Spooky Season: Unusual Historicals for October 2025

Another month, another month running late with Unusual Historicals. October though, she does not disappoint. Do you love all things spooky?  Well this is your month because the Gothics have come out to play. So buy yourself that second (or third...this is a no judgement zone) bag of Halloween candy, light a candle, maybe summon a few spirits (if that's your thing) and let's go browsing....

All of Us Murderers by KJ Charles

WHO WILL SURVIVE LACKADAY HOUSE?

When Zeb Wyckham is summoned to a wealthy relative's remote Gothic manor, he is horrified to find all the people he least wants to see in the world: his estranged brother, his sneering cousin, and his bitter ex-lover Gideon Grey. Things couldn't possibly get worse.

Then the master of the house announces the true purpose of the gathering: he intends to leave the vast family fortune to whoever marries his young ward, setting off a violent scramble for her hand. Zeb wants no part of his greedy family—but when he tries to leave, the way is barred. The walls of Lackaday House are high, and the gates firmly locked. As the Dartmoor mists roll in, there's no way out. And something unnatural may be watching them from the house's shadowy depths…

Fear and paranoia ramping ever-higher, Zeb has nowhere to turn but to the man who once held his heart. As the gaslight flickers and terror takes hold, can two warring lovers reunite, uncover the murderous mysteries of Lackaday House—and live to tell the tale?

You know I'd harp less on my dislike of illustrated covers if more of them leaned into creating atmosphere and mood - and it's hard to not get drawn into that with the cover of Charles' latest. A young man trapped in a Gothic manor thanks to the whims of a wealthy relative wants no part of any of the shenanigans, only to find the house has untold secrets. Who to turn to? The man he was once hopelessly in love with - of course. I need to find my reading mojo because this sounds right up my alley.

The Dravenhearst Brides by Lindsay Barrett

“It’s very dangerous to love a Dravenhearst…even more dangerous, perhaps, to be loved by one.”

After a scandalous debut sent her into recluse, heiress Margaret Greenbrier returns to the Louisville social circuit for the 1933 season. Laudanum prescription or no, Margot is not crazy. She’s not. But perception is reality, and all the money in the world can’t buy the illusion of sanity. Nor, apparently, can it convince even the most red-blooded of men to get into bed with her.

Meanwhile, in the heartland of Kentucky, the Great Depression is sinking its roots into the Bluegrass. Prohibition has not been kind to the whiskey industry, and bourbon aristocrat Merrick Dravenhearst is feeling the squeeze. After a chance encounter with a beautiful heiress, sworn bachelor Merrick impulsively throws his hat in the ring for Margot’s hand. Just the right hint of lust, money, and quiet desperation…the best society marriages have been staked on far less, after all.

Upon arrival at Dravenhearst Distilling as a newlywed, Margot uncovers the legend of the Dravenhearst suicide brides—two generations of wives, both found dead on the grounds of the distillery. Her new manor home is teeming with ghostly glimmers of the women who lived there before her. And her brooding, beguiling new husband is unaware Margot has brought demons of her own to his estate, initiating a cataclysmic chain of events set to bring long-buried blood-tinged family secrets to the surface.

I didn't include it here but the subtitle on Barrett's latest is "A Kentucky Gothic Romance" and JUST GET IN MY EYEBALLS ALREADY! A wealthy heiress with a reputation for "madness" marries a man who desperately needs her funds because wow, Prohibition is a drag y'all. The spark and sizzle are there, but so are the secrets. A whole bushel of secrets...

The Peculiar Incident at Thistlewick House by Jenni Keer

Where bones fall from the cliffs and secrets linger in the mist, a village haunted by the past refuses to give up its dead... 

As the bones start to fall, the spirits will rise…

Norfolk, England, 1895: When renowned spiritualist Edward Blackmore receives a desperate message from his cousin Barnabas, begging him to come to the coastal village of Thistlewick Tye, his first thought is to ignore the request. Despite his cousin’s insistence that his wife is possessed by a malevolent spirit, Edward has no time for the man who stole his inheritance.

Lured by the promise of money, along with a genuine concern for Barnabas’s wife – who he’d once loved – he reluctantly travels to at Thistlewick House, only to arrive too late. Emma is dead.

Barnabas suspects there are supernatural forces at play. But Edward is convinced murder is afoot. As he begins to investigate, he finds himself drawn into the lives of those in this isolated and unnerving village, especially the beguiling woman who gathers up the human bones falling from the rapidly eroding cliffs.

Then he discovers that a travelling circus completely disappeared in the area forty years previously and no one is willing to talk about it. Perhaps not everything at Thistlewick Tye is quite what it seems…

 A hero loathe to help out his paranoid cousin arrives too late to help the woman he once loved. To discover the truth he finds himself drawn into the lives of the remote and isolated village, and a woman who gathers up human bones as the cliffs erode away into the sea (I mean, she sounds like fun AMIRITE?!). And what does all this have to do with a traveling circus who vanished from the area forty years ago?

Danger at Darkmoor Park by Syrie James

Hidden treasure. Murder. Mystery. Romance. All while snowbound at Christmas.

While trapped by a blizzard at a remote country manor house over Christmas, a school headmistress teams up with a charismatic doctor to solve a murder and hunt for hidden treasure.

