Book picks similar to
The Gladiator's Mistress by Jennifer D. Bokal


historical-romance
historical-fiction
historical
romance

Kit's Hill: A powerful historical saga


Jean Stubbs - 1979
     The first touching saga of the Howarths of Garth… Lancashire, 1760 As a genteel woman with an education but no dowry, Dorcas Wilde has resigned herself to a life as the companion of her spinster aunt. However, when she receives a proposal from Ned Howarth — a kind yeoman farmer — she puts aside her prejudices and agrees to become his wife. The couple’s family and friends all disapprove of the match. And as the mistress of Ned’s farm, Kit’s Hill, Dorcas feels isolated and unwelcome. But as she learns more about the land and the household, she begins to find ways to put her shrewdness and education to good use… Can Dorcas find her place at Kit’s Hill? Will she and Ned find true happiness together? Or will they come to regret their hasty marriage? Kit’s Hill is the first book in The Brief Chronicles, a gripping family saga set in rural Lancashire during the Industrial Revolution. ‘A master storyteller’ – Publishers Weekly ‘Skilfully constructed and very strong on period detail’ – TLS ‘She writes so infernally well’ – Daily Telegraph ‘Stylish, witty, poetic and true’ – Spectator ‘A good feeling for place and period … with its roots firmly in the earth’ – Homes & Gardens

Half in Shadow


Gemma Liviero - 2022
    In German-occupied Belgium, a tragic loss forces Josephine Descharmes to navigate dangerous new territory. By day it’s compliance, serving German officers at the Hotel Métropole. By night it’s resistance, working with her brothers underground to help Allied soldiers and civilians cross the border into Holland. Both paths put her and her family at great risk.As Josephine struggles to keep her family safe, Arthur, a grief-stricken English soldier trapped behind enemy lines, finds purpose and hope with Josephine and her work. Meanwhile, Franz, a German officer remorseful for the casualties of war, offers her protection and opportunity. These two men from opposing sides will open her heart and test her loyalties.Amid the sorrows of war and threats of mortal danger and betrayal, Josephine must steer her own fate. In a country deprived of freedom, she will make an impossible choice—one that will forever impact the family she cherishes and the man she loves.

Bound to the Highlander


Kate Robbins - 2013
    Despite him and his traitorous clan, Aileana will do her duty, but she doesn't have to like it or him. But when the MacIntosh awakens something inside her so absolute and consuming, she is forced to question everything.James MacIntosh is a nobleman torn between tradition and progress. He must make a sacrifice if he is to help Scotland move forward as a unified country. Forced to sign a marriage contract years earlier binding Lady Aileana to him, James must find a way to break it, or risk losing all -- including his heart.From the wild and rugged Highlands near Inverness to the dungeons of Edinburgh Castle, James and Aileana’s preconceptions of honor, duty and love are challenged at every adventurous turn.

A Lady Never Lies


Juliana Gray - 2012
    Three dashing bachelors competing in a wager to remain chaste. Three scandalous affairs in an enchanted castle. One wildly romantic new series from a brand-new voice in historical fiction...Alexandra, Lady Morley, an alluring widow, is on holiday to escape her creditors and devise a plan to reverse her fortunes. Distracted by the arrival of Phineas "Finn" Burke, a brilliant inventor with a shocking past, she despairs of ever getting what she needs...until they kiss.Finn, naïve to the female species and intent only on perfecting his "horseless carriage" engine for an exhibition in Rome, never dreamed he'd meet a woman like Alexandra, who is as maddening as she is comely. Finn longs to make Alexandra his wife, but his own vows stand in the way...unless Alexandra can sacrifice everything she knows to realize her deepest desires.

