Book picks similar to
Fool's Paradise 1 by Kazuko Fujita


hq-manga
harlequin
historical-fiction
quick-romance

A Late-Blooming Rose


Debra Holland - 2019
    In spite of their attraction and for reasons unknown to Rose, Andre distanced himself from her. As the years passed, she remained a spinster, making a monotonous, although worthwhile life, by working at the library and keeping house for her brother. Then Marty dies, leaving her practically destitute. Andre Bellaire is living what he calls his third life--the first being his childhood and youth as part of a wealthy Creole family in New Orleans, his lonely middle years as a successful manufacturer in New York, and his later years as a philanthropist in the small town of Sweetwater Springs, Montana. In spite of a weak heart, he's savoring life, living with his newfound daughter and her family, while designing a library, a park, and helping to fund a new church. Then his comfortable routine is disrupted by a letter from his best friend Marty saying he’s dying and asking Andre to take care of his sister--the woman he once loved. Andre offers Rose the job of librarian in Sweetwater Springs and a room in his home. Not wanting to deter Rose from accepting the job, he doesn’t relate the library is only land and architectural plans, and the physical structure has yet to be built. Although Rose is shocked to find the job isn’t what she expected, the challenges of her new life prove stimulating. Still she guards her heart against Andre, not wanting the devastating hurt that would come from loving him and once again being rejected. Even if Andre could change Rose’s mind about a relationship, he holds back. The former barriers to their love no longer matter. But new ones do--at least for him. Can love bloom again in the winter of their lives?

Hannah's Dilemma (The Mail Order Bride Express #1)


Mary L. Briggs - 2016
    A man that sends shudders down her spine at the very sight of him. So, when she reads Inez Pollard's advertisement for The Mail Order Bride Express, she promptly applies and is accepted. On her way to Silver Ridge, Colorado, she is confident that she has left her troubles behind. But has she? Ross Pollard is a man with a lot on his mind. And his mother's crazy scheme to bring brides to Silver Ridge is just another problem for him to deal with. The last thing he needs to complicate his life is romance, but when he sets his eyes on Hannah Stillman, all of his resistance is bound to melt. Hannah’s Dilemma is the first book in a brand new Mail Order Bride Series from Mary L. Briggs, author of the popular novella The Stagecoach Bride and The Chance Creek Brides Series.

The Blue Mustang


Will Henry - 1955
    The only friend he can rely on is a blue mustang with the cunning and heart of a fighter.

A Girl in a Million


Kako Itoh - 2002
    A vacation fling was completely out of character for old-fashioned Carol, but her attraction to intriguing, older Marius tempted her to break her own rules. The next thing she knew, though, he'd turned up working at her hospital Does she have what it takes to attract - much less keep the attentions of - this intimidating, sophisticated, and utterly compelling man?

Embracing Destiny


Vivian Rose Lee - 2015
    Life for Randa in the Brewster household was hard because of an uppity aunt and a pair of cousins who considered the young girl beneath their standing. They labeled her the shame of the elite black Brewster family, a dark mark on the good Brewster name, and made her life miserable because of it. Unwanted and unloved in a house filled with strangers, things looked bleak for Randa, but her circumstances took a sudden and dramatic change when her grandfather was made aware of her plight. Vowing to her that things would be different from here on out, her grandfather took a shy, introverted little girl under his wing and over time molded her into a strong, intelligent young woman. After the death of her beloved grandfather, the now wealthy Randa, thanks to a deathbed blessing, moved to Tullahassee, Oklahoma with the desire to locate the mother she was taken away from, but what she found instead was a life she never imagined she would ever have.

Moonlight on the Mersey


Anne Baker - 1996
    When Jill's stoical stepgrandmother tells her the harrowing tale of her tragic past, Jill must learn the price of forgiveness and the power of love.

