Book picks similar to
Conquests: Hearts Rule Kingdoms by Emily Murdoch


historical-romance
historical-fiction
historical
romance

Outlaw King


Julie Johnstone - 2018
    Deception endangers them. Only an impossible love can save them. When headstrong Elizabeth de Burgh’s evil father threatens to kill her beloved cousin unless she seduces his enemy Robert the Bruce, she begrudgingly agrees. But as she grows close to the arrogant leader of the Scottish rebellion whose savage good looks whisper of pleasure, she discovers that behind Robert’s facade of coldhearted traitor lies a noble fighter who will risk all for the freedom of his country. Now, she can no longer imagine aiding in Robert’s destruction. But does she have a choice? Fierce Scottish warrior Robert the Bruce would do anything to release his country from English rule and claim his rightful throne. Enemies on both sides surround him, however, and Robert must dance a dangerous line between truth and duplicity. One misstep could topple his nation and cost him his life. Yet one irresistible woman tempts him—and jeopardizes his mission—as no other ever has. Robert is in no position to entangle himself with the enemy, especially one who may be plotting his defeat, but the feisty, determined, blue-eyed beauty ignites a longing in Robert that he has never known. But is she his biggest threat or greatest source of strength? Bound by duty and honor but ensnared by uncontainable desire, Robert and Elizabeth must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice for the one thing they thought they’d never find—extraordinary love.

Liberty Hill


Sonja Heisinger - 2013
    But in New York City, two young Irish immigrants are fleeing something else. For Evelyn Brennan, an impending marriage she doesn’t want. For Lucius Flynn, the burden of a life in business and trade under his tyrannical father. Brash and adventurous, Lucius decides the only way to be free of his doomed future as a bored tradesman is to risk everything on the burgeoning and dangerous gold fields of California. However, that “everything” that he plans on risking is in fact the dowry of his headstrong bride, Evelyn. The truth that they were once childhood friends is something Evelyn sorely tries to forget as her new husband drags her along the quickest but deadliest path to the California gold rush: the Panama Route. Under the pretense of honeymooning in New Orleans, Lucius and Evelyn board a steamship bound for California, where they bear each other’s company with little grace and frequent bickering. Evelyn’s contempt for Lucius’ adventure is soothed, however, when she meets an Australian named Brock Donnigan. Sharp, handsome, and heartless, Brock sets out to seduce Evelyn just as Lucius finds himself falling in love with her. Through their adventures and misadventures over land and sea, the two men try to win Evelyn’s affections. But as they draw nearer to Panama City, where a mass migration of Argonauts lies in wait for transportation to California, a battle of wits and wills escalates into a war where all fortunes, dreams, and innocence may be lost; where lust demands blood, and love inspires sacrifice.From the black cliffs of Ireland to the streets of New York, from the Spanish fortress of Havana to the beaches of Panama, Liberty Hill is a sweeping historical romance that combines what we love most about the West- guns, saloons, horses, and handsome outlaws- with the tropic heat of Central America.The first young adult fiction in her Western Tide series, Sonja Heisinger molds a fresh and epic literary experience from an old world setting. Liberty Hill awakens the past with the exciting elements of drama, comedy, and action, with the additional zests of forbidden pleasure and unrequited love. This adventure book takes you on a wild journey that anyone looking for an exciting historical fiction will love!

Mandy


Claudy Conn - 1978
    He has been accused of murdering the woman who had been clearly trying to seduce him. Their guardian, the Duke of Margate is summoned to help. Mandy had always assumed he was an old man. But, the duke was far from old. He was, in fact, virile, dashing and oh so good looking. The duke enjoyed being a confirmed bachelor…and then he met Mandy. But, first things first—they had to prove Ned innocent. **note: this is an updated version of an earlier novel written as Claudette Williams. The updated versions of Claudy's Claudette Williams titles are more sexually explicit than the original versions.

Gawen's Claim


Stella Knight - 2019
    and right into the arms of a dashing Highlander...Lila Fletcher is determined to prove the strength of her magical time traveling ability to herself, her family, and her coven. But when she travels back in time to fourteenth century Scotland to contend with a malevolent foe, she must also battle an all-consuming desire for a dashing Highland laird...After losing his family to illness, Gawen MacRaild has turned his back on love. Yet his obligation to duty conflicts with his growing desire to claim the bonnie time traveling lass for his own...As Lila and Gawen work together to destroy a dark enemy intent on altering time, they struggle against their pull of mutual love and desire, while their powerful foe—and time itself—threatens their future...If you're a fan of Scottish time travel, handsome highlanders, strong heroines, romance, and magical adventure, you'll love Gawen's Claim, the first book of the Highlander Fate, Lairds of the Isles series.

