Book picks similar to
Texas: Pioneer Hearts Are Open to Love and at Risk for Danger in Four Interwoven Novels by Debra White Smith
christian-fiction
romance
historical-fiction
texas
To Love Anew
Bonnie Leon - 2007
Forced to leave the only home she's ever known, she works for a cruel employer who brutally takes the one thing she has left - her dignity. When she is banished from London, she is certain God has turned his back on her. John Bradshaw was a successful businessman whose untamed spirit sometimes wanted more. When he is betrayed by those closest to him, he loses everything - his wife, his business, even his freedom. John's and Hannah's paths are about to cross. Aboard a ghastly, nineteenth-century prison ship from London to Australia, John and Hannah must keep hope alive and trust God's unconditional love.
McKenzie
Penny Zeller - 2010
McKenzie is desperate, after all, to save her beloved younger sister, Kaydie, from her evil, abusive husband, who robs banks for a living. And so, it is with reckless determination that McKenzie runs away from the comforts of home and hearth to head West and meet her new husband-whom she'll divorce, of course, after she rescues her sister. "Desperate times call for desperate measures" is the reasoning that also prompts Zachary Sawyer, a rugged rancher after God's own heart, to post an ad for a mail-order bride in various newspapers across the country. Managing a ranch and caring for his adoptive son, Davey, has become more than one man can handle alone, and Zach prays for God to send him a wife with whom to build a life and share his dreams.When McKenzie arrives at Zach's ranch, she immediately puts her plan in motion, searching for her sister and doing all she can to keep her new husband from forming an attachment. But his persistent kindness and significant self-sacrifices begin to change her heart-and ruin her plans. God has a way of working things out to the good of those who love Him, though, as McKenzie and Kaydie will soon see.
Like a River Glorious
Lawana Blackwell - 1995
Taken from an orphanage as a young girl, Rachel is a servant to these two high-class swindlers. Now Gerald and Corrine have a new target: wealthy recluse Adam Burke. But when Rachel meets Lord Burke, her heart -- and her life -- is thrown into jeopardy. How can she let Gerald and Corrine ruin the life of this noble man?As Rachel discovers a heart connection with Adam that she never imagined possible, she faces a terrible choice. If she wants to save him, she must sacrifice everything...possibly ever her life.
Julie
Catherine Marshall - 1985
Trying to escape the Great Depression, Julie’s father buys The Alderton Sentinel, a small-town newspaper in flood-prone Alderton, Pennsylvania, and moves his family there. As flash floods ominously increase, Julie’s investigative reporting uncovers secrets that could endanger the entire community.Julie, the newspaper, and her family are thrown into a perilous standoff with the owners of the steel mills as they investigate the conditions of the steelworkers. Battle lines are drawn between the steel mill owners and their immigrant laborers. As The Sentinel and Julie take on a more aggressive role in reforming these conditions in their community, seething tensions come to a head.When a devastating tragedy follows a shocking revelation, Julie’s courage and strength are tested. Will truth and justice win, or will Julie lose everything she holds dear?
Loving the Horseman
Davalynn Spencer - 2014
While serving her “potbellied biscuits” to mercantile customers, she falls under the lustful eye of the local hotel and saloon owner but does her best to avoid him. A mysterious cowboy also frequents the store and, like most everyone else, turns out to be much more than she expected. One-time preacher Caleb Hutton has sworn off the pulpit and women, but Annie Whitaker’s warm smile and melt-in-your-mouth biscuits have drawn him up short. His experience with horses lands him a job at the livery until he can find work elsewhere. But an unexpected friendship with the Whitakers develops into more than he bargained for, and he wonders if maybe God led him to Cañon City for reasons he hasn’t yet discovered.
Light of My Heart
Ginny Aiken - 2004
Letitia Morgan comes to Hartville, Colorado, in the late 1800s to follow her God-given calling to heal. Soon she becomes Hartville's ministering angel, reaching out to the children of the town drunk, and skillfully touching all who need her. But not everyone warms to the lovely new physician and Letty ruffles plenty of feathers when she takes on Hartville's thriving brothels. As she rescues first one then another young girl forced into the sordid trade, Letty becomes the target of some of the town's most powerful people. Eric Wagner, Hartville's newspaper editor, finds he got much more than he bargained for when he brought this female doctor to town. As Letty stirs more controversy with each passing day, he wonders if he can save the noble-minded doctor from herself. This is heart-warming and engaging fiction at its best, straight from the pen of a skilled storyteller.
The Heart's Calling
Tracie J. Peterson - 1995
But trouble has a way of finding Pamela no matter where she is.As she schemes to accompany her new friend Zandy Dawson and her mine-owner husband back to Colorado, Pamela's wildest dreams could not contain what lies ahead. But Pamela also could not imagine a friend as strong and dependable as rugged Jim Williams, or a faith in God that she will test to the limit.As she seeks to find herself amid the scourges of the sagebrush, will Pamela ever realize her true heart's calling?