But can she trust the man who has stolen her heart? 

Selena Taylor is thrilled to cohost a Christmas house party at Darkmoor Park, the beautiful Yorkshire estate she will one day inherit. But a massive snowstorm hits the area, and no one can leave. When one of the guests dies after giving Selena a cryptic clue to a cache of hidden money, she suspects that he was murdered.

Dr. Adrian Scott arrives out of the blizzard and he and Selena, fueled by a burning mutual attraction, become partners in investigating both mysteries—a thrilling hunt for hidden treasure and the search for a ruthless killer—while trapped with holiday guests who all seem to be hiding a secret.

When another guest dies and she starts receiving threatening notes, Selena realizes that she is in terrible danger, pursued by a relentless villain and involved with a man whose touch makes her heart race but who may be hiding a deadly secret of his own.

Our heroine just wanted to help host a Christmas house party and instead she gets a snowstorm that traps her guests, a murder, and a cryptic clue about hidden treasure. On top of that, all her guests seem to be hiding some sort of secret. Helping her crack the case? A handsome doctor with secrets of his own. This is the third book in The Audacious Sisterhood of Smoke & Fire series.

Beyond the Majestic by Juliane Ross-Clark

Atlanta, 1940s. A war widow at twenty, Abby Willingham is just trying to survive by working nights as a cigarette girl at the glamorous Club Majestic - where world-renowned swing orchestras keep the dance floor alive and corruption is concealed in the next room. Grieving, broke, and fending off her shady boss’s advances, Abby clings to her independence, the sympathetic ear of her fast-talking best friend, and the comfort of her late husband’s memory.

But when she meets architect Vince Vandenburgh III—charming, wealthy, and carrying secrets of his own—Abby begins to imagine a life beyond sorrow. As their paths continue to cross under the sultry glow of nightclub chandeliers, love dares to flicker... even as danger grows in the shadows.

Torn between the past and a future she never expected, Abby must choose: protect her heart—or risk it all for a second chance at happiness.

I know less than nothing about this book or author but it's set in Atlanta in 1946 and the subject headings over at Amazon include everything awesome I love that's not romance (they had me at "women's crime fiction," and "noir crime"). However, a hop on over to the author's web site touts this as "Romantic suspense at its most gripping..." and y'all I seriously need to find my reading mojo because hot damn!

The Sinner's Guide to Saving a Saint by Mihwa Lee

She offered her body. He demanded her truth. Both would require complete surrender.

Sylvia Addison had built her fortress from shadows and secrets—a respectable medical facility by day, an underground rescue operation by night. For six years, she'd saved desperate women from violence, forging documents and identities with the same precision she'd once used to survive her own brutal marriage. She'd learned to weaponize everything—her beauty, her wit, even desire itself—all while keeping her heart locked away where no man could shatter it again. Then Dr. Albert Raines arrived, threatening to tear down everything she'd built with his damning medical license and haunted dark eyes that saw too much.

Dr. Albert Raines came to Ravenwood seeking solitude, not scandal. The bastard son of an earl and a courtesan, he'd spent his life running from his mother's shadow, only to inherit a manor full of mysterious women and their maddeningly beautiful leader who threatened him with a gun and offered herself as casually as afternoon tea. Every instinct screamed to throw them out, to protect the reputation he'd fought to build. But watching Sylvia Addison save lives with fierce determination while carrying wounds that matched his own, Albert found himself wanting something he'd never dared imagine—a woman who understood that sometimes the greatest dignity came from choosing your own terms.

When a woman who uses desire as currency meets a man who's spent his life refusing to be bought, who will surrender first?

I've said it before, I'll say it again, I am utter trash for heroines who have "reputations." This is the fourth book in the Madams and Mischief series and when I heard of it's existence, I downloaded the first novella to give it a whirl - I just need to find my flagging reading mojo. On the subject of novellas - y'all words should still mean something and I'm not sure what's going on here because while this is tagged as "novella four" Amazon lists it at 300 page count. Could that be an error? I mean, maybe? Because the first novella in my TBR is listed at 112 pages.

A Viking Too Wild to Wed by Lucy Morris

Warrior, adventurer, charmer

…husband?

Egill Eriksson has had more wild exploits than he can remember. Now with his brothers settled, it’s time for him to secure his own future and finally wed! Enchanted by thrall Mildritha, Egill has a simple plan: free her from servitude and win her hand. If he can convince her he’s changed his ways…

The last thing Mila wants is a man trampling on her independence, especially one with a reputation like Egill’s! But there’s no arguing with their inescapable chemistry. Until Egill’s unruly past catches up with him and threatens the future Mila was just daring to hope for!

I mean, if you're not a Viking with a reputation, how good of a Viking could you possibly be? Our hero in Morris's latest is finally ready to settle down, he just has to convince the heroine that's he's a changed man. Turns out that's easier said than done.

Once Upon a Courtesan by Jess Michaels

Arabella Comerford always had too many dreams and desires to ever be happy with the forced marriage and staid life her cruel father planned for her. She sees her way out when she spies on a handsome gentleman engaged in elicit activities with a woman at Vauxhall Garden. Ultimately it leads her to her own path as a celebrated courtesan with freedom and money. But she always wondered about that man who got away and the startling green eyes that haunt her fantasies.

