Book picks similar to
The Waylaid Heart by Holly Newman


romance
historical-romance
historical
regency

Crimes Of The Brothers


D.L. Carter - 2013
    caring... supportive... protective. Catherine Walman's brother, however, is not. He has maligned her reputation until no honorable man will seek her company, wasted her dowry and endangered her home with his gambling and now his new wife has made it clear Catherine is no longer welcome. The hand of fortune intervenes when a letter arrives advising Catherine that a stranger has bequeathed to her "a home and money to keep it." Catherine seizes upon this chance, hoping that it might be enough for her to be independent, to be free - only to discover this stranger also had a brother, or two, or three.

Grace


Deneane Clark - 1998
    The world, she had noticed, expected nothing more from women than that they be submissive, demure brood mares, allowed absolutely no rights or even opinions of their own. And yet, at twenty, an age at which most of Society considered her well past her prime, she need only wait a little longer to be safe. No—she was fairly comfortable declaring—she would never marry, no matter the temptation set before her.He Would...With a flashing green gaze potently combining warmth, humor and seductive promise, Trevor Christian Caldwell was resisted by few women. When one factored in the earldom of Huntwick and his legendary charm, his conquests became all the more indubitable. But never had there been a woman he truly respected. Not until now. Here, in Pelthamshire, a spirited redhead forced a decision he had never before considered: He would marry Grace Ackerly, no matter what protestations, no matter what travails.It was yet to be seen who would prevail. And how.

Educating Elizabeth


Kate Pearce - 2011
    The duke agrees to teach her everything she needs to know, but in return expects to receive her unwitting cooperation to uncover an assassination plot against the monarchy. But Elizabeth is hard to deceive, and the duke finds himself needing more than her innocent skills in his bed. Together they must use their remarkable abilities, to thwart a villain, save the Prince Regent and accidentally and inevitably fall in love.

My Fair Lily


Meara Platt - 2014
    Nothing can tempt him to remain, not even Lily, the beautiful bluestocking determined not only to restore relations between him and his grandfather, but to turn Ewan into a proper gentleman. Ewan, proud of his Scottish heritage, refuses to admit that Lily, a blue-eyed, English girl, has claimed his heart. It doesn’t matter that his big lump of a sheepdog is madly in love with her. Nor is it significant that Ewan can always tell Lily apart from her identical twin sister. Always. Lily Farthingale, the scholarly twin, dreams of becoming the first female member of the Royal Society. She grabs at the chance when the elderly Duke of Lotheil approaches her with a proposition - he’ll admit her into the Royal Society, if she helps him to establish a relation with his estranged grandson, Ewan Cameron, a very rough-around-the-edges Scotsman who hates everything English. Between shootings, explosions, and Lily’s abduction, Ewan ends up falling in love with Lily in this Pygmalion-inspired story.

Mask of Duplicity


Julia Brannan - 2015
    However, Beth's hopes of a quiet life are dashed when Richard, dissatisfied with his meagre inheritance and desperate for promotion, decides to force her into a marriage for his military gain. And he will stop at nothing to get his way.Beth is coerced into a reconciliation with her noble cousins in order to marry well and escape her brutal brother. She is then thrown into the glittering social whirl of Georgian high society and struggles to conform. The effeminate but witty socialite Sir Anthony Peters offers to ease her passage into society and she is soon besieged by suitors eager to get their hands on her considerable dowry. Beth, however, wants love and passion for herself, and to break free from the artificial life she is growing to hate. She finds herself plunged into a world where nothing is as it seems and everyone hides behind a mask. Can she trust the people professing to care for her?The first in the series about the fascinating lives of beautiful Beth Cunningham, her family and friends during the tempestuous days leading up to the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, which attempted to overthrow the Hanoverian King George II and restore the Stuarts to the British throne. Join the rebellion of one woman and her fight for survival in... The Jacobite Chronicles.

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.

