Book picks similar to
Meant for Me by Lyn Cote


historical-fiction
historical-romance
tbr
christian-fiction

The Meeting Place


Janette Oke - 1999
    Crafted by two masters of inspirational fiction--Janette Oke and T. Davis Bunn--and combining the engaging historical settings, rich characterization, and heartwarming messages quintessential to both authors, The Meeting Place is another timeless story for you to cherish.Set along the rugged coastline of 18th century Canada in what was then called Acadia (now Nova Scotia and New Brunswick), The Meeting Place re-creates a world that was home to native Indians, French settlers, and English garrisons. Such diverse populations did not live in accord, however. Instead, they were isolated within their own groups by a brewing political tension under the difficult English rule.Amid such chaotic times two women, both about to become brides and both trying to live lives of quiet peace, meet in a lush field of wildflowers. Louisa, a Frenchwoman, and Catherine, who is English, continue to meet secretly through the seasons, sharing both friendship and growing faith.The outside world does not mirror their own tranquil happiness, and the dreaded crackdown by the English throne threatens far more than their growing bond. In the face of a heart-wrenching dilemma, Louisa and Catherine strive to maintain their faith and cling to their dreams of family and home. Winner of the Christy Award, presented by the Christian Bookseller Association to honor the best in Christian fiction.

Heiress


Susan May Warren - 2011
    But what if they want only to be loved--without an enormous price tag attached? When one daughter pursues a desirable marriage, she secures for herself a comfortable and glamorous life. But among the duties of privilege, will she also find the happily-ever-after she seeks? Her sister rejects the trappings of wealth, choosing instead to build a new life on the still-untamed frontier. Will she find happiness in independence or discover that she's left her heart behind in New York's glittering society? Set in the opulent world of the Gilded Age, each woman discovers that being an heiress just might cost her everything--including the chance for true love.

Secrets


Kristen Heitzmann - 2004
    What happened all those years ago, and what is it she so desperately needs him to find? The old villa in Sonoma holds the answers, but it is now owned by a young woman who neither knows nor cares about his mission. But Rese Barret is a force to contend with, and her own impending storm could sweep him up as their sparring creates a fierce and uncomfortable attraction. From bestselling author Kristen Heitzmann.

The Number of Love


Roseanna M. White - 2019
    Margot De Wilde thrives in the environment of the secretive Room 40, where she spends her days deciphering intercepted messages. But when her world is turned upside down by an unexpected loss, for the first time in her life numbers aren’t enough.Drake Elton returns wounded from the field, followed by an enemy that just won’t give up. He’s smitten quickly by the too-intelligent Margot, but how to convince a girl who lives entirely in her mind that sometimes life’s answers lie in the heart?Amidst biological warfare, encrypted letters, and a German spy who wants to destroy not just them, but others they love, Margot and Drake will have to work together to save them all from the very secrets that brought them together.

The House of Closed Doors


Jane Steen - 2012
    Yet Nell is determined to elude the duties and restrictions of matrimony. So when she finds herself pregnant at the age of 17, she refuses to divulge the name of the father and even her childhood friend Martin is kept in the dark.Nell's stepfather Hiram sends Nell to live at the Poor Farm of which he is a governor, to await the day when her baby can be discreetly adopted. Nell is ready to go along with Hiram's plans until an unused padded cell is opened and two small bodies fall out.Nell is the only resident of the Poor Farm who is convinced that the unwed mother and her baby were murdered, and the incident prompts her to rethink her decision to abandon her own child to her fate. But the revelations to which her questions lead make her realize that even if she manages to escape the Poor Farm with her baby, she may have no safe place to run to.

Stealing Jake


Pam Hillman - 2011
    After all, she used to be known as Light-fingered Livy. But that was before she put her past behind her and moved to the growing town of Chestnut, Illinois, where she’s helping to run an orphanage. Now she’ll do almost anything to protect the street kids like herself. Sheriff’s deputy Jake Russell had no idea what he was in for when he ran into Livy—literally—while chasing down a pickpocket. With a rash of robberies and a growing number of street kids in town—as well as a loan on the family farm that needs to be paid off—Jake doesn’t have time to pursue a girl. Still, he can't seem to get Livy out of his mind. He wants to get to know her better . . . but Livy isn’t willing to trust any man, especially not a lawman.

A Reluctant Melody


Sandra Ardoin - 2016
    Now sober, he wants to make amends by opening a mission for drunkards. The most suitable location belongs to Joanna Cranston Stewart, a love from his sordid past and the one person he hurt the most.A pariah among her peers, Joanna is all too eager to sell her property and flee the rumors that she sent her late husband to an early grave. But she will let the gossips talk and the walls of her rundown property crumble around her before she’ll allow Kit back into her life.When a blackmailer threatens to reveal her long-held secret, she must choose between trusting Kit or seeing her best friend trapped in an abusive marriage.Will Joanna risk another betrayal? Or will she find a way through the pain of the past to love and trust again?

Through Streets Broad and Narrow


Gemma Jackson - 2013
    Her irresponsible Da is dead. She is grief-stricken and alone – but for the first time in her life free to please herself. After her mother deserted the family, Ivy became the sole provider for her Da and three brothers. Pushing a pram around the well-to-do areas of Dublin every day, she begged for the discards of the wealthy which she then turned into items she could sell around Dublin’s markets. As she visits the morgue to pay her respects to her Da, a chance meeting introduces Ivy to a new world of money and privilege, her mother's world. Ivy is suddenly a woman on a mission to improve herself and her lot in life. Jem Ryan is the owner of a livery near Ivy’s tenement. When an accident occurs in one of his carriages, leaving a young girl homeless, it is Ivy he turns to. With Jem and the people she meets in her travels around Dublin, Ivy begins to break out of the property-ridden world that is all she has ever known. Through Streets Broad and Narrow is a story of strength and determination in the unrelenting world that was Dublin tenement life.

