The New York Times bestselling author of The Second Mrs. Astor returns with a spellbinding new book perfect for fans of HBO’s The Gilded Age and readers of Marie Benedict, Karen Harper, and Fiona Davis. This sweeping novel of historical fiction is inspired by the true rags-to-riches story of Arabella Huntington-a woman whose great beauty was surpassed only by her exceptional business acumen, grit, and artistic eye, and who defied the constraints of her era to become the wealthiest self-made woman in America.

1867, Richmond, Virginia: Though she wears the same low-cut purple gown that is the uniform of all the girls who work at Worsham’s gambling parlor, Arabella stands apart. It’s not merely her statuesque beauty and practiced charm. Even at seventeen, Arabella possesses an unyielding grit, and a resolve to escape her background of struggle and poverty.

Collis Huntington, railroad baron and self-made multimillionaire, is drawn to Arabella from their first meeting. Collis is married and thirty years her senior, yet they are well-matched in temperament, and flirtation rapidly escalates into an affair. With Collis’s help, Arabella eventually moves to New York, posing as a genteel, well-to-do Southern widow. Using Collis’s seed money and her own shrewd investing instincts, she begins to amass a fortune.

Their relationship is an open secret, and no one is surprised when Collis marries Arabella after his wife’s death. But “The Four Hundred”-the elite circle that includes the Astors and Vanderbilts-have their rules. Arabella must earn her place in Society-not just through her vast wealth, but with taste, style, and impeccable behavior. There are some who suspect the scandalous truth, and will blackmail her for it. And then there is another threat-an unexpected, impossible romance that will test her ambition, her loyalties, and her heart . . .

An American Beauty brings to vivid life the glitter and drama of a captivating chapter in history-and a remarkable woman who lived by her own rules.

“This story of one woman’s ascent offers a fascinating look at the choices she made to become a Gilded Age titan.” -Kirkus Reviews

t’s 1915, and sixteen-year-old Lora Jones is finishing up her first year as a charity student at Iverson, a prestigious, gothic boarding school on England’s southern coast. While she’s always felt different from everyone around her, now she finally knows why: She is a drakon, a rare, enchanted being with astonishing magical abilities. As war hits Britain’s shores, and Lora reels from an unimaginable loss, she finds that her powers come with grave and dangerous responsibilities. At the request of Armand Louis, the darkly mysterious boy whose father owns Iverson, Lora will spend her summer at his lavish estate. To help the war effort – and to keep Lora near – Armand turns his home into a military hospital, where Lora will serve as a nurse. For Armand is inescapably drawn to her – bound to her by heart-deep secrets and a supernatural connection that runs thicker than blood. Yet while Lora tries to sort out her own feelings toward Armand, fate offers an unexpected surprise. Lora discovers there is another drakon, a prisoner of war being held in Germany. And that only she, with her newly honed Gifts, will be able to rescue him. With Armand at her side, Lora will cross enemy lines on an incredible mission – one that could bond her to Armand forever, or irrevocably tear them apart.

A Romantic Times BOOKclub Top Pick, these three tales of undying love are set in different time periods, yet connected in the tumultuous tides around the mystical island of Kell, off the Scottish coast. In 531 A.D., Prince aedan finds himself washed ashore on the island of Kell, saved by a sensuous siren. In 1721, deadly, beautiful assassin Leila finds herself magically drawn to her next victim, Ronan MacMhuirich, Earl of Kell. In 2004, Ruri Kell agrees to sell her family island to Scottish professor Iain McInnes, but she soon discovers he’s after more than her property.

Madeleine Talmage Force is just seventeen when she attracts the attention of John Jacob “Jack” Astor. Madeleine is beautiful, intelligent, and solidly upper-class, but the Astors are in a league apart. Jack’s mother was the Mrs. Astor, American royalty and New York’s most formidable socialite. Despite their twenty-nine-year age difference and the scandal of Jack’s recent divorce, Madeleine falls headlong into love-and becomes the press’s favorite target.

On their extended honeymoon in Egypt, the newlyweds finally find a measure of peace away from photographers and journalists. Madeleine feels truly alive for the first time-and is happily pregnant. The couple plans to return home in the spring of 1912, aboard an opulent new ocean liner. When the ship hits an iceberg close to midnight on April 14th, there is no immediate panic. The swift, state-of-the-art RMS Titanic seems unsinkable. As Jack helps Madeleine into a lifeboat, he assures her that he’ll see her soon in New York . . .

Four months later, at the Astors’ Fifth Avenue mansion, a widowed Madeleine gives birth to their son. In the wake of the disaster, the press has elevated her to the status of virtuous, tragic heroine. But Madeleine’s most important decision still lies ahead: whether to accept the role assigned to her or carve out her own remarkable path . . .

Jones has always known that she’ s different. On the outside, she appears to be an ordinary sixteen-year-old girl. Yet Lora’ s been keeping a heartful of secrets: She hears songs that no one else can hear, dreams vividly of smoke and flight, and lives with a mysterious voice inside her that insists she’ s far more than what she seems. England, 1915. Raised in an orphanage in a rough corner of London, Lora quickly learns to hide her unique abilities and avoid attention. Then, much to her surprise, she is selected as the new charity student at Iverson, an elite boarding school on England’ s southern coast. Iverson’ s eerie, gothic castle is like nothing Lora has ever seen. And the two boys she meets there will open her eyes and forever change her destiny. Jesse is the school’ s groundskeeper– a beautiful boy who recognizes Lora for who and what she truly is. Armand is a darkly handsome and arrogant aristocrat who harbors a few closely guarded secrets of his own. Both hold the answers to her past. One is the key to her future. And both will aim to win her heart. As danger descends upon Iverson, Lora must harness the powers she’ s only just begun to understand, or else lose everything she dearly loves.