Book picks similar to
The Curious Quest by E. Phillips Oppenheim


fiction
e-phillips-oppenheim
20th-century
under-20

Christmas at Dumpster Corral


Irene Onorato - 2017
    While still in mourning, her unscrupulous father resurfaces after many years’ absence and finds a way to undermine her mother’s will. Without regard for Noel’s welfare, he claims everything is rightly his, and the family lawyer can’t produce documents to prove otherwise. By invitation from her best friend, Noel makes a hard choice to leave her childhood hometown in upstate New York and journey to the friend’s house in Pensacola, Florida. Together they will try to devise a plan for Noel’s future. Fate steps in when a blinding rainstorm causes her to miss a turn, leading her to an unlikely place, and an uncertain destiny. Brought low by circumstances and struggling to make ends meet, she takes shelter in the least desirable location and accepts a graveyard-shift job. The last thing Noel is looking for is romance, but a chance meeting with a handsome, young lawyer named Liam Grant makes her reconsider. Could she accept his dinner invitations and make it through the Christmas holiday without revealing her destitute condition?

The Songbirds of Colliers Row


Jennifer Hart - 2017
    That's what the locals are saying about Llandegwen, deep in the Welsh valleys. The village choir, once a source of pride for the small mining community, has been forced to disband; the elderly choirmaster heartbroken by the empty seats belonging to those who'll never return from the battlefields. The arrival of a young war widow from the East End with her little boy sets tongues wagging, not least when rumours abound that she's looking to revive the choir. Can the community set aside their grief and lift their voices, and the village's hopes, once more?

The Girl in the Lighthouse


Roxane Tepfer Sanford - 2009
    But Lillian has wishes and dreams far beyond her years.When her father is transferred to a new station, Lillian is anxious to meet the assistant keepers and their two sons, Heath and Ayden. She had never met children her own age, had playmates, or made a friend.Heath, the handsome teenage boy who desires to become a doctor someday, welcomes Lillian. However, his younger brother, Ayden, doesn't like her and she struggles to win him over. Before long, a secret bond between the three is forged and to Lillian's delight, they become close friends.After so many years, Lillian's childhood is beginning to resemble that of a normal girl. No longer is she lonely and isolated from the rest of the world by over-protective parents. Instead, she experiences new adventures, attends school, and falls in love for the first time.However, her glorious days on Jasper Island are short-lived as her beautiful young mother begins a tragic descent into insanity and passes away. Lillian is left in the care of her sinister grandmother Eugenia Arrington, who, since the end of the Civil War, continues to steadfastly hold onto the once glorious Georgia plantation known as Sutton Hall. It is there that the immoral secrets of Lillian's parents are revealed, and she is left to pick up the pieces of her scandalous past, and somehow, find her long way home.

My Lady Jane


Cynthia Hand - 2016
    He’s also dying, which is inconvenient, as he’s only sixteen and he’d much rather be planning for his first kiss than considering who will inherit his crown…Jane (reads too many books) is Edward’s cousin, and far more interested in books than romance. Unfortunately for Jane, Edward has arranged to marry her off to secure the line of succession. And there’s something a little odd about her intended…Gifford (call him G) is a horse. That is, he’s an Eðian (eth-y-un, for the uninitiated). Every day at dawn he becomes a noble chestnut steed—but then he wakes at dusk with a mouthful of hay. It’s all very undignified.The plot thickens as Edward, Jane, and G are drawn into a dangerous conspiracy. With the fate of the kingdom at stake, our heroes will have to engage in some conspiring of their own. But can they pull off their plan before it’s off with their heads?

Highlander's Burned Heart


Alisa Adams - 2020
    But she is the only one who can salvage his soul. Fiona Malloch feels completely lost. Only weeks after her forced marriage, the husband she hated dies of old age, and before she can feel relief, another man tries to prey on her! Fiona decides to risk everything and run away, seeking refuge in the nearby Ormond Castle, home of the infamous Laird Bhaltair Douglas.The young Laird has never been the same after the tragic loss of his brother in a fire. The scars on his body remind him daily of the tragedy and his failure to save his own blood. A failure that has alienated him from his family and spread rumors that the once-powerful clan is now weak.When the young lass arrives and asks for shelter, Bhaltair knows that helping her will mean war with the enemy clan she escaped from. They have been waiting for an opportunity, and Fiona has given them the perfect one.Her untamed character brings them into collision, but in an unexpected turn of events, Bhaltair decides to protect her. While staying in Douglas lands, Fiona seems to be the only one who is not afraid to defy the Laird and finds a way to penetrate his soul’s defenses. Bhaltair’s heart begins to heal, and he rediscovers emotions he thought he would never feel again.But by keeping Fiona, Bhaltair is losing the trust of his clan, and with his enemies at the doorstep, it seems that the girl who can save him is about to destroy his clan…

