"Arden Bleu has always known that her stepsister, Jade, was destined for great things. In a world where beauty follows magic, she has no doubt that their upcoming Awakening ceremony will reveal that gorgeous, kind, compelling Jade is far more than a mere mortal. But when Jade is kidnapped by a mysterious sect of mer on the eve of the newly-returned king's ball, Arden will do anything to save her sister. Even face down the man she's always dreaded meeting because of the power he holds over her family, the man to whom her father swore loyalty long before she was born. The Sea King.
Seidon, the Sea King of Daryatla, has grown only more powerful as the centuries have gone by, but lifetime after lifetime have failed to give him what he most yearns for: a family. He knows that it will take a woman of extraordinary power to match him enough to create a child, and no such woman seems to exist . . . until he feels her magic calling to his one day in the water. And when Arden Bleu, daughter of his most trusted official, arrives to tell him about her missing stepsister, he knows this Jade, with a new magic so coveted that the mer would risk war with his kingdom to steal her away, may be the one he's waited centuries for. But how can he and the determined Arden ever hope to find one young woman trapped beneath the waves?"
"In this gripping World War II historical about the power of words, two people form an unlikely friendship amid the Nazi occupation in Paris and fight to preserve the truth that enemies of freedom long to destroy.
Paris, 1940. Ever since the Nazi Party began burning books, German writers exiled for their opinions or heritage have been taking up residence in Paris. There they opened a library meant to celebrate the freedom of ideas and gathered every book on the banned list . . . and even incognito versions of the forbidden books that were smuggled back into Germany.
For the last six years, Corinne Bastien has been reading those books and making that library a second home. But when the German army takes possession of Paris, she loses access to the library and all the secrets she'd hidden there. Secrets the Allies will need if they have any hope of liberating the city she calls home.
Christian Bauer may be German, but he never wanted anything to do with the Nazi Party―he is a professor, one who's done his best to protect his family as well as the books that were a threat to Nazi ideals. But when Goebbels sends him to Paris to handle the "relocation" of France's libraries, he's forced into an army uniform and given a rank he doesn't want. In Paris, he tries to protect whoever and whatever he can from the madness of the Party and preserve the ideas that Germans will need again when that madness is over, and maybe find a lost piece of his heart.
- Stand-alone historical fiction from a bestselling, Christy Award-winning author
- A thought-provoking novel perfect for book clubs
- Includes discussion questions"
"In the trying art of balancing investigations and love, a detective must determine his priorities when faced with dangerous circumstances that could threaten everything he holds dear.
As the leader of the Imposters, an elite private investigative firm, Lord Yates Fairfax has made an art of concealing his identity. But when his newest client, the beautiful Lady Alethia Barremore, is shot while leaving their meeting, he throws caution to the wind and rushes to her aid. Though Lady Alethia thought she was only looking for her missing former nanny, she has clearly stumbled upon something much more dangerous.
Lady Lavinia Hemming suspects her longtime friends hold more secrets than they’re willing to admit, and when she stumbles upon the truth that they’re the esteemed Imposters, she recruits herself into the firm. While she is happy for the distraction of an investigation, Lavinia’s own family secrets continue to haunt her.
And the one thing bringing laughter back into her life—her friendship with Yates—lands her squarely on the disagreeable side of her best friend: his sister.
Tormented by a past she doesn’t dare voice aloud, Lady Alethia does what she can to help her handsome host, her new friends, and the investigators. But as clues lead them deeper into the dark side of society, Alethia, Yates, and Lavinia learn anew that the gentry isn’t always noble … even as they fight to hold fast to their own honor."
"The Nutcracker and Edwardian-era England combine to weave a magical tale of love and friendship at Christmastime.
As the beloved stepdaughter of the Earl of Castleton, Lady Mariah Lyons cherishes her home at Plumford Manor, but her idyllic world will be threatened when the estate passes to Cyril Lightbourne, a childhood friend she hasn’t seen or heard from in years. Once, Mariah dreamed their friendship would kindle into something more, but that was before she heard Cyril was courting the cruelhearted Lady Pearl. Now Mariah is willing to welcome him as a friend and pray he will be the heir her stepfather needs, but she’ll keep her heart locked safely away from anyone with such poor taste.
