Book picks similar to
Hothouse Bloom by Hannah Morse


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Wicklow's Odyssey


R. Cooper - 2014
    With an eye to not just winning the war, but to the future of the country, Alexander Rhoades convinces the Union government to let him run a team of remarkable spies as he pleases, mostly to plant brand-new electro-radio technology in Southern cities to aid the work of Northern agents. While on one of these missions, secret agent Wicklow Doyle’s safehouse is compromised and he’s on the run in enemy-controlled Charleston. The last thing he needs with him is the pampered rich man who runs his team, yet despite the danger, Alexander Rhoades refuses to leave his side. Wicklow doesn’t understand why, or why Rhoades’s very presence makes him tremble. A street rat-turned-soldier-turned-spy, there isn’t much that scares Wicklow. He’s used to men desiring him, but not wicked geniuses offering something he’s scared to name. Wicklow doesn’t understand love any more than he understands Rhoades’s noble causes. He’d rather focus on what needs to be done. The enemy is all around them and hiding a dangerous secret, the North still needs a victory, and Wicklow has to get Rhoades to safety. Of all the dangers in his path, that is the one that frightens him the most, and with every one of Rhoades’s soft kisses, he’s starting to realize why. But it might be too late. Wicklow may be a man of noble causes too, and he will do what it takes to fulfill his mission, save his team, the country, and Rhoades.

The Soldier's Scoundrel


Cat Sebastian - 2016
    Now he uses the tricks and schemes of the underworld to help those who need the kind of assistance only a scoundrel can provide. His distrust of the nobility runs deep and his services do not extend to the gorgeous high-born soldier who personifies everything Jack will never be.   A soldier untarnished by vice  After the chaos of war, Oliver Rivington craves the safe predictability of a gentleman's life-one that doesn't include sparring with a ne'er-do-well who flouts the law at every turn. But Jack tempts Oliver like no other man has before. Soon his yearning for the unapologetic criminal is only matched by Jack's pleasure in watching his genteel polish crumble every time they're together.   Two men only meant for each other

Blood and Rain


Shira Anthony - 2014
    But when a hunter bent on destroying the truce between vampires and hunters throws the gauntlet at Adrien’s feet, Adrien must travel through time to save Nicolas, and with him, the entire vampire race.Born in the 1800s into a clan of vampire hunters, Adrien once wanted only to tend his family’s vineyard or read a good book. Then his older brother is murdered. Bound by his hunter’s oath, Adrien sets out on a path that will change his life when he agrees to execute his brother’s killer, the vampire Charles Duvalier.After months chasing Charles, Adrien reluctantly makes a bargain with ancient vampire Nicolas Lambert. Adrien will escort Nicolas to Paris for his marriage to a rival clanswoman, and Nicolas will help Adrien find Charles. Nicolas’s quiet strength and gentle heart soon convince Adrien that Nicolas is nothing like the vampires he has sworn to destroy. But as the wedding draws nearer, a sinister figure threatens the already fragile peace. To secure both past and future for those he loves, Adrien must find a way to stop the looming war. But first he’ll have to let Nicolas go.

His Grandfather's Watch


N.R. Walker - 2012
    "It was my Grandfather's. I was hoping you could tell me something about it."A love story of two couples, generations apart.Disclaimer: This is a rewritten fanfiction and is available only as a complimentary read. DO NOT pay to download. It has not been professionally edited. Available at author's website

Dances Long Forgotten


Ruby Moone - 2019
    Then they hear the faint strains of a waltz in the library of the empty abbey. The music is said to be heard only by those truly in love, and it gives James the courage to tell Dylan the story. In December 1841, Lord Hugo Pell-Charnley is in a terrible mess. The youngest son of the late Marquis, youngest brother of the incumbent, never felt to fit. When his life comes crashing down, and his life and his family are threatened, he is forced to face his elder brother and confess his deepest secret. When he arrives at Winsford Abbey he finds he must also confront the shame from his past in the form of Lyndon Cross. The boy he’d loved but betrayed in school. As they clear the ghosts from the past, they dance in each other’s arms in the library to the soft strains of the waltz, but long buried secrets threaten to destroy their happiness. Two hundred years later, can those dances long forgotten give James and Dylan the courage to hold on to love?

You Could Make a Life


Taylor Fitzpatrick - 2015
    “I think you’re my new best friend,” Dan says, his excitement beating out common sense, social filters, the need to play it cool. “It is nice to meet you, new best friend," Marc says, his mouth twitching. In hindsight, Dan probably falls in love with him in that moment, Marc laughing at him and with him all at once, but it takes a little while to figure that out.

The Devil Lancer


Astrid Amara - 2014
    Facing a harrowing winter campaign, Elliott must rally disheartened men through sickness, battle and starvation.But when he is assigned the additional task of spying on a fellow officer, the inscrutable Cornet Ilyas Kovakin, he finds himself disconcerted and fascinated by both the work and the man.The half-Russian officer reports to none in his division. Rumors of demonic power and black magic surround him, but the truth turns out to be worse than the suspicions.For Ilyas, his return to the Crimea is marred by the terrible mistake that cursed him with a horrifying power nearly beyond his control. His grip on his humanity is slipping away daily. Torn between a master he cannot trust and the family he must not return to, his only hope for salvation lies hidden in the long-forgotten symbols of centuries-old relics. But their meanings remain a mystery until the cheerful Captain Parrish offers assistance.Although Ilyas fears trusting the young captain, Elliott’s company is almost irresistible.Surrounded by deprivation, cruelty and war, both men know the closer they are drawn together, the greater the stakes. But with the balance of European power on the line, retreat is not an option.

