Book picks similar to
A Christmas Charade by Karla Hocker


romance
historical-romance
regency
historical

Claiming the Duchess


Sherry Thomas - 2014
    James Kingston and her faithful correspondent Miss Julia Kirkland, whom Clarissa has never met.Now both Mr. Kingston and Miss Kirkland are due to arrive at Clarissa’s house—and Clarissa is about to find out that nothing of either is as she has been led to believe…A story of longings--and longings fulfilled.

The Groom's Gamble


Jade Lee - 2014
    Caroline Lyncott, great grandaughter of the Duke of Bucklynde, has a secret. Years ago she was attacked and still bears the terrible scars. To escape the scandal and the reminders, she left everything behind to become housekeeper to a Scottish brother and sister. Gregory Murray, the Earl Of Hartfell, has a secret as well – he harbors a deep attraction to his housekeeper, Mrs. Lyncott. He knows she has a past, but doesn’t know how to fix the pain that still haunts her. His investigation leads him to the darkest London gaming hell and a villain too powerful to destroy. Can his love overcome her desperate past? Can she risk her heart despite the evil that still haunts her nightmares?

How to Capture a Duke


Bianca Blythe - 2016
    When her dying Grandmother worries about Fiona’s future, Fiona stammers that she’s secretly engaged. Soon she finds herself promising that she will introduce her husband-to-be by Christmas. One dutiful duke… Percival Carmichael, new Duke of Alfriston, is in a hurry. He’s off to propose to London’s most eligible debutante. After nearly dying at Waterloo, he’s vowed to spend the rest of his life living up to the ton’s expectations. One fallen tree… When Fiona tries to warn a passing coach about a tree in the road, the driver mistakes her for a highwaywoman. Evidently he’s not used to seeing women attired in clothes only suitable for archaeology waving knives. After the driver flees, Fiona decides she may as well borrow the handsome passenger…

Larken


S.G. Rogers - 2014
    Four years later, however, her life is far from fortunate. Because of her emotional and physical scars, she believes she’s un-marriageable. With little hope for the future, she agrees to wed a gentleman she’s never met. Unfortunately, his aloof manner proves difficult to take. Marked by romantic tragedy and the loss of his brother, Brandon King has forsworn marriage. Obliged to take in a ward, he advertises for a mail-order bride to raise the boy. Since the union is to be a marriage in name only, his criteria are youthful age, a certain level of intellect, good breeding, and that the girl shouldn’t be so ill-favored she would embarrass him in society. To his dismay, he gets more than he’d bargained for. Will it take a miracle for Mr. and Mrs. King to fall in love, or is their marriage another accident waiting to happen?

The Twelve Days of Seduction


Maire Claremont - 2012
    His ward deserves a reputable governess, so he threatens to give Adriana the sack mere days before Christmas.Desperate to convince the sexy duke not to tear her from the little girl she's grown to adore, Adriana challenges him to prove she’s not the reputable governess he believed he hired. If he can seduce her before the Twelve Days of Christmas have come to an end, she will leave without protest.But when they find the challenge more difficult than either imagined, can they face the consequences of their decisions?

Earls Just Want to Have Fun


Shana Galen - 2015
    She runs with the Covent Garden Cubs, a gang of thieves living in the slums of London's Seven Dials. It's a fierce life, and Marlowe has a hard outer shell. But when she's alone, she allows herself to think of a time before-a dimly remembered life when she was called Elizabeth.Maxwell, Lord Dane, is intrigued when his brother, a hired investigator, ropes him into his investigation of the fiercely beautiful hellion. He teaches her to navigate the social morass of the ton, but Marlowe will not escape so easily. Instead, Dane is drawn into her dangerous world, where the student becomes the teacher and love is the greatest risk of all.

