15 Fantastic Feminist Romance Novels

Content warnings: racism, enslavement, attempted sexual assault

In the 1860s American Reconstruction period, a teacher attempting to educate recently emancipated children in New Orleans flees her vandalized school when her safety is threatened. Valinda Lacey finds refuge in the family home of Captain Drake LeVeq, an architect from an old New Orleans family who is equally committed to rebuilding their city. But, when Valinda’s father demands she comes home to marry a fiancé she doesn’t love when he returns from France, she finds herself reluctant to leave. She has to decide if she wants to marry Drake, the man she might actually love, or live the life that was set out for her with a man she does not.

Content warning: racism, misogyny

An inventor discovered a way to reduce the cost of telegraphic transmissions in 1870 China and Captain Grayson Hunter will not stop until he hires them. He didn’t expect to find Amelia Smith was the inventor in question, but succeeding as a Black American businessman has always meant he hired talented people like her. As the adopted Chinese daughter of English missionaries, Amelia has always been out of place, but she finds when her brilliance is given the full backing of a dedicated and kind man like Grayson, there is nothing she can’t achieve. Who would blame them for falling just a little bit in love over the course of their business together?

Content warnings: parental abuse, emotional abuse, misogyny

Lady Lucie has raised the funds to buy part of a publishing house with her fellow suffragettes, but her attempts to spread a scathing account of marital abuse across England are thwarted by the veto of the co-owner. Her childhood friend and current nemesis Lord Ballentine will not allow her to destroy the publishing house’s reputation with the report. At least not without a price. He wants a night with her before he gives his approval and she believes she can handle his charm, but the secret poet has a heart up his sleeve that may sway her own.

Hive removal and relocation have always been simple enough tasks for Penelope Flood, but when print business owner Agatha Griffin asks for her help, their resulting correspondence evolves into a new emotional complication she doesn’t know how to handle. Agatha reveals she has struggled in the wake of her husband’s death to keep their once-shared printing business afloat and their rebellious son on track. In turn, Penelope reveals her struggle waiting for a husband lost at sea and her love for her hives. But when Penelope’s husband unexpectedly returns, her growing love for Agatha pulls her away from the man who once offered her safety. The question is, will they drift safely apart or stick stubbornly together?

Content warnings: ableism, suicidal ideation

When you think you let your best friend die in Waterloo, it is only natural to blame yourself. Justin de Vere, the Duke of Gracewood, is absolutely miserable and everyone can tell, especially his younger sister whose correspondence to a family friend is his latest call for help. Viola Carroll was fine losing her station, wealth, and best friend when she was presumed dead because it meant she could live the life she needed. But, when she learns Justin is still lost in grief, Viola knows she must go help her former best friend, even if he cannot discover her identity. As they develop new desires for one another, Viola cannot deny their past if they want a new future together.

Content warnings: racism, sexual assault

Leading up to the 1868 election, a determined woman sets out to educate and register Nebraskan freedmen to vote. In the summer of 1881, a substitute teacher for the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary helps her students protest their mistreatment as Black washerwomen. A pastry chef returns home to her small town in 1881 to spread her passion for women’s suffrage. In 1917, a cabaret owner advocates for women’s suffrage in NYC. You can read about these wonderful women and the people they love in this Black suffragette historical romance anthology from four excellent romance authors.

Content warnings: misogyny, emotional abuse

Becoming queen should’ve been the perfect culmination of her years of careful study and planning, but after Shanti Mohapi’s wedding, she finds herself more lost than ever. King Sanyu doesn’t want her political advice and her subjects still consider her an outsider. At first, Shanti doesn’t realize her new King is anxiously following the advice of his council and his late father, but as their attraction grows, she convinces him to listen to her thoughts on the government in private. But no marital bliss can endure private unity and public separation, and when Shanti leaves, Sanyu must decide if he can become a new kind of king for the queen he loves.

Content warnings: ableism, past abusive relationship

An acclaimed sexologist and accessibility podcaster reaches out to a local rigger and carpenter with questions about accessible rope play for a listener and discovers an instant connection. As a podcast host, Frankie uses her degree and experience as a wheelchair user to help listeners with intimacy questions all over the country. When she meets Jay, the expert in question, she feels a connection she knows she won’t pursue. Frankie only does relationships and Jay is not a relationship kind of guy, but their feelings become tied up in knots and neither wants to break free.

Content warning: emotional abuse

Astrid Parker knows how to succeed. At least she used to. After a failed engagement, her increased focus on her interior design business has only resulted in decreasing profits, but the Everwood Inn’s televised renovation could turn it all around. The only person standing in the way is Jordan Everwood, the lead carpenter on the job and granddaughter of the inn’s owner, who she keeps arguing with. Luckily, the producers love their on-screen tension, but when their animosity turns amorous, they will quickly discover if their new relationship was built to last or fall apart.

After landing a spot on the latest season of Instant I Do, all D’Vaughn and Kris have to do is convince their loved ones they are getting married in six weeks and they will win a cash prize of $100,000. D’Vaughn Miller is using the reality TV show to come out to her mother. Kris Zavala is an influencer using the show to grow her platform. Their chemistry is immediate, but neither expected to fall for the person they were fake engaged to on camera. This season could have the first real “I do’s” the show’s ever seen, that is if they can get past the show’s challenges before their walk down the aisle.

Content warning: death of a loved one

In this Pride and Prejudice retelling, Liza B, a D.C. housing reform activist and local radio host protests the acting CEO of the property developer looking to gentrify her neighborhood, Dorsey Fitzgerald, and ends up in a viral rivalry. Dorsey is the adopted Filipino son of a wealthy family who worked in the PEACE Corps prior to the death of his parents and older brother. Now he has to take the reins of the family business, even when he disagrees with their shareholder-first actions that run counter to his conscious. The more Liza encounters Dorsey at events, bars, and dinners, the more she falls for the man behind the corporate façade.

Content warning: abusive ex-partner, sexual harassment

Growing up as a Black girl in a small California town with vitiligo was never easy for Lily-Grace Leroux, but the quiet Jesse Pleasant always defended her. Jesse now co-owns the family ranch, but handling his professional and familial responsibilities is overwhelming. When Jessie’s latest angry reaction lands his grandmother’s new boyfriend, Lily-Grace’s father, in the hospital, he begins a reflective journey taking the advice of therapists, his family, and an angry Lily-Grace who realize something has to change. The only reason Lily-Grace is home confronting Jessie is that neither the tech company she worked for nor her ex-partner took her side in a sexual harassment case. Jessie and Lily-Grace are at turning points in their lives, but their thorny path to love will need pruning before a real partnership can begin.

Content warning: homophobia

When Nar rejects her non-Armenian boyfriend’s proposal for marriage in a room of San Francisco tech bros, she knows she wants a change. That change might not be her mother’s spreadsheet of eligible Armenian men for her to date, but she is willing to try. Nar doesn’t believe in her mother’s methods, but her dates put her on the path of her enigmatic wing woman Erebuni, who she cannot help but love. Nar is not out as bisexual, but she will have to decide if she can come out to embrace her new appreciation for her culture and the woman who helped her fall in love with it.