Showing results by author "Jody Hedlund" in All Categories

After a bad breakup, country music star Brock McQuaid finds his ratings tanking as fans begin to question whether he’s really experienced the love he sings about so passionately. To salvage his reputation, he agrees to pretend to fall in love with supermodel Venus Vargas, because she needs his help too. Venus always thought she would marry her best friend Reed. But when he throws a surprise party celebrating his engagement to another woman, Venus finds herself scrambling to make sense of her relationship with him. To keep from being humiliated, she agrees to fake date Brock McQuaid.

Tyler McQuaid has been too busy managing his family’s luxury ranch resort to think about love. But when his dad gets sick and may not have long to live, Tyler begins to question what is truly important. He’s already failed once at love and marriage, but how can he say no to his dad’s sickbed wish that he try again?

Living in London's poorest slum, Mercy Wilkins has little hope of a better life. When she's offered an opportunity to join a bride ship sailing to British Columbia, she agrees. After witnessing so much painful heartache and loss in the slums, the bride ship is her only prospect to escape a bleak future, not only for herself but, she hopes, someday for her sister. Wealthy and titled Joseph Colville leaves home and takes to the sea - as ship's surgeon - in order to escape the pain of losing his family. When Mercy becomes his assistant, the two must fight against a forbidden love.

Priscilla White knows she'll never be a wife or mother and feels God's call to the mission field in India. Dr. Eli Ernest is back from Oregon Country only long enough to raise awareness of missions to the natives before heading out West once more. But then Priscilla and Eli both receive news from the mission board: No longer will they send unmarried men and women into the field. Left scrambling for options, the two realize the other might be the answer to their needs.

Unemployed mill worker Zoe Hart jumps at the opportunity to emigrate to British Columbia in 1863 to find a better life and be reunited with her brother, who fled from home after being accused of a crime. Pastor to miners in the mountains, Abe Merivale discovers an abandoned baby during a routine visit to Victoria and joins efforts with Zoe, one of the newly arrived bride-ship women, to care for the infant. While there, he's devastated by the news from his fiancee in England that she's marrying another man.

When Lady Olivia's castle is besieged, she and her sister are taken captive and held for ransom by her father's enemy, Lord Pitt. Loyalty to family means everything to Olivia. She'll save her sister at any cost and do whatever her father asks - even if that means obeying his order to steal a sacred relic from her captor. As Lord Pitt's commander, Sir Aldric is in charge of the beautiful but feisty new prisoner. He has his hands full attempting to keep Lady Olivia out of trouble.

After her brother's entanglement with an Irish gang threatens their family's safety, Alannah Darragh flees St. Louis and her troubled past, seeking refuge as a maid for the affluent Shanahan family. Alannah's resolve to avoid romance is tested by the undeniable attraction she feels for Kiernan Shanahan. Determined to maintain her position and the safety it provides, she vows to resist the pull of her heart despite the growing bond between them and their undeniable chemistry.

Greta Nilsson's trip west to save her ailing little sister, Astrid, could not have gone more wrong. First, bandits hold up her stagecoach, stealing all her money. Then, upon arriving in Fairplay, Colorado, she learns the man she was betrothed to as a mail-order bride has died. Homeless, penniless, and jobless, Greta and her sister are worse off than when they started.

The ultimate cure that could heal any disease? Crazy. That's exactly what research scientist Marian Creighton has always believed about her father's quest, even if it does stem from a desire to save her sister Ellen from the genetic disease that stole their mother from them. But when her father falls into a coma after drinking a vial of holy water believed to contain traces of residue from the Tree of Life, Marian must question all of her assumptions. He's left behind tantalizing clues that suggest he's crossed back in time.

After years away, Astrid Nilsson has returned home to Colorado, hoping to become Fairplay’s second doctor...and to find healing for her reoccurring consumption. Spirited and independent, Astrid doesn’t want her illness to be a burden to those she loves, so she has resisted getting serious about any man.

Wealthy Arabella Lawrence flees to British Columbia on a bride ship still wearing the scars of past mistakes. One of the few single women in the boomtown, she immediately has suitors, but she is determined not to find herself trapped again by a poor choice. Vying for her hand are two very different men. Lieutenant Richard Drummond is a gentleman in the Navy and is held in high esteem. Peter Kelly is the town's baker and has worked hard to build a thriving business.

Heiress to a vast fortune, Victoria Cole has everything she wants, including the perfect fiancé. Having left two other men at the altar, Victoria is sure that now she's found her true love and will finally live happily ever after. As her wedding draws near, however, Victoria's life is threatened. To keep her safe, Victoria's father hires a bodyguard. Tom Cushman's number one priority is protecting his clients, which means no personal entanglements. But he's never guarded someone as beautiful and winsome as Victoria.

After her annulment is finalized, Enya Shanahan finds herself caught in a web of scandal and obligation while carrying a secret that threatens to shatter her family's reputation. Determined to find a suitable marriage for Enya, her father turns to a wily matchmaker to save them from their circumstances.

Abbie Watson is content to spend her days clamming, crabbing, and tending Rose Island Lighthouse. Her grandpa is the head light keeper, but his senility may lead to their eviction. Since leaving the island would kill her beloved Gramps, Abbie will do anything to keep him in the one place he knows and loves. Wealthy Nathaniel Winthrop III's wild living has gained him a reputation as the bad boy among the elite social circles of Newport.

Charity Courtney is at her wit’s end trying to save her boardinghouse from a bank foreclosure. Short of money but not short of marriage proposals, she dreads putting aside her fairy tale dreams of love and having to settle for a marriage of convenience. But with the need to provide for her two younger sisters, she doesn’t have any other options.

When a financial crisis in 1850s New York leaves three orphaned sisters nearly destitute, the oldest, Elise Neumann, knows she must take action. She's had experience as a seamstress, and the New York Children's Aid Society has established a special service: placing out seamstresses and trade girls. Even though Elise doesn't want to leave her sisters for a job in Illinois, she realizes this may be their last chance.

Now remembered as the author of the world's most famous hymn, in the mid-18th century, as England and France stand on the brink of war, John Newton was a young sailor wandering aimlessly through life. His only duty was to report to his ship and avoid disgracing his father - until the night he heard Polly Catlett's enchanting voice caroling. He was immediately smitten and determined to win her affection.

As a private investigator, Sybil Huxham has seen her fair share of strange occurrences. But nothing in her career has been more perplexing than the miracles she’s witnessed as a result of people drinking ancient holy water. When she discovers more of the rare holy water, she experiences strange overlaps with a nobleman in the Middle Ages who is languishing in a dungeon, accused of treason and condemned to die. To save his life, she finally crosses to the past completely.

She was a nun of noble birth. He was a heretic, a reformer, and an outlaw of the Holy Roman Empire. In the 16th century, nun Katharina von Bora's fate fell no further than the Abbey. Until she read the writings of Martin Luther. His sweeping Catholic church reformation - condemning a cloistered life and promoting the goodness of marriage - awakened her desire for everything she'd been forbidden. Including Martin Luther himself.

Tessa Taylor arrives in 1870s Upper Peninsula, Michigan, planning to serve as a new teacher to the town. Much to her dismay, however, she immediately learns that there was a mistake, that the town had requested a male teacher. Percival Updegraff, superintendent and chief mine clerk, says she can stay through winter since they won't be able to locate a new teacher before then, and Tessa can't help but say she is in his debt. Little does she know that Percival will indeed keep track of all that she owes him.