. . . Amid the lush valleys and fragrant wildflowers of Provence, Marguerite, Elonore, Sanchia, and Beatrice have learned to charm, hunt, dance, and debate under the careful tutelage of their ambitious mother--and to abide by the countess's motto: Family comes first.With Provence under constant attack, their legacy and safety depend upon powerful alliances. Marguerite's illustrious match with the young King Louis IX makes her Queen of France. Soon Elonore--independent and daring--is betrothed to Henry III of England. In turn, shy, devout Sanchia and tempestuous Beatrice wed noblemen who will also make them queens.Yet a crown is no guarantee of protection. Enemies are everywhere, from Marguerite's duplicitous mother-in-law to vengeful lovers and land-hungry barons. Then there are the dangers that come from within, as loyalty succumbs to bitter sibling rivalry, and sister is pitted against sister for the prize each believes is rightfully hers--Provence itself.From the treacherous courts of France and England, to the bloody tumult of the Crusades, Sherry Jones traces the extraordinary true story of four fascinating sisters whose passions, conquests, and progeny shaped the course of history.

    In his most dazzling novel since the groundbreaking New York Times bestseller An Instance of the Fingerpost, Iain Pears tells the story of John Stone, financier and arms dealer, a man so wealthy that in the years before World War One he was able to manipulate markets, industries, and indeed entire countries and continents.A panoramic novel with a riveting mystery at its heart, Stone’s Fall is a quest to discover how and why John Stone dies, falling out of a window at his London home.Chronologically, it moves backwards–from London in 1909 to Paris in 1890, and finally to Venice in 1867– and in the process the quest to uncover the truth plays out against the backdrop of the evolution of high-stakes international finance, Europe’s first great age of espionage, and the start of the twentieth century’s arms race.Like Fingerpost, Stone’s Fall is an intricately plotted and richly satisfying puzzle–an erudite work of history and fiction that feels utterly true and oddly timely–and marks the triumphant return of one of the world’s great storytellers.

    Who dared to love Elena Lopez? Who was willing to risk reputation and wealth to win the Spanish dancer who was the scandal of Europe? Kings, princes, great composers and writers...the famous and wealthy men of the 19th. century vied for her affection, fought duels for her. She was the queen of desire and the slave of passion, traveling the world - London, Paris, San Francisco - and taking love where she found it. Elena Lopez - the tantalizing, beautiful moth - dancing out of the shadows, warmed, lured and consumed by the heart's devouring flame.

    Set against the backdrop of Europe as it moves inexorably toward World War II, Amandine follows a young orphan’s journey in search of her heritage.The story opens in Krakow in 1931, as a baby girl is conceived out of wedlock, the byproduct of a foolish heart and a tragic inheritance. The child’s grandmother, a countess, believes that she is protecting her daughter when she claims that the baby didn’t survive. In truth, however, she deposits the infant at a remote convent in the French countryside, leaving her with a great sum of money and in the care of a young governess named Solange. Solange takes it upon herself to give the child a distinctive name, Amandine, and the two form a special bond. But even Solange’s unconditional love cannot protect her charge. Mistrusted by both the abbess and the convent girls, the unusually astute and curious Amandine finds her childhood filled with challenges and questions: Who is she? Where does she come from?    Eventually, Solange is forced to choose between the terrors of the convent and those of a global war looming outside its doors. Thus, with a purse full of worthless francs and a sack of provisions, the two flee north toward Solange’s childhood home. But what should have been a two-day journey by train becomes a perilous, years-long odyssey across Occupied France—and deeper into the treacheries of war.Tracing the flight of Amandine and Solange while peering into the lives of the countess and her daughter, Amandine’s mother, who still mourns and dreams of the child she thinks she lost forever, Marlena de Blasi’s epic novel winds its way toward a dramatic and compelling conclusion, as mother and daughter draw ever nearer. Amandine is a sumptuous tale of identity and survival, persistent hope and unexpected love.

    Sent to live with one family member and then another, she finally arrives in Scotland, on the doorstep of a crumbling estate abandoned by its owner. With her aunt, she spends her days mending curtains and peeling potatoes, a quiet existence that changes with the appearance of a carriage bearing a coat of arms.From out of the carriage falls Lord Hartley Cowden, Baron Aldburgh. Drunk, unconscious, and bleeding, Charlotte and her aunt carry him into his ancestral home. As he recovers in Charlotte's care, Hartley confesses to a crime that nearly sent him spiralling towards his grave. But can she entrust him with her own secrets while coaxing him back from the dead?

