Books like 'Unwise Promises'
Readers who enjoyed Unwise Promises by Grace Thompson also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical romance family epic
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The Velvet Ribbon by Nadine Dorries
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn this wonderful third Tarabeg novel, Mary Kate Malone finds that a secret life in the shadows with her great love, Dr Nicholas, brings heartache and sorrows. When disaster strikes unexpectedly, she turns to the only people she can trust, in the only place she feels safe – her Irish family and friends in the west coast village of Tarabeg. But back in Ireland, everything has changed... -
The Slum Angel by AnneMarie Brear
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsPerfect for the fans of Anna Jacobs and Dilly Court. Orphan, Victoria Carlton is brought up by her uncle, a banker, to be a lady and make a good marriage. Yet, she is drawn to help the poor families in the slums, much to her family’s disgust. When her uncle dies suddenly, her cousins blame Victoria, and she is thrown out of the house with nothing... -
Hallam Square by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn this saga set in 19th-century Lancashire and featuring the Gibson family, Annie is now happily married to mill-owner Frederick Hallam, but a threat from the past emerges to cause her anxiety... -
The Gracelin O'Malley Trilogy: Gracelin O'Malley, Leaving Ireland, and 'Til Morning Light by Ann Moore
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThis “elegantly written” trilogy follows an unforgettable Irish heroine from the potato famine through immigrating to America (Eileen Goudge)... -
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A Rose Among Thorns by Rosie Goodwin
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsDespite losing her mother at a young age, Sassy has grown up surrounded by love: although poor, she is happy. So Sassy is devastated when her father marries wealthy widow Elizabeth Bonner. Social climber Elizabeth despairs of a step-daughter who is more at ease with servants than those above stairs, and is jealous of Sassy's growing beauty which threatens to outshine her own daughter... -
Threepenny Dreams by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsRecently widowed, Hannah Firth is still young - young enough to dream of a new life. When her spiteful daughter-in-law uses her as an unpaid servant, Hannah tries to leave, but she is unaware of the depths that Patty's spite will lead her to... -
The Children Of Lovely Lane by Nadine Dorries
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe second book in the Lovely Lane series from Nadine Dorries. Lily hates the sound of children playing - the ceaseless shouting and laughter and kicking of balls to and fro in the street outside the rough Liverpool tenement where she lives... -
Fires of Change by Sarah Lark, Kate Northrop
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSarah Lark, author of The Fire Blossom, continues her epic family saga as a defiant new generation of women comes of age amid social unrest and precarious love in colonial New Zealand.It’s 1863, nearly twenty years since Ida Lange came to New Zealand to change her life and realize a dream... -
The Nightingale Sisters by Donna Douglas
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsTo the student nurses at The Nightingale hospital, the ward sisters are heartless and frightening, with impossibly high standards. But the sisters have troubles of their own...VioletThe new night sister is not all that she seems. Who is she and what dark secret is she hiding? As the mystery deepens, Sister Wren is determined to find out the truth... -
Destiny's Path by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThree Blake sisters remain in the Swan River Colony in 1866 and two are quite happy to forge new lives for themselves there.The third, Xanthe, yearns to see the world. But even if she could afford to travel, could she persuade her beloved twin to let her go? Maia has fallen in love with their employer, and would surely be happiest staying behind with him... -
Ridge Hill by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThis 3rd book in the Gibson saga is set in a Lancashire mill town in the 1850s. Annie Gibson gets married to wealthy mill owner, Frederick Hallam. But several people from her past resent her good fortune, and will stop at nothing to get revenge... -
High Street by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn 1845 Annie Gibson can finally leave Salem Street. Her dreams of being able to open an elegant dressmaking salon in the High Street of Bilsden, a Lancashire mill town, have come true. And she is going to take her father and his second family with her, away from poverty, away from the Rows. But Annie has not left trouble behind. Someone is trying to undermine her business... -
A Daughter's Journey: Birch End Series Book 1 by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJo Melling has arrived in Birch End from Australia, still grieving her father's recent death. She's not intending to stay long, but after tracking down her distant family, Jo becomes more involved in village life than she could ever have imagined - and suddenly in danger too.Jo also finds herself drawn to Nick, a handsome newcomer to the village... -
