Books like 'The Pleasure Palace'

Readers who enjoyed The Pleasure Palace by Kate Emerson also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

historical  mystery  royalty  tudors

  • Pawn in Frankincense by Dorothy Dunnett

    Pawn in Frankincense by Dorothy Dunnett

    Rated: 4.64 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    For the first time Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles are available in the United States in quality paperback editions. Pawn in Frankincense is the fourth in the legendary Lymond Chronicles . Somewhere within the bejeweled labyrinth of the Ottoman empire, a child is hidden...
  • The Disorderly Knights by Dorothy Dunnett

    The Disorderly Knights by Dorothy Dunnett

    Rated: 4.61 of 5 stars
    · 29 ratings
    The third volume in The Lymond Chronicles , the highly renowned series of historical novels by Dorothy Dunnett, Disorderly Knights takes place in 1551, when Francis Crawford of Lymond is dispatched to embattled Malta, to assist the Knights of Hospitallers in defending the island against the Turks...
  • Sponsored links
  • A View Across the Rooftops by Suzanne Kelman

    A View Across the Rooftops by Suzanne Kelman

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 36 ratings
    An unforgettable story of love, hope and betrayal, and a testament to the courage of humanity in history’s darkest days. As Nazis occupy his beloved city, Professor Josef Held feels helpless. So when he discovers his former pupil Michael Blum is trying to escape the Gestapo, he offers Michael a place to hide in his attic...
  • The Charlatan by D.K. Hamlin, Hyperion Knight

    The Charlatan by D.K. Hamlin, Hyperion Knight

    Rated: 4.49 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 1 of 5
    Glimpses and kisses [?] · 30 ratings
    INTRODUCING A TIMELESS MASTERPIECENow appearing for the first time in English, The Charlatan, a tale of high drama, forbidden love, medicine, and mystery, was the masterpiece of Polish novelist Tadeusz Dolega-Mostowicz.Set in 1930s Warsaw, an era of prosperity and aristocracy, renowned heart surgeon Rafal Wolf suffers a heartbreak that culminates in severe memory loss...
  • The Midnight Rose by Lucinda Riley

    The Midnight Rose by Lucinda Riley

    Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars
    · 40 ratings
    Spanning four generations, The Midnight Rose sweeps from the glittering palaces of the great maharajas of India to the majestic stately homes of England, following the extraordinary life of a remarkable girl, Anahita Chaval, from 1911 to the present day . .
  • Queens' Play by Dorothy Dunnett

    Queens' Play by Dorothy Dunnett

    Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    For the first time Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles are available in the United States in quality paperback editions. Second in the legendary Lymond Chronicles , Queen's Play follows Frances Crawford of Lymond who has been abruptly called into the service of Mary Queen of Scots...
  • Lady's Well by L.J. Ross

    Lady's Well by L.J. Ross

    Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars
    · 29 ratings
    THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE WATER...When the ancient waters of Lady’s Well in the rural village of Holystone begin to run red, it seems to be a nasty Hallowe’en prank and nothing more. But things take a sinister turn when the entire village suffers severe poisoning, and one old man turns up dead...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  suspense  historical
  • The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett

    The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett

    Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars
    · 33 ratings
    For the first time Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles are available in the United States in quality paperback editions. The first book in the legendary Lymond Chronicles , Game of Kings takes place in 1547. Scotland has been humiliated by an English invasion and is threatened by machinations elsewhere beyond its borders, but it is still free...
  • Legacy by Susan Kay

    Legacy by Susan Kay

    Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    The much-praised Legacy offers an exquisite psychological portrait of the Queen who defined an era, beloved and touted by readers for its stunning storytelling and intriguing take on the monarch's life...
  • The Last Boleyn by Karen Harper

    The Last Boleyn by Karen Harper

    Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars
    · 34 ratings
    She Survived Her Own Innocence, and the Treachery of Europe s Royal Courts Greed, lust for power, sex, lies, secret marriages, religious posturing, adultery, beheadings, international intrigue, jealousy, treachery, love, loyalty, and betrayal...
    Categorized as:
    royalty  tudors  historical  medieval  length-long
  • The Phantom Tree by Nicola Cornick

