Book picks similar to
The Court of the Thorn Tree by Jennifer Blake


gothic
historical
historical-romance
jennifer-blake

Never Doubt a Duke


Maggi Andersen - 2020
    Stir in an explosive, passionate attraction. Sparks fly! Welcome to book one in this exciting new series by Maggi Andersen! Read for Free in Kindle Unlimited!Lady Nellie Dountry, and Charles, His Grace, Duke of Shewsbury have had their hearts broken in the past. Neither is prepared to chance love again. When they are compelled to marry because of an agreement made long ago by their fathers, they are both determined to resist falling in love. Convinced that it’s mere desire which draws them together, both are surprised by their jealousy.Nellie finds Charles irresistibly attractive, but other women do too. They circle like sharks. Aware that Charles’s former fiancée, who had broken his heart some years ago, is now a widow and on the hunt for a lover, Nellie struggles to trust him while she fears she is falling in love with him.Charles was more than pleased with his choice of bride, but he wishes she wasn’t so difficult to understand. One minute she’s hot for him, the next as remote from him as a chalet in the Alps. Why he wants to get close surprises him; he planned for his marriage to be little more than one of polite indifference. But Nellie is so dashed beguiling!

Bitter Roots


C.J. Carmichael - 2017
     On the surface Lost Trail is a picture-perfect western town, offering a simple way of life revolving around the local ranches and ski hill, but Zak knows the truth behind the façade. When his old school friend Tiff Masterson, whose family owns a local Christmas tree farm, moves back to town, the two of them join forces to get to the truth about the murder. Bitter Roots is the first of three Bitter Root Mysteries.

A Transcontinental Affair


Jodi Daynard - 2019
    Crowds throng the Boston station, mesmerized by the mechanical wonder huffing on the rails: the Pullman Hotel Express, the first train to travel from coast to coast. Boarding the train are congressmen, railroad presidents, and even George Pullman himself. For two young women, strangers until this fateful day, it’s the beginning of a journey that will change their lives.Sensitive Louisa dreads the trip, but with limited prospects, she’s reluctantly joined the excursion as a governess to a wealthy family. Hattie is traveling to San Francisco to meet her fiancé, yet she’s far more interested in the workings of the locomotive than she is in the man awaiting her arrival. As the celebrated train moves westward, the women move toward one another, pulled by an unexpected attraction.But there is danger in this closeness, just as there is in the wilds of the frontier and in the lengths the railroad men will go to protect their investments. Before their journey is over, Louisa and Hattie will find themselves very far from where they intended to go.

The Last Bathing Beauty


Amy Sue Nathan - 2020
    Back then Betty Stern was an eighteen-year-old knockout working at her grandparents’ lakeside resort. The “Catskills of the Midwest” was the perfect place for Betty to prepare for bigger things. She’d head to college in New York City. Her career as a fashion editor would flourish. But first, she’d enjoy a wondrous last summer at the beach falling deeply in love with an irresistible college boy and competing in the annual Miss South Haven pageant. On the precipice of a well-planned life, Betty’s future was limitless.Decades later, the choices of that long-ago season still reverberate for Betty, now known as Boop. Especially when her granddaughter comes to her with a dilemma that echoes Boop’s memories of first love, broken hearts, and faraway dreams. It’s time to finally face the past—for the sake of her family and her own happiness. Maybe in reconciling the life she once imagined with the life she’s lived, Boop will discover it’s never too late for a second chance.

Against The Wind


Virginia Kelly - 2012
    Weakened from an injury, stalked by a killer, with a fellow agent hot on his trail, Michael believes things can’t get any worse. Until he runs into a Category 3 hurricane…and the woman who thought he wasn’t good enough to marry.The society woman who rejected him…Blair Davenport has never forgotten the man she once loved. Larger than life, the sexy agent drew her with his energy and passion for justice, and frightened her with his appetite for danger. She’s never forgiven herself for leading him to believe their passionate week together meant nothing. When he appears at the beach house she’s boarding up, she can’t refuse his need for shelter, even though he’s hiding dangerous secrets that have her FBI brother pursuing him.Passion still blazes between them…Soon, Blair’s decision to help Michael plunges them into a risky race against time. Together again, they struggle against simmering desire. But when the killer closes in, the final confrontation could destroy any thoughts of a second chance—and their very lives.Second chances can be passionate…and and deadly.

