Here we are at the end of September and my reading output this year is on pace to hit an all-time low since I joined the Romancelandia community back in 1999. I'm not sure what the answer is to correct this - probably some combination of waking up independently wealthy and removing myself from all social media so I stop doom-scrolling. For now I keep on keeping on, browse and collect books, and hope that one day I can kick my flagging mojo into gear. Which brings us to this month's crop of Unusual Historicals. As they say, hope springs eternal.
New York City, 1905.
Investigative journalist (and fierce anti-capitalist) Laurie Tulley is no stranger to the sins rich men commit in the name of profit. He’s made a front-page career out of unearthing the injustices of industry.
But when his editor turns his sights onto wealthy glass industrialist Charles "Chary" Wright, Laurie sees neither injustice nor sensationalism. All the openly queer and once-disowned Fifth Avenue businessman seems to have is a dead brother, a bizarre inheritance of a blueberry farm, and a lotta trauma.
Chary has his secrets, however: the big, life-ending kind. When Laurie comes snooping, he’s determined the reporter won’t find them out, no matter how handsome he is.
Then a worker from the glass factory is murdered. Chary himself is brutally attacked. As Laurie uncovers murder after past murder, he realizes there’s a story to be written after all… so long as he can keep a professional distance.
And when Chary finds himself in the arms of the very man meant to be his ruin, he must confront exactly how far he’ll go for love—and just which ghosts he’s willing to bring forth from the past.
Early 20th century New York, a muckraker hero and a wealthy industrialist. The Smut Report recently reviewed this and it sounds like the history is a bit more forward-facing than the romance, but that history sounds positively fascinating.
Can their love survive a community at war?When World War Two is declared, Maisie Canavan is working as a newly-qualified midwife in Belfast's Royal Maternity Hospital, helping women and babies across community divides. In a city already torn apart, Maisie now faces the terrifying prospect of helping new life enter the world under the blitz of a bombing raid.Teaming up with Dr Alex Lowe to plan for the worst, Maisie starts to fall for his kind grey eyes and gentle heart. Despite being from opposite sides of the political divide, Maisie and Alex find themselves drawn together - but the world around them isn't ready to accept love between a Catholic and a Protestant. With the war worsening tensions between neighbours, they have no choice but to keep their feelings a secret...As bombs begin to rain on Belfast, and she sees Alex risking his life to care for the whole community, Maisie can't help but wonder why two people in love should be kept apart.
Tinley, who has written for Harlequin Historical under the name Catherine Tinley, brings readers the third book in her Irish Midwives series. 1939 Belfast. World War II. Catholic heroine. Protestant hero. I mean, none of this sounds complicated at all....
Manchester, 1920. As a mannequin in an exclusive fashion salon, Kate Hunter lives for the moments she can step into a beautiful gown and leave her worries behind.But when Kate is cheated out of her home and then suffers a terrible accident, she suddenly loses everything: her job, her independence and her future.Miss Hawes, the well-to-do owner of Calico House, provides her with a chance beyond her wildest dreams. Could Kate use her eye for fashion to secure her future?Meanwhile, ambitious young furniture dealer Finn Mercer is determined to expand his business – he and Kate could be a wonderful partnership. Maybe even more than that…However, Miss Hawes’s aggrieved godson will not just stand by and let them triumph.Can Kate, along with friends old and new, fight for the happiness – and love – she dreams of?
A mannequin / fashion model heroine loses everything but has a shot at a second chance thanks to a benefactor and an ambitious furniture dealer who thinks a partnership will make all their dreams come true. Standing in their way? A villain, of course. This is the first book in a new series for Thomas.
JD Morrison has one plan: survive the winter, then ride on. He’s spent years drifting toward a dream—his own ranch, his own name on something permanent. But the struggling homestead on the Leon River comes with an unexpected complication: a fiercely independent woman hiding a secret that could get them both killed.Andie Meadows has already lost her father. She refuses to lose his land. Hiring a stranger feels like desperation. Falling for one feels like betrayal. But with ruthless neighbors tightening their grip, and a lie about to shatter everything, the quiet cowboy who showed up at her gate may be her last hope and her greatest risk.What begins as a practical arrangement slowly becomes the one thing neither of them bargained for.In 1873 Texas, survival is hard. Trust is harder. And love? Love sneaks up on you like a West Texas sunrise—soft, unstoppable, and impossible to ignore.