    On the promise of a dowry fit for a king, Catherine has left her true love in Italy, forced into trading her future for a stake in the French crown.Amid the glittering fêtes and banquets of the most immoral court in sixteenth-century Europe, the reluctant bride becomes a passionate but unwanted wife. Humiliated and unloved, Catherine spies on Henry and his lover, the infamous Diane de Poitiers. And, tortured by what she sees, Catherine becomes dangerously occupied by a ruthless ambition destined to make her the most despised woman in France: the dream that one day the French crown will be worn be a Medici heir...

    Anything could happen...and it all begins with Christmas Kisses.The Wallflower’s Christmas Wish (Brides of Bath) by Cheryl Bolen: While painting the portrait of Sir Elvin Steffington, Bath’s most eligible bachelor, the exceedingly plain spinster Diana Furness develops a strong friendship with her subject. Could this be more than friendship? Could he ever be attracted to one as inconsequential as she?A Kiss From a Captain (An Everly Manor Happily Ever After) by Samantha Grace: Captain Gabriel Brazier defied doctors’ predictions and learned to walk again after losing his leg in war. But the damning voice whispering no woman will find him desirable again is hard to ignore, especially when he arrives at Everly Manor to compete for the charming Lady Laurel’s heart.A Rogue’s Christmas Kiss (The Rogue Chronicles) by Lana Williams: Mary is shaken by a letter requesting she return home for Christmas. But her world is truly upended when she reunites with a former love for the long journey. Arthur has no desire to rekindle their relationship after Mary broke his heart, but a snowstorm and some passionate kisses just might reignite their love.’Twas the Rogue Before Christmas (The Honorable Rogues®) by Collette Cameron: Eager to leave England, American, Jason Steele can’t forget the beautiful noblewoman he saved from a foiled robbery. Determined to behave properly, Lenora Audsley can’t stop thinking about the rogue who rescued her. Can the magic of the holiday season unite these lovers who are forbidden to see each other?Bound to the Belgian Count (London Lords) by Sasha Cottman: Abandoned bride, Lily is determined to seek an annulment. But when her absent husband Count Maximilian de Viron suddenly appears in court, the judge decides on a unique compromise. Between now and Christmas Eve, the couple must live together, share meals, and talk.Embracing the Scandal by Barbara Monajem: Harriet is banished for her naughty behavior, and when Jonathan asks for her hand, he is told she is dead. When they meet again, can they overcome the lies and sins of the past to fall in love once again?A Viscount for Christmas by Suzanna Medeiros: Viscount Thornton returns home for his mother's annual Christmas party to find a beautiful woman sleeping in his bed. Neither he nor Celia are happy when her mother demands they wed. Can they escape marriage or will they both get the Christmas gift they didn’t know they wanted?The Impetuous Heiress (The Upstart Christmas Brides) by Alina K. Field: Before dashing Lord Loughton can make amends with his neglected fiancée, the lady’s meddling cousin delivers her to his doorstep. He soon realizes more is amiss than his carelessness. Can he uncover her secrets and win her back before he loses her altogether?A Duchess for Christmas (Forgotten Heiress) by Alanna Lucas: Grace Banks is looking forward to her first Christmas at the Home for Desolate Ladies, but Edward, Duke of Tavistock, is set upon ruining it, and the secrets keeping them apart leave little hope for reconciliation. Can the spirit of Christmas heal two wounded hearts?Let it Snow by Heather Boyd: When the worst scoundrel in her acquaintance rescues Yvette from a winter storm, she fears a holiday spent dodging his attempts at seduction. But more than one yuletide surprise awaits as she discovers Luc is a man of surprising patience, and passion for just one woman…Yvette herself.

    Lucy Carelton, who comes from one of the wealthiest and most prominent families in 1880s New York City, has been completely undone by her nerves. Her ambitious husband, a nouveau riche stockbroker, drags her from one doctor to another in search of a cure that will allow her to fulfill her many social obligations without giving in to hysteria. They think they have found the solution in charismatic neurologist Victor Seth, a champion of a relatively new procedure called hypnotism. Seth sets about freeing Lucy from the social constraints that have made her so unhappy, encouraging her to pursue her artistic talents and explore her sexuality. Seth convinces himself that his techniques, including his handy way with an electrotherapy wand, are all in the name of science, but even he is unprepared for the new Lucy who emerges--a passionate, calculating, amoral creature of large appetites. Chance's straightforward prose and over-the-top plotting effectively combine in this diabolically clever, thoroughly entertaining take on women's liberation.

    Nothing could have prepared her for outwitting a French mob, crossing the Channel in a hot air balloon, or fending off the advances of the fascinating Count Welcker.Arriving in London just in time for her very first Season, Juliana is going to find all her ideals challenged and the truth of her heart finally revealed.