The Watcher


Jo Robertson - 2011
    Working with a single-minded tenacity, she sets out to prove it.Deputy Sheriff Ben Slater hides his personal pain behind the job, but Kate's arrival in his county knocks his world on its axis. He wants to believe her wild theory, but the idea of a serial killer with the kind of pathology she proposes is too bizarre.Together they work to find a killer whose roots began in a small town in Bigler County, but whose violence spread across the nation. A Janus-like killer, more monster than man, he fixates on Kate. The killer wants nothing more than to kill the "purple-eyed girl again."

A Date with Fate


Tracy Ellen - 2012
    She’s twenty eight, owns a bookstore, and is one determined, control freak of a woman. She’s decided to take the entire weekend off to have some fun. Except Anabel’s unapologetically single and perfectly uncomplicated life is suddenly upside down with problems! The cheating love of her life is back in town. Her family is meddling in her personal business. An adulterous wife of a good friend has gone missing. She’s been targeted for death by a homicidal serial rapist. An evil aunt has gone fanatic. Her sociopathic cousin has stolen her gun. The macho police chief is driving her nuts. And one not-too-tall, deliciously dark, and definitely not handsome stranger is enticing her to break all her ironclad rules on dating in the most intriguing of ways. Strange things are happening in Northfield, Minnesota. But Anabel’s never met the challenge she won’t stare in the eye while daintily spitting sideways in the dirt. Will Anabel begin to believe that life is never simple, some rules are meant to be broken, and a certain mesmerizing complication may be worth the trouble--even if it kills her? (Adult Content)

Blur


Kristen Middleton - 2012
    Seventeen year old Nikki and her twin brother, Nathan, move to the small town of Shore Lake to start over after their mother is brutally attacked. When a missing teenager washes up on shore during their first night at the cabin and there are whispers of vampires in Shore Lake, Nikki begins to realize that there are things roaming in the darkness that are far more sinister than what they left behind in the big city. This book contains some graphic language, violence, and mild sexual situations.

Wronged


Sylvia McDaniel - 2002
    Yet, the biggest surprise was when the detective informed her that she's not the only woman Jean married. There are three Cuvier Widows and one is suspected of murder.When Marian learned of her husband's death, humiliation, shock and anger were the only emotions she felt for Jean. For the last several years, their marriage has been in name only. Now she's determined to safeguard her children's future and save their only source of income, Cuvier Shipping. Jean's handsome business partner, Louis Fournet thinks Marian's should not be leading her husband's business. The man has a way with women that Marian finds alluring and arouses feelings she's never experienced. Louis Fournet is a temptation she finds hard to resist.

The Girl


Lola St. Vil - 2012
    They've been sent to elicit the secret from her before the demons can. Emmy later learns that her name is the only clue to locating a sought-after bridge that for centuries, Evil has plotted to destroy; this would in turn bring about the end of humanity. Things get worse when Emmy falls madly in love with Marcus, the well-intentioned but obstinate leader of the Guardians. He eventually confesses that he is in love with her as well. Unfortunately, Marcus has been warned by his clairvoyant and omniscient guide that should he and Emmy get together, the mission will fail and humanity will perish.

