Book picks similar to
Aurora's Pride by AnneMarie Brear


romance
historical-fiction
historical-romance
fiction

The Marriage List


Dorothy McFalls - 2005
    Humble tenant May Sheffers meets none of these, so why does his heart beat madly at the sight of her?

The Mistletoe Trap


Eve Pendle - 2018
    Five years after breaking Amelia Chilson's heart, he's back. Robert Danbury wants the mistletoe kiss Amelia denied him years ago, but nothing more. Loving a woman again is an unthinkable risk. They just have to make it through Christmas without kissing or killing each other.Over presents and under mistletoe the past is revealed.Their mistakes are sweet, ugly, delicate, and unassailable. Botanist Robert might be able to grow pineapples almost as perfect as the ones Amelia can picture in her embroidery, but they can't change the past. Especially when Robert's daughter is a constant reminder.Then, they're caught innocently in bed together, and Robert has an instant to choose: Amelia's reputation, their lost love, or his conscience.Length: 30,000 wordsTropes: second chance; enemies-to-lovers; scandal; compromisedHeat level: medium-high.Content Notes can be found before the Contents page.Note: this novella was first published in the 2018 charity Regency Christmas anthology, Love Rekindled at Christmas.

The Rogue and I


Eva Devon - 2015
    It’s a mistake she won’t repeat twice. Truly. Especially since he abandoned her just when they were about to elope to Gretna Green. Five years later, Harriet hasn’t forgotten the way Lord Garret’s smoldering gaze and wicked sense of humor touched her soul. Still, there’s no way she’ll forgive the traitorous libertine, no matter how he stirs her passions. Now, Harriet is determined to show him she doesn’t care, and never did, by making merry right under his nose but a tragic turn of events at her cousin’s wedding has her wondering if just maybe, love deserves one last chance.A Lord Who Lost His HeartLord Garret Hart, second son of a duke and now brother to the present Duke of Huntsdown, is never ever EVER getting married. Bachelorhood is for him. After all, women are the very devil. Especially one woman. Miss Harriet Manning is Garret’s own personal Medusa and she has turned his heart to stone. Indeed she has, but not before she absolutely ripped it to shreds, leaving him a complete wreck. Nothing will ever induce him to matrimony or nauseating protestations of boyish love again. But when he is forced into close proximity at his brother’s wedding with the woman who first taught him to dream and see the world as a wondrous place, sparks flash and passions explode. Still, Harriet is not to be trusted. She callously betrayed him once. So how can he ever allow himself another chance at love when love always seems to hurt so much?

Curricle & Chaise


Lizzie Church - 2012
    Even this might have proved tolerable. After all, Lydia was an independent sort of a girl, more than capable of holding her own against importunate tradesmen, and more than happy to bring her younger sister up on her own.It would not do, however. The state in which Lydia discovered the family affairs made independent existence quite out of the question. In spite of all her best efforts, within a few months of her mama’s death, and scarcely out of full mourning, it became apparent to her that there was nothing to be done but to acknowledge the inevitable and appeal to her relations for help….It is 1810. Lydia, now penniless, is forced to seek a home with an aunt and uncle who have no interest in her whatsoever. But there are plenty of others with an interest in her – including the handsome but selfish son of the family – her cousin Charles - and two elegant brothers who live nearby.Each, in his own way, poses an intriguing challenge to her. Luckily Lydia is well able to look after herself but she gets into a number of scrapes which almost cost her any chance of happiness before finally managing to sort things out in the end.

His Forgotten Bride


Aydra Richards - 2020
    Since then she has found a place for herself in the world working as a housekeeper, but when circumstances compel her to seek out a new post, she finds herself unwittingly accepting a position within the household of the man who destroyed her life. And, to her shock, he doesn’t seem to remember her at all. Gabriel Newsom has spent the last seven years pretending there’s nothing wrong with him. Plagued by migraines—a remnant of the accident that stole years of his life from him—he spends the majority of his time avoiding society, lest his condition be discovered. He cannot bear the seething jealousy he holds for people who are whole and unburdened by the loss of self he has suffered. When his father confesses that within those missing years he might have been married, he is shaken anew. Somewhere out in the world is a woman whom he unwillingly abandoned, a woman he had once loved. And he doesn’t even know her name. His new housekeeper is perhaps the only person in his life who is unflinching in the face of his temper, unwilling to leave him to wallow in his misery. Like a guardian angel she watches over him, expects better of him, and against all odds he finds himself comforted by her presence and seeking her approval. He entrusts to her his secrets, never knowing that Claire has secrets of her own…

