Love Unforeseen by Penny Zeller

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1890s – Montana

Will a best friend’s matchmaking scheme be successful?

Tillie Waller finds her life’s purpose in molding young minds as a teacher in Ellis Creek in the late-1890s. While she claims contentment, there is a part of her that longs to marry and be a mother, like her sister, Meredith, and best friend, Lula. But no matter. With her students and books, how could she ever be lonesome?

Willard “Will” Fairbanks has longed to return to Ellis Creek since the day he left the town with his family twelve years ago. When a job offer at Ellis Creek Mill beckons his return, Will eagerly embraces the opportunity. An added bonus? He hopes to reconnect with Tillie Waller, the girl he has always loved—the girl who never felt the same about him.

When Tillie encourages her pupils to write to pen pals in another town, she can’t possibly foresee how such an assignment will impact her own future. Her best friend, Lula, concocts a plan, unbeknownst to Tillie, for Will to become Tillie’s pen pal under a false name. Tillie forms a connection with her pen pal and even dares herself to fall in love.

When she falls in love with both Will and her pen pal, which one will she choose?

Will love unforeseen become a reality for Tillie and Willard?

Claiming Her Legacy by Linda Goodnight

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1890 – Oklahoma

Frontier women don’t ride off alone to track an outlaw—not even women as capable as tomboy spinster Willa Malone. But Willa desperately needs the bounty money offered for her father’s killer if she’s to keep their homestead and take care of her sisters. That means she needs an expert tracker’s help. Gideon Hartley has the skill, but the handsome trail guide also has a troubling secret…

Gideon has spent years trying to numb his pain with whiskey. Little by little, their quest—and Willa’s belief in him—is restoring the sense of purpose he thought he’d lost. Journeying into the heart of danger, they’ll have to face down the past together if they hope to protect their future…

Miss Beaumont’s Companion by Grace Hitchcock

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1892 – Louisiana

When lady’s companion Aria St. Angelo is coerced into posing as her political employer’s absent daughter for the evening at the Louisiana Governor’s masquerade ball, she wasn’t planning on falling for Byron Roderick, the most eligible bachelor in the capitol.

Byron Roderick is taken with the woman he knows as Mildred Beaumont, but when he discovers the lady’s true identity, more than just his heart is at stake.

Cowboy Cousins Collection

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1890s

Saddle Up … for the fastest reading ride of your life as three cowboys become cattlemen. Raised in the same small town in the Texas Hill Country because their mothers are sisters, three cousins, cowboys all, find God, the loves of their lives, and much, much more.

This novella collection includes:

Lucy and the Lawman by Molly Noble Bull: While on a business trip to Colorado in 1890, Sheriff Caleb Caldwell stops to inform Miss Lucy Gordan and her widowed mother of property they inherited in Texas, land coveted by a rich and powerful man—willing to do anything to get his hands on what is rightfully theirs, and Caleb feels obligated to protect them. However, he cannot reveal his attraction for Lucy. To do so would mean disaster for all of them.

The Meddlesome Maverick by Kathleen L. Maher: A new job as a bronco buster on a Lincoln, Nebraska ranch offers Boyd Hastings a fresh start. Cured of romance after a kiss-and-tell flirt falsely accused him, he must flee his hometown and cousins who have been like brothers. Banjo picking for a music show would lure him to the big city, but an opinionated tomboy with a heart of gold makes grand plans for him. Can he trust a meddlesome maverick to steer him true, or will she lead him into a briar patch of trouble?

A Panhandle Sunrise by Kathi Macias: Thirty-one year old Jake Matthews, newly appointed foreman of the Double Bar-J Ranch, is deeply attracted to the ranch owner’s daughter, Anabelle, but he can’t work up the nerve to approach her father, Jasper Floyd, and ask for permission to court her. But when tall, handsome, longtime Jasper-family friend, Clint Jordan, gets hired on, it seems Clint doesn’t have the same insecurities and begins pursuing Anabelle immediately. Jake now accepts that his dreams of a life with Anabelle are hopeless—until a near life-and-death situation changes everything.

