Book picks similar to
My Life Untold by S.S. Gee Buro


historical-fiction
civil-war
romance
historical-romance

Iron Branch: A Civil War Tale of a Woman In-Between


Kelby Ouchley - 2011
    Abita Carter, a half-Choctaw woman who describes herself as always “in-between,” tells the story of her life and that of the young lawyer/soldier, Minor Barrett, in north Louisiana during the Civil War. The core of the tale involves Abita’s journey to find Minor, who is reported to have been wounded during the siege of Vicksburg. Along the way she faces a cast of characters with varying intentions. General Grant’s wife, a family of slaves with compassion beyond reason, and a small blind mule are among those encountered in the rich, Deep South setting. None, though, is more distracting than Minor’s blue-blooded wife, who seeks her husband for a different purpose. Abita’s state of “in-between” takes on new meanings as she is drawn ever deeper into the turmoil of the times. Passion, self-doubt, and malice finally threaten her existence in any condition.

A Thistle in the Mist


Megan Denby - 2013
    Empty eyes – the empty eyes of her mother – stare right through her and Meara thinks her world has ended. She has no idea.Ebullient and feisty, eighteen-year-old Meara MacDonald lives an idyllic life with her family, on the mist-enfolded Isle of Skye, dreaming of the day when she will wed her heart, the gallant Duncan MacLeod. But fate has other plans and when Aunt Deirdre and Uncle Sloan seep into their midst, Meara’s family is taken, one-by-one, for reasons she discovers are both personal and nefarious. Mother is found dead, Da disappears, Duncan is taken by the Napoleonic Wars, Meara’s younger sister, Hannah – with child by Uncle Sloan – takes her own life and while Meara sleeps, her newborn son is snatched from her arms. Unable to reign in her spirit or her tongue, Meara finds herself catapulted from Scotland to a household steeped in mystery in Nova Scotia where, guided by her strength of will, she will fight her way back to the remains of her family; her heart and soul.**Warning ~ This novel is NOT suitable for the faint of heart. It is NOT a fluffy romance but a gritty tale of tragedy, betrayal and deception with true love, faith and justice. The dialogue throughout is authentic Scottish dialect with true-to-life swearing, violence and sex.Show more Show less

The Last Woman Standing


Thelma Adams - 2011
    She leaves her San Francisco home to join Behan in Tombstone, Arizona, a magnet for miners (and outlaws) attracted by the silver boom. Though united by the glint of metal, Tombstone is plagued by divided loyalties: between Confederates and Unionists, Lincoln Republicans and Democrats.But when the silver-tongued Behan proves unreliable, it is legendary frontiersman Wyatt Earp who emerges as Josephine’s match. As the couple’s romance sparks, Behan’s jealousy ignites a rivalry destined for the history books…At once an epic account of an improbable romance and a retelling of an iconic American tale, The Last Woman Standing recalls the famed gunfight at the O.K. Corral through the eyes of a spunky heroine who sought her happy ending in a lawless outpost—with a fierce will and an unflagging spirit.

Hemingway's Girl


Erika Robuck - 2012
    At the time she’d thought it romantic. She hadn’t understood his warning.”In Depression-era Key West, Mariella Bennet, the daughter of an American fisherman and a Cuban woman, knows hunger. Her struggle to support her family following her father’s death leads her to a bar and bordello, where she bets on a risky boxing match...and attracts the interest of two men: world-famous writer, Ernest Hemingway, and Gavin Murray, one of the WWI veterans who are laboring to build the Overseas Highway.When Mariella is hired as a maid by Hemingway’s second wife, Pauline, she enters a rarified world of lavish, celebrity-filled dinner parties and elaborate off-island excursions. As she becomes caught up in the tensions and excesses of the Hemingway household, the attentions of the larger-than-life writer become a dangerous temptation...even as the reliable Gavin Murray draws her back to what matters most. Will she cross an invisible line with the volatile Hemingway, or find a way to claim her own dreams? As a massive hurricane bears down on Key West, Mariella faces some harsh truths...and the possibility of losing everything she loves.

