Book picks similar to
Grace by Contract by Rachel Rossano
romance
historical-fiction
historical
historical-romance
Ella
Jessilyn Stewart Peaslee - 2015
Even without mice, magic, or fairy godmothers, Ella might discover a life that’s better than she ever dreamed. This intricately woven twist on Cinderella is an enchanting book you won’t be able to put down.
The Cold King
Amber Jaeger - 2013
Working day and night to care for her younger siblings, complete her unending chores and please her selfish, lazy mother has left her with few dreams for her own future.But then even those meager hopes are taken from her when the Cold King comes down from his mountain to demand a new servant. Ungraceful, unladylike, undesired and unwanted by even her own family, Calia is chosen to be sent to the palace.The Cold King has lived for three hundred years under a curse imposed by his own father. With no hope of ever breaking it, he settles for keeping his heart frozen against any pain— or hope.When his new servant arrives, she challenges him in ways no one ever has and sparks fly. But not every Beast is a prince charming at heart and not every beauty is a maiden just waiting for love.Sometimes happily ever after isn’t so easy…
The Blizzard Brides
Christine Sterling - 2020
Welcome to Last Chance, Nebraska!
When the freak blizzard of 1878 kills most of the men in a small Nebraska town, what does it mean for the surviving women and children?Realizing they need to find men of honor to help rebuild, the women place an advertisement in the Matrimonial Times.Choosing a husband is more difficult than they thought, when there is an overwhelming response to the ad.Will these Blizzard Brides find the second chance at love in a town called Last Chance?This story is loosely based on the Blizzard of 1873 and the Schoolhouse Blizzard of 1888, where many men, women and children died in the unexpected storm.
Heart of the Fae
Emma Hamm - 2017
To save her people, Sorcha makes a deal with a dangerous Fae. She must travel across the sea, through merrow and kelpie lands, to find a forgotten king on a crumbling throne. Born king of the Seelie Fae, Eamonn fought battles unnumbered to uphold honor, duty, and freedom… until his twin brother sank a blade between his shoulders. Crystals grew from the wound, splitting open skin and bone. His people banished him to a cursed isle for his disfigurement, now king of criminals and fools. With the help of brownies, pixies, and will-o’-the-wisps, Sorcha battles to break through his crystalline shell and persuade him to take back his stolen throne. This determined beauty could come dangerously close to stealing his beastly heart.
Annabeth's War
Jessica Greyson - 2012
Those who dare to stand in his way fall beneath his power. All but one. A girl named Annabeth. Can a common, ordinary girl, with love for king, country, and her father, achieve the impossible? Trained by her father, a master swordsman, outlawed Annabeth has only her sword, her wits, and her disguises to keep Belterra from falling entirely into Lord Raburn's clutches. Can she rescue her captured father and Prince Alfred? Will one girl keep the kingdom from falling?
Royal Decoy
Heather Frost - 2020
A PRINCE forced to execute his father’s brutal laws.A PRISONER used to keep him compliant. A WORLD on the brink of war. In one horrible night, Clare goes from kitchen maid to royal decoy. She has three months to become the princess's perfect double so she can ensure her betrothal to an enemy prince. Desperate to survive, Clare throws herself into self-defense training, taught by her distractingly attractive bodyguard. The danger increases when a ruthless assassin begins stalking her, intent on ending the tenuous peace.Across the northern mountains, Prince Grayson is his father’s ultimate weapon. He carries out the king’s harsh orders because the one person he cares about is his father’s prisoner. Grayson's silent obedience is tested when his father plans to exploit the marriage alliance between two of their greatest enemies. If Grayson submits, the blood of thousands will spill. If he resists, the girl who means everything to him will die. The fate of Eyrinthia hangs in the balance. Some want peace. Some want war. All will be thrown into chaos.
Torn Curtains: A Regency Beauty and the Beast Retelling
Tara Grayce - 2019
Rosalie Klampton is the daughter of a naval admiral. Her father has never been right after his head wound during the battle of Trafalgar, and only Rosie’s determination has kept her family together and out of the poor house. When her father tears down the ugly rose draperies in the country house owned by the elusive earl of Warnwick, Rosie finds herself in service to the earl. He has his own problems, mainly the spell turning him into a beast, the fact that all the magical scholars in England haven’t figured out a way to break the spell, and the scandal being a beast has caused. It will be up to Rosie to help Lord Warnwick navigate the social Season and evade whoever put the spell on him in the first place. Between the scandals and the French spies, working for an earl-turned-beast may be the least of Rosie’s worries.Note: Free for Email Subscribers to Tara Grayce's Newsletter
Glass Roses
Britain Kalai Soderquist - 2015
This truth is so ingrained in the minds of readers that to suggest its removal is incomprehensible. But what if the magic is removed? Is it possible to find true love when the world is perfectly ordinary? After Eleanor rescues her stepsister Fanny from an attempted elopement, their father decides to remove the family to the Continent before Fanny’s indiscretion can be discovered. Eleanor finds the opportunity a welcome relief after a disastrous London Season, and is determined to set herself apart from her vain and scheming stepfamily. A chance meeting at a ball earns her the attentions of the handsome Baron Rupert von Schönfeld, a cousin to the Imperial Family of Austria. He is enchanted by Eleanor’s beauty, talent, and kindness, and Eleanor feels certain that she will soon leave her stepfamily behind for good. But Fanny is angry over Eleanor’s interference in her elopement, and gossip is a powerful engine for revenge. As rumors begin to fly, Eleanor’s only comfort is writing about her troubles to her cousin, Isabella. Isabella, meanwhile, has an adventure of her own to share. Her father has formed a friendship with the surly Duke William of Stirling. His rough manners and intentional slights are irritating, especially to a proper young lady, but Isabella is more than a match with a fiery wit of her own. Then the Duke invites her father to visit his castle in the wilds of the Scottish countryside, and Isabella soon realizes that the Duke’s prickly demeanor hides a kind heart and a mysterious accident from his past. Her heart tells her to let the past rest, but her mind is not ready to give up on discovering the Duke’s secrets, and her curiosity might keep her from the happy ending she desires. In a world where etiquette reigns and fairy godmothers are noticeably absent, Eleanor and Isabella are left to sort out their own “happily ever after” endings with only their wits, good manners, and accomplishments. Set in Victorian England and beyond, this retelling combines two beloved fairytales with the literary style made popular by authors such as Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë.
