A guarded king will be unraveled in this royal romance by USA TODAY bestselling author Caitlin Crews! His Majesty requires an untouched bride… But can duty ever become love? Virginal Helene Archibald knows she’s destined for an arranged marriage. So, when her father declares she’ll be given to a king in a loveless union, she accepts it as fate. But Helene is unprepared for King Gianluca San Felice, and the wildfire that awakens at the sight of him! She is undone by the craving that consumes them on their wedding night. But outside the royal bedchamber, Gianluca remains ice-cold—dare Helene believe their chemistry is enough to bring this powerful ruler to his knees? From Harlequin Presents: Escape to exotic locations where passion knows no bounds.

The Welsh Marches, 1460 In the eerie depths of Llanwardine Priory, Elizabeth de Lacy is about to take the veil when she is told she must wed her family's sworn enemy! Lord Richard Malinder must produce an heir, and a union with the de Lacy family could prove advantageous—if only to keep his enemies close…. The heat of anticipation rises as they make their way to the bridal chamber….

A Christy Award-winning novel chronicling the forbidden romance between Martin Luther and his wife, Katharina von Bora, set against the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. She was a nun of noble birth. He was a heretic, a reformer, and an outlaw of the Holy Roman Empire. In the 16th century, nun Katharina von Bora’s fate fell no further than the Abbey. Until she read the writings of Martin Luther. His sweeping Catholic church reformation—condemning a cloistered life and promoting the goodness of marriage—awakened her desire for everything she’d been forbidden. Including Martin Luther himself. Despite the fact that the attraction and tension between them is undeniable, Luther holds fast to his convictions and remains isolated, refusing to risk anyone’s life but his own. And Katharina longs for love, but is strong-willed. She clings proudly to her class distinction, pining for nobility over the heart of a reformer. They couldn’t be more different. But as the world comes tumbling down around them, and with Luther’s threatened life a constant strain, these unlikely allies forge an unexpected bond of understanding, support and love. Together, they will alter the religious landscape forever. - Christy Award: Historical Romance Fiction Winner

A memoir of life after divorce describes how the author left her gambling-addict husband and struggled to build a new life for her two young daughters while dealing with the family legacy of divorce and coming to terms with single life and parenthood.

This enlightening narrative takes a look at the wedding night—its origins, history, customs, cultural expressions, and fictional representations through the ages. Though just outside of public view, the wedding night is loaded with expectation and consequence. The Wedding Night: A Popular History is an entertaining, accessible, touching, and humorous volume that looks at the previously unexplored topic of wedding history "between the sheets." Covering a kaleidoscopic array of cultural expressions, this unique study zooms in on what's quintessential and shares insights into the history of intimacy through the ages. The book traces the formalization of the wedding night in the ancient Near East and classical world, provides many examples of historically significant unions in European and American history, and describes the lively variety of traditions leading up to the present. Spicing their narrative with many piquant quotes from contemporary sources, the authors explore the rich cultural context for the wedding night—processions, royal rituals, apparel, food-related traditions, and pranks—throughout Europe and America in the 19th and 20th centuries. Separate chapters examine sex guides, jokes, and the bed as a special conjugal space.

This eBook has been formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Heimskringla is a collection of sagas about the Norwegian kings, beginning with the saga of the legendary Swedish dynasty of the Ynglings, followed by accounts of historical Norwegian rulers from Harald Fairhair of the 9th century up to the death of the pretender Eystein Meyla in 1177.Contents:Kings' SagasYnglinga SagaHalfdan the Black SagaHarald Harfager's SagaHakon the Good's SagaSaga of King Harald Grafeld and of Earl Hakon Son of SigurdKing Olaf Trygvason's SagaSaga of Olaf Haraldson (St. Olaf)Saga of Magnus the GoodSaga of Harald HardradeSaga of Olaf KyrreMagnus Barefoot's SagaSaga of Sigurd the Crusader and His Brothers Eystein and OlafSaga of Magnus the Blind and of Harald GilleSaga of Sigurd, Inge, and Eystein, the Sons of HaraldSaga of Hakon HerdebreidMagnus Erlingson's Saga