Book picks similar to
The Gamester by G.K. Collier


historical-romance
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A Match for Lady Constance


Judith Lown - 2005
    She has beauty, a generous dowry, and an impressive family name to recommend her. Her mother fears Constance will soon--gasp!--be relegated to the shelf. However, Lady Constance is in no hurry to wed. She has exacting requirements for a husband and intends to marry only when she finds the perfect gentleman-one that is worthy. She delights in her ability to control her own destiny. Until an encounter with a shadowy emigre, that is.Constance is certain that she can gracefully extricate herself from an unwanted engagement, while at the same time find a suitable mate for her friend and protect her innocent maid from the wiles of a sophisticated Frenchman. But can she protect her own heart from the attractions of her mysterious fiancé?

Anna's Decision: A Regency Romance


Penny Fairbanks - 2020
    She hasn’t been able to catch any man’s eye, dooming her to a future as the lonely maiden aunt. Why keep putting herself through the misery of being invisible among all the many beautiful, interesting ladies that flock to London every Season? Just when Anna is about to accept spinsterhood, her brother convinces her to give London one more chance.Much to Anna’s shock, she immediately finds herself courted by not one but two gentlemen! Her attempts at faking confidence must be working. But how long can she keep up this act for before she’s discovered?Mr. Noah Waynford has never been one to rush anything—especially not love. When his father reveals some devastating news that threatens their whole family and future, Noah must put his desire to fall in love aside.He needs to marry, and marry well, if he has any hope of saving his family from ruin. Luckily for Noah, he hears a rumor about a lady with a large dowry who needs to get married by the end of the Season. Can Anna finally find someone to love her for who she is?Will Noah’s motives cause him to risk his chance at love?They just might be each other’s answer.

Straight and True: A Regency Novella


Justice Joy - 2014
    Unfortunately, he does not return her affections. When she is invited to a house party at his family's estate, she makes plans to win his heart. Alexander Brent, her childhood nemesis, has been in love with her for most of his life, but he could never hold a candle to his cousin, Nathan. Now, fresh from a tour of the continent and changed from the ungainly youth he once was, Alex is determined to foil Isabella's plans. He offers to help her so he could secretly thwart her...but in doing so, he just might end up ensuring her success. This sweet Regency novella is approximately 34,000 words.

The Count's Charade


Elizabeth Bailey - 2003
    An enemy spy? Who are the men who seek him? What secrets lie in the papers Henri entrusts to her charge?Living alone but for her faithful maid, Grace’s reputation is at stake. But Henri’s safety comes first. If he is to have a chance, she must hold the authorities at bay.Barely has he recovered when his pursuers come calling. Pitting those who would interfere one against the other, Grace risks all to keep her Frenchman alive.Will the truth emerge before Henri’s enemies manage to silence him forever?

The Sheriff's Mail Order Rescue


Amelia Rose
    And with her grandmother’s health declining, Clara is living with the weight of the world on her shoulders – but her grandmother isn’t having any of it.Feisty and tenacious, Eugenia isn’t about to let her granddaughter throw her life away – and so she advertises on Clara’s behalf as a mail-order bride.Clara is furious when she discovers her grandmother’s plot, but as Matt’s response catches her eye, Clara warms to the idea of marrying a sheriff and starting over in a new town.Together, Clara and her grandmother set out for Iron Creek. But the journey is long and hard going – and things only get worse as their wagon train crosses paths with a gang of bandits.Clara can only hope that Matt will come for them before it is too late – but with such a rocky start, what hope will be left for their future together?The Sheriff’s Mail-Order Rescue is a thrilling romance that will charm its way into your heart. Will Matt and Clara find a way to be together? Or is their relationship about to end before it has even begun?

