10 of Our Favorite Romance Books, From Shortest to Longest

A steamy Medieval Scottish romance that's only 49 pages long? How can you say no to that?! Agnes Moor is a Black woman in the inner circle of King James IV, where she's viewed as the "exotic" attraction of the court. When the king makes a kiss from Agnes the prize of a tourney, one tall and mysterious knight dominates the competition to claim her as his own. The Wild Knight has come for her, and he wants more than one mere kiss.

The beloved historical romance author Courtney Milan offered this 100-page novella prequel for fans of her Brothers Sinister series. Three months ago, Serena Barton was let go from her position as governess. Since then, she's been unable to find work, so she decides to demand compensation from the man who got her sacked. She doesn't expect to deal with his right-hand man: the notorious Hugo Marshall, known to the world as the Wolf of Clermont. 

Hugo's responsible for cleaning up the duke's dirty business, and he imagines getting rid of Serena will be easy. But Serena is no pushover, and Hugo finds himself drawn to the governess, even though it means putting his future at risk.

Many readers are daunted by the classics because of their length, but the legendary Jane Austen’s work is all far more compact than you remember. Depending on your edition, it could be anywhere between 200 and 350 pages (do you prefer a small or large font?) Pride and Prejudice is an unmitigated masterpiece, the ultimate tale of Regency romance, social mores, and finding The One after bad first impressions. 

Emily Brontë's only novel may only be 350 or so pages (check one of the literal dozens of editions available!), but Wuthering Heights packs gallons of drama into its slim volume. The story of Heathcliff and Cathy Earnshaw is one of the most tempestuous romances in the English language. 

Raised together as children, their hate is as ferocious as their love, and when Cathy chooses to marry the well-bred Edgar, Heathcliff's bitterness sends him on a journey of cruelty and self-destruction that bleeds into the next generation.

The queen of Black historical romance is, without contest, Beverly Jenkins, and her stories of love have paved the way for greater inclusivity in the genre. Valinda Lacey is committed to helping the newly emancipated Black population of New Orleans flourish, but soon she discovers that here, freedom can also mean danger. 

When thugs destroy the school she has set up and then target her, Valinda runs for her life—and straight into the arms of Captain Drake LeVeq.  As an architect from an old New Orleans family, Drake is determined to do right by his city. He can't help but admire Valinda's dedication too, and when Valinda's father demands she return home to marry a man she doesn't love, they fall hard for one another.

If you love classic historical romance and you haven’t read Lord of Scoundrels, do yourself a favour and get yourself a copy now. You won’t regret it! Sebastian Ballister, the notorious Marquess of Dain, is big, bad, and dangerous to know. But Jessica Trent has no time for his shenanigans. She wants to drag her idiot of a brother away from this cad before he ruins his family's good name. But saving Sebastian might mean throwing herself into the fires of hell alongside the notorious playboy with a dark past. Worse of all: what if she likes it?

The age of the romantasy has been a real boon for romance readers who love a great big doorstop of a novel, and Sarah J. Maas, one of the authors who blazed the trail for the genre in its current form, is happy to oblige. House of Earth and Blood, the first book in the Crescent City saga, is over 800 pages long, and they only get bigger from there! 

Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life until a demon murdered her closest friends. She must find out who killed them all and avenge their deaths. Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength are now put to use as an assassin for his boss. With a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he's offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and he could win his freedom. 

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." That's the opening line to one of the true masterpieces of the written word. Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina was described by William Faulkner as the best novel ever written and it's hard to argue with that. Anna is a spoiled socialite stuck in a loveless marriage to Karenin, a senior government official. 

She throws herself into a tumultuous affair with Count Vronsky, but finds herself falling into a rabbit hole of possessiveness, paranoia, and isolation, forever stifled by the social mores of her time. This is the ultimate saga of love, power, and hypocrisy. 

The full title is Clarissa; or, The History of a Young Lady: Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. And Particularly Shewing, the Distresses that May Attend the Misconduct Both of Parents and Children, In Relation to Marriage. And yes, the book is, fittingly, very long: try over 1,500 pages! 

Samuel Richardson's epic tells the tragic story of Clarissa Harlowe, the daughter of a newly wealthy family, and the brutal men who try to taint her virtue.

Known in English as Artamène, or Cyrus the Great, this is frequently cited as one of the longest novels ever published, at more than 1,954,300 words! In e-book form, that's well over 7,400 pages (unsurprisingly, you can't buy the whole thing in one physical manuscript.) Cyrus, the heir to the Persian throne, is saved from certain death and raised by a shepherd, given the new name of Artamène. He grows into a mighty general and embarks on a grand quest across the continent, all in the name of proving his devotion to the beautiful Princess Mandane. 

While the book is broadly available in the original French, English readers can check out the F.G., Gent. translation here.