The Trouble with Saving a Duke


Emma Linfield - 2020
    If Lady Seraphina Camden doesn't find a suitable husband soon, her family risks that very fate. Until the day she meets the new stable hand.With someone out for his blood, Lysander Keswick, the Duke of Emberborough, is running for his life. Unable to recall who he is after suffering a nasty hit to the head, he finds work as a stable boy. A position that leaves him at the mercy of Lady Seraphina, the one lady he can never have.Torn between returning memories of hatred and the duty to their hearts, Seraphina's sudden disappearance comes as a woeful reminder: someone still wants Lysander in the grave. And the only clue to their salvation lies in a name that they both know but haven't heard of before...

An Unusual Courtship


Katherine Marlowe - 2015
    Swiftly befriending the fashionable trio of Londoners, Percival sets out to court the elegant Miss Bolton, but soon comes to realise that he is being courted instead by the charming but secretive Mr. Everett. As Percival begins to uncover the circumstances behind his new friends’ arrival in Linston, he is drawn inextricably closer to Mr. Everett and his secrets.

It Takes Two to Tangle


Theresa Romain - 2013
    Wounded and battle weary, he decides that the right wife is all he needs. Selecting the most desirable lady in the ton, Henry turns to her best friend and companion to help him with his suit…Is a Terrible Mistake…Young and beautiful, war widow Frances Whittier is no stranger to social intrigue. She finds Henry Middlebrook courageous and manly, unlike the foppish aristocrats she is used to, and is inspired to exercise her considerable wit on his behalf. But she may be too clever for her own good, and Frances discovers that she has set in motion a complicated train of events that’s only going to break her own heart…

All In with the Duke


Ava March - 2013
    But ten months of celibacy and lonely nights drive him to a decadent brothel, where a beautiful young man arouses his illicit passions as never before.Tristan Walsh has grown tired of being used for men's pleasure. But his latest client is different: commanding yet generous, Max makes him feel cared for as well as wanted. Yet Tristan knows he'll never have the choice to leave the brothel and submit only to Max.So when Max invites him to be his guest at his country estate, Tristan eagerly agrees to his terms—days to do as he pleases while Max tends to the dukedom, and nights spent together in wicked play. But when the "business arrangement" begins to deepen into something more, Tristan must face the fact that he has no true place in Max's life—or in Max's guarded heart…81,000 words

A Private Gentleman


Heidi Cullinan - 2012
    When he hears rumors of an exotic new orchid sighted at a local hobbyist’s house, though, he girds himself with opiates and determination to attend a house party, hoping to sneak a peek. He finds the orchid, yes…but he finds something else even more rare and exquisite: Michael Vallant. Professional sodomite.Michael climbed out of an adolescent hell as a courtesan’s bastard to become successful and independent-minded, seeing men on his own terms, protected by a powerful friend. He is master of his own world—until Wes. Not only because, for once, the sex is for pleasure and not for profit. They are joined by tendrils of a shameful, unspoken history. The closer his shy, poppy-addicted lover lures him to the light of love, the harder his past works to drag him back into the dark. There’s only one way out of this tangle. Help Wes face the fears that cripple him—right after Michael finds the courage to reveal the devastating truth that binds them.

Manners & Mannerisms


Tanya Chris - 2019
    Everyone, that is, except Lord William Bascomb. William knows he’ll be expected to woo Reginald’s sister, and he can't summon the interest for it. But when the Abernathys arrive at last, William discovers he’s interested after all—in Reginald. Reginald is the most handsome, most dashing, most intriguing man he’s ever known. Better yet, he seems to share William's preference for men. The addition of the Abernathys to Highley suits everyone. William’s sister adores Reginald’s, Aunt Harriet foresees many happy matches between the two families, William’s sister-in-law is pleased at the prospect of unloading her penniless relatives at last, and all the eligible ladies in Highley want the man who only has eyes for William. Against a backdrop of elegant balls and frolicking picnics, William and Reginald enjoy furtive moments of ecstasy until a scandal erupts, forcing William to choose between Reginald and the only life he’s ever known.See how many matches Aunt Harriet can make in this low-angst, warm and fuzzy Jane Austen-inspired M/M Regency romance.

A Minor Inconvenience


Sarah Granger - 2014
    Now his fight against Napoleon is reduced to quiet, lonely days compiling paperwork at Horse Guards headquarters.His evenings are spent dutifully escorting his mother and sister to stifling social engagements, where his lameness renders him an object of pity and distaste. But his orderly, restricted life is thrown into sudden disarray with the arrival of Colonel Theo Lindsay. Theo is everything Hugh is not—a man of physical perfection and easy yet distinguished address. Surprisingly to Hugh, Theo appears to be interested in making his acquaintance. Lindsay turns out to be a most convivial companion, and Hugh finds great pleasure in his company. Their friendship deepens when they become lovers.In spite of himself, Hugh falls desperately in love. But when a French spy is suspected at Horse Guards, Hugh discovers nothing is as it seems…and the paper he shuffles from day to day could be the instrument of his lover’s death. Product WarningsContains gallant English officers in love, dastardly French spies, skintight pantaloons (sometimes on the floor) and gleaming tasseled Hessians.

Love and Other Scandals


Caroline Linden - 2013
    Thanks to some deliciously scandalous—and infamous—stories, she has a pretty good idea of what she's missing as a spinster. Is even a short flirtation too much to ask for?Tristan, Lord Burke, recognizes Joan at once for what she is: trouble. Not only is she his best friend's sister, she always seems to catch him at a disadvantage. The only way he can win an argument is by kissing her senseless. He'd give anything to get her out of her unflattering gowns. But either one of those could cost him his bachelor status, which would be dreadful—wouldn't it?