This one is an oldie but, I hope, goodie. I read it years ago–I don’t think it’s ever been on sale before. We gave it a DIK.

Katherine Louise Weston is an orphaned Southerner in the post-Civil War era, looking for the man who inherited her family plantation, Risen Glory. He happens to be a hated Yankee war hero by the name of Major Baron Cain. Katherine, or Kit, as she’s known, is no Southern Belle, but rather a tomboy who passes for male so easily that she finds herself working for her quarry in short order – as his stable boy. She’s come to New York with one goal: to kill the handsome Major, and take back Risen Glory on her own.

Cain is growing restless and bored with New York. A professional gambler since he left the army, he runs from any attachments, gives away books and sells off horses before they become too dear. It’s more than a bit clichéd, but in the end, it works. When his long-lost mother leaves him the plantation she inherited from her last husband – Kit’s father – he also finds himself burdened with a stepsister, at least until her 23rd birthday, five years hence. At that time, she will inherit her trust fund from a deceased aunt, unless of course she has married already, in which case she will receive this fund on the wedding day. A burden he thinks, and no less so when he finds out his new burden has been mucking out his stable for three dollars and two bits a week. Against her will, he ships her off to finishing school, and three years later finds himself once again burdened with her company. Only now he can’t take his eyes off her. And this time, he can’t run….

The hero and heroine are perfect for each other, but neither will admit it, he because of his fear of attachments, she because she is afraid, similarly, to love anything but the land that sustained her when her own flesh and blood wouldn’t. Nevertheless, no one but Cain would not only allow her to run wild but encourage and even love her for it. And none but Kit would have the courage to chase him down and make him stop running….On another level, this is a book that examines freedoms and what men – and women – will do to keep them. It’s a terrific love story, and something more. And it’s a Desert Isle Keeper, without a doubt.

It’s at Amazon for 1.99 here.

We loved this one–a fascinating time and place in women’s history.

Lisa: What’s your final grade?  I’m going with an A  – a gorgeous novel, written perfectly, a tragedy with purpose that entertains while educating about the pain of the blacklist.

Shannon: It gets a solid A from me, too. The writing is phenomenal, and I was completely sucked into the plot. There were so many plot lines at work here, and Ms. Davis managed to weave them into a stunning tale of love, intrigue, and friendship.

It’s at Amazon for 1.99 here.

We love promoting diverse romance–this got a DIK from our reviewer Rachel.

Marry Me by Midnight is a historical romance set in London during the Georgian period. It’s a Cinderella retelling set in the Jewish community, with a gender-swapped twist.

Isabelle Lira is the heiress to end all heiresses. Since the death of her father, she is the wealthiest woman in London’s Sephardi Jewish community, and quite a marital prize. Unfortunately, her father’s surety company is not entirely within her control. Isabelle is issued an ultimatum by her father’s business partners: marry one of them, or someone else “suitable” or they will move to dissolve the company. Being a woman, and a Jewish one, Isabelle knows she will have to marry advantageously to secure her position against her business partners, the Berab brothers, and she cannot marry one of them. Isabelle is determined to protect her father’s legacy, but when she meets a charming stranger, all of her best-laid plans might come to naught.

Aaron Ellenberg is as poor as a synagogue mouse. Orphaned and alone, he was supported by the Ashkenazi Jewish community and given the opportunity to study and apprentice. Unfortunately, it seems like he isn’t good for much of anything, so he earns his keep as the custodian for the Great Synagogue. When Isabelle overhears him telling stories to children after services one day, he finds himself sucked into her plans to pick the kind of husband she needs: a malleable one. Isabelle’s plans require a partner, but she wants someone she can control, who will not ally with the Berab brothers against her interests. Aaron can be her spy, checking up on the men vying for her hand. In exchange, Isabelle will pay him two hundred pounds. To her, a month of pin money, but to him, a small fortune, enough to enable him to pursue a better life.

Isabelle is throwing three festivals, ostensibly to choose a husband amongst the eligible Jewish bachelors. Aaron will gather information, and Isabelle will socialize, but neither plans on the most interesting part of those evenings being each other.

 

It’s at Amazon for 2.99 here.

Love romances with plush sized heroines? Here you go–we enjoyed this one!

Alice Rose Barnes is a spirited, curvy woman whose luck abruptly changes when she inherits a lottery ticket from her dead neighbor. Before this she’d lived a very isolated social life, still emotionally scarred from heavy bullying during her youth because of her weight. Now that Rose has cash, all of the worms from her past keep turning up looking for money or attention, so she decides to skip town and avoid press attention, using her middle name to avoid detection.

