Book picks similar to
What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? by Catherine Stein
steampunk
romance
novella-short-story
historical
Naughty Under the Mistletoe (The Sweater #7)
Anna Joung - 2020
He’s a playboy boss, needing to prove his dad wrong. A kiss under mistletoe entwines their fate.HopeA new job and a new city, just what I need to heal.I just want to keep my head low and move on with my career. No more broken hearts.My proposals during a meeting seem to attract the CEO’s attention. But it seems he’s interested in more than just my ideas.He’s tall, dark, and handsome. Everything a woman could want. Problem is, he seems to have had every woman already.When I saw him across the room, I knew I wanted him. I’m just not ready for another playboy to leave me in pain.But he wouldn’t change his ways for me, would he?KristopherMy dad thinks I’ve spent my entire life being frivolous, never being tied down. Not even to a relationship.There’s something missing in my life, but I’m not sure what. All I know is that if I don’t change my ways, my dad will never leave me the company.When I see her in the meeting room, I know that I must have her.She’s smart, curvy, and drop-dead stunning. Everything about her calls to me.I’m going to make sure she gets the present she deserves this Christmas—a chance at true love.But to convince her I’ve changed, I’m going to need an ugly sweater and a Christmas miracle.
Father's Day
Elizabeth Ellen Carter - 2019
At the same time, Naval veteran and retired spy Adam Hardacre learns he has an adult son he never knew existed. Thrown together one Christmas, by circumstances beyond their control, father and son must find mutual ground on which to come to terms with the past. Life is too short to hold on to regret, and a greater regret awaits if the two men cannot work together to save a life. Love comes in many forms... and none more strongly than the love from father to son.
Merry Christmas Rabbi
Paul O'Neill - 2013
In this novella, Trans-Siberian Orchestra creator Paul O'Neill spans generations, from WWII Germany to the modern inner-city, and fearlessly dives into the darkest places of the human condition to spin a modern parable about how, even in the grip of great evil, redemption is possible and the spark of hope can burn brightly.
Finding a Family at Christmas
Emma Ashwood - 2019
Rose couldn’t wait to meet her husband, only she didn’t realize that he had never wanted a wife. Tired of playing servant to her father, Rose Johnson decides to become a bride. She had been corresponding with William Dunn for the past six months and couldn’t wait to join him in Hope Creek to become his wife and mother to his twins. When she steps off the train in the strange frontier town, Rose realizes William Dunn isn’t who he proclaimed himself to be. Arriving on William’s ranch, Rose realizes the lies have been far flung. In a hopeless situation, the only light in Rose’s life is the twins. She soon falls in love with them, knowing that she couldn’t leave no matter what the circumstances. When she happens upon an injured man late one winter’s night, her instinct is to cry out for help. But something in the stranger’s eyes settled her and she takes to caring for him in his time of need instead. Only a week before Christmas, Rose doesn’t have the heart to turn him out in the cold. Besides, time with him warms her heart. Who is the stranger in the barn? Which way will Rose turn? Does she follow her heart? Can she leave the children she has grown to love? Will Christmas become a magical moment for Rose?
Candle Glow and Mistletoe Christmas: A Christian Romance (Romance on the Oregon Trail Book 5)
Kathleen Ball - 2019
It’s full of love and danger, heart-wrenching twists and turns and page turning excitement. The tender Romance is inspiring and heartfelt. The characters of Love on the Romance Trail are nine years older. Great strides are been made, families grow and the romance continues. Swift Eagle struggles through extreme snow to make it to the ranch. He needs to see his dear friend, Luella before he moves on. He has decided that marriage is not for him and he’s going to Canada where he can still hunt and live a peaceful life. Rhetta is nineteen and has been told she wasn’t a decent, acceptable person because she was captured by Indians when she was ten-years-old and lived with them for less than a year. She is somehow considered tainted. She makes a life for herself on the ranch, hunting, fishing, camping and she is most comfortable in her buckskins. But something strange happens; she can feel Swift Eagle even when he’s not with her. It warms her and frightens her at the same time. She knows he’s leaving but she can’t stop her attraction to him. This Christian Historical Western is chocked full of action and anticipation. There’s a kidnapping, a shooting, major snow storms, and of course both Swift Eagle and Rhetta ignore the attraction between them. Swift Eagle plans to move on and Rhetta sadly knows she’ll never be a bride. Everything looks better in candle glow and feels better standing under the mistletoe.
The West End Girls
Elaine Roberts - 2020
1914.
Growing up on a farm in the country, Annie Cradwell has always dreamt of singing on stage. So when she hears her friend Joyce has a room to spare in London, she sets off with best friend Rose for an adventure beyond anything they could have imagined. In London, Annie and Rose stumble into jobs first at the Lyceum Theatre. Being a dresser to capricious star Kitty Smythe wasn't exactly what Annie had in mind. But then the musical director, Matthew Harris, offers her singing lessons. And Annie starts to wonder – could this be her chance? Or is it all too good to be true? With the threat of war in the air, everything is uncertain. Is there a place for hopes and dreams when so much is at stake?
