Books like 'Only a Kiss'

Readers who enjoyed Only a Kiss by Mary Balogh also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

historical  regency  tortured heroine  military  war  mystery  forced proximity  cold heroine

  • Kvinnene by Kristin Hannah

    Kvinnene by Kristin Hannah

    Rated: 4.61 of 5 stars
    · 81 ratings
    From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah's The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation...
    Categorized as:
    war  military  historical  length-long
  • A Fire Sparkling by Julianne MacLean

    A Fire Sparkling by Julianne MacLean

    Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars
    · 45 ratings
    An Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestseller. From the USA Today bestselling author of A Curve in the Road comes a spellbinding novel about one woman’s love, loss, and courage during wartime...
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  • The Secret Midwife by Soraya M. Lane

    The Secret Midwife by Soraya M. Lane

    Rated: 4.61 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    London, 1995: When on the fiftieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz a news broadcast runs an appeal for information on the identity of a midwife who saved hundreds of lives, Emilia knows it is time to finally tell her story...
  • A View Across the Rooftops by Suzanne Kelman

    A View Across the Rooftops by Suzanne Kelman

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 36 ratings
    An unforgettable story of love, hope and betrayal, and a testament to the courage of humanity in history’s darkest days. As Nazis occupy his beloved city, Professor Josef Held feels helpless. So when he discovers his former pupil Michael Blum is trying to escape the Gestapo, he offers Michael a place to hide in his attic...
  • Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman, Robert Chandler

    Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman, Robert Chandler

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 36 ratings
    Based around the pivotal WWII battle of Stalingrad (1942-3), where the German advance into Russia was eventually halted by the Red Army, and around an extended family, the Shaposhnikovs, and their many friends and acquaintances, Life and Fate recounts the experience of characters caught up in an immense struggle between opposing armies and ideologies...
  • The Occupation by Deborah Swift

    The Occupation by Deborah Swift

    Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    A page-turning historical saga that will pull at your heartstrings! For fans of Freda Lightfoot, Pam Jenoff, Sebastian Faulks and Kate Atkinson. One woman’s secret war against the Nazis. One man’s war against himself… 1940, Jersey When Nazi forces occupy Jersey in the English Channel Islands, Céline Huber, who is married to a German, must decide where her loyalty lies...
    Categorized as:
    military  war  historical  length-medium
  • The Dance Teacher of Paris by Suzanne Fortin

    The Dance Teacher of Paris by Suzanne Fortin

    Rated: 4.52 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    'But how will I look after them? Where can I hide them?' She looked up at me and didn't try to stop the tears from falling. 'I'm begging you. Please, save our children.'Paris, 1942. As the Germans occupy the city she calls home, Adele Basset is determined to keep her pupils' spirits up. Their dance class offers a moment of solace in the dark days of occupation...
  • Home Sweet Home by Lizzie Lane

    Home Sweet Home by Lizzie Lane

    Rated: 4.53 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    Will they meet again? Frances Sweet can’t really remember her real parents. Brought up by her uncle, her cousins Ruby and Mary have always treated her like their little sister.As the war continues to keep her cousins separated from the men they love – Frances is growing up fast enough to catch the eye of dashing American soldier Declan...
  • The Paris Secret by Natasha Lester

    The Paris Secret by Natasha Lester

    Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    From the New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Orphan comes an unforgettable historical novel about a secret collection of Dior gowns that ties back to the first female pilots of WWII and a heartbreaking story of love and sacrifice.England, 1939: The Penrose sisters couldn't be more different. Skye is a daring and brash pilot, and Liberty the one to defy her at every turn...
  • My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie

    My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie

    Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars
    · 45 ratings
    From the New York Times bestselling authors of America’s First Daughter comes the epic story of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton—a revolutionary woman who, like her new nation, struggled to define herself in the wake of war, betrayal, and tragedy...
  • The London Girls by Soraya M. Lane

    The London Girls by Soraya M. Lane

    Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    From the bestselling author of The Last Correspondent comes a remarkable story of three young women who defy the bombs to do their bit for Britain. Will they survive the dark streets of London to see the Allies win the war?London, 1941. The Blitz...
  • The Secret Stealers by Jane Healey