It Wasn't Always Like This


Joy Preble - 2016
    After sampling an experimental polio vaccine brewed on a remote island off St. Augustine, Florida, she and her family stop aging—as do the Ryans, her family’s business partners. In a way, this suits Emma fine because she’s in love with Charlie Ryan. Being seventeen forever with him is a dream. But soon a group of religious fanatics, the Church of Light, takes note. Drinking the elixir has made the O’Neills and Ryans impervious to aging, but not to murder—Emma and Charlie are the only ones who escape with their lives.On the run, Emma is tragically separated from Charlie. For the next hundred years, she plays a cat-and-mouse game with the founding members of the Church of Light and their descendants. Over the years, a series of murders—whose victims all bear more than a passing resemblance to her—indicate that her enemies are closing in. Yet as the danger grows, so does Emma’s hope for finding the boy she’s certain is still out there . . .

The Blue Castle


L.M. Montgomery - 1926
    Will Valancy Stirling ever escape her strict family and find true love?Valancy Stirling is 29, unmarried, and has never been in love. Living with her overbearing mother and meddlesome aunt, she finds her only consolation in the "forbidden" books of John Foster and her daydreams of the Blue Castle--a place where all her dreams come true and she can be who she truly wants to be. After getting shocking news from the doctor, she rebels against her family and discovers a surprising new world, full of love and adventures far beyond her most secret dreams.

Miss Million's Maid: A Romance of Love and Fortune


Berta Ruck - 1915
    It begins with a row about a young man. My story begins, too, where the first woman's story began-in a garden. It was the back garden of our red-roofed villa in that suburban street, Laburnum Grove, Putney, S.W.

The Philadelphian


Richard Powell - 1956
    The Philadelphian was an immediate national bestseller, and in the 50 years since its debut the novel has been widely hailed as Richard Powell's crowning literary achievement. The author's acute sense of irony infuses this raw, powerful saga of a family of humble origins climbing the Philadelphia social ladder. Beginning with the emigration of a poor Irish girl in 1857, the story spans four generations and climaxes with her grandson, an ambitious young defense lawyer, holding the city spellbound in one of the most compelling courtroom scenes ever written. Plexus Publishing, Inc. is delighted to have worked with the author's family to restore The Philadelphian to print after a long and inexplicable hiatus. This 50th anniversary edition includes a new foreword by Oscar nominee Robert Vaughn and, in a special preface, Richard Powell's previously unpublished (and not-to-be-missed) soliloquy, "The Personality of Philadelphia." (Paperback)

We Are the Fire


Sam Taylor - 2021
    Pran and Oksana―both taken from their homeland at a young age―only have each other to hold onto in this heartless place.Pran dreams of one day rebelling against their oppressors and destroying the empire; Oksana only dreams of returning home and creating a peaceful life for them both.When they discover the emperor has a new, more terrible mission than ever for their kind, Pran and Oksana vow to escape his tyranny once and for all. But their methods and ideals differ drastically, driving a wedge between them. Worse still, they both soon find that the only way to defeat the monsters that subjugated them may be to become monsters themselves.

