Book picks similar to
Gentle Courage by Connie Johnson


murder
drama
fiction
hist-american-fiction

A Man Named Cully:


Orris Slade - 2018
    Having worked both as a U.S. marshal and a bounty hunter he ruthlessly pursues villains who plague the West. The son of a clergyman, Cully has strayed from the faith but not from righteousness.As committed as Cully is to law and justice, shrewd and ruthless outlaw “Smiley” James lives a life of crime. With his hardened gang of killers he has created a horrific mail-order bride scam. Young women are lured from the East to become brides for ranchers or businessmen in the West. When they arrive they are taken captive and forced to work in a profession that has nothing to do with wedding rings.James fancies himself as a rich businessman and is more than willing to kill anyone and everyone who gets in his way. Cully is hired to find a young mail-order bride from Philadelphia who has gone missing. The evidence leads to Smiley and his gang. Cully is outnumbered and out-gunned. This is not the first time he has faced long odds, and it may be the most dangerous and bloodiest hunt of his career.Note: Each book in the Cully the Bounty Hunter series is a standalone story that can be read out of order.

Lincoln County Series


Sarah Jae Foster - 2013
    But she quickly realizes her inexperienced nature is no match for this rough and dangerous new town. Gunslinger Jake Collins has that fearlessness and courage Cameron wants to possess, but she soon finds herself wanting Jake, a man she’s been warned against. Andrew Jackson is the town’s preacher. He offers Cameron a way of living—and loving—she’s never known…until now. After coming into the knowledge of God’s true and unconditional love, she faces the toughest choice she’s ever had to make. Jake or Andrew…. Book 4 ~ A Heart Worth Redeeming ~ has been released!

Doctor Rose and the Outlaw


R.O. Lane - 2020
    She sets up her medical practice there. One night she's called out to help a gang of outlaws that have been shot to pieces while trying to rustle cattle. One of the outlaws is a young man that she develops feelings for, but he's in and out of her life for months on end. The outlaw attempts to change his life and go straight. It's a challenge that Rose encourages. It's the tale of two people who grow to care deeply for each other, and when Rose is kidnapped, the outlaw, now her husband, rides out to save her. Another novel of the Old West from the pen of R. O. Lane.

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?

The Quality of Love


Rosie Harris - 2009
    Studying hard to please them, she earns a place at Cardiff University. Here she is swept off her feet by handsome Gwyn Roberts, but when she becomes pregnant her parents are devastated and turn her from their door. All Gwyn and Sarah can afford are two squalid rooms in the infamous slums of Cardiff and Sarah soon realises she's made a terrible mistake. Gwyn becomes increasingly distant and when the baby dies in infancy, he leaves Sarah with little choice but to fall on her parents' mercy. But just when Sarah is starting to pull her life back together again, she is drawn to the charms of Stefan Vaughan and finds herself in trouble once more...

Last Chance Mail Order Bride: Violet's Cowboy (Westward Wanted Book 4)


Crystal Anne Tilden - 2014
    She felt it was foolhardy for a woman to leave everything behind to marry a man she had never met. However, when her greedy fiancé Ned jilted her for a rich woman, her friend convinced her to answer an ad. Soon she was exchanging letters with a nice widower who wanted to wed her. For months, they wrote to each other. All his letters were charming, except the last one. It contained an ultimatum: marry him now or never. He could wait no longer. She wrote back that she would come right away, but she did not. Instead, when the time came, she turned in her ticket to Texas and posted an apologetic letter to the widower breaking off their engagement. When Ned heard Violet stayed, he accused her of holding a torch for him and offered to make her his mistress. Violet scoffed at his lewd offer and his vile conceit. In a flash he was in her face, pointing out that a strong-willed 27-year-old servant was too old, too poor, and too disagreeable to find a husband in man-starved postwar Georgia. He predicted she would live out her life, a spinster dwelling in the servants’ quarters while she pined away for what might have been. That was all it took for her to pen another letter asking the widower to forgive her fickleness, and informing him she was on her way. There was no way Ned was going to ruin her dreams. She left on the very next stagecoach bound for Texas. Her fury kept her doubts and fears at bay for some time, but when the road got rough as they travelled farther and farther into the frontier, she regretted leaving Atlanta. When she really thought about it, being a spinster seemed like a pleasant carefree lifestyle and the servants’ quarters a safe haven. Her rationalization was for naught; it was too late to turn back. Certain she had left the frying pan for the fire, she stared out the window of the stagecoach as it rattled down the bumpy dirt road heading to her uncertain future. What if the widower would not have her? This is the second edition. Each book of the Westward Wanted Series can serve as a stand-alone novel because the main characters do not carry over from the previous books. In each, new main characters take up the torch while the lives of many of the former characters continue to develop within the story. Last Chance Mail Order Bride: Violet’s Cowboy is a sweet Western romance by Crystal Anne Tilden, author of the Best-Selling Christian Westerns: Mail Order Bride: Savannah’s Cowboy, Nobody’s Mail Order Bride: Adeline, and Mail Order Bride: Carrie and the Cowboy.

Timber Ridge Reflections


Tamera Alexander - 2009
    Join photojournalist Elizabeth Westbrook, schoolteacher Molly Whitcomb, and ranch owner Rachel Boyd as they seek to fulfill their dreams and hopes in an untamed land where every advancement is hard-fought, every opportunity is cherished, and where love has the power to change lives.