    The Secret Stealers by Jane Healey

    Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars
    · 33 ratings
    A female American spy in Nazi-occupied France finds purpose behind enemy lines in a novel of unparalleled danger, love, and daring by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Beantown Girls.Anna Cavanaugh is a restless young widow and brilliant French teacher at a private school in Washington, DC...
  • The Parisians by Marius Gabriel

    The Parisians by Marius Gabriel

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    Paris, 1940. The Nazis have occupied the city—and the Ritz. The opulent old hotel, so loved by Parisians, is now full of swaggering officers, their minions and their mistresses.For American Olivia Olsen, working as a chambermaid at the hotel means denying her nationality and living a lie, every day bringing the danger of discovery closer...
  • The Oceans and the Stars: A Sea Story, A War Story, A Love Story by Mark Helprin

    The Oceans and the Stars: A Sea Story, A War Story, A Love Story by Mark Helprin

    Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    Mark Helprin, the #1  New York Times best-selling author of  Winter’s Tale and A Soldier of the Great War , returns with a fast-paced, beautifully written novel about the majesty of the sea; a life dedicated to duty, honor, and country; and the gift of falling in love...
  • New Neighbors for Coronation Close by Lizzie Lane

    New Neighbors for Coronation Close by Lizzie Lane

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    Bristol 1936Jenny Crawford has resigned herself to a loveless marriage living hand to mouth with their two children. Like many others, husband Roy struggles to find work at the docks but a chance encounter turns his outlook and the family's fortunes around.Not only does he get regular work but they are also allocated a council house on Coronation Close on the outskirts of the city...
  • The German Midwife by Mandy Robotham

    The German Midwife by Mandy Robotham

    Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    For readers of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Kate Furnivall comes a gritty tale of courage, betrayal and love in the most unlikely of places. Germany, 1944. Taken from the camps to serve the Fuhrer himself, Anke Hoff has been assigned as midwife to one of Hitler’s inner circle. If she refuses, her family will die...
  • What Cannot Be Said by C.S. Harris

    What Cannot Be Said by C.S. Harris

    Rated: 4.52 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    A seemingly idyllic summer picnic ends in a macabre murder that echoes a pair of slayings fourteen years earlier in this riveting new historical mystery from the USA Today bestselling author of Who Cries for the Lost...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  regency  historical  length-medium
  • The Skylark's Secret by Fiona Valpy

    The Skylark's Secret by Fiona Valpy

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    Loch Ewe, 1940. When gamekeeper’s daughter Flora’s remote highland village finds itself the base for the Royal Navy’s Arctic convoys, life in her close-knit community changes forever. In defiance of his disapproving father, the laird’s son falls in love with Flora, and as tensions build in their disrupted home, any chance of their happiness seems doomed...
  • Fire and Fury for the Tobacco Girls by Lizzie Lane

    Fire and Fury for the Tobacco Girls by Lizzie Lane

    Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars
    · 21 ratings
    As war rages, everyone has to do their bit...Bristol 1941As the clouds of war grow bleaker both at home and abroad, the Tobacco Girls are determined to do their bit for King and Country. To that end Maisie Miles and Bridget Milligan become voluntary ambulance drivers...
    Categorized as:
    military  war  historical  suspense  length-medium
  • The Ops Room Girls: An uplifting and romantic WW2 saga by Vicki Beeby

    The Ops Room Girls: An uplifting and romantic WW2 saga by Vicki Beeby

    Rated: 4.49 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    When Evie’s dreams come crashing down, she’s determined to still make something of herself in these trying times…It is 1939 and working class Evie Bishop has received a scholarship to study mathematics at Oxford when tragedy turns her life upside down...
  • Wedding Bells at Goodwill House by Fenella J Miller

    Wedding Bells at Goodwill House by Fenella J Miller

    Rated: 4.55 of 5 stars
    · 17 ratings
    January 1941As the residents of Goodwill House feel the hard bite of winter, land girl Charlie Somiton is still glad of the warm friendships she has made there. Not just her fellow land girls, Daphne and Sal, but also dashing local G.P. Dr James Willoughby who looked after Charlie when she was injured at work...
    Categorized as:
    war  military  historical  length-medium
  • The Girl from Guernica by Karen Robards

