Showing results by author "Sandra Sookoo" in All Categories

Mrs. Ava Southerly, apothecary assistant and widow, lives in fear. She’s become an expert at hiding to keep second-sight visions at bay. In the year 1885, such things as witches surely don’t exist anymore, regardless of her ancestry. If she doesn’t emotionally engage her heart, those otherworldly powers will stay dormant and the people she cares for won’t be hurt, but she longs for acceptance and romance.

Mr. Jasper Winslow, the once meek and mild second son of a viscount, is a chocolatier who specializes in fine French chocolates, which helped him put the pain of his lost love behind him. He’d made peace with his life… until a chance meeting with the woman he would have wed reminds him that his heart hasn’t forgotten. Strong-willed and independent, Miss Evangeline Bradenwilde wants to be seen in Victorian-era society as more than the connections she can make through marriage.

Miss Louisa Harcourt’s life isn’t exactly what she’d envisioned for herself. Widowed by the war, she returned home to protect her younger brother from domestic threats, but that put her into the soup as well. After constantly rebuffing unwanted attentions, she’s wearied of living in fear. Knowing something must be done, she hires someone who can teach her the skills she needs to defend herself - a champion in fisticuffs - but her trust in men has been dented.

In 1888 London, Miss Eleanor Redding, possessed of a beastly, grouchy attitude, works for Western Union Telegraph Company. It gives her a certain independence and a place to hide from her disappointing past in America. When she accidentally intercepts a Morse-coded message alluding to clandestine and nefarious activity, she accepts the challenge with alacrity. It will take her mind off the fact that she’s once more alone for the Christmas holidays. Why couldn’t a man look past her prickles and scars to fight for her?

The Honorable Francis Hildebrand Storme—Brand to those closest to him—didn’t come out of the Navy unscathed. Though he’s a handsome, gallant officer, the loss of an eye doesn’t exactly appeal to the ladies. Being the third son means he’s never had expectations placed upon him, so he’s played the rake to the hilt. Why the hell should he settle down or act like a proper gentlemen when there’s no need?

Recently retired from the Royal Navy, much acclaimed Captain Bartholomew Grayson has come home to London. He’s looking forward to the Christmastide season, especially now that he’s adopted his 10-year-old former cabin boy. The waif needs a family, and Bart wants to recapture the joy of his own childhood. Too bad the fly in the ointment is a strong-willed harridan with a tart mouth intent on stealing his cargo.

It’s the year 1819, and as Valentine’s Day approaches, Lady Grace Norrington is still unwed at nearly 30. Tired of the pitying glances, she means to have a husband before her upcoming birthday by hook or by crook, and she’s expected to make a good ton match. Except all her plans are thwarted by the handsome new butler and her disturbing attraction for him. Mr. Harrison Conrad’s livelihood wins him respect in whatever household he manages. What he doesn’t need is scandal in the form of an enchanting daughter of the house.

When life gives you lemons, use them for lemonade or let them sour your life. Clara Tildon, a cancer survivor, has no time for defeatism. She’s opened the Cute as a Button B & B in Bridgewater, Indiana, and along with her guinea pig, is embracing the lemonade lifestyle. It’s always how she wanted to live. Everything is perfect, except for the nagging sensation that she would still like to fall in love. Jake Yates has returned to Bridgewater, the town he grew up in, for his friend’s wedding, and he’s not happy about it.

In the hunt for relics of infinite value, perhaps the greatest treasure of all is family. Three months after the birth of his son, Miles Lawrence Hawkins, the fifth Earl of Archewyne, is attempting to acclimate to fatherhood, but he longs for adventure. Someone is masquerading as the heir to a powerful and ancient ducal title with the anonymous backing of other members of the ton, and Miles is asked to investigate. It would mean leaving his wife and child, yet he refuses to return to London without them.

Can wearing sexy stilettos win the heart of a demon, or will it cause Heaven to protest? Anne Jenkins never bought into the concept of a heaven or hell, but when she’s rescued from a runaway horse hurtling toward a steep ravine by a guy who claims he’s a demon, her freak detector goes off. When she demands proof, the leather-clad biker sets some local wildlife on fire. She starts to believe in a hurry. IRS agent Gregg Carter, bound to the Devil for all eternity for an audit gone wrong, seizes the opportunity to take possession of Anne’s soul as a way to please his boss.

