Book picks similar to
Beyond The Promise by Barbara Bickmore


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historical-romance
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barbara-bickmore

Proper Scoundrels


Laura Landon - 2016
    Shattered Dreams by Laura LandonBrentan Montgomery, Earl of Charfield has one love - his stable of Arabian horses. When he’s offered breeding rights to the Marquess of Fellingsdown’s prize Arabian if he acts as companion to Fellingsdown’s sister, he doesn’t care if the reclusive Lady Elyssa has three chins and a dozen hairy moles. The prize is worth anything he has to endure. But when he meets the elusive Lady Elyssa Prescott, all thoughts of gaining a prize Arabian colt disappear. He realizes he’s met the woman of his dreams - if he can keep her from discovering his deceit and convince her that her imperfections don’t matter to him.Lady Elyssa Prescott knows what it’s like to be ridiculed and shunned. But when Brent Montgomery lets her glimpse a world where her limitations aren’t important, she believes it’s possible for her dreams to become a reality. Until she discovers the man with whom she’s fallen in love was ‘hired’ to offer her everything she’s dreamed of having.The cruel reality of a love built on deceit shatters both their dreams and threatens to destroy their lives forever.Wagers Gone Awry by Collette Cameron Brooke Culpepper resigned herself to spinsterhood when she turned down the only marriage proposal she'd likely ever receive to care for her family. After her father dies, a distant cousin inherits the estate and becomes their guardian but permits Brooke to act in his stead.Heath, Earl of Ravensdale is none-too-pleased to discover five young women call the dairy farm he won and intends to sell, their home. Desperate, pauper poor, and with nowhere to go, Brooke proposes a wager. His stakes? The farm. Hers? Her virtue. Brooke loses, and her devastation is compounded when the cousin arrives, intending to haul the Culpepper misses off to London. Heath astounds himself and proposes in order to apply for guardianship of the other girls. Does Brooke dare marry the handsome stranger who'd been bent on compromising her? Will Heath regret his impulsive gesture, or will unexpected love flourish?Lord Ruthven's Bride by Tarah Scott Love is always sweetest the first time around…A harmless attraction leads to a friendship that forces Lady Annabelle to choose between the two men who love her. One saved her from a killer. The other is her future husband.James Waterson, newly titled Viscount Ruthven, is hunting a killer. When Lady Annabelle steps into the killer’s sights, James will do everything in his power to protect her. Even if that means letting her go.The Most Unlikely Lady by Barbara Devlin Book Three in the Brethren of the Coast Series.Woo a young lady with a fishing rod and a bucket of worms? Oh-so dashing--but untitled--Everett Markham seeks a bride, and he has charged the field of Miss Sabrina Douglas, a woman who prefers trout to truffles.Unabashed and unapologetic, Sabrina sets her cap for a second son, one who will smile patiently when he comes home to find she's misplaced their children. But marriage changes her in ways she never imagined, as the awkward debutante surrenders to a very real, very womanly, all-consuming love.An irresistibly handsome English rogue, Everett plots his future with ruthless detail, but his future wife is anything but predictable, resulting in the zaniest courtship London society has ever seen. When a family tragedy upends his life on his wedding day, he must chart a slippery course with his most unlikely lady--as the new Earl and Countess of Woverton.Loving the Hawke by Lana WilliamsTwo wounded souls, a wallflower and a war hero, stumble upon each other time and again in slums and ballrooms, realizing they fight a common cause and share an unbridled passion. Will the curse they fight be their downfall? Or will love win the day?

