Eloisa James Books in Order: All 55 Titles
Eloisa James is the pen name of Mary Bly, an American historical romance novelist and professor of English literature at Fordham University, where she specialises in Shakespeare and seventeenth-century drama. She was born in Minnesota in 1962, the daughter of the poet Robert Bly and the writer Carol Bly, and holds a BA from Harvard, an M.Phil from Oxford and a PhD in Renaissance studies from Yale. Her first novel, Potent Pleasures, was published in 1999, and she has written Georgian and Regency-set historical romance continuously since, publishing mainly with Avon and HarperCollins. She won the 2013 RITA Award for Best Romance Novella for Seduced by a Pirate, is a New York Times bestseller, and her books have sold in the region of seven million copies in some thirty countries. She has also written a memoir, Paris in Love (2012), about a year spent living in France.
Do you have to read Eloisa James in order?
Almost everything Eloisa James writes stands alone, and she says so herself about the Fairy Tales books in particular. The one series that genuinely rewards reading in order is Desperate Duchesses, because the Duke of Villiers's courtship runs across all six novels and is resolved in the last one. Esme & Friends is similar in a lighter way: each romance is self-contained but Esme's own story threads through the quartet. Read the Wildes of Lindow Castle novels in order for family continuity, and read the prequel novella My Last Duchess whenever you like since it concerns the previous generation. If you start with the Would-Be Wallflowers series, note that the author counts My American Duchess as its prequel.
Genres and eras: Historical romance throughout, and almost all of it British-set. The Desperate Duchesses series and its 9-to-5 sub-series are Georgian - the author describes the period as 'think Marie Antoinette' and deliberately naughtier than the Regency. Every other series is Regency or Regency-adjacent, with the Fairy Tales books described by the author as set in 'fairytale time, albeit with a dusting of the Regency'. Her only work outside historical romance is non-fiction and the contemporary novel Lizzie & Dante, both published as Mary Bly.
Pen names: Mary Bly — The author's real name. Used for her academic work, including Queer Virgins and Virgin Queans on the Early Modern Stage (Oxford University Press, 2000), and for the contemporary novel Lizzie & Dante (2021). No historical romance appears under this name.
Pleasures in order (1999-2001)
Her first three novels, published in mass market by Delacorte/Dell before she moved to Avon.
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Potent Pleasures | 1999 |
| 2 | Midnight Pleasures | 2000 |
| 3 | Enchanting Pleasures | 2001 |
Esme & Friends (also known as the Duchess Quartet) in order (2002-2004)
The author's own site calls this Esme & Friends; most databases call it the Duchess Quartet or the Duchess in Love series. Each romance stands alone but Esme's story runs across all four. The novella A Fool Again shares a hero, Lucius Felton, with Much Ado About You.
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Duchess in Love | 2002 |
| 2 | Fool for Love | 2003 |
| 3 | A Wild Pursuit | 2004 |
| 4 | Your Wicked Ways | 2004 |
Essex Sisters in order (2005-2017)
Four Scottish sisters brought to England after their father's death. The two later novellas revisit the same world; the Companion Guide (2016) is a non-fiction reference book about the series and is not counted as a novel.
More on the Essex Sisters series →
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Much Ado About You | 2005 |
| 2 | Kiss Me, Annabel | 2005 |
| 3 | The Taming of the Duke | 2006 |
| 4 | Pleasure for Pleasure | 2006 |
| 4.5 | A Gentleman Never Tells novella | 2016 |
| 5 | A Midsummer Night's Disgrace novella | 2017 |
Desperate Duchesses in order (2007-2009)
Georgian rather than Regency, set in the 1780s. Six novels, and the only one of her series with a strong through-line: the chess-playing courtship of the Duke of Villiers runs across the whole set and resolves in book 6.
More on the Desperate Duchesses series →
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Desperate Duchesses | 2007 |
| 2 | An Affair Before Christmas | 2007 |
| 3 | Duchess By Night | 2008 |
| 4 | When the Duke Returns | 2008 |
| 5 | This Duchess of Mine | 2009 |
| 6 | A Duke of Her Own | 2009 |
9-to-5, Duchess Style (also known as Desperate Duchesses by the Numbers) in order (2014-2017)
The author lists these as their own series about three heroines who run their own businesses; databases such as FictionDB and Goodreads instead number them 7, 8 and 9 of Desperate Duchesses. They are set a generation later and feature the children of the Desperate Duchesses cast.