Beauty and the Beast Novelization
Elizabeth Rudnick - 2017
When Belle's father is captured, she takes his place as a prisoner of a fearsome Beast. But life in the enchanted castle isn't as terrible as Belle imagines, and she ultimately finds friendship and love. Enjoy this tale as old as time about adventure and love, about looking past first appearances, and about the inner Beauty and Beast in all of us in this beautiful novelization of the upcoming star-studded film!
Spinning Silver
Naomi Novik - 2018
Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold. When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk--grim fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh--Miryem's fate, and that of two kingdoms, will be forever altered. Set an impossible challenge by the nameless king, Miryem unwittingly spins a web that draws in a peasant girl, Wanda, and the unhappy daughter of a local lord who plots to wed his child to the dashing young tsar. But Tsar Mirnatius is not what he seems. And the secret he hides threatens to consume the lands of humans and Staryk alike. Torn between deadly choices, Miryem and her two unlikely allies embark on a desperate quest that will take them to the limits of sacrifice, power, and love. Channeling the vibrant heart of myth and fairy tale, Spinning Silver weaves a multilayered, magical tapestry that readers will want to return to again and again.
Masque
W.R. Gingell - 2014
. . Bloody murder? It’s the Annual Ambassadorial Ball in Glause, and Lady Isabella Farrah, the daughter of New Civet’s Ambassador, is feeling pleasantly scintillated. In the library is Lord Pecus, a charming gentleman whose double mask hides a beastly face, and who has decided that Isabella is the very person to break the Pecus curse. In the ball-room is young Lord Topher, who is rapidly falling in love with an older woman. And in the card-room, lying in a pool of his own blood, is the body of one of Isabella’s oldest friends: Raoul, Civet’s Head Guardsman. The papers sewn into his sash seem to suggest espionage gone wrong, but Isabella is not so certain. Lord Pecus, as Commander of the Watch, is of the opinion that Isabella should keep out of the investigation and out of danger. Isabella is of the opinion that it is her murder to investigate, and that what a certain Beast-Lord doesn’t know won’t hurt him. . . . Will Isabella find the murderer before Lord Pecus does, or will she end her investigation as a bloody spatter on the parlour floor?
Charming the Prince
Teresa Medeiros - 1999
Never in my life have I backed down from any challenge or betrayed so much as a hint of fear—until the war ended and I found myself a reluctant papa to a dozen unruly children.Realizing that I couldn't lop their little heads off or throw them in the dungeon, I sent my steward out to find them a mother and me a bride—an attractive, meek, maternal creature too plain to tempt me to get her with child. You can imagine my horror when he returned with Lady Willow of Bedlington, a spirited beauty who made me think of nothing else!With her cloud of dark curls and the sparkle of passion in her eyes, Willow was everything I'd sworn to resist. I never dreamed she would join forces with those mischievous imps of mine to teach this cynical warrior just how sweet surrender can be.Bannor the Bold,Lord of Elsinore
The Goose Girl
Shannon Hale - 2003
And when she was older, she watched as a colt was born, and she heard the first word on his tongue, his name, Falada.From the Grimm’s fairy tale of the princess who became a goose girl before she could become queen, Shannon Hale has woven an incredible, original, and magical tale of a girl who must find her own unusual talents before she can lead the people she has made her own.
The Diamond Secret: A Retelling of Anastasia
Suzanne Weyn - 2009
Having nearly drowned in the Iset River during the turmoil of the Revolution, she has no memory of her past and longs for the life she cannot remember. Then two young men arrive at the tavern and announce that Nadya's long-lost grandmother has sent them to find her. Yearning for family and friendship, she agrees to accompany them to Paris for the joyful reunion. Nadya eagerly embarks on her journey, never dreaming it will be one of laughter, love...and betrayal.
A Sorceress of His Own
Dianne Duvall - 2015
Weary of battle, he wishes only to find a woman he can wed who will approach him not with fear, but with the tenderness that has been absent from his life for so long. Yet only the wisewoman seems invariably at ease in his presence. Perhaps because she garners the same fear in others that he does himself.For seven years, Alyssa has been by Lord Dillon's side, counseling him from the shadows, healing him with her hands, and staving off the worst of his loneliness while his fearsome reputation keeps others at bay. Blessed--or cursed--with gifts that label her a sorceress, she is forced to conceal her youth and the love she harbors for him beneath umbral robes that lead Dillon and his people to believe she is the same aged wisewoman who served his father.All is revealed, however, and passions flare when an enemy threatens Dillon's life and Alyssa sacrifices everything to save him. When Dillon discovers that the wisewoman is far from elderly, he is instantly entranced. And, as he and Alyssa work together to defeat an enemy bent on destroying them both, Dillon will risk anything--even the wrath of his king--to be with her.