Eloisa James

Author Information
Eloisa James
  • Bibliography:
    57 Books (11 Series)
  • First Book:
    August 1999
  • Latest Book:
    May 2025
  • Author Rating:
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About the Author

For years, Mary Bly, a tenured associate professor of English Literature at Fordham University, had a secret. She was writing romance novels under the pen name of Eloisa James. Bly is the daughter of poet Robert Bly and short-story author Carol Bly. She was born in Minnesota in 1962. She graduated from Harvard University and attained an M.Phil. from Oxford and a Ph.D. in Renaissance studies from Yale University. As a child, she was drawn to romance even though she had to convince her father to let her read them by reading one romance novel for every classic novel that she read. She has gone on to write bestselling historical romance novels of great acclaim for HarperCollins Publishers.

She is a writer, professor, mother and wife. She and her husband Alessandro spend lazy summers in Italy.

Full Series List in Order

Accidental Brides

1 - Viscount in Love (Jul-2024)

Desperate Duchesses

1 - Desperate Duchesses (Jun-2007)
2 - An Affair Before Christmas (Nov-2007)
3 - Duchess By Night (Jun-2008)
4 - When the Duke Returns (Nov-2008)
5 - This Duchess of Mine (Jun-2009)
6 - A Duke of Her Own (Aug-2009)
7 - Three Weeks With Lady X (Mar-2014)
8 - Four Nights with the Duke (Apr-2015)
9 - Seven Minutes in Heaven (Feb-2017)

Duchess in Love

1 - Duchess in Love (Dec-2002)
2 - Fool for Love (Aug-2003)
3 - A Wild Pursuit (Feb-2004)
4 - Your Wicked Ways (Apr-2004)

Essex Sisters

1 - Much Ado About You (Jan-2005)
2 - Kiss Me, Annabel (Dec-2005)
3 - The Taming of the Duke (Apr-2006)
4 - Pleasure For Pleasure (Dec-2006)
4.5 - A Gentleman Never Tells: A Novella (Jun-2016)
5 - The Official Essex Sisters Companion Guide (May-2016)
5 - A Midsummer Night's Disgrace: A Novella (Sep-2017)

Fairy Tales

1 - A Kiss at Midnight (Aug-2010)
1.5 - Storming the Castle: A Novella (Jan-2010)
2 - When Beauty Tamed the Beast (Jan-2011)
2.5 - Winning the Wallflower (Nov-2011)
3 - The Duke Is Mine (Dec-2011)
4 - The Ugly Duchess (Sep-2012)
4.25 - Seduced by a Pirate (Nov-2012)
4.5 - With This Kiss: A Novella (Apr-2013)
5 - Once Upon a Tower (Jun-2013)

Lucius Felton

0.5 - A Fool Again (Oct-2004)
1 - Much Ado About You (Jan-2005)

Pleasures

1 - Potent Pleasures (Aug-1999)
2 - Midnight Pleasures (Aug-2000)
3 - Enchanting Pleasures (Jun-2001)

Seduction

1 - Bea: A Novella (Jan-2023)
2 - Ella: A Novella (Jan-2023)
3 - Two Masques and a Major: A Novella (Dec-2023)

The Seduction

1 - Two Dances and a Duke (Dec-2023)

Wildes of Lindow Castle

0.5 - My Last Duchess (Oct-2020)
1 - Wilde in Love (Nov-2017)
2 - Too Wilde to Wed (Jun-2018)
3 - Born to be Wilde (Aug-2018)
4 - Say No to the Duke (Jun-2019)
5 - Say Yes to the Duke (May-2020)
6 - Wilde Child (Apr-2021)

A Would-Be Wallflowers Novel

1 - How to Be a Wallflower (Apr-2022)
2 - The Reluctant Countess (Dec-2022)
3 - Not That Duke (Jul-2023)

Multi-Author Series List

Fairytale Retellings: Beauty and the Beast

When Beauty Tamed the Beast (Jan-2011)

Fairytale Retellings: Cinderella

A Kiss at Midnight (Aug-2010)

Fairytale Retellings: Rapunzel

Once Upon a Tower (Jun-2013)

Fairytale Retellings: The Princess and the Pea

The Duke Is Mine (Dec-2011)

Fairytale Retellings: The Ugly Duckling

The Ugly Duchess (Sep-2012)

Book List in Order: 57 titles

  • Potent Pleasures

    Pleasures - 1

    Reckless desire sends Charlotte Daicheston into the garden with a dashing masked stranger. He's powerful, unforgettable, a devastatingly handsome footman who lures her--not against her will--into a grand indiscretion at a masquerade ball. Then he...