OMG A WESTERN!!!!!! A HISTORICAL WESTERN!!!!!! Someone bring me my smelling salts. Better still, it's a debut and the first book in a projected four book series.
London, November 1893A woman is found sawn in half in a narrow alley—her body laid inside a magician’s coffin, hands folded in prayer, a white rose in her palms. Between her fingers: a playing card. The Jack of Hearts. Inked with a chilling message… The first of six.Inspector Tobias Flint of Scotland Yard has spent fifteen years hunting killers—but nothing like this. The murder is no random act of violence. It is precise. Theatrical. A macabre recreation of an illusion devised by the long-dead stage magician, the Magnificent Maguire. And the killer—already christened by the press as The Coffin Conjurer—has promised this is only the opening act.But Maguire’s legacy was never buried. For fifteen years, Jaqueline “Jack” Maguire has lived as a ghost. Presumed dead after the fire that killed her father, she has built a new life in the shadows—using the very skills he taught her: sleight of hand, misdirection, and the art of disguise. Now, as the secret force behind one of London’s most formidable private investigation agencies, she protects the women society overlooks… and keeps her past locked firmly away. After all, magic took everything she loved. She has no intention of letting it take anything more.But when the Coffin Conjurer begins using her father’s illusions as a blueprint for murder and sends her a Jack of Hearts—the nickname her father gave her— playing card, Jack knows her past has finally caught up with her. After Inspector Flint catches her searching his office for clues to the killer’s identity the morning after the first murder, he refuses to let the rare woman to pull one over on him disappear again. Together, they may just have a chance of stopping him. She knows the world of magic and illusions. He knows how to catch a killer. But in London’s most murderous magic show, the Coffin Conjurer has always been ten steps ahead—and has already chosen the star of the final act… Jack Maguire.
This is being marketed as a mystery, but there's enough in the blurb to get our hopes up for the romance. A heroine who works as a private investigator joins forces with a Scotland Yard detective when a serial killer is discovered to be using her dead father's illusions as a calling card for his crimes. Also, looks like this is the first in a new series.
Once allies in mischief, a new partnership is forming…When a housemaid is murdered during Lord Chadbon’s country house party, it is his most convenient assessment that the curate did it. Rupert Grande is new to the neighborhood, clearly disreputable, and he discovered the body in suspicious circumstances.Moreover, the curate’s discreet arrest ensures no scandal touches Chadbon or his important guests.Only Kate, young wife of an ambitious politician, knows that Rupert is innocent—at least of murder—and refuses to let the accusation stand. But then, no one else knows his true identity or grew up as his best friend.The ton always treated the ordination of amiable rakehell Lord Rupert Grande as a huge joke. So did Rupert. So why has he turned up incognito as an apparently dutiful rural curate? And what was the murdered maid to him?Hampered by childhood loyalties and her host’s insistence on discretion, Kate must discover the real culprit and free her old friend. Along the way, she learns some unpleasant truths about those she has regarded as decent men.Worse, being thrown together with Rupert again stirs up old and new emotions—an improper attraction that must never be spoken.
If their ruse fails…They must marry!On a mission in Naples to deliver a letter to his father’s oldest friend, Alistair never expects to discover he’s inheriting the man’s business—and is betrothed to his daughter, Ismay! Once his childhood nemesis, Ismay’s grown into a great beauty, but she’s just as infuriating as ever!Reeling from a recent heartbreak, Ismay cannot walk down the aisle with devilish rakehell Alistair. So, they come up with a plan: prove to everyone just how unsuitably matched they are! But when their recklessness stokes a blazing attraction, can they resist temptation and stay true to their ruse?
