Governess Books in Order

The Governess series is Julia Kelly's Regency era celebration of three friends who have all taken the most respectable position open to gently born but financially strapped women, that of a governess. Elizabeth Porter, Mary Woodward, and Jane Ephram share a bond that runs through the books as each finds herself tempted by a man she has no business loving.

In The Governess Was Wicked, Elizabeth is content teaching two lively girls in a respectable household until she realizes they are faking illnesses to call in their favorite doctor more often. Edward Fellows is handsome, kind, and far above her station. What begins as amusement at her charges' antics turns into a slow build romance between a woman who believes security is all she can hope for and a physician who cannot ignore how much he admires the girls' governess.

The Governess Was Wanton turns to Mary, a seasoned governess hired to shepherd the Earl of Asten's daughter through her first Season. Used to being invisible in the households where she works, Mary is completely unprepared for the attraction she feels toward her employer. A masked ball, a one night escape from propriety, and the looming question of what happens after midnight drive her story.

In The Governess Was Wild, quiet Jane Ephram is charged with escorting headstrong Lady Margaret away from London's temptations to the family's country estate. When Jane wakes in an inn to find both her charge and a stranger's valuable horse missing, her livelihood is suddenly on the line. Teaming up with Baron Nicholas Hollings to chase down a runaway girl and a stolen stallion becomes an unexpected adventure, and a chance for Jane to step outside the narrow role she has always played.

Across the trilogy, Kelly uses road trips, drawing rooms, and country houses to explore how precarious a governess's position could be and how daring it is for each woman to reach for happiness anyway. The stories are short, warm, and tightly focused on the couples, with plenty of stolen glances and the constant threat that discovery could ruin everything.

Readers can pick up any of the three as a stand alone, but starting with The Governess Was Wicked lets you meet all three friends in turn and watch their lives change over the course of a single transformative year.