She desperately wants to truly belong to someone. Unfortunately, the wagon train won't take single women. When a handsome young man bound for Oregon stops at her uncle's blacksmith shop, she believes her prayers have been answered. Darren Thorsten watched his family get on the boat to return to Norway. He's going to Oregon to homestead a farm in the rich land, but before he arrives, he must have a wife to get enough acreage to make it work. He promised his mother he'd marry a Scandinavian girl with blond hair and blue eyes to keep his heritage pure. He has to stop to get his horse shod and meets Hope. She's determined to get him to take her west. He only sees her as trouble. He finally agrees after she tells him she'll help him find a wife. But then, well, the idea just doesn't seem as pleasing as Hope.

    Lord James Whitman is well aware of what others say about him. He has heard his name whispered behind closed doors and learned of his character being maligned without cause. But after his unearned reputation causes Iris to decline his marriage proposal, he is determined to show her the truth and win her love! Without her grandfather's guidance, Iris must decide whether to trust the London gossips or the tune of her own heart. Could she possibly love a man who is as horrid as some say he is? Or should she trust her instincts and what the duke tells her to be true? All Iris knows for sure is that Christmas day grows closer with each passing minute!

    But her aspirations as a political journalist are thwarted when she is instead sent to a finishing school in Switzerland in the summer of 1939. On her way to Lausanne she meets Leo Oppenheim in Paris. He is not only the leader of the British communist party but also the prodigal son of Chaim Oppenheim, London’s richest diamond merchant. Lili’s time at the posh Swiss school even becomes bearable knowing Leo will take her under his wing. The Second World War breaks out and Lili ends up in London, finally indulging in free love and communism. But Leopold needs money, for his personal needs and for the communist party. He has his eye on the largest diamond centre in Europe: Antwerp. However, Germany, too, is in dire need of Antwerp’s diamonds for its war industry. Lili infiltrates in Antwerp’s Jewish community and befriends both the Goldmunz family and the German military commander Ulrich Lemberg. She becomes the diamond courier between Antwerp and London via Vichy France.Until she is caught in 1943 … The Diamond Courier is a young woman’s fight to liberate herself from her privileged upbringing, for which she pays the highest price. Will she ultimately choose politics over love?

    In winning the dare, will she also lose her heart to the duke?

    Needing to escape from it all, Gemma agrees to help renovate a rundown farmhouse in Doullens, France, a town near the Somme. There, in a boarded-up cupboard, wrapped in old newspapers, is a tin that reveals the secret letters and heartache of Alice Le Breton, a young volunteer nurse who worked in a casualty clearing station near the front line.Set in the present day and during the horrifying years of the war, both woman discover deep down the strength and courage to carry on in even the most difficult of times. Through Alice’s words and her unfailing love for her sweetheart at the front, Gemma learns to truly live again.This is a beautifully written epic historical novel that will take your breath away.

    He is in possession of a large diamond, given to him in India, which he vows he will give to the woman he loves – when he finds her, that is. Jemima Brown, sixteen, good-hearted and hard-working, comes to work for him as a general maidservant. When Mr Cavell stands up for her against the unwanted attentions of some tradesmen working in his house, she sees at once that here is a man of high morals and integrity. But it is Caroline Simpson, daughter of Henry’s house-painter, who catches his eye. She may be socially his inferior, but she is good-looking, flirtatious and knows how to use her charms. She manipulates Henry into marrying her, and only the loyal Jemima knows he’s been tricked. How can Jemima fight her growing feelings for her master, maintain her morals and stay in Mr Cavell’s employment, despite her mistress’s increasingly erratic behaviour?

    Her only hope of surviving is to travel to America, a land of freedom and opportunity, and reunite with her brother in Baltimore. There she'll find new challenges, and perhaps, if she can put her painful past behind her, a new chance for love and lasting happiness.

     Kate Hamilton is companion to the dullest and meanest woman in England, but she is looking forward to going home for Christmas and her sister Mary’s wedding. When her employer refuses to release her, Colonel Robert Woodgate comes to the rescue. Robert now owns Malton Manor, Kate’s old home in the village of Malton. Recently returned from the Boer War and recovering from his injuries, Robert has been reclusive and morose. Clashing several times over his plans and sweeping changes in the village, their relationship has always been tempestuous. But when Kate returns to Malton, she discovers her sister’s wedding is to take place at Malton Manor and everyone is convinced the Colonel has an ulterior motive. Can Kate resist the lure of her old home and the memories it holds? And does she have the courage to break down Robert’s defences to find happiness at last?

    War, secrets and betrayal cast a shadow over the Maclarens from the battlefield to the drawing-room. Young Andrew Maclaren, a brave yet sensitive soldier, faces the danger of conflicts in India and China. He must choose between the regiment he serves and the woman he loves. Willie Bruce, Andrew's childhood friend and fellow soldier, discovers loyalty is not always rewarded. Maud Westburn, beautiful but damaged, is the woman who loves them both. Will this love tear a family, and a regiment, apart? A sweeping saga about passion and honour, and the senseless brutality of war.

