New Releases I’m Excited About: Late 2021 Historical Fiction

Hello! And welcome to another day in my plan to take over your TBR lists #sorrynotsorry A new book season is upon us and there are soooooo many great reads coming up that I’m waving an ‘I surrender’ flag and admitting that I’ll never be able to read all the books I want to read in one lifetime. Everyone got something to make a list with? Let’s jump into Late 2021 Historical New Releases (September-December).

Here is the schedule of posts for the week so you can zero in on your fave genre!

Tuesday: Contemporary Fiction (non-Amish & non-suspense)
TODAY: Historical Fiction (non-Amish & non-suspense)
Thursday: Mystery/Suspense (non-Amish)
Friday: Amish Fiction
Saturday: Speculative/Youth
Sunday: Non-Fiction

In my continued quest to streamline these posts I’m only selecting a few* I’m most giddy about to spotlight here. A book is featured probably because the cover or author pulled me in and then the blurb confirmed it. (Yes, I’m someone who reads the blurb. I don’t understand you people who don’t LOL.) I’ll also include links to all the September-December 2021 releases, each in their own list by month. You can also keep up with 2021’s new books as I learn about them by bookmarking the ‘2021 Releases‘ page on my blog menu & checking it periodically!

*My definition of ‘a few’ will become extremely questionable by Thursday. I did warn you.

spotlight on titles i’m most giddy about

(click on book title to go to its goodreads page if available)

THE MISTLETOE COUNTESS
Pepper Basham
Barbour Fiction / Sept 1, 2021

(Y’all. I’ve read this book. It’s the best ever. You’ll love it!)

Mistletoe is beautiful and dangerous, much like the woman from Lord Frederick’s Percy’s past, so when he turns over a new leaf and arranges to marry for his estate, instead of his heart, he never expects the wrong bride to be the right choice. Gracelynn Ferguson never expected to take her elder sister’s place as a Christmas bride, but when she’s thrust into the choice, she will trust in her faithful novels and overactive imagination to help her not only win Frederick’s heart but also to solve the murder mystery of Havensbrook Hall before the ghosts from Frederick’s past ruin her fairytale future.

UNDERCURRENT OF SECRETS
(Doors to the Past)
Rachel Scott McDaniel
Barbour Fiction / Sept 1, 2021

As wedding coordinator for the 100-year-old steamboat The Belle of Louisville, Devyn Asbury takes pride in seeing others’ dreams come true, even though her engagement had sunk like a diamond ring to the bottom of the Ohio River. When the Belle becomes a finalist in the Timeless Wedding Venue contest, Devyn endeavors to secure the prestigious title with hopes to reclaim some of her professional dreams. What she hadn’t planned on was Chase Jones showing up with a mysterious photo from the 1920s. A century earlier, Hattie Louis is as untamable as the rivers that raised her. As the adopted daughter of a steamboat captain, her duties range from the entertainment to cook. When strange incidents occur aboard the boat, Hattie’s determined to discover the truth. Even if that means getting under First Mate Jack Marshall’s handsome skin.

A MIDNIGHT DANCE
Joanna Davidson Politano
Revell / Sept 7, 2021

All theater romances are tragedies. Ella Blythe knows this. Still, she cannot help but hope her own story may turn out different than most–and certainly different than the tragic story of the Ghost of Craven Street Theater. Yet as she struggles to maintain her tenuous place in the ever-shrinking ballet company, win the attentions of principal dancer Philippe, and avoid company flirt Jack, Ella cannot deny the uncanny feeling that her life is mirroring that of the dead ballerina. Is she dancing ever closer to the edge of her own tragic end? Or will the secrets that are about to come to light offer release from the past?

HERS TO LOVE
(A Scottish Medieval Romance)
Sherrinda Ketchersid
Red Starling Press / Sept 13, 2021

Fiona McGowan, a beautiful Scottish widow without hope for a family of her own, travels to St. Mary’s Convent to become a nun. In route she is kidnapped by handsome Highlander Adam MacIntosh in a case of mistaken identity. Adam, laird of the MacIntosh clan, is attempting to free his brother held captive by the rival Fergus clan. The failure of his plan leaves him reeling with betrayal, death, and a wee babe in sore need of a healer. Though forced to delay her vows, Fiona’s anger and distrust thaws as rising tensions within Adam’s clan threaten to ignite an uprising. She chooses to aid her noble but beleaguered captor in his quest to restore peace among his Highland clan. But as the two learn to trust each other, the question remains: Can they move beyond the hurts of their past, or will the past be their undoing?

