A Heart’s Rescue by Lena Nelson Dooley

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1805 – At Sea/Louisiana

He’s been tasked to protect her, but his heart has become far too involved.

Angelina de la Fuente Delgado, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, is on her way home from a trip to Spain when her ship is attacked by pirates. The brigands capture her and her aunt and steal all the merchandise on the ship. After forcing most of the crew to walk the plank, they sink the vessel into the Atlantic.

Brian O’Doule was sent by Angelina’s father to protect her, but keeping her safe among the dangers of the sea is as hard as concealing his love that’s been growing for years. When they’re kidnapped by pirates, he does everything in his power to protect the women and to find a way for them all to escape. Will Angelina ever see her home and her beloved father again? Or will she be forced to marry the fierce pirate captain?

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.

Her Darling Mr. Day by Grace Hitchcock

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1883 – Louisiana

New Orleans’ most eligible bachelor insists he’s not on the market . . . but he couldn’t be more wrong.

Jilted in front of all New York, Theodore Day decides to lose himself in his family’s luxury riverboat business in New Orleans and compete against his brother to become the next company head. The brother with the most sales by summer’s end will win the position. Thanks to Theodore’s fame as a suitor in a socialite’s outlandish competition to find a husband, he has become very desirable royalty in Southern society and thus has an advantage.

It took Flora Wingfield’s best work to convince her family to summer in New Orleans, but with Teddy Day a bachelor once again, she’s leaving nothing to chance. Desperate to stand out from all the clamoring belles, Flora attempts a bold move that goes completely awry, only to find it’s her interior design skills that finally catch his notice.

But when Flora’s father’s matchmaking schemes come in the way of her plans, Teddy will have to decide where his happiness truly lies and what he is willing to sacrifice for it.

Under the Bayou Moon by Valerie Fraser Luesse

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1949 – Louisiana

Restless with the familiarity of her Alabama home, Ellie Fields accepts a teaching job in a tiny Louisiana town deep in bayou country. Though rightfully suspicious of outsiders, who have threatened both their language and their culture, most of the people in tiny Bernadette, Louisiana, come to appreciate the young and idealistic schoolteacher as a boon to the town. She’s soon teaching just about everyone–and coming up against opposition from both the school board and a politician with ulterior motives.

Acclimating to a whole new world, Ellie meets a lonely but intriguing Cajun fisherman named Raphe who introduces her to the legendary white alligator that haunts these waters. Raphe and Ellie have barely found their way to each other when a huge bounty is offered for the elusive gator, bringing about a shocking turn of events that will test their love and their will to right a terrible wrong.

A master of the Southern novel, Valerie Fraser Luesse invites you to enter the sultry swamps of Louisiana in a story that illuminates the struggle for the heart and soul of the bayou.

Journey to Peace by Lyn Cote

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1827 – Texas/Louisiana

Identical twin brothers-stained by an unjust scandal and separated by miles of wilderness~ Two young beauties in jeopardy~Will they learn to trust before it’s too late?

Outcast from his home town New Orleans, Johnny McKuen has taken refuge in Mexican Texas in 1827. He’s still reeling from the aftermath of an engagement gone terribly wrong but trying to build a new life on the frontier. Out of the blue, a friend he considers nearly a brother arrives with Johnny’s neighbor, bleeding and mortally wounded. As he breathes his last, he entrusts his wife to Johnny, a man of honor.

Near to giving birth to another child, the new widow Angel slumps against the bed, her head on her husband’s hand. Her world crumbles. How is she to care for a farm and her children with the birth of a child imminent? And who shot her husband and started to scalp him like a Comanche would? Nothing makes sense.

Keeping the family plantation Beau Rivage going, Callum McKuen alone faces the rejection by New Orleans society.When will his father return from a sojourn East? When will he see his beloved brother again? Has his family abandoned him? Don’t they realize that it’s not just the scandal? Forces resentful of their anti-slavery stand are at work to destroy their livelihood.

On a rare visit to the French Quarter, Callum meets Minette, a lovely young woman who hides her beauty beneath layers of clothing and a hat and scarf. Why isn’t she displaying her beauty in order to find a husband?

Minette also lives under a cloud of unjust scandal. This makes her a target for an unscrupulous man of bad reputation who wants her as his mistress. As the only provider for her grandfather and little sister, she soldiers on even as the scoundrel becomes relentless. Who will free her from this threat?