Count the Nights by Stars by Michelle Shocklee

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1897/1961 – Tennessee

Count your nights by stars, not shadows. Count your life with smiles, not tears.

1961. After a longtime resident at Nashville’s historic Maxwell House Hotel suffers a debilitating stroke, Audrey Whitfield is tasked with cleaning out the reclusive woman’s room. There, she discovers an elaborate scrapbook filled with memorabilia from the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Love notes on the backs of unmailed postcards inside capture Audrey’s imagination with hints of a forbidden romance . . . and troubling revelations about the disappearance of young women at the exposition. Audrey enlists the help of a handsome hotel guest as she tracks down clues and information about the mysterious “Peaches” and her regrets over one fateful day, nearly sixty-five years earlier.

1897. Outspoken and forward-thinking Priscilla Nichols isn’t willing to settle for just any man. She’s still holding out hope for love when she meets Luca Moretti on the eve of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Charmed by the Italian immigrant’s boldness, Priscilla spends time exploring the wonderous sights of the expo with Luca—until a darkness overshadows the months long event. Haunted by a terrible truth, Priscilla and Luca are sent down separate paths as the night’s stars fade into dawn.

Along the Rio Grande by Tracie Peterson

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1899 – New Mexico

Recently widowed Susanna Jenkins has decided to follow her family to the booming town of San Marcial, New Mexico, for a fresh start and to aid in her family’s sudden change in fortune. They are tasked with managing her uncle’s new Grand Hotel, and it takes all her patience to try to help her parents see the good of their circumstances and relinquish their sense of entitlement.

Owen Turner works as a boilermaker for the Santa Fe’s train shops in San Marcial. He’s immediately attracted to Susanna upon meeting her, but he hesitates to risk opening his heart again. Especially as painful memories are stirred up of his own late sibling when Susanna’s brother is assigned to work under him.

When misguided choices put Susanna’s family in an even more precarious situation, she needs someone to rely on. But if Owen can’t face the past, he’ll miss out on his greatest chance at love.

Growing A Family in Persimmon Hollow by Gerri Bauer

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1891 – Florida

A temporary exile becomes a forever home

Long before #MeToo, a woman who became pregnant after an assault paid a high price. Laws didn’t support her. Society shunned her. She was often banished from home. That’s what happens to Penelope Gold, who is exiled to the Florida frontier town of Persimmon Hollow. But something remarkable happens after she arrives. She finds love, acceptance and faith. And discovers that “Growing A Family in Persimmon Hollow” can be a time of joy.

Proposing Mischief by Regina Jennings

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1890s – Missouri

Only one person can give her the freedom she seeks–but is it worth the risk?

Maisie Kentworth is being forced to stay on her parents’ ranch. After a short-lived relationship with the wrong man, she’s worried about inflaming things further between her former beau and her protective family. Left to rue her mistakes, she keeps busy exploring the idle mine at the edge of their property, where she discovers a great treasure.

Boone Bragg is also stuck. With his parents on vacation, the management of Bragg Mining falls on him, and one of his advisors wants him as a son-in-law. One wrong move, and Boone will end up either offending an associate or marrying a woman he can’t endure.

While closing up a spent mine, Boone gets two surprises. One is a spitfire farm girl who’s trespassing with a pickax, and the other is the amazing crystal cavern that she’s discovered. Suddenly Boone sees a way to overhaul the family business. With part of the cavern on Kentworth land, Boone makes Maisie a proposal that he hopes will solve all of their problems. Instead it throws Joplin into chaos, and it will take all of Maisie’s gumption to set things right.

Dawn of Grace by Connie Stevens

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1891 – North Carolina

Elise Holbrook is a pawn in a hopeless game of chess.

Elise’s father formed an alliance with influential, but unscrupulous, George Penwell, the terms of which include Elise’s hand to fortify Penwell’s connections in New York society. But Elise can’t abide being in the same room with George Penwell and will do anything to keep from being forced into the marriage. In a desperate ploy, she blurts out a lie that she is in love with a longtime friend, and they plan to be married the following week. A few days later, her friend is found murdered, and Elise discovers Penwell is his killer.