  • Midnight Pleasures

    Pleasures - 2

    Eloisa James, the acclaimed author of Potent Pleasures, returns to Regency England with an unforgettable new heroine--a genteel but naughty innocent who gets more than she bargains for when she finally says yes to love. To her legions of adoring s...

  • Enchanting Pleasures

    Pleasures - 3

    Gabrielle Jerningham cherishes the portrait of her betrothed, the perfect Peter Dewland...until she meets his commanding older brother Quill. But it is Peter to whom she has been promised. And how can she possibly transform her voluptuous, outspoken ...

  • Duchess in Love

    Duchess in Love - 1

    A DUKE IN RETREAT Gina was forced into marriage with the Duke of Girton at an age when she'd have been better off in a schoolroom than a ballroom. Directly after the ceremony her handsome spouse promptly fled to the continent, leaving the marria...

  • Fool for Love

    Duchess in Love - 2

    THE WOMAN Lady Henrietta Maclellan longs for the romantic swirl of a London season. But as a rusticating country maiden, she has always kept her sensuous nature firmly under wraps -- until she meets Simon Darby. Simon makes her want to whisper promi...

  • A Wild Pursuit

    Duchess in Love - 3

    It is whispered behind the fans of London's dowagers and in the corners of fashionable ballrooms that scandal follows willfully wild Lady Beatrix Lennox wherever she goes. Three years before, the debutante created a sensation by being found in a dist...

  • Your Wicked Ways

    Duchess in Love - 4

    Helene, the Countess Godwin, knows there is nothing more unbearably tedious than a virtuous woman. After all, she's been one for ten long years while her scoundrel of a husband lives with strumpets and causes scandal after scandal. So she decides...

  • A Fool Again

    in The One That Got Away
    Lucius Felton - 0.5

    He was the first ... he was the best ... He was the one that got away! Now he's back ... but do you still want him? Every woman remembers that one special man who slipped through her fingers, leaving her not only asking the question "What hap...

  • Much Ado About You

    Essex Sisters - 1
    Lucius Felton - 1

    When you're the oldest daughter, you don't get to have any fun! Witty, orphaned Tess Essex faces her duty: marry well and marry quickly, so she can arrange matches for her three sisters -- beautiful Annabel, romantic Imogen and practical ...



  • A Proper Englishwoman

    in Talk of the Ton

    Nothing sets tongues wagging like a scandalous dalliance. . . In the salons of the ton, no tidbit is more delicious than a rumor of amour--the more outrageous the better. Rakes and rogues, ladies of high station and low morals, are choice fodder f...

  • Kiss Me, Annabel

    Essex Sisters - 2

    The RULES OF MARRIAGE...according to Miss Annabel Essex A husband must be: RICH. Make that very rich. She's had enough of leaky roofs and thread-worn clothing. ENGLISH. London is the center of the civilized world, and Annabel has a pas...

  • The Taming of the Duke

    Essex Sisters - 3

    Imogen, Lady Maitland, has decided to dance on the wild side. After all, she's in the delicious position of being able to take a lover. A discreet male who knows just when to leave in the morning. But Lady Maitland is still under the watchful...

  • Pleasure For Pleasure

    Essex Sisters - 4

    Josephine Essex has barely appeared at her first ball before she's labeled the "Scottish Sausage". What's Josie to do? Fueled by the knowledge that notoriety is better than failure, witty, unconventional Josie does what no proper young lady should...

  • Desperate Duchesses

    Desperate Duchesses - 1

    Welcome to a world of reckless sensuality and glittering sophistication . . . of dangerously handsome gentlemen and young ladies longing to gain a title . . . of games played for high stakes, including--on occasion--a lady's virtue. A marquess's ...