What the Lady Wants


Renée Rosen - 2014
     The night of the Great Fire, as seventeen-year-old Delia watches the flames rise and consume what was the pioneer town of Chicago, she can't imagine how much her life, her city, and her whole world are about to change. Nor can she guess that the agent of that change will not simply be the fire, but more so the man she meets that night...Leading the way in rebuilding after the fire, Marshall Field reopens his well-known dry goods store and transforms it into something the world has never seen before: a glamorous palace of a department store. He and his powerhouse coterie--including Potter Palmer and George Pullman--usher in the age of robber barons, the American royalty of their generation.But behind the opulence, their private lives are riddled with scandal and heartbreak. Delia and Marshall first turn to each other out of loneliness, but as their love deepens, they will stand together despite disgrace and ostracism, through an age of devastation and opportunity, when an adolescent Chicago is transformed into the gleaming White City of the Chicago's World's Fair of 1893.

Quail Crossings


Jennifer McMurrain - 2012
    Despite her grief, she still must fight to bring her remaining family through the already trying times of The Great Depression. Her father needs help on their struggling farm, Quail Crossings. She isn't thrilled that he's hired a young 18 year old boy who's caring for his three younger siblings. Surviving her grief, as well as the constant dust storms that plague the plains, will Dovie be able to put her pain aside to care for these children or be forever trapped in the darkness of the loss in her family?

1929


M.L. Gardner - 2009
    With the help of their former, outspoken, Irish maid, Maura, and a new, equally Irish friend, Shannon, the wives become even closer than before.The couples' rocky path leads to more turmoil, however, when a business rival, Victor Drayton, creates one disaster after another. From petty tricks to outright violence, Victor's nefarious mind will stop at nothing to beat down Jonathan's last glimmer of hope.Despite everything, Jonathan and his friends are fixated on surviving.Emotional and financial destruction nip at their heels, until finally, with a lucky twist of fate, they escape city life and begin anew in their hometown of Rockport, Massachusetts.A story set in the past, 1929 is full of romance, drama, and humor. Vivid, expertly crafted characters make this novel more than memorable–1929 is unforgettable.

Forsaken Dreams


MaryLu Tyndall - 2013
    After witnessing the death and destruction caused by the Civil War, Colonel Blake Wallace is eager to leave his once precious Southern homeland for the pristine shores of Brazil and the prospect of a new utopian community. Widow Eliza Crawford seeks passage on Wallace’s ship harboring a dirty secret—and a blossoming hope for a fresh start. But once the voyage begins, troubles abound. Dangers at sea and enemies from within threaten to keep Blake and Eliza from the new life—and love—they long for.

The Heart of a Child


Emily D. Moon - 2010
    "It was simple, heartwarming, painful, and lovely, all in perfect doses." -Writer's Digest Nelson writes and readers respond... "A Modern Day To Kill A Mockingbird." "Inspiring. Remarkable." "It touched me in a way that I didn't know books could." "Friendship, heartbreak, life, and death. This novel has it all." "A story bound to make an impact in literary circles." "The characters were so compelling that they literally brought me to tears." "Simply put: brilliant!" "Heartbreaking and beautiful."

That First Montana Year


Donna L. Scofield - 2015
    But she's a minister’s daughter and pregnant. To save embarrassment for the families, and hoping a fresh start will help them become the sweethearts they were before, B’Anne agrees to leave everyone and everything she knows and go with Will to the Montana Territory. They hope Will's uncle Hiram, whom he has never met, will guide them in their homesteading. Uncle Hiram welcomes Will, but treats B’Anne coolly until he realizes she isn’t a “frills and furbelows” girl. Although Will seems to care for B’Anne, she loses her confidence when she discovers a letter from Will's former sweetheart. Will's secrecy threatens to build a wall between them. Spring arrives, and with it the promise of renewal. But is B’Anne's hope for a fresh start enough to sustain the young couple through the years of hard living under that big Montana sky?