Bear Creek Brides #1-4


Amelia Rose - 2020
    Jenny Philips needs to escape her domineering uncle who’s trying to sell her to the highest bidder.A mail-order bride ad brings these two tortured souls together. Upon meeting the Virginia rose, Mathew falls hard and offers to help her get settled.Although Jenny finds herself attracted to the kindhearted cattle farmer, she fears that a marriage amid deadly conflict between miners and natives could spoil their chance at happiness.Can the couple survive a bumpy trail to love and begin a new life together?Sheriff Jacob Benning dreams of only one thing: being a father. After placing a mail-order bride ad, an accident ruins his handwriting and with it, a chance to meet an educated lady.He believes his dream of fatherhood is over.But Rosa Casey, a woman battling anxiety and low self-esteem, finds the sheriff’s bad handwriting charming. For the first time in her life, she swallows her fears, packs her bags, and takes a leap into the unknown.In the small Montana town, Jacob and Rosa begin to build a life. But dangers of the frontier lure at every corner, threatening to destroy a relationship that has just started to blossom.Will Jacob and Rosa survive the dusty dangers to live happily ever after?Dan Mavis, a schoolteacher in the small town of Bear Creek, Montana, believes the only way he’ll finally marry is if he mail-orders a wife. His elegant female colleague, Phoebe James, strongly disagrees.After having her heart broken one too many times, Phoebe finds herself falling for a handsome educator, a man strikingly different from those who’ve previously courted her.Just as Dan starts noticing the beautiful assistant and things start heating up between them, Dan’s advertisement reaches a woman keen to take up his offer.Dan’s mail-order bride shows up at the worst moment, ready to break the starry-eyed couple apart.Will this dramatic interruption ruin Dan and Phoebe’s best chance for a happily-ever-after?When Edward James settled in Bear Creek to manage the mines, he didn’t plan on falling in love. Since the moment he met Morning Sun, his world has been turned upside down and he wants nothing more than to worship the Sioux beauty and be a devoted husband.But the call of the tribe is strong.Morning Sun loves Edward with all her heart, but her loyalty lies with her tribe.Can she really ask Edward to give up his life to live with the Sioux? Does Edward love her enough to leave behind the life he built?As doubts and fears plague the couple’s minds, the US military plans to banish the Sioux to a reservation, taking Morning Sun away from Edward forever.If they run away together, they can save their love, but what will become of the tribe?Can their love survive the harshest of tests?In Bear Creek Brides: Books 1-4, you’ll find four exhilarating stories of how one brave act of venturing into the unknown can change your destiny.

The Island Wife


Jessica Stirling - 1997
    Tragedy follows when they both fall in love with the same man.

The Icecutter's Daughter


Tracie Peterson - 2013
    She enjoys being part of the family business, harvesting ice during the brutal Minnesota winters. Merrill actively takes part, possessing a keen ability to work with the horses--despite the advice of her good friend, who disapproves of her unladylike behavior. When Rurik Jorgenson arrives in their small town to join his uncle doing carpentry, he soon crosses paths with Merrill. But unlike other men, who are often frightened away by her older brothers, Rurik isn't intimidated by them or by Merrill's strength and lack of femininity. As he thrives under the mentorship of his uncle, Rurik dreams of inheriting the business and claiming Merrill as his wife. But while he is determined to start a new life, the past is determined to follow him when his former fiancee and her brother show up in town. Soon Rurik is put in the center of a major scandal that may damage his relationship with Merrill. Can they learn to trust God--and each other--and embrace the promise of love?

The Wish Collector


Mia Sheridan - 2018
    When ballet dancer Clara Campbell arrives in New Orleans, lonely and homesick, she is immediately captivated by the story of Windisle Plantation and the tragic tale that is said to have transpired beyond its gate. Legend has it that it is abandoned by all living souls, but to Clara’s great surprise, it is not a ghost she hears through the stone wall surrounding the property, but a flesh and blood man. A scarred stranger with a pain deeper and darker than the churning waters of the Mississippi river that flows beside his self-imposed prison. The ruined man behind the wall hides himself from the world. The last thing he expects is to find a friend in the selfless girl who speaks to him through the cracks in the rock. The girl who keeps returning week after week. The girl who makes him wish for things he has long since given up on. The girl who strikes both fear and hope within his wounded heart. But there can be no future for them, no life beyond Windisle, for no one knows better than him that monsters only live in the dark. The Wish Collector is the story of shame and triumph, of loneliness and love, and the miracle of two hearts connecting despite the strongest of barriers between them.

Spring House


Mary Ellen Taylor - 2019
    With the help of her fiancé’s caring best friend, it’s sure to draw much-needed tourist revenue to Cape Hudson, a town rich in southern history.However, it’s Spring House, the caretaker’s cottage on the grounds, that holds the most intriguing history for Megan. In a cache of old letters, she’s drawn into the captivating life of a young woman who embarked on her own dream adventure a century ago. With each one, Megan is swept away into her enthralling world—and all its secrets. But Megan has secrets too.Now, as one woman’s past unfolds in each revealing letter, Megan will discover more about herself and about the emotional tides of family that can be weathered with those you love and trust the most.