    His Christmas wish is to marry the woman he loves. But where has she gone? Andrew Roberts hasn’t felt such anticipation for Christmas day since he was five years old. This year he has plans, life-changing plans. He is going to propose to Allyson Flanders, the woman of his dreams. He’d lived his first thirty years as a confirmed bachelor, contented with dating, managing the family’s fleet of ships, fishing, and sailing anywhere he wanted, whenever he wanted.Until . . .One date with Allyson, and Andy was hopelessly caught by the smartest, kindest, most beautiful woman he’d ever met. He had no complaints. Life with Allyson was better than anything he’d ever imagined. They spent hours of every day together, casting lines into the waters off the shore of Martha’s Vineyard, talking, laughing, and dreaming. He hadn’t spent a day without being in Allyson’s company.Until . . . Something happened after Thanksgiving. Something he can’t figure out. Something he can’t name. But that something has created more distance than a two-month sail from Vineyard Haven Harbor to Sri Lanka. Allyson had no time for him, barely spoke to him, and made secret plans without him.The diamond and sapphire ring resting in the black velvet box looked lonely, but not as lonely as Andy felt. Where was she spending her time? Why didn’t she return his phone calls? Had she found someone else? Was there any hope his Christmas wish might still come true? A Vineyard RomanceRomance, Faith, and Adventure on the Island of Martha’s Vineyard

    Agrippina, the emperor Claudius' niece, reads in the stars that someone born in Alexandria on July 19, 32 AD, is destined to help raise her son, the future emperor Nero, to the throne of the Caesars. This fated young man is Epaphroditus, a library slave and the book's narrator, who at the age of 16 is taken by force to Rome to serve young Nero. Epaphroditus becomes Nero's confidant as the art-obsessed Caesar dreams of an age when music rules the world. After Nero performs his musical spectacles in public, apocalyptic Christians-believing him to be the antichrist-set Rome afire. Revolutionary unrest strikes Rome, a fiery comet makes a foreboding appearance, and the young emperor makes a concert tour of Greece as enemies sprout like Hydra's heads. Epaphroditus, fortified by the return of his faith in astrology, discovers that he, Nero's protector, is fated to kill his Caesar. Author Humphry Knipe's brilliant historical novel shakes the rafters of conventional belief about Nero and his Rome and the ancient science of astrology.

    They hoped it would be over by Christmas... Britain is at war and the proximity of the docks means that life in and around London's Turnbury Buildings is hard and dangerous. Chances are taken, people have secrets, hearts are broken. And feelings about foreigners are running high. Sixteen-year-old Freddie Jarrett is secretly seeing a girl from the local Chinese community - a relationship that would be frowned on by both families, despite the fact that they all support the fight for freedom from oppression. And his sister Grace has her own secret to hide. A secret that no one outside the immediate family must ever know. As the threat of the Luftwaffe looms over the docks, the community is threatened with being torn apart by prejudice, fear and separation, and the disturbing loss of stability that brings with it the feeling that it is only what happens today that counts for anything...

    When her ageing father asks her to go with him to his native France, she has no idea that shes embarking on an adventure that will shake her complacency and utterly transform her. Returning to the place of his youth sparks unexpected memories—recollections that will lead Camille, her father, and her daughter, Julie, who has accompanied them, back to the dark, terrifying days of the Second World War, where they will uncover their family’s surprising history.While Provence offers answers about her family’s past, it also holds the key to Camille’s future. Along the way, Camille meets a handsome American historian who stirs a passion deep within her she thought she’d never experience again.

    Boston native Dr. John Carson is their only hope. Molded by a lifetime of pain and loss, John is impersonal and withdrawn, and treats symptoms instead of people. When he arrives in Templeton, he finds he must work with Sarah Bethel, the late doctor's daughter who has been treating the ill, and his staunch attitude is challenged. She is bright, caring, dedicated to her neighbors, and has a temper that matches his! He is mesmerized by the woman whose fiery spirit infuriates him and inherent compassion intrigues him. Will Sarah's kindness be enough to heal the scars of the past and allow John to open his heart and create a new future?

    Having never cooked a day in her life, she is terrified of being found out and banished to the cotton fields as was her mother before her. But when she accidentally burns the freedom papers of Jonathan Mayfield, a handsome free man of color to whom she's attracted, her fear of the fields becomes secondary.A gifted cabinetmaker, Jonathan Mayfield's heart is set on finally becoming a respected businessman by outfitting a bedroom at the palatial Riverwood—until a beautiful new slave destroys his proof of freedom and his fragile confidence along with it. When the mistress of Riverwood orders Dinah to work alongside the sullen Mr. Mayfield, sparks fly setting the two on a collision course. Is their mutual love for God strong enough to overcome deep-seated insecurities and set the couple on a path toward self-acceptance and love for each other?