Afternoon Lovely Readers,

We don’t know about you, but we’ve reached the part of the summer where we’re getting a teensy bit tired of sitting around inside, waiting for the heat to abate. We’re ready to take matters into our own hands, but since we can’t exactly give the sun a talking-to…and since we’re getting hot just thinking about getting something set up outside…we’re going to channel all of our energy into reading books about strong women who get things done instead. We’re no strangers to living vicariously through our feisty heroines. While we’re at it, let’s make them strong women in historical settings. Heaven knows this heat will help with the ambience of life before that life-saving (and life-affirming) invention, air conditioning.

What about you? Are you going to grab any of these and while away your weekend with us? Let us know in the comments!

This one is FREE this week from 7/19 to 7/21

An expert in antiquities, Lady Alessandra della Giamatti arrives in Bath to excavate newly discovered Roman ruins-only to find herself caught in a web of evil intrigue by a blackmailer threatening to expose her scandalous past. The one man who can help her is Lord James “Black Jack” Pierson, a fellow member of the expedition and a sinfully handsome rogue whose tempting presence ignites a different sort of danger.

Amanda McCabe – One Naughty Night

A hundred years has passed since the bitter rivalry between the St. Claires and the Huntingtons began. But in London, the feud goes on…

Lily St. Claire will do anything for the family that saved her from the streets. With their support, the young widow has become the hostess of The Devil’s Fancy, London’s most exclusive gaming den. She’s determined to restore the St. Claire family fortune, lost a century before to the despised Huntington clan. But a ghost from her past may be her ultimate undoing…

Cynthia Wright – Her Secret Rogue

Dashing naturalist Anthony St. Briac sailed off on a voyage with university friend Charles Darwin to discover the wonders of the world, vanishing after a mysterious accident in the Galápagos Islands.

Radiantly independent Frederica Redfield was tempted to indulge in romance with just one man, but Anthony St. Briac has gone missing halfway across the world. When her debt-ridden father coerces her to wed an aged, wealthy baron, she plots to escape and assume a bold new identity to pursue her own scientific research.

Anna Bradley – Odd Earl Out

Juliet Templeton didn’t embark on a risky London season in search of a fairy-tale. Fluttering hearts, yearning glances and stolen kisses are for starry-eyed debutantes, not disgraced, penniless females approaching spinsterhood. But when her quest to find a dull, respectable husband leads her to grumpy, maddening, brilliant Lord Cross, her foolish heart overrules her head and insists on beating for him alone.

Amy Jarecki – Charmed by a Wily Lass

Thrust into the role of Viscount Berwick, Kenneth arrives in London to investigate the true cause of his brother’s death. As the new viscount begins to piece together the last days of his brother’s life, he doesn’t expect to be bamboozled by Lady Modesty MacGalloway.

But Modesty is tired of being underestimated. Intrigued by a chance to prove her worth, Modesty offers Kenneth an ultimatum he cannot refuse. One that unexpectedly leads down the path of danger—not only to her person, but to her heart.

Kerrigan Byrne – Dancing with Danger

Mercy Goode is only truly good at one thing: finding mischief wherever she goes. Such as getting arrested at a murder scene with Raphael Sauvageau, a brutally handsome, ruthless smuggler with a dangerous past and a dubious future.

Raphael has no time for obsession, he has an empire to run. But this clever, infuriating bluestocking—who insists she’s an amateur sleuth—keeps showing up where she doesn’t belong. And for some bloody reason they can’t seem to be in the same room without him yanking her into his arms and kissing her until they’re both breathless.

Tracy Brogan – Art of the Chase

As the second son of a wealthy financier, Chase Bostwick is only interested in work, so being tasked by his father to chaperone his wearisome mother and boisterous little sister during their Michigan summer holiday is Chase’s personal purgatory masquerading as paradise.

All Emerson McKenna wants is for her artistic talents to be noticed. As the illegitimate daughter of a renown portraitist more infamous for his romantic dalliances than for his work, she says her goal is to commission enough portraits from the resort’s wealthy patrons to finance her dreams of studying in Paris.

But Chase has his suspicions…

Ciji Ware – A Race to Splendor

In April of 1906, the ground in San Francisco shook buildings and lives from their comfortable foundations.

From the ashes of destruction, two women and a man whose fortunes came from his gambling skills find themselves pitted against each other in a ruthless competition of daring, corruption, and unimaginable splendor. Fortune and power lie before them…but only for the one who wins.

Kimberly Cates – Once Upon a Storm

Captain Simon Harcourt returns to England with one purpose: to breed rare horses, keeping his vow to his dying friend. The last person he expects to aid him is his own father, the ruthless Earl of Ravenscroft, who enacts a devil’s bargain. Ravenscroft promises to finance the stables if Simon razes Everdene, the village that ruins the earl’s view from the manor house—the site of Simon’s most horrific childhood memory. Only one person stands in Simon’s way—the resolute bluestocking determined to resurrect the conscience Simon thought died on the battlefield with his men…