroine get past some issues at the beginning.
Lisa Kleypas’s Ravenels series also fits – Gabriel is very supportive of his sister Phoebe. Devon and West are also very supportive of their female family members, although they’re cousins, not siblings. They have a very good relationship with each other too.
I would add two books by Cat Sebastian. They aren’t blood siblings but Jack (The Soldier’s Scoundrel), Georgie (The Lawrence Browne Affair), and their sister Sarah are all very supportive of each other. Cat really writes wonderful found families. Robin/Charity presents as male for a good chunk of the book and is looking to protect her/their sister in “Unmasked by the Marquess”.
Sabrina Jeffries’s series The Hellions of Halstead Hall has supportive brothers and sisters. It’s not always smooth sailing, but at the end of the day they have each others’ backs.
And while I have Issues with the “hero” in Sarah MacLean’s Day of the Duchess, the sister relationships among the “Soiled S’s” are delightful.
Elisa Braden’s excellent Rescued from Ruin series has candidates , Earl Holstock in particular (starting with A Marriage Made in Scandal where he’s the hero and very protective of his sister, and then in A Kiss from a Rogue (her book)). The duke in The Madness of Viscount Atherbourne qualifies as well. Love the series, with a few marked exceptions (When A Girl Loves an Earl with a stalker heroine who traps the hero into marriage and Desperately Seeking a Scoundrel which I’m probably never going to read because I hated the guy in other books and don’t want to see his HEA).
Christi Caldwell has a couple in her Heart of a Duke series, but they are usually about the brother as the hero, not the heroine’s story. Her writing style get repetitive if you gorge on them like I did, but I recommend them, especially if you’re like me right now and having trouble finding books to hold your attention. Not overly complicated, with likable people and good friends who help support main characters and later get their own books. BUT: trigger warning for tragic family backstories – books of full of cruel fathers, etc. I liked Rhys in To Tempt a Scoundrel, Alex in The Love of a Rogue, but they’re not strictly on-point. Still, the books are now on KU, and I recommend checking them out. To me, they’re the equivalent of a devil’s food cookie – comforting and great in small doses.
I’m always up for books with good brother/sister relationships because, brothers, I has them.
What hng23 said. Lauren Dane generally has some good sibling relationships in her books. The parents might be disasters, but the sibs are good.
I’ll toss out Cecelia Grants Blackshear books. My perennial Christmas read, A Christmas Gone Perfectly Wrong features the eldest brother, a paragon of virtue to siblings in the previous novels who make unconventional choices in love. The widowed sister who tries to get pregnant by the local vicar and pass the child off as her late husband’s. The brother who marries a courtesan. There is a underlying respect and caring that is subtle and sweet. Andrew’s story, of course, reveals that he is not the perfect man that he and his siblings believe him to be. It’s all about his misadventures trying to get home to give them the perfect last Christmas together before his sister marries.
Just thought of another series, contemporary this time: Lisa Kleypas’s Travises, with all three brothers really protective of their sister (and each other), stepping up in a major way. I only liked the two middle books in the series, but those two are definitely on my favorites list.
Courtney Milan is SO GOOD at sibling relationships – it’s really A Thing with her. So I’m sure there are several but yeah, The Suffragette Scandal is an excellent example, because as Catherine points out, it’s not just Oliver – there’s also a bonus brother!
I also thought of the Hathaways series but wasn’t sure because Leo does cause quite a lot of trouble for his family. But he loves his sisters, is very supportive and does sort himself out eventually so. I personally adore him because he really stands out as NOT overprotective at all. (I think at some point he even practically trips over one of his sisters making out with a guy and he’s just like “carry on”.)
I have a VERY low tolerance for protective brothers. Even in a lot of books that are generally feminist and “aware”, there can be these “I’ll kill him if he hurts you” kind of attitudes which is a major pet peeve of mine. Also heroes that are too protective of their younger sisters are too much for me. It’s just such a misogynist take.
In the first Bridgerton book (and I still remember this part so well!) it’s really only Colin who actually LISTENS to his sister – the others are all PISTOLS AT DAWN awful.
Mary Balogh has mostly good siblings in her books. There’s some issue with overprotectiveness, but it can go both ways, not just from brother to sister.
Most of the siblings in Georgette Heyer’s books have good relationships. Often it’s an older sister trying to keep a younger brother out of trouble with varying success.
