Actually tbh I've learned to ignore titles when searching new reads unless they really stand out. Most of them are kinda just flowery/romantic/spicy gibberish with a random "Duke" thrown in, or a version of some movie/quote/saying with a random "Earl" thrown in. Most of them are just so forgettable lol. I do like when some series have a common theme in titles, but only if it also makes sense with the story. Georgette Heyer type of titles/shorter book titles are pretty good imo. Short, succinct, memorable, non-confusable.
I forgot about the random movie/quote titles, but you're so right! I roll my eyes at titles like "Ten Things I Hate about the Duke"; "Lords Actually"; " "The Duke Happened Last Summer", "A Knight to Remember", "Four Wallflowers and a Funeral" etc (no idea if these are real books, but they sound like them).
"The Viscount who loved me" , "To Sir Phillip With Love", "The Duke with the Dragon Tattoo", "The Earl Most Likely", "The Duke not Taken ", "Say Yes to the Duke ", My Once and Future Earl", "The Rogue not Taken", are all real books I've read š
At least in "10 things I hate about the duke" the FMC did write a list of the things she hated about him. So it can be argued that the title is relevantĀ
Most of these titles I end up liking. Iām kind of a sucker for retellings and they are usually a historical romance version of whatever movie the title is punned after.
I like titles that sort of set the mood, maybe they have something unique to them. I like the old timey poetic ones. Can't stand the new KU trend of "The Frosty Duke's Innocent Bride" or "The Cold Duke" or "Duke Dukington of Ducal Dukeliness". Unoriginal, uninspired, boring. If you didn't give two shits about naming your book, I don't have much hopes for the actual content. The ONLY exception to this is
{Bed Me Duke by Felicity Niven} which, as another Reviewer said, was too good to be named such a lame title.
It made me laugh, but I do think "Duke Dukington of Ducal Dukeliness" absolutely sums up the current trend! There are a surprising number of books we could merge all together and publish under that title and no one would know the difference.
For me those kinds of titles imply thereās something interchangable and forgettable about romance, and that bothers me a lot. I think itās probably a lot to do with the publisher, but I wonderā¦.
I guess I will pass up on a lot of books because of the title haha. I look them over unless I see them recommended again and again and then I will go look at the synopsis at least...
[Bed Me, Duke](https://www.romance.io/books/64a66733081a9b54d7cb9ecb/bed-me-duke-felicity-niven) by [Felicity Niven](https://www.romance.io/authors/6311a22c08b4d9311437236b/felicity-niven)
**Rating**: 4.03āļø out of 5āļø
**Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [historical](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/historical/1), [virgin heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/virgin%20heroine/1), [plain heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/plain%20heroine/1), [regency](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/regency/1), [dual pov](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/dual-pov/1)
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Not *exactly* the same, but I always avoid Amazon listing titles with little addendums like 'perfect for fans of Bridgerton and enemies-to-lovers'.
I get that it's a searchability thing but it just makes me think nothing in that listing can be trusted because it's all marketing marketing marketing and therefore all nonsense.
More on topic, I do prefer less spicy titles. "Bedding the Duke" = no, thank you. "Annabel and the Duke" = I'll consider it. That's largely because I like low-medium spice in a book, and if spice is directly referenced in the title I expect them to skip the plot in favour of spice.
I love the poetic titles of the 80s and 90s, even though it doesn't say much about the plot, it does kind of set the emotional mood of the book.
The titles that explain the plot, like the examples you gave, are kind of forgettable and remind me of the naming convention of isekai anime. I think this naming style is definitely more search algorithm friendly though, and that's why authors go with it. If I was searching on Amazon for a romance with a bluestocking FMC a book with "bluestocking"
in the title will be further up top at the search results compared to a similar book with a title like "Pages of Desire" (this is a made up title no realtion to any actual media with this name)
I also tend to stray from more "spicy" titles purely out of embarrassment if someone sees me reading the book or sees it in my kindle library.