DAUNTLESS
(Age of Conquest #8)
Tamara Leigh
Sept 14, 2021

The day Godfroi D’Argent defeats his brother in a contest of arms, he gains his family’s lands. And a less than desirable bride. Certain it will be years before his enemy’s daughter grows into a lady of worth, he devotes himself to securing his lordship. When at last Robine assumes her rightful place, Godfroi is unprepared for how much she moves him. Counting it weakness, he refuses to acknowledge the depth of his feelings even to himself—until he falls in battle. With little hope of restoring the warrior, he allows Robine and their young sons to believe him dead. But when the mysterious hermit who pulled him from the battlefield persuades him to return home, it is not to a wife with open arms but one entangled in sin. Is it true only three are needed to salvage a marriage—husband, wife, and God? And what is to be done with proof of Robine’s indiscretion?

THE BUTLER’S DAUGHTER
(A Story of Black Gotham #2)
Parker J. Cole
Sept 30, 2021

Description not up yet (but let’s face it – all I needed to want to read this book was the cover!)

A PICTURE OF HOPE
(Heroines of WWII)
Liz Tolsma
Barbour Fiction / October 1, 2021

Journalist Nellie Wilkerson has spent the bulk of the war in London, photographing mothers standing in milk lines—and she’s bored. She jumps at the chance to go to France, where the Allied forces recently landed. There she enlists Jean-Paul Breslau of the French underground to take her to the frontlines. On the journey, they stumble upon a great tragedy, leaving a girl with special needs being orphaned. Can Nellie and Jean-Paul see the child to a safe haven while being pursued by the Nazis, who are pressed by the advancing Allies and determined to destroy all they can before they flee? 

A VIEW MOST GLORIOUS
(American Wonders Collection #3)
Regina Scott
Revell / October 5, 2021

Headstrong Coraline Baxter has worked all her life to be more than the spoiled socialite others expect. When her fellow suffragettes in Tacoma, Washington, suggest that she should climb to the top of Mount Rainier to prove that a woman can do anything, she instantly resolves to do it. And if she can climb Mount Rainier, her mother promises to stop pressuring her to get married to the wealthy Cash Kincaid. All Cora needs is a guide to get her to the top of the mountain. Nathan Hardee may look like a mountain man, but he once ruled the halls of high society. He left all that behind after his father broke under financial pressure from Kincaid. To best Kincaid now, Nathan agrees to guide Cora up the mountain. Climbing Rainier will require all of Cora’s strength and will lead her and Nathan to rediscover their faith in God and humanity.

THE HEART OF A COWBOY
(Colorado Cowboys #2)
Jody Hedlund
Bethany House / October 5, 2021

Brilliant scientist Linnea Newberry is on the adventure of a lifetime, traveling the Santa Fe Trail with her grandfather, Dr. Powell, on a botanical expedition to Colorado Territory. She longs to be taken seriously by the other team members, but at every calamity she faces, her grandfather threatens to send her home. After watching his ma suffer and die in childbirth, Flynn McQuaid has sworn off women and marriage forever. Headed west to start a new life, he has his hands full not only taking care of his younger siblings but also delivering cattle to his brother. He doesn’t need more complications. When Flynn rescues Linnea from drowning during a river crossing, Dr. Powell promptly hires Flynn–unbeknownst to Linnea–to act as her bodyguard for the rest of the trip. As Flynn fights against the many dangers of the trail, he soon finds himself in the greatest danger of all–falling for a woman he’s determined not to love.

LOVE ON THE RANGE
(Brothers in Arms #3)
Mary Connealy
Bethany House / October 5, 2021

Wyatt Hunt is temporarily bedridden and completely miserable. Somehow Molly Garner’s limited skills have made her the most qualified in their circle to care for Wyatt. But by the time he’s healed, she’s fed up with him and the whole ungrateful family. For even worse than his grumpiness were the few unguarded moments when he pulled at her heartstrings, and she has long determined to never marry. Molly gets a job as the housekeeper at Oliver Hawkins’s ranch. But really she’s with the Pinkertons, spying to find out if Hawkins has abused women and if he’s guilty of murder. Wyatt refuses to let her risk it alone, convincing Hawkins that he’s abandoning his own ranch, angered by his two brothers’ coming to claim a big chunk of it. But when another Pinkerton agent gets shot, they realize Hawkins isn’t the only danger. The Hunt brothers will have to band together to face all the troubles of life and love that suddenly surround them.