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Three Weeks With Lady X | 2014 |
| 2 | Four Nights with the Duke | 2015 |
| 3 | Seven Minutes in Heaven | 2017 |
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Fairy Tales in order (2010-2013)
Regency-flavoured retellings - Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, The Princess and the Pea, The Ugly Duckling, Rapunzel. The author states explicitly that no character moves between the novels and that they can be read in any order; only the novellas link back to specific books. Seduced by a Pirate won the 2013 RITA Award for Best Romance Novella.
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Kiss at Midnight | 2010 |
| 1.5 | Storming the Castle novella | 2010 |
| 2 | When Beauty Tamed the Beast | 2011 |
| 2.5 | Winning the Wallflower novella | 2011 |
| 3 | The Duke Is Mine | 2011 |
| 4 | The Ugly Duchess | 2012 |
| 4.25 | Seduced by a Pirate novella | 2012 |
| 4.5 | With This Kiss novella | 2013 |
| 5 | Once Upon a Tower | 2013 |
Ladies Most Duet in order (2010-2012)
Two collaborative novels written with Julia Quinn and Connie Brockway. Each is a single house-party story told in three linked parts, one per author, rather than a conventional anthology. A later omnibus, The Ladies Most..., collects both.
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Lady Most Likely... | 2010 |
| 2 | The Lady Most Willing... | 2012 |
Wildes of Lindow Castle in order (2017-2021)
Georgian-set, about the large and eccentric Wilde family. My Last Duchess is a prequel novella about the duke and duchess of the previous generation, published in 2020 but numbered 0.5.
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 0.5 | My Last Duchess novella | 2020 |
| 1 | Wilde in Love | 2017 |
| 2 | Too Wilde to Wed | 2018 |
| 3 | Born to be Wilde | 2018 |
| 4 | Say No to the Duke | 2019 |
| 5 | Say Yes to the Duke | 2020 |
| 6 | Wilde Child | 2021 |
Would-Be Wallflowers in order (2016-2023)
Regency. The author's own series page lists My American Duchess as the prequel to this series, although it was published six years earlier and most databases still file it as a standalone.
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 0.5 | My American Duchess | 2016 |
| 1 | How to Be a Wallflower | 2022 |
| 2 | The Reluctant Countess | 2022 |
| 3 | Not That Duke | 2023 |
Seduction in order (2023-2024)
A quartet of linked Regency novellas, published digitally as episodes. Order below follows the author's own site; FictionDB swaps books 2 and 3 because both appeared in December 2023.
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Two Dances and a Duke novella | 2023 |
| 2 | Two Vows and a Viscount novella | 2023 |
| 3 | Two Masquerades and a Major novella | 2023 |
| 4 | Two Lies and a Lord novella | 2024 |
Accidental Brides in order (2024-2025)
Regency; haughty aristocrats who end up married to the 'wrong' women.
| Book | Title | First published |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Viscount in Love | 2024 |
| 2 | Hardly a Gentleman | 2025 |
Eloisa James: books outside the series
These sit outside the numbered series and can be read in any order.
| Title | First published | |
|---|---|---|
| — | A Fool Again anthology-contribution | 2004 |
| — | A Proper Englishwoman anthology-contribution | 2005 |
| — | A Mistletoe Kiss anthology-contribution | 2021 |
| — | Sense, Sensibility, and Snapdragons anthology-contribution | 2025 |
| — | The Last Lady B | 2026 |
Where to start with Eloisa James
A Kiss at Midnight
A self-contained Cinderella retelling and the most frequently recommended entry point to her work.
Desperate Duchesses
The opening of her Georgian series, and the right place to begin if you want a long connected run rather than a standalone.
Much Ado About You
The start of the Essex Sisters, her most beloved family quartet, and readable with no prior knowledge.
Wilde in Love
The most modern-feeling of her openers and the beginning of her most recent long series.
Frequently asked questions
Do Eloisa James's books need to be read in order?
Mostly no. Each novel resolves its own romance and she writes them to stand alone. The main exception is Desperate Duchesses, where the Duke of Villiers's search for a wife runs through all six books, so reading those in sequence matters. The Fairy Tales novels are deliberately unconnected and the author says they can be read in any order.