Rejecting the Rogue


Riley Cole - 2017
    And the worst heartbreakers.Philomena Sweet, Victorian London's finest safecracker, knows it better than most. The worst rogue of them all, dashing jewel thief Spencer Crane, smashed hers long ago. And now he's back, fleeing danger from their past. Danger he won't survive without her help.She'd love to refuse. She'd kill to stab him with her parasol. But she can't leave him for dead.Spencer Crane would sooner steal costume jewelry than ask talented, wickedly bright Meena Sweet for help. He's well aware she'd rather dice him into small pieces. He might even deserve it. But revenge stalks them both. He needs her artistry. She needs his skills.Neither needs the desire that sparks to life between them.While they dodge criminals, carriages, and the occasional flying cabbage, who will protect these two notorious thieves from each other?—Meet The Restitution League—Thieves, rogues, and well-armed adventuresses, the crew of the Restitution League fights injustice while wrestling with love and desire—and the occasional throwing knife—one romance at a time.And there's tea.

Always Come Home


Maureen Driscoll - 2014
     Colin Emerson, the Earl of Ridgeway, has two unmarried sisters and a mountain of debt incurred by his late father. He has no choice but to marry an heiress. It is most unfortunate, therefore, when he falls in love with a penniless governess. Ava Conway has been making her way in the world since the death of her father. She takes a position as the governess to Lord Ridgeway's sisters, but finds her growing attachment to the earl threatens his family's future. Bound by honor, torn by love, can Colin do right by his sisters while following his heart? WARNING: This book contains explicit sexual content and adult situations. You will not like this book if you don't like either of those two things.

Duke of Havoc


Whitney Blake - 2019
    Meet the damaged dukes from the Napoleonic wars and the spirited, strong-willed, and beautiful women who help them discover the joy of living again. Romance, intrigue, and passion ignite in this stunning new series - and read for FREE in Kindle Unlimited! Lord Reeve Malliston, Third Duke of Nidderdale, is a brilliant military tactician with a musician’s eccentricities. A favorite of the Duke of Wellington, he’s called to fight on the fields of Salamanca. The English victory is supposed to be Reeve’s defining accomplishment, but war is cruel to the duke, who is discharged from the battlefield nearly deaf and with two fingers missing. He comes home a disgraced and broken man, or so he believes. After his lady wife dies under mysterious circumstances, nasty rumors abound that he went mad, that war shattered his mind and he murdered the mother of his two young daughters. With little care for the social consequences, he does nothing to combat the gossip and descends into debauchery, leaving his children under the dubious care of a pernicious governess and her sister, his equally uncivil housekeeper. When yet another instance of domestic chaos greets him and his daughters beg him to intervene, Reeve suddenly decides to enlist his old comrade’s daughter as their new governess. With this new woman to be both surrogate mother and tutor, Reeve plans on resuming his risqué lifestyle without worry or guilt. But Miss Caroline Sedgwyck, though affectionate toward the children and levelheaded overall, is anything but docile. She sees right through Reeve’s penchant for impropriety, much as he detects that her calm indifference to him is a facade. The two constantly test each other as Caroline challenges the duke to do what is best for his family, while Reeve stirs Caroline’s passions. Desire, friction, and friendship blossom in equal measure between them—is Caroline the woman to quell the Duke of Havoc? Will she restore the music to his soul?

Unlaced


Kristina Cook - 2004
    Instead, she’s caught up in a whirlwind of balls, marriage proposals, and ton intrigues. Worse, she finds herself irresistibly drawn to her sponsors’ maddening neighbor, Henry Ashton, the Marquess of Mandeville. The handsome, arrogant, sometimes infuriating Mandeville stokes a passionate fire within her that won’t be denied, no matter the consequence.Deep, emotional scars secretly plague Henry, Lord Mandeville. As a result, he’s avoided romantic entanglements at all costs. Only, now he needs a wife—someone from a wealthy, powerful family to further his political aspirations. Instead, he finds himself all but obsessed with the beautiful but unconventional Lucy Abbington—a woman whose passions and wit stir desires he’d rather ignore. And yet…she might just be the one woman who can heal his wounded heart.Lucy and Henry’s heads say no, but their hearts say yes. Will they find themselves undone by love?