Dakota December / Dakota Destiny


Lauraine Snelling - 2012
    Sheriff Caleb Stenesrude climbed over the gate in a blizzard and reached up in time to catch the woman as she fell. To his astonishment, a small child, hanging on for dear life, fell with her. Under his breath he thanked the good Lord for bringing them this far and for a dog with a nose and ears to beat all. As the North Dakota storm continued to scream outside the house on the edge of town, Caleb tried to tend to the near-frozen mother and boy. When the woman let out a piercing cry of labor, Caleb realized this would be a Christmas Eve like no other. In the days after, Caleb and the town of Soldahl took Johanna Carlson and her two children into their hearts, but Johanna kept her distance, afraid to tell anyone the truth about her life. Dakota Destiny As folks in Soldahl reel from the war, Pastor Moen’s daughter, Mary, struggles to live with shocking news about the man she loves that arrived by telegram: We regret to inform you that Private First Class Willard Dunfey is missing in action and presumed dead. Thru months of agonized waiting, news came to Soldahl on Tuesday, November 11, 1918 that Victory Day had come. Does she have reason to hope? This volume includes the fourth and fifth books of the Dakota Series featuring the intertwining lives of five inspiring women, all who lived in the early 1900s in the immigrant community of Soldahl, North Dakota.

The Accidental Empress


Allison Pataki - 2015
    With his empire stretching from Austria to Russia, from Germany to Italy, Emperor Franz Joseph is young, rich, and ready to marry.Fifteen-year-old Elisabeth, “Sisi,” Duchess of Bavaria, travels to the Habsburg Court with her older sister, who is betrothed to the young emperor. But shortly after her arrival at court, Sisi finds herself in an unexpected dilemma: she has inadvertently fallen for and won the heart of her sister’s groom. Franz Joseph reneges on his earlier proposal and declares his intention to marry Sisi instead. Thrust onto the throne of Europe’s most treacherous imperial court, Sisi upsets political and familial loyalties in her quest to win, and keep, the love of her emperor, her people, and of the world.With Pataki’s rich period detail and cast of complex, bewitching characters, The Accidental Empress offers a captivating glimpse into one of history’s most intriguing royal families, shedding new light on the glittering Hapsburg Empire and its most mesmerizing, most beloved “Fairy Queen.”

The Daughter of Siena


Marina Fiorato - 2011
    But the beauty and pageantry masks the deadly rivalry that exists among the city's districts. Each ward, represented by an animal symbol, puts forth a rider to claim the winner's banner, but the contest turns citizens into tribes and men into beasts—and beautiful, headstrong, young Pia Tolomei is in love with a rider of an opposing ward, an outsider who threatens the shaky balance of intrigue and influence that rules the land.

The Mine


John A. Heldt - 2012
    But when the college senior, days from graduation, enters an abandoned Montana mine, he discovers the price of reckless curiosity. He emerges in May 1941 with a cell phone he can't use, money he can't spend, and little but his wits to guide his way. Stuck in the age of swing dancing and a peacetime draft, Joel begins a new life as the nation drifts toward war. With the help of his 21-year-old trailblazing grandmother and her friends, he finds his place in a world he knew only from movies and books. But when an opportunity comes to return to the present, Joel must decide whether to leave his new love in the past or choose a course that will alter their lives forever. THE MINE is a love story that follows a humbled man through a critical time in history as he adjusts to new surroundings and wrestles with the knowledge of things to come.

The Battle Sylph


L.J. McDonald - 2010
    He is lured through the portal by pure female beauty, a virgin sacrifice. She is killed, and he is silenced and enslaved.Such a dark ritual is necessary. Unlike their elemental cousins—those gentler sylphs of wind and fire—battlers find no joy in everyday labor. Their magic can destroy an army or demolish a castle, and each has but one goal: find his queen, then protect and pleasure her at any cost. What would a maiden do if she were given such a servant? What would befall that kingdom foolish enough to allow a battler to escape? Young Solie and the people of Eferem are about to find out.