    The Phantom Tree by Nicola Cornick

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    “My name is Mary Seymour and I am the daughter of one queen and the niece of another.” Browsing antiques shops in Wiltshire, Alison Bannister stumbles across a delicate old portrait – supposedly of Anne Boleyn...
    Categorized as:
    tudors  mystery  historical  length-medium
  • The Tudors: The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious Dynasty by G.J. Meyer

    The Tudors: The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious Dynasty by G.J. Meyer

    Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    For the first time in decades, here, in a single volume, is a fresh look at the fabled Tudor dynasty, comprising some of the most enigmatic figures ever to rule a country. Acclaimed historian G. J. Meyer reveals the flesh-and-bone reality in all its wild excess...
  • The Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen

    The Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen

    Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars
    · 35 ratings
    On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me—well, actually, my true love, Darcy O’Mara, is spending a feliz navidad tramping around South America. Meanwhile, Mummy is holed up in a tiny village called Tiddleton-under-Lovey with that droll Noel Coward! And I’m snowed in at Castle Rannoch with my bumbling brother, Binky, and sourpuss sister-in-law, Fig...
  • I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles

    I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles

    Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars
    · 39 ratings
    Publicly declared a bastard at the age of three, daughter of a disgraced and executed mother, last in the line of succession to the throne of England, Elizabeth I inherited an England ravaged by bloody religious conflict, at war with Spain and France, and badly in debt...
  • The Virgin Queen's Daughter by Ella March Chase

    The Virgin Queen's Daughter by Ella March Chase

    Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars
    · 32 ratings
    As captivating now as it was more than four centuries ago, the reign of Elizabeth I—with its scandal, intrigue, and resilience—has sparked the imaginations of generations. In her sweeping historical debut, Ella March Chase explores a thrilling possibility: that the Tudor bloodline did not end with the Virgin Queen...
  • The Last Queen by C.W. Gortner

    The Last Queen by C.W. Gortner

    Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars
    · 36 ratings
    Juana of Castile, the last queen of Spanish blood to inherit her country’s throne, has been for centuries an enigmatic figure shrouded in lurid myth. Was she the bereft widow of legend who was driven mad by her loss, or has history misjudged a woman who was ahead of her time? In his stunning new novel, C. W...
    Categorized as:
    tudors  royalty  historical  medieval  length-long
  • Naughty in Nice by Rhys Bowen

    Naughty in Nice by Rhys Bowen

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 35 ratings
    The national bestselling author of Royal Blood whisks her heroine away to the French Riviera for fun-and danger. Lady Georgiana Rannoch has once again been called into service by Her Majesty the Queen. This time she's sent to Nice on a secret assignment that's nothing to sneeze at-recover the Queen's stolen snuff box...
  • Protecting the Princess by Rachelle McCalla

    Protecting the Princess by Rachelle McCalla

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    A series of explosions took out the royal motorcade and threw the country of Lydia into chaos. Princess Anastasia missed her limo, and doesn't know what has become of the rest of her family. Whisked away from her native country for her protection, Stasi is dismayed that her life is now in shambles. But at least she's not alone. Kirk Covington pledges to keep her safe...
  • Queen By Right by Anne Easter Smith

    Queen By Right by Anne Easter Smith

    Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    From the award-winning author of A Rose for the Crown, Daughter of York, and The King’s Grace comes another masterful historical novel—the story of Cecily of York, mother of two kings and the heroine of one of history’s greatest love stories...
  • A Famine of Horses by P.F. Chisholm

    A Famine of Horses by P.F. Chisholm

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    In the year 1592, Sir Robert Carey, a handsome courtier, comes north to Carlisle to take up his new post as Deputy Warden of the West March. He has wrangled his appointment to be nearer to his true love, a married woman, and farther from the gimlet eyes of his creditors and the disapproving eye of his father (the Queen's cousin-possibly her half-brother). And of course, he can use the money...
  • The King's Grace by Anne Easter Smith

    The King's Grace by Anne Easter Smith

    Rated: 3.98 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    The bestselling author of A Rose for the Crown and Daughter of York takes a young woman that history noticed only once and sets her on a quest for the truth about the murder of two boys and a man who claims to be king. All that history knows of Grace Plantagenet is that she was an illegitimate daughter of Edward IV and one of two attendants aboard the funeral barge of his widowed queen...
  • Coronation Year by Jennifer Robson

