Laws of Attraction (Laura Trentham) Books in Order

Laws of Attraction takes Trentham's Regency writing in a slightly different direction. The romance is still central, but these books feel a little brainier and more playful, with heroines who are curious, capable, and often interested in more than the marriage mart. Science, scholarship, and experimentation keep brushing up against desire, which gives the series a fresh texture.

It starts with The Courtship Calculation, where botanist Madeline Barnes gets tangled up with Damien Northcutt, a bored rake who thinks he is using her in a revenge scheme. That setup captures the series nicely. The men may enter thinking they understand the rules. The women are usually the ones quietly rewriting them.

The later books keep widening the idea. The Marriage Experiment pairs Adriana Coffey with Dawson Shaw in a story that turns assumptions about duty and partnership inside out. The Passion Project follows astronomer Lady Geneva Dorn, who needs to prove a major discovery while racing toward Scotland with a dangerous, inconvenient escort. In The Theory of Dukes, Prudence Courtright starts with a lie, falls into a flirtation, and then stumbles into murder and conspiracy.

These are not wallflower books.

What links the series is Trentham's affection for smart women who have been dismissed, mislabeled, or politely underestimated. A botanist, a lepidopterist, an astronomer, a woman hunting perfume scents in London, they all want room to think as well as room to love. Their heroes are often rakeish, weary, or skeptical at first, but they are forced to reckon with women whose minds are as compelling as their beauty.

Expect strong chemistry, lively banter, and a steady thread of danger. These books like a dead body, a masked intruder, a rushed journey, or a secret plan almost as much as they like a stolen kiss. If you enjoy historical romance that mixes brains, mystery, and attraction without losing its sense of fun, Laws of Attraction is an easy series to sink into.