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The Colonel's Brother


Stephanie Vale - 2021
    Fitzwilliam Darcy and his cousin Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam are making their annual visit to the estate of their aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and her daughter Anne. Lady Catherine has not given up her plan for Anne to marry her cousin Darcy. But a few months ago Darcy met a young woman, Elizabeth Bennet, who attracts him more than anyone he has ever known, and as luck would have it she is also in Kent, just next door, visiting her best friend, who is married to Lady Catherine’s parson.Then Richard’s elder brother, the Viscount Leicester, shows up unexpectedly. He is looking for a wife, and the very pretty Miss Elizabeth catches his eye….The Colonel's Brother is a Pride and Prejudice variation of approximately 44,000 words.Content warning: self-harm. Recommended for readers at least 13 years of age.

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?

Out of Russia: The Ultimate True Twentieth Century Love Story


Brian Grover - 1994
    This is such a story. Brian Grover was a brilliant, young engineer who seemed to have everything. His parents wanted him to join the army and settle down, but he had other ideas. In 1931, in a move that was to dramatically change the course of his life, he fled to Russia seeking fortune and adventure. Set against a background of political and social turmoil, this heart-warming and exquisitely written true story of one man's courage, bravery, and unswerving determination to be with the woman he loved is an inspiration and a delight.

Loyalties: A Novel of World War II


Thomas Fleming - 1994
     In Berlin, Berthe von Hoffman dreams of an angel in the depths, embracing her husband's submarine – and remembers Kristallnacht, when Hitler declared all-out war on the Jews. The stench of evil in that memory draws her to the headquarters of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, enigmatic head of the German secret service – and guiding spirit of the Schwarze Kapelle, the circle of courageous men and women who comprise the secret dangerous resistance to Nazism. Aboard the USS Spencer Lewis off Iceland, Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Trumbull Talbot is denouncing President Franklin D. Roosevelt's unconstitutional undeclared war against Germany when a torpedo fired by Berthe's husband, Kapitanleutnant Ernst von Hoffmann, cut the destroyer in half. Out of this conjunction grows a tormented tangle of love and jealousy and patriotic deceit when the three meet in Spain after Pearl Harbor has catapulted American into the war. By that time, Talbot's criticism of the president has wrecked both his naval career and his marriage to Annie Richman, daughter of a congressman whose power depends on FDR's political wizardry. When Talbot returns from Spain to urge negotiations with Canaris and other leaders of the German resistance, Annie, now a powerful journalist, becomes a player in the struggle for the mind of the intransigent, mortally ill president. At its gripping climax, Loyalties draws everyone into an anguished confrontation with the limits of patriotism and God's baffling role in the middle of human destiny. From murderous contests between rival intelligence agencies in Spain to the labyrinthine political machinations in Washington, London, and Berlin to warfare beneath the North Atlantic, Loyalties is a dazzling mosaic of men and women caught in the crossfire of history – yet finding in the midst of destruction and chaos inexplicable glimpse of meaning and hope.

The Girl From the Workhouse


Lynn Johnson - 2020
    Ginnie Jones’s childhood is spent in the shadow of the famous Potteries, living with her mother, father and older sister Mabel. But with Father’s eyesight failing, money is in short supply, and too often the family find their bellies aching with hunger. With no hope in sight, Ginnie is sent to Haddon Workhouse.Separated from everything she has known, Ginnie has to grow up fast, earning her keep by looking after the other children with no families of their own. When she meets Clara and Sam, she hopes that she has made friends for life… until tragedy strikes, snatching away her newfound happiness.Leaving Haddon three years later, Ginnie finds work as a mouldrunner at the Potteries, but never stops thinking about her friends in the workhouse – especially Sam, now a caring, handsome young man. When Sam and Ginnie are reunited, their bond is as strong as ever – until Sam is sent to fight in WW1. Faced with uncertainty, can Ginnie find the joy that she’s never had? Or will her heart be broken once again?An emotional, uplifting and nostalgic family saga that will make you smile, while tugging on your heart-strings. Fans of Sheila Newbury, Kitty Neale and Sheila Riley will love this beautiful read.