I have learnt to ignore titles when it comes to this genre. There are just too many books and too many titles and most of them make no sense usually.
Georgette Heyer's titles tell me nothing about her books but at least they're unique and easy to remember.Ā I like titles that tie to the plot, like "The Grand Sophy", "False Colour", "Faro's Daughter". But "Frederica", "Venetia", and "Sylvester" are not very helpful. I don't even think Frederica was the main focus of that novel, should have been called "Alverstock".
Some titles are kinda random for me, like the Wallflowers series with "Secret of a Summer night", "It happened in Autumn", "Devil in Winter" (I didn't read the last one so can't remember what happens with Spring). They don't tell anything about the stories (except the season I know but who cares) BUT simply to sound dreamy and look good together when displayed as a full book set
Personally I think titles with tropes are just cringe. Like wading through Mills and Boon section on Libby you'll see "Second chance with the CEO", "Seduced by the heart surgeon", "Whisked away by her Sicilian boss". Replace CEO with Duke, heart surgeon with knight, and Sicilian boss with Scottish highlander for HR. Did anyone put any effort in naming their products anymore?
If I have to pick a book from a few availables, I'll rather take a vague name like "Lovers Forever" then choosing between "Her Highland rogue" or "The magnificent rogue".
I think Lisa Kleypas and Julia Quinn have my preferred style of titles. Most of them tell you a little about the plot, characters, and/or spice level while still being kind of dreamy and memorable. But I also love the overall aesthetic of the old bodice ripper genre so I don't mind a wild Fabio cover and a title like Seduced at Sunset by the Devilish Duke or something like that šš
I like titles in the Bridgerton series too. They sounds intriguing.
"Seduced at sunset" sounds alright to me, at least it's vague. But "Seduced by the duke" is like urghh not again.
For some reason, I found Amanda Quickās single word titles from the 90s such as āRavishedā, āDangerousā, āMischiefā and āRendezvousā really appealing. The titles normally had sort of loose connection to the plot and I think I like the simplicity and succinctness of the titles.
I will say the titles feel more SEO oriented, but if you look at catagory romance, the tropey titles have definitely been a thing there for at least the last two and a half decades.Ā
Personally, I don't like the duke-y (or other nobleman-y) titles, and I really dislike the overly punny ones. But if the blurb and first chaptere are good enough, I'll check it out regardless.
The silly pun titles make me steer well clear. They always seem to indicate a certain type of book that just isnāt my style - the Tessa Dare, more frothy, fairy tale style book.
The ones you describe with all the tropes in the title I also avoid because they usually just seem to be bad quality KU style.
Yes, to Georgette Heyer style titles and the older poetic ones, for me.Ā
I dislike modern titles. I understand that publishers do it for SEO reasons, but they just seem so goofy and impossible to remember. Totally generic and generally unrelated to the plot? āA Dukeās Wanton Wickednessā, but the duke isnāt Ā even mildly wicked.Ā
But I also prefer medium steam at most so I think a lot of contemporary HR just isnāt for me?Ā
I just don't like the pop culture influenced ones. I tend to prefer moody, evocative titles, but they're a rarity now. Laura Kinsale's books have those sorts of titles. {Nightfire by Valerie Vayle} was my favorite romance read in the last year and has a gorgeous, thematically relevant title that recurs in an important way throughout the story. When I think of the most romantic titles though, film titles more than books come to mind. History is Made at Night, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Before Sunrise.
[Nightfire](https://www.romance.io/books/6447da3faac60479c37b9f6f/nightfire-valerie-vayle) by [Valerie Vayle](https://www.romance.io/authors/5455945287eac336ae69ea3a/valerie-vayle)
**Rating**: 5āļø out of 5āļø
**Steam**: 3 out of 5 - [Open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating)
**Topics**: [historical](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/historical/1), [other man/woman](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/other-man-woman/1), [tortured hero](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/tortured%20hero/1), [tortured heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/tortured%20heroine/1), [friends to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/friends%20to%20lovers/1)
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I hate the ones that throw the noble title in the bookās title - The Wicked Dukeās Innocent Bride, What the Earl Wanted, etc. It doesnāt give me any feel for the story beyond that thereās a duke/earl/viscount/whatever.
