Book picks similar to
The Evening Star by M.L. Gardner


historical-fiction
fiction
romance
prequel

A Heart Filled With Joy


Indiana Wake - 2021
    His neighbors have been a great help with his daughter Charlotte, but he can’t work and take care of her properly.The town matchmaker Emma Hilton has the perfect woman to help Bradley with his baby girl.Nanny Shannon Howell loves taking care of children, but she’d also like to find a husband. She’s eager to travel west in hopes of finding a family to call her own. Shannon is happy to help Bradley with baby Charlotte. Unfortunately, Shannon’s former employer is having problems letting her go.Will the man that traveled across the country drag her back to the east?Has Shannon found the place where she can be her true self with Bradley and Charlotte in Lubbock, Texas?Find out in the first book in a brand new series from Bestselling Mail Order Bride Authors Indiana Wake & Belle Fiffer

A Surprise Christmas Bride For The Heartbroken Widower: The Twelve Mail Order Brides of Christmas


Emma Morgan - 2015
    She had hopes for a chance to find love and a new life, but instead her husband-to-be doesn’t want her, and is ready to send her back home. After losing his wife and young child, John is sure he would never love again. So when his brother’s wife sends for a bride without his consent, his mind is made up. She has to go, as soon as he can save up enough money for her fare back East. Sarah and John agree that she will leave in the spring, after the winter season. And as they spend time together, their love begins to grow despite their intentions. But as the holidays bring back memories of his lost family, John withdraws. Can Sarah find a way into his broken heart, or will he send her home, and go back to his lonely life?

The Art of Love


A.B. Michaels - 2014
    Art. Passion. Despair. Welcome to the Golden City At the end of the Gilded Age, the “Golden City” of San Francisco offers everything a man could want—except the answers August Wolff desperately needs to find. After digging a fortune in gold from the frozen fields of the Klondike, Gus heads south, hoping to start over and put the baffling disappearance of his wife and daughter behind him. The turn of the century brings him even more success, but the distractions of a city some call the new Sodom and Gomorrah can’t fill the gaping hole in his life. Amelia Starling is a wildly talented artist caught in the straightjacket of Old New York society. Making a heart-breaking decision, she moves to San Francisco to further her career, all the while living with the pain of a sacrifice no woman should ever have to make. Brought together by the city’s flourishing art scene, Gus and Lia forge a rare connection. But the past, shrouded in mystery, prevents the two of them from moving forward as one. Unwilling to face society’s scorn, Lia leaves the city and vows to begin again in Europe. Gus can’t bear to let her go, but unless he can set his ghosts to rest, he and Lia have no chance at all. The Art of Love, book one of The Golden City series, has earned the following awards: A Notable Indie Book of 2014 Silver Ippy Award New Apple Medalist Editor’s Choice – Idaho Book Awards. For more information on the series, please visit www.abmichaels.com.

The Glitter and the Gold


Fred Mustard Stewart - 1988
    THE GLITTER AND THE GOLD is a dazzling, robust saga of the Collingwoods of California, heirs to wealth, ambition, and lust. And against the vivid backdrop of time and change - earthquake, fire, riot, and the clash of cultures - he brings to rousing life five generations of this remarkable family whose passions were as boundless as California in the making...

A Treasure Brought by Fate


Lorelei Brogan - 2019
    But when her sister dies tragically in a dreadful accident, she has to go west and pick up her nephew, the only survivor. And even though her plan for inexplicable reasons is to avoid being in close contact with him, she will find herself moved by the sheriff asking her to reconsider and let the boy stay with him instead. Soon enough Lyla will become confused by her conflicting emotions, but will she find the courage to face secrets from the past and eventually follow her heart? James, the local sheriff of Wheatberry, has forgotten what happiness means since his wife died in an unexpected manner. But when he suddenly witnesses a horrifying accident, he is quick to run to an orphaned little boy’s aid. All the more, what he would never expect is that he would end up loving and becoming attached to him. When the boy’s aunt - a beautiful troubled woman - arrives in town, he will do his best to convince her to let him raise the child. Will he succeed in changing her mind and finally creating the loving family he never had the chance to make?Just when Lyla and James come closer and start trusting and loving each other more and more, ghosts from their past will arrive to haunt them... Will this dreadful situation tear the couple apart? How much are the heroes willing to sacrifice so as not to give up on each other?