The Fall of Lord Drayson


Rachael Anderson - 2016
    They have no money, no relations they can turn to for help, and nowhere to go. How dare the earl break the promise his father had made to the Beresfords without so much as a twinge of conscience? Fate plays her hand when Lucy discovers the earl unconscious and injured in the middle of the road. When he awakens with no recollection of who he is, Lucy seizes the opportunity to teach the earl a much-needed lesson in humility and tells him that he is nothing more than a mere servant. Her servant, in fact. And thus begins the charming tale of a pompous lord and an impetuous young woman, caught together in a web so tangled that it begs the question: Will they ever get out?

The Price of Innocence


Vicki Hopkins - 2009
    The book is historical fiction, with romantic elements, set in 1878 Paris and London. The book is the first in a series of three entitled the Legacy Series.It is the tender story of Suzette Camille Rousseau, a young woman in late 19th century Paris, who makes a difficult journey from innocence to maturity. After losing a sheltered life with her father, Suzette is thrown into the harsh reality of poverty, struggling as a homeless woman on the streets of Paris. In order to survive, she faces difficult choices that offer little hope of redemption. Her journey takes her from the charities of St. Vincent de Paul, to a local laundry house where she toils endlessly in filth and squalor. To her surprise, one of her customers is the Chabanais, the most famous brothel in France that only caters to aristocrats. Like a fly drawn to a spider's web, the mistress of the brothel entices Suzette into a world of opulence, comfort, and beauty, but there is a price to pay -- her innocence. Succumbing to a life of prostitution, she meets a handsome English Lord who saves her from the unthinkable.

Seducing the Bride


Michelle McMaster - 2000
    They come across a beautiful young woman—clad only in a nightdress—laying unconscious in a rubbish heap. Worried for her safety and famous for his habit of taking in strays, Beckett takes the mysterious girl home and puts her to bed, intent on calling a doctor the next day. But his good intentions go awry when his mother and solicitor make an unplanned visit the next morning, and all hell breaks loose.When the impoverished viscount learns he is now heir to a wealthy earldom, Beckett must quickly take a bride. Having been jilted by his former fiancée, he no longer believes in love… but Beckett does believe in the heated desire this “mysterious angel” stirs within him. He vows to make the voluptuous beauty his wife.Isobel Hampton is on the run from a villainous nobleman who will stop at nothing until he possesses both her and her family estate. The strong-minded miss makes a break for freedom and disappears into the night, but Sir Harry Lennox vows to find her. When she awakens in the bed of a handsome viscount, Isobel demands to know how she got there. But something in Lord Thornby’s eyes makes her want to trust the handsome lord. When he proposes a marriage of convenience, it could be the solution to all of Isobel’s problems… or just the beginning of them.For though Beckett and Isobel have sworn to a marriage in name only, the flame of passion burns hot between them. As they engage in a dangerous dance of seduction, the last place they expect to find true love is in each other’s arms.Originally published as The Marriage Bargain in 2000 - Seducing The Bride is a newly revised and updated edition.

The Cryptographer


Alice Wallis-Eton - 2015
    Aster Tanner is alone in the world and keeps a roof over her head by working the one asset she has - her mind. She needs her job; she does not need a Scotsman underfoot, making her heart flutter with heated glances and impertinent questions.Iain McIntyre, Captain in the Second Dragoons, has a confidential assignment: find a list rumoured to name traitors working against England. He is looking for anything unusual -- like a woman working as a secretary. He tells himself his fascination with the lass is because she holds a man's position, and nothing to do with his rising desire to know the sharp mind hidden behind her darkened glasses.When Aster is targeted by those intent on recovering the list, she must decide who to trust. She has seven encrypted names. But whose? Meanwhile, Iain is on the trail of a double agent. Time is running out, and secrets must be decoded before lives and hearts are sacrificed.

