Love by Design by Christine Johnson

lovebydesign Love by Design

1925 – Michigan

Jen Fox won’t let anyone stand in her way of joining the first flight expedition to the North Pole. Even if the person trying to take her seat is the dashing world-famous stunt pilot Dan Wagner. Being on that flight crew would fulfill her father’s last wish for her. And Dan should know better than to unseat the dressmaker’s determined daughter.

When Dan arrives in Michigan, he’s intrigued by the offer to fly over the North Pole. He needs the money, even if it means taking the spot from the driven—and attractive—Miss Fox. Yet their strictly business relationship hits turbulence when they realize they both wish for something more personal…

The Lumberjacks’ Ball by Carrie Fancett Pagels

The Lumberjacks’ Ball

1891 – Michigan

A decade after surviving a brutal attack, a mercantile owner’s daughter begins her life anew in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. A gifted craftsman wishes to leave the lumber camp and seeks employment at her new store. When his presence dredges up memories she wishes to suppress, the proprietress must learn to face her past and open her heart. When complications arise, will they overcome adversity in time for The Lumberjacks’ Ball?

Love’s Unfading Light by Naomi Rawlings

Love’s Unfading Light

1880 – Michigan

Tressa Danell is finished with men—from the wastrel who left her a widow, to the smelly trapper who keeps proposing, to the banker who wants to repossess her bakery. Every hour is spent working to pay off her late husband’s debt and keep a roof over her son’s head, though it’s doubtful she can do both for very long. But one thing’s certain—she’ll never be beholden to a man again.

Tired of living in a small town that blames him for actions his father committed ten years ago, Mac Oakton is scheduled to leave Eagle Harbor. So why does the pretty widow at the bakery keep tugging at his heart? He can’t get involved in her predicament when he’ll only be around for two more weeks.

But when Tressa’s burdens overwhelm her, they both face a decision. Can Mac set his own plans aside to help? And can Tressa accept his support if that means giving up her independence … and being obligated to a man again?

Then Sings My Soul by Amy K Sorrells

Goodreads ~ Purchase ~ Sample

1900s/1990s – Ukraine/Michigan

1904, Chudniv, Ukraine. Playing hide-and-seek in bucolic fields of sunflowers, young Jakob never imagines the horrific secrets he will carry as he and his brother escape through genocide-ridden Eastern Europe.

1994, South Haven, Michigan. At age 94, time is running out for any hope that Jakob can be free from his burden of guilt.

When Jakob’s wife dies, he and his daughter, Nel, are forced to face the realities of his worsening dementia—including a near-naked, midnight jaunt down the middle of main street—as well as emerging shadows Nel had no idea lay beneath her father’s beloved, curmudgeonly ways.

While Nel navigates the restoration and sale of Jakob’s dilapidated lake house, her high school sweetheart shows up in town, along with unexpected correspondence from Ukraine. And when she discovers a mysterious gemstone in Jakob’s old lapidary room, Jakob’s condition worsens as he begins having flashbacks about his baby sister from nearly a century past.

As father and daughter race against time to discover the truth behind Jackob’s fragmented memories, the God they have both been running from shows that he redeems not only broken years, but also the future.

Love Unexpected by Jody Hedlund

Love Unexpected

1859 – Michigan

What Is the Secret That Could Shipwreck Both of Their Lives?

All Emma Chambers ever wanted was a home, but when her steamboat sinks just outside Presque Isle, she’s left destitute and with no place to stay. An unlikely solution arises when the lighthouse keeper arrives in town. He’s just lost his wife and is having a difficult time caring for his child. So a traveling preacher gets the idea that the keeper and Emma might be the answer to each other’s dilemma. After a hasty marriage, she finds herself heading to the lighthouse with this handsome but quiet stranger. Nothing in her aimless life, though, has prepared her for parenting a rambunctious toddler, as well as managing a household. Emma soon suspects Patrick may be hiding something from her, and then she hears a disturbing rumor about the circumstances surrounding his late wife’s death. It seems as if her wish for a home and family of her own could end up leading her once more into turbulent waters.

