Showing results by publisher "Holly Bush Books" in All Categories

1887. Debutante Julia Crawford endures a lifetime of subtle ridicule as the plump, silly daughter of a premiere Boston family. Julia strikes out on her own to gain independence, traveling to the Midwest to marry an aging shopkeeper and care for his mother. Julia finds her new home rough and uncivilized after the sophistication of a big city, while closely held secrets threaten to ruin Julia's one chance at love.

Max Shelby made his fortune in oil wells and cattle but lost the love of his life the day his wife died, over 10 years ago. Now, his happy, carefree, little girl needs instruction and guidance as she grows into a young lady and his dream of becoming a senator from his adopted state of Texas seems out of reach with few political or social connections. The right wife would solve both problems.

Phillip Brown wakes up one bitter November morning to find a woman near frozen on the stoop of the Baltimore home he shares with his sister and uncle. The unconscious woman eventually awakens, unwilling to share who has terrified her while she makes a recovery in the Brown home. He continues his work at the Wiest Oyster Cannery and pouring beer on occasion at his neighborhood brewery while guarding his family from dangerous criminals’ intent of silencing his discoveries about the woman.

1842. Eleanor McManus, upright daughter of a minister, is rescued from kidnappers by a rough-and-tumble fur trader Beauregard Gentry in the wilderness of northern Virginia. With Beauregard’s help, Eleanor makes her way back to her intended groom, who declares her soiled, and she finds herself alone, pressured to make life decisions without benefit of family or others she can trust.

Southern lawyer and Civil War veteran, Reed Jackson, returns to his family's plantation in a wheelchair. His father deems him unfit, and deeds the Jackson holdings, including his intended bride, to a younger brother. Angry and bitter, Reed moves west to Fenton, Missouri, home to a cousin with a successful business, intending to start over. Belle Richards, a dirt poor farm girl aching to learn how to read, cleans, cooks, and holds together her family's meager property.

1869 Bareknuckle champion, James Thompson, is confident his future continues with beautiful women and victories in the boxing ring. Men admire his skills, power, and quick fists, and are more than willing to bet their hard-earned coins on his name. Women admire his handsome face, his undaunted confidence, and his powerful body.

1891... Spinster librarian Olive Wilkins is shocked to learn of her brother's violent death at a saloon gaming table and her sister-in-law's subsequent murder, traveling far from her staid life to rescue her niece and nephew, now orphans. She arrives to find the circumstances of her brother's life deplorable and her long held beliefs of family and tradition, shaken.

Phillip Brown and Timothy Sweitzinger became best friends as boys, went off to war together, and remained steadfast as men to guard each other’s backs from all threats. When Timothy is found in bed with a dead woman, covered in her blood and with no memory of what happened, Phillip vows to uncover what really happened. Phillip’s investigation takes him all over the city of Baltimore, from the lowest of its citizens to the highest, and even to those who were thought to be above suspicion.

1868. Elspeth Thompson is the middle daughter in a family with tightly held secrets. While she loves her family, she longs to break out from their overprotective hold, to find herself, to be noticed for who she is rather than as chaperone to her beautiful younger sister, Kirsty, or underling to her elder sister, Muireall. A chance meeting under scandalous circumstances offers her the opportunity to be seen for herself, but the repercussions could lead to the downfall of her family.

Born to privilege and duty, Olivia Gentry comes of age as women begin to find their social and political independence. The youngest child, and only daughter, of a successful Virginia family, she has been raised and educated to carry on the family horse breeding business with her brothers. Having been deceived in love as a young woman and unsure of her instincts, she is wary to commit to marriage, but she cannot deny her long-buried feelings for a family friend.

It is 1869. Matthew Gentry joined the Confederate Army at 18 years of age after an argument with his father, leaving Paradise, his Virginia home and famed horse breeding stables, for the fields of Gettysburg. Having survived the War Between the States, Gentry is haunted by the violence and inhumanity of the war. He continues to roam the country long after the conflict is over, finding solace in the arms of soiled doves and at the bottom of whiskey bottles. Finally traveling home after learning of a family tragedy, he nearly loses his life in a spring flooded riverbed.

1893. Jennifer Crawford, the peacekeeper in a well-to-do Boston family rife with anger, deceit, and even treachery, was born to solve mathematical mysteries at a time when women are only beginning to venture from home and into the world of commerce and politics. Beautiful and shy, she struggles to find the courage to face a scheming mother and guide a father denying their familial dysfunction, hesitant to traverse the volatile economics banks are facing at the turn of the 20th century.

Divorcee Glenda Nelson poured herself a cup of coffee, sat down at her kitchen table, and opened up the morning paper. That's when she found out her hand-picked Congressional candidate was caught climbing out of the window of the Sleepytown Motel. With her job as a political strategist on the line, she must put together a damage control plan, and do it fast. After a multi-year hiatus, Glenda's love life is finally on the rebound when she meets handsome Christopher Goodwich.

Meet the Thompsons of Locust Street, an unconventional family taking Philadelphia high society by storm…1870 Kirsty Thompson is determined to begin her own business bringing beloved Scottish fabrics and yarns to Philadelphia but first she must meet the men and women who weave the plaids and spin the wool. How will she ever escape her protective older siblings and sail to Scotland?

Phillip Brown’s sister discovers a dead man, shot in the back, behind the dress shop she where she’s employed. Sarah Brown begs her brother to find out who has shot the man as the shop owner is fearful and harassed, caught up in the dead man’s crimes. The investigation leads Brown to danger from a notorious dockside fence. While uncovering the murder, his supervisor demands he investigate thefts at his home, the man convinced his servants are thieves. Brown uncovers the true culprit with the help of the daughter of the owner of the Wiest Cannery.

Payden Thompson’s pursuit of the man threatening his family and his clan proves to be far from a straightforward confrontation. His hunt to kill the illegitimate relative and the man’s followers is brutal and he is imprisoned and beaten after daring a rescue attempt goes awry. Overwhelmed by the violence and loss in Scotland, Payden finds himself unable to shed his fears and trauma after his heroic return to America.

1870 ~ Muireall Thompson has taken her duties seriously since her parents died on the family’s crossing from Scotland to America in 1854. As the eldest sibling, their death made her responsible for her family and left little time for a life of her own. But now her brothers and sisters are adults; even the youngest is nearly ready to face the world on his own. What will she do when she is alone, other than care for an elderly aunt and volunteer at the Sisters of Charity orphanage? Has the chance for a husband and children of her own passed her by?