WAITING ON LOVE
(Ladies of the Lake #3)
Tracie Peterson
Bethany House / October 5, 2021

Elise Wright loves her Great Lakes life onboard her father’s ship, the Mary Elise. As cook, Elise can keep an eye on her father and the grief he bears, fulfilling a promise to her late mother. But in doing so, she may forfeit love and a family of her own. Trying to forget his own guilt over a wrong decision while captaining another ship, Nick Clark hires on as the Mary Elise’s first mate, quickly bonding with the attractive cook over their common struggles. When a rough new sailor makes an inappropriate pass at Elise, her father believes it was a misunderstanding and offers a second chance. But other odd behavior raises Nick’s suspicions. Just as clues to the sailor’s unsavory past start to stack up, an even more immediate danger swells up around them. Forced to confront their greatest fears, Nick and Elise will have to rely on their faith and each other to see them through.

A DEEP DIVIDE
(Secrets of the Canyon #1)
Kimberley Woodhouse
Bethany House / October 5, 2021

After being kidnapped as a child, heiress Emma Grace McMurray has seen firsthand the devastation that greed causes in the world, and she wants nothing to do with it–including her father’s offering her hand in a business deal. She sneaks away to be a Harvey Girl at the El Tovar Grand Canyon Hotel, planning to stay hidden even if it means always looking over her shoulder. Ray Watkins arrives at the hotel wanting to impress his father by finding success on his own. Then maybe he can take on more of the family business and do something good with the profits. Ray immediately admires Emma Grace, and though a friendship forms, she’s afraid he’s just like every other wealthy man she’s known. Then art and jewels go missing from El Tovar and the nearby Hopi House, a mystery that pulls them in and stirs up their worst fears. When shocking revelations come to light, they’ll have to question all they thought to be true.

SHILOH
(Kindred #2)
Lori Benton
Tyndale House / October 5, 2021

A year has passed since Ian Cameron reluctantly sent his uncle’s former slave Seona and their son, Gabriel, north to his kin in Boston. Determined to fully release them, Ian strives to make a life at Mountain Laurel, his inherited plantation, along with Judith, the wife he’s vowed to love and cherish. But when tragedy leaves him alone with his daughter, Mandy, and his three remaining slaves, he decides to return north. An act of kindness on the journey provides Ian the chance to obtain land near the frontier settlement of Shiloh, New York. In Boston, Seona has taken her first tentative steps as a free woman, while trying to banish Ian from her heart. Then Ian arrives, offering a second chance Seona hadn’t dared imagine. But the wide-open frontier of Shiloh feels as boundless and terrifying as her newfound freedom–a place of new friends and new enemies, where deep bonds are renewed but old hurts stand ready to rear their heads.

ONCE UPON A WARDROBE
Patti Callahan
Harper Muse / October 19, 2021

Megs Devonshire is brilliant with numbers and equations, on a scholarship at Oxford, and dreams of solving the greatest mysteries of physics. She prefers the dependability of facts—except for one: the younger brother she loves with all her heart doesn’t have long to live. When George becomes captivated by a copy of a brand-new book called The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and begs her to find out where Narnia came from, there’s no way she can refuse. Despite her timidity about approaching the famous author, Megs soon finds herself taking tea with the Oxford don and his own brother, imploring them for answers. What she receives instead are more stories . . . stories of Jack Lewis’s life, which she takes home to George. Why won’t Mr. Lewis just tell her plainly what George wants to know? The answer will reveal to Meg many truths that science and math cannot, and the gift she thought she was giving to her brother—the story behind Narnia—turns out to be his gift to her, instead: hope.

BEHIND LOVE’S WALL
(Doors to the Past)
Carrie Fancett Pagels
Barbour Fiction / November 1, 2021

Two successful women, a hundred-and-twenty-years apart, build walls to protect their hearts. Modern-day Willa, a successful interior decorator, is chosen to consult for the Grand Hotel’s possible redesign. She discovers a journal detailing the struggles of a young woman, Lily—which reveals dark secrets. The renowned singer wasn’t who she pretended to be. As Willa reaches out to Lily’s descendant, a charismatic and prominent landscape artist, she lets down her guard. Should she share the journal with him, or once again erect a wall as she struggles to redesign both the Grand and her life? 

LOST IN DARKNESS
Michelle Griep
Barbour Fiction / November 1, 2021

Travel writer Amelia Balfour’s dream of touring Egypt is halted when she receives news of a revolutionary new surgery for her grotesquely disfigured brother. This could change everything, and it does. . .in the worst possible way. Surgeon Graham Lambert has suspicions about the doctor he’s gone into practice with, but he can’t stop him from operating on Amelia’s brother. Will he be too late to prevent the man’s death? Or to reveal his true feelings for Amelia before she sails to Cairo?

