Book picks similar to
The Orphan's Island by Katharine Swartz


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Love on Beach Avenue


Jennifer Probst - 2020
    Making dreams come true is her business at Sunshine Bridal, which she runs with her two sisters. When her best friend announces her engagement, Avery is thrilled to take charge of the giddy bride-to-be’s big day. Less thrilling? Her best friend's arrogant and demanding brother, who just so happens to be the man of honor.Carter Ross’s first instinct: call 911. He promised to always take care of his impulsive little sister, and he honors that vow. Even if it means taking over her wedding, where he is sure Avery will fail. At best, Avery is unpredictable. At worst, if she’s anything like the spitfire of a college girl he remembers, the main event could run wild.With Avery and Carter wrestling for control, tempers heat up. So does the spark of attraction they’re fighting with every kiss. As the wedding draws near, it’s time to reconcile a rocky past and make a decision that could change everyone’s lives. Because what they’re rebelling against looks a lot like love.

Center Stage


Denise Grover Swank - 2016
    Ten years ago, Magnolia Steele fled Franklin, Tennessee after an incident that left her with hazy memories and a horror of the place where she had been born and bred. Though her abrupt departure destroyed most of her treasured relationships, she vowed never to return . . . until she has no choice. When Magnolia’s breakout acting role in a Broadway musical ends in disgrace, there’s only one place she can go. She finds herself on her momma’s porch, suitcase in hand. Drama follows Magnolia around like a long lost friend. She reluctantly agrees to help her momma’s catering company at a party for a country music star, only to find herself face-to-face with a sleazy music agent from her past. After a very public spat, Magnolia not only finds him dead but herself center stage in the police’s investigation. Now she must scramble to prove her innocence, relying on the help of acquaintances old and new. But the longer Magnolia stays in Franklin, the more she remembers about the big bad incident that chased her away. The past might not be finished with her yet, and what she doesn’t remember could be her biggest danger.

The Skylark's Secret


Fiona Valpy - 2020
    When gamekeeper’s daughter Flora’s remote highland village finds itself the base for the Royal Navy’s Arctic convoys, life in her close-knit community changes forever. In defiance of his disapproving father, the laird’s son falls in love with Flora, and as tensions build in their disrupted home, any chance of their happiness seems doomed.Decades later, Flora’s daughter, singer Lexie Gordon, is forced to return to the village and to the tiny cottage where she grew up. Having long ago escaped to the bright lights of the West End, London still never truly felt like home. Now back, with a daughter of her own, Lexie learns that her mother—and the hostile-seeming village itself—have long been hiding secrets that make her question everything she thought she knew.As she pieces together the fragments of her parents’ story, Lexie discovers the courageous, devastating sacrifices made in her name. It’s too late to rekindle her relationship with her mother, but can Lexie find it in her heart to forgive the past, to grieve for all that’s lost, and finally find her place in the world?

When I Fall in Love


Melissa Storm - 2015
    That is, until he laid eyes on Deborah Walker at the local soda fountain. He surprises himself by inviting her out for an impromptu night on the town, and she shocks him even more by agreeing. As the night progresses, the two share their past histories and secret dreams, and James realizes that she is the perfect woman for him. The only problem is that he ships off to Korea the next morning. Fulfilling his duty is non-negotiable to James, even if fighting for his country will ultimately break both of their hearts.Deborah promises to wait for him, but two years is a long time to put her life on hold, especially for a man she only knew for one day. When Rip Rockwell returns from the war and James does not, Rip proposes marriage to Deborah. She agrees and they build a beautiful life together until his death fifty years later. Through it all, though, she can never quite forget her first love. She retires to Abeline, expecting to live out the rest of her days in peace. So imagine her surprise when James Morgan moves in next door…

The Inn at Hidden Run


Olivia Newport - 2019
    In the small mountain town of Canyon Mines, Colorado, she takes a job at the Inn at Hidden Run B&B. And waits. It's only a matter of time. What she doesn't count on is genealogist Jillian Parisi-Duffy and her father, Nolan, having her back when it takes everything she has not to bolt again but to stay and face the truth that only unfolding her family's history will reveal. While Nolan works on keeping Meri calm--and in town--Jillian pulls out of her gems of information she doesn't know she has and arranges the puzzle pieces. But none of that changes the fact that Meri's family is closing in to haul her back to her "real" life. When their arrival inflames tensions and Meri finally does bolt, Nolan and Jillian may be out of time. The Inn at Hidden Run is the first book in the Tree of Life series. Readers will come back to backdrop of a lovely mountain town of Canyon Mines again and again to explore and celebrate unforgettable family stories that inspire them to connect with their own family histories and unique faith journeys.