Catching the Current


Jenny Pattrick - 2005
    However Conrad - a talented and impetuous Faroeman - finds he cannot escape his past.In this companion novel to the bestselling Denniston novels, a free spirit is pitted against the forces of tradition. This is Conrad's story, and that of the unusual woman Anahuia. It is a tale of new lands and old songs, of seafaring and war and the search for love.

Becoming Mrs. Lewis


Patti Callahan - 2018
    In a world where women were silenced, she found her voice.From New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan comes an exquisite novel of Joy Davidman, the woman C. S. Lewis called “my whole world.” When poet and writer Joy Davidman began writing letters to C. S. Lewis—known as Jack—she was looking for spiritual answers, not love. Love, after all, wasn’t holding together her crumbling marriage. Everything about New Yorker Joy seemed ill-matched for an Oxford don and the beloved writer of Narnia, yet their minds bonded over their letters. Embarking on the adventure of her life, Joy traveled from America to England and back again, facing heartbreak and poverty, discovering friendship and faith, and against all odds, finding a love that even the threat of death couldn’t destroy.In this masterful exploration of one of the greatest love stories of modern times, we meet a brilliant writer, a fiercely independent mother, and a passionate woman who changed the life of this respected author and inspired books that still enchant us and change us. Joy lived at a time when women weren’t meant to have a voice—and yet her love for Jack gave them both voices they didn’t know they had.At once a fascinating historical novel and a glimpse into a writer’s life, Becoming Mrs. Lewis is above all a love story—a love of literature and ideas and a love between a husband and wife that, in the end, was not impossible at all.

Kent Ashton's Backstory


Ruth Ann Nordin - 2013
    And it paves the way for the book that will lead to his own happily ever after.Please note: This is the prequel to Catching Kent. It does not have a “happily ever after” ending. The happily ever after comes in Catching Kent.

Façade


Pepper D. Basham - 2018
    A reclusive academicwho would do anything to save her brother.A reluctant spywilling to risk his life to save the woman who broke his heart.Olivia Rakes has the unique gift of observation, which suits her well since she prefers her books over the general populace, but when her brother goes MIA over France, Livy’s unique skills and her determination to save her brother force her into a world of espionage, deceit, danger…and the most frightening of all–romance.Agent Christopher Dawson has never forgotten his childhood friend, and first love, Livy Rakes, but since she broke his heart, he’s avoided seeing her for years…until the search for his best friend brings them both together in the most unlikely of ways.In a world where war changes the rules of life and love, can Christopher and Livy work together work together to unveil the mascarade before the enemy catches them?

The Americans 1 (Kent Family Chronicles, #8)


John Jakes - 1993
    And a new generation of Kents clawed for wealth as an immigrant horde poured in from across the sea. Gideon Kent, his life on the wane, frets over his lost dynasty. Eleanor, his actress-daughter, learns what it is to love an outsider in this land of the free, while Carter drifts cross-country in search of a lazy fortune. It falls to young Will to redeem Philip Kent's American dream. THE AMERICANS is the eighth and final installment of the Kent Family Chronicles.

The Seventh Season


Cathy Peper - 2015
    But the one thing this wealthy Earl’s daughter is lacking is the very thing she’s never considered to be a priority: finding a husband. When she overhears a jealous matron refer to her as being “on the shelf”, she fears she’s postponed marriage for far too long. Brash American Derek Lang has arrived in England, determined to complete two tasks on his growing list of priorities: purchase inventory for his family’s business and clear his grandfather’s name. What he hadn’t anticipated is abandoning his crusade to help a damsel in distress with a charade intended to make Beau jealous. Will their scheme work, or will it lead to something far too real?