The Good Deed


Renee Perrault - 2013
    When he leaves for America in 1924 to make his fortune for their future, Lydia is heartbroken, and her ruthless younger sister Myra, is still determined to have Edward at any cost. Edward finds life in America difficult. Immigrants, especially Irish Catholics, are shunned, and the influence of the Ku Klux Klan has spread like an epidemic throughout America. When Edward is critically injured in a logging accident, Lydia immediately leaves Ireland for America. Her voyage in steerage is arduous, and an incident aboard ship, changes her and Edward’s life forever. A mentally unbalanced Myra follows Lydia to America. When her plan of revenge is derailed by her own greed, she finds herself in danger, and in need of Lydia’s help to survive. Bringing life to the struggles of Irish immigrants in the 1920’s, “The Good Deed” will captivate readers who enjoyed Andriana Trigiani's, “The Shoemaker's Wife”. "An intriguing book, and an enjoyable read." -S.J.S. Stanton for Chanticleer Book

Just Imagine


Susan Elizabeth Phillips - 1984
    Disguised as a boy, she's come to New York City to kill Baron Cain, the man who stands between her and Risen Glory, the South Carolina home she loves. But unknown to Kit, the Yankee war hero is more than her bitterest enemy—he's also her guardian. And he'll be a lot harder to kill than she's figured on . . .Believing that Kit's a boy, Cain offers the grubby rapscallion a job in his stable. But he has no idea what he's in for, and it's not long before the hero of Missionary Ridge discovers the truth. His scamp of a stable boy is a strong-willed, violet-eyed beauty who's hell-bent on driving him crazy.Two hard-headed, passionate people . . . Two stubborn opponents with tender souls . . . Sometimes wars of the heart can only be won through the sweetest of surrenders.This book is an updated version of the original title, Risen Glory.

In Distant Fields


Charlotte Bingham - 2007
    Partita has invited her friend, Kitty to stay at her ancestral home, Borders Castle. The grandeur of Partita’s family seat is in stark contrast to Kitty’s home in London where she and her mother, Violet, struggle to maintain appearances despite Kitty’s father gambling away the family money. Kitty is introduced to the aristocracy — a world she finds fascinatingly decorative and theatrical. She is enthralled by it, and desperately wants to be part of this way of life that is so far removed from the genteel poverty in which she and her mother are forced to exist.But war breaks out, not only irrevocably changing society, but also the lives of these two beautiful young women. The headstrong Partita and down-to-earth Kitty become nurses, caring selflessly for men who have been horrifically injured in the trenches.In Distant Fields is about the mothers and daughters, sisters and wives who are left holding things together on the home front and caring for their men. But, more importantly, it’s about the nature of female friendship.

In His Father's Footsteps


Danielle Steel - 2018
    troops occupy Germany, friends Jakob and Emmanuelle are saved from the terrible fate of so many in the camps. With the help of sponsors, they make their way to New York. In order not to be separated, they allow their friendship to blossom into love and marriage, and start a new life on the Lower East Side, working at grueling, poorly paid jobs. Decades later, through talent, faith, fortune, and relentless hard work, Jakob has achieved success in the diamond business, invested in real estate in New York, and shown his son, Max, that America is truly the land of opportunity. Max is a rising star, a graduate of Harvard with friends among the wealthiest, most ambitious families in the world. And while his parents were thrown together by chance, Max chooses a perfect bride to start the perfect American family. An opulent society wedding. A honeymoon in Tahiti. A palatial home in Greenwich. Max’s lavish lifestyle is unimaginable to his cautious old-world father and mother. Max wants to follow his father’s example and make his own fortune. But after the birth of children, and with a failing marriage, he can no longer deny that his wife is not the woman he thought she was. Angry and afraid, Max must do what he has never done before: struggle, persevere, and learn what it means to truly walk in his father’s footsteps, while pursuing his own ideals and setting an example for his children. Moving from the ashes of postwar Europe to the Lower East Side of New York to wealth, success, and unlimited luxury, In His Father’s Footsteps is a stirring tale of three generations of strong, courageous, and loving people who pay their dues to achieve their goals.