Dauntless by Tamara Leigh

1036 – France

THE D’ARGENTS. IT ALL BEGAN WITH A WOMAN…TOO.

Medieval Normandy. Before William the Conqueror conquered, there was the family D’Argent. And a marriage alliance destined to give rise to England’s formidable Wulfriths.

BEHOLD THE VICTOR

The day Godfroi D’Argent defeats his brother in a contest of arms, he gains his family’s lands. And a less than desirable bride. Certain it will be years before his enemy’s daughter grows into a lady of worth, he devotes himself to securing his lordship. When at last Robine assumes her rightful place, Godfroi is unprepared for how much she moves him. Counting it weakness, he refuses to acknowledge the depth of his feelings even to himself—until he falls in battle. With little hope of restoring the warrior, he allows Robine and their young sons to believe him dead. But when the mysterious hermit who pulled him from the battlefield persuades him to return home, it is not to a wife with open arms but one entangled in sin. Is it true only three are needed to salvage a marriage—husband, wife, and God? And what is to be done with proof of Robine’s indiscretion?

BEWARE THE SHE-BEAR

Just as Robine’s husband rejects her on their wedding night, so too her love. When she becomes his wife in truth and he withholds his heart, she determines to cease loving him. But what proves impossible becomes irrelevant when he is slain. Painfully aware once her period of mourning ends she must provide her sons a protector, she undertakes a journey to her family and is set upon by brigands. In the midst of fiercely defending her children, a chevalier rides to her aid and proves a worthy suitor. When Robine’s uncertainty over wedding her betrothed leads to a fall from grace, there is no going back—unless Godfroi returns from the dead. Can she forgive her husband for allowing her to believe he perished? Can he forgive his wife for a sin soon apparent to all? And what of granting the innocent grace?

The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery by Amanda Cox

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1965/Present – Tennessee

Present Day. After tragedy plunges her into grief and unresolved anger, Sarah Ashby returns to her childhood home determined to finally follow her long-denied dream of running Old Depot Grocery alongside her mother and grandmother. But when she arrives, her mother, Rosemary, announces to her that the store is closing. Sarah and her grandmother, Glory Ann, make a pact to save the store, but Rosemary has worked her entire life to make sure her daughter never follows in her footsteps. She has her reasons–but she’ll certainly never reveal the real one.

1965. Glory Ann confesses to her family that she’s pregnant with her deceased fiancé’s baby. Pressured into a marriage of convenience with a shopkeeper to preserve the family reputation, Glory Ann vows never to love again. But some promises are not as easily kept as she imagined.

This dual-timeline story from Amanda Cox deftly explores the complexity of a mother-daughter dynamic, the way the secrets we keep shape our lives and the lives of others, and the healing power of telling the truth.