Sarina Bowen’s True North has been mentioned, but I’ll also add Bridger and Lucy from The Year We Hid Away (though his sister is very young) and Hank and Stella Lazarus from her earlier Gravity series.
Haven Travis in Lisa Kleypas’s Blue-Eyed Devil has two very supportive brothers in Gage and Jack (Joe doesn’t have much of a presence in this one), though there’s a bit of an asterisk because they have (legitimate) concerns about her relationship. As OK noted, the Travises in general are close and supportive.
Sherry Thomas’s Fitzhugh siblings in Beguiling the Beauty, Ravishing the Heiress, and Tempting the Bride.
Marc and Megan from Pamela Clare’s Unlawful Contact grew up apart and made some very bad decisions, but they clearly love each other.
Kate Canterbary’s Walshes series. Four brothers and two sisters. There are challenges due to their upbringing, but they are rock-solid in their love and support of each other. Sometimes it is at distance, but…
I finally read this series last September while I was on vacation and still not over it. They’ve been on my comfort-read rotation this year.
Yes to Sarina Bowen’s True North series. With not one, but two sets of supportive sibs.
I loved the sibling relationship between twin siblings Gaby and Eli in Marian Zapata’s Rhythm, Chord & Malykhin. So fun and spot on.
The various sib relationships in Nalini Singh’s Psy/Changeling series are nice. Mercy and her brothers are a standout especially their ribbing & nicknames for each other.
Nora Roberts has already been name checked a lot, but I’ll go back a bit old skool and mention that her book Carnal Innocence features three (two brothers and a sister) siblings that have a really strong relationship that is very central to the storyline.
Ilona Andrews’ Hidden Legacy series, the relationships between younger set are great. Even though Byrne and Leon are Nevada’s cousins, they are close as siblings.
I have always loved Mary Balogh’s Bedwyn siblings’ and their relationship with each other from our first glimpse of them in A Summer to Remember and especially in Slightly Dangerous the final book of that series.
I’ve just finished mowing through Stella Riley’s excellent six-book Rockliffe series of Georgian romances. #6, ‘Cadenza’ has a very good brother/sister relationship that is key to the H/H getting their HEA. Throughout the series there are sibling ties that are close, warm, and supportive. There are also a few of those siblings that you want to drown, but hey.
Many, many suggestions here that I’d add +1 (yay for the heart button!), but unless I was reading too fast and missed it, I didn’t see the Rosier brothers from Laura Florand’s La Vie en Roses series. I just finished a re-glom of that series and am pleased to report that they are just as sighworthy as ever.
I’m a fan of sibling relationships that are supportive/co-operative, or healing of a breach, not so much of the protective (“I’ll kill him if he hurts you”) type. Second the recommendation of Penny Reid’s WINSTON BROTHER (BEARD) series (and the sister prequel BEAUTY AND THE MUSTACHE — the mustache is really a beard) for super-supportive sibling relationships that are more than just background. Also, the Jennifer Cruisie recs of WELCOME TO TEMPTATION and FAKING IT, though the sibling relationship appears more centered in WtT.
In general (but not always), the Mackenzie brothers in Jennifer Ashley’s books are supportive of each other.
And a vote for the brothers in Nora Roberts’ Chesapeake series.
I second the Elisa Braden “Rescued From Ruin” siblings. Definitely the Trewlove siblings in Lorraine Heath’s books. They are spread out over more than one series, and some of them are adoptive, rather than blood siblings, but they all have each other’s backs. Her Scoundrels of St. James series also has a group of orphans that band together and function as siblings.
Mary Balogh has another series with a group of siblings, the Huxtables. There are several sisters, and the one brother is the youngest of the family, and he’s a sweetheart.
Not precisely a romance, but I love the relationship between sisters Charlotte and Olivia Holmes in Sherry Thomas’ Lady Sherlock series!
The Cavensham Heiresses series by Janna MAcGregor has brothers, sisters, and cousins
COLIN BRIDGERTON!! As another commenter noted above, he actually listens to Daphne in The Duke and I. He also helps Michael come to terms with his feelings for Francesca in When He Was Wicked in one of the sweetest scenes. He’s my all time favorite romance hero, and the way he cares for his siblings is a big part of why.