victorian
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Legacy of Darkness by Jane Godman
It is 1837 and the young Queen Victoria has just ascended the English throne.
Orphaned and penniless after her father’s death in India, Lucy Alleyne is forced to accept a post as companion to an elderly lady until a distant relative spirits her away to Castle Athal on the Cornish coast. But Lucy’s initial gratitude at Lady Demelza Jago’s benevolence soon gives way to unease.
The ancient Cornish castle, known locally as Tenebris, is a dark monument to the family’s history and secrets. Within its embrace Lucy is drawn into friendship with Tynan Jago. The young Earl of Athal is handsome and poetic yet tortured, like his father before him. Tynan is utterly different from his uncle, Uther, whose seductive, leonine power radiates from his every word and gesture.
Between them the two Jago men have innocent Lucy enthralled—mind, body and soul. If she remains within the bloodstained castle walls, with their history of ill-starred passion and madness, a mere broken heart will seem a blessing.
Echoes in the Darkness by Jane Godman
In the artistic circles of 1860s Paris she is known as the Divine Dita, Montmartre’s most sought-after nude model. But now she’s not so much striking a pose as playing a role, as fiancée to the next Earl of Athal. The charade is a favor to Dita’s best friend, Eddie Jago, a dissolute painter, and the aforementioned heir. As deceptions go, it is innocent compared with what is to come.
On the grim Cornish coast, from the ashes of a ruined castle rises the Jagos’ sumptuous new manor house. The fresh-hewn stone, however, cannot absorb the blood of centuries or quiet the echoes of past crimes. Dita struggles to decipher the Jago family. There is Tynan, the kindly Earl, Lucia, his capable wife, handsome, volatile Eddie and sweet, sheltered sister Eleanor. Then there is Cad, the handsome second son whose reputation is impeccable in business, but scandalous in everything else.
Drawn by friendship, ensnared by lust, Dita uncovers a sordid tangle of murder, desire and madness. It will lay her bare as no portraitist has done before.
The Frost of Springtime by Rachel L. Demeter
To rescue her was to rescue his own soul.
On a cold Parisian night, Vicomte Aleksender de Lefèvre forges an everlasting bond with a broken girl during her darkest hour, saving her from a life of abuse and misery. Tormented by his own demons, he finds his first bit of solace in sheltering little Sofia Rose.
But when Aleksender is drawn away by the Franco-Prussian war, the seasons pass. And in that long year, his Sofia matures into a stunning young woman—a dancer with an understanding of devotion and redemption far surpassing her age.
Alongside his closest friend, Aleksender returns home to find that “home” is gone, replaced by revolution, bloodshed, betrayal—and a love always out of reach. Scarred both inside and out, he’s thrust into a world of sensuality and violence—a world in which all his hours have now grown dark, and where only Sofia might bring an end to the winter in his heart.
Inspired by the 1871 Paris Commune, The Frost of Springtime is a poignant tale of revolution, redemption, and the healing power of love.
A Dark Heart by Margaret Foxe
A Dark Heart
Book Two in The Elders and Welders Chronicles
London, 1897: Lady Christiana Harker once committed a grave sin against her kind when she saved Inspector Elijah Drexler’s life by turning him into a vampire.
Christiana’s bold act has only driven Elijah deeper into an impenetrable darkness, fueled by morphine, nightmares, and a constant thirst for blood. Elijah has no room left in his heart for anything but his quest for vengeance against his childhood tormentor, a quest that he fully expects to end with his own death.
But when the mysterious Duke of Brightlingsea requests Elijah’s help in locating a doomsday device that could level half of London, Elijah’s personal vendetta becomes entangled with a secret war being waged among the immortal Elders.
Just when Christiana finally accepts that her long-held love for the Inspector will forever be unrequited, however, a catastrophe brings them together, forcing Elijah to finally confront his feelings for Christiana.
But will Christiana’s love be strong enough to weather the terrible truths buried deep in Elijah’s past? And will Elijah find the strength of will to finally cast off his demons and let love into his dark heart?
This Victorian steampunk romance is recommended for adult audiences.
Of Moths and Butterflies by V.R. Christensen
Archer Hamilton is a collector of rare and beautiful insects. Gina Shaw is a servant in his house. Out of place in so low a position, she becomes a source of fascination. A girl with a blighted past, Gina has lowered herself in order to find escape from her family and their scheming designs. All she wants is the freedom to live her life as she would wish. All her aunts want is the money she has inherited. An arranged marriage might turn out profitable for more parties than one. Mr. Hamilton is about to make the acquisition of a lifetime. But will the price be worth it?