The twins face these challenges as the gentlemen they were raised to be. Who killed Angel’s husband and why? And how can Callum protect Minette if she won’t trust him? How and when will the twins be reunited? A compelling parallel story you don’t want to miss!

Christmas at the Circus by Joanne Bischof

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1890s – Louisiana

A Short Story from the Greatest Season on Earth

Newlyweds Charlie and Ella Lionheart are spending their first holiday season together within the circus at New Orleans. It’s Ella’s first Christmas away from her mountain home and with thoughts of family and new beginnings, see what surprises the kindhearted lion tamer has in store for her on Christmas Eve.

Handmade Hearts by June McCrary Jacobs

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1944 – Louisiana

Times were tough when Allen and Irene met by chance in New Orleans in late 1944. Allen was seriously wounded in the South Pacific as a young Marine and was using crutches to get around as best he could. He also had many inner wounds which needed time to heal. He had no way of knowing when they first met that Irene had suffered her own wartime tragedy. Irene bravely tried to keep her grief locked away deep inside because thinking about her loss caused her even more sorrow.

Read how these kindred spirits made it through each day with inner fortitude, determination, and the sincere hope of something greater just over the horizon.

Inspired by a true story . . .

The Pirate Bride by Kathleen Y’Barbo

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1725 – Louisiana

Pasts Collide in New Orleans when a Treasure Goes Missing
The last time New Orleans attorney Jean-Luc Valmont saw Maribel Cordoba, a Spanish nobleman’s daughter, she was an eleven-year-old orphan perched in the riggings of his privateering vessel proving herself as the best lookout on his crew. Until the day his infamy caught up with them all and innocent lives were lost. Unsure why he survived but vowing to make something of the chance he was given, Jean-Luc has buried his past life so deep that no living person will ever find it—until a very much alive and very grown up Maribel Cordoba arrives on his doorstep and threatens all he now holds dear.

The Other Side of Freedom by Cythia Toney

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1925 – Louisiana

In a southern U.S. farming community in 1925, thirteen-year-old Salvatore and his Italian immigrant father become involved against their will in a crime that results in the murder of an innocent man and family friend. Will Sal keep the secrets about that night as his father asks, or risk everything he and his family cherish in their new homeland, including their lives?

Amidst bigotry, bootlegging, police corruption, and gangland threats, Sal must discover whom he can trust in order to protect himself and his family and win back his father’s freedom. Sal’s family, their African-American farmhand, and the girl who is Sal’s best friend find their lives forever changed as dreams are shattered and attitudes challenged in a small community called Freedom.

Freedom’s Price by Christine Johnson

freedomsprice Freedom’s Price

1856 – Louisiana

When Englishwoman Catherine Haynes loses both her parents and her home in 1856, she decides to cross the Atlantic to find her American mother’s family in Louisiana. She enlists the help of Tom Worthington, a dashing Key West man who makes his living salvaging wrecked ships, but whose real goal in life is to bring to justice the man who stole his father’s ship and caused his untimely death.

When Catherine finally arrives at her family’s plantation, she finds it in disarray and her family absent landowners. Torn between returning to Key West with Tom or beginning the hard work of restoring the plantation, Catherine soon finds herself snared in a plot to steal her inheritance. When an incredible secret comes to light, both she and Tom will face a choice. Can they relinquish the dreams that have been holding them captive in order to step forward in faith–even if it costs them everything?

The Mark of the King by Jocelyn Green

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1720s – Louisiana

After being imprisoned and branded for the death of her client, twenty-five-year-old midwife Julianne Chevalier trades her life sentence for exile to the fledgling 1720s French colony of Louisiana, where she hopes to be reunited with her brother, serving there as a soldier. To make the journey, though, women must be married, and Julianne is forced to wed a fellow convict.

When they arrive in New Orleans, there is no news of Benjamin, Julianne’s brother, and searching for answers proves dangerous. What is behind the mystery, and does military officer Marc-Paul Girard know more than he is letting on?

With her dreams of a new life shattered, Julianne must find her way in this dangerous, rugged land, despite never being able to escape the king’s mark on her shoulder that brands her a criminal beyond redemption.