Fearing she might never be safe from Penwell, Elise seeks refuge by escaping to the remote mountain town of Hot Springs, North Carolina. Suffering from debilitating headaches brought on by strangulating guilt and remorse over her lie, she hopes the change in scenery and restful environment will help relieve her headaches. Instead, the pain escalates, and requires more and more laudanum.

Jonathan Aldridge, fresh out of seminary and stepping into his first pastorate in Hot Springs, is plagued by doubts over his calling to the ministry. Despite his own misgivings regarding the legitimacy of his calling, Jonathan must set aside his fears when he meets Elise Holbrook. Her headaches are gut-wrenching to see, and he wishes he could help her. Complications twist Jonathan’s hope with the arrival of Cyrus Drummond, a self-proclaimed faith healer and evangelist. Elise attends Drummond’s revival meetings and is conned into believing Drummond can heal her.

How can Jonathan expose Drummond for the fraud that he is before the man swindles Elise out of thousands of dollars? And how can Elise accept God’s forgiveness when she can’t forgive herself?

Every Word Unsaid by Kimberly Duffy

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1897 – Traveling/India

Augusta Travers has spent the last three years avoiding the stifling expectations of New York society and her family’s constant disappointment. As the nation’s most fearless–and reviled–columnist, Gussie travels the country with her Kodak camera and spins stories for women unable to leave hearth and home. But when her adventurous nature lands her in the middle of a scandal, an opportunity to leave America offers the perfect escape.

Arriving in India, she expects only a nice visit with childhood friends, siblings Catherine and Gabriel, and escapades that will further her career. Instead, she finds herself facing a plague epidemic, confusion over Gabriel’s sudden appeal, and the realization that what she wants from life is changing. But slowing down means facing all the hurts of her past that she’s long been trying to outrun. And that may be an undertaking too great even for her.

Behind Love’s Wall by Carrie Fancett Pagels

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1895/Present – Canada

The Grand Hotel Slowly Reveals Her Secrets

Two successful women, a hundred-and-twenty-years apart, build walls to protect their hearts. Modern-day Willa, a successful interior decorator, is chosen to go to Mackinac Island and consult for the Grand Hotel’s possible redesign. During work on a room, she discovers a journal detailing the struggles of a young woman, Lily—which reveals dark secrets. The renowned singer wasn’t who she pretended to be.

As Willa reaches out to Lily’s descendant, a charismatic and prominent landscape artist, she lets down her guard. Should she share the journal with him—revealing hidden history—or once again erect a wall as she struggles to redesign both the Grand and her life?

A View Most Glorious by Regina Scott

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1893 – Washington

Reluctant socialite Coraline Baxter longs to live a life of significance and leave her mark on the world. When her local suffragette group asks her to climb Mount Rainier to raise awareness of their cause, she jumps at the chance, even though she has absolutely no climbing experience. If she can do it, any woman can do it. And after her mother issues an ultimatum–that Cora marry the man of her mother’s choosing if she is not successful–Cora must do it. But she can’t do it alone.

Noted mountain guide Nathan Hardee initially refuses to help Cora, but has a change of heart when he sees what is at stake. He knows enough about the man Cora’s mother has chosen to know that the headstrong young woman should have nothing to do with him, much less marry him.

Climbing Rainier will require all of Cora’s fortitude and will lead her and Nathan to rediscover their faith in God and humanity. These two loners make unlikely partners in righting a wrong and may just discover that only together is the view most glorious.

The Pinkerton’s Pursuit of Justice by Clari Dees

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1895 – Colorado

He’s searching for justice. He just didn’t expect it to be her.

Pinkerton agent, Tremain Taggart, has dangerous criminals to investigate and apprehend. He doesn’t have time to escort a petty thief to Denver, but the quicker he completes the assignment his superior ordered him on, the quicker he can return to more important cases. However, the straightforward task promptly turns into the most complicated, chaotic chase of his career, and if he ever gets his hands on the elusive Miss Justice, he will be sorely tempted to wring her neck.

