Book picks similar to
Delight and Desire by Joanna Maitland


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The Doorstep Child


Annie Murray - 2017
    . . Evie spent her early years left outside on the step. With a drunk for a father and a neglectful mother, all little Evie has ever craved is a safe home and a normal existence. Her young eyes had seen so much but this never tainted her spirit. If it wasn't for her best friend Gary, and friendly dog called Whisky - Evie might never have made it to the sixteenth birthday.At sixteen she meets Ken, a sweet brown-eyed boy, not much older than she is. Perhaps her fortunes have changed? But no sooner does she give over her heart, she is betrayed, not for the first time in her young life... Will Evie ever find the love and warmth she's always craved?

Kitty's Deputy


Tonya VanWinkle - 2018
    On her own for the first time, will she find the place where she belongs? Being a bounty hunter was all Milo thought he could ever be. Baggage from his past keeps him from the one thing his heart desires; a family. Will Kitty and Milo find common ground? Will the law bring them together or will their pasts and fears keep them apart?

Dorothy's War


Ruth Hamilton - 2005
    Her escape is achieved just before the disastrous advent of Hitler, and there is further tragedy to come.Follow her through childhood and adolescence, then on into her twenties when, finally made whole, she wins her own battle for freedom, for love and for her own place in the world.

Coming Home


Jennifer Vander Klipp - 2019
    And avoid Seth Blake. Becca dreads seeing her girlhood crush to whom she confessed her love before she went off to college. Embarrassed by her childish behavior, she can only hope Seth has forgotten and will see her as a woman. She plans to return to school as soon as possible and make a life for herself. Rumors of ghosts, accidents at the camp, and overheard conversations convince Becca that her brother’s death was no accident. Despite evidence that she’s the next target, she puts her own feelings and college aside to stay and uncover the truth. Seth is happy to see Becca, but as a grown woman she’s a stranger to him, stirring up feelings he can’t identify. When he finds a piece of evidence implicating him in Thomas’s death, he struggles with helping Becca find answers while keeping her from learning he could have prevented it. As the stakes get higher, Seth must keep both of them alive long enough to offer a future to this grown woman he’s fallen in love with.

Down Weaver's Lane


Anna Jacobs - 2002
    But Emmy is beautiful, so attracts unwanted attention; her mother's protector has his eye on her, as does evil Marcus Armistead, her employer's nephew. Marcus is excited by Emmy's virginity and has her kidnapped, but Emmy hits him over the head and escapes.Marcus, further enraged, kills her mother and becomes even more determined to rape Emmy, but the combined efforts of the local parson and Emmy's young suitor manage to keep her safe from harm. Finally Emmy sees Marcus get his just desserts, finds out who her father was and attains the respectability she has so longed for.©2005 Anna Jacobs (P)2009 Isis Publishing Ltd

The Passionate Princess: A Historical Romance (The Princess Series #1)


Sundari Venkatraman - 2021
    And they were in love...Princess Hemangini is mesmerised by Prince Devendra when she falls into his arms while rushing across the royal gardens.The Prince of Indrapuri is amazed that the Princess of Mahendrapuri is even more beautiful and graceful than what the visiting bards sang in praise of her.Their mutual attraction blooms into love and they decide to get married. Tying the knot is easy, but consummating the marriage is another matter altogether.As their love and passion draw them towards each other, Devendra’s mother, Queen Kanchana Devi, keeps throwing obstacles in the path of the lovers; sometimes in the name of rituals and sometimes inflicting doubts in their minds; doing her best to keep them apart.As the frustrated bride and groom tolerate the intervening time with impatience, something happens to shake up Hemangini; something that makes her refuse to let her husband touch her.What will the proud prince have to do to make his princess fall into his arms once again?Read this historical romance from India to find out if the passionate princess finds happiness with her prince or not.

Marriage Under Siege


Anne O'Brien - 2005
    With staunchly opposed political views, the new Lord and Lady Mansell are not seeking love during a time of civil war. But, with riots in the surrounding countryside, as a wife Honoria must appear loyal to Francis's Parliamentarian cause - especially when their castle is held under siege by Royalist forces!Yet, amid the cannon-fire and devastation around them, it seems that there is an elemental force at work in their marriage. For passion is blazing between Honoria and her husband - and it could so easily turn into love. If only Francis could trust that his lady's loyalty were true...Divided by loyalty... United by love

Now and Forever


Margaret Scutt - 2021
    But if she thinks she’s safe at home, she is wrong.Her scheming brother wants to marry her off to a fortune-hunter, and he won’t take no for an answer. Out on a lonely walk, Catherine is attacked and left for dead.Could this be her brother’s doing?Catherine won’t wait to find out. Her childhood friend, Martin Lacey, lives in the manor house across the woods, and there was a time when he would have done anything for her.But in the turmoil of Restoration England, nothing lasts forever. Will turning up at Martin’s door be the saving of her — or the end?