More Precious Than Gold


Lynn Dean - 2011
    Clinging to her battered faith, she heads west to escape her grief and runs headlong into the man who caused it. Tall and headstrong, Eliza expected to remain an "unclaimed treasure." Devastated in the wake of the war, she sets out for New Mexico's Sangre de Cristo mountains in search of peace and new purpose but finds that the western frontier is a wild place where former enemies--Yankees and Rebels, Freedmen and Indians--square off in the quest for land and gold. Eliza must confront her prejudices and fears, and Jacob Craig embodies that conflict. The mountain man wins her trust with his gentle strength, but he harbors a secret. As a Union sharp-shooter, he met her fiance on the field of battle and cost him his life. Eliza must learn that she will not find purpose or peace anywhere until she finds in God a faith more precious than gold. A real ghost town comes to life in this award-winning story of love, forgiveness, and the sovereignty of God.

Cursed: A Yorkshire Ghost Short Story (Yorkshire Ghost Series, #2)


Karen Perkins - 2014
    This time no one is safe.A skeleton is dug up at the crossing of the ways on Hanging Moor, striking dread into the heart of Old Ma Ramsgill – the elderly matriarch of the village of Thruscross. And with good reason. The eighteenth-century witch, Jennet, has been woken.A spate of killings by a vicious black dog gives credence to her warnings and the community – in particular her family – realise they are in terrible danger.Drastic measures are needed to contain her, but with the imminent flooding of the valley to create a new reservoir, do they have the ability to stop her and break her curse?

The She-King: The Complete Saga


Libbie Hawker - 2014
    M. Ironside's saga of the Thutmosides of ancient Egypt. This set contains: The Sekhmet Bed: Book 1 Thirteen-year-old Ahmose is given as Great Royal Wife to the new king, to legitimize his rule. But her elder sister Mutnofret has been raised to expect the privileged station. As Ahmose fights the currents of Egypt's politics and Mutnofret's vengeful anger, her youth and inexperience carry her beyond her depth and into the realm of sacrilege. To right her wrongs and save Egypt from the gods' wrath, Ahmose must face her most visceral fear: bearing an heir. But the gods of Egypt are exacting, and even her sacrifice may not be enough to restore the Two Lands to safety. The Crook and Flail: Book 2 Hatshepsut longs for power, but a woman on the throne defies the sacred order. As God's Wife of Amun, she believes she has found the perfect balance of peace and order. But when the powerful men of Egypt plot to replace her, she must decide whether to surrender her birthright to a man, or take for herself the throne of the Pharaoh. Sovereign of Stars: Book 3 Never in Egypt's long history has a woman reigned as king. As Hatshepsut wrestles with foreign enemies and domestic politics, her heart grows ever more troubled, for her daughter Neferure is haunted by a brutal and demanding god. Hatshepsut's fight to retain her hold on power, peace, and Neferure will carry her on an incomparable journey to the legendary kingdom of Punt. There, in the god's own valley, she must confront the bleakness of fate and the terrible frailty of eternity. The Bull of Min: Book 4 Conspiracy and treason simmer in the Two Lands. When an unexpected challenger to the succession arises, the royal family must face impossible choices. To protect what she most loves, the young queen Meryet will match wits against a demon from the past. Hatshepsut stands on the brink of the ultimate sacrifice. And Thutmose, torn between throne and family, must commit an unthinkable act against Hatshepsut...or allow Egypt to fall into the hands of an unpredictable killer.

Iron Branch: A Civil War Tale of a Woman In-Between


Kelby Ouchley - 2011
    Abita Carter, a half-Choctaw woman who describes herself as always “in-between,” tells the story of her life and that of the young lawyer/soldier, Minor Barrett, in north Louisiana during the Civil War. The core of the tale involves Abita’s journey to find Minor, who is reported to have been wounded during the siege of Vicksburg. Along the way she faces a cast of characters with varying intentions. General Grant’s wife, a family of slaves with compassion beyond reason, and a small blind mule are among those encountered in the rich, Deep South setting. None, though, is more distracting than Minor’s blue-blooded wife, who seeks her husband for a different purpose. Abita’s state of “in-between” takes on new meanings as she is drawn ever deeper into the turmoil of the times. Passion, self-doubt, and malice finally threaten her existence in any condition.