Orphan Train: Collection One


Rachel Wesson - 2021
    She reluctantly joins an orphan train on a voyage of hope, despair and the search for a home. Not just for her siblings but for almost forty other orphans desperate for a future. Orphan Train Trials Bella Jones and Kathleen Collins are as close as sisters and want to stay together. But their pasts come back to haunt them. A past Orphan Train survivor, can Bella save young twins, Megan and Eileen from a fate worse than the one Bella survived? Kathleen can't help, she has her own problems with missing brothers. Can she save them from the hangman's noose? Orphan Train Christmas Kenny Clark wants a family for Christmas. Kathleen is working hard to secure the best outcomes for all the orphans but what of her chance of happiness?

Northwest Passage: The First Three Novels


John A. Heldt - 2017
    Heldt’s celebrated Northwest Passage series, an abandoned mine, a haunted house, and a theater restroom are not just curiosities. They are portals to the past. Step into each portal and see the twentieth century through twenty-first century eyes. In THE MINE, a cavalier college senior explores a dusty adit in 2000 and emerges in 1941 as a world war approaches. In THE JOURNEY, a recent widow tries to reconnect with her past at her thirtieth reunion and finds herself in 1979 and her senior year of high school. In THE SHOW, a jilted young woman from 1941 seeks answers in 2000 but finds them in 1918, the time of her parents’ courtship. Trapped in the corridors of time, three resourceful individuals, victims of fate and circumstance, find romance and redemption in the not-so-distant past. Follow each for the first time in a specially priced boxed set!

Master of My Dreams


Danelle Harmon - 1993
    Haunted by nightmares and a tragic past, Christian is loyal to King and Country . . . never imagining that his gravest danger could come in the form of a beautiful stowaway who secretly plots his destruction. For also on board is sensuous Irishwoman Deirdre O’ Devir . . . determined to avenge her brother’s forced enlistment into the Royal Navy, and now, as near as a whisper to the blackguard responsible. But the best laid plans go awry, and when Deirdre realizes that behind Christian’s haughty, aloof façade beats a tender heart, she finds herself falling in love with her handsome enemy in this tender, emotional, and unforgettable tale of love and passion by the bestselling author of the critically acclaimed de Montforte Brothers series.

The King's Man


Elizabeth Kingston - 2015
    Ranulf's actions have gained him lands, title, and a lasting reputation as a hired butcher. But after years of doing his king's bidding, he begins to fear for his mortal soul and follows his conscience away from Edward, all the way to the wilds of Wales. Gwenllian of Ruardean, Welsh daughter of a powerful Marcher lord, has every reason to leave Ranulf for dead when one of her men nearly kills him. As a girl she was married by proxy to a man Ranulf murdered, only to become a widow before she ever met her groom. In the years since, she has shunned the life of a lady, instead studying warfare and combat at her mother’s behest. But she has also studied healing and this, with her sense of duty to knightly virtues, leads her to tend to Ranulf’s wounds. Saving her enemy’s life comes with consequences, and Gwenllian and Ranulf are soon caught up in dangerous intrigue. Forced together by political machinations, they discover a kinship of spirit and a surprising, intense desire. But even hard-won love cannot thrive when loyalties are divided and the winds of rebellion sweep the land.

An Improper Situation


Sydney Jane Baily - 2012
    He's not prepared for Miss Charlotte Sanborn, who wears her independence like a suit of armor, cloaks her identity behind her pen name, and flat out refuses to raise her kin!Of all the gall! How dare this man stride into her home and expect her to rearrange her life?Charlotte won’t risk any more heartache. After raising her brother by herself, and watching him leave, it’s her time to enjoy some peace—and use her new typewriter! So why do these children and this handsome stranger awaken a yearning for something more than the life she has painstakingly created?One letter changes everything…When Charlotte forsakes all that’s familiar and enters Reed’s world of Boston high society, concealed malice abounds in the glittering Beacon Hill mansions. Facing sinister forces and scorned women—and with passions ablaze—can Reed and Charlotte escape An Improper Situation?An Improper Situation is Book 1 in the Victorian-American series Defiant Hearts. Engaging, believable characters, attention to period detail, and sensual romance, you’ll find it all in this series by highly acclaimed writer Sydney Jane Baily."…the ending was perfect... Many wonderful characters including nasty villains and villainesses. I had a hard time putting it down!"~ Lady McNeill, Mrs. Condit, Friends Read Books“Delicately crafted, deliciously told. A book that transports you to a time and place from which you won’t want to return.”~ Award-winning, bestselling author, Marliss Melton