    The Girl from Guernica by Karen Robards

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    Inspired by Picasso’s great masterpiece Guernica, New York Times bestselling author Karen Robards returns with a riveting story of love, intrigue, deception and bravery in the face of war…On an April day in 1937, the sky opens and fire rains down upon the small Spanish town of Guernica. Seventeen-year-old Sibi and her family are caught up in the horror...
  • All My Tomorrows by Ellie Dean

    All My Tomorrows by Ellie Dean

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    The compelling new Second World War novel from the author of Always in My Heart. In defending herself against her brutal husband, eighteen-year-old Ruby Clark is forced to flee London. She has no idea where Cliffehaven is, or what she will find there, but she knows that she will never be able to return home again. At first it seems she's fallen on her feet...
  • A Gentleman of Dubious Reputation by Grace Burrowes

    A Gentleman of Dubious Reputation by Grace Burrowes

    Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    A matter of matrimony...Lord Julian Caldicott is summoned to the family seat by his ducal brother, whose bachelorhood is imperiled by the very determined Lady Clarissa Valmond. As the only titled Eligible the hostesses avoid including on their guest lists, Julian has little sympathy for the duke’s situation...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  regency  historical  length-short
  • A Gentleman in Challenging Circumstances by Grace Burrowes

    A Gentleman in Challenging Circumstances by Grace Burrowes

    Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    A legacy of lies...Lord Julian Caldicott, still recovering from his years at war, is tasked with investigating the circumstances of a small boy who could be either the salvation of the Waltham dukedom or a pawn in a scheme to sink the Caldicott family in endless scandal...
  • A Gentleman Fallen on Hard Times by Grace Burrowes

    A Gentleman Fallen on Hard Times by Grace Burrowes

    Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars
    · 19 ratings
    A man dwelling in darkness...Lord Julian Caldicott has come home from the war in ragged health and with a reputation in tatters. All he wants is to recuperate in private without bringing any further scandal on the family’s good name...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  regency  war  historical  suspense  length-medium  m-f
  • Aurora by D.G. Rampton

    Aurora by D.G. Rampton

    Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars
    · 15 ratings
    70,000+ readers have already discovered the Regency Goddesses Series. The books, which can be read in any order, are regularly in the U.S. top 20 for Historical Romance and Humor & Satire...
  • People Like Us by Louise Fein

    People Like Us by Louise Fein

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 35 ratings
    For fans of The Nightingale and All the Light We Cannot See, a spellbinding story of impossible love set against the backdrop of the Nazi regime.As the dutiful daughter of a high-ranking Nazi officer, Hetty Heinrich is keen to play her part in the glorious new Thousand Year Reich...
    Categorized as:
    war  military  historical  20th century
  • Where the Sky Begins by Rhys Bowen

    Where the Sky Begins by Rhys Bowen

    Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars
    · 37 ratings
    A woman’s future is determined by fate and choice in a gripping WWII novel about danger, triumph, and second chances by the New York Times bestselling author of The Venice Sketchbook and The Tuscan Child.London, 1940. Bombs fall and Josie Banks’s world crumbles around her. Her overbearing husband, Stan, is unreachable, called to service. Her home, a ruin of rubble and ash...
  • Shelter from the Storm by Ellie Dean

    Shelter from the Storm by Ellie Dean

    Rated: 4.66 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    Nineteen-year-old April Wilton has just enlisted in the WRENs in Portsmouth, where she works servicing engines on ships. She finds herself immersed in dockyard life and surrounded by soldiers - from England and America. The atmosphere is one of spontaneity and impulsiveness, brought on by the unpredictability of war...
  • Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer

    Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 31 ratings
    Once An Eagle is the story of one special man, a soldier named Sam Damon, and his adversary over a lifetime, fellow officer Courtney Massengale. Damon is a professional who puts duty, honor, and the men he commands above self interest. Massengale, however, brilliantly advances by making the right connections behind the lines and in Washington's corridors of power...
  • Petteril's Folly by Mary Lancaster

    Petteril's Folly by Mary Lancaster

    Rated: 4.65 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    Time to confront reality – and a worrying mystery.Lord Petteril and his new viscountess return to England to face the consequences of their unequal marriage, only to discover that Petteril’s valet, the enigmatic Stewart, has been arrested for theft...
  • Rosa's Gold by Ray Kingfisher

