My apologies for getting this month's Unusual Historicals post up at the 11th hour - July is always a busy time for me, but even more so this year because I celebrated a milestone birthday with a sisters trip to New York City where I wrecked my feet and back, ate lots of delicious food (Katz's = worth the line), saw a very funny play (highly recommend The Play That Goes Wrong), successfully navigated the subway and did a bunch of sightseeing. Then, of course, it was back to The Day Job and my terrible no-good reading slump that I am determined to bust out of before the summer ends. Also waiting for me? Another lengthy list (yippee!) of unusual historicals - great for readers, not so great for my waning energy levels to sit down and write words. But, Dear Blog Readers, I do this for you. And also, historical romance. Grab a snack and cold beverage, it's time to dig in.
Daisy Lindberg and Lily Boyle traded a colorful past for a fresh start as seamstresses in Autrie, Texas, and their aim to spark a women’s rights movement is raising eyebrows among the town’s dumbfounded men. But among the ladies? Tired of being treated like possessions, they have two words: Amen, sister!
Beulah, a sassy shop owner as formidable as a cannon shot, is on board. So is Alma, a timid preacher’s wife who hit her breaking point. Before long, a courageous female posse has a liberating petition of demands. Surprisingly, they also have an empathetic ear in sheep rancher Matt Maguire, who’s as keen on women’s independence as he is on Lily.
As Daisy and Lily make waves in the small town, their secrets threaten to come out. But they haven’t traveled this far to let their past define them. In fact, with love and the forging of new lives on the line, they’ve never felt more defiant.
Brown's first historical in roughly 20 years (published by Amazon Montlake) is a prequel, of sorts, to her contemporary Paradise series which is launching with Sourcebooks in August. I know, two different publishers - I find that telling in our current historical romance landscape. Anyway, Brown has written a metric ton of books and sometimes her folksy charm works for me, and sometimes it doesn't. I'm a sucker for a heroine with a "reputation" and this one features two of them. The blurb leans a bit historical women's fiction but I'm hoping Matt Maguire is suitable romance hero material.
The knight’s target…
Becomes his greatest desire!
From the moment wool merchant Isolda catches sight of Sir Henry, she senses a powerful bond. But the vigilante knight is tracking down the person penning seditious poems exposing corruption…poems she secretly wrote!
Henry is torn after discovering Isolda’s hidden identity, especially as he sympathizes with her cause. When Isolda’s apprentice is murdered, Henry joins forces with her, hiding out in his manor, where passions run high! Yet after the traumatic death of his family, Henry can’t let Isolda breach the walls around his heart. Still, he must find a way to earn her trust—their lives depend on it!
Morgan's latest medieval is set during the early years of the Wars of the Roses and the Rout of Ludford Bridge, and those circumstances find out heroine writing poems exposing corruption, which obviously will just not do. Enter our hero, a knight tasked with ferreting the poet out, only to fall in love with her instead.
He was an officer, a commander, the son of an Earl. She was a child of the French Revolution, taken from her home to serve the British army.
But love doesn’t follow orders.
When Christine Fournier is forced to serve as a camp follower, survival becomes her only goal—until she crosses paths with Acting Lieutenant Colonel George Ashford. Stern, duty-bound, and far above her station, he should have remained indifferent. But war softens rules, and something in her defiance sparks a desire that neither of them can resist.
What begins as reluctant fascination ignites into something raw and volatile—fed by her fearless longing and his silent denial. But when their passion leads to consequences they can’t ignore, George is torn between duty to his family and the woman he cannot forget. Christine must now decide how much of herself she’s willing to give to a man who may never truly be hers.
From the muddy war camps of southern France to the glittering drawing rooms of London, A Desire Unbidden is a sweeping, sensual tale of longing and passion—of love tested by duty, pride, and impossible choices.
He's the son of an Earl serving in the British army during the Napoleonic War. She's French and forced to serve as a camp follower and war makes unlikely bedfellows that lead to complications. Amazon is listing this at nearly 400 pages so I'm expecting drama and sweeping saga in this debut.
Third time’s a charm? For Lady Kay Matheson, it had better be. Her first engagement was a failed elopement; the second ruined by gossip about the first. Resigned to be a disgraced spinster, no one is more surprised than Kay when an American millionaire offers for her hand. Just when she’s convinced she will finally make it down the aisle, the scoundrel who broke her heart arrives with his own fiancée.
Devlin Sharpe has finally become a success. He has wealth, connections, and a lovely bride-to-be—and he won’t let an old flame derail all his hard work. But it turns out time has not dampened his grudge toward Kay—or the desire sparking between them. And one searing kiss threatens to ruin their wedding plans and their futures, and make Kay the bad-luck bride all over again.