Una's Crossroads


Katherine St. Clair - 2015
    The Irish potato famine left their homeland ravaged and their family buried in the ground. Now, on their way to a distant relative in Missouri Una is determined to take care of her younger sister and create a new life. Henry Mackey is an easygoing country boy who has never taken anything too seriously, until he meets Una. When Una sees Henry’s green eyes she is trapped by the thought of him. When Una discovers that Mr. Mackey has been arranged as her husband she can’t believe her good fortune. But a family dinner with her future husband proves that things aren’t always what they seem… Henry Mackey has stolen Una Brady’s heart. Unfortunately, her heart has chosen the wrong brother to fall in love with. As family bonds are stretched to their limit Una must choose between her heart and her familial duty. When McKenna Brady meets her own future husband everything is changed. Horace Boucher is a big man in words and stature. He’s a man with few moral scruples and plenty of money. Exactly the sort of man Una would never let her sister marry. As things reach a boiling point between Horace and the Brady girls, Una is determined to intervene on her sister’s behalf. When Henry helps her to do it, Una’s love for him only grows stronger. Though her mind tells her not to, Una isn’t sure she can hold her heart back any longer. Una Brady’s tactics in throwing off Horace Boucher have turned out to be far more potent than she ever bargained for. Horace is not going to marry McKenna but now if Una doesn’t act McKenna’s reputation could be permanently scarred. Soon, Una realizes that the only way to protect her sister is to throw away her own heart’s desire, which means letting go of Henry Mackey. When the time for action comes down to the wire Una makes her final decision, but a surprising punch makes Una realize that it may not be solely her decision. Scroll back up and grab your copy now!

An Unmarried Lady


Anna Willman - 2011
    “You don’t want a fortune and you don’t want to be married, while I should enjoy both excessively. If Great Aunt Agatha had wished to promote the marriage of a great niece, why didn’t she leave her fortune to me?” At the age of 24, the bookish and beautiful Miss Elaine Howard of Lynnfield Manor has long accepted her status as a spinster. Her life is focused on taking care of her roguish invalid father and his dilapidated estate and on preparing her younger sister Anne for her first Season. An unexpected inheritance which promises her a large fortune if she marries before her 25th birthday soon sets off a train of dramatic and comic events, which include a spate of unwelcome fortune hunters, an exchange of identities, an abduction, and a mystery around a missing family heirloom. An Unmarried Lady is a regency romance written in the style of Georgette Heyer. Its lively characters become embroiled in a plot that makes use of the thick black fog that descended upon London and the surrounding countryside in December of 1813, and also touches on events in the lives of Henry VIII, Catherine Howard and Mary Wollstonecraft.

The Lady's Ghost


Colleen Ladd - 2014
    If mice in the walls and holes in the roof aren't bad enough, someone wants her to believe the place is haunted. But Portia doesn't scare that easily, even if catching sight of the brooding ghost leaves her strangely breathless. When he was accused of murdering his fiancée a decade ago, Giles Ashburne fled the country to his supposed death. Now he’s returned to the Hall to uncover the evidence that will exonerate him, only to find himself playing a ghost in his own home. Nothing he does drives Portia away, and worse, the stubborn chit is starting to grow on him. The more Portia learns about Giles Ashburne, the more certain she becomes that her ghost is not only innocent, but far from dead. When she sets out to prove it, she puts herself on a crash course with not only Giles, but the real killer. If Giles and Portia don't learn to stop striking sparks off each other and work together, there will soon be two ghosts at Ashburne Hall.

Katerina and the Reclusive Earl (Sisters of Castle Fortune #3)


Alicia Cameron - 2022
    

Replenish the Earth


Anna Jacobs - 2002
    When her mother dies penniless, Sarah Mortonby is shocked to discover she has inherited a wealthy estate. Advised to sell the crumbling manor house to her neighbour, Matthew Sewell, she visits and decides to keep it instead. Sewell is furious – and he is a man known for getting his own way, no matter the cost.Unable to manage the land alone, and desperately needing help, Sarah proposes to her bailiff, Will Pursley – himself recently thrown off his farm by Sewell’s thugs. Can they save the estate together? Will the oppressed villagers help them, or be cowed by Sewell’s threats? And will the fondness growing between Will and Sarah turn into love? From Anna Jacobs, the much-loved author of An Independent Woman and Marrying Miss Martha, Replenish the Earth is a charming saga sure to appeal to readers of Annie Murray, Margaret Dickinson and Ellie Dean.