A Place Called Bliss


Ruth Glover - 2001
    On the tumultuous journey overseas, Sophia and Mary both give birth. Neither mother knows how closely their destinies will be intertwined by a secret with the power to shatter their lives.

The Girl on the Platform


Ellie Midwood - 2021
    In the face of evil, she vowed to live by the truth--or die by it."Be brave. Don't run. Fight." With her eyes tightly shut, tears rolling from under her dark lashes, she felt his lips gently touch her burning cheek. The train on the platform whistled, and he disappeared into the steam.Nineteen-year-old Libby moves to Berlin to escape her suffocating family--but instead of offering freedom, the city is under siege by the Nazis. Jewish books are burned, storefronts smashed and every day innocent people vanish into thin air. Libby cannot--will not--turn a blind eye.When Libby meets Harro, she knows there's more to him than his dazzling smile and cornflower-blue eyes. The whip marks on his back, scars from the SS, tell his true story: he is a resistance fighter.Libby and Harro fall madly in love, devoted to each other and to tearing down Hitler's regime. Knowing they can make the greatest difference from the inside, Harro works for the Air Ministry, infiltrating government secrets.Together, they smuggle classified documents and hold clandestine meetings in the middle of the night, with blackout curtains and a single candle burning. Under the cover of darkness, they distribute leaflets, exposing the Nazis' hideous lies.In the frostbitten winter of 1942, Libby is certain the Gestapo is stalking them--their every move watched, their phone calls recorded. In the end, they must decide what is more important: to be free or to be brave? To survive or to stand up for the truth?Fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Alice Network and The Lilac Girls will be utterly gripped by this heartbreaking page-turner. Based on a true story, this beautiful novel shows that even when our freedom is stolen, we still have a choice...Readers love Ellie Midwood: "AMAZING read! I loved this so much!... Sensational... One of the most inspiring love stories of all time... HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND. 100% 5 STARS!!" Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Earls Just Want to Have Fun


Shana Galen - 2015
    She runs with the Covent Garden Cubs, a gang of thieves living in the slums of London's Seven Dials. It's a fierce life, and Marlowe has a hard outer shell. But when she's alone, she allows herself to think of a time before-a dimly remembered life when she was called Elizabeth.Maxwell, Lord Dane, is intrigued when his brother, a hired investigator, ropes him into his investigation of the fiercely beautiful hellion. He teaches her to navigate the social morass of the ton, but Marlowe will not escape so easily. Instead, Dane is drawn into her dangerous world, where the student becomes the teacher and love is the greatest risk of all.

Never Fall for Your Fiancée


Virginia Heath - 2021
    Unfortunately for him, his mother is determined to find him one, even from across the other side of the ocean. So, Hugh invents a fake fiancée to keep his mother’s matchmaking ways at bay. But when Hugh learns his interfering mother is on a ship bound for England, he realizes his complicated, convoluted but convenient ruse is about to implode. Until he collides with a beautiful woman, who might just be the miracle he needs.Minerva Merriwell has had to struggle to support herself and her two younger sisters ever since their feckless father abandoned them. Work as a woodcut engraver is few and far between, and the Merriwell sisters are nearly penniless. So, when Hugh asks Minerva to pose as his fiancée while his mother is visiting, she knows that while the scheme sounds ludicrous, the offer is too good to pass up.Once Minerva and her sisters arrive at Hugh's estate, of course, nothing goes according to his meticulous plan. As hilarity and miscommunication ensue, while everyone tries to keep their tangled stories straight, Hugh and Minerva’s fake engagement starts to turn into a real romance. But can they trust each other, when their relationship started with a lie?

Mask of Duplicity


Julia Brannan - 2015
    However, Beth's hopes of a quiet life are dashed when Richard, dissatisfied with his meagre inheritance and desperate for promotion, decides to force her into a marriage for his military gain. And he will stop at nothing to get his way.Beth is coerced into a reconciliation with her noble cousins in order to marry well and escape her brutal brother. She is then thrown into the glittering social whirl of Georgian high society and struggles to conform. The effeminate but witty socialite Sir Anthony Peters offers to ease her passage into society and she is soon besieged by suitors eager to get their hands on her considerable dowry. Beth, however, wants love and passion for herself, and to break free from the artificial life she is growing to hate. She finds herself plunged into a world where nothing is as it seems and everyone hides behind a mask. Can she trust the people professing to care for her?The first in the series about the fascinating lives of beautiful Beth Cunningham, her family and friends during the tempestuous days leading up to the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, which attempted to overthrow the Hanoverian King George II and restore the Stuarts to the British throne. Join the rebellion of one woman and her fight for survival in... The Jacobite Chronicles.

