Book picks similar to
The Styx by Jonathon King


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Sins of the House of Borgia


Sarah Bower - 2008
    Violante's father bankrolled the manipulative Rodrigo Borgia into the Vatican, and in return Violante becomes lady in waiting to the new pope's scandalous daughter, Lucrezia, now Duchess of Ferrara. Flattered by Lucrezia's favor, seduced by the friendship of the Duchess's cousin Angela, and swept off her feet by the mysterious and seductive Cesare Borgia, Violante is drawn deep into intrigue and deceit. Her extraordinary journey will test her heart to its utmost and leave her the guardian of secrets she must carry to her grave.

The Rebellion of Miss Lucy Ann Lobdell


William Klaber - 2013
    By the time it was over, she was notorious. The New York Times thought her worthy of a lengthy obituary that began “Death of a Modern Diana . . . Dressed in Man’s Clothing She Wins a Girl’s Love.” The obit detailed what the Times knew of Lucy’s life, from her backwoods upbringing to the dance school she ran disguised as a man, “where she won the love of a young lady scholar.” But that was just the start of the trouble; the Times did not know about Lucy’s arrest and trial for the crime of wearing men’s clothes or her jailbreak engineered by her wife, Marie Perry, to whom she had been married by an unsuspecting judge.Lucy lived at a time when women did not commonly travel unescorted, carry a rifle, sit down in bars, or have romantic liaisons with other women. Lucy did these things in a personal quest—to work and be paid, to wear what she wanted, and to love whomever she cared to. But to gain those freedoms she had to endure public scorn and wrestle with a sexual identity whose vocabulary had yet to be invented. Lucy promised to write a book about it all, and over the decades, people have searched for that account. Author William Klaber searched also until he decided that the finding would have to be by way of echoes and dreams. This book is Lucy’s story, told in her words as heard and recorded by an upstream neighbor.It has been named a Stonewall Book Award-Barbara Gittings Literature Award Honor Book for 2014.

A Mother's Song: A Story of the Orphan Train


Cleo A. Lampos - 2013
    Pregnant with their third child, Deirdre works as a washerwoman at the hotel's laundry. If Sean works at all, he drinks his paycheck at the pub. When he is killed in an accident at work, Deirdre is devastated. She gives birth to another son, but cannot work at the laundry. The oldest son lives on the street as a newsie. Rather than let Ava Rose and her baby brother starve to death with her, she signs for them to be put on an orphan train. This orphan train takes these youngsters to Nebraska to Claudine, who has suffered multiple miscarriages. Will the adoption provide the safety and opportunity that Deirdre hopes? This researched story of two mothers and the child who loves both is heart wrenching.It is a poignant tale of hope and courage against unfathomable odds for a better life free from prejudice and poverty.

Clickers


J.F. Gonzalez - 1999
    Phillipsport, Maine is a quaint and peaceful seaside village. But when hundreds of creatures pour out of the ocean and attack, its residents must take up arms to drive the beasts back. They are the Clickers, giant venomous blood-thirsty crabs from the depths of the sea. The only warning to their rampage of dismemberment and death is the terrible clicking of their claws. But these monsters aren't merely here to ravage and pillage. They are being driven onto land by fear. Something is hunting the Clickers. Something ancient and without mercy. Deadite Press is proud to present the authors' preferred version of J. F. Gonzalez and Mark Williams' gore-soaked cult classic tribute to the giant monster B-movies of yesteryear.

The Lion's Courtship


Annelie Wendeberg - 2014
    New and revised edition. Anna Kronberg lives in Victorian London’s worst rookery, offering medical treatment to prostitutes, vagrants, and criminals. To her, plugging holes and mopping up blood is normal. Stitching the slashed face of a young prostitute is not. Witnesses refuse to talk. The police can’t be bothered with yet another injured whore. But whispers are spreading about a man who pays well for a few harmless knife marks. No one dares reveal the man’s identity. Only Garret O’Hare - a thief Anna barely knows - reluctantly agrees to help her investigate the assault. But when the injured girl disappears, a veil of silence descends upon the slum. And Anna learns that she is no longer the hunter, but the hunted. Warning: medical procedures, poverty, and prostitution are depicted without apology. For fans of Caleb Carr, Louise Penny, and Anne Perry.