Suitor by Design by Christine Johnson

Suitor by Design

1924 – Michigan

Minnie Fox’s goal is to find a beau who can help support her ailing father and his struggling dress shop. As a working man, her friend Peter Simmons simply doesn’t fit the bill. Instead, Minnie’s got eyes for Peter’s childhood pal—a wealthy Chicagoan. So why can’t she stop thinking about Peter? Peter wishes Minnie would see him as more than a friend. As a hardworking mechanic, Peter knows he’ll never be able to dazzle Minnie with fancy suits and expensive cars. But maybe he can prove to her that what’s in a man’s heart is worth more than what’s in his wallet.

The Soldier’s Homecoming

The Soldier’s Homecoming

1945 – Michigan

After long years away at war, Joe is determined to start his life anew. But it isn’t easy. Settling into his Michigan hometown at last, he doesn’t expect to come face-to-face with the girl who got away—and is still holding a grudge. Feisty dance teacher Victoria Banks has always stood on her own two feet. But everyone needs help sometimes. It’s tempting to share her joys and troubles with a war hero who would like nothing more than to cherish her. But can she let go of the past…and take a second chance on love?

Out of the Storm by Jody Hedlund

Out of the Storm

1854 – Michigan

Having grown up in a lighthouse, loneliness is all Isabelle Thornton has ever known–and all, she assumes, she ever will know. But when her lightkeeper father rescues a young man from the lake, her sheltered world is turned upside down. Bestselling author Jody Hedlund’s Out of the Storm is her first ever novella and introduces readers to Beacons of Hope, a new series set in the 1800s amid the romance, history, and danger surrounding the Great Lakes lighthouses of Michigan.

The Fruitcake Challenge by Carrie Fancett Pagels

thefruitcakechallenge The Fruitcake Challenge

1890 – Michigan

When new lumberjack, Tom Jeffries, tells the camp cook, Jo Christy, that he’ll marry her if she can make a fruitcake, “as good as the one my mother makes,” she rises to the occasion. After all, he’s the handsomest, smartest, and strongest axman her camp-boss father has ever had in his camp—and the cockiest. And she intends to bring this lumberjack down a notch or three by refusing his proposal. The fruitcake wars are on! All the shanty boys and Jo’s cooking helpers chip in with their recipes but Jo finds she’ll have to enlist more help—and begins corresponding with Tom’s mother.

Step back in time to 1890, in beautiful Northern Michigan, near the sapphire straits of Mackinac, when the white pines were “white gold” and lumber camps were a way of life. Jo is ready to find another life outside of the camps and plans that don’t include any shanty boys. But will a lumberjack keep her in the very place she’s sworn to leave?

Groom by Design by Christine Johnson

Groom by Design

1923 – Michigan

Dressmaker Ruth Fox gave up her dream of a husband and children long ago. Her family’s floundering dress shop, her ailing father and her two younger sisters require Ruth’s full attention. Though the handsome new stranger in town is intriguing, Ruth is certain he wouldn’t look twice at a plain spinster of twenty-six. Sam Rothenburg’s connection with the shy young woman next door is immediate, but he knows Ruth will be crushed when she discovers his real purpose in town. Sam is secretly working to open one of his father’s large department stores in Pearlman, Michigan, which will surely put Ruth out of business. How much is Sam willing to sacrifice to claim Ruth’s heart?

Captured by Love by Jody Hedlund

Captured by Love

1814 – Michigan

The British Army has taken control of Michilimackinac Island and its fort, forcing the Americans to swear an oath of loyalty to the crown in order to retain their land. Pierre Durant is a fur trader who returns after being away from the island for years, only to find the family farm a shambles and those he cares about starving and at the mercy of British invaders. Torn between the adventurous life of fur trading and guilt over neglecting his defenseless mother, Pierre is drawn deeper into the fight against the British–and into a relationship with Angelique MacKenzie, a childhood friend who’s grown into a beautiful woman. She now finds herself trapped by the circumstances of war and poverty, and the cruelty of her guardian, Ebenezer Whiley. As tensions mount and the violence rages on, Pierre and Angelique must decide where their loyalties rest and how much they’ll risk for love.