  • An Affair Before Christmas

    Desperate Duchesses - 2

    Magic under the mistletoe... One spectacular Christmas, Lady Perdita Selby, known to her friends and family as Poppy, met the man she thought she would love forever. The devilishly attractive Duke of Fletcher was the perfect match for the innocen...

  • Duchess By Night

    Desperate Duchesses - 3

    A Mischievous Charade . . . Harriet, Duchess of Berrow, is tired of her title and the responsibilities that come along with it. Enough with proper tea parties and elegant balls; what Harriet really wants is to attend an outrageous soiree where sh...

  • When the Duke Returns

    Desperate Duchesses - 4

    The Duchess of Cosway yearns for a man she has never met . . . her husband. Married by proxy as a child, Lady Isidore has spent years fending off lecherous men in every European court while waiting to meet her husband. She's determined to acc...

  • This Duchess of Mine

    Desperate Duchesses - 5

    No man can resist Jemma's sensuous allure . . . Except her own husband! Wedding bells celebrating the arranged marriage between the lovely Duchess of Beaumont and her staid, imperturbable duke had scarcely fallen silent when a shocking discovery s...

  • A Duke of Her Own

    Desperate Duchesses - 6

    A duke must choose wisely . . . Leopold Dautry, the notorious Duke of Villiers, must wed quickly and nobly--and his choices, alas, are few. The Duke of Montague's daughter, Eleanor, is exquisitely beautiful and fiercely intelligent. Villiers b...



  • Storming the Castle: A Novella

    Fairy Tales - 1.5

    An exclusive eBook original novella with bonus excerpts from A Kiss At Midnight and the forthcoming When Beauty Tamed the Beast from New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James. Featuring the handsome and mysterious Wick from A Kiss At Midnight. ...

  • A Kiss at Midnight

    Fairy Tales - 1
    Fairytale Retellings: Cinderella

    Miss Kate Daltry doesn't believe in fairy tales . . . or happily ever after. Forced by her stepmother to attend a ball, Kate meets a prince . . . and decides he's anything but charming. A clash of wits and wills ensues, but they both know ...

  • When Beauty Tamed the Beast

    Fairy Tales - 2
    Fairytale Retellings: Beauty and the Beast

    Miss Linnet Berry Thrynne is a Beauty . . . Naturally, she's betrothed to a Beast. Piers Yelverton, Earl of Marchant, lives in a castle in Wales where, it is rumored, his bad temper flays everyone he crosses. And rumor also has it that a wound has...

  • The Lady Most Likely...

    in Lady Most Likely...

    Three of the brightest stars of historical romance invite you to a party at the country home of the Honorable Marquess of Finchley Hugh Dunne, the Earl of Briarly, needs a wife, so his sister hands him a list of delectable damsels and promises to ...

  • Winning the Wallflower

    Fairy Tales - 2.5

    A delightful ebook original novella from New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James. Winning the Wallflower introduces Lady Lucy Towerton, who is plain, tall, and considered very lucky to be betrothed to a man who lauds her irreproachable proprie...

  • The Duke Is Mine

    Fairy Tales - 3
    Fairytale Retellings: The Princess and the Pea

    Destiny will be decided between the sheets in this all-new tale of “The Princess and the Pea.” For Olivia Lytton, betrothal to the Duke of Canterwick -- hardly a Prince Charming -- feels more like a curse than a happily-ever-after. At least h...

  • Paris in Love

  • The Ugly Duchess

    Fairy Tales - 4
    Fairytale Retellings: The Ugly Duckling

    How can she dare to imagine he loves her . . . when all London calls her The Ugly Duchess? Theodora Saxby is the last woman anyone expects the gorgeous James Ryburn, heir to the Duchy of Ashbrook, to marry. But after a romantic proposal before the...

  • Seduced by a Pirate

    Fairy Tales - 4.25

    After years at sea, Sir Griffin Barry comes home to claim his wife. But is Phoebe his wife if their marriage was never consummated? As an infamous pirate, Griffin claimed and kept gold and jewels...but this is one treasure that will not be so easy...

  • The Lady Most Willing...

    in Lady Most Willing...

    At the behest of three of the most talented historical romance authors writing today, you are cordially invited to a ball. No, a party. No . . . a kidnapping. Taran Ferguson, laird of his clan, is determined that his ancient (if not so honorable) ...