All Emmalena wanted was a tiny corner of the world to call her own. But after running away from the circus—the only life she’s ever known—all she’s found is trouble. And now she’s on the run, again. This time with a disturbing Pinkerton hot on her trail. If she can’t outrun or outwit him, she might have to risk her heart and actually trust him.

She’s the assignment he didn’t want. He’s the complication she didn’t need. But together, they might be exactly what they were each searching for.

A Heart’s Forever Home by Lena Nelson Dooley

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1896 – Texas

A single lawyer whose clients think he needs a wife. A woman who needs a forever home…or a forever family…or a forever love.

Although Traesa Killdare is a grown woman now, the discovery that her adoption wasn’t finalized sends her reeling. Especially when her beloved grandmother dies and the only siblings she’s ever known exile her from the family property without a penny to her name.

Wilson Pollard works hard for the best interest of his law clients, even those who think a marriage would make him more “suitable” in his career. And when the beloved granddaughter of a recently deceased client comes to him for help, he knows he must do whatever necessary to make her situation better.

As each of their circumstances worsen, a marriage of convenience seems the only answer for both. Traesa can’t help but fall for her new husband—the man who’s given her both his home and his name. But what will it take for Wilson to realize he loves her? Will a not-so-natural disaster open his eyes and heart?

There All Along by Susanne Dietze

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Miss Match—Colorado, 1879

Brainy Grace Perkins applies scientific principles to play matchmaker for the singles in her small town. However, her hypothesis leaves out God’s role and matters of the heart, creating tangled results.

Love’s Reward—California, 1896

It was a joke, offering a monetary reward for the capture of a shy architect’s heart—but the game is on for every female in San Francisco except charity-minded Josie Price, who won’t compete for Daniel Blair’s affections. Just his bank account.

Under the Texas Mistletoe by Karen Witemeyer

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1890s – Texas

Witemeyer presents the new story “A Texas Christmas Carol,” in which a town’s wealthy, Scrooge-like bachelor finds his world invaded by a woman set on earning his donation for helping the local poor, and by the penetrating questions of three mysterious visitors.

It also includes, for the first time in print, “An Archer Family Christmas.” When the Archer clan gathers for the Christmas holiday, an unexpected request for help leaves Cassandra Archer directly in the path of a dangerous outlaw. Desperate to protect the woman he loves, Jim Archer races to the rescue, only to find that Cassie’s life is not the only one in peril. It will take a Christmas miracle–and the entire Archer clan–to keep a second Archer Christmas from ending in disaster.

In previously published “Gift of the Heart,” a widow and her young daughter move to Hope Springs for a fresh start. But with no money to secure a home, Ruth must convince a wealthy resort owner to accept her heirloom brooch as collateral. Will the pin that brought love to three generations soften the heart of a wounded recluse and give Ruth a second chance at love as the holidays draw near?

Sprinkled throughout the collection, you’ll find a hope-filled Christmas devotion, Witemeyer holiday recipes, and fun facts about nineteenth-century Christmas celebrations!

Songs in the Night by Lynette Bonner

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1890s – Washington State

Aurora McClure would like nothing more than to march into Parson Preston Clay’s church and give him a kiss that would knock him into the next county. But since she’s not that kind of woman, and he’s shown little inclination toward her, she’s decided to run instead. Leaving town will be infinitely better than remaining where she will need to continue fighting her feelings. If only she had peace about the decision!

Parson Preston Clay sits at his desk and glares at newcomer Kane Carver, who’s just asked for permission to call on Aurora McClure. His jaw aches. He’s been suffocating his feelings for Aurora for years because his calling requires long hours with low pay and it’s not the kind of job for a family man. Yet . . . staring at Kane, he realizes if he doesn’t act, he might lose Aurora forever.

But just when he sets aside his hesitations, a woman from his past—his distant and nefarious past—rides into town. And though he’s far from the same man he once was, she hasn’t changed a bit. She thinks he’s running a con and wants him to use his safecracking skills to help her break into the bank. When he refuses, how far will she go to ensure his cooperation? And how much will Preston be willing to compromise when she takes Aurora captive?

