Historical Disasters Series by Kathleen Duey

"Panic in the streets!" It is the glittering center of the new West, brash young San Francisco, dominated by the luxurious Palace Hotel, where tycoons mingle with famous artists, politicians, and the young American aristocracy. Where 18-year-old housekeeper Sierra O'Nielle, still smarting from a flirtatious gentleman's snub, realizes it is time to face reality and remember her place -- until she sees Joseph Harlan, the handsome son of a wealthy cattle rancher... more"Panic in the streets!" It is the glittering center of the new West, brash young San Francisco, dominated by the luxurious Palace Hotel, where tycoons mingle with famous artists, politicians, and the young American aristocracy. Where 18-year-old housekeeper Sierra O'Nielle, still smarting from a flirtatious gentleman's snub, realizes it is time to face reality and remember her place -- until she sees Joseph Harlan, the handsome son of a wealthy cattle rancher. The sizzling electricity that flows between them is impossible to ignore.... Joseph has come to find a suitable bride. His father will do anything to keep him from a maid. Until the fateful April night Sierra is thrown into Joseph's arms as the earthquake of the century devastates the city. Suddenly they are bound together, racing through the cobbled streets seeking shelter from raining bricks, panicked crowds, and the wall of flame that threatens to devour all that is left.... less

"Shattered Lives" Violence, heartache, and three devastating hurricanes ravaged Madelaine LeBlanc's life in late summer 1860. In the luxurious Creole world of French food, meadow picnics, and silk-gown veranda parties, her father plots her marriage to a rich heir, and with the infamous Nightriders he secretly terrorizes the poor Cajuns in the swamps... more"Shattered Lives" Violence, heartache, and three devastating hurricanes ravaged Madelaine LeBlanc's life in late summer 1860. In the luxurious Creole world of French food, meadow picnics, and silk-gown veranda parties, her father plots her marriage to a rich heir, and with the infamous Nightriders he secretly terrorizes the poor Cajuns in the swamps. Madelaine, searching desperately for a life of meaning and freedom, finds it at last in storm-wrecked fields, where Franoise Jarousseau helps her father rebuild their livelihood. But her family would never accept her love of a poor Cajun laborer. Can she really abandon her whole world for him? When Franoise's work is done, Madelaine despairs of ever seeing him again -- until a second hurricane threatens her father's crops, and he returns to the plantation. She can't resist their secret meetings, despite the risk of discovery. Her father's vengeance and the final hurricane break over them in one terrifying night. Will their love survive? less