A Different Kind of Fire


Suanne Schafer - 2018
    Her life at the Academy seems heavenly at first, but she soon learns that societal norms in the East are as restrictive as those back home in West Texas. Rebelling against the insipid imagery women are expected to produce, Ruby embraces bohemian life. Her burgeoning sexuality drives her into a life-long love affair with another woman and into the arms of an Italian baron. With the Panic of 1893, the nation spirals into a depression, and Ruby’s career takes a similar downward trajectory. After thinking she could have it all, Ruby, now pregnant and broke, returns to Texas rather than join the queues at the neighborhood soup kitchen.Set against the Gilded Age of America, a time when suffragettes fight for reproductive rights and the right to vote, A Different Kind of Fire depicts one woman’s battle to balance husband, family, career, and ambition. Torn between her childhood sweetheart, her forbidden passion for another woman, the nobleman she had to marry, and becoming a renowned painter, Ruby's choices mold her in ways she could never have foreseen.Includes book club questions.

The Northern Lady


Anna Jacobs - 2010
    Brought up in the Northern town of Bardsley, she wants nothing to do with polite society.But Cassandra forms a close relationship with her gentle cousin Susannah, a victim of her mother's pushy, ambitious nature. Susannah, petrified of marrying the charming, wealthy Simeon Giffard, enlists Cassie's help. It is, after all, Cassie for whom Simeon holds a torch, and he appears set on winning the heart of this strong-willed Northern lady… From bestseller Anna Jacobs, this emotional historical saga is perfect for fans of Kitty Neale, Dilly Court and Rosie Goodwin.

Loving Protector


Sally Quilford - 2013
    Later, when he valiantly steps in to prevent an unpleasant earl from claiming Calista as his wife, she fears that Brook is only being chivalrous and will never love her as she loves him. When there is a threat to Brook’s life, she is forced to pit her wits against his mercurial father, The Duke of Midchester.

Nicholi's Vengeance


J.A. Jaken - 2013
    Captured and enslaved in a foreign land, Nicholi struggles to cope with the nightmare of slavery and adapt to the terrifying and inexplicable world he is thrust into. He draws courage from a steadfast determination to get justice for his murdered family and—he hopes—peace to himself by finding and killing the man responsible for the destruction of his village. Yet, through it all, Nicholi's greatest enemy might not be foreign powers or enemy soldiers, or even in the self-serving machinations of his fellow slaves, but himself. (M/M+ - For content labels and excerpt, see details on publisher's site.)Novel (110,000 words)Genre(s): Gay, Fantasy, Slavefic

The Beauty of St. Kilda


Nicola Italia - 2016
    Having lost her mother in childbirth and her father right before her marriage, she has no choice but to seek a position as a governess. She reaches out to her husband’s family solicitor, Quinn Westbourne, hoping that he may be able to help her. Quinn takes one look at the young and beautiful Emily and decides that a job as a governess will not do. He writes instead to the father-in-law she's never met, and when Leopold Clairmont offers her a place in his home, Quinn agrees to escort Emily to his isolated refuge in St. Kilda. But he did not anticipate how challenging it would be to keep his distance from the grieving widow when all he wants to do is take her in his arms and console her. The two forge a friendship on their journey, and Emily begins to wonder if she could find solace and a live a comfortable life as a widow in her new home. The tiny island of Hirta in the remote cluster of islands known as St. Kilda off the Scottish coast is wild and beautiful, her father-in-law is warm and welcoming, and her sister-in-law offers her much-needed female companionship, but the island is also full of secrets. When Emily learns things about her husband that he never revealed, she wonders if she ever really knew him at all. Torn between her devotion to her departed husband and her growing feelings for Quinn, Emily must decide whether her heart belongs to the living or the dead and find the courage to act before it's too late.

Last Dance with Mary Jane


John Goode - 2012
    His days have become therapy and drinking himself to sleep. His only solace is listening to Shayne's voice mail to hear his voice one last time. He is starting to think that fate is against him.He has no idea how right and wrong he is.CONTENT ADVISORY: This title is a love story that does not contain a HEA.