Capturing the Viscount's Heart


Abby Ayles - 2019
    He has always been her dream. Nothing will keep them apart. Helena Leeson always knew where she wanted to spend her life: by Elias Repington’s side, the childhood friend who has now grown into so much more in her heart. Her father’s actions, however, plunge her family into a scandal with dire consequences for all. Will anything be left once this ordeal is over or are her dreams lost to her forever? Elias Repington, the Viscount of Chatleton, returns from Cambridge to find his childhood friend turned into a woman that steals his breath away. Now, he must undertake the most crucial mission of his life: solve the mystery that destroys her family, before it’s too late. Will he succeed in thwarting this disaster before it robs him of everything he ever wished for? Two halves of the same heart, Elias and Helena must fight to uncover the cruel conspiracy that threatens to separate them forever. Will they manage to save their dreams and the people they love before everything turns to ashes? The clock is ticking… If you like engaging characters, heart- wrenching twists and turns, and lots of romance, then you’ll love “Capturing the Viscount's Heart!” Buy “Capturing the Viscount's Heart” and unlock the exciting story of Helena today!

The Measure of Katie Calloway


Serena B. Miller - 2011
    To protect herself and her young brother from her violent and unstable husband, she flees north, finding anonymity and sanctuary as the cook in a Northwoods lumber camp. The camp owner, Robert Foster, wonders if the lovely woman he's hired has the grit to survive the never-ending work and harsh conditions of a remote pine forest in winter. Katie wonders if she can keep her past a secret from a man she is slowly growing to love.With grace and skill, Serena Miller brings to life a bygone era. From the ethereal, snowy forest and the warm cook-stove to the rowdy shanty boys and the jagged edges of the saw, every detail is perfectly rendered, transporting the reader back to the time when pine was king, men were made of iron, and rivers were choked with logs on the way to the sawmills. Readers will have a hard time leaving the Northwoods when they turn the last page.

Above the Fold


Rachel Scott McDaniel - 2019
    When a millionaire inventor is murdered, she finally convinces her hesitant father to give her the break she’s been dreaming of. But there’s a catch. To get her article above the fold, she must compete for it. Her coverage of the story must outshine her opponent’s. To her dismay, the rival is none other than Cole Parker—a high-profile journalist and Elissa’s former flame. Losing his prestigious job at the New York Dispatch is shameful enough, but the reason behind Cole’s termination almost killed him. When his former employer gives him a redemptive opportunity in Pittsburgh, all Cole can think of is procuring a second chance with Elissa. The crazy contest her father invents keeps Cole near her, but she regards him as an enemy, both to her dreams and her heart. Can Cole convince Elissa he’s no longer the man who’d abandoned her years ago? Or will their love remain old news?

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

Livvie's Song


Sharlene MacLaren - 2010
    The widowed mother of two is struggling to make ends meet—no simple feat, especially when her cook turns in his resignation. Yet she’s determined to pull through on her own, just as she did when God failed to save her beloved Frank. Newly released from a ten-year prison sentence, Will Taylor is ready for a fresh start. With harmonica in hand—the only possession he values, aside from his Bible—he makes his way to Wabash, where a late-night meal at Livvie’s Kitchen turns into a job opportunity when the outgoing cook learns about his restaurant experience. What he doesn’t know is that the “restaurant” was a prison cafeteria. But Will became a new man behind bars, thanks to a Christian friend, and he credits God’s providence with landing him a job he loves. Soon, he cooks and bakes his way into the stomachs of his customers—and the heart of his employer. Both are hesitant, though, still healing from past hurts. A recipe for love between them will require sharing secrets, braving dangers, and believing God for a bright future.

Fate Plays Dangerous Games (Mornington Park #1)


K.E. Chaloner - 2017
     After escaping the days of terror in France, Cherie Beaumont has spent eight years hiding in China before she arrives in England, looking for a peaceful and quiet life. She does not need a man in her life that can turn her head, as she can fight as well as any man with a rapier. But when she finds herself the house guest of the Duke of Mornington and the strong emotional attraction hard to dismiss, she does not see the danger creeping towards her. Jack Blackenhawke, the Duke of Mornington life is well structured and very organised, spending all his time in parliament believing it is his duty to help the people England obtain better lives. He does not need a wife or heir as he has seven brothers and he most certainly does not need a woman who tempts his mind to be diverted, so he cannot think straight. Especially when she holds dangerous secrets that could not only place his family in danger, but could get them all killed.

The Perks of Being a Duke


Hanna Hamilton - 2019
     Preferring the English countryside to London, Jonathan Harper, Duke of Gwendonmyre, sees his up-until-then pristine family life turned on its head when a series of near-fatal accidents start happening around the manor. As maids go missing, poisonous food finds its way to his table and large sums of money simply disappear, Jonathan is hard-pressed to find answers. And it all seems to be connected to the one person he holds new-found affection for: soft-spoken maid, Celeste Singer… *If you like a realistic yet charming depiction of the Regency and Victorian era, then The Perks of Being a Duke is the novel for you. This is Hanna Hamilton's 24th book, a historical Regency romance novel of 80,000 words (around 400 pages). No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a sweet happily ever after. Pick up "The Perks of Being a Duke" today to discover Hanna's amazing new story!