Silas Windham has been gone from London for nearly six years, after his father’s death caused a rift between him and the marquess’s legitimate children. Now he’s back thanks to the illness of his half-brother and unsure what to do next. Until he encounters Arabella at a hell and realizes she’s the woman who he once caught spying on him in a garden. The one he hasn’t been able to get out of his mind since.

Long-held memories and desires explode into a passionate affair that can only be temporary for both of them. But as their passions soften into deeper and deeper connection, it leaves them both wondering if two wild, broken people might be able to let go of the past and become everything to each other.

A trapped and desperate heroine discovers the answer to all her problems after spying a notorious rake in flagrante delicto. Six years later, she's a celebrated courtesan and he's back in London when his half-brother falls ill.  Their paths cross again and naturally things get very complicated. Again, trash for a heroine with a "reputation" and OMG, this is the first in a series featuring courtesans!

Olive Becket Plays the Rake by Kat Sterling

A wallflower with a secret…

Olive Becket has played it safe since the day her father died. So no one is more surprised than she when her suffrage anthem–an anonymous, harmless jingle–is a state-wide sensation. The public is clamoring to know who she is, but revealing herself could incur the wrath of her anti-suffrage landlord. Unfortunately, the devilishly handsome detective hired to unmask the composer is convinced she knows something. As if supporting her family isn’t enough, now she must outmaneuver a man who makes her shiver. If she misses a beat, she could find herself on the street. Or worse–directly in the rake’s embrace.

A detective under pressure…

Emil Anderson’s new detective agency is sinking fast. When a lucrative partnership is dangled in front of him in exchange for locating one low-profile composer, he doesn’t hesitate. To his surprise, his only lead–a perplexing pianist with spellbinding doe eyes–is immune to his famous charm. Unfortunately for her, Emil loves a good riddle, and he’ll track her until it’s solved. There’s only one snag–the more time he spends with her, the more protective he becomes. Now he has to choose: close the case, or open his heart.

An unexpected partnership…

Her livelihood. His future. The truth. All dangerously close to unraveling. How can they put aside their mutual suspicion–and inconvenient chemistry–before someone else pulls the strings? And what if the ending they fear turns out to be the beginning they never saw coming?

No one is more surprised than our heroine when the little jingle she wrote becomes an anthem for the suffrage movement. And really, who knew one little jingle would end up causing so much fuss? She's treading lightly around her anti-suffrage landlord and now there's a detective snooping around looking to unmask her. Now if she can only thwart him while not falling for his charms.  This is the second book in The Seattle Suffrage Society series.

Lord Carlisle's Enticing Lure by Cerise DeLand 

She’s much too carefree, too lovely, too enchanting to be a spy.

His job is to catch spies. She cannot possibly be one—and he cannot possibly love her!

Clive Davenport, the Marquess of Carlisle, does not fall for beautiful women. But when the dark-haired sylph he glimpsed not far from his home last winter reappears on the beach at Brighton, he cannot escape her lure. Swaying in the June breeze, she is the picture of freedom and delight in the summer sun. Then she saves his little girl from the crashing waves of the Channel waters and constructs kites that dance in his daughter’s hands—and in his heart.

She tells him her name is Giselle Laurant, and that she is a French émigré with a work commission she must urgently finish. Employing her special talents as an illustrator, she does not reveal that her renderings of coastal English towns have a special destination.

So falling in love with dashing Carlisle creates problems. He will not disappear. Nor does she want him to. Her past experience with an abusive husband and French police are bitter. Yet she marvels at Clive’s kisses that are so sweet, and his tender regard so alluring, that she allows herself one night of surrender.

But when her foes track her, Clive is determined to save her, no matter her sympathies. No matter that he loves her to distraction.

The fifth book in the Scarlett Affairs series features a hero whose job it is to catch spies and a French émigré heroine, a talented illustrator, who likes to draw pictures of coastal English towns. I mean, she can't possibly be a spy, can she?  Dude, c'mon now.

The Lyon Returns by Kimberly Keyes

A widow starting anew. A gentleman dodging the noose. Will their pretense of a marriage turn into a head-over-heels love?

To purchase the publishing house of her dreams, new-to-London Gwendolyn Barnes must find herself a husband. With no desire to wed again, the young widow pays an exorbitant fee to the notorious Black Widow of Whitehall for a husband who, she assures Gwen, is almost certainly dead.

Then her husband, shipping magnate and aloof son of a duke, Gideon Devereux, walks through the front door.

After reading of his marriage to an unknown bride, the date of which provides him a handy alibi, Gideon returns to London determined to discover who framed him for treason. He’s content to allow his farce of a marriage to the beautiful bluestocking to stand. He only sees two problems—Gwen’s stipulation the marriage remain in name only, and an ungovernable hunger for each other that neither can quell.

Secretly falling for the brooding and seductive Devereux, a wary Gwen vows to avoid a repeat of her disastrous first marriage. And with his enemies circling ever closer, Gideon’s inner demons whisper that their white-hot passion can never ignite into a forever love.

Can this made-for-each-other couple discover new heights of happiness in each other’s arms, or will the echoes of their pasts tear them apart?