Bringing Down the Duke


Evie Dunmore - 2019
    Annabelle Archer, the brilliant but destitute daughter of a country vicar, has earned herself a place among the first cohort of female students at the renowned University of Oxford. In return for her scholarship, she must support the rising women's suffrage movement. Her charge: recruit men of influence to champion their cause. Her target: Sebastian Devereux, the cold and calculating Duke of Montgomery who steers Britain's politics at the Queen's command. Her challenge: not to give in to the powerful attraction she can't deny for the man who opposes everything she stands for. Sebastian is appalled to find a suffragist squad has infiltrated his ducal home, but the real threat is his impossible feelings for green-eyed beauty Annabelle. He is looking for a wife of equal standing to secure the legacy he has worked so hard to rebuild, not an outspoken commoner who could never be his duchess. But he wouldn't be the greatest strategist of the Kingdom if he couldn't claim this alluring bluestocking without the promise of a ring... or could he? Locked in a battle with rising passion and a will matching her own, Annabelle will learn just what it takes to topple a duke....A stunning debut for author Evie Dunmore and her Oxford suffragists in which a fiercely independent vicar's daughter takes on a powerful duke in a fiery love story that threatens to upend the British social order.

An Agreeable Arrangement


Shirley Marks - 2008
    However, if Cassie refuses to comply, she will lose everything she has come to know and treasure as her own.Julian, the elder brother of the estimable Stewart family, which Cassie’s father had mandated she will marry into, values family duty and honor above all else. He can wield a pen in business matters and keep his respected, long-established family financially secure but he knows nothing of love. He will ensure that Cassie adheres to the marriage agreement proposed by their fathers, though it means uniting her with his capricious younger brother, Edward. Dashing Edward Stewart, the younger brother, has charm and talent to win the heart of any woman he chooses. The arrangement between the two families seems happily settled, but Cassie’s misplaced affection makes her believe that it will be impossible to have both her heart’s desire and the man she loves.

A Taste of Seduction


Mary Campisi - 2011
    He won’t loosen his cravat unless the bedroom door is firmly closed. She believes in love, second chances, and happily ever after. He believes in keeping a safe distance from anything that resembles an emotion. Indeed, they have nothing in common but an undeniable desire for one another they can’t ignore, and an ailing “father” who will employ any means to bring them together.Unfortunately, not everyone wishes to see a union between Francie and Alexander, and they will stop at nothing to keep this couple apart.

Love By Numbers


Sienna Waters - 2021
    As the co-owner of an up-and-coming dating app, love is big money. But business means she's not willing to indulge in any romantic shenanigans herself.Indy Chambers has a bucket list, and falling in love before she's thirty is just waiting to be checked off. But since she's never had a relationship last more than a date or two, that box doesn't look like it's going to be ticked any time soon.When Annabel's flawless algorithm matches her with Indy, neither of them is exactly thrilled. But Annabel's business could depend on making their date a marketing success, and her algorithm could be just what Indy needs to finally find the love she's been searching for.Before long, #IndyAnna is trending on social media and the two are inescapably bound together, at least in public. But in private, they know that they're not the perfect match. They're too different, they want different things, they live different lives.Can their differences bring them together? Or is Annabel's perfectly programmed algorithm less flawless than she thought? As the world watches their every move, Indy and Annabel have to decide what it really is they want. And maybe, just maybe, it's each other.Love By Numbers is a new stand-alone lesbian romance from Sienna Waters, the bestselling author of The Wrong Date, A Perfect Mess and the Oakview series.

The Seduction of Moxie


Colette Moody - 2009
    New York City, 1931: When wry Broadway actress Violet London and her hard-drinking cohorts venture into a speakeasy the night before she is to board a train for Hollywood, she is floored by sassy blond singer Moxie Valette. As Violet introduces Moxie to an assortment of bootleg liquor, cross-dressers, and sex shows, she vows to find a way to see her again. Moxie is fascinated by Violet in a thrilling and unfamiliar way, and the ensuing evening of bon mots, shameless flirtation, and illicit revelry is unlike anything she has ever experienced. From Manhattan to Los Angeles, both women’s lives are turned upside-down by separation, unscrupulous motion picture studio executives, self-serving agents, eccentric celebrities, and the collection of hedonistic reprobates that are their closest friends.