Book picks similar to
The House at Zaronza by Vanessa Couchman
historical-fiction
fiction
historical
corsica
Home to Stay (Clocktower Romance)
Becke Turner - 2020
She’s determined to open Robey’s Rewards to support her family and honor her husband, but first she has to win the only available lease in historic Sunberry. Wouldn’t you know, Ryan is her competitor? And she for sure won’t be falling for him in the middle of a fierce competition.Desperate to keep her three teens inside the law, Ava moves to her hometown. Renovating Gram’s old farm will keep them out of trouble while she negotiates a lease in the historic district. Just when she thinks she’s achieved success, her wayward boys find more trouble. Worse, their rescuer turns out to be the Marine who led her deceased husband on his fatal patrol.She’s not falling for his kindness, his help with her boys, or his help repairing the farm. Besides, he’s trying to ease his guilt by helping out the poor widow and her kids. She almost lets down her guard until she learns he’s her competitor on the only available lease. Too bad for him because she and her boys are going to kick him to the curb and win that lease.Five years haven’t eased Marine officer Ryan Murphy’s guilt about losing the best man in his unit. Now, he’s losing his heart to the man’s widow. But how does he choose between a comrade and a widow, especially when the family he never believed he could have is right in front of him? If you like a second chance romance with a courageous woman willing to risk everything for family, you’ll enjoy Becke Turner’s award-winning romance HOME TO STAY. Escape to the Sunberry, North Carolina world of romance, pick up your copy of HOME TO STAY, today.
Olivia, Mourning
Yael Politis - 2013
Her father’s will bequeathed the land to whichever of his offspring would put in a crop and stake a claim to it. Olivia insists, “I’m sprung off him just as much as Avis or Tobey.”The problem: she’s seventeen, female, and it’s 1841.She has a friend who would make a perfect partner for this endeavor. Mourning Free knows how to run a farm, having worked many years for local farmers. More importantly, Olivia has complete trust in him and no fear of a romantic entanglement developing between them. Mourning will put in the crop for her and she will then help him buy land of his own.The problem: Mourning is black, the orphaned son of runaway slaves, and reluctant to travel and work with a white girl. He especially fears the private agents from the south who patrol the free states, hunting fugitive slaves.Olivia believes she and Mourning can make their partnership work and they set off together. All goes well, despite the drudgery of survival in an isolated log cabin. Incapable of acknowledging her feelings for Mourning, Olivia thinks her biggest problem is her unrequited romantic interest in their young, single neighbor. Then she is betrayed and violated and her world falls apart.Strong-willed, vulnerable, and compassionate, Olivia is a compelling protagonist on a journey to find a way to do the right thing in a world in which so much is wrong.Awards2010 YWO Book of the Year2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, Quarter-Finalist
Beautiful Fury
Katharine E. Hamilton - 2018
proves to be her most difficult undertaking. Renown for his privacy, Caroline discovers F.W.’s true identity only to find the man behind the art lives a reclusive lifestyle with no wish to display his art in a gallery. Finnegan Walsh dislikes distractions. And he extremely dislikes having people in his workshop. He loves working with glass and creating pieces of art. Simple. However, since meeting Caroline Pritchard, his space is threatened, and the quiet life he strives so hard to maintain is immediately disrupted. Can Caroline convince Finn to take a chance on her with his art and his heart?
More Than I Love My Life
David Grossman - 2019
A bitter secret divides each mother-and-daughter pair, though Gili--abandoned by Nina when she was just three--has always been close to her grandmother. With Gili making the arrangements, they travel together to Goli Otok, a barren island off the coast of Croatia, where Vera was imprisoned and tortured for three years as a young wife after she refused to betray her husband and denounce him as an enemy of the people. This unlikely journey--filtered through the lens of Gili's camera, as she seeks to make a film that might help explain her life--lays bare the intertwining of fear, love, and mercy, and the complex overlapping demands of romantic and parental passion.More Than I Love My Life was inspired by the true story of one of David Grossman's longtime confidantes, a woman who, in the early 1950s, was held on the notorious Goli Otok (the Adriatic Alcatraz). With flashbacks to the stalwart Vera protecting what was most precious on the wretched rock where she was held, and Grossman's fearless examination of the human heart, this swift novel will thrill his many readers and bring new ones into the fold.
The Last Will of Moira Leahy
Therese Walsh
So busy that she leaves little time for memories of her lost twin, Moira; her fractured family in Castine, Maine; and the music she left behind in the wake of tragedy nine years ago.Until a childhood relic and a series of anonymous notes resurrects her dreams, a lost language, and her most painful recollections; and prompts her to cross an ocean in search of ancient history. There, Maeve will learn new truths about her past, and come face to face with the one thing she truly fears. Only then can she choose between the safe life she's built for herself and one of risk, with bonds she knows can be both wrenchingly delicate and more enduring than time.