Landing in Galway, North Carolina, she finds herself stuck in a snowbank. The handyman who gives her a lift thinks she’s outrageous; and she throws him a Snickers bar to pay him off. She ends up buying a run-down Victorian house there, and who should be the man who shows up to be her contractor but the bearded sourpuss who helped her out of the snowbank!

Angus Drummond is a lonely ex-Marine who makes ends meet as a contractor, but also counsels fellow veterans. Angus could use a little support himself, as he is suffering from PTSD and survivor’s guilt that has put a wall between himself and happiness. He refuses to allow himself to fall in love until he pays back what he considers to be his debt to society. And yet Rose tempts him.

The more time Angus spends fixing up Rose’s new house, the closer they get. But will rigid Angus’ feelings about Rose change when he learns she lied about being loaded?

Get it at Amazon for 1.99 here.

Love cowboy romances? This one is fun!

I have a soft-spot for heroines who are all alone in the world, and for all intents and purposes Mariah Callahan is on her own and broke. Mariah and her mother were abandoned by her father when she was a young girl. Even before then Mariah knew she never was as important to her father as his horses. Mariah’s father Dutch was a world-champion cutter who lived and breathed horses, and rarely had time for his daughter.

After her father abandoned them, Mariah’s mother moved from Texas to Chicago where she found work as a servant for wealthy families. Mariah learned to be a chameleon, to hide her true self, in an effort to fit in, but it never really worked. Now, her mother is remarried and living in Argentina with her new husband, leaving Mariah with no close family, and thanks to a horrible boss, she’s lost her job as assistant to a wedding planner. Broke, with no real friends, Mariah has nothing except a ranch in Jubilee, Texas that her father left her in his will.

When Mariah arrives at what she believes is her father’s ranch, the first thing she sees is a naked drunk cowboy sleeping in a gold horse trough. Turns out the cowboy is Joe Daniels and he’s the owner of the spectacular ranch. The property Mariah owns is actually a ramshackle small ranch next to Joe’s.

Joe isn’t the alcoholic Mariah suspects; he’s grieving over the death of his best friend Dutch. Dutch helped Joe get through the death of his wife and now he’s lost Dutch as well. Joe wants nothing to do with Mariah, pegging her as a big city woman who’s not going to stick around. But Joe’s at heart an honorable man and he helps Mariah on a number of occasions.

It’s at Amazon for 1.99 here.

This one is rated hot and many of our readers love Lowell’s old skool stories. (Our review is here.)

Seven years ago, Gabriel Venture was a twenty-three year old journalist, just on the cusp of fame and glory. He was writing an article about an extraordinary system of caverns in New Mexico called Lost River Cave when he met Joy Smith-Anderson, a brilliant and buoyant young woman who was, like Gabe, fascinated with the cave. The two fell in love and had a passionate, brief relationship before Gabe was called away by the demands of his career. He left all his money for Joy, just in case she was pregnant. She thought he was leaving the money for her to have an abortion. He thought, through a miscommunication, that she did have an abortion. Both wounded and furious, they never saw each other again – even after Joy gave birth to his daughter.

Now Gabe is coming back to Lost River Cave. A near-death experience has made him reevaluate his life, and he returns to New Mexico hoping to come to grips with the memory of his relationship with Joy. He doesn’t expect her to still be there. Joy is now Dr. Anderson; while raising Gabe’s child she somehow managed to write a Ph.D. thesis on speleology (the scientific study of caves), and now leads a troupe of graduate students in the cave’s exploration. Joy is just barely willing to put aside her enduring resentment of Gabe in order to help him with his article about the cave, since it could help her get a grant that will allow her to continue her research.

The initial confrontations between Joy and Gabe crackle with tension. He doesn’t understand why she hates him: she’s the one who aborted their child behind his back. She doesn’t understand why he hates her: he’s the one who dumped her when she was pregnant and went off to jet-set around the world without her.

What saves this book is that both Joy and Gabe try to do the right thing, in spite of the misunderstanding. This is especially true of Gabe. Under his fury is a well of tenderness for Joy, and he earnestly tries to put himself in her shoes and understand why she did what he thinks she did. Some of Lowell’s novels feature heroes who act like complete jerks; Gabe does not fall into this category at all, to my relief. Joy harbors a lot more anger and resentment towards Gabe, and she is the one who maintains their separation. Some readers might find her prickly and cold, but I found her complex, conflicted feelings to be particularly realistic. Joy became a single mother at twenty, and her anger is fueled not only by her broken heart but by her envy of Gabe, who got to travel all over the world while she was home raising a baby. There’s no question that she adores her daughter or that she has a satisfying career, but she just can’t forgive Gabe for the lost opportunities of her life.

It’s on sale for 1.99 here.

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