Vanessa Riley

Author Information
Vanessa Riley's Latest Book

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  • Bibliography:
    30 Books (5 Series)
  • First Book:
    April 2013
  • Latest Book:
    March 2025
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About the Author

Vanessa Riley writes Regency and Historical Romances of "dazzling multi-culture communities with powerful persons of color." Her books often feature Christian themes.

Vanessa holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering and a master’s in industrial engineering and engineering management from Stanford University and worked as an engineer before allowing her passion for historical romance to shine. She has been a radio anchorwoman and church announcer. She is on the board of Christian Book Lovers Retreat where readers escape for a weekend of faith and connection to the Christian author community.

Full Series List in Order

Advertisements for Love

1 - The Bittersweet Bride (Jan-2018)
2 - The Bashful Bride (May-2018)
3 - The Butterfly Bride (Oct-2018)
4 - The Bewildered Bride (Aug-2019)

Betting Against the Duke

1 - A Gamble at Sunset (May-2024)

Challenge of the Soul

1 - Swept Away (Oct-2014)
2 - Unmasked Heart (Jun-2015)
3 - Unveiling Love (Jan-2016)
3.1 - Unveiled Love: Episode I (Apr-2016)
3.2 - Unveiling Love: Episode II (Apr-2016)
3.3 - Unveiling Love: Episode III (Apr-2016)
3.4 - Unveiling Love: Episode IV (Apr-2016)
4 - No Hiding for the Guilty (Oct-2017)

A Lady Worthing Mystery

1 - Murder in Westminster (Sep-2022)
2 - Murder in Drury Lane (Oct-2023)
3 - Murder in Berkeley Square (Sep-2024)

Rogues and Remarkable Women

1 - A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby (Jul-2020)
2 - An Earl, the Girl, and a Toddler (May-2021)
3 - A Duke, the Spy, an Artist, and a Lie (Apr-2022)

Multi-Author Series List

The Heart of a Hero

No Hiding for the Guilty (Oct-2017)

Book List in Order: 30 titles

  • Madeline's Protector

    If all the young men of England leapt off a cliff, Madeline St. James wouldn't care. Then she'd have peace. Her nightmares of courtship would end,and she'd cozy up with a Psalm in her aunt's quiet sculpture garden. Yet, a chance meeting and a bullet ...

  • Swept Away

    Challenge of the Soul - 1

  • The Bargain

    Coming to London has given Precious Jewell a taste of freedom, and she will do anything, bear anything, to keep it. Defying her master is at the top of her mind, and she won’t let his unnerving charm sway her. Yet, will her restored courage lead he...

  • Unmasked Heart

    Challenge of the Soul - 2

    Shy, nearsighted caregiver, Gaia Telfair always wondered why her father treated her a little differently than her siblings, but she never guessed she couldn't claim his love because of a family secret, her illicit birth. With everything she knows to ...

  • The Bargain: Episode II

    The vastness of the cresting ocean isn't enough to drown Precious Jewell's high spirits or her dreams of doing for herself, but a false move and an old nightmare have placed her in more jeopardy, Lord Welling's bedchamber. Captaining his schooner to ...

  • The Bargain: Season One, Episode III

    Precious Jewell has lived a life filled with disappointments, and it has caused her to wrestle with her beliefs. Port Elizabeth was meant to be a new beginning, not another chance to dance with death. With her eyes clouded in confusion, how can she p...

  • The Bargain: Season One, Episode IV

    Time is running out for Port Elizabeth. A missing chief and his daughter, tensions among frightened colonists, and the trembling of a difficult labor threaten to break the fragile bonds of its survival. Precious Jewell will do what is right to protec...

  • Unveiling Love

    Challenge of the Soul - 3

    Winning in the courts, vanquishing England's foes on the battlefield, Barrington Norton has used these winner-take-all rules to script his life, but is London's most distinguished mulatto barrister prepared to win the ultimate fight, restoring his wi...

  • Unveiled Love: Episode I

    Challenge of the Soul - 3.1

    Winning in the courts, vanquishing England's foes on the battlefield, Barrington Norton has used these winner-take-all rules to script his life, but is London's most distinguished mulatto barrister prepared to win the ultimate fight, restoring his wi...



  • Unveiling Love: Episode II

    Challenge of the Soul - 3.2

    Barrington Norton has always despised lies and has formed his life upon a foundation of truth. Yet, discovering the truth of Amora's past sends him to the breaking point. How can he ever make amends for not believing her? Will she ever love him as sh...

  • Unveiling Love: Episode III

    Challenge of the Soul - 3.3

    Barrington Norton has always made the right decisions but desperation, lies, and unexpected truths make things go terribly wrong. Can London's top mulatto barrister save Amora, himself, and their loved ones from ruin? Amora Norton has come to terms w...

  • Unveiling Love: Episode IV

    Challenge of the Soul - 3.4

    Amora Norton needs to make all the victims of the Dark Walk Abductor truth-tellers, and she will risk all, her health and her heart, to see justice. She now understands she'll never have peace until everything is made known. Yet, will she survive dis...