Sunset on Whisling Island
Julia Clemens - 2020
Its residents will give you reasons to laugh, cry, and rejoice. Bess Wilder's entire life changes with one sentence: "I'm so sorry, Bess." Her husband, Jon, has betrayed her, and she isn't sure what to do or feel. Her entire life was dedicated to Jon and her children. Everything is wrong and life feels like it will never be right. So what can she do? Perfect Olivia Birmingham is keeping a huge secret. Her marriage has been a sham for years. But as long as no one knows the truth, Olivia figures she can deal with the loneliness. It's the shame that she wouldn't be able to stand. But when the truth comes out at the worst time and place, Olivia has to move on, whether she likes it or not. Deb Sterling, Bess's best friend, is there to pick up the pieces as Bess's entire world falls apart. While Deb tries to be strong for Bess, she reels from the betrayal in private. Especially because Deb's own marriage isn't in the most stable of places. Her husband has been temporarily living in London, thousands of miles from Deb and their home on Whisling Island. Deb feels the miles pulling them apart and is scared she'll suffer the same fate as Bess if things don't change. Owning the best hair salon on the island gives Gen Redding a front-row seat to much of her hometown's ups and downs. But somehow, even in the midst of gossip central, Gen has been able to keep the terrible rift she and her husband experienced a few years earlier between just the two of them. Thankfully, they are now in a better place than ever. But when Levi is confronted by a skeleton from his past, Gen just might break.
I Pick You
Eryn Scott - 2021
Magnolia Parker loves botany, but became a professor mostly to make her parents happy. When she’s passed up for tenure, Maggie decides it’s time to make a change. Escaping the city, she finds herself in the idyllic town of Plumb Creek staring at a For Sale sign in a flower shop that shares her name. It must be destiny. Maggie goes all in. Being a florist should be easy for a professor of botany. Right? Boy, is she wrong. Before she even opens shop, she’s angered half the town. After her first customer leaves in a huff, she realizes a botany degree isn’t going to cut it. Enter Grant Sommers, hot local entrepreneur who has the town in his back pocket. He’s willing to help turn the shop around, if Maggie will listen. As much as she wants this to work, she fears she’ll never be able to loosen the town’s tight-knit roots enough to be accepted.It’s time for Maggie to pick her own path, even if it means disappointing everyone else.
Across the Winding River
Aimie K. Runyan - 2020
His only request of his daughter is to go through the long-forgotten box of memorabilia from his days as a medic on the western front. Then, among his wartime souvenirs, Beth finds a photograph of her father with an adoring and beautiful stranger—a photograph worth a thousand questions.It was 1944 when Max was drawn into the underground resistance by the fearless German wife of a Nazi officer. Together, she and Max were willing to risk everything for what they believed was right. Ahead of them lay a dangerous romance, a dream of escape, and a destiny over which neither had control.But Max isn’t alone in his haunting remembrances of war. In a nearby private care home is a fragile German-born woman with her own past to share. Only when the two women meet does Beth realize how much more to her father there is to know, all the ways in which his heart still breaks, and the closure he needs to heal it.
Angel
Mary E. Kingsley - 2011
When her father, Calvin, telephones out of the blue one evening and says he’s coming home for Thanksgiving, Angel thinks her dream of having a normal family is finally going to come true. Instead, she finds herself at the center of a dangerous scenario, threatened by secrets far beyond her understanding.Set in a small Appalachian town in the early 1970’s, Angel is the compelling story of an innocent girl as the unwitting link between the two generations of her family’s dark and unresolved past.
The Lakeside Inn
Leeanna Morgan - 2021
When tragedy strikes, she returns to Sapphire Bay to say goodbye to her grandmother and comfort her parents.The last thing Penny or her sisters expect is to inherit the house her grandma called home. But there's a catch, and it could change their lives forever.Wyatt Johnson didn't move to Sapphire Bay to be harassed by four females and a dog of unknown pedigree. But when the Terry sisters become his neighbors, any chance of completing his latest collection of paintings disappears under a blast of plaster dust and never-ending banging.When Penny needs his help to solve an old family mystery, they're drawn into a web of secrets unlike anything Sapphire Bay has ever seen.This novel can easily be read as a standalone. Each of Leeanna's series are linked so you can find out what happens to your favourite characters in other books. Happy reading!
Dominicana
Angie Cruz - 2019
But when Juan Ruiz proposes and promises to take her to New York City, she has to say yes. It doesn’t matter that he is twice her age, that there is no love between them. Their marriage is an opportunity for her entire close-knit family to eventually immigrate. So on New Year’s Day, 1965, Ana leaves behind everything she knows and becomes Ana Ruiz, a wife confined to a cold six-floor walk-up in Washington Heights. Lonely and miserable, Ana hatches a reckless plan to escape. But at the bus terminal, she is stopped by Cesar, Juan’s free-spirited younger brother, who convinces her to stay.As the Dominican Republic slides into political turmoil, Juan returns to protect his family’s assets, leaving Cesar to take care of Ana. Suddenly, Ana is free to take English lessons at a local church, lie on the beach at Coney Island, see a movie at Radio City Music Hall, go dancing with Cesar, and imagine the possibility of a different kind of life in America. When Juan returns, Ana must decide once again between her heart and her duty to her family.