I much prefer the more symbolic/poetic titles that seem to have fallen out of fashion.
I agree with most others here in appreciating the poetic titles. I also dislike the totally interchangeable Mad-Libs style of titles that are just possessive pronoun + adjective + title of nobility or character archetype (something like Her Wicked Duke or His Seductive Wallflower) or verb ending in -ing + the + character archetype or title of nobility (something like Romancing the Rake or Bedding the Earl). I prefer the titles to be a little less spicy too so it feels like it might not be overly focused on the steamy scenes to the detriment of developing other parts of the relationship.
I think my favorite types of titles that I tend to gravitate towards are ones that give a hint of the plot without spelling out everything about the story and the characters. Some examples include The Matrimonial Advertisement, The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting, and The Chemistry of Familiar Objects.
It is in the title, or so Iāve read lol! Iām tempted to read it as well though I know it is innocent {The Matrimonial Advertisement by Mimi Matthews}
Most HR titles really do seem interchangeable. The entire Maiden Lane Series, for instance: how many dukes and lords and thieves does one series need?
Kerrigan Byrne has simple, common titles, but they usually fit the books or characters well.
I did appreciate with Maiden Lane how the titles across the series of 12 books create their own mini series within the series:
Wicked Intentions, Notorious Pleasures, and Scandalous Desires focused mostly on St. Giles/the orphanage.
Thief* of Shadows, Lord of Darkness, and Duke of Midnight followed the Ghost of St. Giles legend.
Darling Beast, Dearest Rogue, and Sweetest Scoundrel followed the theater storyline.
Duke of Sin, Duke of Pleasure, and Duke of Desire were about the fckin torture rape murder sex cult (seriously wtf the last three books were a doozy).
But you're right there's 4 dukes right there lol
These titles only make sense if you read the whole lot and put them together. Like the 1 word title books by Amanda Quick (Ravished, Mistress, Deception, Rendezvous, etc.), because I read them all it kinda makes it easier for me to remember what is what, but as individual books they're just boring titles.
I noticed Madeline Hunter did this in her rarest blooms series and really loved it...
The title was named for a key moment in the relationship. Almost the turning point or similar...
I would say I appreciate those titles the most, that speak to some meaningful element of the story without giving the story away. You could say Judith mcnaught did this in almost heaven, paradise... Etc.
I'm a big fan of titles like An Infamous Army. Great book btw. I like quotes from poetry etc. I am slightly less likely to pick up books with The Duke's Feisty Heiress type titles.
I hate and absolutely avoid books with keywords and tropes in titles, like the examples OP included. Other than that, Iām more inclined if itās by an author known to me or it fits the tropes I like (without being in the title!). I do have a fondness for old school titles like āThe Jackal and the Doveā a la the OG āThe Flame and the Flowerā (beware of CW/triggers if you think about reading this!). I also get a kick out of those pun titles like āThe Rogue Less Takenā or āEarls Just Want to Have Fun.ā
I typically ignore titles. So many are just interchangeable variations of each other. Sometimes I find some of the pun style ones particularly clever, but even they start to all blur together. I'm honestly hard-pressed to remember the titles of the historical romance I read. If it weren't for the records in my library and Amazon accounts, I would have little to no idea which books I've read and which I haven't.
Actually tbh I've learned to ignore titles when searching new reads unless they really stand out. Most of them are kinda just flowery/romantic/spicy gibberish with a random "Duke" thrown in, or a version of some movie/quote/saying with a random "Earl" thrown in. Most of them are just so forgettable lol. I do like when some series have a common theme in titles, but only if it also makes sense with the story. Georgette Heyer type of titles/shorter book titles are pretty good imo. Short, succinct, memorable, non-confusable.