Once Upon a Marquess


Courtney Milan - 2015
    But when a tricky business matter arises, he’s the only one she can ask for help. With any luck, he’ll engage a servant to take care of the matter, and she won’t even have to talk with him.But Ashford has never forgotten Judith. He knows she will never forgive him for what he’s done, but when offered the chance to assist her, he arrives in person. His memory of Judith may have haunted him, but it pales in comparison to the reality of the vivacious, beautiful woman he rediscovers. Throughout his life, he has always done what is correct. But now, he finds himself doing something utterly wrong…falling in love with the one woman he can never have.

How to Love a Duke in Ten Days


Kerrigan Byrne - 2019
    And there is only one woman who can bring them to their knees...Famed and brilliant, Lady Alexandra Lane has always known how to look out for to herself. But nobody would ever expect that she has darkness in her past—one that she pays a blackmailer to keep buried. Now, with her family nearing bankruptcy, Alexandra strikes upon a solution: Get married to one of the empire’s most wealthy eligible bachelors. Even if he does have the reputation of a devil.LOVE TAKES NO PRISONERSPiers Gedrick Atherton, the Duke of Redmayne, is seeking revenge and the first step is securing a bride. Winning a lady’s hand is not so easy, however, for a man known as the Terror of Torcliff. Then, Alexandra enters his life like a bolt of lightning. When she proposes marriage, Piers knows that, like him, trouble haunts her footsteps. But her gentleness, sharp wit, independent nature, and incredible beauty awakens every fierce desire within him. He will do whatever it takes to keep her safe in his arms.

Lord of Wicked


Bronwen Evans - 2011
    But any hope of that dissolves one wild night, when she loses herself in the arms of the most irresistible–and unobtainable–man in all of England. For when they are discovered in a position as compromising as it is pleasurable, she has no choice but to accept his proposal.Avowed bachelor Anthony Craven, Earl of Wickham, never meant to seduce an innocent like Melissa. Yet now that the damage is done, it does seem like she’d make a very convenient wife. After all, she is so naive he won’t have to worry about ever being tempted. Or so he thinks, until the vows are spoken and they are left alone–and his new bride reveals a streak just as brazen and unrestrained as his own…

Larken


S.G. Rogers - 2014
    Four years later, however, her life is far from fortunate. Because of her emotional and physical scars, she believes she’s un-marriageable. With little hope for the future, she agrees to wed a gentleman she’s never met. Unfortunately, his aloof manner proves difficult to take. Marked by romantic tragedy and the loss of his brother, Brandon King has forsworn marriage. Obliged to take in a ward, he advertises for a mail-order bride to raise the boy. Since the union is to be a marriage in name only, his criteria are youthful age, a certain level of intellect, good breeding, and that the girl shouldn’t be so ill-favored she would embarrass him in society. To his dismay, he gets more than he’d bargained for. Will it take a miracle for Mr. and Mrs. King to fall in love, or is their marriage another accident waiting to happen?

Lord Livesey's Bluestocking: A Regency Romance


Audrey Harrison - 2018
    He needs a wife for his motherless children. Surely nothing would go amiss in their quest to find true love? Miss Phoebe Westbrook wishes she was anywhere other than at Lord Livesey's House Party. Family loyalty and duty forced her to accept the invitation. When she overhears Lord Livesey's opinion of her, she knows he wishes her as far away from him as she does. Determined to make the most of his library whilst visiting, she soon finds herself being drawn into the lives of Lord Livesey and his children, whether she likes it or not...Lord Livesey has lived a lie. His marriage was not the love match everyone presumed. His children are strangers to him. After the death of his wife, he hid from the world. Persuaded to host a house party in which he's now trapped he scorns the women in attendance. After dismissing Phoebe cruelly, it seems that a future with her may be just the thing he's looking for...An unconventional marriage proposal causes everything to be called into question. Misplaced values and hidden emotions will test any chance of a relationship they might have. Both will face hurdles they never anticipated but one thing's for sure - life won't ever be the same again....Lord Livesey's Bluestocking is a Regency romance topped with a generous dose of humour, action, and tears. If you like simmering chemistry, troubled heroes, and feisty women, then you'll love Audrey Harrison's Regency tale.