Proper Scoundrels


Laura Landon - 2016
    Shattered Dreams by Laura LandonBrentan Montgomery, Earl of Charfield has one love - his stable of Arabian horses. When he’s offered breeding rights to the Marquess of Fellingsdown’s prize Arabian if he acts as companion to Fellingsdown’s sister, he doesn’t care if the reclusive Lady Elyssa has three chins and a dozen hairy moles. The prize is worth anything he has to endure. But when he meets the elusive Lady Elyssa Prescott, all thoughts of gaining a prize Arabian colt disappear. He realizes he’s met the woman of his dreams - if he can keep her from discovering his deceit and convince her that her imperfections don’t matter to him.Lady Elyssa Prescott knows what it’s like to be ridiculed and shunned. But when Brent Montgomery lets her glimpse a world where her limitations aren’t important, she believes it’s possible for her dreams to become a reality. Until she discovers the man with whom she’s fallen in love was ‘hired’ to offer her everything she’s dreamed of having.The cruel reality of a love built on deceit shatters both their dreams and threatens to destroy their lives forever.Wagers Gone Awry by Collette Cameron Brooke Culpepper resigned herself to spinsterhood when she turned down the only marriage proposal she'd likely ever receive to care for her family. After her father dies, a distant cousin inherits the estate and becomes their guardian but permits Brooke to act in his stead.Heath, Earl of Ravensdale is none-too-pleased to discover five young women call the dairy farm he won and intends to sell, their home. Desperate, pauper poor, and with nowhere to go, Brooke proposes a wager. His stakes? The farm. Hers? Her virtue. Brooke loses, and her devastation is compounded when the cousin arrives, intending to haul the Culpepper misses off to London. Heath astounds himself and proposes in order to apply for guardianship of the other girls. Does Brooke dare marry the handsome stranger who'd been bent on compromising her? Will Heath regret his impulsive gesture, or will unexpected love flourish?Lord Ruthven's Bride by Tarah Scott Love is always sweetest the first time around…A harmless attraction leads to a friendship that forces Lady Annabelle to choose between the two men who love her. One saved her from a killer. The other is her future husband.James Waterson, newly titled Viscount Ruthven, is hunting a killer. When Lady Annabelle steps into the killer’s sights, James will do everything in his power to protect her. Even if that means letting her go.The Most Unlikely Lady by Barbara Devlin Book Three in the Brethren of the Coast Series.Woo a young lady with a fishing rod and a bucket of worms? Oh-so dashing--but untitled--Everett Markham seeks a bride, and he has charged the field of Miss Sabrina Douglas, a woman who prefers trout to truffles.Unabashed and unapologetic, Sabrina sets her cap for a second son, one who will smile patiently when he comes home to find she's misplaced their children. But marriage changes her in ways she never imagined, as the awkward debutante surrenders to a very real, very womanly, all-consuming love.An irresistibly handsome English rogue, Everett plots his future with ruthless detail, but his future wife is anything but predictable, resulting in the zaniest courtship London society has ever seen. When a family tragedy upends his life on his wedding day, he must chart a slippery course with his most unlikely lady--as the new Earl and Countess of Woverton.Loving the Hawke by Lana WilliamsTwo wounded souls, a wallflower and a war hero, stumble upon each other time and again in slums and ballrooms, realizing they fight a common cause and share an unbridled passion. Will the curse they fight be their downfall? Or will love win the day?

Acts of War


James L. Young Jr. - 2014
    303 (Polish) SquadronAugust 1942. London is in flames. Heinrich Himmler's Germany stands triumphant in the West, its "Most Dangerous Enemy" forced to the peace table by a hailstorm of nerve gas and incendiaries. With Adolf Hitler avenged and portions of the Royal Navy seized as war prizes, Nazi Germany casts its baleful gaze across the Atlantic towards an increasingly isolationist United States. With no causus belli, President Roosevelt must convince his fellow Americans that it is better to deal with a triumphant Germany now than to curse their children with the problem of a united, fascist Europe later.As Germany and Japan prepare to launch the next phase of the conflict, Fate forces normal men and women to make hard choices in hopes of securing a better future. For Adam Haynes, Londonfall means he must continue an odyssey that began in the skies over Spain. American naval officer Eric Cobb finds that neutrality is a far cry from safety. Finally, Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi must prepare himself and his men to fight a Pacific War that is far different than the surprise attack Imperial Japan had once planned but never executed.Acts of War is the continuation of the Usurper's War series, which charts a very different World War II. As young men and women are forced to answer their nation's call, the choices they make and risks they take will write a different song for the Greatest Generation.

Hornblower and His Majesty


C.S. Forester - 1940
    For his first command after escaping from France, Hornblower is given charge of the royal yacht - and he soon requires all his skill and instinct to prevent disaster!