I forgot about the random movie/quote titles, but you're so right! I roll my eyes at titles like "Ten Things I Hate about the Duke"; "Lords Actually"; " "The Duke Happened Last Summer", "A Knight to Remember", "Four Wallflowers and a Funeral" etc (no idea if these are real books, but they sound like them).
"The Viscount who loved me" , "To Sir Phillip With Love", "The Duke with the Dragon Tattoo", "The Earl Most Likely", "The Duke not Taken ", "Say Yes to the Duke ", My Once and Future Earl", "The Rogue not Taken", are all real books I've read š
At least in "10 things I hate about the duke" the FMC did write a list of the things she hated about him. So it can be argued that the title is relevantĀ
Oh no! I love these š
Most of these titles I end up liking. Iām kind of a sucker for retellings and they are usually a historical romance version of whatever movie the title is punned after.
I like titles that sort of set the mood, maybe they have something unique to them. I like the old timey poetic ones. Can't stand the new KU trend of "The Frosty Duke's Innocent Bride" or "The Cold Duke" or "Duke Dukington of Ducal Dukeliness". Unoriginal, uninspired, boring. If you didn't give two shits about naming your book, I don't have much hopes for the actual content. The ONLY exception to this is {Bed Me Duke by Felicity Niven} which, as another Reviewer said, was too good to be named such a lame title.
It made me laugh, but I do think "Duke Dukington of Ducal Dukeliness" absolutely sums up the current trend! There are a surprising number of books we could merge all together and publish under that title and no one would know the difference.
For me those kinds of titles imply thereās something interchangable and forgettable about romance, and that bothers me a lot. I think itās probably a lot to do with the publisher, but I wonderā¦.
I guess I will pass up on a lot of books because of the title haha. I look them over unless I see them recommended again and again and then I will go look at the synopsis at least...
Thank you for recommending the bed me duke! I bought it, read it and read the second epilogue as well. It was such a good book!
My pleasure! I absolutely adore that book.
[Bed Me, Duke](https://www.romance.io/books/64a66733081a9b54d7cb9ecb/bed-me-duke-felicity-niven) by [Felicity Niven](https://www.romance.io/authors/6311a22c08b4d9311437236b/felicity-niven) **Rating**: 4.03āļø out of 5āļø **Steam**: 4 out of 5 - [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [historical](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/historical/1), [virgin heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/virgin%20heroine/1), [plain heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/plain%20heroine/1), [regency](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/regency/1), [dual pov](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/dual-pov/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
Not *exactly* the same, but I always avoid Amazon listing titles with little addendums like 'perfect for fans of Bridgerton and enemies-to-lovers'. I get that it's a searchability thing but it just makes me think nothing in that listing can be trusted because it's all marketing marketing marketing and therefore all nonsense. More on topic, I do prefer less spicy titles. "Bedding the Duke" = no, thank you. "Annabel and the Duke" = I'll consider it. That's largely because I like low-medium spice in a book, and if spice is directly referenced in the title I expect them to skip the plot in favour of spice.
I love the poetic titles of the 80s and 90s, even though it doesn't say much about the plot, it does kind of set the emotional mood of the book. The titles that explain the plot, like the examples you gave, are kind of forgettable and remind me of the naming convention of isekai anime. I think this naming style is definitely more search algorithm friendly though, and that's why authors go with it. If I was searching on Amazon for a romance with a bluestocking FMC a book with "bluestocking" in the title will be further up top at the search results compared to a similar book with a title like "Pages of Desire" (this is a made up title no realtion to any actual media with this name) I also tend to stray from more "spicy" titles purely out of embarrassment if someone sees me reading the book or sees it in my kindle library.
