Recommendations based on "Only by Your Touch"

A delightfully queer Victorian love story, featuring a boldly brash trans hero, the beguiling botanist who captures his heart, and a buoyant bicycle race by the British seaside — from the author of The Duke Undone.Former painter and unreformed rake Kit Griffith is forging a new life in Cornwall, choosing freedom over an identity that didn't fit. He knew that leaving his Sisterhood of women artists might mean forfeiting artistic community forever. He didn’t realize he would lose his ability to paint altogether. Luckily, he has other talents. Why not devote himself to selling bicycles and trysting with the holidaymakers?Enter Muriel Pendrake, the feisty New-York-bound botanist who has come to St. Ives to commission Kit for illustrations of British seaweeds. Kit shouldn’t accept Muriel’s offer, but he must enlist her help to prove to an all-male cycling club that women can ride as well as men. And she won't agree unless he gives her what she wants. Maybe that's exactly the challenge he needs.As Kit and Muriel spend their days cycling together, their desire begins to burn with the heat of the summer sun. But are they pedaling toward something impossible? The past is bound to catch up to them, and at the season’s end, their paths will diverge. With only their hearts as guides, Kit and Muriel must decide if they’re willing to race into the unknown for the adventure of a lifetime.

To Arabella Tallant, the eldest daughter of a penniless country clergyman, the invitation to stay with her London godmother was like the key to heaven, for in addition to living in the glamorous city, Arabella might even find a suitable husband there. Armed with beauty, virtue and a benevolent godmother, the impetuous but impoverished Arabella embarked on her first London season with her mother's wish in mind: snare a rich husband.On her way to London Arabella's carriage breaks down outside the hunting lodge of the wealthy and socially prominent Robert Beaumaris, fate cast her in his path. Arabella's only fault is impetuosity, and her pride stung when she overhears a remark of her path of arrogant host, who accused her of being another petty female after his wealth, the proud, headstrong ingenue made a most startling claim -- she was an heiress! A pretense that deeply amuses the jaded Beau. To counter her white lie, Beaumaris launches her into high society and thereby subjects her to all kinds of amorous fortune hunters in London and other embarrassments.Suddenly Arabella found herself the talk of the ton and pursued by some of the most eligible young men of the day. But only one caught Arabella's fancy: Beaumaris, the handsome and dedicated bachelor. She should know better than to allow herself to be provoked by nonpareil Beau. But would her deceitful charade destroy her one chance for true love...?Beaumaris, however, although a most artful matrimonial dodger, badly underestimated his seemingly naive adversary... When compassionate Arabella rescues such unfortunate creatures as a mistreated chimney sweep and a mixed-breed mongrel, she foists them upon Beaumaris, who finds he rather enjoys the role of rescuer and is soon given the opportunity to prove his worth in the person of Bertram Tallant, the also impetuous young brother of Arabella....

Praised by Patricia Cornwell as “the best historical novelist of our time,” John Jakes began his bestselling career with this vibrant novel of romance and adventure. The Bastard begins the enduring eight-volume saga of the Kent family, and their participation in the events that shaped a nation… The illegitimate son of the Duke of Kentland, Phillipe Charboneau has been denied his birthright by his father’s family. So he flees to London where he learns the printing trade…but his journey truly begins when he falls under the influence of a man named Benjamin Franklin and travels to America. Changing his name to Philip Kent, he finds work at a printing house, and discovers the radical writings of Sam Adams. He has a new identity and a new passion. And soon he will become a soldier, fighting alongside the colonists in a turbulent adventure that would be called the Revolutionary War...

BERTRICE SMALL Legendary for her exotic novels of faraway places teeming with adventure and intrigue, New York Times bestselling author Bertrice Small once again pens an extraordinary tale of passion and history, sweeping readers back to fifth-century Britain and Constantinople, where battles of love and war are fought with equal skill and voracity--and victory is savored with sweetest pleasure. . . . TO LOVE AGAIN Beautiful, headstrong, and defiant, Cailin Drusus possesses the pride of her Celtic-born mother, though she has been reared amid her Roman father's wealth and privilege. When Cailin's family is destroyed and their farmland seized, she marries Wulf Ironfist, a Saxon of enormous strength and power--a gentle giant who opens the door to a world of heady sensuality. But her happiness is short-lived. For an unknown enemy drugs her as she labors in childbirth--and she awakens to find herself sold to a slave merchant and transported to Byzantium, not knowing what happened to her child. . . .

