To help broaden your list of authors, I’m spending this week giving you some recommendations by genre of others you might want to check out. Yesterday I highlighted some authors in the suspense and romantic suspense categories. Today we’ll be focused on historical novels and contemporary novels.
If you like Tracie Peterson (historical) you might enjoy:
Love in the Balance by Regina Jennings
Molly Lovelace dreams of being a society leader in 1878 Lockhart, Texas but being smitten with handsome wrangler Bailey Garner doesn’t seem the quickest route. If only he would settle down so he could support a family. Bailey imagines doing great things for God, but his biggest issue is Molly. He vows to earn her love one way or other and tries his hand at various trades in town. But everywhere he turns he runs into the mysterious stranger Edward Pierrepont. No surprise that Molly’s always making calf eyes at the wealthy adventurer. One large fight and some crossed wires later, Molly is ready to swear off Baily forever, especially since Pierrepont seems to be hinting at marriage. But a splashdash elopement soon proves problematic when the man turns out to be more than he appears.
Follow the Heart by Kaye Dacus
During the Industrial Revolution and the Great Exhibition of 1851, Kate and Christopher Dearing’s lives turn upside down when their father loses everything in a railroad land speculation. The siblings are shipped off to their mother’s brother in England with one edict: marry money. While Christopher has options that would enable him to lay his affections where he chooses, he cannot let the burden of their family’s finances crush his sister. Kate’s prospects brighten when a wealthy viscount shows interest in her. But is marrying for the financial security of her family the right thing to do when her heart is telling her she’s making a mistake?
Betrayal by Robin Lee Hatcher
It’s the turn of the twentieth century and drifter Hugh Brennan is a man well acquainted with betrayal. Hugh finds himself drawn to the attractive widow, Julia, yet when he looks into her eyes, he recognizes the same hurt that haunts him. Julia Grace has little reason to trust men, but she’s going to have to trust someone if she’s to keep her ranch from the clutches of her dead husband’s half-brother. Is it possible God had a hand in bringing Hugh to her door?
A Noble Groom by Jody Hedlund
Recently widowed Analisa Weiss has the feeling her husband was murdered but can’t prove it. Alone with her young daughter 1881 Michigan, she has six months left to finish raising the money needed to pay back the land contract her husband purchased. With unmarried men scarce, her father sends a letter to his brother in the Old Country, asking him to find Analisa a groom. Nobleman Karl von Reichert has espaced the hangman’s rope and flees to a small German community in Michigan where he’ll be safe. He secures a job on Analisa’s farm but bumbles through learning about farming and manual labor. Karl is gentle, kind, and romantic – unlike any man Analisa has ever known. He begins to restore her faith in the ability to love – but her true groom is on the way. And time is running out on them all.
If you like Karen Kingsbury (contemporary) then you might enjoy:
Wings of Glass by Gina Holmes
Penny Carson is swept off her feet by handsome Trent Taylor. Her prince charming offers an escape from her one-stop-sign town and she jumps at the chance. Before the ink is dry on their marriage certificate, he hits her for the first time. It isn’t the last, yet the bruises that can’t be seen are the most painful of all. After Trent is hurting in a welding accident, Penny takes a job cleaning houses. Here she meets two women from very different worlds who will teach her to live and laugh again, and lend her their backbones just long enough for her to find her own.
Wishing on Willows by Katie Ganshert
A three-year old son, a struggling cafe, and fading memories are all Robin Price has left of her husband and she’s determined to keep them alive. She’s doing just fine until savvy Ian McKay sweeps into town and flips her carefully constructed world upside down. Ian has his eye on valuable downtown riverfront property for his father’s development company. When Robin refuses to sell her cafe, his simple plans turn into an all-out battle. As attraction ignites and old wounds break open, will Ian and Robin cling to the familiar or surrender their trust to the God of second chances?
Firefly Island by Lisa Wingate
At 34, congressional staffer Mallory Hale is about to embark on an adventure completely off the map. After a whirlwind romance, sh is hopelessly in love with two men – fortunately, they’re related. Daniel Everson and his little boy, Nick, are a package deal, and Mallory suddenly can’t imagine her future without them. She couldn’t be more shocked when Daniel asks her to marry him, move to Texas, and form a family with him and motherless Nick. Despite the wild adventure of her new married life, she discovers secrets and questions beneath her rosy new life. Can she find answers on Firefly Island, a little chunk of property just off the lakeshore, where mysterious lights glisten at night?
Take a Chance on Me by Susan May Warren
Darek Christiansen is almost a dream bachelor – oldest son in the large Christiansen clain, heir to their historic Evergreen Lake Resort, and doting father. But he’s also wounded and angry since the tragic death of his wife, Felicity. Ivy Madison is the new assistant county attorney and has no idea that the plea bargain she crafted years ago set the man free who was responsible for Felicity’s death. After bidding on him at a charity auction, she gets to know Darek, and his family, and sees a life she has always longed for. Caught between new love and old grudges, Darek must decide if he can set aside the past for a future with Ivy – a future more and more at risk as an approaching wildfire threatens to wipe out the Christiansen resort and Deep Haven itself.
