A Lady's Desire (2018)

The madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie

Jennifer Ashley

2009 · 320 pages · 9 reviews

Others: Overwhelmingly positive

(Highland Pleasures #1) The year is 1881. Meet the Mackenzie family--rich, powerful, dangerous, eccentric. A lady couldn't be seen with them without ruin. Rumors surround them--of tragic violence, of their mistresses, of their dark appetites, of scandals that set England and Scotland abuzz. The youngest brother, Ian, known as the Mad Mackenzie, spent most of his young life in an asylum, and everyone agrees he is decidedly odd. He's also hard and handsome and has a penchant for Ming pottery and beautiful women. Beth Ackerley, widow, has recently come into a fortune. She has decided that she wants no more drama in her life. She was raised in drama--an alcoholic father who drove them into the workhouse, a frail mother she had to nurse until her death, a fussy old lady she became constant companion to. No, she wants to take her money and find peace, to travel, to learn art, to sit back and fondly remember her brief but happy marriage to her late husband. And then Ian Mackenzie decides he wants her.

Duke's Suspicion

Susanna Craig

2018 · 1 review

Others: Positive

An English war hero must unlock the secrets of an Irish beauty's heart... Named for the heather in her native Ireland, Erica Burke is an aspiring botanist whose dearest wish is to travel to far-off locales. So far, she's only made it to England's Lake District. Stranded there by a storm, she finds the last thing she's looking for—dashing English war hero Major Tristan Laurens, the Duke of Rayhnam. An unexpected heir, Tristan is torn between his duties as an intelligence officer and his responsibilities as a duke. A brief return home to set his affairs in order is extended by bad weather and worse news—someone has secret information about his latest mission. Could the culprit be his unconventional Irish guest? He needs to see her journal to be sure, and he'll do what he must to get his hands on it, even stage a wildly inappropriate courtship. Erica wants nothing to do with an English soldier, and guards her journal as closely as she guards her heart. But though she makes Tristan's task infernally difficult, falling in love with her may be all too easy.

Daphnis and Chloe

Longus

1717 · 184 pages · 8 reviews

Others: Positive

Longus's Daphnis and Chloe (second or early third century CE), in which an idealized pastoral environment provides the setting as a boy and girl discover their sexuality, is one of the great works of world literature. Xenophon's Anthia and Habrocomes (first century CE) is perhaps the earliest extant novel.

Persuasion

Jane Austen

1789 · 268 pages · 14 reviews

Others: Mostly positive

Persuasion tells the love story of Anne Elliot and Captain Frederick Wentworth, whose sister rents Miss Elliot's father's house, after the Napoleonic Wars come to an end. The story is set in 1814. The book itself is Jane Austen's last published book, published posthumously in December of 1818.

Rules for an Unmarried Lady

Wilma Counts

2020 · 229 pages · 1 review

Others: Positive

The taming of Jessi Rose

Beverly Jenkins

1999 · 378 pages · 1 review

Others: Negative

No Man Could Tame HerJessi Rose Clayton would do anything to keep the family ranch from falling into the wrong hands-even agree to take on a rough-and-tumble outlaw as her protector. With his rugged, handsome face and muscular bronze body, Griffin Blake can draw a sigh from a lady's lips almost as fast as his strong, sculpted arm can draw a gun from its holster. But Jessi Rose has no intentions of falling for his charms. No, her relationship with him is strictly business.Until He Came AlongRobbing the railroad is Griffin Blake's game, but he has no choice. Either he agrees to help Jessi Rose or he gets sent back to jail-so he arrives at the ranch ready to help the ornery female protect her land. But underneath Jessi's all-business exterior is a femininity she's kept hidden for far too long-making Griffin think it might be time to tame this wild Texas rose.