Love Kills Twice


Rien Gray - 2021
    Campbell’s services come at a high price, and their dark, seductive charisma leads Justine right into their bed. Hiding an affair while Campbell designs the perfect murder has Justine walking a tightrope of stress, but each time the two of them sleep together, it’s harder not to get attached. Campbell struggles with their own traumatic past, convinced that the truth will drive Justine away.There’s a faint hope that things could work, save for one problem: Justine’s husband wants her dead too.Revenge is easy—heartbreak could cost both of them everything.Word Count: 36,000Cover Artist: Natasha SnowGenre: Contemporary RomanceTags: artist, assassin, bi, contemporary, dark, ex-military, guns, interracial, murder, murder-for-hire, nonbinary, pan, sexual tension

Alaskan Bride


D. Jordan Redhawk - 2016
    Soon she's on the adventure of her life, leaving the comfort and stability of a well-to-do family for a man she's never met and a life of uncertainty.Callie Glass isn't happy with her brother Jasper's proposal to a mail-order bride, though she knows it's not her call. And when a tragic accident takes Jasper Glass's life, Callie doesn't hesitate to call off the wedding in a letter to Clara. Callie is soon surprised to find a strange woman settling into her cabin, a stranger who had never received news of Jasper's demise.While Callie insists that the other woman should return home, Clara digs in her heels. If Callie can live without a man in this isolated land, why can't she? Both headstrong women struggle in the ashes of their dashed hopes and dreams, slowly coming together to forge an alliance for which neither is prepared.

The Horse Mistress: Book 1


R.A. Steffan - 2015
    I was born female, but I've been secretly living as a boy in my adoptive village of Draebard, doing a job the elders insist could never be done by a woman. My life is complicated enough already, so the last thing I need is to fall for not one, but two unattainable men—a fierce warrior and a reluctant wolf-shifter with a horrific past.Now, with the powerful Alyrion Empire poised to invade our lands, I must choose whether to keep my secret or reveal it… not only to the men I love, but also to the powerful female ruler whose army could help protect Draebard during the coming war.Either way, strife is coming to our island.Win or lose, things are about to change irrevocably for the three of us.* * * The Horse Mistress  by USA Today bestseller R. A. Steffan is a 2016 Rainbow Award winning LGBT fantasy romance series.This series is part of the Eburosi Chronicles: The Horse Mistress  (4 books, complete) The Lion Mistress  (3 books, complete) The Dragon Mistress  (4 books, complete) Master of Hounds  (3 books, complete in early 2022) The War Mistress  (4 books, coming in late 2022)While loosely linked, each series may be read on its own.A special note for Fantasy readers: This series is polyam romance with steamy scenes and strong LGBT content. The main character is genderqueer. One of the love interests is a eunuch. If your gut reaction to any of that is “Eww” or even “Meh,” you probably won't enjoy these books.

A Pirate's Heart


Catherine Friend - 2008
    She’s aided in her search by investigator Randi Marx, who proves to be as frustrating as she is beautiful. The treasure map Emma and Randi seek belonged to Thomasina Farris, a pirate who disappeared from the Caribbean in 1715. Did Captain Tommy steal an entire treasure from a Spanish galleon and escape? Was she convicted of piracy and hanged by her neck? Did she die of a broken heart when she lost the woman she loved?In her race to find the map, Emma learns that pirates not only steal treasure, but they also steal hearts. When Emma discovers Captain Tommy’s fate, she must decide her own as well, choosing between romance...or revenge.

An Advantageous Marriage: A thrilling Regency romance


Alice Chetwynd Ley - 1979
     The scheming Turville family have met their match… 1816, England The aristocratic Turvilles had always deplored an unfortunate connection with Trade through the marriage twenty years previously of the Baron’s brother with the daughter of a Yorkshire manufacturer. But, Eugenia, only child of this marriage is not only an orphan — she is also her grandfather’s sole heir and extremely wealthy. Keen to keep the Turville money in the family, Lady Turville deigns to overlook her niece’s rustic manners in order to force a match between Eugenia and one of her sons. But Eugenia is not the simple country girl she was expecting… Will Lady Turville’s plans come to pass? Could Eugenia fall for one of her cousin’s charms? Or will she make an advantageous marriage elsewhere…? AN ADVANTAGEOUS MARRIAGE is a classic historical novel by Alice Chetwynd Ley: a traditional British, Regency romance, set in nineteenth-century England. ‘I would recommend this book and this author in general to those who enjoy the older, more leisurely and textured style of romance storytelling’ - Regency Retro Reads ‘These vintage Regency romances hover somewhere between Jane Austen and the genre as we know it today. I really enjoy them.’ - Sonya’s Stuff

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.

The Wicked Cometh


Laura Carlin - 2018
    But whispers from her past slowly begin to poison her new life and both she and Rebekah are lured into the most sinister of investigations.Hester and Rebekah find themselves crossing every boundary they've ever known in pursuit of truth, redemption and passion. But their trust in each other will be tested as a web of deceit begins to unspool, dragging them into the blackest heart of a city where something more depraved than either of them could ever imagine is lurking . . .

