American Homespun

Lucy dreamed of marrying Samuel, until she woke up as his wife. Samuel Wilson is dismissed after a disastrous year at the newly created Harvard Medical School, ending his dream of becoming a doctor. Shamed by his dismissal, he returns to his North Shore home where he avoids his former fiancée, Lucy Simms, and tries to dismiss all ideas of marrying her. Lucy pretends Samuel's rejection means little as she helps her family on their farm. An early New England blizzard brings challenges and death to her door. When it is over, Lucy lays in her cabin near death with only five-year-old Sally to aid her. Samuel discovers Lucy delirious with fever and endeavors to save her from the fatal illness that claimed most of her family. Unwittingly he puts her reputation in danger. At his parents' insistence, Samuel marries a barely conscious Lucy. Lucy awakens to a reality more bizarre than her dreams. Sure that Samuel's vows are coerced, she does everything in her power to convince him to annul the marriage. With the help of his mother and Sarah, he sets out to prove to Lucy that the vows he took are permanent.

Elizabeth is out of control. Can her great aunt and a disgraced preacher succeed in reforming her? Elizabeth Garrett crossed the line. Her latest flirtation embarrassed her father, a Massachusetts judge. He is determined to see her reformed or sent away. Who better than his Aunt Mindwell to oversee Elizabeth's reformation? With a name like that, Elizabeth is sure her freedom is gone. After his wife's death, Reverend Gideon Frost loses everything: His faith, his congregation and most especially, his way. Transferred to the tiny community of Curtis Corners, he must take a second job to supplement his lay clergy position. His feisty employer, Mindwell Roberts, doesn't have time to coddle him. She has problems of her own, a 19-year-old niece whose only life skill is flirting. Elizabeth knows how to play all the games and can wait her father out. Until her flirtations land her in the worst trouble of her life. The last thing she expects to find is joy and love in her great-aunt's home.