Book picks similar to
I Heard the Bells by Angela K. Couch


christmas
historical
civil-war
historical-fiction

Katherine's Arrangement


Blossom Turner - 2020
    Josiah Richardson seems almost too good to believe. He’ll provide a home, work for her pa, and a new beginning for her family...if only Katherine will accept his proposal. A marriage of convenience is the last thing she wants, but there doesn’t seem to be a better option for her family or herself. Setting aside her dreams of love, Katherine agrees to the arrangement.The gentleman in Josiah Richardson can no more force his frightened bride into his bed, than he can force her into loving him, so he sets out to gently woo her. He works hard to befriend her, to earn her trust and win her love.Katherine is pleasantly surprised to find herself drawn to the man she thought she would never love, until an unexpected friendship tears apart all they’ve worked for. Where once the promise of love had budded between Josiah and Katherine, now they wonder what to do with their so-called marriage. Is love strong enough to weave its healing power through two broken hearts?

Taming Her Billionaire Cowboy Boyfriend


Sarah Gay - 2020
    He finds his best friend in need of a fake fiancé. The engagement is fake, but his feelings for Jo Cassidy aren't. If only she weren't in love with his brother.

The Way to Healing: A historical Christian romance (The Waymaker series Book 1)


Malory Ford - 2021
    After their first meeting, Edith “Edie” Carmichael would have been content to never lay eyes on Lucas Brown again.She thinks he’s no more than the grumpy owner of Pine Creek’s lumber company, and he thinks she’s a know-it-all lady doctor intent on putting folks in their place.The two must quickly form a truce when suspicious accidents and theft at the sawmill threaten both his livelihood and the lives of his men, but can Lucas ever learn to trust a woman after a lifetime of being abandoned by them? Can Edie be content running the clinic in the hometown she thinks she’s outgrown, or will her dreams prove more powerful than her growing feelings? And when the world around them goes up in flames, will Edie and Lucas make it out alive?

Deceptions (Southern Secrets Saga Book 1)


Jeanne Hardt - 2015
    After years of listening to her mama’s caution regarding men, she’s determined to stay single. Until Dr. Andrew Fletcher arrives in her little town on the bay and she’s irresistibly smitten.Andrew tends to the elite at Mobile City Hospital, but also cares for the poor Negroes in a less desirable part of the city. Despite criticism from the hospital administrator, he’s determined to stand by his principles and help anyone in need. Regardless of the color of their skin.Their whirlwind romance is quickly followed by a wedding proposal. But Claire’s world crashes around her when she discovers a painful truth. With no choice but to run away, she leaves Mobile and soon realizes she’s carrying his child.Every decision Claire makes changes the lives of those she loves. The secrets and deceptions she creates blur the line between lies and truth, until she can’t discern one from the other.

Liverpool Gems


Anne Baker - 2016
    Having lost their mother at an early age, the girls were brought up by their maiden aunts and, with Connie leaving home, Carrie is desperate to spread her wings. Using her skills as a bookkeeper, Carrie gets an exciting new job but her stunning beauty soon attracts the wrong kind of attention. And romance is the last thing on her mind when her beloved father finds himself caught up in an illegal jewellery business that threatens to destroy them all...

The Isle of Mull Series Collection


Lily Baldwin - 2015
    Who will protect her from herself?Shoney's lightning speed with a bow captures Ronan by surprise, and their chance meeting ends with him lying unconscious at the bottom of a ravine.When he awakens, he cannot rid his mind of her startling beauty, her valor, or the secret fear he glimpsed in her steel eyes. He vows to find her, but as the mysteries of her identity unfold, his courage and heart are tested as never before.Highland Thunder, Book 2A STORM IS COMING...Although she faces tragic loss, Brenna will never succumb to grief or fear, nor will she surrender to the one man she despises--the very man who now has the power to control her destiny. Like the storms that rage unchecked over the moors, her fury is about to be unleashed.A HIDDEN LOVE...He does not look at her or speak to her, and most importantly, he does not touch her. These are the rules Duncan set for himself long ago to ensure his affection for his best friend's wife remained undetected. But under the weight of a land besieged by war, the walls he erected to shield his heart crumble.If he can earn her trust, the one woman he has always loved may at last be his. But first he must save what he cherishes most from a nightmare of dark secrets.To Love a Warrior, Book 3Destinies unfold. Secrets are revealed. The Isle of Mull will be forever changed.Half Highlander, half Viking, Garik MacKinnon was not born on the Scottish Isle of Mull, but fostered there in his youth. Now, he leaves behind his home, once more bound for Mull, to join the MacKinnon warriors as they answer Robert the Bruce's call to arms. He is ready for battle, eager to fight for Scotland's freedom. What he is not prepared for is his encounter with Nellore, a shield maiden from Mull, whose allure defies all reason.Nellore has the strength and skill of a warrior but the heart of a woman. When the men are called away to war Nellore must aid those left behind to safeguard their village against attacks from the MacLeans--a feuding clan to the south. She understands her duty to her clan. She is ready to take up arms against the enemy if need be. What she is not ready for is the ache that fills her heart when war pulls Garik from her side.Desire ignites and battles are waged as both Nellore and Garik learn what it means to love a warrior.