Why Aren't You Sweet Like Me?: Based on a True World War II Love Story


Carrie Nyman - 2011
    As America enters the war, and Don is pressured into the service by his father, the two newlyweds struggle to maintain contact. Don becomes a hero, saving the lives of his comrades, but will he make it home alive? Why Aren't You Sweet Like Me? is a novel based on the actual love letters exchanged between the author's grandparents.

The Day is a White Tablet


Jill Fletcher Pelaez - 2013
    Tench Traymore, a free black teen, has been following his older white cousin, Lance Traymore, as his cook. The two young men grew up together and are inseparable as they fight under the command of General Pickett. But when Lance dies in battle, Tench is left alone. With a few of his cousin’s possessions — a horse called Night, his boots, and his journals—Tench travels home to Georgia. Discovering the Traymores have moved to Florida, he heads south in search of them. On this treacherous journey and encountering those who would stop him, Tench gains courage as he faces this changed world on his own.

The Love We Gave


Gretta Curran Browne
    "Part thriller, part love story … it’s hard to resist turning the pages."—BELFAST TELEGRAPH"Books are often described as 'page-turners' but this is very true of this one’ … Once started the reader will find it very hard to put down.’--- SOUTHSIDE NEWS."Succeeds in combining a fast-paced tale involving vast sums of money, immense power, women both wounded and wounding, and a variety of credible male characters from the traumatised Vietnam veteran Jimmy Overman to the seedy publisher, James Duncan … an excellent book.’ – IE BOOK REVIEWPARIS 1940 ― Sixteen year-old Jacqueline Castineau joins the French Resistance and proves herself more lethal than any Nazi.LONDON 1963 ― The music of Elvis, the Beatles, and Smokey Robinson hum through the city night and day; and the life of a shy young English waitress changes spectacularly when an off-duty American soldier comes into the bistro where she works.AMERICA1963 ― President Kennedy is in the White House and Martin Luther King is marching for Civil Rights.In this incredible and beautiful love story, jealousy and vengeance play a cruel part – set between two wars, the horror of the past come back to casts dark shadows over the present, and uneasiness about the fearful threats of the future.

The Last Bathing Beauty


Amy Sue Nathan - 2020
    Back then Betty Stern was an eighteen-year-old knockout working at her grandparents’ lakeside resort. The “Catskills of the Midwest” was the perfect place for Betty to prepare for bigger things. She’d head to college in New York City. Her career as a fashion editor would flourish. But first, she’d enjoy a wondrous last summer at the beach falling deeply in love with an irresistible college boy and competing in the annual Miss South Haven pageant. On the precipice of a well-planned life, Betty’s future was limitless.Decades later, the choices of that long-ago season still reverberate for Betty, now known as Boop. Especially when her granddaughter comes to her with a dilemma that echoes Boop’s memories of first love, broken hearts, and faraway dreams. It’s time to finally face the past—for the sake of her family and her own happiness. Maybe in reconciling the life she once imagined with the life she’s lived, Boop will discover it’s never too late for a second chance.

Beautiful Exiles


Meg Waite Clayton - 2018
    Headstrong, accomplished journalist Martha Gellhorn is confident with words but less so with men when she meets disheveled literary titan Ernest Hemingway in a dive bar. Their friendship—forged over writing, talk, and family dinners—flourishes into something undeniable in Madrid while they’re covering the Spanish Civil War.Martha reveres him. The very married Hemingway is taken with Martha—her beauty, her ambition, and her fearless spirit. And as Hemingway tells her, the most powerful love stories are always set against the fury of war. The risks are so much greater. They’re made for each other.With their romance unfolding as they travel the globe, Martha establishes herself as one of the world’s foremost war correspondents, and Hemingway begins the novel that will win him the Nobel Prize for Literature. Beautiful Exiles is a stirring story of lovers and rivals, of the breathless attraction to power and fame, and of one woman—ahead of her time—claiming her own identity from the wreckage of love.