89 Books Like Highland Pursuits

Any historical romance that takes place in a library is good with me, but Amy Rose Bennett takes this to the next level in this gorgeous book.

With a heroine attempting to avoid marriage, and a widowed duke desperate for a wife, any wife, you can imagine the sizzle in this gorgeous book.

I adore an arranged marriage trope, and no one does this better in the medieval period than Kathryn Le Veque.

If you adore your romance spiced with politics, intrigue, and passion. I adore how real and three-dimensional Kathryn's characters are, and I think you'll adore how this marriage turns out...

There are plenty of dukes in historical romance (and I love them!), but I adore this book with a titled lady and a common-born man.

The ‘trade’ elements in this steamy and highly emotional romance from Rebecca Aubrey got me gasping every chapter, and I couldn't walk away until this unusual marriage came together.

The queen of histromcoms (yup, that's historical romcoms) Caroline Lee has a hilarious series that makes me laugh literally out loud - and so far, I've actually cried with laughter twice.

This is another governess story but this time with a Scottish laird, outrageous twins, and assassin mystery to boot. You shouldn't say no to this book.

This is, quite simply, a masterpiece. Unbelievably, it is von Reinhold’s debut, and it feels like the work of an incredibly assured and accomplished writer. Following the main character, Mathilda’s discovery of a forgotten Black Scottish modernist poet, Hermia Drumm, the narrative moves to a bizarre, ascetic residency in a small European town that clashes hilariously with Mathilda’s flamboyant style and louche attitude to life. 

Although much of the novel is devilishly funny, it is also fiercely political, taking in topics such as racism, colonialism, and the erasure of the contribution of Black people to art, culture, and history. I loved Mathilda’s character, but even more so, I loved the quality of von Reinhold’s prose–there is a description of light reflecting on wet cobblestones at one point that was so perfect and beautiful that I had to stop reading to take it in. I can’t wait to see what von… show more.

This is the story of two young men, one rich, one homeless but it’s not a simple rescue me type story. Laurie and Sasha reach out desperately to one another from their different worlds, and against all odds begin an affair, hidden in the attics of Laurie’s sumptuous home and on the bleak moorland of a Romani encampment. For Laurie, it’s a delicious sexual awakening, and Sasha returns his affections, opening up to him a whole new world of freedom. But Sasha has secrets, and a murky, violent past. 

I’ve reread this book countless times. Harper Fox’s writing is breathtaking and it’s so comforting to read characters you can’t help but adore falling in love and finding their way through conflict to a safe and happy ending.

Who doesn’t immediately fall in love with Bridget Jones upon meeting her?

This book is full of laughs, tears, and now parenthood! I adored the other books in the Bridget Jones series, and this didn’t disappoint. If, like me, you like to read about a woman who feels ‘real’ and relatable, this book is just divine.

Bridget Jones is the sister to all of us women who need to hear that someone else goes through such highs and lows.

First of all, Drood is a fantastic trip into the macabre. And, because I love to weave actual truths into my stories, either real-life experiences or real encounters, I am fascinated that Simmons based his novel on the last five years of Charles Dickens's life. Whether this is entirely speculation or otherwise, this novel draws on the character found in Dickens's last and unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Simmons does precisely what I hope to do with my stories; draw the reader into my world and leave them wondering what parts were based on unexpected truths. 

Before settling into the chronicle of the title character, this first entry in the Undertaker series (from the author of the much longer-running Edge books as well) follows a circuitous course involving an unfaithful wife and a vengeful husband. I won’t spoil the surprises along the way, but the Undertaker himself pushes the Western antihero to its limit. He’s all but emotionless, very nearly a sociopath, but with a certain competence and honor that gives him an appeal. (Even though he’s further saddled by the lame catchphrase ‘Bye-bye.’) I actually find his semi-autistic callousness more bearable than Steele’s more willful nastiness, since it seems the Undertaker was simply born the way he is, rather than choosing it.

You’ll recognize certain plot points from these books remixed into my book, though I found the Undertaker’s continued lack of character development a bit grating from one book to the next. That’s the… show more.

Set predominantly in London, this is a cracking psychological thriller about a woman who offers a room in her flat to a waitress she sees in her local coffee shop every morning. Valerie brings a realism to her books and this was a fabulous page-turner. It touches upon relationships, explores how well do we really know the people we’re closest to, and how one innocent deed can lead to a catastrophic chain of events. Valerie is another automatic buy author for me.