The Golden West


Louis L'Amour - 2003
    These are the men who created the Western, shaped it, and perfected it. The Golden West collects three of their finest short novels. Max Brand's powerful Jargan is carefully restored to its original, full-length glory, with material never before seen. Tappan's Burro has long been considered one of Zane Grey's masterpieces, but only a shorter, edited version has been in print. The version included here was taken directly from Grey's actual manuscript. Louis L'Amour's The Trail to Crazy Man was rewritten years later as Crossfire Trail, which became the basis for the movie of the same name. Presented here is L'Amour's original version. These authors are the stuff of Western legend, and at last you can read their finest work as they themselves intended.

The Scarlet Mansion


Allan W. Eckert - 1985
    Henry Holmes, one of the most notorious serial killers of all time, who in the late 1800's, murdered no less than 133 people. A fascinating view of this highly dangerous person from the time of his first murder, when he is only 12 years old, to his adult years when he built a huge, 105-room mansion in Chicago, with most of the space devoted to chambers for torture and death. But then an incredible chase begins, involving kidnapping and more murders when a detective gets on his trail.

The Challenge: Britain Against America in the Naval War of 1812


Andrew D. Lambert - 2012
    Only the Royal Navy stood between Napoleon's legions and ultimate victory. In that dark hour America saw its chance to challenge British dominance: her troops invaded Canada and American frigates attacked British merchant shipping, the lifeblood of British defence. War polarised America. The south and west wanted land, the north wanted peace and trade. But America had to choose between the oceans and the continent. Within weeks the land invasion had stalled, but American warships and privateers did rather better, and astonished the world by besting the Royal Navy in a series of battles. Then in three titanic single ship actions the challenge was decisively met. British frigates closed with the Chesapeake, the Essex and the President, flagship of American naval ambition. Both sides found new heroes but none could equal Captain Philip Broke, champion of history's greatest frigate battle, when HMS Shannon captured the USS Chesapeake in thirteen blood-soaked minutes. Broke's victory secured British control of the Atlantic, and within a year Washington, D.C. had been taken and burnt by British troops.

Dancing in the Rain


Amanda Harte - 2003
    She'll be back in a month, they predict. But there's more to Carolyn than anyone realizes. Though she's appalled by the conditions in the hospital, she will not admit that her impulsive decision may have been the biggest mistake of her life. Instead, she sets out to prove that humor can heal. To the patients' amusement, she even resorts to wearing a clothespin on her nose when she empties bedpans, and she sees nothing wrong with dancing in the rain.Clothespin Carolyn, as she's soon named, is a hit with the soldiers, much to the annoyance of Dwight Hollins, a brilliant physician who the nurses are convinced has never learned to smile. Doesn't Carolyn understand that war is serious? Someone needs to tell her that, and that someone is Dwight.Carolyn and Dwight's sparring soon becomes the talk of the hospital - causing the patients to accuse them of being like an old married couple. They're wrong, of course. "Love" is not a word that applies to them until the day Carolyn impulsively promises that she and Dwight will dance on Christmas Day to entertain the patients. Though it's the last thing either of them intends, soon they're learning much more than the latest dance steps.

Peter Loon


Van Reid - 2002
    Peter, who has never been away from home, quickly falls into a series of startling entanglements. Providentially, he befriends a nomadic parson with a seafaring past whose humble intelligence and steady head prove useful, especially when the two find themselves in the middle of a bitter land battle between hardscrabble homesteaders and the "Great Proprietors," who claim the land through royal grants and contradictory Indian deeds. Van Reid's inimitable storytelling, irresistible characters, and gentle humor will captivate readers in this tale of high adventure and great humanity.

The Wedding Dress Maker


Helene Wiggin - 2000
    This is not the first time her stepmother has taken what is rightfully hers. First it was her dead mother's rainbow necklace - Netta's only legacy - now her son... Netta is unable to protest such treatment, for it is 1945 and, in the eyes of her God-fearing community, she is doubly cursed: an unmarried mother who struggled with mental health problems after giving birth to her son. After being banished from her beloved Galloway, to a Yorkshire mill-town, Netta is determined to show she is capable of building a life for herself, so she can return to Galloway and claim back her child... PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS: The Stone Rainbow

The Hostile Shore


Douglas Reeman - 1973
    And so, crammed with refugees, harried and bombed by enemy planes, the Sigli had struggled south in a desperate attempt to escape-Rupert Blair's family had been among the passengers on that fateful journey in which the ship and all aboard had disappeared. Twenty years later, he still hasn't forgotten - has never abandoned his obsession to discover exactly what happened. Now Rupert Blair embarks upon a journey of his own - one that will take him to a primitive, savage island in search of the truth.