Cyril Lightbourne has long avoided returning to Plumford Manor, yet he reluctantly arrives in time for Christmas. When his friendship with Lady Mariah reignites, he finds himself caught between his affection for her and her family’s misunderstanding of his attachment to Lady Pearl. Then, more trouble arrives in the form of a Danish lord on a mission to win Mariah’s hand by Christmas. Will the magic of the holiday season help lead to the discovery of true love, or will duty to country leave all longing for what could have been?
“So many delightful layers to this tale, along with intriguing characters and beautiful descriptions. … It really puts you in the mood for Christmas.”—Melody Carlson, author of The Christmas Tree Farm and A Royal Christmas"
"In the opulent and perilous world of high society’s most elite—and most dangerous—families, two investigators must set aside their broken hearts to uncover the truth.
Gemma Parks is known to the London elite as G. M. Parker, a columnist renowned for her commentary on the cream of society. Behind the scenes, she uses her talents to aid the Imposters in their investigations by gathering intel at events and providing alibis for the firm’s
members through her columns. Yet her clandestine work would be more exhilarating if it weren’t for the constant presence of the gentleman who broke her heart.
Graham Wharton has never had eyes for anyone but Gemma, and she left his heart in tatters when she walked away from him. When the Imposters take on a new job to recover a kidnapped boy mistaken for his aristocratic cousin, Graham is determined to use the time with
Gemma to not only restore the missing boy, but to also win back the only woman he’s ever loved. As they trace the clues laid out before them, Graham and Gemma must devise a noble scheme to save the boy’s life and heal their hearts.
“A Noble Scheme is as clever as it is glamorous.”—Laura Frantz, Christy Award–winning author of The Seamstress of Acadie"
"In Edwardian London, not all that glitters is gold as a lady and an intelligence officer's secret mission takes them from the city's dazzling ballrooms to its covert intelligence offices.
Left with an estate on the brink of bankruptcy after their father's death, Lady Marigold Fairfax and her brother open a private investigation firm for the elite to spy on the elite. Dubbed the Imposters, Ltd., their anonymous group soon becomes the go-to for the crème of society
who want answers delivered surreptitiously. But the many secrets Marigold learns about her peers pale in comparison to her shock when she and her brother are hired to investigate her best friend's father as a potential traitor.
Sir Merritt Livingstone has spent a decade serving the monarch in the field, but when pneumonia lands him behind a desk in the War Office Intelligence Division just as they're creating a new secret intelligence branch, he's intent on showing his worth. He suspects an aristocrat of
leaking information to Germany as tensions mount between the two countries, but he needs someone to help him prove it, so he turns to the Imposters, Ltd. No one knows who they are, but their results are beyond compare.
Lady Marigold is determined to discover the truth for her friend's sake, and she's more determined still to keep her heart from getting involved with this enigmatic new client … who can't possibly be as noble as he seems."
"In two world wars, intelligence and counterintelligence, prejudice, and selfsacrifice collide across two generations
In 1942, Evie Farrow is used to life on Ocracoke Island, where every day is the same—until the German U-boats haunting their waters begin to wreak havoc. And when special agent Sterling Bertrand is washed ashore at Evie’s inn, her life is
turned upside down. While Sterling’s injuries keep him inn-bound for weeks, making him even more anxious about the SS officer he’s tracking, he becomes increasingly intrigued by Evie, who seems to be hiding secrets of her own.
Decades earlier, in 1914, Englishman Remington Culbreth arrives at the Ocracoke Inn for the summer, never expecting to fall in love with Louisa Adair, the innkeeper’s daughter. But when war breaks out in Europe, their relationship is put
in jeopardy and may not survive what lies ahead for them.
As the ripples from the Great War rock Evie and Sterling’s lives in World War II, it seems yesterday’s tides may sweep them all into danger again today."
"Sabina Mancari never questioned her life as the daughter of Chicago's leading mob boss until bullets tear apart her world and the man she thought she loved turns out to be an undercover Prohibition agent. Ambushes, bribes, murder, prostitution—all her life, her father sheltered her from his crimes, but now she can no longer turn away from the truth. Maybe Lorenzo, the fiancé who barely paid her any attention in the last two years, has the right idea by planning to escape their world. But can she truly turn her back on her family?