In the darkest hours of the night, he desperately cries out to the only One who can help him. The One who gives songs in the night.

Take the next stagecoach to Wyldhaven, where the coffee’s perked hot, the sheriff likes his apple pie fresh from the oven, and adventure invariably waits just around the next river bend.

The Debutante’s Secret by Mary Davis

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1894 – Washington State

Will Geneviève open her heart to a love she never imagined?

Geneviève Marseille, a French socialite, has only one purpose in coming to Kamola—stopping her brother from digging up the past. She has reluctantly journeyed alone to the quaint college town in central Washington State. Kamola is so different from her beloved Paris that she is tempted to abort her mission, but the kindness of a handsome deputy tempers her desire to flee.

Deputy Montana has lived a simple life. But when a fancy French lady steps off the train and into his arms, his modest existence might not be enough anymore. Even though he’s warned he can have no future with Miss Marseille because her grandparents would never accept him, he is drawn to her at every turn. Can he make himself worthy of her?

Mystery surrounds Aunt Henny. She is aunt to all but related to no one in Kamola. When a nemesis from her past arrives, she must decide whether to flee as she’d done all those years ago, or stand her ground in the town she’s made her home and risk going to jail.

When secrets come out, will the lives of Geneviève, Montana, and Aunt Henny ever be the same?

The Debutante’s Secret by Mary Davis

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1894 – Washington State

Will Geneviève open her heart to a love she never imagined?

Geneviève Marseille, a French socialite, has only one purpose in coming to Kamola—stopping her brother from digging up the past. She has reluctantly journeyed alone to the quaint college town in central Washington State. Kamola is so different from her beloved Paris that she is tempted to abort her mission, but the kindness of a handsome deputy tempers her desire to flee.

Deputy Montana has lived a simple life. But when a fancy French lady steps off the train and into his arms, his modest existence might not be enough anymore. Even though he’s warned he can have no future with Miss Marseille because her grandparents would never accept him, he is drawn to her at every turn. Can he make himself worthy of her?

Mystery surrounds Aunt Henny. She is aunt to all but related to no one in Kamola. When a nemesis from her past arrives, she must decide whether to flee as she’d done all those years ago, or stand her ground in the town she’s made her home and risk going to jail.

When secrets come out, will the lives of Geneviève, Montana, and Aunt Henny ever be the same?

Dollar Brides by Anne Greene

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1899 – Rhode Island

What if you are one of the richest daughters in America, and your parents sell you to an unknown English Lord to gain a title for the family?

When Amelia Schermerhorn Astor’s best friend is sold to the elderly Englishman, Lord Suffolk, Amelia vows to stop this appalling form of slavery. No more Dollar Brides.

Amelia’s seen too many of these nightmare negotiations where wealthy fathers treat their daughters as negotiable objects much like they play the stock market. Amelia risks her entire future and fights the system.

After committing a grave mistake during a business trip to England, Bracebridge Brighton III has a choice. The Duke of Richmond gives Brace three options to right the wrong. Circumstances forbid Brace from taking the first two, so he must accept the third … return to Newport and procure a Dollar Bride for the deceitful Duke.

After a highly unorthodox meeting with Amelia, Brace falls in love with the feisty crusader. When Amelia discovers Brace’s mission, she cuts him from her life.

When they clash again will both forfeit their once-in-a-lifetime love?

In a Grove of Maples by Jenny Knipfer

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1897 – Wisconsin

Betsy and Edward face the perils of newlywed life and all that comes to divide lovers.

In 1897 newly married Beryl and Edward Massart travel more than one thousand miles from Quebec to farm a plot of land in Wisconsin that they bought sight-unseen. An almost magical grove of maples on their property inspires them to dream of a real home built within the grove, not the tiny log cabin they’ve come to live in.

Misunderstandings and tempers get the better of them when difficulties and troubles arise. Just months after they wed, Edward leaves pregnant Beryl in the midst of the coming winter to tend the farm and animals while he goes to be a teamster at a northern Wisconsin logging camp.

Will Beryl and Edward walk into the future together to build their house of dreams in the grove of maples, or will their plans topple like a house of sticks when the winds of misunderstanding and disaster strike?

