Although not romances, I like Diana Gabaldon's Outlander books precisely because the heroine -- who truly is lifted out of the 20th century and dropped into the 18th -- does not impress everyone with her Modernity and magically raise everybody's consciousness.

I quibble with other things in the books, but that is one bullet Gabaldon dodged.

Now I need to go add Rhys Bowen to the ever-growing reading list...