Another month, more books that are part of The Lyon's Den world. The heroine wants to purchase a publishing house but in order to do that she needs a husband. So she pays an exorbitant fee to wed a man that is most likely dead. It should be perfect, until it isn't. For you see, the husband isn't dead and his "marriage" just so happens to provide him with an alibi that wiggles him out of trouble. He's fine with letting the sham of a marriage stand, other than the fact that his wife doesn't want to consummate it. Oh and the small matter that someone almost succeeded in framing him for treason....

Dreaming of a Lyon by Sandra Sookoo

In search of excitement… Though Captain Simon Henry Huxley lost an eye in the naval war with America in 1812, it hasn’t slowed him down the past six years. Since his contemporaries are falling into parson’s mousetrap with alarming regularity—manipulated by Mrs. Dove-Lyon no doubt—and with yearning to return to the sea thrumming through his veins, London is a bit dull. But after a spontaneous visit to the infamous Lyon’s Den gaming hell one winter night, his life will change in every conceivable way.

Dreaming of freedom… Lady Hattie Anne Russell, youngest daughter to the Earl of Stonewycke, has been intimate with scandal since the day she turned sixteen. She dislikes rules, labels, or the ton’s boring dictates for proper ladies, and through it all she’s been bedeviled by dreams of an adventurous lion. Frustrated, her mother turns to Mrs. Dove-Lyon for help in marrying Hattie off before further disgrace follows; no stake is too high, and any Lyon will do, but Hattie won’t be tamed, and neither will she submit to marriage without a fight.

A matchmaker’s interference may provide both… After a hasty marriage of convenience, the newly wedded pair is forced to make the best of their reality. As the calendar marches toward spring, the two accidentally find common ground by bonding over the silliest of things. Secrets and dreams are shared, and emotions prompt surprising heat between them, yet an unexpected complication has the power to destroy what they’re building. It will take daring heroics and exceptional mettle to prove they are worthy of a love—and a life—for the ages.

Yes, more Lyon's Den - and look, I'm only human. The hero is rockin' an eye patch. Also I can't even begin to tell you the last time I saw the War of 1812 play any sort of role in a historical romance since the bodice ripper era. He's anxious to return to the sea, and she's a scandal-ridden heroine whose mother is determined to bring her to heel. Of course these two messy people end up married to each other because it would be no fun otherwise.

Ah, October. The month for spooky shenanigans, mysteries and secrets galore. Will this crop of Unusual Historicals that feature so much Wendy catnip unearth my reading mojo? God willing and the creek don't rise. What Unusual Historicals are you looking forward to?

Candy Hearts: Unusual Historicals for February 2025

If January felt six months long, February has been blinked and you missed it - and yes, I realize February is the shortest month of the year, but still. I'm gearing up for my busy season at work (end of the fiscal year, June 30, is big hairy deal in my job and I basically start that process around this time) and I'll be going in for outpatient surgery the first week in March to take care of the hiatal hernia that has made my life miserable for the past couple of years. But, we still have books (well, at least for now...) and while February is a short month, it's a bonanza of options for unusual historicals - which, dead my ass. Again, historicals will only die on our watch, so if any of these look good to you - give them a whirl and spread the good word far and wide.  Here's what caught my eye this month:

A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke by Adriana Herrera

Paris, 1889

Physician Aurora Montalban Wright takes risks in her career, but never with her heart. Running an underground women’s clinic exposes her to certain dangers, but help arrives in the unexpected form of the infuriating Duke of Annan. Begrudgingly, Aurora accepts his protection, then promptly finds herself in his bed.   

New to his role as a duke, Apollo César Sinclair Robles struggles to embrace his position. With half of society waiting for him to misstep and the other half looking to discredit him, Apollo never imagined that his enthralling bedmate would become his most trusted adviser. Soon, he realizes the rebellious doctor could be the perfect duchess for him. But Aurora won’t give up her independence, and her secrets make her unsuitable for the aristocracy.

When dangerous figures from their pasts return to threaten them, Apollo whisks Aurora away to the French Riviera. Far from the reproachful eye of Parisian society, can Apollo convince Aurora that their bond is stronger than the forces keeping them apart?    

This is the third and final book in the author's Las Leonas trilogy and this back cover blurb positively sings for me. Paris, a physician heroine in the crosshairs for having the gall to provide women with health care and a Duke hero who is very much on the outside looking in. He's determined to make her his duchess and she's less than thrilled with the idea - sign me up!

Never Gamble Your Heart by Lindsay Lovise

When the genteelly born, impoverished Frankie Turner's impulsive younger sister goes missing, Frankie has no idea where to begin the search to find her. But when she discovers hasty marriages materializing between “troublemaking” women and men who don’t deserve them, she knows her sister is somehow involved. The only thread connecting the groomsmen is a membership to Rockford’s, an exclusive gambling hell owned by the devilish Jasper Jones. And it just so happens that Jasper has recently become the guardian of a sullen fifteen-year-old.