The Trader's Reward by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratings1871. When Fergus Deagan's wife dies in childbirth, she makes him promise to take their family from Ireland to Western Australia to join his brother Bram, and also to marry again to make sure their children don't miss out on a mother's love. Disowned by her father for becoming pregnant, Cara Payton bears a stillborn baby... -
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The Orphans of Ardwick by Emma Hornby
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAfter a cold, hard winter on the streets, three orphan children are about to give up hope when an unexpected turn of events brings them to the doorstep of a grand house in Ardwick, Manchester. Taken in by the firm but kind-hearted cook, the young friends can hardly believe their luck... -
The Color of a Christmas Miracle: A Standalone Holiday Novel by Julianne MacLean
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom USA Today bestselling author Julianne MacLean comes a special holiday novel in her popular Color of Heaven Series, where people are affected by real life magic and miracles that change everything they once believed about life and love... -
Far From Home by Lyn Andrews
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAs daughter of the blacksmith in her tiny Irish village, sixteen-year-old Kitty Doyle knows little of the ways of the world, but she has to grow up fast when her widowed father re-marries and she has no choice but to leave the family home.Luckily there's work to be found over the water in 1920s Liverpool and soon Kitty has a job in a grocer's, where she also catches the eye of the owner... -
The Girls of Mulberry Lane by Rosie Clarke
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsLove, marriage, birth, death and betrayal make up life in Mulberry Lane, perfect for fans of Nadine Dorries and Cathy Sharp. Maureen Jackson is a prisoner of her father's blackmail. Three years ago, she'd been hoping to marry Rory, the man of her dreams. However after her mother's death Maureen was left to care and work for the overbearing father who claimed he couldn't manage without her... -
Love's Sweet Revenge by Rosanne Bittner
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTheir Passion Shaped a Nation Over the years, Jake and Miranda Harkner have endured all the dangers a wild and brutal West could throw at them. Now, settled on their ranch in the beautiful Colorado hill country, they've finally found peace... -
The Memory Tree by Linda Gillard
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsCan the power of love overcome life’s darkest memories and deepest losses? When her favourite beech tree is felled in a storm, Ann feels as if someone has died. But when long-hidden seed packets are found inside the trunk, Ann realises there are more memories than her own lurking within the ancient tree . . -
The Shop Girls of Harpers by Rosie Clarke
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratings1911 – The beginning of a brand new series for No1 bestselling author Rosie Clarke, Welcome to Harpers of Oxford Street. When Sally, Beth, Margaret and Rachel meet at a job interview for the wonderful new store in Oxford Street they have no idea they will become lifelong friends.When all four girls are lucky enough to be selected as sales staff their exciting new adventure begins... -
Bitter Winds by Kay Bratt
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe third book of the Tales of the Scavenger’s Daughters series, Bitter Winds continues the saga of Chinese couple Benfu and Calli, and the abandoned young women in their care.Since the night her sister was almost burned alive in a fire and they were taken from their mother, Ivy has been the self-appointed guardian and guide to her blind twin, Lily... -
The Fire Blossom by Sarah Lark
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe bestselling author of the Sea of Freedom Trilogy returns with a sweeping family saga of two women in nineteenth-century New Zealand and their epic journey to survive in a world of their own making. It’s 1837, and immigrating to a small New Zealand fishing village is an opportunity for Ida Lange’s family to build a better future... -
Our Polly by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLittle Billy is the light of Polly's life -- it's for her son's sake that she puts up with an unkind mother-in-law and an isolated farm. Then Billy is knocked down by a car, his father killed attempting to save his life, and Polly, cast off by her husband's family, is left with a child who may never walk or talk again... -
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Our Eva by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsShe thought she could trust him . . . Eva Kershaw thought she would never marry, and is happy living a quiet life with her dear friend Alice. But Alice is ill, and her nephew, Gus, has thrust himself into their household. Alice's dearest wish is that Eva should not make the same mistakes she did, and she alters her will so that Eva and Gus are strongly compelled to marry... -
Heart of the Town by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsDora Preston has guts but it will take more than that for her to break free from Hedderby and make a life for herself on the stage. Then she meets Gideon - and pursuing her ambitions becomes even harder. Gideon has returned from the fighting in India only to discover that an impostor has stolen his inheritance. He has vowed he will claim his birthright but his enemies are ruthless and desperate... -
