You guys really like historical romance!
As we approach the end of the year, I start running reports–how we’re doing financially, what pages readers visit the most, etc…. One I run each year that becomes less and less accurate thanks to Kindle Unlimited–Amazon releases no numbers for books borrowed in that program–is what books did we sell the most of?
Thus far this year, at Amazon, readers have used AAR’s links to buy almost sixteen thousand books. The average price point per book–this includes audiobooks, physical books, and ebooks–was $3.75. The vast majority were historical romances.
Here, in order of most sold to least, are our top fifty sellers. The links are to our reviews unless we don’t have one in which case it links to Amazon.
Lady Rivendale’s Connections Box Set by Jo Goodman
Devil in Disguise by Lisa Kleypas
Simply the Best by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Secret Desires of a Gentleman by Laura Lee Guhrke
One Forbidden Evening by Jo Goodman
Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death by Maria Vale
Fortune Favors the Viscount by Caroline Linden
My Season of Scandal by Julie Anne Long
All the Duke I Need by Caroline Linden
The Lily of Ludgate Hill by Mimi Matthews
Not Quite a Marriage by Bliss Bennet
Cold-Hearted Rake by Lisa Kleypas
Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale
Bound by Your Touch by Meredith Duran
When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James
Secrets of a Gentleman Escort by Bronwyn Scott
A Scandalous Proposal by Julia Justiss
The Luckiest Lady in London by Sherry Thomas
Beauty Like the Night by Liz Carlyle
The Sins of Lord Lockwood by Meredith Duran
An Earl Like You by Caroline Linden
The Ladies Rewrite the Rules by Suzanne Allain
Starling House by Alix Harrow
Not Another Love Song by Julie Soto
Crazy for You by Jennifer Crusie
Under the Surface by Anne Calhoun
The Golden Chance by Jayne Ann Krentz
Tell Me Lies by Jennifer Crusie
Sweet Starfire by Jayne Ann Krentz
Love in the Time of Scandal by Caroline Linden
Death in the Spires by K. J. Charles
Viscount in Love by Eloisa James
Snowed In with the Viking by Lucy Morris
London’s Perfect Scoundrel by Adele Ashworth
Happily Never After by Lynn Painter
Wicked Becomes You by Meredith Duran
The Scottish Companion by Karen Ranney
Just Imagine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Duchess By Night by Eloisa James
Enchanted by Elizabeth Lowell
The Velvet Promise by Jude Deveraux
Two Little Lies by Liz Carlyle
My Surrender by Connie Brockway
A Duke of Her Own by Eloisa James
To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt
The Shadow and the Star by Laura Kinsale
The Shacking Up Series by Helena Hunting
Night Moves/Dream Man by Linda Howard
Luck Be a Lady by Meredith Duran
Duke of Sin by Adele Ashworth
And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander
You, with a View by Jessica Joyce
Again, this list is only of the books that weren’t in KU. If KU were counted, we’d have a very different list. For example, this year, Julie Anne Long put all the Pennyroyal Green and the Palace of Rogues books on KU. SeverI suspect readers clicked through to those a bunch but if they borrowed them from KU, I wouldn’t see that data.
Did you buy some of these? How does this list compare with your buying habits? And, if you want to see all the books listed, you can do so here. Thanks!
It seems pretty clear what is the most popular genre of romance amongst your readers, yet interestingly you seem to barely choose any such books to review. Is it because you believe that the quality of HR books has fallen so drastically?
I personally do not believe that, no. People have been wailing about the quality of historical romance as long as there’s been an AAR. I do think that less historical romance is being published.
We get our books from Netgalley and Edelweiss. When I titrate out for romance on Netgalley right now, there far fewer historical romances than contemporary or fantasy romances and most of the historical romances are self-published. The same is even more true on Edelweiss. Right now, there are 300 romances books available to request for review on Edelweiss. Of those, fewer than 10% are historical romances.
Additionally, here at AAR, reviewers can review what calls to them. For whatever reason, many of our current reviewers don’t tend to gravitate towards historical romance. I’m working to change that!
I love historical romance and have been reviewing classics that we’ve missed her at AAR. And, when I see a historical review up at Edelweiss or Netgalley, I’m trying to read them myself as well.
