Cat's Books: Romance

I know many a reader loves a Tortured Hero by a Tortured Herione makes for a great plot too, 

These heroines have a lot of psychological scars by they are worth every moment. 

Here are some great ortured Heroines in Historical Romance.

My lists are never in any particular order. Enjoy!

1. The Admiral's Penniless Bride by Carla Kelly

Sally Paul is down to her last penny. As she spends it on a cup of tea—to stave off being at the mercy of the workhouse—the last thing she expects is an offer of marriage…from a complete stranger!

Admiral Sir Charles Bright's seafaring days are over—and according to society, that must mean he's in need of a wife! Discovering Sally's in need of a home, he offers a solution…. They marry in haste—but will they enjoy their wedding night at leisure?

2. Night in Eden by Candice Proctor

Bryony Wentworth's life is shattered when she is unjustly accused and sentenced to indentured servitude in New South Wales. Broken in body--but not in spirit--she fights for light, and for her life, wanting no part of the man who would save her, Captain Hayden St. John. But the mother in her cannot turn away from Hayden's needy infant and the woman in her cannot deny her passion for the rugged, enigmatic man she is bound to serve.

Against the sweeping panorama of a harsh, gorgeous, and unforgiving land, two hungering souls learn to trust, to love, and to triumph over the danger that will shadow their lives--until destiny and desire become one.

3. Saving Grace by Julie Garwood

When Lady Johanna learned that she was a widow, she vowed she would never marry again. Only sixteen, already she possessed a strength of will that impressed all who looked past her golden-haired beauty. Yet when King John demanded that she remarry -- and selected a bridegroom for her -- it seemed she must acquiesce, until her beloved foster brother suggested she wed his friend, the handsome Scottish warrior Gabriel MacBain.

At first Johanna was shy, but as Gabriel tenderly revealed the splendid pleasures they would share, she came to suspect that she was falling in love with her gruff new husband. And it was soon apparent to the entire Highlands clan that their brusque, gallant laird had surrendered his heart completely. But now a desperate royal intrigue threatened to tear her from his side -- and to destroy the man whose love meant more to her than she had ever dreamed!

4. In Want of a Wife by Jo Goodman

SHE HAS NOWHERE LEFT TO TURN
Jane Middlebourne needs a way out. In 1891, life in New York is unforgiving for a young woman with no prospects, especially when her family wants nothing to do with her. So when Jane discovers an ad for a mail-order bride needed in Bitter Springs, Wyoming, she responds with a hopeful heart. 

HE HAS EVERYTHING TO LOSE
Rancher Morgan Longstreet is in want of a wife who will be his partner at Morning Star, someone who will work beside him and stand by him. His first impression of the fair and fragile Jane is that she is not that woman. But when she sets out to prove him wrong, the secrets he cannot share put into jeopardy every happiness they hope to find….

5. Never Deceive a Duke by Liz Carlyle

They call her the porcelain princess... 

With her fragile beauty and regal bearing, the Duchess of Warneham knows how to keep her admirers at a distance. Twice wed and twice widowed, Antonia has vowed never again to marry; never again to surrender her freedom. But when her husband's death is deemed suspicious, and his long-lost heir returns to seize control of the dukedom, she finds that fate has placed her future in yet another man's hands -- but not just any man. 

They call him a cold-hearted bastard... 

Deep in London's docklands, Gareth Lloyd runs Neville Shipping with an iron fist. Unrecognizable as the starving orphan who was abandoned by his family and sent an ocean away from home, Gareth has put his troubled past behind him. That is, until the Duke of Warneham is murdered, and Gareth turns out to be the dynasty's last living heir. Wrenched from his solitude, Gareth neither wants nor needs the honors and obligations of nobility -- especially the Duke's all-too-tempting widow.... Or does he?

6. The Duchess War by Courtney Milan

Miss Minerva Lane is a quiet, bespectacled wallflower, and she wants to keep it that way. After all, the last time she was the center of attention, it ended badly--so badly that she changed her name to escape her scandalous past. Wallflowers may not be the prettiest of blooms, but at least they don't get trampled. So when a handsome duke comes to town, the last thing she wants is his attention. 

But that is precisely what she gets. 

Because Robert Blaisdell, the Duke of Clermont, is not fooled. When Minnie figures out what he's up to, he realizes there is more to her than her spectacles and her quiet ways. And he's determined to lay her every secret bare before she can discover his. But this time, one shy miss may prove to be more than his match... 

7. The Romantic by Madeline Hunter

Julian Hampton. All his life, it seemed, Julian had been in love with Penelope, now Countess of Glasbury. And when he learned the horrors she had endured at the hands of her vicious husband, Julian was instrumental in arranging for her escape to Italy. But he has never forgotten the love of his childhood, the woman he had rescued first as a "damsel in distress" when she was a girl, and then for real once she had blossomed into woman. When Penelope returns secretly to London, Julian is the one she turns to, even though her trust in him puts both their reputations, and ultimately their lives, in peril.

8. For My Lady's Heart by Laura Kinsale

Pursued by her enemies, flattered and courted for her lands, a powerful, devious princess is desperate to reach refuge. Melanthe can trust only one man amid the lies, the mysterious Green Knight—a true knight who never wavers; a man who cannot comprehend deceit. But as an impossible love grows between them, betrayal becomes their only future . . .

9. Impulse by Candace Camp

Torn from the arms of the woman he loved and cast into the night by her highborn family, Cam Monroe vowed revenge on those who had wronged him.

Fifteen years later, after amassing a small fortune of his own, Cam returns to England with but one ambition. Now the power is his, power to ruin the Stanhope family if they refuse his demands. And what he demands is simple: that Angela Stanhope be his wife.

Then the mysterious "accidents" begin. Are the Stanhopes trying once again to remove him from their lives? Or is it someone from Cam's past, someone desperate enough to kill to prevent him from uncovering a shocking lie?

10.  Rogue in Texas by Lorraine Heath

He was the wrong man for the job in every way but one . . .

Grayson Rhodes, the illegitimate son of a duke, heads to America to prove his worth and earn his fortune. But post-Civil War Texas seems more like hell than a land of opportunity, especially when he finds himself working the cotton fields of no-nonsense Abbie Westland. Abbie, with her fiery determination, is wildly different from the fragile beauties Grayson knew at home . . . but there is a tender yearning he can see just below her tough exterior.

Abbie works her fingers to the bone day-in and day-out, and she needs the help of a few good farmhands. Though skeptical of the polished Englishman when he arrives, she soon discovers a man with a resolve to succeed that matches her own. As the long, hot days turn to heated, passionate nights, they dare to dream of a future together.

Vote on my Goodreads list: Best Tortured Heroines in Historical Romance Novels