Annie, Rose and Joyce are three girls with very different dreams – but the same great friendship. From the author of the beloved Foyles Bookshop Girls series, The West End Girls is the first in a brand new series full of Elaine Roberts' trademark warmth. Perfect for fans of Daisy Styles and Rosie Hendry.
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
Natasha Pulley - 2015
Thaniel Steepleton returns home to his tiny London apartment to find a gold pocket watch on his pillow. Six months later, the mysterious timepiece saves his life, drawing him away from a blast that destroys Scotland Yard. At last, he goes in search of its maker, Keita Mori, a kind, lonely immigrant from Japan. Although Mori seems harmless, a chain of unexplainable events soon suggests he must be hiding something. When Grace Carrow, an Oxford physicist, unwittingly interferes, Thaniel is torn between opposing loyalties. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street is a sweeping, atmospheric narrative that takes the reader on an unexpected journey through Victorian London, Japan as its civil war crumbles long-standing traditions, and beyond. Blending historical events with dazzling flights of fancy, it opens doors to a strange and magical past.
Lord Cavendish Returns (The Cavendish Mysteries Book 5)
Rebecca King - 2015
However, doubts soon begin to surface and he is forced to return to the place of his childhood, Hambley Wood, in his quest for the truth.To find the register that proves his birth, he has to enlist the help of the astonishingly beautiful vicar’s daughter, Arrabella. Unfortunately, they are soon drawn into series of frightening adventures which brings them together and ignites a passion that neither of them can ignore. However, while the mishaps draw them closer, the truth about Harper’s ancestry tears them apart. Can a future ever be theirs, or will a cruel twist of fate, and affairs of the past, prevent them ever having a future together?
Arabella of Mars
David D. Levine - 2016
When William III of England commissioned Capt. William Kidd to command the first expedition to Mars in the late 1600s, they proved that space travel was both possible and profitable. Now, one century later, a plantation in the flourishing British colony on Mars is home to Arabella Ashby. A tomboy who shares her father's deft hand with complex automatons. Being raised on the Martian frontier by her Martian nanny, Arabella is more a wild child than a proper young lady. Something her mother plans to remedy with a move to an exotic world Arabella has never seen: London, England. Arabella soon finds herself trying to navigate an alien world until a dramatic change in her family's circumstances forces her to defy all conventions in order to return to Mars in order to save both her brother and the plantation. To do this, Arabella must pass as a boy on the Diana, a ship serving the Mars Trading Company with a mysterious Indian captain who is intrigued by her knack with automatons. Arabella must weather the naval war between Britain and France, learning how to sail, and a mutinous crew if she hopes to save her brother from certain death.
Delay of Game
Evie Graham - 2021
His skills on the ice and his skill off the ice. When an injury forces him to retire, he does the only thing that makes sense; he packs his wounded pride and his bags, and leaves memories behind.Lorelei Cole thought she had everything together. Her Christmas Tree Farm was holding its own, and her flock of rescue animals was growing. Then, two pink lines showed up from a one-night stand and everything changed.When a chance encounter at a small-town gas station brings Patrick and Lorelei back together, neither can deny that their past has collided with their future. Through ups and downs and a hard-won friendship with a flock of geese, both of them will find that the best miracles do come at Christmas time.
Come Tomorrow
Tess Thompson - 2020
A single act of kindness. Can young soulmates find each other in adulthood, or will hidden truths tear them apart?1904. Twelve-year-old Luci Quick never forgot the boy who saved her life that fateful Christmas Eve. But when he disappeared without a word after bringing her food, she was forced to focus on raising her baby sister when her mother suddenly died. Now six years later and struggling to make ends meet with an alcoholic and gambling-addicted father, the poverty-stricken woman can’t believe her hero has returned… and he’s all grown up.Wesley Ford’s world changed after helping the girl who still haunts his dreams. When he was whisked away to boarding school at fourteen, he feared he’d never see her again. But now free to come back following his father’s death, the wealthy heir is shocked to discover Luci and her sibling never escaped their rundown shack.With fate dealing her another opportunity for happiness, Luci seizes the day when an offer of help turns into an unexpected proposal. But before they can settle into their future, Wesley must face painful family secrets that could tear them apart forever.Can a Yuletide miracle make a wish for love come true?Come Tomorrow is the first book in the uplifting Castaway Christmas historical romance holiday series. If you like feel-good tear-jerkers, engaging characters, and sweet magical realism, then you’ll adore Tess Thompson’s Edwardian rags-to-riches story.