Jasper suspects his new governess has an ulterior motive for being in his household, but he can hardly find the time to uncover it when his life is in a constant uproar. First, Frankie teaches his niece how to count cards and then she tries to break into his study. When he finally learns Frankie’s true reason for being there, he agrees to help the brilliant mathematician find her missing sister, even if it means giving her a fake dowry and watching men trip over themselves in her presence. As he and Frankie work together to dismantle a nefarious scheme, Jasper realizes that for the first time in his life, he’s gambled his heart—and possibly lost it.

Lovise is one of the few new writers working in historicals right now and this is the second book in her Secret Society of Governess Spies series.  A heroine with a penchant for numbers looking for her missing sister finds a connection at the hero's gambling hall, the same hero who has a sullen teenage ward. They're soon working together to bring down a dastardly plot, as one does...

The Viking's Princess Bride by Sarah Rodi

He’s won the throne… 

But she’s his royal prize! 

Victorious in his quest for revenge, Viking Njal takes the Saxon crown—and their princess! But while he’s wedding Cwen in the name of peace, he cannot deny the way she entices him. Even if it’s clear she’s holding something back… 

Princess Cwen has long accepted being used for her kingdom’s gain, but taking the enemy’s hand is the most outrageous request yet! Still, the rugged warrior ignites a fire inside her… Cwen just can't let Njal storm her carefully constructed walls. Because she’s harboring a secret that could rock the foundations of their marriage!

Rodi's latest stand-alone features a Viking hero who has taken a crown by force and decides to wed a princess in the name of "peace," while she, understandably is less than thrilled with the idea, even if she's always known that what she wants has very little to do with anything - oh, and look, she has a Big Secret!  Because what's a princess without a secret?

The Confessions of a Lady by Darcy McGuire

Dare she risk her secrets?

In the world of upstairs/downstairs, Housemaid Penny Smith anticipates her employer’s needs and blends into the background making her the perfect spy for the prime minister against a suspected member of the Devil’s Sons. There’s only one problem. When she meets the guilty marquess, his actions don’t match the evidence against him. Lord William Renquist defies her every expectation and sets her traitorous heart racing.

Lord William Renquist, Marquess of Stoneway and secret spy to Queen Victoria, must infiltrate the Devil’s Sons, tearing the brotherhood apart from the inside. His mission – to bring evil men to justice while atoning for the sins of his family, proving honour is stronger than tainted blood. There’s only one problem. A canny maid who is always in the right place at the wrong time and who deliciously challenges his every order.

Liam and Penny are unknowingly playing a dangerous game from opposite sides of justice. And at a masked ball, forbidden attraction burns into something far more complex as their secrets spin into daring confessions. This battle against their enemy will only be won if Penny and Liam can work together. But can a maid from downstairs ever trust an upstairs marquess?

This is the third book in the author's Queen's Deadly Damsels series and features a housemaid, who is a spy and a Marquess, who is a spy. Do either of them know the other is a spy? Of course not - there's no fun in that!  Also, and this cannot be overstated, I am trash for upstairs/downstairs "stuff" in historical romance.

Benefactor to the Baroness by Melissa Kendall

In a world of rules, surrendering to love is the only rebellion that matters.

Plagued by survivors’ guilt after escaping her impoverished childhood selling matchsticks, Fontaine Shepherd, the Dowager Lady Kerry, uses her position on the board of a charitable foundation to relocate starving orphans to the new world—until contact with the new office is abruptly lost. Fearing the foundation will discover she’s been clandestinely using funds to bribe workhouse owners to release children, she decides to travel across the ocean and re-establish communication herself.

Except the only captain who can transport her in time insists that she not travel alone.

Facing a lonely life after marrying off her nieces, Rosemary Summersby reluctantly agrees to attend a ladies’ charity group. There, she meets the vivacious Lady Kerry, who challenges her long-held beliefs of how a lady should look and act. Compelled by a desire to experience the excitement of which her niece often speaks, Rosemary accompanies the dowager baroness to a workhouse and witnesses the cruelty of poverty firsthand.

Then Lady Kerry stumbles into Rosemary’s cottage one night with an outrageous request: to travel across the ocean as her companion and help her uncover the mystery behind the missing orphans.

Unable to convince the dowager baroness of the dangers of her plan and remembering the sense of responsibility that drove her to accept three orphans into her life fifteen years prior, Rosemary decides to join Lady Kerry on her trip. But as the vast ocean and a noble mission stretches before them, a shared purpose and a single bunk ignite an unexpected passion that makes both women question what they truly want for themselves.

I'm going to be honest, I find this back cover blurb for the third book in the author's Seductive Sleuths series entirely too messy, but we've got a Dowager noblewoman who has known poverty, freeing children from deplorable workhouse conditions who needs a companion to travel across an ocean to unravel a mess. Also, while people are neither genre nor trope (says Wendy) - it's also Sapphic. At the very least it's worth reading a sample.

Complications in Paris by Melinda Copp

It was supposed to be a season in France, but then she decided not to go home.

Diane Talbot is an American in Paris and desperately wants to stay that way. Instead of returning to Woollett, New York, she and her sister didn't get on the boat. Now, nearly a year later, their father's fiancée and her stepson—at Daddy's behest—have come to Paris to bring them home. When they surprise Diane in a compromising situation with French party boy Guillaume Allard, she improvises and claims they're engaged.