Sarah Mayfield


J.S. Anthony - 2020
    On the strength of three letters she has traveled by railroad, riverboat and stagecoach to meet her new life out west. Grady McGuire, her intended and the author of those letters, though formally dressed and still holding a bouquet of wilted prairie flowers, is unfortunately passed out drunk in a buckboard behind the saloon.That new life isn’t beginning quite as she envisioned it. As she attempts to salvage the promises they made to each other, she finds herself involved with others in town with their own stories to tell:Addison Pruitt, Sarah’s saving grace, owns the very fine Russell Hotel and keeps the irritating John Russell close as she spends his money.Diego, the Mexican hotel cook possessed of an exquisite repertoire of French dishes, has a secret that he hopes he never has to tell.Jim, Booker and the boy Abraham, Grady’s long-suffering hands, are her new family. They run the ranch Grady didn’t intend to inherit and love him even though they can’t keep him out of trouble.Ellen, Grady’s strong-willed mother, lies under a headstone out by the river, but won’t quite stay dead.Last but not least, there is Elijah Blue, a member of the tribes, shotgun rider and horse trainer, who drove cattle with Grady from the time they were barely out of childhood, and is now waiting to see if his friend can make amends with the woman from the East, the one in the black traveling dress covered with dust, the one that he noticed the minute she stepped down off the stage.

No One's Girl


Rosie Goodwin - 2006
    Though she seems a devoted daughter, his cruelty has left her afraid to love. After his sudden death she becomes a virtual recluse, leaving her small farm only to sell the fruit and vegetables she grows. But everything changes on a dark, cold night when she finds a young runaway hiding near her cottage. Alice, too, is unloved and in pain, and as the pair become friends, Jane begins to wonder whether she could offer the girl the loving home she's never had. But dark secrets in both their pasts threaten everything Jane hopes for...

The Silver Spurs Home for Aging Cowgirls


Laura Hesse - 2019
    Turns out three of the four women aren’t cowgirls at all, and their horses aren’t ranch horses either.And then there is the cheating husband that came along for the ride.The word ‘baggage’ just got a whole new meaning.If you think senior living means the party is over, then you haven’t spent a night at The Silver Spurs Home for Aging Cowgirls where romance is in the air and sleeping with another woman’s man can be murder. This politically incorrect black comedy is one part Murder She Wrote and one part Blazing Saddles for lovers of outrageous romantic comedies and cozy mysteries where spurs are jingling and mysteries are afoot. Oh, and we can't forget horse and dog lovers too. More information: When the Montana family decide to turn their struggling ranch into a senior’s home for retired cowgirls and their horses, they don’t realize how much baggage comes along with them, not to mention the fact that only one of the four ladies who move in is a ‘real’ cowgirl, and one of them also comes with a husband with a wandering eye.Sam Montana thinks he’s seen it all until the four ladies show up with four stallions, blankets for every season, more tack than the barn has room for, and a list of what to feed and what not to feed the horses that is longer than his arm.Young widow, Emma Montana, and her children all agreed that a group of retired cowgirls in the house would be fun…just like having four new cowgirl grandmas. They didn’t count on a cheating husband, his completely disabled wife left helpless after a massive stroke, his mistress of forty years, and the multi-divorcee deciding that Sam’s the new mount she wants to ride. And then there are the crude jokes and midnight capers. Throw in a love struck sheriff, a jealous Forest Ranger, a hot ATF agent, a plane crash, a fugitive on the loose, and a rogue mountain lion, and Emma is over her head in no time. This politically incorrect laugh-out-loud black comedy will leave you wondering just what your grandmother is up to when you aren’t around.

One Scandalous Night


Maggi Andersen - 2017
    First, she intends to inveigle a goodly amount of money for her orphans from a man of means and, second, to have one night of passion to help her endure the dreary years ahead. When Derrick, Lord Eaglestone, a wealthy viscount with a scandalous reputation, agrees to donate to Miss Lacey’s charity, he has only seduction in mind. Little does he suspect that Miss Lacey has already chosen him to debauch her before she weds another. The lady has virtually fallen into his lap, but much to his annoyance, he finds himself reluctant to oblige her. First appeared in the Seven Nights of Sin Anthology Sex scene

House of Angels


Freda Lightfoot - 2009
    But since the death of their mother, their family home has been far from a quiet haven as their bullying father is determined to marry off the girls to his greatest advantage.When the sisters discover their father had an affair many years ago, which resulted in the birth of a baby girl, they determine to find their half-sister, and their search begins in the local workhouse. Mercy had been unaware of her connection to the rich Angel family until her mother’s death-bed confession, and once she knows, she’s not at all sure that she wants to be part of the family after all…

Sweet and Twenty


Joan Smith - 1979
    Aunt Martha and cousin Lillian swept into town and took over the search. Lillian, too, was available for marriage. Handsome and wealthy Anthony Fellows was running for Parliament. None of them knew a Tory from a Whig. Suddenly, the ladies were involved in a spirited campaign. With so many men around campaigning, they reasoned, husbands could not be far away ....

Shanghai Girl


Vivian Yang - 2001
    Shan Hai Gaaru". This 2011 U.S. edition features an excerpt of the author’s WNYC Leonard Lopate Essay Contest-winning new novel "Memoirs of a Eurasian". In the post-Cultural Revolution Shanghai of 1984, university senior Sha-fei Hong longs to study in the U.S. for graduate school, ostensibly to pursue the American Dream, but partly to escape her sexually-harassing Communist cadre stepfather. She meets the visiting Chinese-American businessman Gordon Lou, who has political ambitions and ties to the Chinatown underworld in the U.S. He takes Sha-fei to the American Consulate in Shanghai to look into studying in America. There, Sha-fei meets the intern Edward Cook, a young, Caucasian American lawyer who has a strong preference for all things Asian. Within a year, these three people of entirely different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds cross paths in New York. Value systems and self-interests clash. The curtain falls on a dramatic stage of ambition, sex, intrigue, and murder.