  • With This Kiss: A Novella

    Fairy Tales - 4.5

    From New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James come two stunningly sensual stories in which gentlemen who rule the waves learn that true danger lies not on the high seas, but in the mistakes that can break a heart...and ruin a life forever. W...

  • Once Upon a Tower

    Fairy Tales - 5
    Fairytale Retellings: Rapunzel

    To win her love. . . As an extremely wealthy laird, Gowan Stoughton, Duke of Kinross, can have any of the maidens at the ball he attends. The only problem is they are all English and Gowan is not so certain they are suitable. He is accustomed to t...

  • Three Weeks With Lady X

    Desperate Duchesses - 7

    Having made a fortune, Thorn Dautry, the powerful bastard son of a duke, decides that he needs a wife. But to marry a lady, Thorn must acquire a gleaming, civilized façade, the specialty of Lady Xenobia India. Exquisite, headstrong, and independe...

  • Four Nights with the Duke

    Desperate Duchesses - 8

    Eloisa James returns with another fabulous romance in her New York Times bestselling Desperate Duchesses series! As a young girl, Emilia Gwendolyn Carrington told the annoying future Duke of Pindar that she would marry any man in the world before ...

  • My American Duchess

    The arrogant Duke of Trent intends to marry a well-bred Englishwoman. The last woman he would ever consider marrying is the adventuresome Merry Pelford -- an American heiress who has infamously jilted two fiancés. But after one provocative encou...

  • The Official Essex Sisters Companion Guide

    Essex Sisters - 5

    New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James delivers fascinating behind-the-scenes look in the Essex Sisters world, along with a brand-new short story in the series This is a book no Eloisa James fan should miss! Eloisa revisits the scintillati...

  • A Gentleman Never Tells: A Novella

    Essex Sisters - 4.5

    A witty, sexy novella about a virgin widow and a rake with something to prove. Eighteen months ago, Lizzie Troutt's husband died in his mistress's bed, leaving her determined to never marry again and unfortunately virginal. Eighteen years ago (...

  • Seven Minutes in Heaven

    Desperate Duchesses - 9

    Witty and elusive Eugenia Snowe has all society begging for one of her premiere governesses-except the powerful Edward Reeve, who bursts into her office with his arrogant demands. No question that Eugenia enjoys crossing wits with the brilliant in...

  • A Midsummer Night's Disgrace: A Novella

    Essex Sisters - 5

    After Miss Cecilia B​ellingworth has endured two Seasons, she decides that she would rather ruin her reputation than endure further speculation about whether her children will be “silly,” like her brother, Billy.​ ​She puts on a gorgeous go...

  • Wilde in Love

    Wildes of Lindow Castle - 1

    Lord Alaric Wilde, son of the Duke of Lindow, is the most celebrated man in England, revered for his dangerous adventures and rakish good looks. Arriving home from years abroad, he has no idea of his own celebrity until his boat is met by mobs of scr...



  • Too Wilde to Wed

    Wildes of Lindow Castle - 2

    No one is more surprised than Lord North when he returns from war to find his ex-fiancee in his ancestral home...working as a governess in a sexy, fiery new Wildes of Lindow Castle romance by New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James... The h...

  • Born to be Wilde

    Wildes of Lindow Castle - 3

    The richest bachelor in England plays matchmaker…for an heiress he wants for himself! For beautiful, witty Lavinia Gray, there’s only one thing worse than having to ask the appalling Parth Sterling to marry her: being turned down by him. N...

  • Say No to the Duke

    Wildes of Lindow Castle - 4

    One little wager will determine their fate -- a daring escape or falling into temptation with a rakish lord. Lady Betsy Wilde’s first season was triumphant by any measure, and a duke has proposed -- but before marriage, she longs for one last ad...

  • Say Yes to the Duke

    Wildes of Lindow Castle - 5

    Miss Viola Astley is so painfully shy that she’s horrified by the mere idea of dancing with a stranger; her upcoming London debut feels like a nightmare. So she’s overjoyed to meet handsome, quiet vicar with no interest in polite society -- ...

  • My Last Duchess

    Wildes of Lindow Castle - 0.5

    New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James returns to the Wildes series with a prequel about the Wilde children's parents, Hugo, Duke of Lindow, and Ophelia, Lady Astley. Every Duke needs a Duchess... Hugo Wilde, the Duke of Lindow, has...