    Coronation Year by Jennifer Robson

    Rated: 3.98 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    The USA Today bestselling author of The Gown returns with another enthralling and royal-adjacent historical novel—as the lives of three very different residents of London’s historic Blue Lion hotel converge in a potentially explosive climax on the day of Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation.It is Coronation Year, 1953, and a new queen is about to be crowned...
  • The Secret Keeper: A Novel of Kateryn Parr by Sandra Byrd

    The Secret Keeper: A Novel of Kateryn Parr by Sandra Byrd

    Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    The author of To Die For returns to the court of Henry VIII, as a young woman is caught between love and honor.  Juliana St. John is the daughter of a prosperous knight in Marlborough. Though her family wants her to marry the son of her father's business partner, circumstances set her on a course toward the court of Henry VIII and his last wife, Kateryn, or Katherine Parr...
  • The Lady in the Tower by Marie-Louise Jensen

    The Lady in the Tower by Marie-Louise Jensen

    Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Spring 1540. Eleanor's mother is imprisoned in the Lady Tower after a terrible accusation. For four years Eleanor's only comfort has been their secret notes to one another. But then a chance discovery reveals a plot to murder her mother and Eleanor must free her before it is too late...
  • Queen of This Realm by Jean Plaidy

    Queen of This Realm by Jean Plaidy

    Rated: 3.97 of 5 stars
    · 21 ratings
    In this "memoir" by Elizabeth I, legendary historical novelist Jean Plaidy reveals the Virgin Queen as she truly was: the bewildered, motherless child of an all-powerful father; a captive in the Tower of London; a shrewd politician; a lover of the arts; and eventually, an icon of an era...
    Categorized as:
    royalty  tudors  medieval  historical  length-long
  • Castile for Isabella by Jean Plaidy

    Castile for Isabella by Jean Plaidy

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    Castile for Isabella covers the early life of the most significant of all Spanish monarchs: Isabella of Castile. Isabella is seen as a young girl,within a few steps of the throne; first in the care of an ambitious but unbalanced mother; later in the licentious court of her half-brother HenryIV; and at length ascending the throne, Ferdinand beside her...
  • Murder Most Royal by Jean Plaidy

    Murder Most Royal by Jean Plaidy

    Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars
    · 29 ratings
    One powerful king. Two tragic queens. In the court of Henry VIII, it was dangerous for a woman to catch the king’s eye. Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were cousins. Both were beautiful women, though very different in temperament. They each learned that Henry’s passion was all-consuming–and fickle...
  • Keeper of the King's Secrets by Michelle Diener

    Keeper of the King's Secrets by Michelle Diener

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    A priceless jewel. A royal court rife with intrigue. A secret deal, where the price of truth could come too high . . . The personal artist to King Henry Tudor, Susanna Horenbout is sought by the queen and ladies of the court for her delicate, skilled portraits. But now someone from her past is pulling her into a duplicitous game where the consequence of failure is war...
  • Princess in Peril by Rachelle McCalla

    Princess in Peril by Rachelle McCalla

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    When insurgents attack the king's motorcade, scattering the royal family, bodyguard Levi Granaldo has one goal—to protect the princess. Even though he knows Princess Isabelle distrusts him. On the run together, they flee to New York, to the shelter of a sanctuary established by Levi's father. But their safety can't last...
  • When We Were Gods by Colin Falconer

    When We Were Gods by Colin Falconer

    Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    Caesar, Antony, Cleopatra, Augustus. Only one can rule. Only one can live.Alexandria, 51 BC: When Cleopatra VII assumes the throne of Egypt, the Roman empire rules the Mediterranean with an iron fist. But Cleopatra has an audacious plan to change the course of history. Allied first with Caesar and then with his protégé Marc Antony, she dares to challenge the might of Rome...
  • The Sixth Wife by Jean Plaidy

    The Sixth Wife by Jean Plaidy

    Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars
    · 25 ratings
    Dangerous court intrigue and affairs of the heart collide as renowned novelist Jean Plaidy tells the story of Katherine Parr, the last of Henry VIII’s six queens. Henry VIII’s fifth wife, Katherine Howard, was both foolish and unfaithful, and she paid for it with her life. Henry vowed that his sixth wife would be different, and she was. Katherine Parr was twice widowed and thirty-one years old...
  • The Serpent Garden by Judith Merkle Riley