    Rosa's Gold by Ray Kingfisher

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    Nicole Sutton’s world has been turned upside down. Sixteen and suffering the fallout of a devastating family tragedy, she is forced to move away from her London home to the quiet town of Henley—and a new life she never wanted nor expected. In the dusty cellar of her strange new house, Nicole stumbles upon a worn old journal left behind by a previous occupant...
    Categorized as:
    war  mystery  historical  length-medium
  • The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris by Daisy Wood

    The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris by Daisy Wood

    Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
    · 29 ratings
    From an exciting new voice in WWII historical fiction—and the author of The Clockmaker’s Wife—comes a tale of love and a betrayal that echoes through generations…Paris, 1940: War is closing in on the city of love. With his wife forced into hiding, Jacques must stand by and watch as the Nazis take away everything he holds dear...
  • Dragonfly by Leila Meacham

    Dragonfly by Leila Meacham

    Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    From the New York Times bestselling author of Roses comes a gripping new novel about five young spies embedded among the highest Nazi ranks in occupied Paris At the height of World War II, a handful of idealistic young Americans receive a mysterious letter from the government, asking them if they are willing to fight for their country...
  • The Girl From the Island by Lorna Cook

    The Girl From the Island by Lorna Cook

    Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    A world at war.One woman will risk everything.Another will uncover her story.1940: When the island of Guernsey is invaded by the Nazis, two sisters are determined to rebel in any way they can. But when forced to take in a German soldier, they are shocked to find a familiar face on their doorstep – a childhood friend who has now become their enemy...
  • The Land Beyond the Sea by Sharon Kay Penman

    The Land Beyond the Sea by Sharon Kay Penman

    Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    Filled with drama and battle, tragedy and romance, Sharon Penman’s The Land Beyond the Sea tells the epic tale of a clash of cultures that will resonate with readers today.1172. The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as Outremer – the land beyond the sea.A young realm, Outremer was baptized in blood when the men of the First Crusade captured Jerusalem from the Saracens in 1099...
  • The Lost Daughter by Gill Paul

    The Lost Daughter by Gill Paul

    Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    From Gill Paul, the author of Another Woman’s Husband and The Secret Wife, comes a powerful new chapter in her Romanov saga… a gripping journey through the decades and across the continents, a novel of eternal love, devastating loss, and courage against all odds. Summer 1918: Pretty, vivacious Grand Duchess Maria Romanova faces an uncertain future...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  war  historical  20th century  length-long
  • Petteril's Wife by Mary Lancaster

    Petteril's Wife by Mary Lancaster

    Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    Incognito in Portugal…Lord Petteril’s cousin, the newly commissioned Major Bertie Withan, has gone missing somewhere between landing in Lisbon and joining his regiment on the front line of the Peninsular War...
  • Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher

    Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 36 ratings
    Against the backdrop of an elegant Cornwall mansion before World War II and a vast continent-spanning canvas during the turbulent war years, this involving story tells of an extraordinary young woman's coming of age, coming to grips with love and sadness, and in every sense of the term, coming home..
  • A Gentleman in Pursuit of Truth by Grace Burrowes

    A Gentleman in Pursuit of Truth by Grace Burrowes

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 21 ratings
    A dogged investigation... Lord Julian Caldicott is summoned to the country home of a family friend to search for a prize foxhound who’s gone missing. The purloined canine turns out to be only the tail of a series of puzzles involving family secrets, slander, blackmail, and fraud...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  regency  historical  queer  length-short
  • The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen

    The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen

    Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars
    · 59 ratings
    Love and secrets collide in Venice during WWII in an enthralling novel of brief encounters and lasting romance by the New York Times bestselling author of The Tuscan Child and Above the Bay of Angels.Caroline Grant is struggling to accept the end of her marriage when she receives an unexpected bequest. Her beloved great-aunt Lettie leaves her a sketchbook, three keys, and a final whisper…Venice...
  • The Grass Crown by Colleen McCullough

    The Grass Crown by Colleen McCullough

    Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars
    · 32 ratings
    In this great drama, