Tea Cups & Tiger Claws


Timothy Patrick - 2013
    The miracle is the birth of identical triplets, and the madness is all about money, of course. The year is 1916 and the newborn baby girls have become pint-size celebrities. Unfortunately, this small portion of fame soon leads to a much larger portion of greed, and the triplets are split up—parceled out to the highest bidders. Two of the girls go to live in a hilltop mansion. The third girl isn't so lucky. She ends up with a shady family that lives in an abandoned work camp. That’s how their lives begin: two on top, one on the bottom, and all three in the same small town. And when their worlds collide, as they must, the consequences are extreme."Tea Cups & Tiger Claws" spans fifty years and takes the reader from a shantytown to a gilded mansion, from dark desires to sacrificial love.

Mine to Tell


Colleen L. Donnelly - 2013
    Many years earlier, after an unexplained absence, Julianne was relegated to a separate home by a rigidly unforgiving husband, and the Crouse women have suffered the disgrace of her assumed guilt ever since. Despite her family's strong disapproval, Annabelle is driven to pursue her mission through cobwebs and dust, finding the clues and the coded story left behind by her great-grandmother -- Why did she go? And why did she return? Annabelle has to know. Only one person, a man she grew up with but never noticed, stands with Annabelle as she discovers the parallels between her story and her great-grandmother's--two women, generations apart, experiencing what love truly is.

Penumbra


Carolyn Haines - 2006
    But her strange talent isn't the only thing that sets her apart from the townspeople of tiny Drexel, Mississippi. Jade is half-black and the unacknowledged bastard daughter of Drexel's "first lady," the imperious Lucille Longier. Jade's half sister, the pale, fragile, and legitimate Marlena, is married to Lucas Bramlett, the wealthiest man in the region. While the entire town knows of the blood bond between the two women, no one dares speak the truth out loud. Though her talents as a hairdresser are highly sought after by Drexel's elite, Jade accepts that she'll never truly be part of the town and lives her life the best she can. But on one hot summer day in 1952, Jade's world is turned inside out when Marlena, on a tryst with her lover, is savagely beaten and her young daughter kidnapped. Determined to find her niece before it's too late, Jade accepts help from a white sheriff's deputy, Frank Kimble. The forbidden attraction that ignites between them threatens to add to the violence already brewing in town. Carolyn Haines has written several acclaimed mysteries, but here she mines much darker, more serious territory, resulting in a suspenseful, lyrical, passionate, and literary crime novel.

The Lost Heiress Of The Ruby Valley: A Clean Western Historical Romance Novel


Felicity Wells - 2021
    

The Bloodletter's Daughter: A Novel of Old Bohemia


Linda Lafferty - 2012
    But the emperor hides an ugly secret: his bastard son, Don Julius, is afflicted with a madness that pushes the young prince to unspeakable depravity. Desperate to stem his son’s growing number of scandals, the emperor exiles Don Julius to a remote corner of Bohemia where the young man is placed in the care of a bloodletter named Pichler. The bloodletter’s task: cure Don Julius of his madness by purging the vicious humors coursing through his veins.When Pichler brings his daughter Marketa to assist him, she becomes the object of Don Julius’s frenzied --and dangerous-- obsession. To him, she is the embodiment of the women pictured in the Coded Book of Wonder, a priceless manuscript from the imperial library that was the mad prince’s only link to sanity. As the prince descends further into the darkness of his mind, his acts become ever more desperate, as Marketa, both frightened and fascinated, can’t stay away.Inspired by a real-life murder that threatened to topple the powerful Hapsburg dynasty, The Bloodletter’s Daughter is a dark and richly detailed saga of passion and revenge.

Toward the Midnight Sun


Eoin Dempsey - 2020
    Anna Denton is not like the other prospectors traveling to the Yukon on the promise of riches. It’s duty—not profit—that calls her into the wild unknown. With her family nearing financial ruin, Anna has agreed to marry Henry Bradwell, the wealthy King of the Klondike.She meets Will and Silas, childhood friends, on the steamer north. After the ship docks in a lawless Alaska town, Anna’s chaperones run afoul of local criminals, leaving her stranded. Will and Silas agree to escort her the hundreds of treacherous miles to Dawson City—the gateway to the goldfields—and her betrothed, a man she doesn’t know.Upon their arrival, Bradwell warmly welcomes them all. But as a brutal winter sets in, relations sour, and Anna is caught between the promise her family made to the power-hungry Bradwell and her feelings for Will. Anna and her companions soon find themselves in a deadly game where few can be trusted and where the greatest danger in the frozen wilderness of the Klondike is man himself.

Sycamore Bluff


Jude Hardin - 2013
    Given a set of rules and the promise of a generous compensation package at the end, can several hundred people govern themselves and live in relative harmony for six years? The experiment, designed to mimic future colonization on a distant planet, appears to be a huge success. Until something goes terribly wrong… Two undercover operatives from an ultra-clandestine government agency called The Circle are sent to investigate. When Diana Dawkins and Nicholas Colt discover the shocking truth, it’s clear the experiment must be stopped. What isn’t clear is if they’ll make it out alive.

Catching the Westbound


D.C. Hicks - 2012
    Watkins was banished from his small Appalachian community after being unjustly accused of igniting a mining accident. With a little help from fellow riders of the rails, R.J. learned how to survive on his own, but eventually his train came to rest with the Benton and Walters Best Show in America, where R.J. cultivated his unusual talents.At seventeen, R.J. answered another whistle call of destiny, and he met the powerful McClennan family. Like a dazzling display of fireworks to their fourth of July picnic, R.J. provided the perfect blend of flavor for their family that had long since grew stale. But when he had hard time adjusting to the lavish extremes of the East Coast high society, R.J. learned to navigate their foreign world by completely transforming himself. A metamorphosis so complete that within a few short years he was the talk of the town, a man he barely recognized. Still all the talk was for naught because with the closing bell on a single autumn day in 1929, the McClennan fortune, which took generations to amass, was gone. To stop the head-on collision with destitution, McClennan’s eldest son, Cosmo, made a deal with a devil, but it fell upon R.J. to pay the dues. No longer able to afford the luxury of other’s opinions, R.J. shed his finer sensibilities and used every trick he learned along the way to save his new family. Will his efforts be enough or ultimately destroy them? From majestic corners hidden deep within the mountains to New York City’s finest ballrooms, Catching the Westbound chronicles the triumphs and tragedies of R.J. Watkins, a boy who came from nothing but with unparalleled determination, will, and resilience became the last great pioneer of industry. After a lifetime of traveling paths of decadence and despair, by grace alone, he discovered the road that would lead him home.

East of Orleans


Renee' Irvin-Ellis - 2012
    . . Isabella McCoy, from the banks of the Chattahoochee River in Georgia, was as naïve as she was beautiful. Jacqueline Rousseau, the exotic New Orleans prostitute, was known for cruelly breaking men’s hearts while she emptied their pockets. Both with dark secrets of their own, running away from their pasts, to an uncertain future. Fate brought them together, and into the arms of the notorious cotton broker Jules McGinnis, who became both a husband and lover to them. Jealousy. Passion. Love. Murder. Now both women must overcome the truth of their tormented pasts and their unknown futures, as they face one of the most scandalous murder trials Georgia had ever seen.

Muleshoe (Mike Bishop #1)


Jess Butcher - 2011
    When Mike Bishop arrives in Muleshoe seeking a legendary cache of rare gold coins, he enlists the aid of local Sheriff Laura Moss. The Sheriff cautiously joins Bishop’s search and together they discover a link between the gold and an unexplained series of grisly murders spanning more than a century. But others are racing to recover the treasure as well. The line between good and evil blurs as Bishop and Laura struggle to survive a murderous local legend … a legend that promises to turn the Kansas prairie black with blood.

The House


A. O'Connor - 2012
    But its world is threatened when no heir is born. Anna could restore their fortunes, but it would mean the ultimate betrayal. Then the Great Famine grips the country. 1910s – Clara finds life as lady of the manor is not what she expected when she married Pierce Armstrong. As the First World War rages, she finds solace in artist Johnny Seymour’s decadent circle. Then the War of Independence erupts and Clara is caught between two men, deceit and revenge. Present Day – When Kate Fallon sees the house it is love at first sight. She and her tycoon husband Tony buy it and hire the last Armstrong owner, architect Nico, to oversee its restoration. As Kate’s fascination with the house grows, she and Nico begin to uncover its history and the fates of its occupants in centuries past. But then, as her husband's business empire faces ruin, Kate realises that they are in danger of losing everything. Betrayal, deceit, revenge, obsession – one house, one family, three generations Editorial Reviews “Skillful and original plotting kept me enthralled until the final page of the story” Rosemary McLoughlin author of Tyringham Park “Downton’ fans, you’ll love this big house, Engrossing and imaginative” - Irish Independent “An irresistible mix of history, drama and intrigue that entertained and enthralled me in equal measure!” - Bord Gáis Energy Book Club