A Valley Secret by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe second book in the brand new Backshaw Moss series from million-copy bestseller Anna JacobsLancashire, 1930s. When her mother dies, leaving her an old sewing box and a clue to her father's identity, 22-year-old Maisie Bassett is determined to make a fresh start.Changing her name and moving to the small town of Rivenshaw, she finds a respectable job in a grocery store... -
A Mother's Choice by Val Wood
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFor ten years, Delia has had to fend for herself and her son Jack, and as a young unmarried mother, life has never been easy. Every new coat and pair of shoes was bought with what little money she could scrape together as a singer on the stage... -
Yew Tree Gardens: The touching conclusion to the Wiltshire Girls series by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSisters Mattie, Nell and Renie have all managed to escape from their oppressive and bullying father, but are now separated. They must draw upon their strength and courage to build new lives for themselves. Renie, the youngest sister, is living with the newly married Nell. Renie is happy in her waitressing job at the local Rathleigh hotel... -
Catrina's Return by AnneMarie Brear
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe Scottish Highlands, 1899. A life altering event led Catrina Davies to hide from her family and society. Alone in The Highlands she exists in a lonely world cared for only by her savior, a kind old gentleman. When she receives a surprise visitor, Travis Millard, the man she used to love, her head and heart are thrown into turmoil... -
The River Maid by Dilly Court
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe first in a stunning new series from Sunday Times bestseller, Dilly Court London, 1854: twenty-year-old Essie Chapman lives with her father in poverty stricken Limehouse, working on the river as a boatman. Her life seems set before her, never to leave this part of London and forever at her father’s beck and call... -
Elm Tree Road by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAfter being driven from home by their brutal father, the Willitt sisters, Mattie, Nell and Renie, find themselves facing greater heartache in the wider world. Nell has left home to be with her lover, Cliff, fearing what reprisals might come from marrying against her father’s wishes.After parting ways with Mattie the couple take youngest sister Renie and head for Lancashire... -
Isabelle's Choice by AnneMarie Brear
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsHalifax, 1876. On the death of her mother and sister, Isabelle Gibson is left to fend for herself and her brother in a privately-run workhouse. After the matron's son attacks her, Isabelle decides to escape him and a life of drudgery by agreeing to marry a moorland farmer she has never met. But this man, Farrell, is a drunkard and a bully in constant feud with his landlord, Ethan Harrington... -
The Legend of Fire Mountain by Sarah Lark, Kate Northrop
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBold new paths in life and love are forged in nineteenth-century New Zealand in the stirring final chapter of bestselling author Sarah Lark’s multigenerational Fire Blossom Saga.It’s 1880 in the North Island town of Otaki, where Aroha lives contentedly with her mother, Linda—until a fateful tragedy leaves Aroha traumatized and plagued by a cursed guilt... -
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The Girl on the Doorstep: from the bestselling author of The Workhouse Children (A Black Country Novel) by Lindsey Hutchinson
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLeft an orphan, five-year-old Rosie Harris is found and raised by Maria, a Romany gypsy. Life on the road is hard, but the little girl soon feels one of the tribe with the travellers. As she grows older, Rosie realises she has 'second sight' and is able to read people's palms and see into their futures... -
Millie by AnneMarie Brear
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA brand new series from the author of the Kitty McKenzie series and The Slum Angel. The Great War is over, and Millie is ready to leave her loving family home and be a wife to Jeremy who is everything she had hoped for. Until… Not long after their wedding, Millie discovers Jeremy is affected by shell shock and moving into his late father’s cold dark estate escalates the problem... -
The Proud Breed by Celeste De Blasis
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAN UNTAMED WOMAN... A FEARLESS MAN... A MAGNIFICENT LOVE. THE MONUNENTAL ADVENTURE THAT SWEEPS ACROSS A MIGHTY CENTURY OF AMERICAN HISTORY.The first time Gavin Ramsay sees Tessa MacLeod y Amarista -- a violet-eyed beauty swimming naked in a hidden pool--she reacts by attacking him with a knife. Realizing her mistake, she nurses him back to health and into a deep, enduring and courageous love... -
A Wild Hope by Celeste De Blasis
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBanished from her uncaring family home for her growing friendship with older neighbor St. John, Alexandria Thaine is unprepared for the new life she encounters with her distant cousins in England’s West Country... -
The Lady's Maid: A Novel by Dilly Court