It's the perfect plan. As long as she can convince her family that she's getting married and has established herself in Paris, they can't take her home. The best part is that Diane won't really have to get married—not to the man her father wants or to Guillaume.

Handsome and charming Guillaume barely knows Diane. But she's fun, and he owes her a favor. He goes along with the fake engagement, but that's a decision he soon regrets.

As Diane and Guillaume spend more time together, the ruse gets harder to perpetuate, and her family gets more involved. Soon, this perfect solution is far trickier than anticipated, and their feelings for each other have grown so complicated that it can only be love. Ultimately, they're forced to face an impossible obstacle to their happily ever after: he wants a lifelong commitment, and she believes marriage is a trap best avoided.

Three words: Belle. Époque. Paris. If that isn't enough, an American heiress in Paris not all that anxious to return home (I mean, I'd stay in Paris just for the croissants and macaroons, so I hear you girl!) fakes an engagement with a "French party boy," as one does.  Of course it all soon gets complicated, as it always does.

The Mysteries of Pendowar Hall by Syrie James

She vowed to solve a murder.

Now she’s in danger of losing her heart … and her very life.

Diana Taylor, a bright and spirited governess who has sworn off love, is sent to Pendowar Hall in Cornwall to honor a pledge. She vows to teach her godmother’s niece and to find out who was behind the suspicious death of the former baronet. But her new charge is also a mystery, as is the man who inherited the ancient coastal estate—the charismatic but brooding Royal Navy Captain William Fallbrook, who is home on leave to recover from an injury.

As Diana investigates, her feelings for the enigmatic Captain Fallbrook blossom, and her guard goes up. Pendowar Hall is brimming with secrets as well as a frightening legend about a Mermaid’s Curse. What is behind the mysterious footsteps in the night? Is there more to the story of the tragic deaths of the former baronet’s wife and son? What secrets is Captain Fallbrook hiding? Can she trust the man who has stolen her heart?

He looks to be entranced by Diana, even though her determination to dig up the past seems to get on his last nerve. Soon, Diana’s bold quest to unmask his uncle’s killer leads her into terrifying danger, for someone is determined to end her life before she can discover the truth.

The first book in the Audacious Sisterhood of Smoke & Fire series has all the touchstones of a Gothic - Cornwall, a suspicious death, a governess, and a brooding hero (in this case a Navy Captain!) who has inherited an "ancient coastal estate." Also there's a curse, because of course there's a curse.  I am trash for Gothics, so this one is more than worth a look.

Evidence of Evil by Mary Lancaster

Pursuing murder and fighting love…

Several weeks after they parted company, courtesan Constance calls on the wealthy business-man Solomon Grey to request his help solving another mystery. Her old friend Elizabeth, now the wife of respected magistrate Sir Humphrey Maule, is being accused of murder.

Solomon, bored and restless, happily agrees, before he realizes they are expected to pose as husband and wife. While this presents its own challenges, the case itself is elusive. The young woman fished out of the lake in her nightgown is the Maules’ neighbor, and there is nothing to show how she died except that it was not by drowning.

Hunting for evidence, Constance and Solomon turn their attention to the complicated victim herself, who may have harboured more than one deadly secret.

Sigh. The second book in the Silver and Grey trilogy and I've had Book 1 in my immediate TBR for the past two months. Soon, my pet, soon. Anyway, our couple, a courtesan heroine and a wealthy businessman hero, pose as husband and wife to find a killer. 

A Diamond in the Rough by Andrea Pickens (Reprint)

Determined not to follow in the footsteps of his weak-willed wastrel father, Adrian, Lord Marquand, has designed a life for himself based on order and reason . . . and a passion for creating the most beautiful gardens in England. However, he must keep his true identity as England’s most acclaimed landscape designer a secret. But when his father gambles away Adrian’s beloved ancestral estate, he’s sure all is lost . . . until he’s offered a way to win it back.

Adrian isn’t the only one keeping secrets. Derrien McClellan, a fiery, unconventional Scottish lass must disguise herself as a boy to play golf on the hallowed course at St. Andrews. She’s the best golfer. . . which is why a dear family friend asks her help in teaching Adrian how to play so he can beat an unprincipled cad at his own game and win back Woolsey Hall. Derrien has good reason to dislike an English lord, but she grudgingly agrees.

And so the games begin! Secrets tangle with misunderstandings as the mismatched pair struggle to work together. And suddenly the stakes are higher as they head into the final match . . . with their hearts now in play, will Love conquer all?

Pickens has written a lot of books (she's also published under the names Cara Elliott and Andrea Penrose) and my sleuthing confirms this is a reprint of a Traditional Regency published by Signet in 2001.  This is a sports romance (golf!) and a Trad. I mean, if that's not an unusual historical nothing is. Also, god bless All About Romance, I was able to find a review they published for the book back in 2001, written by old friend of the blog, Blythe.

A Rogue to Watch Over Me by Tara Kingston

A woman in danger . . . a bold Scot who’s vowed to protect her . . .