I have been enjoying G L Robinson and Mary Lancaster (Blackhaven series) a lot recently. Neither appear on AAR’s lists but both write well and tell good stories. The Regency-set historical will probably never disappear completely. I find most of my links to new-to-me historical authors these days via Amazon rather than here.
Interesting. I’m going to look for these. I’d like some new HR sources. Thanks!
Great minds… I looked them up. Both self-pubbed and in KU.
What is the steam level on these?
I’d say subtle. To me that is probably most appropriate. Steamy regencies are so improbable that they often lose any credibility for me and I just switch off.
Thanks. I like steam in my romances–I think that’s why I like marriage based historicals so much!
Dabney and I think differently on this – lots of the authors who used to be must-reads for me – Lorraine Heath, Courtney Milan, Elizabeth Hoyt and others – aren’t producing quality books any more, and many newer authors in the genre are wedded to writing 21st century characters in period dress.
As she says, there is fewer HR being traditionally published which makes it more difficult for us to know what’s coming out and to get hold of it.
This year, I very much enjoyed these new historical romances.
The Finest Print by Erin Langston
The Scandalous Confession of Lydia Bennett, Witch by Melinda Taub
Viscount in Love by Eloisa James
Never Blow a Kiss by Lindsay Lovaise
My Season of Scandal by Julie Anne Long
My top HR this year:
Death in the Spires – although really, it’s historical mystery with a strong romantic sub-plot and The Duke at Hazard by KJ Charles
Honey & Pepper and The House of the Red Balconies by AJ Demas
You Should Be So Lucky – Cat Sebastian
To Woo and to Wed – Martha Waters
The Shabti by Magera C. Lorenz (historical paranormal/mystery with a strong romantic subplot)
One Burning Heart by Elizabeth Kingston
Only two set in the 19th century though – The Duke at Hazard and To Woo and to Wed – which still appears to be the most popular time frame for historicals.
I’ve reviewed a few others I didn’t include here because they were lower grades.
Power search shows we’ve reviewed 43 historical romances this year out of a total of 276 reviews (at 1st November 2024) – around 15% of our reviews are of historicals, which is more than the 10% of new books Dabney has found are available at NG and Edelweiss, but not all of those are new releases.
My experience of using the affiliate links on this and other romance sites is clicking, finding a sale price on amazon.com or that the book is in KU. I get my hopes up, then go to amazon.com.au and find the book is not in KU for Australians and the price is $12-25 (I kid you not) so I don’t buy anything. But historical romance just doesn’t do it for me anymore so I probably wouldn’t have bought many of the big sellers anyway.
I usually go straight to Amazon UK and search for the title. If it’s a self published book the sale price is usually the same, but those geographical restrictions can bite if you’re not in the US. If I find the book at the reduced price, I have to remember to come back here and click the AAR link on the home page if I want to buy it, so it can be a convoluted process. (And I often forget.)
I am often struck by the astronomical prices in $$ for some of the books we review. There are books selling for $15 that are 5 quid in the UK.
I am so shocked by how much newly released books are on Kindle. $10 or $12?!? This is when I start to feel really old, “Back in my day…”
Books when Kindle started were usually 14.99!! Then, Apple made the ones they sold 9.99. So, the prices we have today are actually lower than when ebooks first came along!
When I order something (not books) from Amazon I almost always get an offer to skip two day shipping and get a digital credit in return. The credit is often $1, but at times it’s been as high as $3. Since I rarely need an item in two days, I always take the digital credit. It’s how I buy books on Kindle when they aren’t on KU. Or I should say it’s how my husband buys them, because he usually uses the digital credit before I do! :-) Even with the discount I don’t pay more than $4 or $5 for an ebook unless it’s really important, or I know or especially want to support the author. (My daughter has short stories in two anthologies that I spent a shocking amount on in paperback. $16 for one of them.)
I’m loving the trend I’m seeing (at least in MM authors) to have storefronts to sell their books and audiobooks! I’ve been buying $5 to $10 audiobooks directly from the author (NR Walker, Jay Hogan and Nicky James, for example) whenever possible, and downloadable ebooks that I can send to my Kindle.