A fateful summer…A forbidden attraction!With maid Amelie’s father languishing in debtors’ prison, her employer’s offer to be housekeeper of his summer cottage is the perfect opportunity to support her family. But now in close quarters with the dashing duke, she soon finds herself getting to know William on more intimate terms…After promising his dying sister to set aside his responsibilities and chase happiness, William has taken the summer to write. But he soon finds even greater joy—with Amelie! Yet, as the season wears on and a suitable marriage beckons, will he be able to surrender his forbidden true love?
With her father in debtors' prison, a job at your employer's summer cottage is the miracle she needs to help support your family. Falling in love with her boss, a Duke no less, well, that's complicated. I'm expecting a lot of Cinderella vibes in this new stand alone from Martin.
An unlikely romance rises when the marchioness makes a deal with the devil.Victoria Smythe, Dowager Marchioness of Winstead, had always longed to start her own bakery. During her short marriage to a man twice her age, she discovered her love of creating complex pastries and cakes. When her husband passed without an heir, Victoria continued to indulge in her secret passion. Until the perfect opportunity arose from an unlikely ally.Declan Harrow uses his wits and fists in service to the Lord of Devil’s Acre. As the crime lord’s right-hand man, he takes on many unsavory tasks—like protecting his employer’s investments. But his priorities shift when he meets the lovely Marchioness of Winstead. His protective nature drives him, but he cannot allow it to consume his sense or he’ll fall completely for the delectable widow.When a mysterious threat appears to have taken aim at the marchioness’s new bakery, Declan decides his services are better served in protecting her instead of his lord’s investment. But being in such close quarters ignites a burning desire that neither can deny. Will their unconventional romance bring her ultimate ruin?
The third book in Blacketer's Society of Wanton Widows series features a Dowager Marchioness with a passion for baking (and her own bakery) who catches the eye of a crime lord's hired goon, our hero. He soon becomes her protector, which puts him at odds with his boss, and well that's complicated. I need to find my reading mojo and start this series already, it sounds totally up my alley.
An uncompromising manSamuel Evans, Principal Officer for Bow Street, carves order from anarchy in London’s violent slums. He has neither the time nor inclination for self-indulgent drivel, and he certainly will not yield to the lust that dogs him every time he sets eyes on Anna Briggs. The madam of the city’s most infamous brothel, she is the very personification of sin—a drop hemlock in every spoonful of honey. She barters secrets as readily as she does her body, and it’s those secrets alone that draw him to her door.A notorious courtesanAnna refuses to apologize for who or what she is. She hasn’t reached these insurmountable heights by following the rules, and there’s no reason to start now. Besides, the men who preach morality rarely practice it, and those who do are too busy congratulating themselves to notice the futility of their modest contributions. Worse still, their decency is laced with judgment. Nevertheless, Anna cannot help teasing the strait-laced Bow Street runner who repeatedly comes sniffing at her door, delighting in the tension that gathers through his broad shoulders whenever she steps too close.A seductive entanglementWhen a regular at The Silken Lotus turns up dead, desperation and opportunity collide, bringing the unlikely pair together. What begins as a tenuous alliance soon becomes something far more dangerous, as the lies they each rely upon to carry them through the day begin to unravel in the shadows of the night. Caught between moral certainty and necessary deception, two people on opposite sides of order discover that the truth is seldom simple and often perilous.
He's a Bow Street Runner, she's a notorious courtesan who is now a madam of an infamous brothel. He's trying to keep his lust in check and she loves to tweak his nose every chance she gets. Then a regular turns up dead in her establishment. This is the fourth book in the multi-author A Society of Scandal series, most of which are novellas. This one runs a little longer, being listed at 192 pages.