CARRIE'S MAIL ORDER HUSBAND


Cia Leah - 2013
    A man willing to put up with her drunken brother, and run the farm. She couldn't stand the abuse from her brother when he was in one of his drunken rages. She had bruises that marred her skin and also her soul. If she didn't find a husband to take things in hand, she'd have to sign over her farm and let her brother sell it to drink and gamble away. She couldn't let that happen. She'd promised her Pa on his death bed. Colt Elders never thought he'd ever marry, but the letters written to his cousin, who sought a mail order bride, about broke his heart. Carrie's letters screamed for help and touched his heart like no other woman ever had. He knew what it was like to deal with a drunken relative, his Pa, and he knew deep in his heart he had to help this woman. If marrying her was the way to do it, then so be it. He didn't think about love, but hoped they could build a life together.

The Promise


Benita Brown - 2009
    The girls believe they have found a refuge when charming businessman Victor Bateman proposes to Marion and they move into his luxurious home. But Marion’s friend Daniel Brady is conducting his own investigation into Henry Brookfield’s death. He learns the journalist was closing in on the head of a child prostitution racket when he was killed. And now his precious daughters may not be so safe, after all...

Here Will I Remain (New Hope, #1)


Gretchen Craig - 2016
    "Take some water," one of them said. Catherine shoved the cup aside, afraid she'd be sick. The floor rocked. The air smelled of the sea. She clambered to her feet, staggering, and fought the panic threatening to overwhelm her. He'd put her aboard a ship. Unlike the other women aboard ship, Catherine de Villeroy had assumed Fate intended her to live an aristocratic life of ease and luxury. Instead she is transported to a fetid jungle to be tied to a secretive stranger who reeks of pigs. Catherine's shipmate Marie Claude has had few expectations in life, and even they have been disappointed. When her only options become prostitution or starvation, Fate decrees she will become the wife of a stranger in a strange land. Even if her new husband is a cruel man, how can life not be better in this rough paradise of alligators and wild orchids? Agnes expected a life spent in her father's bookstore, perhaps married to a gentle, scholarly man. Betrayed and ruined, Agnes retreats into herself and hardly notices when she is transported to Louisiana. Married to a stranger who desires only an amenable bed partner, Agnes strives to stay present in her new life and to explore what more Fate allows a ruined woman.

Heavenly Blessing


Becca Fisher - 2012
    To work in her families quilt shop and marry one of the local boys. But when she meets a handsome outsider, plans start to change, forcing Abigail to make the decision of a lifetime.

We just met and yet... we're engaged!?, Vol. 1


Myu Kisaki - 2016
    This is the situation Hana finds herself in whens he wakes up after an accident surrounded by her parents and a handsome man she doesn't know. Her parents seem at an utter loss as they tell her it is her fiance Souma. He seems sweet a first, but behind his mask lies a sadist who tells Hana that he is pissed off to have been forgotten.

Lone Eagle


Alfred Dennis - 2008
    William and his sister Virginia are found by a passing army patrol but Phillip is missing. Eighteen years later at the Fort Laramie Treaty Council a close family friend sees a warrior identical in looks to William. Follow the Lane's west as a courageous family seeks the missing twin, Phillip.

The Trap


Mary Jane Staples - 1993
    The house was owned by Henry Mullins, big, burly, and a hard drinker. Henry made life hell for his four stepchildren who looked half-starved and frequently got bashed. Seventeen-year-old Kitty was the one Jamie felt most sorry for. She took the brunt of Henry Mullins' bad temper whilst trying to protect her sisters and brother. When Mullins suddenly died - in somewhat suspicious circumstances - Kitty realised they could be in trouble. If she wasn't careful the authorities would take the younger children away - split the family up. She wasn't having that, not after all they'd gone through, and nice, kind Jamie Blair was the one to save them. Too late Jamie found himself with a ready-made family and a stubborn and fiery young termagant called Kitty who was determined not to let him go.