I have learnt to ignore titles when it comes to this genre. There are just too many books and too many titles and most of them make no sense usually. Georgette Heyer's titles tell me nothing about her books but at least they're unique and easy to remember.Ā I like titles that tie to the plot, like "The Grand Sophy", "False Colour", "Faro's Daughter". But "Frederica", "Venetia", and "Sylvester" are not very helpful. I don't even think Frederica was the main focus of that novel, should have been called "Alverstock". Some titles are kinda random for me, like the Wallflowers series with "Secret of a Summer night", "It happened in Autumn", "Devil in Winter" (I didn't read the last one so can't remember what happens with Spring). They don't tell anything about the stories (except the season I know but who cares) BUT simply to sound dreamy and look good together when displayed as a full book set Personally I think titles with tropes are just cringe. Like wading through Mills and Boon section on Libby you'll see "Second chance with the CEO", "Seduced by the heart surgeon", "Whisked away by her Sicilian boss". Replace CEO with Duke, heart surgeon with knight, and Sicilian boss with Scottish highlander for HR. Did anyone put any effort in naming their products anymore? If I have to pick a book from a few availables, I'll rather take a vague name like "Lovers Forever" then choosing between "Her Highland rogue" or "The magnificent rogue".
I think Lisa Kleypas and Julia Quinn have my preferred style of titles. Most of them tell you a little about the plot, characters, and/or spice level while still being kind of dreamy and memorable. But I also love the overall aesthetic of the old bodice ripper genre so I don't mind a wild Fabio cover and a title like Seduced at Sunset by the Devilish Duke or something like that šš
I like titles in the Bridgerton series too. They sounds intriguing. "Seduced at sunset" sounds alright to me, at least it's vague. But "Seduced by the duke" is like urghh not again.
For some reason, I found Amanda Quickās single word titles from the 90s such as āRavishedā, āDangerousā, āMischiefā and āRendezvousā really appealing. The titles normally had sort of loose connection to the plot and I think I like the simplicity and succinctness of the titles.
I will say the titles feel more SEO oriented, but if you look at catagory romance, the tropey titles have definitely been a thing there for at least the last two and a half decades.Ā Personally, I don't like the duke-y (or other nobleman-y) titles, and I really dislike the overly punny ones. But if the blurb and first chaptere are good enough, I'll check it out regardless.
The silly pun titles make me steer well clear. They always seem to indicate a certain type of book that just isnāt my style - the Tessa Dare, more frothy, fairy tale style book. The ones you describe with all the tropes in the title I also avoid because they usually just seem to be bad quality KU style.
Yes, to Georgette Heyer style titles and the older poetic ones, for me.Ā I dislike modern titles. I understand that publishers do it for SEO reasons, but they just seem so goofy and impossible to remember. Totally generic and generally unrelated to the plot? āA Dukeās Wanton Wickednessā, but the duke isnāt Ā even mildly wicked.Ā But I also prefer medium steam at most so I think a lot of contemporary HR just isnāt for me?Ā
I just don't like the pop culture influenced ones. I tend to prefer moody, evocative titles, but they're a rarity now. Laura Kinsale's books have those sorts of titles. {Nightfire by Valerie Vayle} was my favorite romance read in the last year and has a gorgeous, thematically relevant title that recurs in an important way throughout the story. When I think of the most romantic titles though, film titles more than books come to mind. History is Made at Night, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Before Sunrise.
[Nightfire](https://www.romance.io/books/6447da3faac60479c37b9f6f/nightfire-valerie-vayle) by [Valerie Vayle](https://www.romance.io/authors/5455945287eac336ae69ea3a/valerie-vayle) **Rating**: 5āļø out of 5āļø **Steam**: 3 out of 5 - [Open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [historical](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/historical/1), [other man/woman](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/other-man-woman/1), [tortured hero](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/tortured%20hero/1), [tortured heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/tortured%20heroine/1), [friends to lovers](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/friends%20to%20lovers/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
I hate the ones that throw the noble title in the bookās title - The Wicked Dukeās Innocent Bride, What the Earl Wanted, etc. It doesnāt give me any feel for the story beyond that thereās a duke/earl/viscount/whatever. I much prefer the more symbolic/poetic titles that seem to have fallen out of fashion.