EVERY WORD UNSAID
Kimberly Duffy
Bethany House / November 2, 2021

Augusta Travers has spent the last three years avoiding the stifling expectations of New York society and her family’s constant disappointment. As the nation’s most fearless–and reviled–columnist, Gussie travels the country with her Kodak camera and spins stories for women unable to leave hearth and home. But when her adventurous nature lands her in the middle of a scandal at the worst possible moment, she’s forced to leave America entirely. Arriving in India, she expects only a nice visit with childhood friends, siblings Catherine and Gabriel, and adventures that will further her career. Instead, she finds herself facing a plague epidemic, confusion over Gabriel’s sudden appeal, and the realization that what she wants from life is changing.

AS DAWN BREAKS
Kate Breslin
Bethany House / November 2, 2021

Amid the Great War in 1918 England, munitions worker Rosalind Graham is desperate to escape the arranged marriage being forced on her by her ruthless guardian and instead follow her own course. When the Chilwell factory explodes, killing hundreds of unidentified workers, Rose realizes the world believes she perished in the disaster. Seizing the chance to escape, she risks all and assumes a new identity, taking a supervisory position in Gretna, Scotland, as Miss Tilly Lockhart. RAF Captain Alex Baird is returning home to Gretna on a secret mission to uncover the saboteur suspected in the Chilwell explosion, as Gretna’s factory is likely next. Fearing for his family’s safety, he’s also haunted by guilt after failing to protect his brother. Alex is surprised to discover a young woman, Miss Lockhart, renting his boyhood room, but the two eventually bond over their mutual affection for his family–until Alex receives orders to surveil her.

THE LONDON HOUSE
Katherine Reay
Harper Muse / November 2, 2021

Caroline Payne thinks it’s just another day of work until she receives a call from Mat Hammond, an old college friend and historian. But pleasantries are cut short. Mat has uncovered a scandalous secret kept buried for decades: In World War II, Caroline’s British great-aunt betrayed family and country to marry her German lover. Determined to find answers and save her family’s reputation, Caroline flies to her family’s ancestral home in London. She and Mat discover diaries and letters that reveal her grandmother and great-aunt were known as the “Waite sisters.” The buoyant tone of the correspondence soon yields to sadder revelations as the sisters grow apart, and one leaves home for the glittering fashion scene of Paris, despite rumblings of a coming world war. Each letter brings more questions. Was Caroline’s great-aunt actually a traitor and Nazi collaborator, or is there a more complex truth buried in the past?

LOVE AND LAVENDER
(A Mayfield Family Romance)
Josi S. Kilpack
Shadow Mountain / November 2, 2021

Hazel Stillman is a woman of rare independence and limited opportunities. Born with a clubbed foot, she was sent away as a child and, knowing her disability means a marriage is unlikely, she devoted herself to scholarship and education. Now working as a teacher in an elite private girls’ school, she is content with the way her story has unfolded. When her uncle Elliott Mayfield presents her with the prospect of a substantial inheritance if she marries, Hazel is offended. What kind of decent man would marry for her money? Duncan Penhale has a brilliant mind and thrives on order and process. He does not expect to marry because he likes his solitary life, shared only with his beloved cat. When Elliott Mayfield, his guardian’s brother, presents him with an inheritance if he marries a woman of social standing, Duncan finds it intrusive. However, with the inheritance, he could purchase the building in which he works and run his own firm. It would take an impressive and intellectual woman to understand and love him, quirks and all.

HONOR IN THE MOUNTAIN REFUGE
(Call of the Rockies #6)
Misty M. Beller
November 9, 2021

After being cast out of his Blackfoot village for his kindness to the Nez Perce captives, Chogan travels west in search of meaning for his life. Though the lovely face of Telípe, a Nez Perce woman, is imprinted on his heart, he avoids her village. With her husband dead and the birth of her babe imminent, Telípe’s reality looks nothing like she planned. When she stumbles into the brave who’d shown her kindness during her captivity, something ignites within her—a new hope. Chogan’s determination to stay and help Telípe is thwarted by her people’s fear and hatred for his tribe—especially since he was among last winter’s kidnappers. It doesn’t matter that he did everything he could to keep her and her unborn child safe and comfortable during that awful event. When the danger escalates, Chogan is faced with an impossible choice. No matter which option he chooses, his life will never be the same—nor that of the woman he’s come to love.

