Shiloh by Lori Benton

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1795 – Massachusetts/New York

A year has passed since Ian Cameron reluctantly sent his uncle’s former slave Seona and their son, Gabriel, north to his kin in Boston. Determined to fully release them, Ian strives to make a life at Mountain Laurel, his inherited plantation, along with Judith, the wife he’s vowed to love and cherish. But when tragedy leaves him alone with his daughter, Mandy, and his three remaining slaves, he decides to return north. An act of kindness on the journey provides Ian the chance to obtain land near the frontier settlement of Shiloh, New York. Perhaps even the hope for a new life with those he still holds dear.

In Boston, Seona has taken her first tentative steps as a free woman, while trying to banish Ian from her heart. The Cameron family thinks she and Gabriel should remain under their protection. Seona’s mother, Lily, thinks it’s time they strike out on their own. Then Ian arrives, offering a second chance Seona hadn’t dared imagine. But the wide-open frontier of Shiloh feels as boundless and terrifying as her newfound freedom—a place of new friends and new enemies, where deep bonds are renewed but old hurts stand ready to rear their heads. It will take every ounce of faith and courage Ian and Seona can muster to fight for their family and their future . . . together.

The Gold in These Hills by Joanne Bischof

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1902 – California

One wild and mysterious ghost town. Two second-chance love stories. And the century-old legacy that binds them together. 

Upon arriving in Kenworthy, California, mail-order bride Juniper Cohen is met by the pounding of the gold mine, an untamable landscape, and her greatest surprise of all: the kind and loving man who awaits her. But when the mine proves empty of profit, and when Juniper’s husband, John, vanishes, Juniper is left to fend for herself and her young daughter in the dwindling boomtown that is now her home.

Juniper pens letters to her husband but fears she is waiting on a ghost. Perhaps worse, rumors abound claiming the man she loves could be an outlaw. Surviving in a ghost town requires trusting the kindness of a few remaining souls, including the one who can unlock the mystery of her husband’s disappearance—and Juniper’s survival depends not only upon these friends but also the strength of heart she must fight to maintain.

Present day. Trying to escape the heartache of his failed marriage, Johnny Sutherland throws himself into raising his children and restoring a hundred-year-old abandoned farmhouse in what was once known as Kenworthy, California, in the San Jacinto Mountains. While exploring its secrets he uncovers Juniper’s letters and is moved by the handwritten accounts that bear his name—and as a love story from the past touches his own world, Johnny might discover yet that hope and resilience go hand in hand.

Frontier Secrets by Anna Zogg

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1888 – Wyoming Territory

A woman seeking a new future. A cowboy with a shadowed past.
 
Untamed Wyoming is nothing like polished, restrictive Chicago—that’s why Ellie Marshall likes it. On her uncle’s ranch, she’s free. Free to practice her calling in medicine. Free to finally connect with her uncle. Free to explore her feelings for mysterious cowboy Rhett Callaway. In this strange place, Rhett is her constant—the one she trusts to help and protect her…especially when sinister machinations on the ranch come to light. But will Rhett’s murky past drive him away just when Ellie needs him most?

Wagon Train Wedding by Rhonda Gibson

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1867 – Oregon Trail

The wagon train is her chance for a new life…but only if her secrets will keep.
 
Widowed Mrs. Cora Edwards sees Oregon as a fresh start for her and her son…but there are a few problems. She’s not a widow…and baby Noah isn’t her son. He’s the nephew she’s vowed to protect—even if she must accept a marriage of convenience before she’ll be permitted on the wagon train. Her groom, lawman Flynn Adams, carries his own secret heartache…which Cora starts to ease. On the path to a new future, will they find a way forward together?

A Warrior’s Heart by Misty Beller

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1814 – Rocky Mountains

Her heart longs for peace, but peace won’t keep them safe.

Brielle Durand is still haunted by the massacre that killed her mother a dozen years before. Vowing to never let it happen again, she’s risen to be the key defender for her people’s peace-loving French settlement living in hidden caves in the Canadian Rockies. When a foreigner wanders too near to their secret home, she has no choice but to disarm and capture him. But now, what to do with this man who insists he can be trusted?

Hoping to escape past regrets, Evan MacManus ventured into the unknown, assigned to discover if the northern mountains contain an explosive mineral that might help America win the War of 1812. Despite being taken prisoner, Evan is determined to complete his mission. But when that assignment becomes at odds with his growing appreciation of the villagers and Brielle, does he follow through on his promise to his government or take a risk on where his heart is leading him? Either choice will cause harm to someone.

Brielle and Evan must reconcile the warring in their hearts to have any hope of finding peace for their peoples.

Reluctant Love by Linda Ford

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1849 – California

Sarah Goodine lost her husband on their journey across the Great Plains. After a herd of stampeding buffalo rampage over her wagon, she has nothing left. Nothing other than the three children depending on her. How can she get them to safety in California? This journey was meant to protect her six-year-old son, but now the little family is in dire straits.

Davis Carpenter’s wife and newborn baby died on the trail. He has his hands full dealing with his two remaining children. His dream of joining his cousin on a ranch in California seems unimportant now but he has no choice but to continue on.