A Pale Light in the Black


K.B. Wagers - 2020
    Coast Guard.For the past year, their close loss in the annual Boarding Games has haunted Interceptor Team: Zuma’s Ghost. With this year’s competition looming, they’re looking forward to some payback—until an unexpected personnel change leaves them reeling. Their best swordsman has been transferred, and a new lieutenant has been assigned in his place.Maxine Carmichael is trying to carve a place in the world on her own—away from the pressure and influence of her powerful family. The last thing she wants is to cause trouble at her command on Jupiter Station. With her new team in turmoil, Max must overcome her self-doubt and win their trust if she’s going to succeed. Failing is not an option—and would only prove her parents right.But Max and the team must learn to work together quickly. A routine mission to retrieve a missing ship has suddenly turned dangerous, and now their lives are on the line. Someone is targeting members of Zuma’s Ghost, a mysterious opponent willing to kill to safeguard a secret that could shake society to its core . . . a secret that could lead to their deaths and kill thousands more unless Max and her new team stop them.Rescue those in danger, find the bad guys, win the Games. It’s all in a day’s work at the NeoG.

Loving Eleanor


Susan Wittig Albert - 2016
    Their relationship begins with mutual romantic passion, matures through stormy periods of enforced separation and competing interests, and warms into an enduring, encompassing friendship documented by 3300 letters. Set during the chaotic years of the Great Depression, the New Deal, and the Second World War, Loving Eleanor reveals Eleanor Roosevelt as a complex, contradictory, and entirely human woman who is pulled in many directions by her obligations to her husband and family and her role as the nation's First Lady. Hick is revealed as an accomplished journalist, who, at the pinnacle of her career, gives it all up for the woman she loves. Then, as Eleanor is transformed into Eleanor Everywhere, First Lady of the World, Hick must create her own independent, productive life. Loving Eleanor is a profoundly moving novel that illuminates a relationship we are seldom privileged to see, celebrating the depth and durability of women's love.

The Pearl Thief


Elizabeth Wein - 2017
    And once she returns to her grandfather’s estate, a bit banged up but alive, she begins to realize that her injury might not have been an accident. One of her family’s employees is missing, and he disappeared on the very same day she landed in the hospital.Desperate to figure out what happened, she befriends Euan McEwen, the Scottish Traveller boy who found her when she was injured, and his standoffish sister, Ellen. As Julie grows closer to this family, she experiences some of the prejudices they’ve grown used to firsthand, a stark contrast to her own upbringing, and finds herself exploring thrilling new experiences that have nothing to do with a missing-person investigation.Her memory of that day returns to her in pieces, and when a body is discovered, her new friends are caught in the crosshairs of long-held biases about Travellers. Julie must get to the bottom of the mystery in order to keep them from being framed for the crime.

The Pyramid Waltz


Barbara Ann Wright - 2012
    But when the festival lights go down and the palace slumbers, Katya chases traitors to the crown and protects the kingdom’s greatest secret: the royal Umbriels are part Fiend. When Katya thwarts an attempt to expose the king’s monstrous side, she uncovers a plot to let the Fiends out to play.Starbride has no interest in being a courtier. Ignoring her mother’s order to snare an influential spouse, she comes to court only to study law. But a flirtatious rake of a princess proves hard to resist, and Starbride is pulled into a world of secrets that leaves little room for honesty or love, a world neither woman may survive.

The Girls I've Been


Tess Sharpe - 2021
    As the daughter of a con-artist who targets criminal men, she grew up as her mother’s protégé. But when mom fell for the mark instead of conning him, Nora pulled the ultimate con: escape.For five years Nora’s been playing at normal. But she needs to dust off the skills she ditched because she has three problems:#1: Her ex walked in on her with her girlfriend. Even though they’re all friends, Wes didn’t know about her and Iris.#2: The morning after Wes finds them kissing, they all have to meet to deposit the fundraiser money they raised at the bank. It’s a nightmare that goes from awkward to deadly, because:#3: Right after they enter bank, two guys start robbing it.The bank robbers may be trouble, but Nora’s something else entirely. They have no idea who they’re really holding hostage…

Sword of the Guardian


Merry Shannon - 2006
    But in the midst of a birthday celebration, her world shatters when a mysterious assassin takes her brother's life. Shasta, the only remaining heir to the throne, narrowly escapes the assassin's blade thanks to the intervention of a traveling acrobat named Talon.With the threat of another attempt on Shasta's life imminent, her father declares that the young hero will be come the Princess's bodyguard. But what Shasta doesn't know is that her new guardian has a very well-kept secret: he is actually a she.Talon and Shasta soon grow closer than anyone, especially her father, could have predicted. Will the truth of her guardian's secret change their relationship forever?Book 1 of The Legends of Ithyria Series

The Stone Prince


Fiona Patton - 1997
    As the eternally rebellious Heathlands plot a bold new campaign of war, Crown Prince Demnor must not only overcome traitors within the court and the ever-growing rebel forces, but he must also master the birthright power which could well prove his doom.

Brethren


W.A. Hoffman - 2006
    He doesn't realize that he is going to the right island for the wrong reasons until he meets buccaneers and learns he has far more in common with the wild Brethren of the Coast than he does with the nobility of Christendom. Still, he questions joining them and leaving his title and the plantation behind, until he meets Gaston the Ghoul, a mysterious French buccaneer who is purportedly mad. He quickly decides that the freedom of the buccaneer life and even the mere chance of love that a man such as Gaston might offer are better than anything he could ever inherit. But even though Gaston seems intrigued by him, can the crazy Frenchman ever love him?