AMELIA STEWART is no man’s damsel in distress. When a dashing Scottish rogue storms into her orderly library claiming he is there to defend her from a mysterious threat—summoned by a letter her brother wrote before his death—she rebuffs him as a cruel fraud. Amelia has had her fill of charlatans seeking to profit off her raw grief. But when she’s targeted by ruthless criminals hunting a treasure tied to her brother’s suspicious death, Amelia joins forces with the brash rake to bring the cutthroats to justice. As danger closes in, Amelia and the tempting Scot are brought together, day and night. She knows better than to fall for a man like him, but Logan MacLain might well be the rogue she’d never dreamed she wanted . . . never dreamed she needed . . . with—or without—his kilt.

Honor bound to watch over her, he’ll risk everything . . . except his heart . . .

LOGAN MacLAIN made his fortune taking risks. Now settled into a comfortable life running his tavern in Queen Victoria’s London, he’s content with a rogue’s existence and the hard-won certainty that love is mere fantasy. Until a message from a dead man calls upon him to repay a debt of honor. Now, Logan must risk his life to shield his murdered friend’s sister from the sinister menace which stalks her. But soon, protecting Amelia is no longer about a duty spawned by a long-ago vow. Drawn to her, he desires the clever beauty above all others. He wants Amelia in his arms. By his side. And in his bed.

A rogue’s passion . . . a woman’s heartfelt need . . .

But Amelia needs more than his desire. More than his passion. She believes in love. She trusts that Logan will watch over her. He will defend her, no matter the cost. But can he give her the heart he encased in ice all those years ago?

She's in danger from criminals looking for treasure and he's a OMG TAVERN OWNER (!!!!) who has vowed to protect her having been summoned by her brother from beyond the grave. She believes in love, he of course does not. And, you know, there's that whole minor threat on her life thing....

The Detective and the Baroness by Karyn Gerrard

Detective Sergeant Mitchell Simpson’s only purpose is his job with London’s Metropolitan Police. But when he’s seriously injured in the line of duty, he has no idea what to do. So, when he’s offered a private investigation to work on while he recovers, he jumps at it. The problem? His client is the baroness who nursed him back to health…and stole his heart while doing it. And worse, she’s newly married…

After tirelessly working as a nurse for a decade, Lady Corrine Addington entered an arranged marriage to save her family from financial ruin. But it’s not long before she realizes her estranged husband is up to something, so she hires Mitchell to follow him. But even she realizes that she enjoys Mitchell’s company a little too much. Then a murderous turn of events changes everything…

Suddenly a widow, Corrine is free to follow her heart. But Mitchell has figured out what the baron’s murderer was looking for, and fears that Corrine will be the killer’s next target. While Mitchell desperately wants to make her his, it’s more important that he keep her safe, even if it kills him. And it might…

The first in the Duke's Bastards series features a detective hero taking a private job while recovering from an injury. Minor detail that his client is the woman who nursed him back to health and she needs him to follow her estranged husband to find out what he's up to.  Turns out hubby soon gets up to getting dead and our heroine is in danger.

Heartbreaker of the Ton by Emily Royal

A ruined woman, a virgin vicar, a forbidden love.

Debutante Juliette Howard’s attempt to ruin her sister out of envy and spite ended badly—with Juliette herself ruined, disgraced, and pregnant. Consumed by regret, and reviled by Society, Juliette fled her family’s disappointment to hide in obscurity in a remote seaside village. As an outsider, she’s viewed with suspicion by all except the vicar with the gentle voice and kind eyes, whose compassionate soul threatens to breach her defenses.

Andrew Staines followed his calling when he entered the church. But his faith is continually tested in the country parish where the gentry consider those of lower rank to be disposable commodities. His is a lone voice speaking out against the injustices of the world—until a mysterious widow arrives with her young son. Her soulful eyes speak of past tragedy, but despite the hardships she endures, she becomes a champion for the cause of the downtrodden, and Andrew finds himself in danger of falling in love.

Despite vowing to protect her heart, Juliette finds a soul mate in Andrew—a man struggling with his faith, as she struggles to reconcile herself with her past sins.

But a fallen woman with an illegitimate child is no suitable match for a chaste vicar, a man revered as the model of morality. And when Juliette discovers Andrew’s connection to her family, she realizes that some sins can never be forgiven.

Y'all, this book was written just for me - I'm convinced of it. I am trash for a virgin hero paired with a heroine who has "a reputation." Also, it sounds like this heroine was a villain in a previous book and just get in my eyeballs already!   This is the sixth book in the author's Misfits of the Ton series.

Whew! I feel like we all just ran a marathon - 12 unusual historicals for our consideration to keep us warm during the remaining winter months.  What are you looking forward to picking up?

Unusual Historical Top Picks for February 2020

Here we are in February 2020 and I feel like this year is out to get me. I’m starting to take it personally. My reading so far has been fairly lackluster and the continued RWA crisis has now devolved into me keeping a small pillow on my desk for fear of repeated concussions. Hey, at least I have half-priced Valentine’s Day candy and a new crop of unusual historicals to cheer me up. Here are the February publications catching my eye:

An Unconventional Affair by Stacy Reid (Kindle Unlimited)

Maximillian Langdon, Earl Kentwood, is the author of the ton’s most salacious erotic literature: A guide to passionate romps between a lord and his lady. His name whispers on the tongues of gentlemen and ladies in shocked and admiring tones. Everyone believes he is London’s greatest lover, except Lord Kentwood is still a virgin. Now he's determined to rectify that situation before being revealed as a fraud, and London’s latest on dit!  