There is only one thing that will help Sarah and Davis complete this journey—a marriage of convenience. They have no intention of falling in love. Can their children help them see that a real family requires love?

Roots of Wood and Stone by Amanda Wen

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1861 – Kansas

This historic home holds the keys to their destiny . . . and their hearts

Abandoned at birth, her family roots a mystery, historical museum curator Sloane Kelley has dedicated her life to making sure others know theirs. When a donor drops off a dusty old satchel, she doesn’t expect much from the common artifact . . .until she finds real treasure inside: a nineteenth-century diary.Now she’s on the hunt to find out more.

Garrett Anderson just wanted to clean out his grandmother’s historic but tumbledown farmhouse before selling it to fund her medical care. With her advancing Alzheimer’s, he can’t afford to be sentimental about the family home. But his carefully ordered plan runs up against two formidable obstacles: Sloane, who’s fallen in love with both the diaries and the house, and his own heart, which is irresistibly drawn to Sloane.

A century and a half earlier, motherless Annabelle Collins embarks with her aunt and uncle on the adventure of a lifetime: settling the prairies of Sedgwick County, Kansas. The diaries she left behind paint a portrait of life, loss, and love–and a God who faithfully carries her through it all. Paging through the diaries together takes Sloane and Garrett on a journey they never could have planned, which will change them in ways they never imagined.

Freedom in the Mountain Wind by Misty Beller

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1830 – Montana Territory

The last epic journey before her life changes forever.

Susanna Wilkins will do anything to make her father’s final dream come true, including trek along the path Lewis and Clark explored into the untamed wilds of the Rocky Mountains. Every mile is more crucial now that lung cancer is stealing Pa’s last days faster than she can come to terms with losing him. The journey becomes harder than she ever expected, but paddling upriver through fierce rapids and fighting hungry grizzlies isn’t what terrifies her the most.

Beaver Tail endured more than he can stand from the women in his Blackfoot camp, but the last disaster gave him the final shove he needed to join this band of brothers searching for one of their group who’s gone missing. The last thing he expected was to find a white woman and her sick father stranded at the base of massive waterfall. His plan is to help them carry their oversize canoe and supplies, then leave them to their strange mission. Yet, the more he learns about the pair, the more he realizes his life is about to be derailed—again.

Silent Summer by Dee Farrell

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silentsummerSilent 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.

The Doctor’s Lady by Jody Hedlund

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Doctor's Lady, TheThe Doctor’s Ladydoctorslady

1836 – Several US States

Priscilla White knows she’ll never be a wife or mother and feels God’s call to the mission field in India. Dr. Eli Ernest is back from Oregon Country only long enough to raise awareness of missions to the natives before heading out West once more. But then Priscilla and Eli both receive news from the mission board: No longer will they send unmarried men and women into the field.

Left scrambling for options, the two realize the other might be the answer to their needs. Priscilla and Eli agree to a partnership, a marriage in name only that will allow them to follow God’s leading into the mission field. But as they journey west, this decision will be tested by the hardships of the trip and by the unexpected turnings of their hearts. 

Kathryn by Donna Fletcher Crow

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Kathryn: Days of Struggle and Triumph (Daughters of Courage)kathryn

early 1900s – Idaho

Kathryn had never been short on courage. But untamed Idaho seemed poised to defeat her.

She looked out on a wilderness so hot and dry that the nearest fresh water was 15 miles away and the only thing that thrived was an endless sea of sagebrush that made a perfect home for rattlesnakes. Yet Kathryn Jayne was determined to do more than survive. She was determined to thrive.

And thrive she does — even when those nearest to her die, even when murder strikes her tiny community, and even when a dashing, irreverent Scotsman with a troubled past brings more turmoil to Kathryn’s heart.

From the wilds of Idaho, to Edwardian London, to enchanting Scotland, this compelling novel records how Kathryn became an inspiration to her family and the foundation of the gripping Daughters of Courage saga.

Book One — Daughters of Courage Series

Toward a New Beginning by R. William Rogers

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1800s – Oregon Trail

Although Sam Bartlett enjoyed a successful horse-supplying business in Independence, Missouri, he was none-the-less envious of the hundreds of folks who passed through on their way west. Unable to stand it any longer, he convinces his wife, Judith, to pull up stakes, pack up their three-year-old son, Tom, and accompany him on a journey that turns out to be much more than either of them could have imagined.

The trek quickly develops into one of extreme hardship and survival that is complicated by: dangerous weather, raging river crossings, unique personalities in the wagons, hostile Indian attacks, hunger, water shortage vengeance, courage, romance, and biblical principles.

The determined traveler’s abilitiy to effectively defend themselves is pushed to the very limits as One Eye’s maurading warriors harrass and attack them repeatedly, with devastating results. With four of the train’s beloved children having been taken captive, the inner strength of the beleagured pioneers is sorely tested and a handful of the men set out to recover the children.

After valiant attempts to rescue their children fail miserably, they are forced to return empty-handed. Against all that is held sacred, the members of the wagon train are forced to leave them behind while they do their best to evade the heathens and continue their struggle for survival with barely enough water left to keep the animals going.

With all hope of ever seeing their children again now gone, it is the valor and ingenuity of the beautiful Comanche woman, Birsdong, that is yet to be heard from.