Kissing the Enemy


Leighann Dobbs - 2016
    As the plain looking older sister, she's practically invisible at social events. Never mind that she has no experience as a spy or that the codebook rests in the possession of one of the most powerful men in England. Freddie has no choice-she's desperate to save her young sister from the lecherous intentions of their guardian and recovering the book is her only option. Tristan Graylocke has never been able to measure up to his brother, the Duke of Tenwick.  But being second best has its advantages. No one pressures him to get married and produce an heir, leaving him to carouse at will-an activity that lends itself perfectly to the brothers’ secret lives as spies. When an alluring enemy spy shows up at the house party planned specifically for the purposes of passing along a code book, Tristan finds himself drawn under her spell. Freddie seems innocent and inexperienced.  Is her innocence is a clever guise, or is she being coerced by someone? Tristan and Freddie soon find themselves engaged in a seductive game of cat and mouse where each will do what they must for their country, especially if it involves kissing the enemy.

Bradley Farm: ...a legacy of love! (Bradley Farm Cozy Mystery Series Book 1)


Mary Jane Forbes - 2015
    Hidden secrets. It may just take a city girl to save the family farm… Jane dreams of marrying her high school sweetheart and raising a brood of kids on his beloved family farm. Despite her parents’ disapproval and her boyfriend’s draft card, she exchanges hurried vows before he ships off to Vietnam. Back on the farm, Jane must fight her own battle with a mother-in-law who frowns on her big city upbringing. Determined to prove she’s cut out for country living, the fiery redhead rolls up her sleeves to explore every inch of the family business. Beneath creaking floorboards and layers of dust, she unearths ghostly secrets… and a rising mountain of debt that threatens to tear her dreams for the future apart. To save the homestead, she schemes up a plan to bring the old farm into the modern age and out of the hands of the collectors. Under the shadow of unsolved mysteries and the critical eye of her mother-in-law, can she hold on to a home-sweet-home worthy of her heroic husband… if he ever returns at all?Bradley Farm is the first standalone romantic mystery in a sweeping family saga series. If you like touching tales of young love, strong-willed heroines, and rustic country backdrops, then you’ll love Mary Jane Forbes’ story of finding your way home. Buy Bradley Farm to sow the seeds of a heartwarming family history today!

The Heiress of Winterwood


Sarah E. Ladd - 2013
    . . but what comes after?Darbury, England, 1814Amelia Barrett, heiress to an ancestral estate nestled in the English moors, defies family expectations and promises to raise her dying friend’s infant baby. She'll risk everything to keep her word—even to the point of proposing to the child’s father, Graham, a sea captain she’s never met.Tragedy strikes when the child vanishes with little more than a sketchy ransom note hinting to her whereabouts. Fear for the child’s safety drives Amelia and Graham to test the boundaries of their love for this infant.Amelia’s detailed plans would normally see her through any trial, but now, desperate and shaken, she examines her soul and must face her one weakness: pride.Graham’s strength and self-control have served him well and earned him much respect, but chasing perfection has kept him a prisoner of his own discipline.Both must learn to accept God’s sovereignty and relinquish control so they can grasp the future He has for planned for them.

The Astronaut Wives Club


Lily Koppel - 2013
    Overnight, these women were transformed from military spouses into American royalty. They had tea with Jackie Kennedy, appeared on the cover of Life magazine, and quickly grew into fashion icons.Annie Glenn, with her picture-perfect marriage, was the envy of the other wives; JFK made it clear that platinum-blonde Rene Carpenter was his favorite; and licensed pilot Trudy Cooper arrived with a secret that needed to stay hidden from NASA. Together with the other wives they formed the Astronaut Wives Club, providing one another with support and friendship, coffee and cocktails.As their celebrity rose-and as divorce and tragedy began to touch their lives-the wives continued to rally together, forming bonds that would withstand the test of time, and they have stayed friends for over half a century. THE ASTRONAUT WIVES CLUB tells the story of the women who stood beside some of the biggest heroes in American history.

Deadly Pursuit


Michael Prescott - 1995
    This is a new digital edition of DEADLY PURSUIT by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Michael Prescott (writing as Brian Harper).