Storm Island
Linda Watkins - 2018
A second-year-resident in surgery, she thinks she has her life under control. But a curious conversation overheard while taking a catnap launches her on a descent into a world filled with nightmarish visions that cause her to doubt her own sanity.Sent to Storm Island to rest and recuperate from an apparent breakdown, Kate is forced to come to grips with memories of the summer her mother died as well as new terrors that plague her mind. Even the blossoming of an unexpected romance with islander, Jeremy Bradshaw, cannot keep her fears at bay for long.The discovery of a strange little silo, hidden deep in the woods, spurs Kate to action as she tries to unravel its mysteries. But is the silo real or just another illusion created by her tortured mind? Storm Island, A Kate Pomeroy Mystery, is the first book in a series of mysteries taking place on Storm, a remote island off the coast of Maine.
Infinite Sacrifice
L.E. Waters - 2011
Each book in the series wraps up the conflict within the book, but the overall story continues on to the next book. I also want to direct you to my website where you can download and print out the charts that can be difficult to read on electronic devices (http://infiniteseries.net/charts/). That way you can keep it nearby as you read. Happy reading! Maya’s shocked to discover it’s not the heaven she imagined; in fact, a life of adventure begins the moment you die. Zachariah, her faithful spirit guide, explains the rules of the dead: in order to regain complete awareness and reunite with loved ones all souls must review their previous lives. Maya plunges warily into her turbulent pasts as a sociopathic High Priest in ancient Egypt; an independent mother protecting a dangerous secret in glorious Sparta; an Irish boy kidnapped and enslaved by Vikings; and a doctor’s wife forced to make an ethical stand in plague-ridden England. All the while, Maya yearns to be with those she cares about most and worries that she hasn’t learned all of heaven’s most vital lessons. Will she be forced to leave the tranquility of heaven to survive yet another painful and tumultuous life? Or worse, accept the bitter reality of having to go back alone?
The Tuscan Secret
Angela Petch - 2019
Fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale and The Letter by Kathryn Hughes will be captivated. ‘Anna, I kept a diary during the war. I have so much to tell you… And now you have this box containing my scribblings. My memory pearls. This diary is my inheritance to you. Your loving Mamma.’ As World War Two shatters Europe, Ines is a young girl caught up in the Italian Resistance. With her brother and best friend sacrificing everything to fight the Nazis, Ines hides deep in the Tuscan mountains, tending the wounds of the fallen fighters – including an escaped British prisoner-of-war who captures her heart. Forty-five years later, an elderly lady in an English nursing home passes away, dreaming of Italy in her dying hours. To her youngest daughter Anna, she leaves a battered box of letters, their pages yellowed with age, and a promise that the truth about what really happened to her in the war lies within. Anna’s English father forbade her from learning her mother’s beautiful language. So to translate the handwritten diaries, she resolves to visit Tuscany for herself. As she explores the sun-kissed olive groves and stunning mountain landscapes of the homeland she’s never known, Anna uncovers a shocking secret about her mother’s past that will uproot everything she’s ever believed. In this small Tuscan community, some wartime secrets were never meant to be uncovered… Readers have fallen in love with The Tuscan Secret: ‘Fantastic read… I loved this book...I would highly recommend.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars ‘Excellent book!... will grab you and hold onto you long after you put it down.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars ‘A feast of a book… transports you to Tuscany.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars ‘This beautifully woven story had me captivated from the start… I could not help but LOVE the descriptions of Tuscany, the countryside, the people and the food.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars ‘I was gripped… The author weaves a magical tale… There is so much beautiful detail in the author's writing, one could almost taste the food, or feel the beauty of the surroundings.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars ‘The story was beautifully told… a wonderful tale of self-discovery… A great read, with characters who will stay with you long after the book is closed.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars ‘This is a beautifully written book… an ending that took me quite by surprise.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars This book was previously published as Tuscan Roots.
About the Night
Anat Talshir - 2014
Elias is a Christian Arab living on the eastern side of the newly divided city, and Lila is a Jew living on the western side. A growing conflict between their cultures casts a heavy shadow over the region and their burgeoning relationship. Between them lie not only a wall of stone and barbed wire but also the bitter enmity of two nations at war.Told in the voice of Elias as he looks back upon the long years of his life, About the Night is a timely story of how hope can nourish us, loss can devastate us, and love can carry us beyond the boundaries that hold human beings apart.