The Heiress’s Courtship by Gina Welborn

The Heiress’s Courtship

1856 – Michigan

LIBERTY JUDD IS A RULE BREAKER

The Chicago heiress has shaken off the trappings of society—and the man who crushed her heart—to follow her artistic dreams. But when Gerrett Divine suddenly reappears in her life, she can’t ignore the way she still feels about him. Architect Gerrett Divine IV has always been the dutiful son—that’s why he plans to marry a woman he doesn’t love. But when he meets Liberty again, that resolve is severely tested. Can he go through with an arranged marriage just to please his family, or will he make a leap of faith and choose the free-spirited woman who captivates him?

Under a Blackberry Moon by Serena Miller

underablackberrymoon Under a Blackberry Moon

1868 – Michigan

Just a few days after she gives birth alone in the Northwoods, a recently widowed young Chippewa woman stumbles into a nearby lumber camp in search of refuge and sustenance. Come summer, the camp owner sends Skypilot, his most trusted friend, to accompany Moon Song and her baby on the long and treacherous journey back to her people. But when tragedy strikes off the shore of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula wilderness, Moon Song and Skypilot must depend on each other for survival. With every step they take into the forbidding woods, they are drawn closer together, until the tough questions must be asked. Will she leave her culture to enter his? Will he leave his world to enter hers? Or will they walk away from a love that seems too complicated to last? With evocative descriptions of a breathtaking landscape, Under a Blackberry Moon will sweep readers into a wild realm where beauty masks danger and only the truly courageous survive, even as the sweet love story along the way tightly grips their hearts.

A Noble Groom by Jody Hedlund

1880 – Michigan

Recently widowed Annalisa Werner has the feeling her husband was murdered but can’t prove it. Alone with her young daughter in 1881 Michigan, she has six months left to finish raising the money needed to pay back the land contract her husband purchased, and the land is difficult to toil by herself. She needs a husband. With unmarried men scarce, her father sends a letter to his brother in the Old Country, asking him to find Annalisa a groom. For nobleman Carl von Reichart, the blade of the guillotine is his fate. He’s been accused and convicted of a serious crime he didn’t commit, and his only escape is to flee to a small German community in Michigan where he’ll be safe. He secures a job on Annalisa’s farm but bumbles through learning about farming and manual labor. Annalisa senses that Carl is harboring a secret about his past, yet she finds herself drawn to him anyway. He’s gentle, kind, and romantic–unlike any of the men she’s ever known. He begins to restore her faith in the ability to love–but her true groom is still on his way. And time is running out on them all.

Legacy of Love by Christine Johnson

1922 – Michigan

She dreamed of digging through ancient ruins—but the only exploring Anna Simmons gets to do is in the expensive houses she cleans in Pearlman, Michigan. When Brandon Landers hires her, she’s unsure whether to be furious or thrilled. He evicted Anna and her ailing mother, but she’s heard rumors of hidden treasure on his land. Treasure Anna decides to find. Not just for herself, but for her new employer whose unexpected kindness has softened her heart.
Physically and spiritually wounded in the Great War, Brandon knows not to hope for the impossible—like buried riches or Anna’s love. Is there still time for them to learn that the only treasure they need is a lifetime together?

Promise to Love by Serena Miller

apromisetolove A Promise to Love

1871 – Michigan

Ingrid Larsen, a young Swedish immigrant, arrives in Michigan in 1871 to search for her brother who has disappeared into the woods to work the dangerous lumber camps. Destitute and barely hanging on to hope, she encounters a newly-widowed farmer who is struggling to raise five children on his own. Marriage would solve both of their problems, and so Ingrid proposes to a man she barely knows. She will fight to protect her new family–but the hardest battle of all will be winning the heart of her new husband.

Silent Summer by Dee Farrell

silentsummer Silent Summer

1825 – Michigan

The Michigan Territory had lain ripe for settlement by hardy American souls for thirteen years. But there were reasons the interior had remained wild. Indian uprisings, harsh weather, diseases, and loneliness were hardships to face let alone clearing trees and building homes. Finally the trickle of pioneers advancing from the shores began. Eliza Pearce was a young woman with goals of her own. They did not include taming the Territory. But, too young to argue, she finds herself immersed in pioneer life and struggling to survive her experience.