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...

The House of Closed Doors Boxed Set: Nell's Story


Jane Steen - 2017
    See why readers rave about the writing, the plot twists, and the characters. NELL LILLINGTON is a spoiled, headstrong 16-year-old when she finds herself pregnant after letting a flirtation with handsome Cousin Jack get out of hand. More willing to bear the consequences of an illegitimate pregnancy than marry, she refuses to name the father and agrees to give birth in a Poor Farm and give the baby up for adoption. At the Poor Farm she meets Tess O’Dugan, a woman the world calls an imbecile but who soon becomes the sister Nell never had. MARTIN RUTHERFORD, Nell’s childhood friend, only learns of baby Sarah when Nell seeks to escape from the Poor Farm—with the child. His own aversion to marriage stems from his dark, unhappy childhood, and despite his attachment to Nell he makes no objection to her plan to move to Kansas, away from prying eyes, with Tess and Sarah. Martin, now free of family ties, has his own plans—he wishes to build a grand department store in Chicago and become one of that growing city’s merchant princes. But Nell and Martin’s plans are steered off course by the secrets and lies of other people, and their paths to happiness are strewn with murder. Nell’s story will take you from the Illinois prairie, to frontier Kansas, and back to a Chicago teeming with opportunistic new Americans and ruthless hardmen.

A Place to Call Home


Val Wood - 2018
    They find somewhere to live in the industrial part of the city, full of glue and tanning factories, paint manufacturers and back-to-back housing along the river - the sky is filled with acrid smoke. For young wife and mother Ellen, it's the complete opposite of what she's used to . . . but at least here her husband finds a job in a seed-crushing mill to support them and their small children.But there are many others in search of a home too - in the late nineteenth century many refugees were escaping from Poland and Germany, landing in Hull and either settling there or moving on to other cities or ships bound for America. Ellen befriends one family and offers them shelter . . .Everyone is looking for a place to call home.Val Wood's wonderful historical sagas are perfect for readers of Dilly Court, Maggie Hope and Rosie Goodwin.

Oaklayne, A Civil War Saga


Maurine R. McCullah - 2010
    Conflict threatens to dissolve the country in bitter strife if North and South cannot peacefully settle their differences. The calm serenity of life at Oaklayne Plantation near Richmond, VA is suddenly replaced with passionate friction between family members, as each person struggles through perilous situations encountered by each of them during a very difficult time in our nation’s history. Colonel Adam Layne is devastated but remains strong in his loyalty to the Union, despite being banished from the plantation by his father and deserted by his fiancée. The balance of his family stands strong with their father's Southern allegiance. "Oaklayne, a Civil War Saga" is a historically accurate portrayal of a man struggling to serve both his family and his nation in a time when those things are in conflict. The sequel to this book entitled "Oaklayne, The Reconstruction", is now available for purchase in print or e-book version!

Survival: Hijacking into Freedom: Based on a True WW2 Story


M. Ben Yanay - 2016
    When his brigade is put to the service of the fleeing German forces, at end of the Second World War, Janus finds himself driving an SS truck under heavy soviet attacks in the Hungarian woods. With his wife and children on his mind, he tries to escape. An engulfing human drama based on real historical events In the woods, Janus meets Bob, an Afro-American pilot from the famous all black "Tuskegee Squadron" unit. Bob is shot down at war and captured by a group of Partisans, where he meets Ina, a Russian medical officer who dreams of a new life in America. Against all odds, and despite their different backgrounds, religions and languages, these three uncommon heroes manage to capture a German train locomotive and try to drive it to their freedom.All the while, Janus's wife, Terry, endures war with their three children, first in the city, and then at the Ghetto of Debrecen, their hometown. After her middle child is murdered, the family is sent to extermination in Auschwitz, but miraculously saved at the last moment. A remarkable view of World War II read with bated breath Towards the end of the war, these four stories converge into one unbelievable drama, providing a gripping and multidimensional view of a most significant period in the history of humanity. Get your copy of Survival now!

Fire Bell in the Night


Geoffrey Edwards - 2007
    Geoffrey S. Edwards's first novel tells the story of New York Tribune reporter John Sharp, sent to cover the capital trial of Darcy Calhoun, a farmer who stands accused of harboring a fugitive slave. As the trial begins, John quickly realizes that not everything is as it appears in the genteel city of Charleston. A series of mysterious fires in white establishments brings the state militia, a curfew for the black population, and rising tension at the courthouse. To unravel the city's secrets, Sharp must enter Charleston's plantation society, where he is befriended by Tyler Breckenridge, owner of the Willowby plantation, and his beautiful sister Clio. Set against the backdrop of a nation headed toward civil war, Fire Bell in the Night is a page-turning account of a trial and one young reporter's efforts to discover the truth.