SAVING MRS. ROOSEVELT
(Heroines of WWII)
Candice Sue Patterson
Barbour Fiction / December 1, 2021

Shirley Davenport is as much a patriot as her four brothers. She, too, wants to aid her country in the war efforts, but opportunities for women are limited. When her best friend Joan informs her that the Coast Guard has opened a new branch for single women, they both enlist in the SPARs, ready to help protect the home front. At the end of basic training, Captain Webber commends her efforts and commissions her home to Maine under the ruse of a dishonorable discharge to help uncover a plot against the First Lady. Shirley soon discovers nothing is as it seems. Who can she trust? Why do the people she loves want to harm the First Lady? With the help of Captain Webber, it’s a race against time to save Mrs. Roosevelt and remain alive.

ELINOR
(Daughters of the Lost Colony)
Shannon McNear
Barbour Fiction / December 1, 2021

In 1587, Elinor White Dare sailed from England heavy with her first child but full of hopes. Her father, a renowned artist and experienced traveler, has convinced her and her bricklayer husband Ananias to make the journey to the New World. Land, they are promised, more goodly and beautiful than they can ever imagine. But nothing goes as planned from landing at the wrong location, to facing starvation, to the endless wait for help to arrive. And, beyond her comprehension, Elinor finds herself utterly alone. . . . The colony at Roanoke disappeared into the shadows of history. But, what if one survived to leave a lasting legacy?

THE FINDER OF FORGOTTEN THINGS
Sarah Loudin Thomas
Bethany House / December 7, 2021

It’s 1932 and Sullivan Harris is on the run. He promised the people of Kline, West Virginia, that he would find them water, but now he’s failed and disappeared with their cash. Although he’s determined to stay a step ahead of pursuers–like Jeremiah Weber–his resources are running low. Gainey Floyd is suspicious of Sulley’s claim to be a dowser when he appears in town but reconsiders after he finds water. Rather, it’s Sulley who grows uneasy when his success makes folks wonder if he can find more than water–like forgotten items or missing people. He lights out to escape such expectations and runs smack into something worse. Hundreds of men have found jobs digging the Hawks Nest Tunnel–but what they thought was a blessing is killing them. And no one seems to care. Here, Sulley finds something new–a desire to help. As Jeremiah–and now Gainey–pursue him, Sulley becomes the unexpected catalyst for finding what even he has forgotten. Hope.

PROPOSING MISCHIEF
(The Joplin Chronicles #2)
Regina Jennings
Bethany House / December 7, 2021

Maisie Kentworth is stuck on the ranch. Having fallen in love with the wrong guy, she can’t risk inflaming things between her former beau and her protective family. Left to rue her mistakes, she keeps busy exploring the idle mine at the edge of their property. Boone Bragg is also stuck. With his parents on vacation, the management of Bragg Mining falls on him, and one of his advisors wants him as a son-in-law. One wrong move, and Boone will end up either offending an associate or getting married to a woman he can’t endure. While closing up a spent mine, Boone gets two surprises. One is an untamed farm girl who’s trespassing with a pickax, and the other is the amazing crystal cavern that she’s discovered. Suddenly Boone sees a way to overhaul the family business. With part of the cavern on Kentworth land, Boone makes Maisie a proposal that he hopes will solve all of their problems. Instead it throws Joplin into chaos.

SHADOWS OF SWANFORD ABBEY
Julie Klassen
Bethany House / December 7, 2021

News of her brother’s worrisome behavior spurs Miss Rebecca Lane to return home to her village. Upon her arrival, he begs her to go to nearby Swanford Abbey, a medieval monastery turned grand hotel rumored to be haunted. Feeling responsible for her brother’s desperate state, she reluctantly agrees to stay at the abbey until she can deliver his manuscript to a fellow guest who might help him get published–an author who once betrayed them. Soon, Rebecca starts seeing strange things, including a figure in a hooded black gown gliding silently through the abbey’s cloisters at night. For all its renovations and veneer of luxury, the ancient foundations seem to echo with whispers of the past–including her own. For there she encounters Sir Frederick–baronet, magistrate, and former neighbor–who long ago broke her heart.

add these to your wish list

all the new releases by each separate month
(amazon affiliate links used)

my most very favorite covers?

(because I have to narrow it down somehow lol)

Make sure to like & comment on this post and enter my monthly giveaway for THREE books of your choice from my duplicates stash! After you’ve liked & commented, claim your entries HERE.

What about you? Which Late 2021 Historical New Releases are you most anxious to read? Which covers are your favorites?

If you don’t see your book mentioned here OR in my amazon lists, I apologize! It’s impossible to keep up with all the books LOL! Please feel free to leave your release info for Christian / clean fiction in the comments.