The third book in Guhrke's Scandal at the Savoy series finds our unlucky in love heroine inexplicably engaged for a third time to an American millionaire, only to have her first engagement, the failed elopement, show back up on the scene at the most inopportune time (oh honey, they always do). Oh, and he's also engaged. This back cover description features shades of something that Guhrke has done very well in the past - and that is writing adversarial couples. When she nails it, it's pure magic.
Althea Hartley has lost her spark. As the youngest daughter of an eccentric family, playwrighting is in her blood. But two failed Seasons have left her disenchanted. In desperate need of inspiration, she takes matters into her own hands by creating a tale of a dashing highwayman. What could possibly go wrong?
But her stories prove to be a little too true for the actual highwayman living beneath the tons’ nose.
Jasper Trueblood, Viscount St. James, needs to put an end to the bewitching Miss Hartley’s incriminating tales. Society can never suspect that he isn’t the clumsy oaf he pretends to be. Or that, under the cover of darkness, he greets scoundrels and lightens their purses. Not too much. Just enough to keep those closest to him safe from his menacing uncle.
Then sparks fly when this unlikely pair meets one perfect night. And while she is eager to unmask him, he is determined to stay hidden. But there’s no denying the chemistry that neither of them are able to resist…
The only thing for certain is that Thea needs to guard her heart before the highwayman steals it.
She's a playwright whose latest work is about a dashing highwayman. He's an actual highwayman who discovers her play hits a little too close to the truth - which frankly will not do. The third book in Lorret's The Liar's Club series is a riff on the ever popular Scarlet Pimpernel trope.
Trusting him means…
Risking a scandal!
Alicia Sanderson is keeping a secret that could ruin her family. She’s harboring both her sister and her sister’s illegitimate daughter…and their dastardly brother can never find out. So when Alicia is caught by handsome Colonel Brook Beaumont, she pretends the child is hers!
After being honorably discharged from the army, injured Brook’s struggling to find his place in Society. Helping Alicia find the child’s father is a welcome distraction. But believing Alicia still loves the man, Brook hides his growing attraction to her. As the secrets between them mount, can the truth of their desire win out?
Johnson's latest for Harlequin Historical features a heroine determined to protect her sister and niece from their odious brother, which leads to a teensy, tiny lie told to our hero, recently discharged from the army - that the child is actually hers and she needs help tracking down the father. But complications ensue when he starts to fall in love with her.
She’s a fearsome shield-maiden.
He’s a virgin Highlander.
And neither of them is ready for what comes next.
Astrid Rhalson sails hard, fights harder, and loves on her own terms, if she bothers loving at all. Feared across the Northlands as a legendary shield-maiden, she’s loud, lethal, and loyal only to her Viking kin. Men either run from her or worship her. And she prefers it that way.
So when a storm strands her on the foreign, Christian shores of Lothlend, the last thing she expects is a Highlander with honor in his eyes and heat in his veins.
Hamish MacCallum has lived a life of discipline, devoted to his village, his God, and his purity. But the moment he sees Astrid, flame-haired, battle-scarred, and unlike any woman he’s ever imagined, his resolve crumbles. She’s wild. Dangerous. Irresistible.
And when she catches him spying on her... things get messy. And very, very hot.
Now trapped in close quarters, one will push boundaries and the other will learn exactly how much pleasure sin can bring. Because when a Viking meets a virgin Highlander, the rules of war, and love, are made to be broken.
Y'all I am trash for Viking Shieldmaidens and if you team them up with a virgin hero - well, I'm a mere mortal. This is the second book in the Vikings Rock series and is being marketed as steamy.
“I’ll marry the next eligible lady
…who walks through the door!”
After the death of his dissolute older brother, Dr. Ted Scott’s grief is twofold, for he’d rather remain a physician than become the new Duke of Falstone. Reluctantly he must now do his duty and find a bride—whoever that might be!
Charlotte Pearson only has herself to blame that she’s still on the shelf, living with her unpleasant mother after a failed elopement, so Ted’s impulsive proposal is impossible to refuse. He’s clear their marriage is purely for convenience—but that doesn’t address the fact that he needs an heir!
He's a doctor who never expected to become a Duke and she's an on the shelf spinster after a failed elopement. Of course these two crazy kids are going to enter into a marriage of convenience and of course they're going to get more than they bargained for.
A ruined earl. A fierce reformer. A village steeped in secrets—and a marriage forged in treachery.
Lucius Oshea, the new Earl of Pender, returns to Cornwall burdened by scandal and haunted by his father’s sins—only to find his estranged wife knee-deep in restoring the castle he once abandoned. But beneath the surface of the Penhalwick tin mines lies a legacy of betrayal, corruption, and death—one that threatens his family’s name and the future of everyone under his care.