A Countess in Her Own Right


Fanny Finch - 2019
    He will do everything in his power to keep her. After a terrible fire leaves her an orphan – and the only peeress in her own right in all of England - Mary Hillington will suddenly have to learn how to be a countess. Even if she still bears deep wounds that cannot be hidden... Duncan Winstanley is not the person he pretends to be. Apart from a simple doctor, he is also a Viscount, bound to inherit the title and fortune of the Earl of Bellston. He has to find a wife as soon as possible, or else he’ll lose everything... When a strange carriage accident brings Mary to Duncan’s doorstep, a glimmer of hope seems to appear. But the carriage accident is only the beginning and the strange occurrences in Mary’s life prove to be more than coincidences. Hidden in the shadows, someone orchestrates attempts against her life. Now, Duncan will be swept into the whirlwind of danger that surrounds Mary, and the two of them will have to solve this mystery before it’s too late…

An Heirloom Christmas


Misty M. Beller - 2021
    Grab your hot chocolate and snuggly blanket and get ready to curl up for hours of reading about Christmases past with this romance collection from six of your favorite Christian fiction authors.A Mountain Christmas Romance by Misty M. BellerOpal Boyd learned long ago that most men can’t be trusted. But when a gruff mountain man on a desperate mission travels through her remote Wyoming mountain town, she can’t deny how Matthias Bjork’s loneliness touches her heart.When Matthias shares the magical experience of his family’s traditional Viking Yule celebration, Opal can’t help but fall a little bit in love… But when his search for his missing sister puts Opal in danger, Matthias must sacrifice everything to rescue her.Bundle of Joy by Robin Lee HatcherIn this sweet contemporary romance, Alicia Harris can’t bear to disappoint her grandfather by telling him she’s two months away from being a single mother—so she tells a white lie. But when Grandpa Roger drops in unexpectedly to spend the holidays with Alicia and her husband, Alicia needs to find a fill-in—fast. Childhood friend Joe Palermo fits the bill and is willing to play along. Still, the longer they spend playing pretend, the closer Alicia and Joe come to discovering what love, faith, and marriage truly mean.Christmas Bride by Linda FordJosh Kinsley thought he’d be eating a Christmas turkey with his family—not trapped and forced to work in a mine. He escapes along with beautiful Katie Webster, who was also captured by the band of outlaws.As Josh and Katie are forced to survive a cruel winter in the wilderness, they must learn to trust each other. But will their adventures help them admit their growing feelings or will the danger keep them apart?A Sugar Plum Christmas by Kari TrumboNadia has always been on the fringe of society. As a former prostitute, she knows what people think as they look at her. But is there a way to overcome their disdain? Or is she destined to be lonely forever? When Rock, her boss and owner of the Last Chance Saloon, issues a challenge she can’t refuse, she hopes her efforts will finally make a difference. The first person who accepts her is the one she least expected. Changing her life just might also mean…love.Baby, It’s Cold Outside by Susan May WarrenDottie Morgan, alone and bitter, would like nothing more than to hide and let the Christmas season pass her by.After serving as a mechanic in the Army’s motor pool, spinster Violet Hart has returned home to a community that doesn’t quite know what to do with her.Former soldier Jake Ramsey has been in love with Violet for years—about as long as he’s been keeping a secret that just might break her heart.And then there’s Gordon Lindholm, the farmer from across the field who harbors his own grief—and love—for the woman he can’t forget.When the blizzard of the decade traps Dottie in her home, along with Violet, Jake, Gordon and a wandering child in need of rescue, the strangers must band together to survive. And in doing so, they just might discover the magic of Christmas and a miracle that will heal all their hearts.A Cowboy for Christmas by Lacy WilliamsCowboy Ricky White has been running from his past for so long that he’s lost his way. When he hires on as a ranch hand for Daisy’s father, he believes he’s found his one chance to find redemption. But his secrets are looming and he’ll need a Christmas miracle to win the prickly Daisy’s heart—and maybe find his way home again.

Villa Normandie


Kevin Doherty
    The Normandy coastal village of Caillons is under German occupation, its villagers struggling to survive. With her husband forced into compulsory service for the German Reich, Jeanne Dupré, mother of two adolescent daughters, risks everything to lead the local Resistance cell.Life becomes even more dangerous with the arrival of British agent Daniel Benedict. He needs Jeanne's help to complete his mission, vital to Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings. But Jeanne is suspicious that they are not fighting for the same outcome. Their joint foe is Jürgen Graf, a Nazi oberleutnant set on wiping out the local Resistance. Aware that a spy is at large, Graf is on a ruthless mission to hunt Benedict down. With the help of a network of Catholic priests, Benedict penetrates the heart of the Nazis’ defences against Allied invasion, the Atlantic Wall. As the lives of Jeanne and Benedict become increasingly intertwined can they stay true to themselves? Will they have to sacrifice all in their fight for freedom..? ‘Villa Normandie’ is a moving historical novel, presenting an accurate picture of life under Nazi occupation. It is thoroughly detailed, meticulously researched and vividly authentic - depicting the turbulent world of the French resistance and the struggle of the French people for freedom.