A Lady in Attendance by Rachel Fordham

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1898 – New York

Five years in a New York state reformatory have left a blemish on Hazel’s real name. So when she takes a job as Doctor Gilbert Watts’s lady in attendance in 1898, she does so under an alias. In the presence of her quiet and pious employer, Hazel finds more than an income. She finds a friend and a hope that if she can set her tarnished past in order, she might have a future after all.

As Gilbert becomes accustomed to the pleasant chatter of his new dental assistant, he can’t help but sense something secretive about her. Perhaps there is more to this woman than meets the eye. Can the questions that loom between them ever be answered? Or will the deeds of days gone by forever rob the future of its possibilities?

Rachel Fordham pens a tender tale of a soft-spoken man, a hardened woman, and the friends that stand by them as they work toward a common purpose–to expunge the record of someone society deemed beyond saving–and perhaps find love along the way.

Straight for the Heart by Vickie McDonough

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1895 – North Dakota

Orphaned and destitute, Sarah and her two siblings hope to find a home with their uncle.

But when she learns he’s an outlaw, they flee, taking his bag of loot. The children are exhausted, so Sarah leaves them at a hidden campsite, and she takes the gold into the nearby town alone, hoping for a reward. Instead, she’s thrown in jail for being a bank robber. She worries about her younger siblings, and as the days pass, her only hope for release is to marry a man she doesn’t know.

Quinn McFarland comes to town to meet the mail-order bride his grandma sent for, unbeknownst to him. When she doesn’t show, he’s relieved, but he knows Grandma will probably order another bride. The sheriff suggests he marry the gal in his jail so he can drop the charges against her. Quinn balks, but she looks so sweet and innocent that he reconsiders. If he comes home with a bride, he’ll get his grandma off his back about marrying. But when Sarah surprises him with two youngsters, he regrets his decision. And what of the outlaws who are seeking revenge for their loss loot? Maybe this marriage can resolve Quinn’s and Sarah’s predicaments, but can it ever result in true love?

Even Forever by Robin Lee Hatcher

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1890 – Idaho

The last thing Rosalie Tomkin wants is another man trying to control her life. Her abusive jailbird father and her ne’er-do-well brother have cured her of that. Not even the wealthy visitor staying in her beleaguered mother’s boarding house can tempt her. She plans to leave Boulder Creek as soon as she can scrape together the funds to do so, and when she does, she won’t ever look back.

Michael Randolph is in a high-stakes competition for the family business and intends to beat his half-brother, no matter what. So when an innocent encounter with Rosalie threatens to cost him everything he hopes to achieve, he’s willing to pay the price demanded by her no-good father. Even if it means marrying a damsel in distress.

Strangers placed in an impossible position, Michael and Rosalie can agree on one thing. Neither of them wants to stay together any longer than they must. What they don’t know is that fate might have a better future in store for them than either could imagine.

Rekindling Trust by Sandra Ardoin

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1897 – Indiana

Abandonment. Betrayal. Injustice.
Two broken hearts given a second chance to mend.

Widow Edythe Westin yearns for a peaceful home and independence from her controlling father. The goal seems within reach until her rebellious young son is suspected of arson and assault. With nowhere else to turn, she defies her father and appeals for help from the only man she ever loved—the man who once deserted her when she needed him most.

Attorney Barrett Seaton returned to his hometown to make his brother’s final days comfortable. Seeing Edy again raises Barrett’s guard, especially when she remains under her father’s thumb…just like the day she rejected Barrett to marry another man. A second betrayal by Edy would destroy him as surely as her devious father destroyed his brother by railroading him into prison.

After over a decade of hurt, how will trust be renewed in time to save Edythe’s son from an injustice that will haunt him the rest of his life?

The Test of Gold by Renee Yancy

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1897 – New York

Heiress Evangeline “Lindy” Lindenmayer has been groomed since childhood to marry into the British aristocracy as her mother’s ultimate ambition is a royal title for the family name. But literature fascinates Lindy far more than ballgowns, and she spends all her free time in the library, the only room in the Fifth Avenue mansion where she can safely indulge her passion for reading and find refuge from the prying eyes of her mother.