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom internationally bestselling author Dilly Court comes a breathtaking historical saga about fate, friendship, and family Born on the same night in the summer of 1854, two infants are ripped away from their young mothers. Kate lives the life of a servant, penniless and shackled to her circumstances, while Josie grows up in the lap of luxury, given privilege and freedom she takes for granted... -
Salem Street by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBanished from her home by a jealous stepmother, Annie Gibson finds work in a doctor's household, where she learns of the world beyond Salem Street. When her childhood sweetheart asks her to marry him, all her dreams come true, but suddenly abandoned and pregnant, her life is turned upside-down... -
Ha'Penny Schemes by Gemma Jackson
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn 1920’s inner-city Dublin tenements, Ivy Rose Murphy struggles to survive and thrive in the harsh poverty-stricken environment she was born into. She is trying to adapt to her new role as a married woman. There are those jealous of the improvements she has managed to make in her life. To Ivy it seems everyone wants a piece of her. She is stretched to breaking point...Categorized as:
family epic historical-fiction fiction historical cozy mental-illness literary-fiction -
Lizzie's Secret by Rosie Clarke
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsLONDON 1938. A gritty, heart-warming and wholesome drama about two girls united in friendship and tested in love. Perfect for the fans of Katie Flynn and Nadine Dorries. Lizzie Larch is a twenty-year-old hatmaker in London's east end. She is happy and popular, but she carries a secret. Seven years ago she was viciously attacked, and recovered in a private sanatorium where she miscarried a child... -
The Girls from See Saw Lane by Sandy Taylor
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsBrighton 1963. Mary Pickles and I walked along the street with our arms linked, looking in shop windows. We were best friends and together we were invincible.Dottie and Mary forged a friendship over a bag of penny sweets when they were eight years old... -
Flight of a Maori Goddess by Sarah Lark, D.W. Lovett
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSarah Lark’s epic Sea of Freedom trilogy reaches its sweeping conclusion in a story of courage, strength, and sisterhood. The dawning twentieth century brings change to New Zealand—and new opportunities for any woman bold enough to grasp them. Atamarie Turei, whose mother fought for suffrage, has enrolled as the first female student at the Canterbury College of Engineering... -
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Star of the North: Music Hall Series, Book 2 by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe triumphant follow-up to THE PRIDE OF LANCASHIRE, continuing the story of the Preston family, by saga writer Anna Jacobs.?? Marjorie is the pretty one of the Preston sisters. So pretty that when a performer at her sister's music room breaks her leg, Marjorie is asked to fill in as the assistant to the singer Denby Sinclair... -
Like No Other by Anna Jacobs
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRachel Smedling is not like the other women in her isolated Pennine village: she is taller, stronger and weaves cloth like a man. Without her, the household would fall apart, for her mother is ailing and her vicious drunkard father seems to hate her so much, he would happily offer money to any man who would wed her. When her mother dies, Rachel is at the mercy of her increasingly violent father... -
In the Shadow of the Mountains by Rosanne Bittner
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBold, headstrong, and passionate, the indomitable Kirklands struggled to survive in a treacherous, hostile land. From penniless settlers to wealthy mine owners to Denver's regal first family, together—and separately—they pursued their dazzling dreams of love and glory... -
The Rose Stone by Teresa Crane
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA dazzling jewel holds the key to a prosperous new life… or total ruin The Rose Stone. A diamond, gained through betrayal and blood, upon which the Rosenberg family's fortunes were founded and whose price is yet to be paid. Kiev, 1875: Josef Rosenberg narrowly escapes death from a Cossack raid, rescuing Tanya, the youngest daughter of his old friend Boris Anatov...Categorized as:
family epic romance historical 20th-century historical-fiction literary-fiction fiction -
A Daughter’s Dream by Cathy Sharp
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHeartache and hardship in London’s East End, from the bestselling author of The Orphans of Halfpenny StreetAmy Robinson and her fiance Matthew are struggling to resist the temptations faced by a soon-to-be-wed couple. To avoid these, Matthew throws himself into a new job and she goes to work in an exclusive new dress shop, where she meets Mary Maitland...Categorized as:
family epic historical-fiction female-mc psychological romance 20th-century holidays -
Birthright by Patricia Dixon
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA woman's quest to save her family's chateau in France brings danger, rivalry, and romance--and reveals a secret buried since World War II . . .1931, Chateau de Chevalier: Ophélie, La Duchesse de Bombelle, receives a love letter from her admirer Picasso along with a gift: a priceless painting. Nine years later, the Nazis invade France and steal countless works of art, including Ophélie's gift .
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