All his life, Lorenzo's family assumed he would become a priest, but he has different ideas—marrying Sabina and pursuing a career in the law. Despite his morals, he knows at the core he isn't so unlike his mafiosi father and brothers. Has he, in trying to protect Sabina, forced her into the arms of the Prohibition agent bent on tearing her family apart? How can they rebuild what has so long been neglected and do it in the shadow of the dark empire of the Mafia?
Shadowed Loyalty, set amid the glitz and scandal of the Roaring Twenties, examines what love really means and how we draw lines between family and our own convictions, especially when following one could mean losing the other."
"Zipporah is thirteen when the Spirit descends upon her, opening her eyes to a world beyond the physical goings-on of the villa outside Rome she has always called home. Within hours, she learns what serving the Lord can cost. Forever scarred after a vicious attack, she knows her call is to use this discernment to protect the Way. She knows she must serve the rest of her life at Tutelos, where the growing Roman church has congregated. She knows her lot is set.
Yet is it so wrong to wish that her master, the kind and handsome young Benjamin Visibullis, will eventually see her as something more than a sister in Christ?
Samuel Asinius, adoptive son of a wealthy Roman, has always called Benjamin brother. When their travels take them to Jerusalem for Passover, the last thing he expects is to cross paths with the woman who sold him into slavery as a child the mother he long ago purged from his heart. His sister, Dara, quickly catches Benjamin's eye, but Samuel suspects there is something dark at work.
When Dara, a fortune-teller seeking the will of a shadowy master determined to undermine the Way, comes into the path of Zipporah, a whirlwind descends upon them all."
"How can she love the king of kings without forsaking her Lord of lords?
Kasia grew up in a poor Jewish home with more siblings than luxuries. But when a chance encounter forces her to the palace of Xerxes, she becomes a concubine to the richest man in the world. She alone, of all Xerxes's wives, loves the man beneath the crown. She alone, of all his wives, holds the heart of the king of kings.
Traveling with Xerxes through Europe as he mounts a war against Greece, Kasia knows enemies surround her, but they're not the Spartans or Athenians. The threat lies with those close to the king who hate her people. She determines to put her trust in Jehovah–even if it costs her her marriage.
Years of prayers are answered when Kasia's childhood friend arrives at the palace after the war, but even as she determines to see Esther crowned in place of the bloodthirsty former queen, she knows the true battle is far from over. How far will her enemies go to see her undone?
Combining the biblical account of Esther with Herodotus's Histories, Jewel of Persia is the story of a love that nearly destroys an empire . . . and the friendship that saves a nation."
"One little drop to soil her garment. One little drop to cleanse her soul.
Abigail was born free, but when her parents die, she’s sold into slavery to the family of a Roman soldier in Jerusalem. Fortunately, the Visibullis family is kind, and as years pass, she's proud to serve them. But Abigail's beauty attracts unwanted attention when their son, Jason, returns from Rome. She doesn't dare to defy him . . . but how can she ever love him as he demands?
As Jerusalem boils with political unrest and the stories of a rabbi named Jesus who snags Jason's attention, Abigail struggles to find her new place in the family. But then tragedy strikes, and her world is shattered. Desperate for justice, Abigail attends a trial for the criminal responsible—Barabbas. She instead finds herself in the path of Jesus, condemned to die in Barabbas's place. And when a stray drop of the rabbi's blood falls upon her, she knows Jason had been right. This Man really is the Son of God.
Only in the wake of His touch can she find what her heart has always longed for. Love, in the place she least expected to find it . . . and freedom for a soul that had resigned itself to slavery."
"Cordelia Owens can weave a hopeful dream around anything and is well used to winning the hearts of everyone in Savannah with her whimsy. Even when she receives word that her sweetheart has been lost during a raid on a Yankee vessel, she clings to hope and comes up with many a romantic tale of his eventual homecoming to reassure his mother and sister.
But Phineas Dunn finds nothing redemptive in the first horrors of war. Struggling for months to make it home alive, he returns to Savannah injured and cynical, and all too sure that he is not the hero Cordelia seems determined to make him. Matters of black and white don't seem so simple anymore to Phin, and despite her best efforts, Delia's smiles can't erase all the complications in his life. And when Fort Pulaski falls and the future wavers, they both must decide where the dreams of a new America will take them, and if they will go together."