Jack Winthrop is studying for the ministry at Union Theological Seminary and has been invited to use the Lindemayer’s library for his studies. His sole experience of upper-class young women has occurred at his uncle’s church, where he has found these young debutantes universally featherbrained. When he meets Lindy, he is pleasantly surprised to discover she has wide-ranging interests and is highly intelligent. Although cautioned by his uncle to stay away from her, he finds Lindy a kindred spirit and over animated discussions of books and life, they fall in love.

But to reach happily ever after, Lindy will need to challenge her mother’s long-laid plans, and weathering the approaching storm will take more backbone than she even knew she had.

Inn for a Surprise by Karen Witemeyer

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1891 – Texas

Despite her own life being void of romance, spinster Phoebe Woodward adores love stories, especially those connected to the local Kissing Tree. Determined to foster romance in the lives of others, she builds an inn by the tree that caters to couples. When her father sends a property manager to help make the venture a success, however, she finds her whimsical vision thwarted at every turn by stodgy practicality. Finding the right blend of romance and reality is a challenge, but when the two bleed into her personal life, Phoebe’s spinster heart may be in for a surprise.

Find this book in print HERE.

Shadows of the White City by Jocelyn Green

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1893 – Illinois

The one thing Sylvie Townsend wants most is what she feared she was destined never to have–a family of her own. But taking in Polish immigrant Rose Dabrowski to raise and love quells those fears–until seventeen-year-old Rose goes missing at the World’s Fair, and Sylvie’s world unravels.

Brushed off by the authorities, Sylvie turns to her boarder, Kristof Bartok, for help. He is Rose’s violin instructor and the concertmaster for the Columbian Exposition Orchestra, and his language skills are vital to helping Sylvie navigate the immigrant communities where their search leads.

From the glittering architecture of the fair to the dark houses of Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods, they’re taken on a search that points to Rose’s long-lost family. Is Sylvie willing to let the girl go? And as Kristof and Sylvie grow closer, can she reconcile her craving for control with her yearning to belong?

Courting Misfortune by Regina Jennings

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1898 – Illinois

Calista York needs one more successful case as a Pinkerton operative to secure her job. When she’s assigned to find the kidnapped daughter of a mob boss, she’s sent to the rowdy mining town of Joplin, Missouri, despite having extended family in the area. Will their meddling expose her mission and keep Lila Seaton from being recovered?

When Matthew Cook decided to be a missionary, he never expected to be sent only a short train ride away. While fighting against corruption of all sorts, Matthew hears of a baby raffle being held to raise funds for a children’s home. He’ll do what he can to stop it, but he also wants to stop the reckless Miss York, whose bad judgment consistently seems to be putting her in harm’s way.

Calista doesn’t need the handsome pastor interfering with her investigation, and she can’t let her disguise slip. Her job and the life of a young lady depend on keeping Matthew in the dark.

What You Said to Me by Olivia Newport

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1893 – Colorado

When 15-year-old Tisha Crowder gets caught shoplifting, attorney Nolan Duffy tries to protect her from consequences that could rattle her already troubled life. His daughter, Jillian, feels like she’s the one being punished instead—by having Tisha assigned to work with her on a backlog of genealogy files. Tisha doesn’t seem interested in taking the job seriously, and Jillian’s patience wears thin. Besides, everyone in Canyon Mines knows the Crowder family has experienced generations of brokenness. Then a sliver of hope turns up in long-ago words in plain sight, challenging shrouded assumptions about Tisha’s family. Now Jillian is the one who can walk with Tisha back to 1893 and uncover where everything went wrong in the first place—and save her from the past.

Rocky Mountain Revelation by Lisa J. Flickinger

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1890s – The Rocky Mountains

A Rocky Mountain logging camp may be just the place to start her new life.

Widowed at nineteen, Madeline Lamb seeks to find a new husband amongst the crew of the Rocky Mountain log drive. With a baby growing inside her, she has no choice. She signs on as cook’s helper, and it soon becomes apparent her options for a mate are limited. Madeline’s grieving heart wavers between the security an older man offers and the tender feelings a new crew member stirs.