Who is Eloisa James in real life?
Eloisa James is the pen name of Mary Bly, a professor of English literature at Fordham University in New York who specialises in Shakespeare and seventeenth-century drama. She is the daughter of the poet Robert Bly and the writer Carol Bly, and she kept the pen name secret for several years early in her career.
Are Eloisa James's books Regency?
Most of them. The Desperate Duchesses series and its 9-to-5 follow-on are Georgian, set in the 1780s, and the Wildes of Lindow Castle books are also Georgian. Everything else - the Essex Sisters, Fairy Tales, Would-Be Wallflowers, Seduction and Accidental Brides - is Regency or Regency-flavoured.
What order do the Desperate Duchesses books go in?
Desperate Duchesses, An Affair Before Christmas, Duchess By Night, When the Duke Returns, This Duchess of Mine and A Duke of Her Own. The three later books - Three Weeks With Lady X, Four Nights with the Duke and Seven Minutes in Heaven - follow the next generation; the author calls them the 9-to-5, Duchess Style series but most databases number them 7 to 9 of Desperate Duchesses.
How many books has Eloisa James written?
About 55 works of fiction as Eloisa James: 38 solo novels, two collaborative novels written with Julia Quinn and Connie Brockway, and around fifteen novellas and short stories. She has also written the memoir Paris in Love and, as Mary Bly, the contemporary novel Lizzie & Dante and an academic study of early modern drama.
Where does My American Duchess fit in?
It was published in 2016 as a standalone and most retailers still list it that way, but Eloisa James's own website now places it as the prequel to the Would-Be Wallflowers series. You can read it before How to Be a Wallflower or entirely on its own.
What is Eloisa James's most popular series?
The Essex Sisters and Desperate Duchesses are the two most widely read. Among individual books, the Fairy Tales titles A Kiss at Midnight and When Beauty Tamed the Beast are her most recommended standalone entry points.
How this list was counted
This guide lists 55 titles — 50 across 11 series and 5 outside them. 55 works of fiction published as Eloisa James: 38 solo full-length novels, 2 collaborative novels co-written with Julia Quinn and Connie Brockway (The Lady Most Likely and The Lady Most Willing, each a linked novel in three parts), and 15 novellas and short stories. Excludes her non-fiction - the memoir Paris in Love (2012) and The Official Essex Sisters Companion Guide (2016); excludes the collections As You Wish (2013) and Midsummer Delights (2018), which reprint or gather short work; excludes anything published as Mary Bly, including the contemporary novel Lizzie & Dante (2021) and her academic monograph. Counting only full-length solo novels gives 38.
Eloisa James's own website is the spine here, read directly in a browser because eloisajames.com returns HTTP 403 to automated fetches; publication years come from FictionDB, which gives month-level dates, cross-checked against Wikipedia, Goodreads and orderofbooks. Several year disagreements were resolved in FictionDB's favour: Enchanting Pleasures is 2001 (orderofbooks says 2002), A Wild Pursuit is February 2004 (Wikipedia says 2004, others 2003), Much Ado About You is January 2005 (orderofbooks says 2004), Duchess By Night is June 2008 (orderofbooks says 2007) and The Duke Is Mine is December 2011 (Wikipedia says 2012). The Lady Most Likely and The Lady Most Willing were published on 28 December 2010 and 26 December 2012; FictionDB dates them January 2011 and January 2013 from the cover month, and the actual first-publication years are used here. FictionDB lists The Last Lady B (May 2026) as Accidental Brides book 3, but the author's own bookshelf files it under Stand Alone Novels, so it is recorded as a standalone. The three-part serial With This Kiss is counted once. A Proper Englishwoman, from the 2005 anthology Talk of the Ton, was later reissued alone as To Wed a Rake and is counted once under its original title; it is a different story from A Fool Again, despite some listings conflating them. The 2018 collection Midsummer Delights gathers three short stories - A Midsummer Night's Disgrace, At Midnight and a third whose title could not be confirmed to a reliable source; only A Midsummer Night's Disgrace, which had its own 2017 release, is counted, so the true short-story total may be one or two higher. Wikipedia's bibliography for this author is materially out of date, missing the Would-Be Wallflowers, Seduction and Accidental Brides series entirely.