Unending Devotion by Jody Hedlund

Unending Devotion

1883 – Michigan

Lily Young is on a mission to save her lost sister, or die trying. Heedless of the danger, her searches of logging camps lead her to Harrison and into the sights of Connell McCormick, a man doing his best to add to the hard-earned fortunes of his lumber baron father.

Posing during the day as a photographer’s assistant, Lily can’t understand why any God-fearing citizen would allow evil to persist and why men like Connell McCormick turn a blind eye to the crime rampant in the town. But Connell is boss-man of three of his father’s lumber camps in the area, and like most of the other men, he’s interested in clearing the pine and earning a profit. He figures as long as he’s living an upright life, that’s what matters.

Lily challenges everything he thought he knew, and together they work not only to save her sister but to put an end to the corruption that’s dominated Harrison for so long.

The Masquerade by Melanie Dobson

1894 – Michigan

It’s the height of the Gilded Age, but Elena Bissette’s family has lost most of its fortune.
The Bissettes still own a home on fashionable Mackinac Island, and they spend summers there in hopes of introducing Elena to a wealthy suitor. Quickly tiring of the extravagant balls at the Grand Hotel, she spends her days walking along the island’s rugged coastline. There she meets Chase, a young fisherman who invites her to watch the ships from an abandoned lighthouse. The two begin to meet there in secret, hoping to solve a decades-old mystery. Meanwhile, Elena’s mother contrives introductions between Elena and the island’s most eligible bachelor, an elusive millionaire named Chester Darrington. When Elena’s two worlds unexpectedly collide, she will be in for the surprise of her life.

When Love Comes My Way by Lori Copeland

When Love Comes My Way

1873 – Michigan

As Tess Wakefield wakes from a frightening wagon accident, she discovers she has lost her memories. In her recovery, she loses her heart as well to handsome lumberjack Jake Lannigan. It’s not a two-way street, though. Jake thinks he knows exactly who she is—the spoiled Wakefield Timber heir—but he believes the accident provides the means to show her that she has a responsibility to replant the trees and not to merely invest her inheritance opening another of her silly millinery shops.

Then he slowly he begins to fall in love with her. Jake wants to tell Tess the truth, but before he can her true identity is uncovered, and then both of them find the emotional stakes too high. Will God intervene and show this headstrong couple that only He in His wisdom could have paired them together?

All Roads Lead Home by Christine Johnson

All Roads Lead Home

1922 – Michigan

Hendrick Simmons despises her. Mariah Meeks doesn’t blame him—not after she rejected the handsome mechanic’s proposal two years ago. She’s certain she’s not meant for marriage. All Mariah’s energy goes to one purpose—her work as an agent of the Orphaned Children’s Society.

Now a prodigal father’s return threatens a boy under Mariah’s care. Mariah insists on approving the lad’s future home for herself, even though it requires a cross-country drive that’s too dangerous to take on her own. For the child’s sake, Hendrick agrees to join her. Can a journey of 2,000 miles bridge the distance between them…and reveal where Mariah truly belongs?

The Green Veil by Naomi Musch

1840s – Wisconsin and Michigan

Tucked deep beneath the green veil of Wisconsin’s forests, lumberman’s daughter Colette Palmer has loved timber cruiser Manason Kade since her youth. But over time and distance, her own compassion and circumstances compel her to marry another. Her husband is a driven man who will stop at nothing to crush his enemies, one of which is a young, upstart lumberman named Kade.

As speculators, lumber barons, and mining magnets stretch their grip on Wisconsin’s wild territory, Colette and Manason meet again. Only now she is forced to choose between her first love and her commitment to her marriage vows, while her dreams, her faith, and an empire in pine hang in the balance.

The Matrimony Plan by Christine Johnson

The Matrimony Plan

matrimonyplan

1920 – Michigan

Society Princess— and a Penniless Preacher?