With a reputation forever tarnished by scandal, Lady Amelie Weatherston is resigned to an unfulfilled life. She is also a member of a secret widow’s club. Her mission: to seduce London’s most delectable lover and report her findings to help her wicked widow friends keep their protectors happy! A passionate affair de Coeur starts and for a time banishes the loneliness in her heart. The earl of debauchery is not what he seems, and Amelie finds herself falling in love with a man who might never see her as more than a wicked widow not worthy of his heart. 

Get. In. My. Eyeballs. Now. Yes, we’ve all read this story before but Reid takes it, flips the script, and puts the shoe on the opposite genders’ foot. The virgin hero (not heroine) writing salacious novels. The rakish heroine (not hero) who has been tasked with unmasking the debauched writer’s secrets. Gimme, gimme, gimme.

Into the Lyon’s Den by Jade Lee (Kindle Unlimited)

Intrigue makes for strange bedfellows...  

Elliott, Lord Byrn, often found himself in strange places, but none is more bizarre than the infamous Lyon’s Den gaming house in a tony part of London. The gambling doesn’t surprise him, nor the salacious things rumored to happen in the upstairs rooms. What shocks him is a slip of a girl jeweler/fence who bargains with him over a missing brooch. He needs her to refashion the thing before anyone else realizes it is missing and she drives a hard bargain.

Harder than he can imagine...  

Amber Gohar lives her days in the gray world of a gambling hell, but she dreams of escaping into the vibrant world of the ton. When the opportunity arises for her to spend just one night at a society ball, she grabs it with both hands, never expecting that she would also be taking hold of a man who set her heart on fire. But once she realizes what she’s done, she won’t let go. She can’t. Happily ever after doesn’t come easily, or for free, in the world of The Lyon's Den.  

How these two unlikely bedfellows discover their best bargain will set both the ton, and The Lyon’s Den, on fire. 

A hero with his back against a wall and a heroine who drives a hard bargain to parlay her way into catching a glimpse of life among society’s elite. The promise of built-in tension with a cross-class romance and how the author is going to work that into a happy ending is always something I’m intrigued by.

Uncovering the Merchant's Secrets by Elisabeth Hobbes

A man with no past… could she hold the key to his future?  

Shipwrecked merchant Jack Langdon wakes with no memory and steals a kiss from a beautiful stranger—widow Blanche Tanet. As he recovers in her castle, passion flares between them. Jack’s fascinated by her independence and courage but, discovering his identity is not what it seems. Jack must first uncover the secrets of his own past if they’re to have a future together… 

I like medievals but to be brutally honest, it’s a lot of knights. Hobbes is one of my go-to authors writing in this time period and hello there, we have a merchant hero with amnesia! And a widowed heroine! And flaring passions! Huzzah!

Freedom’s Price by Jenna Kernan (Kindle Unlimited)

Gritty, sweeping tale of love, resilience and tenacity in the New World wilds of Virginia.  

To survive on his newly cleared land outside Jamestown, Thomas Deed needs a field hand, not a wet-nurse. But instead of doing the rational thing, he fulfills a deathbed promise to protect his sister’s son, borrowing against his land to acquire a woman to care for the babe. Mary Price surprises him, adapting to her harsh surroundings and quickly becoming a godsend.  

Newly arrived mother, Mary Price, must stay with Deed during the term of her service or lose all hope of reunion with her sister. She vows to work so hard that he will never give her up but succeeds in ways she never expected. As they struggle against the wilderness, his spirit to protect and provide for her and the babes stirs her to unrealized desire and makes her long to stay at his side.  

But when fate tests them both, will Deed give her up or find a way to keep her for a lifetime? 

Kernan wrote this book on the advice of an editor who suggested she try a different time period. What the editor failed to mention was that the publisher wouldn’t buy anything in the American Colonial time period. However it was too late, Kernan was hooked on the idea and completed the book even though she was advised by nearly everybody that the audience for such a book would be too small. Well here’s your chance colonial fans! Prove ‘em wrong!

Duke Darcy’s Castle by Syrie James

Lance Granville, the Tenth Duke of Darcy, was none too happy to give up his career in the Royal Navy to inherit the family title, complete with an ancient castle he needs to renovate. When an architect arrives on his doorstep, Darcy is astonished to discover that she’s a woman.  

Kathryn Atherton has one goal: to become the first woman architect in Britain. Marriage doesn’t figure in her plans. Despite the odds, her schooling is behind her. Now she needs experience. When she’s sent to a small tidal island in Cornwall to remodel a castle, the last thing Kathryn wants is to be attracted to its roguishly handsome owner.  

Kathryn is determined to keep things professional, but the sizzling attraction between her and the duke quickly blazes out of control. When Darcy learns that Kathryn is an heiress whose fortune would save St. Gabriel’s Mount, he wages the most important battle of his life: to woo and win the woman who’s captured his heart. But duchesses can’t be architects. And Kathryn has worked too long and too hard to give up her dreams… 

Two words: Lady. Architect. OK, two more words: Ancient. Castle. One word: Swoon.

What unusual historicals are you looking forward to reading?