Not Quite a Duchess (The Boston Heiresses #1)


Ava Rose - 2020
    One broken hero. With danger looming, will they uncover more than they bargained for?A determined Duchess...Lady Anna Trevallyn, Duchess Wrexford, does not possess the typical qualities of the Boston elite. Confident and strong, she refuses to accept her place as a second-class citizen in a man's world--especially when her best friend, Libby, unexpectedly disappears without a trace. Unwilling to leave it to the men to uncover, she's determined to get answers.A damaged Prince...His Royal Highness, Prince Penforth Armstrong-Leeds, will do anything to locate his sister, Libby. Sharing resources, knowledge, and time with the beautiful and intelligent Lady Anna is an added advantage. Pen has secretly admired Anna from afar for years, but his war wound forces him to remain at bay.An unlikely pair...As Pen and Anna delve for answers beneath high society's gilded exterior, their feelings for one another intensify. Now, they must navigate their strong feelings while locating Libby before her reputation is permanently destroyed. With time running out, will they uncover the truth before lives are lost and hearts broken?This is the first in a Victorian Romance series featuring strong and feisty heroines at the forefront of the new age in 1890s America.Read each story as a stand-alone, or read the series in order.If you enjoy Gothic Victorian historical romantic suspense stories, such as those made popular by Victoria Holt, Deanna Raybourn, Anna Lee Huber, Christi Caldwell or Dorothy Eden, you'll love this series by historical romance author, Ava Rose.The Boston Heiresses series:1 - Not Quite a Duchess2 - Not Quite a Baroness3 - Not Quite a Lady4 - Not Quite a Princess

The Illegal Gardener


Sara Alexi - 2012
    Her boys have grown and she has finally divorced her bullying husband. This is her time now.Whilst making her new home habitable, Juliet discovers she needs a sturdy helping hand with the unruly and neglected garden. Unwilling to share her newfound independence with anyone, but unable to do all the work by herself, she reluctantly enlists casual labour.Aaman has travelled to Greece from Pakistan illegally. Desperate to find a way out of poverty, his challenge is to find work and raise money for the harvester his village urgently need to survive.What he imagined would be a heroic journey in reality is fraught with danger and corruption. Aaman finds himself in Greece, and with each passing day loses a little more of himself as he survives his new life as an immigrant worker; illegal, displaced, unwanted and with no value. Hungry and stranded, how will he ever make it back home to Pakistan?In what begins as an uncomfortable exchange, Juliet hires Aaman to be her gardener, but resents the intrusion even though she needs the help. Aaman needs the work and money but resents the humiliation.In spite of themselves, as the summer progresses, they get to know one another and discover they have something in common. Pieces of their lives they have kept hidden even from themselves are exposed, with each helping the other to face their painful past.Will Juliet and Amaan finally let each other in? And what will be the outcome of this improbable conjoining of two lost souls?

Legend of the Dawn


J.R. Wright - 2012
    Louis for the North Country even sooner than he expected to go. At seventeen, along with a female companion and an elderly father figure, he is literally running for his life.With the law pursuing him and the wilderness unforgiving, he finds himself caught up in a survival system that has nothing to do with civilization or laws.Then the unthinkable happens, the love of his life is taken from him. It is during the pursuit of her captors that Luke finds a strength and determination that will shape his moral existence for the remainder of his life.This is a trilogy of books that spans the lives of Luke McKinney and Breanne Bruyere, their undying love, through hell and high water, for over fifty years.Daring, thrilling, romantic, historic... What else is there? UNFORGETABLE!

Lady Fallows' Secrets


Suzanne G. Rogers - 2018
    Unfortunately, the one girl who could save Ash from his increasing melancholy has been whisked off to London by her ironfisted guardian. When a handsome stranger offers Sybil the chance to recover Euphemia, she dives headlong into a clandestine scheme fraught with danger. As the rescue unfolds, deceit and mysteries are brought to light, the bonds of friendship are tested...and passion is unleashed. Can Sybil manage to save her brother without losing her heart to a man she cannot marry?