The Long Shooters


Daniel C. Chamberlain - 2011
    Ballou perfected the art of the judicious killer. His ability with his cherished Stephens target rifle is legendary, making a nearly miraculous shot that no one else – North or South – could accomplish. After the war, he disappears… Samuel Roark is a small-time rancher and part-time lawyer. One personal tragedy after another leaves Samuel gripped by periodic bouts of depression. When a hidden marksman of uncommon skill murders his son, the death leaves Samuel on the brink of total madness.Roark’s wife Sarah, a woman of strength, grace and startling beauty is now both emotionally and physically exhausted by the tragic circumstances that have beset her family. After discovering her husband’s quest for revenge, she does everything in her power to prevent what she fears will ultimately destroy him.Matthew Shaw is a known manhunter and soldier of fortune that people call on when they’re willing to pay someone else to deal with obstacles in their lives. When required, Shaw reluctantly uses his considerable marksmanship to achieve those ends. Now Shaw finds himself caught between a job he truly believes in, and a very good reason to walk away when he realizes he’s falling in love with Sarah, the wife of the man who hired him.

BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF BYLAND CRESCENT (The Cowgill Family Saga Book 1)


Bill Kitson - 2021
    

Forsaken by Love (His Heart's Long Journey Book 1)


Jeanne Hardt - 2019
    . . Eight-year-old, Vern Harpole, wakes up on the front porch of a bakery he's never seen before. The frightened boy is discovered by the kind baker who returns him to the hotel where he'd been staying with his mother and young sister, only to learn they've left and have no intention of returning. With no trace of where they’ve gone or by what means they’re traveling, a search is impossible. Even the authorities have little help to offer. Being childless, the baker and his wife decide to give Vern a home. Initially, they see him as a means of cheap labor. But over time, a bond of love grows between them, and they find joy as a family. Yet Vern can't dismiss the hurtful feelings of abandonment, as well as many unanswered questions about his mother. Margaret Jordan has recently immigrated from Ireland to America. Like Vern, she's troubled by painful reminders of traumatic experiences that have irrevocably altered her life. She settles in Kansas City, where she finds employment at a local restaurant. When she and Vern cross paths, he immediately recognizes her pain and wants to help her, but it will take more than kindness to break through the protective walls she's built around herself. Determination pushes him to be persistent, needing to believe that love can be something more than forsaken.

Catrina's Return: Victorian saga


AnneMarie Brear - 2012
    A life altering event led Catrina Davies to hide from her family and society. Alone in The Highlands she exists in a lonely world cared for only by her savior, a kind old gentleman. When she receives a surprise visitor, Travis Millard, the man she used to love, her head and heart are thrown into turmoil. Travis is determined to save her from this poor life and return her to her family where she belongs. No one is more surprised than he when she agrees to marry him. When Catrina arrives back at her family estate, Davmoor Court in Yorkshire, she is stunned to see the changes. While her father clings to life, Davmoor is nearly ruined by her brother's gambling obsession, and there is something strange about his new wife. As Catrina adjusts to her regained position in society and being with Travis, her marriage comes under attack from Travis's grandmother, who has her own secrets and reason for loathing the Davies family. When one of her brother's adversaries comes to stake his claim on the estate, the resulting chaos threatens not only Catrina's home, but the very lives of those she loves the most. Can she find the strength to fight once more for the right to be happy?​

The Poacher's Daughter


Mary Nichols - 1995
    They all knew she was not the poacher’s real child, though few knew the mystery of how she came to be living with him. Kate herself was not sure; Josiah had told her he had found her abandoned as a baby, but was Josiah telling the truth?He loved her and she was devoted to him and she did not question what he said until two mysterious men came to the village on the same day, both handsome, strong, self-possessed men, but so very different in every other way. Something was happening in the village, something important, something that would affect all their lives…

McKinnon's Bride


Sharon Harlow - 2003
    Jessie made him long to turn his ranch house into a true home. But could a woman who prized honesty above all forgive being lied to—even for her own good?After surviving a nightmare of a marriage, Jessie Monroe was hard-pressed to believe any man’s promises. Until she met Cade McKinnon, the man who made her dream of a better life. She was attracted to him, true enough, but could she trust him...and her yearning heart?NOTE: Other books in this series are:TWICE BLESSED -- Book 2, Steeple Hill BooksSTANDING TALL -- Book 3

A Pocketful of Silver


Anne Baker - 2003
    Although her father is dead, and her mother works hard, Ellie's grandmother Bridie is always there to provide a welcoming hug when the little girl returns from school. But, one tragic day, Ellie's secure world is suddenly torn apart with the mysterious death of her mother, and Ellie is forced to live with her uncle Mick, a man with a violent temper. As the years pass, Ellie's yearning to know the truth about her mother's death never fades - it even casts a shadow over her blossoming romance with childhood friend, Franco Baldini. For Franco knows more about that fateful day than he dares admit, especially to Ellie. Can their love survive when Ellie longs to uncover events that Franco is desperate to forget? And will Ellie ever find out what really happened to her mother?

Name’s Corcoran, Terrence Corcoran


Johnny Gunn - 2018
    Now he’s returning to the Comstock looking to get his badge back and stumbles into a conspiracy that might put the sheriff, district attorney, and others in jail for a long time. A lovely working girl is brutally murdered, a Hungarian duke wants a Wells Fargo gold shipment, and the sheriff rehires him after first kicking him in a most tender spot. Corcoran was born on the ship bringing his family to this country, ran away to the frontier at an early age and brings his ideas of the old country and knowledge learned of the west to whatever mess he finds himself in. He’s carried a badge, found himself in jail, and stands four-square for right, honor, and truth. You gotta love the guy.