Forced by his parents' will to marry by his 30th birthday, Drake Kincaid vows to find the most unsuitable bride. When Pearl Parker answers his advertisement, they both soon learn that real love--with a breathtaking dose of passion--can make their marriage a true romance. Original.
Ethan Silverton, the Lord of Edon, is very content with his life. He’s carefully sculpted it so that everyone thinks he’s a notorious rake. For years, he’s worked hard to build his reputation to secure his place as the most undesirable bachelor in London. And it’s worked. No decent lady will have him. But one simple error in judgment has just sealed his fate. His intention was to dissuade a horrid mother from matching him up with her equally horrid daughter. Seeing no one but Lady Catherine without a dance partner, he tells a lie. He approaches Lady Catherine as if they are betrothed, and the ploy works. The horrid mother and her daughter abandon their pursuit of him. Except Ethan’s mother spies his ploy and is so relieved that she’s found a way to marry him to a reputable young lady that she tells everyone of their engagement. To his horror, word spreads and it’s his duty to see the lie through. This is the worst thing that can happen, and no one but his mother is happy about it. Not Lady Catherine. Not her doting father. Not even Ethan. But his mother is sure it’ll all work out…eventually. Books in the Marriage by Scandal Series: Book 1: The Earl's Inconvenient Wife Book 2: A Most Unsuitable Earl Book 3: His Reluctant Lady Book 4: The Earl's Scandalous Wife
A rakish colonel wanting a wife locks horns with a headstrong beauty in this Regency romance. A virtuous virgin—that’s what he needed A thrifty, industrious, wholesome bride! Certainly not an exotic aristocrat like Clarissa Beaumont, who set trends and dazzled suitors with equal passion. A more unsuitable wife St. John Sandiford found impossible to imagine! Why then couldn’t he get Clarissa out of his mind—or his heart? A good set-down—that’s what he deserved! Though Sinjin Sandiford was rightly called “hero,” he could sometimes fall short of “gentleman,” Lady Beaumont fumed. Why, the cad had refused her help in making an advantageous match—yet still he managed to stir the most unseemly feelings within her . . . ! Praise for The Proper Wife “A spirited Regency-era romance that far outshines the usual fare. . . . Readers will devour [Justiss’s] tantalizing tale with gusto.” —Publishers Weekly “Justiss skillfully blends traditional Regency attention to detail with a touch of humor and of irony, but, best of all, with a witty love story.” —Romantic Times
Caught in a scandalous situation, Lord Roderick marries a lady he believes tricked him into marriage. Miss Claire Lowell hoped her first Season would result in a marriage based on love, but her new husband hates her. Can she convince him she didn't trick him into marriage or will she be confined to the loveless marriage she fears? Books in the Marriage by Scandal Series: Book 1: The Earl's Inconvenient Wife Book 2: A Most Unsuitable Earl Book 3: His Reluctant Lady Book 4: The Earl's Scandalous Wife
An enemies-to-lovers romance. When they were children, Ellen Laughton considered the Duke of Castlefield her best friend. But when he learned their parents were hoping they'd marry one day, he did what any boy of twelve would do—he pushed her away. She’s been angry with him ever since. By the time Castlefield realized there was only one woman for him, Ellen was already betrothed to another. Now that she’s a widow and out of mourning, he is determined to win back her friendship and her heart. But when Ellen learns about the role he played in her husband’s death, will she be able to forgive Castlefield’s betrayal? THE UNSUITABLE DUKE is a Regency Historical Romance is book 4 in the Landing a Lord series. It contains the themes of enemies to lovers, widow, childhood friends, second chances. 238 print pages.
Finally, Season after Season of not being able to secure a wife, Lord Clement’s life is changed for the better when a beautiful stranger kisses him. Now he has a wife who has it all: beauty, passion, and excitement. What more could a gentleman want? Miss Paula Leighton has to do something before her brother marries her off to a drunk duke who wants nothing more than to use her to get an heir. So when she sees Perry Ambrose, the Lord of Clement, she takes the opportunity to escape, causing a scandal that forces his hand. And the scheme works. She no longer has to marry the duke. But it’s not over. Thanks to her tainted past, her newfound love with Perry is threatened when her brother comes back into her life. Can she protect Perry from finding out the truth or will her brother get the upper hand? Books in the Marriage by Scandal Series: Book 1: The Earl's Inconvenient Wife Book 2: A Most Unsuitable Earl Book 3: His Reluctant Lady Book 4: The Earl's Scandalous Wife
Set in St Basil's, a North London parish, Barbara Pym's novel is full of high comedy. Her depiction of characters begins with Mark the vicar, and his wife Sophia who is quite obsessed with cats, as is Daisy Pettigrew, the vet's sister.
Molly Pohlig's The Unsuitable is a fierce blend of Gothic ghost story and Victorian novel of manners that’s also pitch perfect for our current cultural moment. Iseult Wince is a Victorian woman perilously close to spinsterhood whose distinctly unpleasant father is trying to marry her off. She is awkward, plain, and most pertinently, believes that her mother, who died in childbirth, lives in the scar on her neck. Iseult’s father parades a host of unsuitable candidates before her, the majority of whom Iseult wastes no time frightening away. When at last her father finds a suitor desperate enough to take Iseult off his hands—a man whose medical treatments have turned his skin silver—a true comedy of errors ensues. As history’s least conventional courtship progresses into talk of marriage, Iseult’s mother becomes increasingly volatile and uncontrollable, and Iseult is forced to resort to extreme, often violent, measures to keep her in check. As the day of the wedding nears, Iseult must decide whether (and how) to set the course of her life, with increasing interference from both her mother and father, tipping her ever closer to madness, and to an inevitable, devastating final act.
In 1650s England, a young Puritan maiden is on a mission to save the baby of her newly widowed preacher--whether her assistance is wanted or not. Always ready to help those in need, Elizabeth ignores John's protests of her aid. She's even willing to risk her lone marriage prospect to help the little family. Yet Elizabeth's new role as nanny takes a dangerous turn when John's boldness from the pulpit makes him a target of political and religious leaders. As the preacher's enemies become desperate to silence him, they draw Elizabeth into a deadly web of deception. Finding herself in more danger than she ever bargained for, she's more determined than ever to save the child--and man--she's come to love.
An Oprah's Book Club selection, this gripping and powerfully wrought novel from the bestselling author of The Weight of Water is a stunning meditation on grief, betrayal and 'the ultimate unknowability of those closest to us' (Daily Telegraph) Who can guess what a woman will do when the unthinkable becomes her reality? Being married to a pilot has taught Kathryn Lyons to be ready for emergencies, but nothing has prepared her for the late-night knock on her door and the news of her husband's fatal crash. As Kathryn struggles through her grief, she is forced to confront disturbing rumours about the man she loved and the life that she took for granted. Torn between her impulse to protect her husband's memory and her desire to know the truth, Kathryn sets off to find out if she ever really knew the man who was her husband. In her determination to test the truth of her marriage, she faces shocking revelations about the secrets a man can keep and the actions a woman is willing to take. 'Enthralling' -Anita Brookner, author of the Booker Prize-winning Hotel du Lac 'Compellingly told, brilliantly observed, lyrically written and when you get to the last page you simply want to run out and buy everything she's ever written' -Sunday Independent