Old Sins, Long Shadows by B.D.Hawkey
In 1868 a young woman starts a journey of self discovery and love. Yet there are those who wish her harm. Old sins cast long shadows which risk destroying her, the people she cares about and her capacity to love again.
Abandoned by her father and rejected by her mother, financial difficulties and a desire to win back her mother’s love forces Janey to enter service where she quickly rises through the ranks. Upon her arrival to the elegant Cornish Country Estate, she successfully secures a position of a lady’s maid for the wealthy and powerful Brockenshaw family. An exchange of letters between Lady Brockenshaw and her son ignites Janey’s interest, but Janey’s feelings for this mysterious and charming gentleman soon change her life forever.
Old Sins, Long Shadows is a Cornish Victorian romance set against the backdrop of the magnificent Bosvenna Estate and the sweeping dramatic hills of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. Janey Carhart’s story is a tale of obsession, jealousy and love.
The Price of Hannah Blake by Walter Donway
THE PRICE OF HANNAH BLAKE is in the tantalizing tradition of the Victorian underground erotic novel, but with the pace and suspense of a contemporary thriller, as Hannah Blake fights for survival in Victorian England’s bizarre “Duke’s Troupe” of dancers and actors.
You fall in love with Hannah’s beauty, her courage in the face of unimaginable abuse, and her determination to assert her own awakening passion—and love—in the duke’s prison of luxury and license.
You are swept along as the unspoiled farm girl from Devon is torn from her family, stripped and appraised by her ruthless instructors, forcibly “initiated” into the cruel erotic games of the young men and women of the troupe—and fights to survive and preserve her deepest values. It is romantic suspense that seizes you and draws you forward ever faster as Hannah falls in love with the man who will risk everything to save her from enslavement to the duke and his consorts–a fate no one ever has escaped.
Here is a bitter and beautiful recreation of the Age of Victoria, a period that has become synonymous with modesty and sexual repression, but which concealed a frenzy of secret lust, twisted sexuality, and cruelty.
Striding through these pages, as the peril of young Hannah Blake and her daring lover mounts, are historic figures such as the great reformer Prime Minister William Gladstone, his First Lord of the Admiralty, Sherlock Holmes and the malevolent Professor Moriarty–and the prostitutes, sailors, lords and ladies, courtiers, and often desperately poor English country folk who gave the age its color and character.
Bringing them all together is the unbreakable spirit of Hannah, a prisoner of corruption and lust who awakens to a yearning passion—and love—few in the repressed and rigid age of Victoria could imagine.
Four Fantasies by Anna Kinlan
Four steamy fantasies in four historical settings:
Led Astray
Anselm is a young novice at Worston Abbey. If he is to become a monk, he must maintain his vows. He follows the Vow of Obedience when Brother Cedric sends him to the luscious local herbalist, Ysabel, but once there he find his commitment to the Vow of Chastity is severely tested.
Petals and Pistons
Now that her husband Edgar is dead, Mrs. Adelaide Portsmythe is on a mission. She will travel up the Amazon in search of the fabled orchid, Queen of the Night. Like all good Victorian ladies, Mrs. Portsmythe is sensible, demure and modest. Until she meets the devilishly wicked Captain Rodriguez, that is. By the end of the voyage Adelaide has discovered that seeking pleasure is a goal in its own right.
Perfect Skin
A gang of marauders raid the town of Elleshire on market day. Aisla runs for her life but is abducted and trapped in a cave with the brigand’s anonymous leader. She wakes up blindfolded and naked on furs in front of the firelight. The brigand proceeds to use her perfect skin in very creative ways – and not at all how Aisla expects. Just who is this unusual man?
A Gifted Physician
What ails the lovely Lady Mary? She has taken to her bed and lies about in the ornate four-poster, complaining of fever and weakness. She insists that only the handsome physician, Edmund, can cure her. And there is only one cure she seeks. Edmund tries to resist, but the Lady is most persistent.
Avalon Revisited by O. M. Grey
Arthur Tudor has made his existence as a vampire bearable for over three hundred years by immersing himself in blood and debauchery. Aboard an airship gala, he meets Avalon, an aspiring vampire slayer who sparks fire into Arthur’s shriveled heart. Together they try to solve the mystery of several horrendous murders on the dark streets of London. Cultures clash and pressures rise in this sexy Steampunk Romance.