Gabriella


Brenda Hiatt - 1992
    . . but won a treasure. Due to a lost wager, the Duke of Ravenham is obliged to bring a pretty little nobody from the country into fashion among the high-sticklers of London Society. Ravenham would never refuse a debt of honor, no matter how unorthodox, so he overlooks Miss Gordon's vulgar relations to do what is necessary, escorting the unsophisticated chit to balls, etc. But what he expects to be an irksome duty turns out to be something quite different as he falls under the spell of his protege's innocent charm. When he lost that wager, he definitely never counted on losing his heart as well! First impressions can be deceiving. Miss Gabriella Gordon only came to London at her mother's and sister's insistence, for she'd much rather assist in running her father's veterinary practice than attempt to fit into fashionable society. No sooner has she arrived in London than the exalted (and exceedingly handsome) Duke of Ravenham comes to call. The reason is less than flattering, however: due to a lost wager, the Duke is forced to bring Gabriella into fashion, a "favor" she would certainly refuse if her family would let her. But the more time she spends in the dashing Duke's company, the more conflicted she feels-- particularly when she discovers they have more in common than she ever dared dream. A sparkling traditional Regency romance from bestselling author Brenda Hiatt.

The House of Devon: Regency Romance


Tammy Andresen - 2020
    Rather, the House of Devon takes the romance below stairs, to the people who live, laugh, and love all while they serve. Meet the staff of the House of Devon, and discover how they find their happily ever afters...

Tempt Me at Midnight


Lauren Royal - 2014
    But when the man she's loved since her girlhood returns from a long spell abroad, she quite suddenly finds herself hoping the fine lord her brother has picked for her won't propose. She decides that if he does, she'll quite improperly turn him down—that is, until the man of her hopes and dreams informs her he has no intention of marrying her.The last time Tristan Nesbitt saw Alexandra, he was a common man with no hope of ever wedding the daughter of a marquess. Seven years later, he's now Lord Hawkridge, which should make him eminently suitable for the woman who long ago captured his heart. But a dreadful scandal has tarnished his name in England—a scandal so horrid that marrying Alexandra would ruin not only her flawless reputation but her whole family. For Alexandra's own good, he must fight his relentless desires and stay far away…

A Rogue for a Lady


Rose Pearson - 2018
     When her father confides in her that he is not altogether well and, therefore, wishes each of his daughters to marry very soon, Amelia responds with her usual gravitas, knowing she must be the first one to find herself a suitable husband. Unfortunately, the one man Amelia finds herself drawn to, while dashingly handsome, is also arrogant and distant with a seemingly less than perfect reputation. However, no matter how hard she tries, she simply cannot stop her growing affections for Lord Northfell, even though he constantly confuses her. And somehow she cannot help the feeling that he is keeping something from her. Love grows yet whispered secrets threaten to separate them. A scheming cousin, blackmail and family responsibilities push Amelia into a spiral of confusion and a sense of betrayal. When all is finally revealed, she must decide what to do with the man who holds her heart – and choose whether love can forget the sins and mistakes of the past. Will Arthur and Amelia overcome their initial differences and reach out to help each other? Or will all their similarly-proud natures lead them to ruin? A story of conflict, courage and passion set in the ultra-sophisticated and unpredictable world of Regency London. “A Rogue for a Lady” is a work of historical romance fiction. It is the first book of a series of standalone romances set in Regency era London involving the Duke of Seaworth’s daughters. Every book is a guaranteed HEA and there are no cliffhangers.

Gentlemen Prefer Spinsters


Samantha Holt - 2018
    When one of her good friends loses her heart to an utter rogue and is ruined forever, she’s determined that the life of a spinster is for her. Thankfully, she’s not alone. Her three dearest friends have had their share of heartbreak and resolve to join her. No matter what the demanding mamas and papas of the world say, they will not give up their spinsterhood.Particularly not to the handsome Lord Harcourt Easton, the Earl of Langley. Merry has always liked Harcourt—after all he is her brother’s best friend—but she cannot fathom his sudden interest in her. After all, he was well known to be quite the rogue at times and she’s hardly the sort to attract the attention of a rake. But Harcourt has loved Merry for some time now. And he’s determined to make her see that. If only he could get past this stubborn determination that she should never marry and convince her he’s the man for her.The death of her father and some strange incidents that put Merry in danger might not be ideal circumstances to woo a woman, but Harcourt is willing to make the best of a dire situation—especially while Merry needs a shoulder to cry on. Harcourt could well be the most amazing man she knows, and Merry cannot help but be grateful for his support, but she cannot very well turn her back on the Spinsters Club so soon…can she?