Affairs by Moonlight Books in Order

The Affairs by Moonlight trilogy is a playful, sensual set of Victorian romances written as Juliana Gray. All three books take place in and around the same slightly mysterious Tuscan castle in 1890, where three English gentlemen and three English ladies accidentally end up sharing a roof — and changing one another’s lives.

On one side are the men: Phineas Burke, a brilliant but socially awkward inventor newly rich from his mechanical patents; the Duke of Wallingford, a notorious rake tired of his own reputation; and Lord Roland Penhallow, a charming second son with more heart than money. On the other side are Lady Alexandra Morley, a widowed marchioness on the brink of financial disaster; her younger sister Abigail; and their cousin Elizabeth “Lilibet,” trapped in a cruel marriage.

In A Lady Never Lies, Alexandra heads to Italy determined to salvage her finances through bold, even shady, schemes. Burke has leased a crumbling fortress nearby as a private laboratory where he can perfect his “horseless carriage” engine and drag his friends away from London’s temptations. Through a tangle of misunderstandings, the men and women end up under the same castle roof. Alexandra and Burke clash from the start — she needs his investment, he wants only to work — but the more time they spend together, the harder it is to keep things businesslike.

A Gentleman Never Tells revisits the same summer from a different angle. This time the focus is on Lilibet, Alexandra’s cousin, who has fled to the castle with her young son to escape an abusive husband. There she reconnects with Roland Penhallow, the man she once loved and lost. Their story is a second‑chance romance threaded through questions of safety, honor, and whether Lilibet can risk scandal to reclaim her happiness.

In A Duke Never Yields, free‑spirited Abigail decides she has no interest in marriage but every interest in experiencing passion before settling into a life of respectable spinsterhood. She chooses the supposedly debauched Duke of Wallingford as the perfect candidate — just as he has vowed to spend a year living chastely and soberly. Their battle of wills plays out against odd wagers, unnerving servants, and hints that the castle itself may be nudging events along.

What makes the trilogy especially satisfying is the way the books interlock. The same dinners, arguments, and moonlit walks appear from different perspectives, so by the end you feel you’ve truly lived through that enchanted year in the countryside with all six main characters. There’s a light dusting of the uncanny, but the heart of the series is emotional rather than supernatural.

Expect witty exchanges, strong chemistry, and heroines who negotiate their desires within a rigid social world. You can read any of the novels alone and follow the romance just fine, but taken together they create a layered portrait of three couples finding love — and themselves — in one unforgettable Italian summer.