Meredith Jepson-Oshea, daughter of the ruthless Duke of Rathbourne, hides a fire behind her a well-honed composure. Reviled in the village for her husband’s past neglect, she fights back with unrelenting resolve—secretly championing the women and children ensnared by the mine’s cruelty. And she will stop at nothing to protect them… even if it means confronting the very man who broke her heart.
Their union, arranged in childhood by ambitious fathers, was rooted in greed and shattered by lies. Now, as long-buried secrets rise and powerful enemies close in, Lucius and Meredith must navigate a treacherous path of deception, desire, and dangerous loyalties.
Not a marriage in trouble so much as a disaster from the word go. He's ruined and she's a reformer determined to help the village's women and children, which is proving tough since everyone hates the hero's, you know her husband's, guts. Secrets, treachery, Cornwall, TIN MINES! Oh, and it's part of Dragonblade's Flame line, so we should also be getting some steamy sexy times. This is the third book in the Clandestine Sapphire Society series.
A runaway duchess desperate to heal her damaged soul.
The recent discovery that he is the illegitimate son of an infamous duke has turned Doctor Drew Hornsby’s life upside down. Adopted at age ten by Viscount Hawkestone, Drew left his impoverished life behind, but he never forgot his roots. Now, as a physician, the memory of his late mother drives him to assist those in need. But he’s not the only one…
Selena Seaton Woodhouse, the Duchess of Barnsdale, an arranged marriage to an older duke left her feeling empty emotionally. After years of dealing with her husband’s cruelty, she runs away and becomes The Golden Angel, a mysterious lady who helps those less fortunate in London’s most notorious slum. She hopes helping others will help heal her own heart. But that isn’t touched until she meets the young, earnest Doctor Hornsby.
When Selena’s charitable works run afoul of the local rookery boss, the spectacled, self-contained doctor turns into a ferocious protector. And as the danger heightens, so does their mutual passion.
But overcoming the obstacles standing in their way to a future together may prove to be a bit more difficult.
The final book in The Duke's Bastards series features a doctor hero who has just found out he's the illegitimate son of a duke and she's a runaway duchess whose charitable works in London's slums puts her in the crosshairs of a local boss. As if that weren't enough? These two crazy kids fall in love.
What happens when you take a 1930s comedy like My Man Godfrey and turn it into a Victorian romance? Chaos ensues.
Georgiana Manning has finally found something she wants, something worth fighting for—her family's mysterious, newly hired butler.
Rafferty is a thief, out to find a cache of money belonging to his former boss. When he’s unexpectedly offered the job of butler in the house where it’s hidden, he jumps at the chance, even though the Manning family's younger daughter has an inconvenient crush on him.
Rafferty is a lone wolf who plans to stay that way—there’s no room in his life for Georgie. He could find pleasure in romancing her, but he sees no happy ending for a young lady and a thief, or even worse, a butler. Complicating matters, a criminal mastermind is pressuring Rafferty to locate the money, and that mastermind is not above threatening what Rafferty holds dear—Miss Georgiana Manning.
All Georgie wants is the beautiful butler with the piercing blue eyes, though she knows he’s beyond her touch. All Rafferty wants is the hidden money and his freedom. Too bad he’s falling in love.
Yep, the same Anne Stuart who has written a ton of books dating back to the 1980s. He's a thief posing as a butler, she's a daughter in the household he's infiltrated who develops a complicating crush on him - and of course he can't stay away. Anyway you slice it, a proper young lady falling for a thief or butler just will not do.
Can revenge be a matchmaker between two souls weary of marriage?
Harlow Haverston woke up on a ship gagged and bound after being kidnapped from Hyde Park. However, she refused to be a damsel in distress, and she won’t allow her father to pay her ransom. She manages to escape and decides when she gets back to her life, she’s going to make some changes. She’s going to find a husband and live her life. But after learning her beloved uncle was an accomplice in her kidnapping, she puts her plans aside to focus on revenge…
The Earl of Breckenridge has been hunted by a ton full of marriage-seeking misses. But Reese didn’t expect his own mother would attempt to trap him too. Feeling betrayed, he escapes to his quiet castle in Scotland, only to find a beautiful woman has washed ashore.
As the two plan Harlow’s quest for revenge, another danger lurks, and secrets revealed might endanger a love they thought was finally real.
Stop the presses! SHE SAVES HERSELF! THE HEROINE SAVES HERSELF! And when she finds out her dastardly uncle was behind her kidnapping? Trying to salvage a respectable marriage can wait, she wants revenge. She finds an ally in the hero, whose shores she literally washed up on. This is the third book in the Safely in Scotland series.
A proper widow and notorious rogue—London’s most shocking match.
A discovery in more ways than one . . .