The Second Mrs. Astor


Shana Abe - 2021
    Told in rich detail, this novel of sweeping historical fiction will stay with readers long after turning the last page.Madeleine Talmage Force is just seventeen when she attracts the attention of John Jacob “Jack” Astor. Madeleine is beautiful, intelligent, and solidly upper-class, but the Astors are in a league apart. Jack’s mother was the Mrs. Astor, American royalty and New York’s most formidable socialite. Jack is dashing and industrious—a hero of the Spanish-American war, an inventor, and a canny businessman. Despite their twenty-nine-year age difference, and the scandal of Jack’s recent divorce, Madeleine falls headlong into love—and becomes the press’s favorite target.On their extended honeymoon in Egypt, the newlyweds finally find a measure of peace from photographers and journalists. Madeleine feels truly alive for the first time—and is happily pregnant. The couple plans to return home in the spring of 1912, aboard an opulent new ocean liner. When the ship hits an iceberg close to midnight on April 14th, there is no immediate panic. The swift, state-of-the-art RMS Titanic seems unsinkable. As Jack helps Madeleine into a lifeboat, he assures her that he’ll see her soon in New York…Four months later, at the Astors’ Fifth Avenue mansion, a widowed Madeleine gives birth to their son. In the wake of the disaster, the press has elevated her to the status of virtuous, tragic heroine. But Madeleine’s most important decision still lies ahead: whether to accept the role assigned to her, or carve out her own remarkable path…

A Dangerous Pursuit


Laura Beers - 2021
    A spy. And a love worth fighting for.Welcome to book 1 in the exciting new series Regency Spies & Secrets from bestselling author Laura Beers.Miss Madalene Dowding was devastated when her mother died, leaving her all alone. To honor her mother's legacy, she decides to use part of her fortune to open an orphanage. When a teacher at the orphanage goes missing, Madalene takes it upon herself to start looking for her, even if it means taking her deep into the unsavory parts of London.Baldwin Radcliff, the Marquess of Hawthorne, is working on his last case as an agent of the Crown, since he is about to retire and take up his seat in the House of Lords. He is tasked with finding a French spy that is in league with a growing group of radicals. As he searches for the enemy, he discovers a meddling heiress that keeps stumbling in at the most inopportune times, making him wonder if she is perhaps the spy he has been sent to find.Despite mutual dislike, Baldwin agrees to help Madalene, but only if she stays far away from the investigation. A promise that Madalene has no intention of keeping. Will headstrong Madalene and duty-driven Baldwin be able to work together, especially since so much is at stake? Will Baldwin choose between saving the Crown or saving an obstinate woman that he has unwittingly fallen in love with?

Paris Time Capsule


Ella Carey - 2014
    But when she learns that she’s inherited the estate of a complete stranger—a woman named Isabelle de Florian—her life is turned upside down.Cat arrives in Paris to find that she is now the owner of a perfectly preserved Belle Époque apartment in the ninth arrondissement, and that the Frenchwoman’s family knew nothing about this secret estate. Amid these strange developments, Cat is left with burning questions: Who was Isabelle de Florian? And why did she leave the inheritance to Cat instead of her own family?As Cat travels France in search of answers, she feels her grasp on her New York life starting to slip. With long-buried secrets coming to light and an attraction to Isabelle de Florian’s grandson growing too intense to ignore, Cat will have to decide what to let go of, and what to claim as her own.

Forever and a Day


Delilah Marvelle - 2011
    And he certainly never expected to be injured, only to wake up with no memory of who he is. But when he sees the fiery-haired beauty who's taken it upon herself to rescue him, suddenly his memory is the last thing on his mind. Georgia Milton, the young head of New York's notorious Forty Thieves, feels responsible for the man who was trying to save her bag from a thief. But she's not prepared for the fierce passion he ignites within her. When his memory begins to return, her whole world is threatened, and Roderick must choose between the life he forgot and the life he never knew existed.

The Sign of The Blood


Laurence O'Bryan - 2018
    Constantine, the son of an emperor, the Roman officer leading this raid, tells his men to halt - something is wrong. Have they been seen in the pre-dawn light? Before long, the battle rages. Eventually he frees a slave named Juliana. She is half Persian and half Roman. As they are pursued to Britannia over land and sea, he learns that she can see the future - his future.It is 306A.D., long before Constantine the Great converted to Christianity and became the first Christian emperor.To ensure he survives, he must now eliminate his enemies. But who must die first? The priestess, Sybellina, who joined them in Rome and practices dark and seductive magic? Or the brutal legion commanders who surround his father? Or, as Juliana suspects, are those who want him dead even closer?An electrifying historical novel about Constantine’s bloody rise to power, the woman who helped him, and the real reason he supported a persecuted Christian minority, a decision which changed the world into the one we know.Reviews of previous books by the author:“A delight,” Yorkshire Evening Post.'… superbly executed…' Irish Examiner.'Well written, beautifully descriptive, and with smart dialogue and a compelling air of menace throughout,' The Lancashire Evening Post.'A brisk plot…which draws the reader into a conspiratorial rapport,' Telegraph.