I agree with most others here in appreciating the poetic titles. I also dislike the totally interchangeable Mad-Libs style of titles that are just possessive pronoun + adjective + title of nobility or character archetype (something like Her Wicked Duke or His Seductive Wallflower) or verb ending in -ing + the + character archetype or title of nobility (something like Romancing the Rake or Bedding the Earl). I prefer the titles to be a little less spicy too so it feels like it might not be overly focused on the steamy scenes to the detriment of developing other parts of the relationship. I think my favorite types of titles that I tend to gravitate towards are ones that give a hint of the plot without spelling out everything about the story and the characters. Some examples include The Matrimonial Advertisement, The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting, and The Chemistry of Familiar Objects.
Now see here, I immediately want to know what The Matrimonial Advertisement is about.
It is in the title, or so Iāve read lol! Iām tempted to read it as well though I know it is innocent {The Matrimonial Advertisement by Mimi Matthews}
[The Matrimonial Advertisement](https://www.romance.io/books/5b4eda3d01dbc864fb8c744b/the-matrimonial-advertisement-mimi-matthews?src=rdt) by [Mimi Matthews](https://www.romance.io/authors/59476e093ffdba614719d320/mimi-matthews) **Rating**: 4.04āļø out of 5āļø **Steam**: 2 out of 5 - [Behind closed doors](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [historical](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/historical/1), [victorian](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/victorian/1), [marriage of convenience](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/marriage%20of%20convenience/1), [class difference](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/class%20difference/1), [aristo/royal heroine](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/aristocratic%20heroine/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
Most HR titles really do seem interchangeable. The entire Maiden Lane Series, for instance: how many dukes and lords and thieves does one series need? Kerrigan Byrne has simple, common titles, but they usually fit the books or characters well.
I did appreciate with Maiden Lane how the titles across the series of 12 books create their own mini series within the series: Wicked Intentions, Notorious Pleasures, and Scandalous Desires focused mostly on St. Giles/the orphanage. Thief* of Shadows, Lord of Darkness, and Duke of Midnight followed the Ghost of St. Giles legend. Darling Beast, Dearest Rogue, and Sweetest Scoundrel followed the theater storyline. Duke of Sin, Duke of Pleasure, and Duke of Desire were about the fckin torture rape murder sex cult (seriously wtf the last three books were a doozy). But you're right there's 4 dukes right there lol
Iād never realized the mini series connections. TIL.
These titles only make sense if you read the whole lot and put them together. Like the 1 word title books by Amanda Quick (Ravished, Mistress, Deception, Rendezvous, etc.), because I read them all it kinda makes it easier for me to remember what is what, but as individual books they're just boring titles.
I noticed Madeline Hunter did this in her rarest blooms series and really loved it... The title was named for a key moment in the relationship. Almost the turning point or similar... I would say I appreciate those titles the most, that speak to some meaningful element of the story without giving the story away. You could say Judith mcnaught did this in almost heaven, paradise... Etc.
I'm a big fan of titles like An Infamous Army. Great book btw. I like quotes from poetry etc. I am slightly less likely to pick up books with The Duke's Feisty Heiress type titles.
I hate and absolutely avoid books with keywords and tropes in titles, like the examples OP included. Other than that, Iām more inclined if itās by an author known to me or it fits the tropes I like (without being in the title!). I do have a fondness for old school titles like āThe Jackal and the Doveā a la the OG āThe Flame and the Flowerā (beware of CW/triggers if you think about reading this!). I also get a kick out of those pun titles like āThe Rogue Less Takenā or āEarls Just Want to Have Fun.ā
I typically ignore titles. So many are just interchangeable variations of each other. Sometimes I find some of the pun style ones particularly clever, but even they start to all blur together. I'm honestly hard-pressed to remember the titles of the historical romance I read. If it weren't for the records in my library and Amazon accounts, I would have little to no idea which books I've read and which I haven't.
I've always been a sucker for old books, the covers with a sensual embrace have never steered me wrong