Dealing with the Duchess


J.R. Salisbury - 2016
    As a widow, she has certain freedoms other women do not. But she has neither the time nor inclination to look for dalliance. She’s much too busy overseeing the very special properties left to her by the late duke—including the elite gaming hell known as Dante’s Inferno. Until another nobleman returns to London and reminds her that she is still a young, passionate woman.The Duke of Evermont, has returned from his sugar plantations in the Caribbean. His life is full running his estates and seeing to his investments. The last thing he’s searching for is a wife. That is until he sees Eleanor again, and other society beauties fade in comparison. The last time he saw her, Eleanor was walking down the aisle to another man. This time, Evermont is determined not to let the beautiful and vibrant lady slip through his hands. Fortunately for him, the duchess turns to him for help—and he’s more than willing to sweep her under his ducal cloak of protection. Whether his assistance is required in shielding her from members of society foolish enough to gamble away their fortunes, or from the heartless schemes of her own father—Evermont will do what it takes to show her their future together is a sure thing.

Hidden Prospects


Karen Baney - 2014
    Because of the pain of her past mistakes, she has taken on a shy personality to protect her heart. When her father remarries and sends her away, she goes to Prescott, the town where her only friend lives. She never expected she would end up working for such an attractive business man. As her heart begins to hope for the future, she must keep her past from destroying it.After years of supporting his mother and siblings, Paul Lancaster now has his independence. He splits his time between his placer mine and the boardinghouse he built for his mother. When a spinster comes to town to visit a friend, he wonders if she could be the love he has waited so long to find. In the midst of it all, his life turns upside down and he stands to lose both of his businesses.Will the secrets of their pasts keep them from finding the hidden prospect of new love?

The Mystery of Jessica Benson


C.K. Laurence - 2012
    Her life and death intersects the drama of a professional football team and the detectives who are on the case. The story takes place in Miami Beach, Florida. The author, C. K. Laurence, has been a student of crime activity and weaves an exciting tale of mystery and intrigue, and creates an unexpected ending to a suspenseful adventure. Ms. Laurence is a long-time rowdy Miami Dolphins football fan and uses her knowledge of the sport to develop a side-story that rings true in football culture. The book moves quickly from hot Miami Beach parties to the football field to the murder scene. Look out! The ending is a shocker!

Dance with Deception


Tracy Goodwin - 2007
    Sebastian wants her, and as he learned from his father, what a duke wants, a duke takes. Gwen's father has arranged for her to marry a man she despises, the very man who shattered her fragile family. As she struggles with a desperate choice - honor her dying father's final request or alienate him by choosing her true love - Sebastian is forced to make his own desperate decision: trick Gwen Into marriage or lose her forever. Sebastian and Gwen must confront the consequences of their actions and secrets so scandalous that they threaten to destroy all they hold dear. In this dangerous dance with deception, who will die for love? Awards for Dance with Deception: -2nd place winner of the Anne Bonney Readers Choice Award for Favorite Hero -3rd Place Winner for the Anne Bonney Readers Choice Award for the Most Emotional category-2nd place winner of the Judge a Book By Its Cover Contest ­-Finalist in the LASR Best Long Print Romance

Mine, All Mine


Ella J. Quince - 2013
    Rose. It has been revised and given a beautiful new cover.A steamy historical romance novel. Fated for Love Series. Lillian St. James is a privileged and beautiful duke’s daughter whose world is turned upside down when her widowed mother marries a seedy merchant.After her mother suddenly dies as well, Lilly has no one to turn to when scandal erupts over her stepfather’s treason. As her world falls apart Lilly is forced to go into hiding with the help of her loyal staff. She finds work as a cook’s assistant in the kitchen of a wealthy but mysterious aristocrat.Dominic Coel, Earl of Redwick, is a spy on the cusp of retirement. He is ordered to complete one last mission. He must track down a young girl who disappeared with stolen royal jewels. Dominic is desperate to complete his task and begin a normal life without murder and lies. While he must focus on his duties he can’t help but be distracted by the mysterious beauty who has just joined his kitchen staff. The girl is innocent to say the least, but her elusive nature and cultured speech drives him to wonder who the real Miss Millie James is.