The Vigilante's Bride
Yvonne Harris - 2010
He just wanted to reclaim the money stolen from him, but ends up with a feisty copper-haired orphan thrown over his shoulder who was on her way to marry Sullivan's bitter enemy.Emily McCarthy is an orphan out of options. Forced to marry because she was too old for her orphanage, she doesn't take kindly to her "rescue." Still she trusts God can turn any situation to good especially when it seems Sullivan may just be the man of her dreams. But Sullivan's crossed a dangerous man unused to losing and Emily may just be the prize he's unwilling to sacrifice.
The Journey West
Elaine L. Schulte - 1989
But suddenly she finds herself orphaned, bankrupt, and dependent on the assistance of her Christain relatives who are moving west. Stunned by the turn of events, she must learn to cope with the physical and emotional strain of a wagon train journey in the company of a family whose faith she cannot understand, and a young man whose presence disturbs her.The Journey West is the first book in the exciting story of the Talbots, a Christian family determined to penetrate the west with the reality of God's love.
Wind Dancer
Jamie Carie - 2009
A free spirit, she dances in the moonlight as a praise offering to God and is more at home fearlessly taking her long rifle and knife into the woods for adventure and inspiration.But Isabelle's latest journey may be more than even her strength can handle when a huge storm throws the raven-haired beauty off course and into the path of rugged American spy Samuel Holt. After matching wits and denying their passion for each other, they are attacked by Indians, held prisoner, and forced to watch the horrific killing of Isabelle's brother. Now together but in captivity, they must fight spiritual forces that no knife or rifle could ever conquer in order to be free.
The Frontiersman's Daughter
Laura Frantz - 2009
Haunted by her father's former captivity with the Shawnee Indians, as well as the secret sins of her family's past, Lael comes of age in the fragile Kentucky settlement her father founded. Though she faces the loss of a childhood love, a dangerous family feud, and the affection of a Shawnee warrior, Lael draws strength from the rugged land she calls home, and from Ma Horn, a distant relative who shows her the healing ways of herbs and roots found in the hills. But the arrival of an outlander doctor threatens her view of the world, God, and herself--and the power of grace and redemption.This epic novel gives readers a glimpse into the simple yet daring lives of the pioneers who first crossed the Appalachians, all through the courageous eyes of a determined young woman. Laura Frantz's debut novel offers a feast for readers of historical fiction and romance lovers alike.
Mercy and Eagleflight
Michael R. Phillips - 1996
Set on the Kansas plains in the early 1890s, the series follows the story of a young evangelist named Mercy Randolph as she discovers God's love through an unlikely friendship with a card-playing drifter named Jeremiah Eagleflight.
The Abolitionist's Daughter
Kathleen L. Maher - 2018
Horse traders from Virginia, Ethan Sharpe and his brother Devon would defend their livelihood from her interfering kind. When love ignites, friends become enemies separated over the course of a long and brutal conflict. Can the very influences which carved a chasm unite a torn family against all odds?
Secrets of Sloane House
Shelley Gray - 2014
However, Rosalind is not there just to earn a living and support her family-she's at Sloane House determined to discover the truth about her sister's mysterious disappearance.Reid Armstrong is the handsome heir to a silver fortune. However, his family is on the periphery of Chicago's elite because their wealth comes from "new money" obtained from successful mining. Marriage to Veronica Sloane would secure his family's position in society-the lifelong dream of his ailing father.When Reid begins to realize that Rosalind's life may be in danger, he stops thinking of marriage prospects and concentrates on helping Rosalind. Dark things are afoot in Chicago and, he fears, in Sloane House. If he's not vigilant, Rosalind could pay the price.Set against the backdrop of Chicago's Gilded Age and the 1893 World's Fair, Secrets of Sloane House takes us on a whirlwind journey of romance and mystery.
The Curiosity Keeper
Sarah E. Ladd - 2015
It is large as a quail’s egg, still untouched and unpolished. And it is rumored to either bless or curse whomever possesses it.”Camille Iverness can take care of herself. She’s done so since the day her mother abandoned the family and left Camille to run their shabby curiosity shop on Blinkett Street. But when a violent betrayal leaves her injured with no place to hide, Camille has no choice but to accept help from the mysterious stranger who came to her aid.Jonathan Gilchrist never wanted to inherit Kettering Hall. As a second son, he was content working as a village apothecary. But when his brother’s death made him heir just as his father’s foolish decisions put the estate at risk, only the sale of a priceless possession—a ruby called the Bevoy—can save the family from ruin. But the gem has disappeared. And all trails lead to Iverness Curiosity Shop—and the beautiful shop girl who may or may not be the answer to his questions.Curious circumstance throws them together, and an intricate dance of need and suspicion leads the couple from the seedy backwaters of London to the elite neighborhoods of the wealthy to the lush, green Surrey countryside—all in the pursuit of a blood-red gem that collectors will sacrifice anything to possess.Caught at the intersection of blessings and curses, greed and deceit, two determined souls must unite to protect what they hold dear. But when a passion that shines far brighter than any gem is ignited, each will have to decide how much they are willing to risk for their future, love, and happiness.