  • No Hiding for the Guilty

    Challenge of the Soul - 4
    The Heart of a Hero

    What if superheroes were mortals who lived and loved during the Regency? The Heart of a Hero Series tells all. The military leaders of the fraught Almeida Siege are dying, but not fast enough for a chef with a grudge to bear and axes to sharpen. Usin...

  • The Bittersweet Bride

    Advertisements for Love - 1

    Widow Theodosia Cecil needs a husband to help protect her son. The former flower seller turned estate owner posts an ad in the newspaper, and no one is more surprised than she when her first love, the man she thought dead, reappears. Ewan Fitzwill...

  • The Bashful Bride

    Advertisements for Love - 2

    A friend's newspaper advertisement for a groom nets the most famous actor in London, Arthur Bex. Shy heiress Ester Croome proposes to elope with the handsome man, who she's secretly loved for two years, in order to escape an impending engagement arra...

  • Paper Snowflake Christmas

    in The Victorian Christmas Brides Collection

  • The Butterfly Bride

    Advertisements for Love - 3

    Frederica Burghley wants to be married by Yuletide. Or else her father will set her up with one of his friends. The bonbon-loving illegitimate daughter of the duke wants to choose her own husband. Advertising in the newspaper seems like the way to go...

  • Love by the Letters: B is for Beautiful Secrets

    Watch out what you wish for... For three couples, a letter promising an anonymous gift of wealth offers worldly success and dreams come true, provided each pair can learn not only to work together, but also to see differences as strengths. A is...

  • The Bewildered Bride

    Advertisements for Love - 4

    Ruth Croome, a Blackamoor heiress, was supposed to get married in a gorgeous wedding gown, made from her father’s exquisite fabrics. Instead, they eloped to Gretna Green and upon returning, their carriage was beset by highwaymen and she witnessed t...



  • A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby

    Rogues and Remarkable Women - 1

    Created by a shrewd countess, The Widow’s Grace is a secret society with a mission: to help ill-treated widows regain their status, their families, and even find true love again -- or perhaps for the very first time . . . When headstrong West...

  • An Earl, the Girl, and a Toddler

    Rogues and Remarkable Women - 2

    Masterminded by the ton's most clever countess, the secret society The Widow's Grace helps ill-treated widows regain their reputations, their families, and even find true love again--or perhaps for the very first time... Surviving a shipwr...

  • Island Queen

    A remarkable, sweeping historical novel based on the incredible true life story of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, a free woman of color who rose from slavery to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful landowners in the colonial West Indies. Born i...

  • A Duke, the Spy, an Artist, and a Lie

    Rogues and Remarkable Women - 3

    Founded by the ton's most ingenious countess, the secret society The Widow’s Grace comes to the aid of ill-treated widows and wives and helps them regain their fortunes, their families, and sometimes discover true love. . . For adventurous h...

  • Sister Mother Warrior

    Acclaimed author of Island Queen Vanessa Riley brings readers a vivid, sweeping novel of the Haitian Revolution based on the true-life stories of two extraordinary women: the first Empress of Haiti, Marie-Claire Bonheur, and Gran Toya, a West African...

  • Murder in Westminster

    A Lady Worthing Mystery - 1

    Perfect for readers looking for a darker twist on Bridgerton, this first in a vibrant, inclusive historical mystery series from an acclaimed author Vanessa Riley portrays the true diversity of the Regency-era, as an aristocrat whose skin color and no...

  • Queen of Exiles

    “You may not know Marie-Louise Christophe but once you have met her, you won’t forget her. Vanessa Riley’s historical novel feels timely and relevant, commemorating a time when Black women were queens.” -- Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Time...

  • Murder in Drury Lane

    A Lady Worthing Mystery - 2

    Bringing a vibrant edge and welcome diversity to the Regency genre, this exciting historical mystery from award-winning author Vanessa Riley features an engaging heroine with an independent streak, a notorious past, and a decided talent for sleuthing...

  • A Gamble at Sunset

    Betting Against the Duke - 1

    Award-winning author Vanessa Riley turns all convention on its head for the first in an enchanting, dazzlingly diverse new Regency romance trilogy featuring a duke, three sisters, and a tantalizing bet with a most desirable reward...“A triumphant r...

  • Murder in Berkeley Square

    A Lady Worthing Mystery - 3

    Offering “a vibrant picture of the roles Black and mixed-race people played in Regency life” (Publishers Weekly), this unique historical mystery series, featuring a mixed-race heroine with a notorious past, will appeal to Bridgerton fans who want...



  • A Wager at Midnight

    The stakes are high in this dazzling and diverse Regency romance, in which a clever duke has made a wager with the now-widowed Viscountess who is the love of his life: To win a second chance with her, he will find husbands for her two sisters -- or r...

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Vanessa Riley has published 30 books.

The next book by Vanessa Riley, A Wager at Midnight, will be published in March 2025.

The first book by Vanessa Riley, Madeline's Protector, was published in April 2013.

Yes. Vanessa Riley has 5 series.
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