The Diamond Key


Barbara Metzger - 2003
    But after three Seasons she is still unwed. Then a trip to a London modiste ends with Torrie trapped in a deadly blaze, and she vows that if she lives she'll marry the next man who asks, be he a fop, a tool, or a fortune hunter.Exiled from Society, Wynn, Viscount Ingall, has braved barren wildernesses and sailed the seven seas. Yet he faces trepidation such as he has never known after lie saves a damsel in distress from a burning building and she insists on becoming his bride. Even though Wynn believes he's the worst man Torrie could ever love, he soon finds that once the flame sparks. there's no putting out the fire.

A Lord Undone


Rose Pearson - 2019
    Desperate for aid, she is more than grateful for the assistance of Lady Smithton, who promises that she will help her find a husband.Whilst seeking solace in a bookshop one afternoon, Beatrice is astonished to discover a mysterious note slipped in between the pages of a book. Knowing she should not keep it, she cannot help but take it home, hoping that it will take her mind from her difficult circumstances.Frederick, Earl of Greaves, is a stickler for propriety. It is all the more irritating to him that he has had to step into an unscrupulous situation in order to rescue his brother. What makes matters worse is that the last note has somehow gone missing and that, somehow, a young lady has become entwined in it too!Determined he will have to remove her from this situation at once, Fredrick goes in search of her and discovers that he may have to involve himself with her more fully than he ever intended.

The Byram Succession: A Regency Romance


Mira Stables - 1978
     Albertine 'Tina' Newton knows her worth. The most beautiful girl of the Season, she knew she was born to grace a nobler establishment. And she has her sights set on the perfect husband: Lord Skirlaugh, the heir to the Duke of Byram. Scarred, disillusioned, and cynical, Skirlaugh must nonetheless marry to ensure the succession. He neither expected nor desired love; just a well-bred conformable wife with a reasonable dowry. Tina is certain that there is no one to outshine her. But when her cousin Thea inherits a fortune, she also becomes a contender for Skirlaugh's attention. Then, after meeting on a roadside when both stopped to aid a young man with a badly injured horse, it seems that Thea and Skirlaugh have more potential than Tina thinks... But which aspiring débutante will please his critical taste? Mira Stables is the author of many historical fiction novels, including The Swynden Necklace and Golden Barrier.

The Mysteries of Hawthorn Hall (Hidden Riches Series Book 1)


Mindy Burbidge Strunk - 2021
    But he is the only one who can save her. Lily-Anne Cole never fit in with the other maids. But when she inherits an estate, she doesn’t fit in with the ton, either. Matters only become more complicated when a wild-looking man breaks into her house. Luckily, a handsome groom comes to her rescue. Or at least she believes he is there to rescue her.Timothy Hastings has made himself into a successful, almost-gentleman by cleaning up the messes of the English ton. When he is hired to find a treasure of stolen diamonds, everything goes wrong from the beginning, and he finds himself playing the role of a groom. He only needs to deceive the mistress of the house long enough to find the treasure and receive his payment for the job. When Tim’s deceit is uncovered, he wonders if this will be the first time he doesn’t complete an assignment. Compelled to spend more time together searching for the elusive diamonds, neither Tim nor Lily can deny the draw they feel for each other, even as they realize a connection can never be. But when others come searching for the treasure and threaten Lily’s safety, they must decide if they are better together or apart

The Stanbroke Girls


Fiona Hill - 1981
    They are surrounded by a glimmering cast of characters, from the unreliable but dashing rake Jeffery de Guere to the lovely and shy Miss Amy Lewis. And, of course, the Stanbroke girls: Lady Isabella, romantic and dreamy, yet surprisingly practical, and Lady Elizabeth, her older sister, a heroine of great sense and wit as well as beauty. As these characters dance, court, conspire, love, and chase their way through some of the most fashionable spots of England and the continent, we join their elegant circle for the sparkling, sophisticated romp. As always, Fiona Hill brings a fresh and engaging liveliness to the world of Regency manners, making The Stanbroke Girls a triumphant delight to read.