  • Wilde Child

    Wildes of Lindow Castle - 6

    Eloisa James returns to the Wildes of Lindow Castle series with the next Wilde child who runs and joins a theatre troupe -- and the duke who tries to save her reputation. He wants a prim and proper duchess, not the Wildest of the Wildes! Alre...

  • A Mistletoe Kiss

    in Mistletoe Christmas (2021)

    From four beloved writers -- Eloisa James, Christi Caldwell, Janna MacGregor, and Erica Ridley -- come four original stories that tell a hilarious tale of a Christmas house party that serves up love and scandal in equal measure! The Duke of Greyst...

  • How to Be a Wallflower

    A Would-Be Wallflowers Novel - 1

    From New York Times bestseller Eloisa James, a new Regency-set novel in which a heiress with the goal of being a wallflower engages a rugged American in a scorchingly sensual, witty wager that tests whether clothing does indeed make the man -- or the...

  • The Reluctant Countess

    A Would-Be Wallflowers Novel - 2

    New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James returns to the Would-Be Wallflowers series with an enemies-to-lovers romance between a proper earl and an entirely improper lady -- whom he can’t stop thinking about. Giles Renwick, Earl of Lilford,...

  • Bea: A Novella

    Seduction - 1

    Miss Beatrice Valentine is having a horrible first Season, shamed for her curves by a group of young ladies led by Lady Regina Haywood, daughter of a duke. Despite Regina's attempts to make Bea a wallflower, Bea finds herself torn between the ...



  • Ella: A Novella

    Seduction - 2

    A brilliant Cinderella-inspired novella from Eloisa James, featuring Ella, who lives in a garret with her pet squirrel and three-legged cat....

  • Not That Duke

    A Would-Be Wallflowers Novel - 3

    The Duke of Huntington has no interest in an eccentric redhead who frowns at him over her spectacles…until he realizes that she is the only possible duchess for him. A new enemies-to-lovers romance by New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James....

  • Two Dances and a Duke

    The Seduction - 1

    Miss Beatrice Valentine is having a horrible first Season, shamed for her curves by a group of young ladies led by Lady Regina Haywood, daughter of a duke. Despite Regina's attempts to make Bea a wallflower, Bea finds herself torn between the ...

  • Two Masquerades and a Major

    In Eloisa James's The Seduction series, meet four young ladies who are despised by society - which means four gentlemen must decide whether they give a damn about society's rules. Two Masquerades and a Major In this delightful, sensual ro...

  • Two Masques and a Major: A Novella

    Seduction - 3

    In Eloisa James's The Seduction series, meet four young ladies who are despised by society - which means four gentlemen must decide whether they give a damn about society's rules....

  • Two Vows and a Viscount

    A brilliant Cinderella-inspired novella from Eloisa James, featuring Ella, who lives in a garret with her pet squirrel and three-legged cat. Ella works as an unpaid housekeeper to her usurping uncle . . . until she meets her cousin's fiancé, ...

  • Viscount in Love

    Accidental Brides - 1

    Two eccentric orphans bring together a grumpy viscount and the free-spirited heroine who steals his heart in the first novel in Eloisa James’s new Accidental Brides series, in which haughty aristocrats find themselves married to the wrong wome...

  • Hardly a Gentleman

    New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James returns to the Accidental Brides series with a romance about a forced marriage between a feisty heroine and a Scottish laird... neither of whom have plans to marry, let alone fall in love.Desperate ...

Award-Winning Books by Eloisa James

Duchess in Love
2002 RT Reviewers Choice Award -- Regency Historical Romance
A Fool Again
2004 RT Reviewers Choice Award -- Historical Anthology
A Proper Englishwoman
2005 Romance Readers Anonymous Award -- Best Romance Novella
Three Weeks With Lady X
2014 RT Reviewers Choice Award -- British Isles Historical Romance


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Eloisa James has published 57 books.

The next book by Eloisa James, Hardly a Gentleman, will be published in May 2025.

The first book by Eloisa James, Potent Pleasures, was published in August 1999.

Yes. Eloisa James has 11 series.
Pseudonyms / Co-Author
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