The Billionaire's Predicament (The Billionaire Club #4)


Johanna Evelyn - 2019
    Can they come together for the sake of the ocean’s coral? Erin, one of the country’s lead coral specialists, fly’s to Florida to make a decision. She must choose to follow her boyfriend to Colorado in support of his career or take her dream job across the country away from him. When a helpful aquarium employee encourages her to follow her heart, she realizes her heart has always been in the ocean. Devastated her boyfriend won’t support her dreams, she takes the once in a lifetime offer, only to find out that perhaps she made the wrong choice. She quickly learns she has some competition in the form of the helpful aquarium worker. The only problem is, he’s not only trying to coax her away from her dreams, he’s also trying to steal her heart. Blake never imagined when he gave a distraught woman some friendly advice, the decision she was trying to make would destroy his plans. He has a once in a lifetime opportunity to research coral on a special island only a handful of people have been allowed to visit. And it will only happen if she’s on the team. When he learns he got the go-ahead from the government, he’s forced to pull a few strings to get her to join him on his trip. But with it comes a price, and he’s afraid the cost will be his heart. Can he convince her to go, or will her heart stay with the one she left behind? Other books by Johanna Evelyn: My Christian and inspirational Billionaire Romance Series: 1. The Billionaire’s Secret 2. The Billionaire’s Conflict 3. The Billionaire’s Promise 4. The Billionaire’s Predicament 5. Coming soon: The Billionaire’s Gift Standalone inspirational Romance 1. The Popcorn Prince

Brides Of Grasshopper Creek


Faith-Ann Smith - 2016
    She and her new husband Bradley have been planning this trip for as long as they have been planning their lives together it seems, and now that they've left Independence, Missouri on the wagon train west, it appears that all of their dreams are coming true. Within just a few short weeks of leaving, however, the harsh realities of life on the wagon train strike Hannah hard and she is forced to realize that the adventure she envisioned with Bradley is not at all what it seemed. Will Hannah overcome hardship when her adventure out west takes a tragic turn for the worse? Book 2: Mail Order Bride Caroline: The Lord guides Caroline to an ad in the newspaper from a gold miner in Bannack who is searching for a lovely woman to become his bride. Soon, she joins the wagon train and anxiously makes the journey out west to start her new life. When she arrives, however, she discovers that the man she chose may not be the man she thought he was. She must decide where her loyalties lie—and if she can find it in herself to look beyond Bailey’s past and accept him for the man he is today. Book 3: Mail Order Bride Louisa: After the death of her sweetheart, Louisa feels that there is nothing left in life for her, and wonders what she could possibly do to fill the years that lie ahead. When her sister suggests for Louisa to become a mail order bride for one of the men in the frontier, Louisa is appalled, but with the prospect of her sister and brother leaving on the wagon train with their cousins, Louisa knows that she must make the decision to either be left alone without any relatives and only her painful memories, or to enter marriage with a man she doesn't know. Book 4: Mail Order Bride Emily: Emily has never quite fit in with the rest of the high society young women who are supposed to be her peers. Raised in privilege—and expected to live up to the part now that she is old enough to marry—Emily cares more about her dream of becoming a teacher than the idea of hosting fancy tea parties and being courted by potential suitors. Feeling that she cannot continue being told what to do any longer, Emily makes the bold decision to go out west so that she can start a school and teach the children of the Frontier. In order to fulfill her dream, however, she must become a mail order bride. Book 5: Mail Order Bride Charlotte: After the death of their parents, Charlotte and her brother Victor only have each other left in the world. Well past marrying age at thirty years old, Charlotte has nearly resigned herself to spending her life taking care of Victor when she suddenly discovers that he has been planning for them to move away from Philadelphia and seek out their futures in the Frontier town of Bannack. Though Victor refuses to admit it, Charlotte knows that having a single sister following him around is limiting to him, so she decides to take responsibility for herself and find a man who is looking for a wife. Book 6: Mail Order Bride Betsy: Betsy always knew that love would find her eventually, and until then, she would be happy watching the young men who lived in her mother's boarding house court their sweethearts on the front porch.