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Raina’s Choice by Gilbert Morris

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1891 – Louisiana

When a mysterious stranger, Ty Kincaid, arrives in her town from Mexico, headed for Arkansas by way of the riverboats, Raina Vernay’s mind starts churning a plan to escape her brutal brother-in-law and locate the father she’s never know. Ty just might be her ticket to Indian Territory and freedom. . . . Then Ty lands himself in jail, and Raina has to wonder if this wanted man is any use to her. She needs a hero. Can she find him in Ty?

The Pelican Bride by Beth White

The Pelican Bride

1704 – Canada

Genevieve Gaillain and her sister board a French ship headed for the Louisiana colony as mail-order brides. Both have promised to marry one of the rough-and-tumble Canadian men in this New World in order to escape religious persecution in the Old World. Genevieve knows life won’t be easy, but at least here she can establish a home and family without fear of beheading. But when she falls in love with Tristan Lanier, an expatriate cartographer whose courageous stand for fair treatment of native peoples has made him decidedly unpopular in the young colony, Genevieve realizes that even in this land of liberty one is not guaranteed peace. And a secret she harbors could mean the undoing of the colony itself.

Sadie’s Secret by Kathleen Y’Barbo

sadie'ssecret Sadie’s Secret

1890 – Louisiana

Sarah Louise “Sadie” Callum is a master of disguise, mostly due to her training as a Pinkerton agent but also from evading overprotective brothers as she grew up. When she takes on a new assignment with international connections, she has no idea her new cover will lead her on the adventure of a lifetime. Undercover agent William Jefferson Tucker is not looking for marriage–pretend or otherwise–but his past is a secret, his twin brother has stolen his present, and his future is in the hands of the lovely Sadie Callum. Without her connections to the world of upper-crust New Orleans, Jefferson might never find a way to clear his name and solve the art forgery case that has eluded him for years. Only God can help these two secret agents find a way to solve their case and uncover the truth about what is going on in their hearts.

Heart of Glass by Jill Marie Landis

heartofglass Heart of Glass: A Novel (Irish Angel Series)

1876 – Louisiana

Kate Keene’s childhood memories compel her to take her newly-acquired architectural skills to a dilapidated Louisiana mansion. But when she returns to the Reconstruction-era South, she’s shocked to discover the man she’s dreamed of for so long has become a bitter, angry recluse. Colin Delany, the handsome older brother of her best friend, has lost all he once held dear, with no hope of ever restoring the Belle Fleuve mansion and plantation. Filled with spunk and determination, Kate feels it’s her duty to help, so when Colin demands she roll up her drawings and get out, she refuses. And when Colin forces Kate to promise his dying sister they will care for his niece and nephew, she complies. Having been orphaned herself, Kate realizes she must put the children’s welfare above her own, even if it means a marriage of convenience. But will Colin’s hovering darkness ever lift? And can Kate’s persistent love and faith transform their uncertain future? Book three in the Irish Angel series explores the hope of a reflection of love in a heart of glass.

Love Finds You in New Orleans, Louisiana by Christa Allan

Love Finds You in New Orleans, Louisiana

1841 – Louisiana

Ever since her parents died of yellow fever when she was a child, Charotte LeClerc has lived with her grandparents, who rarely speak of their son and his wife. They are on the verge of negotiating a marriage contract with a suitor, a man Charlotte loathes, when they discover that she enjoys the company of Gabriel Girod, a young Creole man.

Charlotte’s future hangs in the balance as her grandparents consider whether to stop keeping secrets and reveal the truth that they’ve known since before her birth — a truth that will make the difference between a life of obligation and a life of choice for Charlotte.

Heart of Lies by Jill Marie Landis

heartoflies Heart of Lies: A Novel (Irish Angel Series)

1875 – Louisiana

Raised in a tribe of street urchins, Maddie Grande was taught to be a thief and beggar on the streets of New Orleans. But Maddie doesn’t know her real name or where she came from. Raised by Dexter Grande, Maddie and her twin ‘brothers’ have recently left New Orleans and moved to the bayou. The twins are rarely there, but Maddie has come to love the swamp. She has learned to fish and trap and sell pelts at the local mercantile. Maddie longs to change her life but knows that her brothers will never give up their lawless ways. When they kidnap the daughter of a wealthy carpetbagger, the twins force Maddie to hide the precocious eight-year-old while they return to New Orleans to wait for notice of a reward. Pinkerton agent Tom Abbott is assigned to the kidnapping case in which Maddie has become an accomplice. In a journey that takes them to Baton Rouge, a mutual attraction becomes evident, but Tom and Maddie cannot trust each other. Will Maddie ever discover who she is? Will her real family ever find her? Will Maddie and Tom listen to their hearts? Or will they choose honor over love?