Edith Whitmore, Countess of Kipton is drowning in her loveless marriage. Her husband is a cruel cold philanderer. Accepting he will never change and even more importantly that she will never forgive him she seeks a divorce-an uncommon occurrence for a female of her rank and her family refuse to support her. Edith is an emotional wreck, desperate and daring she needs to escape. Her last outburst resulted in her husband uttering the idle threat of Hanwell Asylum.Captain Charles Barton grew up next door to Edith Whitmore, then the only daughter of a duke. They shared a privileged upbringing, Edie being prepared for prestigious marriage and Charles, a second son, a distinguished career in the navy. Charles never dared reveal his true feelings for her, knowing their union was impossible and harboured his burning flame from afar, oceans apart helping to dull the ache of disappointment she would never be his.Docked in London and visiting his parents, the last thing he could ever imagine was Edie bounding through the shared door, desolate and frantic to escape her marriage. Charles hated to leave her in this state but he had a duty to the Royal Navy, how could he explain this? And he had no solution for her. Her mere utterance of the word divorce would set off a scandalous chain of events her family and husband would never allow. But Charles knew he had to think of something, he would never forgive himself if he turned his back on her. Before Charles even has a chance to consider how he could help, Edie takes their destiny into her own hands and leaves him no choice.
This would be the fifth story in the above mentioned A Society of Scandal multi-author series and this one is a shorter novella, listed at 94 pages. She wants a divorce from her cruel husband, and he's a Navy man, a second son and frankly, not good enough for her. How's this going to work? And in 94 pages? I'll admit it, I'm curious.
Rhys Caradoc has built his life on misdirection, sleight of hand, and the firm belief that Persephone Boswell exists solely to ruin his fun.This pickpocket-turned-illusionist is perhaps the least respectable of Brighton's Starling prodigies, and that's just the way he likes it. Rhys delights in trickery, mystery, abstraction, and irreverence. When a mysterious invitation arrives in three languages, sealed with a dead woman's handwriting and addressed to both Rhys … and to his avowed nemesis, he has to make a choice. If he wants to untangle the puzzle, he'll have to face the only person on Earth who gets under his skin.Persephone "Seph" Boswell built her shop, her composure, and her carefully fixed life from scratch.Brighton's premiere illusionist and proprietress of its most peculiar curiosity cabinet, Seph has spent years putting down roots and sticking to them, even when her Traveller family moved on without her. She's managed every inconvenience life has thrown at her with steady hands and a determined disposition, and that includes the particular inconvenience of Rhys Caradoc, thank you very much.They were friends once. Partners. They built the Changeling: a legendary act of illusion and folklore that made audiences believe in something real. And then it all went wrong.Forced together by a dying illusionist's final wish, Rhys and Seph must rebuild what they destroyed: their act, their history, and the truth about the night everything fell apart. The old man wants to believe in magic one last time before he goes. He's chosen the right two people. He's also chosen the worst possible moment.Some tricks only work when the performers stop pretending.
He's a pickpocket turned illusionist and she's a rival illusionist with her own shop. Even though they drive each other crazy, they're soon joining forces to grant a dying old man one last wish. To do so they'll need to reconcile their shared past, which sounds thorny. This is the third book in The Starling Legacy series.
She seeks recognition.He seeks a criminal.She’s his main suspect, and he’ll go to any lengths to catch her in the act.Clever, stubborn, and studious Abigail dreams of finding a discovery that will win her fame, recognition, and enough fortune to be independent. The trouble is no one in her family or society thinks a woman is capable of being a geologist. That is, until a handsome Irish gentleman comes to town.Robert seems too good to be true: an ordinary fellow more than willing to believe and help Abigail. Together, they explore the coves, rocks, and beaches of the Dorset coastline. As their unlikely friendship grows, so does their unusual attraction.Soon they find an ancient artifact that could make Abigail's future, but on the brink of leaving for London, Abigail discovers that Robert may have ulterior motives for wanting to get to know her. Is he who is claims to be? And will they be able to trust each other again after such revelations?