Will Matheson earned the chance to work the high-paying spring log drive. The boon ensures he can recoup the logging wages stolen by a pretty face with some fast fingers. Frustration builds when the boss pulls him from the river and assigns him the job of camp chore boy. If it wasn’t for the pretty cook’s helper, he’d take the first train home.

When the dangers of the river journey prove more treacherous than anyone expects, the budding attraction between Will and Madeline is put to the test. If they survive the adventure, life as they know it will never be the same.

Palmer Girl by Dawn Klinge

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1893 – Illinois

When insurance tycoon, Cornelius Nordeman, is recruited to work for the Exposition Corporation, the New Yorker brings his family to live at the Palmer House Hotel, far away from any reminders of a recent tragedy. He’s hopeful this move will offer respite from his family’s grief.

Elizabeth Nordeman, his daughter, has something to prove, which leads her to seek work as a florist at Marshall Field’s, Chicago’s finest department store.

John Lewis knows something is different and intriguing about the new florist he hired. When his boss, Marshall Field, informs him that Elizabeth is the Nordeman heiress, his job suddenly becomes more complicated–especially when he finds himself falling for her.

On the eve of the Columbian Exposition of 1893, Chicago prepares to prove that it’s a first-class city, and the brightest minds from around the country will plan the most spectacular fair the world has seen.

The World’s Fair will bring change and innovation into a society bound tightly by class and tradition. Elizabeth’s heart longs to push against those boundaries, so what’s holding her back?

Enduring Dreams by Sandra Ardoin

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1897 – Indiana

Loving her might be a blueprint for disaster.

Claire Kingsley once dared to assert herself into the male world of 1890s architecture. It cost her husband both his life and an heir. Now fear controls her choices and her dreams. When offered a chance to create another design, she fights against the pull, afraid of further disaster. But disturbing news ignites a fierce loyalty to her past love and a powerful attraction to a new one—an attraction she resists…for his sake.

Mark Gregory’s first architectural project in town comes with the proviso that he works with a female. He balks, even though Claire stirs his heart like no other woman. Yet, with a loan payment looming, risking his business on someone of unknown talent invites failure, a word he’s struck from his vocabulary.

When bigotry and Claire’s fears threaten an important commission, will she summon the courage to help Mark succeed, or will she destroy another man’s dream?

Read the heartwarming historical romance, Enduring Dreams, the first novel in the Widow’s Might series.

Five Simple Gifts by Sondra Kraak

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1893 – Connecticut

Langley Taft is a firm believer in the narrow way. She trained to work alongside her father in their lumber dynasty and married the man of her parents’ choosing. A man who turned around and issued her a humiliating divorce. Left alone to raise her sister’s illegitimate son, she defies her family to do what she knows is right: deliver the baby to his father—even if that man is Wilder Monaghan, the irresponsible heir to a rival lumber company who lives on the other side of the country. And who happens to be the scoundrel she once fancied in her youth.

A lover of adventure, opportunity, and all things exciting, Wilder isn’t prepared for the surprise appearance of the son he thought was dead, or for the woman who shows up with her life shaded by unjust accusations but determined to help him raise his son. Parenting alongside the stringent Langley might be his most challenging adventure yet. Or his most rewarding, provided he can teach her how to have fun and in the process win her affections. But why would a studious, responsible woman like Langley Taft look twice at him, a reprobate trying to find his course back to the narrow way?

As secrets are revealed, driving a wedge between Wilder and Langley, they both must humble themselves to receive a gift they did not earn, a gift not bought with money or charm: the gift of a second chance.

Magnolia’s Measure by Kimberly Grist

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1892 – Tennessee

Choosing to participate in a matrimonial agency as a mail-order bride, Magnolia proceeds methodically and uses her skills as a cook to create the perfect recipe for a husband.

A successful businessman, the idea of putting another person’s needs in front of his own is foreign. He’s shocked when a young cook from an orphanage intrigues him. Can he measure up?