Regency romances are a subgenre of romance novels set during the period of the English Regency or early 19th century. Rather than simply being versions of contemporary romance stories transported to a historical setting, Regency romances are a distinct genre with their own plot and stylistic conventions that derive from the works of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer, and from the fiction genre known as the novel of manners. In particular, most Regencies feature a great deal of intelligent, fast-paced dialog between the protagonists and very little explicit sex or discussion of sex.

However, it is not true that Regency romances never feature sex; such authors as Sandra Heath, Anita Mills, and Mary Balogh were the first to show sexual relations between the hero and heroine (or more rarely, between the hero and his mistress). Nor were Regencies invariably frothy period pieces. Such authors as Balogh, Carla Kelly, Sheila Bishop, and Mary Jo Putney all depicted the underbelly of Regency society, exploring a variety of social ills.

Some authors featured seriously troubled heroes and heroines, suffering from post-battle trauma, alcoholism, depression, and the like. Other common elements of Regency romances include: Like other fiction genres and subgenres, Regencies experience cyclic popularity swings. The last two major US publishers to produce the shorter "Traditional" Regencies regularly were Zebra and Signet.

This ended in 2005, when Zebra stopped their traditional Regency line, and early 2006, when Signet ended its Regencies. There are few "Traditional" Regencies now published in the US; some of the few publishers that still do so are Avalon Books, Berkeley Books, Five Star Books, Cerridwen Press (Cotillion) and (according to some) the Harlequin Historical line. Regencies are still available through the second-hand book market, and online as e-books, via Belgrave House (which publishes out-of-print books) and Cerridwen Press.

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