One More Chance


Bonnie R. Paulson - 2020
    Fall for the competition...again...and lose. In Mistletoe, anything is possible. Everyone wants the small-town whirlwind fantasy, but no one knows where to find that kind of romance.But there’s a rumor you can find it in Mistletoe and only during the Christmas season.Enter the Mistletoe Matchmakers.Checking on her father recovering in the hospital, Taylor Dean ducks out of the shared room to fill the flowers with water – okay, and to text her sister that their dad is sharing a room with his sworn enemy, the matriarch of the Wilson family!Taylor can’t believe she’s made a successful career as a world-renowned matchmaker yet can’t find love herself. Maybe she compares everything to the one who got away… or maybe… everyone really does only get that one shot at happily-ever-after.Just her luck, the two original matchmakers, while mortal enemies, also took their jobs seriously. After Taylor begs her father and the Wilson matriarch to help her, she can’t fight the surge of hope when they agree.Until he walks in.When Roman Wilson returns to Mistletoe, Montana after his mother’s heart attack scare, he makes wild claims and even crazier challenges when he runs into Taylor in the hospital room.The last thing he needs is a Dean telling him what to do and that specific Dean to boot. No matter what he says though, he just digs himself a deeper hole.Before Roman knows it, he and Taylor are pitted against each other in the yearly matchmaking contest to help their recovering counterparts. The second chance Roman and Taylor have always wanted is given to someone else. Is true love in their matches or will they find their way back to each other? ***Books by Bonnie R. Paulson*** Clearwater County CollectionThe MONTANA TRAILS SERIESBroken Trails (book 1) Forbidden Trails (book 2)Unbridled Trails (book 3)Hidden Trails (book 4)Forgotten Trails (book 5)Endless Trails (book 6)Forsaken Trails (book 7)Lonesome Trails (book 8)Lost Trails (book 9)Untamed Trails (book 10)LONELY LACE SERIESSpurs and Lace (book 1)Secrets and Lace (book 2)Sorrows and Lace (book 3)Boxset (all 3 books)REDEMPTION SERIESRomancing Redemption (book 1)Riding for Redemption (book 2)Resisting Redemption (book 3)Regretting Redemption (book 4)Rewarding Redemption (book 5)

The Quality of Love


Rosie Harris - 2009
    Studying hard to please them, she earns a place at Cardiff University. Here she is swept off her feet by handsome Gwyn Roberts, but when she becomes pregnant her parents are devastated and turn her from their door. All Gwyn and Sarah can afford are two squalid rooms in the infamous slums of Cardiff and Sarah soon realises she's made a terrible mistake. Gwyn becomes increasingly distant and when the baby dies in infancy, he leaves Sarah with little choice but to fall on her parents' mercy. But just when Sarah is starting to pull her life back together again, she is drawn to the charms of Stefan Vaughan and finds herself in trouble once more...

Liverpool Gems


Anne Baker - 2016
    Having lost their mother at an early age, the girls were brought up by their maiden aunts and, with Connie leaving home, Carrie is desperate to spread her wings. Using her skills as a bookkeeper, Carrie gets an exciting new job but her stunning beauty soon attracts the wrong kind of attention. And romance is the last thing on her mind when her beloved father finds himself caught up in an illegal jewellery business that threatens to destroy them all...

BIG HAIR AND FLYING COWS


Dolores Wilson - 2014
    To say the least. She calls Sweet Meadow, Georgia, home, where she works for her father doing auto repairs. She also drives the tow-truck, although Sweet Meadow's rather colorful denizens tend to treat Bertie more like the local, free taxi service. You know, someone has to get to a doctor's appointment or pick something up at the dry cleaners. Bertie's favorite day of the week is Friday, when she leaves the wrecker with her father for the whole weekend and joins her friends at the Dew Drop Inn for a night of dancing. Her best friend, Mary Lou, sometimes fixes her up with dubious dates, although Bertie has to remind her friend not to tease her hair too high for those occasions. Like the time when they went to Carrie Sue's open house, and a ceramic cow with angel wings hanging from a ceiling fan locked its hooves into Bertie's big hair and refused to let go. She had to wear it all night, dangling chain and all. Bertie's nearly perfect life is about to take a downhill turn, however. It starts when her landlord, Pete, currently a resident in a nearby nursing home, starts showing up at her house. In his birthday suit. A very badly wrinkled birthday suit. And then she goes to her mailbox, a rubber large mouth bass, and finds a notice from the zoning commission saying she can no longer park the wrecker in her driveway. The notice is signed by George Bigham. But when she goes to the courthouse to take care of her little problem, it is only to discover George Bigham is deceased. And Mary Lou's pregnancy test just came up positive. Can it get any worse? In a word... yes.

Hook


K.R. Thompson - 2014
    Today, it found him. Caught in a chilly October storm, he ducked into a tavern, hoping to escape the rain. What he found, was a room teeming with pirates. Shanghaied by the most elderly of the lot, Archie found himself serving on a ship captained by the fiercest pirate ever to sail the seven seas— the man known as Blackbeard. Through a series of thrilling twists, Archie finds himself captain of another of Blackbeard's ships, the Jolig Roger. In an attempt to flee danger, his ship becomes lost under stars never before seen. Determined to save both his crew and the woman he loves, Archie will make decisions that will forever seal his fate. Discover the untold story of the man who became Captain Hook.