Happy new year and also happy Bridgerton season! The first part of the fourth season of Bridgerton dropped on Netflix two days ago, and of course, I have devoured it. Whenever a really good costume drama from this period in history appears on screen, it always has me reaching for historical romance novels (especially when you have to wait a month for the second half of the series to be made available…).

In actual fact, I think I love Benedict’s book in Julia Quinn’s original Bridgerton book series (An Offer from a Gentleman) best of all. His and Anthony’s – Books 2 and 3 – have always stayed with me, though I like all of the siblings getting their moment in the spotlight. I’m not ashamed to admit I will probably be reaching for Benedict and Sophie’s story again, but beyond Julia Quinn, here are 10 books to read if you love Bridgerton and want to sink your teeth into some Regency romance.

To Have and to Hoax, Martha Waters

Martha Waters’s Regency Vows series is a really great time if you enjoy Julia Quinn’s Regency-set romance. There are five books, and this is the first.

To Have and to Hoax follows Lady Violet Grey and Lord James Audley, who are actually already married… but haven’t spoken to each other in four years since they had a terrible argument. After Violet gets called to James’s side having falsely been told he’s had an accident, she decides to get even by feigning her own illness. Feelings resurface as these two warring spouses finally spend time together, and banter back and forth with Waters’s witty and fun dialogue.

Manic Pixie Dream Earl, Jenny Holiday

This is actually the second book in Holiday’s Earls Trip series, but you would probably be fine jumping straight in at book number two (though book one is also fabulous).

Our hero is Edward Astley, Viscount Featherfinch – Effie – and he is incredibly similar to Benedict Bridgerton in his artistic, creative and nonconforming temperament, and just as likeable.

This series is actually as much about male friendship as romance, with Effie embarking upon the annual Earls Trip with his two best friends Archie and Simon to Brighton. There, he runs into his pen pal and editor Miss Julianna Evans, whom he has been nursing a secret love for throughout the duration of their working together. The catch? Julianna doesn’t know Effie is a man nor titled, and Julianna is very much below Effie’s social standing.

I have hugely enjoyed this and its predecessor, but Effie and Julianna for me really resonated with the social and creative dynamics between Sophie and Benedict in this season/book of Bridgerton.

Mansfield Park, Jane Austen

Mansfield Park is a funny one in Austen’s novels as its often the book in her back catalogue that people like the least. It has the most to analyse I think (after Northanger Abbey playing on the gothic novel), particularly with regards to the country house and slavery, and there is so much about it that I find really fascinating.

At Mansfield Park, the rich and titled Bertram family take in their poor niece Fanny Price, raising her alongside their four children on their vast estate. The two Bertram daughters treat her terribly, whilst Fanny gradually falls in love with her cousin Edmund, who is always kind to her.

It’s a sort of Cinderella story, but most of all I think it’s about a young woman finding a place in a world that inherently wants to put her down because of her lower financial standing and social class.

Ne’er Duke Well, Alexandra Vasti

I really enjoy Alexandra Vasti’s Regency romances, they’re always full of really good chemistry. Also as a side note, I love that she is a British Literature professor as well as an author.

In this novel, the newly inherited Duke of Stanhope needs to cleanse his reputation as a rake in order to prove he can become guardian to his younger half-siblings. Enter Lady Selina Ravenscroft, a debutante of unimpeachable reputation. Of course – and as we all want them to – sparks fly. And who doesn’t love a reformed rake with a heart of gold, or an intelligent woman with a secret?

Mr Malcolm’s List, Suzanne Allain

I’ve waxed lyrical about Mr Malcolm’s List and its film adaptation before (I recommend watching too if you’re wanting something on your screen; Allain also penned the screenplay, and its brilliant), so it had to be on this list.

Mr Malcolm is the catch of the season but notoriously difficult to please with his list of qualities his prospective bride should have. When Julia Thistlewaite is rejected by him, she seeks revenge by turning her friend Selina Dalton into Mr Malcolm’s ideal bride before having Selina reject him.

However, there’s a flaw in the plan with the off-the-charts chemistry between Selina and Mr Malcolm: has he finally met his true match? I love this as a fictional delve into what it meant to be an accomplished woman.

Painting the Duke, Georgina North

With the most artistic Bridgerton brother taking centre stage at the moment, I had to recommend Georgina North’s novel: except in this novel, it is the heroine who is the artist.