Rose Justice Is A Young Pilot With The Air Transport Auxiliary During The Second World War. On Her Way Back From A Semi-secret Flight In The Waning Days Of The War, Rose Is Captured By The Germans And Ends Up In Ravensbrück, The Notorious Nazi Women's Concentration Camp. There, She Meets An Unforgettable Group Of Women, Including A Once Glamorous And Celebrated French Detective Novelist Whose Jewish Husband And Three Young Sons Have Been Killed; A Resilient Young Girl Who Was A Human Guinea Pig For Nazi Doctors Trying To Learn How To Treat German War Wounds; And A Nachthexen, Or Night Witch, A Female Fighter Pilot And Military Ace For The Soviet Air Force. These Damaged Women Must Bond Together To Help Each Other Survive. In This Companion Volume To The Critically Acclaimed Novel Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein Continues To Explore Themes Of Friendship And Loyalty, Right And Wrong, And Unwavering Bravery In The Face Of Indescribable Evil.

She gave him her innocence . . .Lady Aline Marsden was brought up to marry a man of her own class, but from the moment she meets John McKenna, she risks everything to be with him.He gave her his heartAlthough their love is forbidden, McKenna's passion for the beautiful Aline is too compelling to deny.When their secret is discovered, their world is shattered. McKenna is forced to leave forever, unaware that the only reason Aline has given him up is to save him.Now McKenna has returned, a powerful man determined to take revenge against the woman who broke his heart. But the magic between them burns as fiercely as ever . . . and as McKenna uncovers Aline's deepest secret, together they discover a love that will defy Fate itself.

Mean Girls meets Northanger Abbey in this brand new, sapphic, rivals-to-lovers Regency Romance by USA Today bestselling author Emma R. Alban!When country-bred Catherine Pine relocates to Bath in 1817, she and her mother come face-to-face with her mother’s arch nemesis, Lady Tisend, and her daughter, the wildly popular and gorgeous Lady Rosalie. Though once her very best friend, Mrs. Pine alleges Lady Tisend ultimately did her a great injustice. Twenty-five years later, she sees the perfect opportunity for retribution:Catherine will win the favor of Lady Rosalie’s suitor, Mr. Dean. Together, Catherine and her mother will ruin the Tisends’ lives, secure Catherine a fruitful match, and launch a fully triumphant return to Bath. It’s the perfect plan for revenge. Only Catherine soon discovers that there’s more to Lady Rosalie’s mean streak than meets the eye. Lady Rosalie is by far the wittiest, cleverest, most intriguing young woman Catherine’s ever met, and she’s utterly smitten.Meanwhile, Rosalie feels trapped in her perfect life as Bath’s favorite daughter and resident mean girl. There’s no challenge anymore, no excitement, no surprise. But when she notices newcomer Catherine gunning for her spot as queen bee, Rosalie finally feels a spark again. She determines to meet Catherine’s challenge with gusto, because Catherine ignites something in her. Something Rosalie absolutely doesn’t want to extinguish.As their mothers force them into increasingly absurd contests of wit and feminine charms to win Mr. Dean’s affections, Rosalie and Catherine instead find themselves falling for each other, scheme, by barb, by catty jab…Can their sizzling rivalry really become a match to last?

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.‘Caution comes too late when we are in the midst of evils.’Set just before the Jacobite Rising in 1715, Scott drew upon the political and economic struggles leading up to the rebellion and the tumultuous history of the Highlands in his classic adventure novel Rob Roy. Despite the book’s title, Frank Osbaldistone is the protagonist, travelling through England and the Scottish Highlands to collect a debt owed to his father by his cousin Rashleigh. On his journey he comes across the mysterious and striking Rob Roy, the infamous yet hunted outlaw. A story about justice, love and the harsh realities of 18th-century Highland life, Scott’s work is still viewed as the ultimate historical adventure novel.

Gabriel Fairchild's valor during battle earns him the reputation of hero, but costs him both his sight and his hope for the future. Abandoned by the fiancée he adored, the man who once walked like a prince among London's elite secludes himself in his family's mansion, cursing his way through dark days and darker nights.Prim nurse Samantha Wickersham arrives at Fairchild Park to find her new charge behaving more like a beast than a man. Determined to do her duty, she engages the arrogant earl in a battle of both wit and wills. Although he claims she doesn't possess an ounce of womanly softness, she can feel his heart racing at her slightest touch. As Samantha begins to let the light back into Gabriel's life and his heart, they both discover that some secrets -- and some pleasures -- are best explored in the dark ...

As the heiress to a vast fortune amassed by her millionaire father, Francesca Cahill's life should be mapped out for her: find an eligible suitor, marry, and have children. But Francesca is an unconventional young lady who is not about to give up her knack for sleuthing--even though she was almost killed in her last outing...Murder strikes once again in the seamy underbelly of New York's high society, exposing scandalous secrets and unleashing an intense investigation into one of the most brutal crimes the city has ever known. Francesca must join forces with Rick Bragg, New York City's Police commissioner and the mans he cannot resist loving, as their search takes them through a twisted labyrinth of menacing lies, corruption, and a passion that refused to be denied...