More Than Passion


JoMarie DeGioia - 2012
    Four years ago, his fiancée betrayed him and he has no desire to experience that again so when he meets the beautiful Rebecca Kingsley, it’s passion at first sight. And only passion.Rebecca has led a very quiet life working for her father at a small country inn. When she meets Geoffrey she falls in love with him right away. But she’s only the daughter of a baronet and men like Geoffrey never marry country girls like her. Do they?When Rebecca’s father tries to marry her off to a wealthy old man, Geoffrey intervenes and marries her himself. He wants her very much but he couldn’t possibly love her. Love is for fools. At least that’s what he tells himself. But a sinister enemy soon threatens to destroy all that Geoffrey holds dear, forcing him to face the truth. His marriage depends on it... And maybe even Rebecca’s very life.

Lord of Her Heart


Sherrinda Ketchersid - 2019
    When she overhears a plot to force her into vows—either to the church or a husband—she disguises herself and flees the convent in desperation to discover the truth. Malcolm Castillon of Berkham is determined to win the next tournament and be granted a manor of his own. After years of proving his worth on the jousting field, he yearns for a life of peace. Rescuing a scrawny lad who turns out to be a beautiful woman is not what he bargained for. Still, he cannot deny that she stirs his heart like no other, in spite of her conniving ways. Chaos, deception, and treachery threaten their goals, but both are determined to succeed. Learning to trust each other might be the only way either of them survives. Written for the General Market (G) (I): Contains little or no; sexual dialogue or situations, violence, or strong language. May also contain some content of an inspirational nature.

Scent of the Soul


Julie Doherty - 2015
    Once an exile, Somerled the Mighty now dominates the west. He’s making alliances, expanding his territory, and proposing marriage to the Manx princess. It’s a bad time to fall for Breagha, a torc-wearing slave with a supernatural sense of smell. Somerled resists the intense attraction to a woman who offers no political gain, and he won’t have a mistress making demands on him while he’s negotiating a marriage his people need. Besides, Breagha belongs to a rival king, one whose fresh alliance Somerled can’t afford to lose. It’s when Breagha vanishes that Somerled realizes just how much he needs her. He abandons his marriage plans to search for her, unprepared for the evil lurking in the shadowy recesses of Ireland—a lustful demon who will stop at nothing to keep Breagha for himself.

Where Eagles Dare Not Perch


Peter Bridgford - 2018
    While home on his unit’s month-long furlough, he murders the man he believes has stolen his beloved. In doing so, he sets into motion three intensely dark journeys—his own as a soldier returning to a brutal and hopeless war; his sweetheart’s as she seeks absolution; and the brother of the murdered man, whose quest for revenge propels him into the most violent of worlds. When the three find each other amid the chaos and brutality of the Battle of the Wilderness, they’re faced with figuring out if they are tempered enough from their own redemptive ordeals to face whatever uncertain future awaits them after the bloody fighting is over.

Simon the Coldheart


Georgette Heyer - 1925
    It was a time of hand-to-hand combat, the invention of the longbow, and real knights in armor. Simon was born in 1386, the illegitimate son of Geoffrey of Malvallet. After his mother's death in 1400, he and his half-brother, the legitimate son and heir of his father, became great friends of the Prince, fighting against France. Simon of Beauvallet is what he called himself. But as the tales of his chivalrous exploits spread throughout the realm -- even to the king's chambers -- the people who loved him would call him Simon the Lynx-Eyed... the Soft-Footed... even Simon the Lion. Indeed, Simon was all of these things. Valiant and strong, with a keen mind and fair visage, he had defied his ignoble birth to become a page, then a squire, and at last a lord of the land.Friend of kings and princes, gentle and just with his people, and known for his silence Simon seemed to lack only one emotion -- the ability to love. In truth, not even the most lovely and charming ladies of his time could stir the sleeping passion within him. For this they called him Simon the Coldheart. Until he came upon Margaret, a French Lady. The Amazon. The Tigress. After the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, he was sent to besiege Belremy, where he met the heartless beauty whose courage and strength of will were more than a match for this knight in gilded armor. Margaret, who eventually surrendered to the English and became his bride. Although he had captured her kingdom, Simon would never capture her heart....

Ariana's Pride


Margaret Lake - 2009
    feisty, headstrong and the daughter of an earl, but when she loses her home and family her only chance of survival is to reach the elderly baron to whom her father has promised her. And the only chance she has of getting there alive is to trust Jeremy, once in her father’s employ.Will she complete her journey safely? Or will she throw away her chance to avenge her father’s death and regain her titles and estates to be with the dashing Jeremy.Print length: 259 pages