Vivienne Emory leads a double life. To the outside world, she is a well-respected lady of the ton. Behind closed doors, she is an incredibly talented artist who actually makes a living from selling her work. Making money has secured her independence, and she likes it that way… until the Duke of Hazelhurst returns to London from years away, searching for a wife and to improve his reputation.

I really liked Vivienne and this exploration of what it meant to make money from one’s art as a woman during this period. So interesting, great slow-burn romance, an all-round enjoyable time!

Queen Bee, Amalie Howard

I need to pick up the second and third books in Howard’s The Diamonds series because I really loved this. You have a second-chance romance, revenge (I read this around the same time I watched the film Do Revenge so I think the plots really resonated), hidden identities and plenty of desire.

Three years ago, Lady Ela Dalvi’s reputation was ruined by her supposed best friend, losing her the love of Lord Keston Osborn. Having spent years stewing away in country obscurity whilst her ex-best friend conquered society, Ela disguises herself as an heiress and returns to London hellbent on getting even. However, Keston is just as handsome and brilliant as she remembers… putting Ela’s carefully calculated plan at risk.

If you like Lady Whistledown, gossip, and the hidden identity aspect of this season of Bridgerton (as well as a pinch of Mean Girls), this one is for you!

How to Lose an Earl in Ten Weeks, Jenni Fletcher

When I saw this title, I knew I had to pick it up. (I will always love Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey, what a great play on words this is!)

Essie Craven and Aidan Ravell, Earl of Denholm, have been engaged since birth, and have nearly arrived at their wedding date. However, neither of them want to go through with it, so they make a pact. Essie will find him another bride, whilst he will pretend to happily engaged until they call it off, and Essie can live her life beyond the strictures of being a Countess. Yet, in true Hudson and McConaughey style, Essie and Aidan soon find themselves questioning why they ever fought to get out of the arrangement in the first place…

This might be a little closer to Anthony and Kate’s enemies-t0-lovers romance in season 2 of Bridgerton, but I still loved Fletcher explored the position of women and reputation when it comes to relationships: very much key for Sophie and Benedict.

The Earl Next Door, Ashtyn Newbold

Take a trip from London to Bath in Ashtyn Newbold’s novel about two warring neighbours hellbent on driving each other out of the one last available house in the Royal Crescent.

Miss Henrietta Dixon requires the house to try and reunite her sister with the one man she has ever loved, whereas the Earl of Guildford needs it so that he might woo heiress Lady Eleanor in order to stop his own sister from being married off against her will. As the two of them spar and argue, unexpected feelings emerge, complicating their predicament even further.

Matchmaking is always a big part of Bridgerton, so I really liked this premise of two people trying to take it into their own hands and fight against the course of love and feelings.

Trouble, Lex Croucher

I love Lex Croucher’s books, which always have great feminist characters and queer representation. In Trouble, Emily Laurence secretly takes the place of her sister Amy as governess at Fairmont House in order to pay for her sister’s medical treatment. Except… Emily hates children and is hardly qualified to teach them. Despite this, Emily finds herself gradually charmed by the Edwards children and the servants, and the biggest catch of all: the incredibly handsome Captain Edwards. It’s going to be difficult sticking to the plan…

This is a great play with upstairs/downstairs dynamics besides being brilliantly entertaining. I’d also particularly recommend Croucher’s first novel, Reputation.

Anna María and the Fox, Liana de la Rosa

This is admittedly set later than Bridgerton, in 1863, but I really think the feel of it fits on this list, and it taps into really interesting contemporary history. I don’t know if you make a point of reading author’s notes, but de la Rosa’s Author’s Note at the end explains her experience in discovering and researching this history, which I found fascinating. (Also, I absolutely loved the novel itself, so had to recommend…)

Anna María is a Mexican heiress who has been sent by her family to safety in London with her sisters away from the French occupation of Mexico. Gideon Fox is a politician who has risen from the bottom of London society to chase his dream of abolishing the slave trade once and for all across the world. When the two of them meet on the London social scene, the sparks between them threaten to distract from what they need to do… or maybe they are stronger together.

Liana de la Rosa has also written two sequels in the Luna sisters series which are at the top of my to be read pile: these sisters are brilliant characters that will consume you as you read, much like the Bridgerton siblings.