A Curse of the Heart


Adele Clee - 2015
    Out of desperation, she seeks the help of the only man with the knowledge to reverse the evil incantation, a man whose cold heart and sinful gaze pose such an enticing contradiction. As a scholar of Egyptology and a man consumed by the pain of the past, the enigmatic Gabriel Stone shuns polite society, choosing to bury himself in his books. When a flame-haired temptress pesters him with tales of a curse, his first instinct is to flee. However, his sense of obligation proves to be a dangerous thing and the potent lure of desire too difficult to resist.

In Bed with the Devil


Lorraine Heath - 2008
    A proper young lady risks more than her reputation when consorting with the roguishly handsome Lucian Langdon, but Lady Catherine Mabry believes she has no choice. To protect those she loves, she would do anything—even strike a bargain with the devil himself.Lucian desires respectability and a wife above all else, but the woman of his choosing lacks the social graces to be accepted by the aristocracy. Catherine can help Lucian gain everything he wants. But what she asks for in exchange will put their very lives in jeopardy. When danger closes in, Catherine discovers a man of immense passion and he discovers a woman of immeasurable courage. As secrets from his dark past are revealed, Lucian begins to question everything he knows to be true, including the yearnings of his own heart.

A Scandalous Secret


Ava Stone - 2011
    Nor has he ever gotten over her. But now thirteen years later, time has come for him to finally settle down and do his duty as far as both his title and his dragon of a mother are concerned. Everything would be so much easier if Chet’s heart didn’t still belong to the enchanting Scot he gave it to once upon a time.After following her late-husband’s regiment from one end of the continent to the other, Lady Hannah Campbell returns to London a very different woman than the naïve lass she once was. With her two sons in tow, she now has to navigate the waters of the ton, which seem more foreign than the lands she has traversed the last dozen years. And all the while, she has to keep hidden the scandalous secret that made her flee England so very ago.

A Stolen Kiss


M.A. Nichols - 2020
    A forced engagement. Can it become something more?Lily Kingsley accepts that she is destined to be a spinster—but not until she gets her first kiss. And she knows the perfect gentleman to enlist. Unfortunately, she kisses the wrong one and ends up in the arms of an overbearing and exceptionally frustrating merchant.When busybodies catch them in their illicit embrace, an engagement is the only solution, but Lily doesn’t want a fiancé who’s only doing his duty. And she certainly doesn’t want a gentleman far too used to getting his own way. She simply must make him see how ill-suited they are.But why is the fellow so determined to see their engagement through?Jack Hatcher hates surprises, but when a beguiling lady mistakes him for someone else and launches herself into his arms, he discovers not all surprises are bad. Marriage was not in Jack’s plans, but Lily stirs something inside him he never expected to feel.But with his fiancé desperate to break with him and a new enemy working to woo Lily away, Jack discovers force of will won’t keep her by his side. Can he find a way to win her heart before it’s lost forever? The Victorian Love series is a spin-off series that follows the children of the heroes and heroines of the Regency Love Series. Each book in both series is a standalone sweet historical romance and can be read in any order.

Unraveling Secrets


Lana Williams - 2013
    Stephen Nolton, Viscount Ashbury, stumbles upon Abigail in the dirty streets of London's East End. Able to read auras of good and evil after an electromagnetic experiment went terribly wrong, Stephen hovers on society's edge, keeping secret his unique skill and personal mission. Despite his fascination with the lady and her unique golden aura, he intends to keep his distance. Desperate to protect her family, Abigail turns to the one man she believes can aid her. In Stephen's arms, she finds so much more than she hoped. Stephen tries to resist his desire for the independent beauty, afraid she'll unravel his secrets. But when he discovers the murderer is linked to his own past, he must decide how much he's willing to risk for love.