Vanessa Riley

Riley writes multicultural romance.[5][6][2] Some of her works are of the Regency romance genre.[1] Her early works were published digitally.

Her print debut novel, A Duke, The Lady, and a Baby (2020), was inspired by the film The First Wives Club (1996).[1]

Island Queen (2021), a novel of historical fiction about enslaved-turned-landowner Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, was optioned for film by Julie Ann Robinson.[7]

Riley has written for The Washington Post.[8]

Riley's books Sister Mother Warrior (2022); The Duke, The Lady, and a Baby (2020); An Earl, the Girl, and a Toddler (2021); and A Duke, the Spy, an Artist, and a Lie (2022) have received starred reviews from Booklist, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly.[9][10][11][12][13]

Publishers Weekly called A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby a "bewitching Regency series opener".[11] It criticized An Earl, the Girl, and a Toddler for its "choppy writing" that "slightly undermines the otherwise riveting romance".[5] Publishers Weekly wrote of the final book in the Rogues and Remarkable Women series, "Riley masterfully plays up the will-they-won’t-they between husband and wife as the emotionally charged romance twists to its conclusion. This sends out the series on a high note".[12]

Library Journal called Sister Mother Warrior a "sweeping, powerful historical novel based on two remarkable real women".[13]

Her mystery debut, Murder in Westminster (2022), was reviewed positively by Publishers Weekly, which wrote, "Riley offers a vibrant picture of the roles Black and mixed-race people played in Regency life," though Publishers also noted, "the backstory introducing series characters sometimes feels clumsy and the modern language can be distracting".[6]

Carole V. Bell of The New York Times wrote positively of Island Queen: "Though Dorothy’s life is extraordinary, the reason her triumphs and stumbles hit so hard is that Riley does a brilliant job of connecting those events to something bigger... Evocative and immersive, Riley’s narrative bears that weight with grace".[14]

• Murder in Westminster. Kensington, 2022.[6][19][20]

• The Duke, the Lady, and a Baby. Zebra, 2020.[11][21][1]
• An Earl, the Girl, and a Toddler. Zebra, 2021.[5][10][22]
• A Duke, the Spy, an Artist, and a Lie. Zebra, 2022.[12][23][24][25]