It’s the year 1885, and the world has just begun giving up its ancient secrets. Miss Charlotte Blakely is a librarian in Rome. She’s researching evidence of the fabled Veil of Veronica, but her time abroad is drawing to a close. Her viscount father is dying and has called his children home, yet a chance encounter with a stranger may change her direction. Mr. Everett Desmond is the English ambassador to Rome. He’s dashing and would've been daring had he gone down a different path. When he literally crashes into a pretty lady on the street, he’s intrigued.

Caroline Montmorency, 10 years an assumed widow, is on the verge of having her sea-faring husband declared legally dead. While the country is embroiled in a maritime war with England, all she wants is to wed her longtime friend Paul Douglas and begin life anew. But those plans are broken when her husband unexpectedly returns.

Lily Henderson’s greatest passion is knowledge. Christopher Farnsworth thrives on order and decorum. But her penchant for suffragette rallies and logical reasoning soon clashes with his quiet, controlled ex-military lifestyle over a bowl of potato soup. The two agree to a wager, and matchmaking - or, rather, romance - is the intended outcome. The premise? A suitable match by Easter.

It's the year 1776, and Captain Caleb Haslet has come home to Portsmouth, Rhode Island, after two years at sea chasing pirates and keeping British ships from the fledgling American nation. He wants nothing more than to settle into domestic life and finally claim the new bride duty had forced him to leave behind. Though she now has her own life defending her property from British soldiers, as well as doing charity work which provides prisoners with basic creature comforts, Abigail Haslet is both excited and anxious that Caleb thinks to take up where they left off.

Miles Lawrence Hawkins, fifth Earl of Archewyne, is alone and the last of his line, save for a young daughter, and he’s made peace with that.... Yet unexpectedly finding an attractive female thief in his library gives him doubts. Drawn into the lady’s insane plot to retrieve various stolen mummies from around London - including the British Museum - he accompanies her merely to see what will happen next. Being captivated by her quest and intrigued by her talent for skirting the law is a much needed distraction from the stress of his own life’s misfortunes.

With only her reprobate, now-dead husband to judge by, Marjorie Attler doesn’t trust men. The crumbling manor house by the sea is a fresh start, but when a privateer appears in her bed - while she’s sleeping - he introduces her to a passion she’d only dreamed. Then he challenges her legal claim to the property and her justified distrust intensifies. Ownership of the house aside, they have bigger matters to square with.

The most powerful form of magic is free will. Averell Woode is a huntsman’s daughter, hidden away in an enchanted tree from the evils of the world. Though she’s skilled in all things forest-related, she yearns for life beyond the trees. A chance meeting with a stranger seems the perfect opportunity to stretch her wings, and she falls for the charm he wields, especially when an exciting adventure has come to her very doorstep. Devon James Quinn Lansdowne, the spare prince of Annanvale, is trying to avoid anything that smacks of palace life.

Five years of widowhood and the imminent marriage of her son as well as her daughter nearing college age have left Josephine Prescott at loose ends. When a golden-haired rogue, 13 years her junior, propositions her, she immediately dismisses him. She’s a proper Victorian lady after all, yet a lady can only protest so much.

As Finn and Jane strike up a friendship that blooms into something more, responsibility and duty constantly intrude, but each is determined to conquer the obstacles set before them. When an emotional misunderstanding threatens their romance, his depression convinces him he’s a millstone about the necks of those he cares for, and he’s determined to remove himself from life.

Evan Michael Sedgewyck, ninth Earl of Coventry, is doomed to walk the earth as a dragon-shifter, but it’s his actions that have caused his own personal hell. Beastly half aside, he’s been a widower for seven years, and the moment he decides to attend a ball and perhaps enter the Marriage Mart again, he stumbles into a woman he once thought dead - his wife. Yet the anger he carries doesn’t diminish.