Earl Grey Books

It’s time for my first romance-related post of the year! Are you all ready for another year filled with me talking about historical romance more than anything else? I know I am.

To start off I’m bringing you a list of romance authors I want to get to this year. Some of these are authors I’ve read before, some of them are new-to-me. Similarly, some of them I have particular series or books in mind and some of them I don’t. So without further ado, let’s get into it.

Laura Thalassa | The Bargainer series

This is extremely left of field for me. I like my Regency romances and that’s usually it, but I loved the first two books Laura Thalassa’s The Four Horsemen series and I want to give something else she’s written a go too. I have really no idea what this is about, but I went into the first series pretty much in the same boat and that turned out brilliantly so I’m hoping the same thing will happen again here. I know that it’s paranormal/urban fantasy, which again, I have very little experience actually reading but I’m excited to give this a chance anyway. This one is on Kindle Unlimited as well, so I’ll hopefully be getting to it soon, right after I finish the third book in The Four Horsemen series, Famine.

Kerrigan Byrne

I really have no idea where to start with Kerrigan Byrne, so if anyone has any opinions then that’d be great. I’ve heard her mentioned around a few times and I’ve always heard good things, so I’m interested to see what I think.

Tessa Dare | Girl Meets Duke

I’ve been talking about wanting to start this series many, many times before but I’m actually going to do it in the next few weeks. I’m not letting myself order any more romance books until I’ve read through a couple I already own, and this is one of the books I put on that list. The plan is, if I really enjoy this then I’ll let myself buy the next book in the series once I’ve read through the rest of that list. There’s supposed to be a fourth one coming out in February, I believe, so this is probably the perfect time to get into this one so I can marathon the rest if I choose too. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Tessa Dare, including from Angel, so I do think I will end up loving this. And if not, well at least it’s another book off my TBR right?

Beverly Jenkins

I’ve been hearing so much about Beverly Jenkins this year, again including from Angel. I meant to pick up something from her last year but I just ran out of time so 2021 it is!

Jennifer Ashley | Mackenzies and McBrides

This one has been on my radar for a few months, and so I’m finally going to make an effort to pick this one up. I have to admit that I am a little hesitant because Jennifer Ashley mentioned on Goodreads that the hero is meant to be on the spectrum. I’m always a little worried when it comes to reading books about characters on the spectrum when the author isn’t, just the same as I am when reading about any other disability, race or any other identity not written by an #OwnVoices author. This does have very good reviews, but I haven’t seen any from an #OwnVoices reviewer yet. I’m going to keep an eye out and give it a chance, so if we can all cross our fingers that it’s not full of rampant, unchallenged ableism…

Courtney Milan

Another author I have no idea where to start with. All last year I was seeing people rave about Courtney Milan so I figure it’s time right? Again, if anyone has any suggestions on where to start, please leave them below.

Maya Banks | McCabe Trilogy

So I have read Maya Banks before—I read one of the KGI books, which is her military series. I’m not really into military romance, apart from Rebecca Yarros, but I’d like to give this one a go. I don’t really have much experience reading Highlander romances either but it is definitely a genre I’m interested in reading more. I do have a couple of others in mind, but this one seems like it’ll be a good one to pick up. For one, it’s only a trilogy so I don’t have to worry about committing to another long series (I’m still trying to read the Cynster series this year, after all!) and it also looks like it might be easy to find either off Better World Books or maybe an eBook service—I haven’t really looked into that yet. Either way, it’s here on this list and hopefully that means I will actually at least try it this year.

So I think this is a doable list, especially keeping in mind all the other books I currently own and the ones that will inevitably come into my collection throughout the year. Tell me, have you read any of these? Which authors and books are on your list for 2021?