To Dare a Rogue
Tarah Scott - 2016
THE HIGHLANDER’S IMPROPER WIFE by Tarah Scott and KyAnn WatersA proper young lady should never attend a Masque...Aphrodite is no lady. Upon the death of her betrothed Lord Blackhall, Lady Caroline Wilmont is promised to his brother. But she refuses to allow her first taste of desire to be at the hands of a man who hates her. Taran Robertson scorns marriage to the Sassenach heiress. The night before his wedding he attends a masque. The vixen he meets and seduces has secrets...secrets that may reveal he’s to have an improper wife.THE LOVE OF A RAKE by Linda Rae SandeAt thirty-five, Randall Roderick, Marquess of Reading, decides it's time to trade in his life as the ‘Rake of Reading’ for the life of a married man. Trouble is, his reputation precedes him. When Constance meets him in the park, she's intrigued by the gentleman she thinks is a well-to-do cit with a fascination for horse racing. Determined to discover what’s become of her inheritance and then return to her home and horses to live as an independent woman, she’s not interested in being courted. Or is she? It may take a bit of horse sense for these two to get on the right track in “The Love of a Rake”.A QUESTION OF LOVE by Angeline FortinThough widowhood freed her from the prison her life had become, Eve was still floundering, trying to rediscover the lively girl she'd once been when her first love Francis MacKintosh, Earl of Glenrothes reappeared in her life. Tempted by passion and the longing to truly live again, Eve struggles between her old self and the new, between yearning to be with him and a determination never to put herself under the thumb of another man - even one she discovers she still loves as much as her Glenrothes. MYRIAH FIRE by Claudy ConnIt started with a stolen kiss.Fiery Myriah Whitney is wild of nature, contrary, and independent. But when her father catches her kissing the handsome Sir Roland (how else is she to determine if he is the one who will make her feel thunder and lightning, hear bells and music?), he declares that her days of headstrong independence are over. She will, he commands, announce her engagement to Sir Roland—immediately.But in an age where marriages are about alliances rather than affection, practicality not passion, Myriah wants more—she wants to fall in love. And she does not love Sir Roland. So she runs away to her grandfather with her faithful manservant, Tabson, at her side. A wrong turn in the fog, however, leads to the discovery of an injured young man, and before she knows it Myriah is caught up in world of intrigue and secrets. And when she meets the young man's older brother, the mysterious Lord Kit Wimborne, the sparks fly. Their first encounter—in his bed, both of them naked, no less!—is an explosion of wills, and it is what finally sets Myriah on fire.She has, it seems, finally found her thunder and lightning. LOVING THE MARQUESS by Suzanna MedeirosTo save her family from destitution, Louisa Evans must turn to the head of the family that ruined hers. But the Marquess of Overlea hides a secret that will turn her whole world upside down.
Second Chance Christmas
Beau Brown - 2019
One bad decision derailed him for two years, but now he’s out of prison and trying to begin anew. The only things that ever made him happy in life was his younger brother Taylor, and the sexy alpha, Harlon Smith, who taught Taylor how to swim. Ian’s teenage crush on Harlon was never reciprocated, but Ian has fantasized about Harlon since the day they met. When the cab driver drops him off at Millie’s Hotel the first night of his freedom, he’s shocked to find Harlon behind the front desk. Alpha Harlon Smith always thought Ian was a nice kid, but he truly was just a kid. Nine years older than Ian, Harlon never looked twice at Ian romantically. However, when Ian shows up on his doorstep, fresh out of prison, Harlon is instantly drawn to the younger omega. He’s shocked at his need to take Ian under his wing, and the desire to protect him. However, Ian isn’t a child anymore, and when Harlon offers Ian a job and a place to live, neither one of them is prepared for the chemistry that explodes between them. This 53,000 word story is a standalone holiday story with lots of steamy scenes, Christmas cheer, and warm feels.
The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters
Gordon Dahlquist - 2006
But for Miss Temple, Roger Bascombe’s cruel rejection will ignite a harrowing quest for answers, plunging her into a mystery as dizzying as a hall of mirrors—and a remote estate where danger abounds and all inhibitions are stripped bare.Nothing could have prepared Miss Temple for where her pursuit of Roger Bascombe would take her—or for the shocking things she would find behind the closed doors of forbidding Harschmort Manor: men and women in provocative disguise, acts of licentiousness and violence, heroism and awakening. But she will also find two allies: Cardinal Chang, a brutal assassin with the heart of a poet, and a royal doctor named Svenson, at once fumbling and heroic—both of whom, like her, lost someone at Harschmort Manor. As the unlikely trio search for answers—hurtling them from elegant brothels to gaslit alleyways to shocking moments of self-discovery-- they are confronted by puzzles within puzzles. And the closer they get to the truth, the more their lives are in danger. For the conspiracy they face—an astonishing alchemy of science, perverted religion, and lust for power—is so terrifying as to be beyond belief.
The Rings of Grissom
Julia Huni - 2021
Now she’s really in for a cleanup.Triana Moore lost her job as a maintenance technician when her boss discovered her true identity. But decluttering the galaxy isn’t just for janitors. When she visits the ringed planet Grissom with security agent Ty O’Neill for his sister’s wedding, Triana discovers just how messy life can get. Deported before she can finish her coffee, Triana barely misses an exploding shuttle. But in true space janitor fashion, she decides to investigate. With the help of a pair of mischievous twins, a hard-drinking grandma, and her old frenemy Vanti, will Triana save the wedding?Of course she will. But how crazy will it get along the way?The Rings of Grissom tells the continuing story of Triana Moore, (former) Space Janitor, but can be enjoyed by new readers as well. If you want to avoid spoilers, read Triana Moore, Space Janitor first.