Diana, the most proper lady in London, has grown restless. After joining an antiquities club for female scholars, she volunteers to write a newspaper column about traveling abroad to visit historical sites. Yet much to her dismay, Diana has been partnered with the rake Sebastian Devons, whom she loathes.
Sebastian, owner of London’s most notorious gentlemen’s club, engages in vice to forget a failed love. Needing a change, he agrees to partner with the antiquities club and is shocked to set sail with Diana, an annoying, intriguing, and familiar face.
The start of a new series, The Brazen Curators, features a heroine who joins an antiquities club and a hero who decides he needs to turn over a new leaf. Complications ensue when they discover they're setting sail together. Another one from Dragonblade's Flame line this month which means more of the steamy shenanigans.
She wants to paint him. He’s not what he seems. And neither of them are prepared for the passion that follows.
Lady Evelyn Chance has no patience for Society’s expectations. She’s a scandal in silk, and proud of it. While others court suitors and guard reputations, Evelyn is far more interested in oil paints and brushwork.
And she needs a model.
When she advertises for a male subject, she doesn’t expect to find someone tall, handsome… and entirely unwilling to remove his clothes.
Richard Sempill, Viscount Sempill, has his own reasons for answering the ad under false pretenses. But once he meets the fiercely independent artist, curiosity turns to captivation, and he agrees to keep his identity a secret. For now.
Late-night sittings turn into stolen kisses. Secrets turn into something dangerously close to affection. But just as Richard prepares to reveal everything, scandal strikes, and the truth might cost them the one thing neither of them expected: a future together.
The seventh book in a series about the Chance family, our heroine is an artist in need of a model - ahem, a male model. The man who answers her ad is a viscount who, surprise surprise, isn't being entirely honest with her.
He’s a spy with a secret love. She’s the lady who has forgotten him.
Lady Frida de Neville has learned that love makes fools of us all.
Just once, her head was turned by a handsome knight. Amidst the pulse-pounding excitement she suffered a terrible accident that changed her life, forever. Now she has turned her back on romance and riches, choosing to live a simple life in the northern hills.
A life free of men!
Sir Callum is half Highlander and half English, making him the perfect spy for Scotland. In recent years, he has hoped for peace between the two countries, but a devastating raid on his Highland home ignites his desire for vengeance. When he receives orders to infiltrate a powerful English family, Callum does not hesitate to ride south. The name Ember Hall means nothing to him – the last person he expects to find guarding the gates is his lost love.
Callum’s faux allegiance with Frida’s brother is enough to secure him a welcome, but with his band of men baying for blood – and suspicion mounting against him on all sides – he faces an impossible decision. Should his loyalty lay with kin and country? Or with the beautiful woman who has haunted his dreams since a Twelfth Tide Ball more than two winters ago?
A woman who claims to have no memory of the last time they met.
The first book in the new Sisters of Ember Hall series is a 14th century medieval that features a heroine living a life of solitude after an accident and a hero that she has no memory of - oh and he's a spy sent to infiltrate her family's household while trying to quell a rebellion amongst his own men. The heroine who doesn't remember him from their encounter a couple of winter's ago is a complication he doesn't need.
He’s the wrong brother… but the right man for her.
Lady Ella has spent months quietly dreaming of Lord Oliver Sutton, the handsome and sought-after Duke of Hawkridge. When his carriage plunges into the Serpentine, Ella doesn’t hesitate, she dives in to save him. In the shock of the moment, with the duke unconscious and near death, she whispers that he was the man she was going to marry.
She never expected anyone to hear her.
But someone does.
Believing the duke’s “fiancée” has miraculously saved him, his grateful family insists Ella move into their home to aid his recovery. Though Oliver suffers from amnesia, everyone is thrilled he has finally chosen a respectable, kind-hearted woman. Everyone except his younger brother.
Lord Jack Sutton is not fooled. A seasoned shipping captain who’s dealt with con artists across the globe, Jack is determined to expose Ella as the fraud he’s sure she must be. Yet the more time he spends with her, the more he begins to question his instincts, and his own heart.
Ella is equally conflicted. Jack is nothing like the fairytale duke she once adored. He’s brash, blunt, and utterly wrong for her. And yet… he sees her, challenges her, and makes her feel truly alive.
But the truth can’t stay buried forever. And when it surfaces, Ella must decide if she has the courage to choose love over lies, and risk breaking more than one heart in the process.
The fifth book in The Cricket Club series is a riff on the movie, While You Were Sleeping, with our heroine rescuing an unconscious Duke and his family welcoming his fiancée and rescuer with open arms. The fly in the ointment? His brother, our hero, a shipping captain with a wealth of experience in con artists and who is determined to expose the heroine and her lies.
Whew! Another 16 books this month, all new, no reprints! This summer has really been a bonanza for for unusual historical romance releases. What's catching your eye this month?
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