ancient historical romance recs
for @en-theos and @marcvscicero
I have some ancient HR recommendations!
{Enchanted Fire by Roberta Gellis} This is a historical fantasy romance, about Orpheus and Eurydice in an alternate ancient Greece where the Greek gods are actually powerful mages, but I love it to pieces. Literally. My hard copy is falling into bits at this very moment.
{Render Unto Caesar by Gillian Bradshaw} This is more of a historical thriller than true historical romance, but there is an HEA and a smidgen of sex too. It's about an Alexandrian Greek merchant searching for justice in Imperial Rome, and the Celtic gladiatrix who becomes his bodyguard. It's SO GOOD.
{The Ravishers by Jeanne Duval} (archive.org link) This is definitely an old-school bodice-ripping epic, by gothic author Virginia Coffman. Our heroine, the half Greek half Gallic Lysandra, is sold into palace slavery, whereupon she becomes the mistress of Nero, Galba and Domitian, while still pining for General Maximian. There's plots and palace intrigue aplenty. Also Vesuvius blows up!
{Claimed by the Enemy by Shauna Roberts} A farmboy and a princess find love in war-torn Sumeria. There's not much sex that I remember, but lots of action and it's emotionally very gripping. It is also very accurate from what I can tell.
Render unto Caesar and Claimed by the Enemy have a high degree of historical accuracy, while the others are.... fine? At least there's no oranges, like this one historical romance set in ancient Etruria I just read. And nobody converts to Christianity. IMO they're a lot of fun.