I own 15+ of the books on the list – some in both print and audio, although I acquired the majority of them ages ago.
As you’ll know this list doesn’t reflect my buying/reading habits at all!
Same here. I own 8 of the listed book books on the list and most of the 8 are contemporaries. The only book on the list I bought this year is Death in Spires by KJ Charles and I bought that on audio. But then I’m used to being out of step with most romance readers because I’ve never been a huge historical romance fan. Even when I wasn’t reading much queer romance I’ve always tended to read more romantic suspense, sci-fi, and fantasy.
I used to read a lot of m/f HR but even if I was still reading as much as I used to, I doubt I’d have bought many of the books on the list that I don’t already own.
I own and have read 36 of these!
I own and have read 36 of these! Of those, I’d give high marks to:
Lady Rivendale’s Connections Box Set by Jo Goodman
Simply the Best by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Secret Desires of a Gentleman by Laura Lee Guhrke
One Forbidden Evening by Jo Goodman
Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death by Maria Vale
Fortune Favors the Viscount by Caroline Linden
My Season of Scandal by Julie Anne Long
All the Duke I Need by Caroline Linden
Cold-Hearted Rake by Lisa Kleypas
Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale
Bound by Your Touch by Meredith Duran
The Luckiest Lady in London by Sherry Thomas
Beauty Like the Night by Liz Carlyle
The Sins of Lord Lockwood by Meredith Duran
An Earl Like You by Caroline Linden
Starling House by Alix Harrow
Not Another Love Song by Julie Soto
Crazy for You by Jennifer Crusie
Under the Surface by Anne Calhoun
Love in the Time of Scandal by Caroline Linden
Viscount in Love by Eloisa James
London’s Perfect Scoundrel by Adele Ashworth
Wicked Becomes You by Meredith Duran
The Scottish Companion by Karen Ranney
Just Imagine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Duchess By Night by Eloisa James
My Surrender by Connie Brockway
A Duke of Her Own by Eloisa James
To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt
The Shadow and the Star by Laura Kinsale
Night Moves/Dream Man by Linda Howard
Luck Be a Lady by Meredith Duran
Duke of Sin by Adele Ashworth
I have the Lindens, the Kinsales and the Durans that are on the original list, plus a couple of the Kleypas ones. Eloisa James rarely works for me, and neither does Mimi Matthews, so I wouldn’t have bought those anyway. I have the Carlyle but haven’t read it. I’ve never read a lot of m/f contemporary romance anyway, so those wouldn’t have interested me.
I was surprised Beast Takes a Bride by Julie Anne Long didn’t make your list but it hasn’t been out long. I’m surprised to see Bride by Hazelwood on sale today. I wonder if they did it for Halloween? It looks like a good price!
I don’t think Beast Takes A Bride has been on sale. All of the above books have, at at least one time in the past year, been 2.99 or less.
Thanks for posting Dabney! I love data like this.
I own 7 of the top 10, and 12 of the top 20. But some of them I’ve owned for a long time (and paid full price for them when I purchased them in Kindle format) like Flowers From the Storm and Devil in Disguise. I purchased 8 of the top 20 in Kindle format this year. (e.g. the Jo Goodman set at the top I’ve owned in print for many years. But the sale price to have a Kindle copy was too good to pass by, so I now have those titles in both formats.) Six of the 12 books I purchased were completely new reads: SEP, Guhrke, Vale, Matthews, Justiss, and Bennet.
I really miss Goodman. She’s just so my jam–her stories and her leads are complex, dark without being overwhelming (usually), and very sensual. Not only am I sad she’s not writing anymore, I am furious at Berkley for not publishing (anymore) her fabulous Westerns. She’s been self-pubbing all her old work. Here’s hoping she gets the rights to those.
I believe Goodman was a therapist/counselor for many years; and it really informed her writing. As you say, complex but not “dark”. I didn’t realize she is no longer writing. That is incredibly sad news. Because I purchased the Lady Rivendale set recently, I just reread all three of those books. Boy, were they good.
She is working–the most recent repub, the collection you reference, was published in March. But she’s vanished from social media so I don’t know what the deal with her and writing new stuff is.