Unwilling Warrior by Andrea Boeshaar

Unwilling Warrior (Seasons of Redemption, Book 1)

1861 – Louisiana

Amid the dangers of the Civil War, Valerie Fontaine longs to know she is loved and saved. Her father, however, is cold and withdrawn. And their Christian houseguest, the photographer Benjamin McCabe, seems arrogant and judgmental. When Valerie commits her own life to Christ she finds herself drawn to Ben. But her father, against her wishes, is prepared to sell her into a loveless marriage with someone else. Will Valerie be forced to abandon her newfound love? Or will she and Ben, against the backdrop of this country’s most ruthless war, become in their own way, unwilling warriors?

Beloved Captive by Kathleen Y’Barbo

Beloved Captive: Fairweather Keys, Book 2

1836 – Louisiana and Caribbean

In this sequel to Beloved Castaway, Emilie Gayarre is learning to accept her mixed race heritage while finding fulfillment in teaching children of the key. There is no denying the attraction between Emilie and the handsome young naval commander, Caleb Spencer, who is shadowed by his own flock of secrets. But if her heritage is found out, even greater things than his career are at risk. Enjoy this historical romance full of risk and redemption.

Flame from Within by Shirley Kiger Connolly

Flame from Within

1864 – Virginia, Louisiana

A journey across the sea begins a journey of healing for Aimée’s soul and a discovery of love and faith she thought she’d never find. When a Yankee-induced fire destroys her family and her home, young plantation-bred Amethyst Rose finds herself on the run. Angry towards God and the men in blue, Amethyst’s only choice left is to move in with her elder and controlling sister, who runs a bordello in The French Quarter of New Orleans-a decision guaranteed to destroy Amethyst’s personal respect and tarnish her family name. With her bitter hatred towards all Yankees plunged into high gear, nothing seems to matter anymore, until, on a riverboat en route to New Orleans, she finds herself intrigued by the presence of not one, but two Union officers. Each in his own way find ways to tug at the heart and soul of this woman lost.

Beloved Castaway by Kathleen Y’Barbo

Beloved Castaway: Fairweather Keys Series #1

1834 – Louisiana and Caribbean

Isabelle Gayarre, fleeing a life of servitude, refuses to be owned by anyone, yet soon finds her heart in danger of being possessed by the godless Captain Josiah Carter. Can Isabelle trust him to help her escape without losing her heart? Josiah Carter, running from demons of his own, is stirred by the presence of the beautiful woman seeking refuge on his ship. Realizing that a runaway slave can never be his, legally or otherwise, a storm begins to brew within. Will their love ever reach a safe haven, or is it doomed to wreck upon the jagged reefs of the Fairweather Keys?

River Rising by Athol Dickson

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1927 – Louisiana

Pilotville, Louisiana, 1927, isolated on the Mississippi. Reverend Hale Poser, a stranger looking for his roots. Hannah Lamont, new baby to James and Rosa, a breech birth if not for the strangest touch upon her mother’s belly. She’s her parents sweet joy until, suddenly, she vanishes. Who but this stranger could have done this terrible thing? Who but this man of miracles could see that it’s undone? In the swamp beyond the Tupelo and Cypress a lingering evil sleeps no longer. It will rain down on Piltoville; it will rise up like a River, and nothing but a miracle can stop this awful flood.

Bayou Dreams by Kathleen Y’Barbo

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1940s – Louisiana

Amalie leaves her Louisiana home against her parents’ wishes. Hollywood in the 1940s isn’t what she expected, but even a mugging fails to dim the starlight in her eyes. When acting roles seem hard to get, she takes a job as a waitress. Rob Tratelli, son of a famous movie producer, hates the emptiness of the Hollywood lifestyle. To help a friend, he takes on the job as cook in a diner, and there he meets a lovely Southern girl. As he loses his heart to Amalie Breaux, Rob fears his real identity could cause her to love him for the wrong reasons. Can she make things right at home and in her heart? Will Amalie trust God to fulfill her Bayou Dreams?