    But when an attempt to help her star-crossed brother goes awry, she finds herself married to the Duke of Kerstone. Can the hopeless romantic Miranda prove to her impeccably proper husband that fairy tales really do come true?The Star-Crossed BrideEver a gentleman, Viscount Valentine Fenster steps aside when the woman he loves, Lady Emily Wertherly chooses another man. When he discovers Emily's fiance is a fortune-hunting murderer, Valentine tosses caution—and decorum—to the wind to save her. But he’ll have to move fast since the headstrong and highly-imaginative Emily is intent on saving herself…The Unintended BrideShy Hero Fenster loves two things—books and Arthur Watterly. But Arthur, the heir to a dukedom and pledged to another since birth, is the one thing she can never have—that is until the quest for a rare Arthurian manuscript and a night of passion in a bookshop change everything.The Infamous BrideNotorious flirt Juliet Fenster enjoys the delights of the London season far too much to consider settling down—particularly with a stuffy American like Romeo “RJ” Hopkins. But when the unlikely pair are cast in an amateur production of Romeo and Juliet, they find themselves doing far more than “playing” at love…

    Signs proclaiming ‘No Jews’ are posted everywhere in the maze-like streets, and people are dragged away in handcuffs. Maggie Brouillard devotes herself to the Resistance, helping Jews escape. Though her life is a whirlwind of forged passports and midnight runs, she cannot stop thinking about her fiancé, who was forced to flee. She prays that the love of her life is safe, and sends coded, handwritten letters to her dear sister, Cécilia. England, 1949: Harriet Conway arrives at grand, grey-stoned Chaffingham House to start her job as secretary. Home to the Brouillard family since they escaped Paris after the war, Chaffingham’s opulence has all but disappeared – its curtains faded, its carpets worn, tragedy hanging in the air… Harriet is soon consumed by the mystery surrounding the family. The daughter, Cécilia, is confined to a wheelchair due to an accident they refuse to discuss and when a strange man turns up asking for Maggie, the door is slammed shut on him. Why won’t Cécilia look her son in the eye? Why will no one utter Maggie’s name? It’s clear that Chaffingham is shrouded in secrecy, the family haunted by a past too shocking to speak of. And when Harriet stumbles upon a crumpled letter she uncovers something that will either repair a lifetime of heartbreak, or rip the family apart. An evocative, riveting and stirring tale about the tragic realities of war, the fine line between loyalty and lies, and the power of love, even in the darkest of times. Fans of The Nightingale, The Letter and All the Light We Cannot See will be spellbound by this magnificent historical novel.

    Tabor Stanton is a brooding cowboy fleeing his own troubled past who finds himself unwillingly caught up in the mysterious Delilah's web of deceit.Determined to get his own revenge on the seductress, Tabor learns too late that no man can escape being burned by the passion and desire of Delilah's Flame.Delilah's Flame — a scorching Guns & Garters Western Historical Romance from Andrea Parnell!Guns & Garters Western Historical Romances by Andrea Parnell Delilah's Flame Devil Moon My Only Desire

    It begins in the early part of the 20th century, when Paddy Cleary moves his wife, Fiona, and their seven children to Drogheda, the vast Australian sheep station owned by his autocratic and childless older sister; and it ends more than half a century later, when the only survivor of the third generation, the brilliant actress Justine O'Neill, sets a course of life and love halfway around the world from her roots.The central figures in this enthralling story are the indomitable Meggie, the only Cleary daughter, and the one man she truly loves, the stunningly handsome and ambitious priest Ralph de Bricassart. Ralph's course moves him a long way indeed, from a remote Outback parish to the halls of the Vatican; and Meggie's except for a brief and miserable marriage elsewhere, is fixed to the Drogheda that is part of her bones - but distance does not dim their feelings though it shapes their lives.Wonderful characters people this book; strong and gentle, Paddy, hiding a private memory; dutiful Fiona, holding back love because it once betrayed her, violent, tormented Frank, and the other hardworking Cleary sons who give the boundless lands of Drogheda the energy and devotion most men save for women; Meggie; Ralph; and Meggie's children, Justine and Dane. And the land itself; stark, relentless in its demands, brilliant in its flowering, prey to gigantic cycles of drought and flood, rich when nature is bountiful, surreal like no other place on earth.Alternate Cover Edition ISBN 0380018179 (ISBN13: 9780380018178)

    This incredible portrait of Erik--the Phantom--recreates his entire life, from his survival as a child in a carnival freak show to his creative genius behind the Paris Opera House--and its labyrinthine world below--to his discovery of love.

    Orphaned at a young age, Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, seeks a strong husband to keep her hold on the vast lands that have made her the most powerful heiress in Europe. But her arranged marriage to Louis VII, King of France, is made disastrous by Louis's weakness of will and fanatical devotion to the Church. Eleanor defies her husband by risking her life on an adventurous Crusade, and even challenges the Pope himself. And in young, brilliant, mercurial Henry d'Anjou, she finds her soul mate-the one man who is audacious enough to claim her for his own and make her Queen of England.