    The Serpent Garden by Judith Merkle Riley

    Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars
    · 19 ratings
    In the court of Henry VIII, there are many secrets—and some people will kill to keep them hidden.Susanna Dallet is the daughter of a Flemish painter and wife to a philandering husband, living in the court of Henry VIII. When her husband is murdered, Susanna is suddenly left with a household to provide for and nothing to her name...
  • The Lady in the Tower by Jean Plaidy

    The Lady in the Tower by Jean Plaidy

    Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    One of history's most complex and alluring women comes to life in this classic novel by the legendary Jean Plaidy. Young Anne Boleyn was not beautiful but she was irresistible, capturing the hearts of kings and commoners alike. Daughter of an ambitious country lord, Anne was sent to France to learn sophistication, and then to court to marry well and raise the family's fortunes...
  • King's Fool: A Notorious King, His Six Wives, and the One Man Who Knew All Their Secrets by Margaret Campbell Barnes

    King's Fool: A Notorious King, His Six Wives, and the One Man Who Knew All Their Secrets by Margaret Campbell Barnes

    Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars
    · 17 ratings
    When country lad Will Somers lands himself the plum position of jester to the mercurial King Henry VIII, he has no idea that he's just been handed a front-row seat to history. With a seat near the throne and an ear to the floor, Somers witnesses firsthand the dizzying power struggles and sly scheming that marked the reign of the fiery Tudor king...
  • Pale Rose of England by Sandra Worth

    Pale Rose of England by Sandra Worth

    Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    From the award-winning author of The King's Daughter comes a story of love and defiance during the War of the Roses. It is 1497. The news of the survival of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, has set royal houses ablaze with intrigue and rocked the fledgling Tudor dynasty...
  • The Sister Queens by Sophie Perinot

    The Sister Queens by Sophie Perinot

    Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    Patient, perfect, and used to being first, Marguerite becomes Queen of France. But Louis IX is a religious zealot who denies himself the love and companionship his wife craves. Can she borrow enough of her sister's boldness to grasp her chance for happiness in a forbidden love? Passionate, strong-willed, and stubborn, Eleanor becomes Queen of England...
  • The Virgin's Daughters: In the Court of Elizabeth I by Jeane Westin

    The Virgin's Daughters: In the Court of Elizabeth I by Jeane Westin

    Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    The story of Elizabeth I, as it's never been told before-through the eyes of two ladies-in-waiting closest to her... In a court filled with repressed sexual longing, scandal, and intrigue, Lady Katherine Grey is Elizabeth's most faithful servant...
  • The Queen of Last Hopes: The Story of Margaret of Anjou by Susan Higginbotham

    The Queen of Last Hopes: The Story of Margaret of Anjou by Susan Higginbotham

    Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    A man other than my husband sits on England's throne today. What would happen if this king suddenly went mad? What would his queen do? Would she make the same mistakes I did, or would she learn from mine? Margaret of Anjou, queen of England, cannot give up on her husband-even when he slips into insanity...
  • In the Shadow of the Crown by Jean Plaidy

    In the Shadow of the Crown by Jean Plaidy

    Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    As Henry VIII's only child, the future seemed golden for Princess Mary. She was the daughter of Henry's first queen, Katharine of Aragon, and was heir presumptive to the throne of England. Red-haired like her father, she was also intelligent and deeply religious like her staunchly Catholic mother. But her father's ill-fated love for Anne Boleyn would shatter Mary's life forever...
  • The Queen's Governess by Karen Harper

    The Queen's Governess by Karen Harper

    Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    A fresh and intriguing historical novel told in the voice of Queen Elizabeth I's governess. Katherine Ashley, the daughter of a poor country squire, happily secures an education and a place for herself in a noble household. But when Thomas Cromwell, a henchman for King Henry VIII, brings her to the royal court as a spy, Kat enters into a thrilling new world of the Tudor monarchs...
  • Royal Flush by Rhys Bowen

    Royal Flush by Rhys Bowen

    Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars
    · 36 ratings
    A Royal Spyness mystery starring Lady Georgiana, thirty-fourth in line for the throne - and the mystery world's favorite penniless heiress. With its posh clientele in the country for the summer, Georgie's housecleaning business has fizzled. So she tries hiring herself out as a dinner-and-theatre companion. But her first client has quite the wrong idea...
  • Royal Mistress: A Novel by Anne Easter Smith