The Summer I Met Jack


Michelle Gable - 2018
    Alicia is at once dazzled by the large and charismatic family, in particular the oldest son, a rising politician named Jack. Alicia and Jack are soon engaged, but his domineering father forbids the marriage. And so, Alicia trades Hyannisport for Hollywood, and eventually Rome. She dates famous actors and athletes and royalty, including Gary Cooper, Kirk Douglas, and Katharine Hepburn, all the while staying close with Jack. A decade after they meet, on the eve of Jack’s inauguration as the thirty-fifth President of the United States, the two must confront what they mean to each other. The Summer I Met Jack is based on the fascinating real life of Alicia Corning Clark, a woman who J. Edgar Hoover insisted was paid by the Kennedys to keep quiet, not only about her romance with Jack Kennedy, but also a baby they may have had together.

By Love Unveiled


Deborah Martin - 1993
    Forced to disguise herself, she trusts no one—especially not Garett Lockwood, the Earl of Falkham, who usurped her family home and who seems to be her most dangerous enemy. And what Garett sees behind her masquerade is a beautiful half gypsy enrobed in mystery, deception, and burning secrets. A woman he should avoid at all costs. In a world where treachery and betrayal reign, a sweet seduction rules their hearts—and dares them to risk their destinies on a passionate love that all the powerful forces of the world cannot defeat.

The Trouble With Honor


Julia London - 2014
    Upon the earl's death she and her sisters stand to lose the luxury of their grand home - and their place on the pedestal of society - to their stepbrother and his social-climbing fiancée. Forced to act quickly, Honor makes a devil's bargain with the only rogue in London who can seduce her stepbrother's fiancée out of the Cabots' lives for good.An illegitimate son of a duke, George Easton was born of scandal and grows his fortune through dangerous risks. But now he and Honor are dabbling in a perilous dance of seduction that puts her reputation and his jaded heart on the line. And as unexpected desire threatens to change the rules of their secret game, the stakes may become too high even for a notorious gambler and a determined, free-spirited debutante to handle.

My Wicked Gladiators


Lauren Hawkeye - 2012
    But when her husband Lucius, the owner of aprestigious gladiatorial school, uses her body as a bargaining tool to increase his fortunes, she is faced with doing as he demands, or finding herself on the street.Forced to lay with masked gladiators chosen by Lucius, Alba is surprised to discover pleasure in being powerless. Only in the forbidden arms of Caius and Marcus does she find comfort, however temporary it may be.But with Lucius’ demands looming and the threat of death for her gladiators ever-present, will Alba’s fleeting pleasures be enough? Or will Alba finally grab hold of her happily ever after, no matter the consequences?

The Venice Sketchbook


Rhys Bowen - 2021
    Her beloved great-aunt Lettie leaves her a sketchbook, three keys, and a final whisper…Venice. Caroline’s quest: to scatter Juliet “Lettie” Browning’s ashes in the city she loved and to unlock the mysteries stored away for more than sixty years.It’s 1938 when art teacher Juliet Browning arrives in romantic Venice. For her students, it’s a wealth of history, art, and beauty. For Juliet, it’s poignant memories and a chance to reconnect with Leonardo Da Rossi, the man she loves whose future is already determined by his noble family. However star-crossed, nothing can come between them. Until the threat of war closes in on Venice and they’re forced to fight, survive, and protect a secret that will bind them forever.Key by key, Lettie’s life of impossible love, loss, and courage unfolds. It’s one that Caroline can now make right again as her own journey of self-discovery begins.

What the Wind Knows


Amy Harmon - 2019
    Heartbroken at his death, she travels to his childhood home to spread his ashes. There, overcome with memories of the man she adored and consumed by a history she never knew, she is pulled into another time.The Ireland of 1921, teetering on the edge of war, is a dangerous place in which to awaken. But there Anne finds herself, hurt, disoriented, and under the care of Dr. Thomas Smith, guardian to a young boy who is oddly familiar. Mistaken for the boy’s long-missing mother, Anne adopts her identity, convinced the woman’s disappearance is connected to her own.As tensions rise, Thomas joins the struggle for Ireland’s independence and Anne is drawn into the conflict beside him. Caught between history and her heart, she must decide whether she’s willing to let go of the life she knew for a love she never thought she’d find. But in the end, is the choice actually hers to make?