Felicity Kensington is preparing for the grandest wedding Pearlman, Michigan, has ever seen. True, her prospective husband is virtually a stranger. But the well–connected engineer her father hired fits all her marriage criteria. Except for one tiny flaw: it’s the town’s new pastor, not the wealthy engineer, who makes Felicity’s heart race…

Gabriel Meeks left New York to avoid high society’s foolish rules. Instead, he’s immediately smitten with the high–and–mighty Miss Kensington. Beneath Felicity’s misplaced pride is a woman of genuine worth, if he can only help her see it. And nothing could make him happier than ensuring that her matrimony plan takes an unexpected twist!

Save

Save

Michigan Brides by Amber Stockton

Michigan Brides (Romancing America)

Industrial Revolution – Michigan

Within the industrial boom during the Turn of the Century, three Michigan women react differently to their rapidly changing worlds. Felicity Chambers trades her society gowns for poor rags, swapping lifestyles with a sick woman in the factory district. But when she meets Brandt Lawson from the copper refinery, will her noble deed lead to heartache? Annabelle Lawson takes food to the potato pickers in her father’s field and meets William Berringer, a victim of the 1893 financial crash. Can they break through society’s stigma when romance blooms? Shannon Delaney’s belief industrial progress is doomed to fail is confirmed by the sinking of the Titanic and when Jacob Berringer’s Model-T almost runs her down. Will Shannon be willing to embrace change and welcome love with it? Can each woman find the faith and strength to weather their times and invite love into their hearts?

Abbie Ann by Sharlene MacLaren

abbieann Abbie Ann (Daughters of Jacob Kane, Book 3)

1907 – Michigan

Abbie Ann Kane, the youngest of Jacob Kane’s three daughters, is a busy woman. Between running the Whatnot, the family’s general store, being active in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and assisting the elderly citizens of Sandy Shores, Michigan, she has little time for frivolous matters. And those include matters of the heart. When the recently divorced Noah Carson comes to town with son Toby in tow to pursue a shipbuilding business, Abbie Ann tries to keep her distance-especially when his flagrant ex-wife shows up. But God has other plans in mind

Hannah Grace by Sharlene MacLaren

Hannah Grace (Daughters of Jacob Kane, Book 1)

1903 – Michigan

Growing up in the west Michigan resort town of Sandy Shores in the early 1900s, Hannah Grace, the eldest of Jacob Kane’s three daughters, is feisty and strong-willed, yet practical. Between working at her father’s general store and courting the town’s physician, Ralston Van Huff, Hannah has her life planned out in an orderly, meaningful way. Or so she thinks.Hannah’s world turns upside down when the new sheriff comes to town. Gabriel Devlin is strong, outspoken, and a Christian, to boot-but he’s sworn off women, having met ones mostly interested in money and apathetic about God.Determined to ignore the newcomer’s handsome looks, Hannah is drawn to him nonetheless by a shy, runaway orphan boy named Jesse. While Hannah works to befriend the shy vagabond, who’s living with Gabriel until other arrangements can be made, God works in her heart. What plans does He have in store for this young woman who thought she had it all together?

A Woman’s Place by Lynn Austin

A Woman’s Place

1942 – Michigan

They watched their sons, their brothers, and their husbands enlist to fight a growing menace across the seas. And when their nation asked, they answered the call as well. Virginia longs to find a purpose beyond others’ expectations. Helen is driven by a loneliness money can’t fulfill. Rosa is desperate to flee her in-laws’ rules. Jean hopes to prove herself in a man’s world. Under the storm clouds of destruction that threaten America during the early 1940s, this unlikely gathering of women will experience life in sometimes starling new ways as their beliefs are challenged and they struggle toward a new understanding of what love and sacrifice truly mean.

Romey’s Place by James Calvin

Goodreads ~ Purchase ~ Sample

1950s – Wisconsin/Michigan

“What’s it like having an old man who’s a saint?” The question came from the depths of Romey Guttner’s troubled soul. It was as honest as the hot sun that beat down on him and his best friend, Lowell, as they picked beans that unforgettable summer in the late fifties. They were just boys, one the son of the town’s pillar of faith and one the neglected child of a man whose anger spilled onto everyone in his path. Despite their disparate upbringings, Romey and Lowell were like brothers, inseparable in their pursuit of adventure. But events were brewing that would force them to confront the reality of their differences for the first time.