Exceeding Expectations


Lisa April Smith - 2011
    Next, meet his daughter Charlotte (Charlie), an over-indulged 23 year-old struggling to cope with the traumatizing loss of her beloved father, her sister’s resulting mental breakdown and the discovery that she’s suddenly penniless. Fortunately Raul, an admiring young attorney, appears to offer assistance. As terrified as she is about daily survival, Charlie soon realizes that she has to learn what drove her father to kill himself. With Raul’s much needed ego-bolstering, the drive of necessity and unforeseen determination, Charlie finds a practical use for her annoyingly lean 5’ 11” frame. In time, this career finances her hard-wrought independence, her sister’s costly treatment and an emotional eye-opening journey to Paris.Jumping back in time to romantic pre-WWII Paris readers meet young Alan Fitzpatrick – aka Jack Morgan – lack-luster artist, expert lover, irresistible rascal, and the bewitching girl who will become the mother of his children. Not even Charlie’s relentless detective work will uncover all Jack’s secrets, but in a fireworks of surprise endings, she discovers all that she needs to know and more: disturbing truths about her father, hew own unique talent, crimes great and small and a diabolical villain.

Goodbye Vietnam


William Broyles Jr. - 2013
    Previously published as Brothers in Arms, this edition includes a new preface by the author.When William Broyles Jr. was drafted, he was a twenty-four-year-old student at Oxford University in England, hoping to avoid military service. During his physical exam, however, he realized that he couldn’t let social class or education give him special privileges. He joined the marines, and soon commanded an infantry platoon in the foothills near Da Nang. More than a decade later, Broyles found himself flooded with emotion during the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. He decided to return to Vietnam and confront what he’d been through. Broyles was one of the very first combat veterans to return to the battlefields. No American before or since has gone so deeply into the other side of the war: the enemy side. Broyles interviews dozens of Vietnamese, from the generals who ran the war to the men and women who fought it. He moves from the corridors of power in Hanoi—so low-tech that the plumbing didn’t work—to the jungles and rice paddies where he’d fought. He meets survivors of American B-52 strikes and My Lai, and grieves with a woman whose son was killed by his own platoon. Along the way, Broyles also explores the deep bonds he shared with his own comrades, and the mystery of why men love war even as they hate it. Amidst the landscape of death, his formerly faceless enemies come to life. They had once tried to kill each other, but they are all brothers now.

Surrender the Wind


Rita Gerlach - 2009
    Seth is torn between the land he fought for and the prospect of reuniting with his sister Caroline, who was a motherless child taken to England at the onset of the war.With no intention of staying permanently, Seth arrives to find his sister grieving over the death of her young son. In the midst of such tragedy, Seth meets Juleah, the daughter of an eccentric landed gentleman. Her independent spirit and gentle soul steal Seth's heart. After a brief courtship, they marry and she takes her place as the lady of Ten Width Manor, enraging the man who once sought her hand and schemed to make Ten Width his own.From the Virginia wilderness to the dark halls of an isolated English estate, Seth and his beloved Juleah inherit more than an ancestral home. They uncover a sinister plot that leads to murder, abduction, and betrayal--an ominous threat to their new life, love, and faith.

Done Deal


Les Standiford - 1993
    Here, Deal is struggling torebuild the once formidable DealCo, a development company once headed by his flamboyant father Barton Deal--but little does he know that the piece ofland upon which he plans to build a small apartment complex is coveted by a ruthless businessman intent on making a fortune off Major League Baseball'sarrival in South Florida.

Feels like Home


Evelyn Adams - 2014
    But when her carefully constructed life crumbles around her, Autumn's forced to return to the small southern town that never let her forget she came from the wrong side of the tracks. Jude Southerland, the town doctor, is used to taking care of people and with a pedigree that has the Ladies Auxiliary reaching for their fans, he’s easily the town’s most eligible bachelor – a status he has no intention of changing. That is until he almost runs down the Maddox girl he never noticed in school and suddenly finds her lush curves, dark curls and blue eyes consuming his thoughts, day and night. Autumn would like nothing more than to live happily ever after with Jude. But with every local matron in the valley trying to marry him off to their own daughters, she knows they won’t let her forget that she's not good enough and never will be. With the chance to finally find happiness, can she overcome her family history and find the confidence she needs to believe in herself or will she let love pass her by?