❝ i'm not like them but i can pretend ❞ [dallas winston x oc] creds to @alicnstae for cover templates

Shakespeare's Sonnets is the title of a collection of 154 sonnets by William Shakespeare, which covers themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty and mortality. The first 126 sonnets are addressed to a young man; the last 28 to a woman. The sonnets are almost all constructed from three quatrains, which are four-line stanzas, and a final couplet composed in iambic pentameter. This is also the meter used extensively in Shakespeare's plays. The rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg. Sonnets using this scheme are known as Shakespearean sonnets. Often, the beginning of the third quatrain marks the volta ("turn"), or the line in which the mood of the poem shifts, and the poet expresses a revelation or epiphany.

The setting is New Zealand in the 1860s, when gold miners poured into the fledgling settlement of Dunedin. Rose is unhappy in the household of her fanatical uncle, but Thomas, a young merchant from Canada, offers a glimpse of another possible life, if she is brave enough to reach for it. (Short story)

Captain Alex Woodward was fighting Napoleonic troops on the Peninsula, until his wounds forced him to retire. Now he travels to an estate of his former comrade, killed by the enemies, to fulfill his promise and help the slain officer's sisters any way he could. The estate is entailed, but the eldest sister Rebecca comes up with an ingenious solution to their problem. Although Rebecca's idea is highly irregular and somewhat illegal, Alex's promise wouldn't let him to back off. It could've been easy, if their mutual attraction didn't complicate matters. And then, Rebecca's brother's secret past comes to light, and a worse entanglement ensues.

This novella is the first story in my series The Golden Redepennings. Lieutenant Rick Redepenning has been saving his admiral's intrepid daughter from danger since their formative years, but today, he faces the gravest of threats-the damage she might do to his heart. How can he convince her to see him as a suitor, not just a childhood friend? Travelling with her father's fleet has left Mary Pritchard ill-prepared for London Society, and prey to the machinations of false friends. When she strikes out on her own to find a more suitable locale to take up her solitary spinsterhood, she finds adventure, trouble, and her girlhood hero, riding once more to her rescue.

Rupert has been imprisoned by his wicked sister, and compelled to wed. His new wife, Madeline, has likewise been threatened into saying her vows. Forced into marriage, they find love, but can they find freedom before it is too late? The Prisoners of Wyvern Castle is a prequel to Embracing Prudence, due for publication in 2016.

In this story from the (as yet unpublished) collection Lost in the Tale, Janet spends a promised Season in London, with her English father. Will she meet the English tourist who wed her than left her? Not if she can avoid it, though she may need to find him if only to finalise a divorce. The Earl of Medford thinks the Scots girl with whom he had a brief affair in the Highlands must have bewitched him, for he cannot forget her. But his agents say no one of that name exists. And his sister insists he must put the interlude behind him and choose a bride. Can they resolve their differences? And will a child, a cat, a meddling sister and a jealous stepmother help or hinder?

Felix returns home in disguise after thirteen years away from home. He plans to catch a smuggler, then take up his viscountcy. He does not expect the smuggler to be Joselyn, his childhood sweetheart. (Short story) This story was written as a party prize. The winner could choose three things to include in the story (characters, animals, or objects), and a story trope --- a situation or plot line. I had great fun writing my tale of a lady smuggler, the man sent to bring her to justice, and a loud pet raven. The story trope was that the smuggling was to help the people in her neglected village. I hope you enjoy it. This story and three others are published in Hand-Turned Tales, which is available at most eretailers.

[A Victorian romance continuing family stories begun in the various Regency books of Jude Knight and Mariana Gabrielle.] David "Toad" Northope, heir to the Duke of Wellbridge and rogue in the mold of his infamous father, knows Lady Sarah "Sal" Grenford, daughter of the once-profligate Duke of Haverford, will always hold his heart. But when the two teens are caught in bed together by their horrified parents, he is sent away to finish school on the Continent, and she is thrown into the depths of her first London Season. Can two reformed rakes keep their children from making the same mistakes they did? The dukes decide keeping them apart will do the trick, so as the children reach their majority, Toad is put to work at sea, learning to manage his mother's shipping concern, and Sal is taken to the other side of the world, as far from him as possible. How will Toad and Sal's love withstand long years of separation, not to mention nasty lies, vicious rumors, attractive other suitors, and well-meaning parents who threaten to destroy their future before it has begun?

2019 WATTY WINNER FOR HISTORICAL FICTION. Charity loves Ian. Ian thinks Charity is an incorrigible flirt and he is certainly not tempted. Not one bit! Or at least that's what he tells himself... Bright, optimistic, and a bit naïve, Charity Crewe has always been in love with Ian Douglass. And it would certainly help if he loved her back... just a little bit! Though Ian was raised on the estate and generously given lessons with the Crewe siblings, no one, especially Ian, has ever forgotten he is the housekeeper's son. Charity might not care what anyone thinks of her, but Ian certainly does, so he is determined to protect her reputation as well as his own. He's worked too hard to secure his position to risk his livelihood, not to mention his mother's. He has discouraged her affections at every turn... with only a few moments of weakness. However, while Charity is away gaining some polish, circumstances drastically change and Charity must decide if she is willing to risk everything, even complete and utter ruin, in pursuit of the man she loves. Authors notes: This is Book One of The Crewe Legacy, a four-book series in progress, involving the Crewe siblings and other characters you'll meet along the way. I hope you enjoy Ian and Charity's story and that everyone else intrigues you! CONTENT WARNING: this story contains some mature sexual content, descriptions of spousal abuse, child abuse, murder, and suicide.