    Royal Mistress: A Novel by Anne Easter Smith

    Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars
    · 15 ratings
    From the author of A Rose for the Crown and Daughter of York comes another engrossing historical novel of the York family in the Wars of the Roses, telling the fascinating story of the rise and fall of the final and favorite mistress of Edward IV.Jane Lambert, the quick-witted and alluring daughter of a silk merchant, is twenty-two and still unmarried...
    Categorized as:
    royalty  tudors  historical  medieval  length-long
  • Venus in Winter by Gillian Bagwell

    Venus in Winter by Gillian Bagwell

    Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    The author of The September Queen explores Tudor England with the tale of Bess of Hardwick—the formidable four-time widowed Tudor dynast who became one of the most powerful women in the history of England. On her twelfth birthday, Bess of Hardwick receives the news that she is to be a waiting gentlewoman in the household of Lady Zouche...
    Categorized as:
    royalty  tudors  historical  length-long
  • To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn by Sandra Byrd

    To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn by Sandra Byrd

    Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars
    · 25 ratings
    To Die For is a Library Journal "Best Books of 2011" pick. What would you sacrifice for your best friend?Would you die for her? Meg Wyatt has been Anne Boleyn's closest friend since they grew up together on neighboring manors in Kent. So when twenty-five-year-old Anne's star begins to ascend, of course she takes Meg along for the ride. Life in the court of Henry VIII is thrilling..
  • The Serpent and the Pearl by Kate Quinn

    The Serpent and the Pearl by Kate Quinn

    Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars
    · 29 ratings
    One powerful family holds a city, a faith, and a woman in its grasp—from the national bestselling author of Daughters of Rome and Mistress of Rome.Rome, 1492. The Holy City is drenched with blood and teeming with secrets. A pope lies dying and the throne of God is left vacant, a prize awarded only to the most virtuous—or the most ruthless...
  • His Last Letter: Elizabeth I and the Earl of Leicester by Jeane Westin

    His Last Letter: Elizabeth I and the Earl of Leicester by Jeane Westin

    Rated: 3.87 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    One of the greatest loves of all time-between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley-comes to life in this vivid novel. They were playmates as children, impetuous lovers as adults-and for thirty years were the center of each others' lives...
  • The Reluctant Queen by Jean Plaidy

    The Reluctant Queen by Jean Plaidy

    Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars
    · 17 ratings
    In 1470, a reluctant Lady Anne Neville is betrothed by her father, the politically ambitious Earl of Warwick, to Edward, Prince of Wales. A gentle yet fiercely intelligent woman, Anne has already given her heart to the prince's younger brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Unable to oppose her father's will, she finds herself in line for the throne of England--an obligation that she does not want...
  • The Last Wife of Henry VIII by Carolly Erickson

    The Last Wife of Henry VIII by Carolly Erickson

    Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars
    · 38 ratings
    Courageous, attractive, romantic, intelligent, Catherine Parr became the sixth wife of Henry VIII. Her story, as Carolly Erickson re-creates it, is page-turning drama: from the splendors of the Field of the Cloth of Gold to the gory last years of the outsize King Henry, when heads rolled and England trembled, Catherine bestrode her destiny and survived to marry her true love...
  • The Love Letters Of Henry VIII To Anne Boleyn: With Notes by Henry VIII of England, Anne Boleyn

    The Love Letters Of Henry VIII To Anne Boleyn: With Notes by Henry VIII of England, Anne Boleyn

    Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    The Letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn, perhaps the most remarkable documents of the kind known to exist, were published at Oxford in 1720. They appear to have been written after Anne Boleyn had been sent away from court, in consequence of reports injurious to her reputation, which had begun to be publicly circulated. Her removal indeed was so abrupt that she had resolved never to return...
    Categorized as:
    royalty  tudors  historical  length-novella
  • My Enemy, the Queen by Victoria Holt

    My Enemy, the Queen by Victoria Holt

    Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    To win the heart of the most dashing man in England, Lettice Knollys would need to employ all her charms and her courage. For Robert Dudley was the Queen's acknowledged lover, and in a land where Elizabeth's word was law, the shadow of the axe fell chill on those who offended her...
    Categorized as:
    royalty  mystery  tudors  historical  length-medium
Fantastic book recommendations by romance book lovers for romance book lovers.
Find out more about romance.io.


Get recommendations by genres & tropes

Use the romance book finder to mix and match over 100 content keywords to find the books that match your preferences

romance book finder

Looking for more inspiration? Enter another book title to get more suggestions on what to read next.


Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.