Summer at Hope Haven


Kristin Harper - 2020
    Taking a deep breath, she grasps the heart-shaped iron door handle and steps inside the once-happy childhood home she’s been avoiding. It is time to face up to the past…When Emily’s fiancé walks out on her while she’s still grieving the loss of her family in a terrible accident, she escapes back to Hope Haven on the remote Dune Island, where her family vacationed every summer. Emily hopes that fixing up the house will also mend her broken heart, but the cottage holds more than just bittersweet childhood memories. Emptying her father’s antique writing desk, Emily finds a letter that reveals a devastating secret about her parents.With a head full of questions that can never be answered, it seems like returning to the island was the worst decision Emily ever made… until she meets Lucas Socorro, saltwater dripping from his dark curls after a surf session. As they take long walks on the soft sand, and talk late into the firefly-lit night, Emily wonders if Dr Luke—as the kids in the hospital call him—could be the one to help her heal. With Luke holding her hand, delving into her family’s painful past is a little easier.Painting the gloomy cottage walls the colour of seashells, and revamping her grandmother’s flea-market furniture, Emily starts to feel she might call Dune Island home for good—and that she could build that home right here with Luke. But when Emily’s family secret spreads through a network of local gossips, her fragile heart breaks all over again. Luke is the only one who could have started the rumours. Was she wrong to trust him so easily?As the sun sets behind the dunes, Emily has a difficult decision to make. Does she pack her bags and leave the island for good? Or take a risk that Hope Haven has everything she’s been looking for?A beautiful and emotional read that will make you long to feel the sand beneath your feet. Perfect for fans of Nancy Thayer, Tracy Brogan and Mary Alice Monroe.

Secrets and Sensibilities


Regina Scott - 2000
    But one moment in his company and she’s in danger of losing her heart. There are secrets aplenty at Brentfield, enough to challenge any lady’s sensibilities, even those of Hannah’s protégé, Lady Emily Southwell. As events unfold at Brentfield, Hannah quickly learns that loving David comes at a price, to her future plans of being a portrait painter, to her position as a teacher, and to her very life. This clean romance with a touch of romantic suspense was previously published by Zebra as A Dangerous Dalliance.

Roselynde


Roberta Gellis - 1978
    . . and the beginning of her greatest adventureIn a time of lords and ladies, Lady Alinor Devaux was an anomaly. The mistress of Roselynde was young, uncannily intelligent, wealthy and had a reputation for being as fierce and protective as any feudal lord before her. Alinor was unmarried and a rich prize for greedy men seeking power and wealth.When the Queen makes Alinor a royal ward and assigns a warden to oversee the running of Roselynde, Alinor must deal with not only fighting off unwanted suitors, but with the warden as well! Not willing to be any man or woman's pawn, she is determined to make Sir Simon Lemagne's life miserable. But the seasoned knight isn't quite what Alinor expects.What belongs to Alinor remains with Alinor, and God help any woman, man or holy crusade that gets in her way . . .

The Cranbury Papermaker


Maureen Lang - 2015
    . . or save it? Arianne Casterton is devastated when her father and his new wife are killed in a train accident. Despite her faith in God, Arianne’s grief soon turns to despair when she discovers one-third of everything her father owned has been transferred automatically to his wife's son and heir, Jonas Prestwich—someone Arianne never knew existed. Jonas's mother married a backwoods papermaker much too soon after becoming a widow, embarrassing Jonas who lives among Philadelphia's elite. Though he's distressed by his mother's death within a year after losing his father, receiving a portion of the papermaker's inheritance feels like justice. God has blessed Arianne with the passion and talent for papermaking in her family's tradition, but the demands of keeping the business going are nearly overwhelming. When Jonas offers to expand her efforts into something more modern and profitable, Arianne is suspicious, reluctant to give up the art of handmade papermaking. But she realizes without his unwanted help she might lose everything anyway. The Cranbury Papermaker is the 2015 release from award winning writer Maureen Lang, author of thirteen previous Christian romance novels and novellas.

A Woman of Choice


Kris Tualla - 2010
    She is rescued by a widower uninterested in love. In desperation, she becomes engaged to his best friend.One woman, three very different men. Life is about choices.