When Rafe Durham rescued a young lady from prison, he planned to nurse her back to health. Not discover she is the very air he breathes.Sir Raphael Durham is a man on a mission. He not only catches spies and consults his Government about policy, but also he has, over the years, rescued women. From family, vices, opportunistic men—and even from themselves. Most have survived. A few have questioned his wisdom. Some have refused his help.But one young woman whom he spirits away from the bowels of a Paris prison does more than that.Near death and savagely abused, Zephora Butler accepts all Rafe does for her and fights to recover her senses and her health. She is an American with guts and gusto. His ‘Lady of the Winds’ as he calls her, whisks away the storms of his past and infuses fresh air to his ordered life. She is undoubtedly the most courageous, obstinate woman Rafe has ever known.And when she makes it clear to him that she loves him, how can he deny he adores her?But when he does, what does he expect her to do?Walk away?
He's a spy with a White Knight Complex, having rescued women over the years from various unsavory circumstances. When he rescues our heroine from prison he didn't expect to fall in love, which is, of course, exactly what happens. This is the seventh book in the Scarlett Affairs series.
Michael Chance, future Viscount Pernrith, is immigrating. Secretly.It isn’t that he doesn’t love his family, but he certainly doesn’t love the expectations put upon him, or the boredom of Society, or the dull existence stretching out before him. He craves adventure, excitement—anything but another card party! So, immigrating it is.Without telling his family. He can’t face the tears.Unfortunately, his plans for adventure go awry because no ships in London are leaving for anywhere exciting for at least two weeks. And he certainly doesn’t expect to quite literally collide with a sea captain with a bosom to die for and a mouth that could curse better than his own.Captain Phylis Seaton has known nothing but the sea. Raised by her father on the Dreamer before inheriting the ship, she lives a life on the move, going where the wind—and the work—takes her.An unlikely friendship. A passion neither of them can deny.But there’s just one problem: Michael is still determined to immigrate, and Phylis is just as determined to prove to him that the noble landlubber is not prepared for a life at sea.And if someone were accidentally to get their heart broken in this debate, would it be the nobleman struggling to face his future or the wild woman of the sea struggling to out sail her past?Neither Michael nor Phylis are prepared for this chance of a lifetime…
A future Viscount seeking adventure plans to chuck away a life of privilege and immigrate, uh to somewhere. Anywhere. So long as it's exciting. And he plans to slink off without telling his family because why be a Viscount when you can be a Prince AMIRITE?! Anyway, she's a sea captain trying to convince him that he's ill-equipped for a life at sea. This is the fourteenth (!) book in the The Chances series.
To marry him…would be to destroy him.Sold into prostitution by her uncle, Cordelia Flowers endured a life of torment before securing employment at the Lyon’s Den as a courtesan. Hiding behind a mask and a pseudonym, she earns enough to amass a fortune, but there’s one thing she can never afford—love. When she falls for the shy lord who paid her to introduce him to pleasure, she knows it’s time to leave, and Mrs. Dove-Lyon offers to find her a husband.Impoverished viscount James Bedford has no taste for London’s debutantes, with their brittle beauty and avaricious hearts. If only they were like the masked doxy who has given him companionship and, lately, the most exquisite pleasure. But they both know that a viscount could never marry a prostitute.Mrs. Dove Lyon tempts James into one of her infamous matchmaking schemes, and when he discovers his bride’s true identity, James is both furious and devastated, believing that Cordelia tricked him into marriage for his title.But Cordelia has more to lose than James’s love. If her past is exposed, it will ruin the Bedford name, and destroy the man she would sacrifice everything to protect.
Part of the long-running Lyon's Den continuity series, a sex-trafficked heroine who has risen up the ranks to sought after courtesan makes the mistake of falling in love with a man (our hero, natch) who paid her to introduce him to the ways of....well, you know. She decides it's time to get out of the life and he ends up falling for one of the proprietress' notorious matchmaking schemes. Fireworks erupt when he learns the identity of his new bride.
I won't tell you how long it took me to put this post together. Short answer is too long - my blogging mojo apparently occupying the same vast wasteland as my reading mojo. Do better, be better Wendy. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed browsing this month's offerings and I hope you found something to pique your interest. What Unusual Historicals are you looking forward to?
Hey, it's posted before the actual end of the month, it's on time!
ReplyDelete(Kidding aside: thank you for continuing to trudge on with these posts)