An Invitation to Scandal


Kelly Boyce - 2013
     Miss Abigail Laytham is a lady on a mission, determined to see the man responsible for her beloved uncle’s death pay. But revenge has its price, and with scandal courting her every step, can the headstrong beauty find the satisfaction she craves, or will she find something else entirely at the hands of her former beau, Viscount Roxton. The Sins & Scandals Series While there are those who spend their time in modest pursuits, upholding propriety befitting the lords and ladies of the ton, it would seem that for others scandal is just a sin away… THE SINS & SCANDALS SERIES #1 AN INVITATION TO SCANDAL #2 A SCANDALOUS PASSION #3 A SINFUL TEMPTATION #4 THE LADY'S SINFUL SECRET #5 SURRENDER TO SCANDAL #6 A SINNER NO MORE #7 THE SWEETEST SIN (Aug 9, 2016) #8 A MOST SCANDALOUS CHRISTMAS (Dec 2016) #9 A HINT OF SCANDAL (Spring 2017) #10 SINS OF A SOLDIER (TBD)

The Waylaid Heart


Holly Newman - 1990
    Suspecting the culprit traveled in society circles, she diverts attention from eavesdropping and prying with constant and tiresome complaints of illness.But nothing is as it seems...Sir James Branstoke sees straight through Cecilia's feigned fragility. Intrigued by her odd behavior, he believes she has secrets—secrets that could lead to her demise. So, the hunter follows the huntress through society, never imagining that what has started as a chance inquiry could lead to a surprising love greater than either had ever known.But will the cost of uncovering a murderer be too high? Can Cecilia and James reveal the culprit so love can blossom in the end?

Sarah's Duke: and Ellie's Gentleman


Georgiana Louis - 2015
    She doesn’t need a great fortune or a title, she would actually prefer not to have to go into London ever again. She has little to offer other than her beauty and a pleasant temperament, but she is hoping that will be enough to secure her a man who will be kind to her. Oliver Lyre is the newly inherited Duke of Lincoln. Born as the spare son, he never expected to inherit his father’s mantle, and has neither the skills nor the desire to enjoy the benefits of his rank. He knows that he must marry a lady befitting of the position, but when he rescues the beautiful Sarah Collins one night, he can’t imagine living without her lovely smile in his life. Should he marry the delectably sweet virgin who would undoubtedly make a horrible Duchess, or do what duty demands of him? Ellie's Gentleman: sweet short story Ellie Sommers is twenty years old, beautiful, lively and intelligent. She has finally returned to her family home after another long London season. She wants nothing more than to stay in her beloved country town and ride her horses. Enter Robert Blakely, a widower and a true gentleman. He has come to spend Christmas with his long-time friend William, Ellie’s father. Robert has no wish to marry again and is shocked to discover his own interest in the beautiful daughter of his friend. The only problem is that he is twice her age and a widower who has convinced himself he will never marry again.

A Holiday by Gaslight


Mimi Matthews - 2018
    But the darkly handsome Mr. Edward Sharpe is no run-of-the-mill London merchant. He’s grim and silent. A man of little emotion—or perhaps no emotion at all. After two months of courtship, she’s ready to put an end to things. A Last Chance for Love But severing ties with her taciturn suitor isn’t as straightforward as Sophie envisioned. Her parents are outraged. And then there’s Charles Darwin, Prince Albert, and that dratted gaslight. What’s a girl to do except invite Mr. Sharpe to Appersett House for Christmas and give him one last chance to win her? Only this time there’ll be no false formality. This time they’ll get to know each other for who they really are.

Of Moths and Butterflies


V.R. Christensen - 2011
    Gina Shaw is a servant in his uncle’s house. Clearly out of place in the position in which she has been discovered, she becomes a source of fascination . . . and curiosity. A girl with a blighted past and a fortune she deems a curse, Gina has lowered herself in order to find escape from her family and their scheming designs. But when she is found, the stakes suddenly become dire. All Gina wants is the freedom to live her life as she would wish. All her aunts want is the money that comes with her. But there is more than one way to trap an insect. An arranged marriage might turn out profitable for more parties than one. Mr. Hamilton is about to make the acquisition of a lifetime. But will the price be worth it? Can a woman captured and acquired learn to love the man who has bought her?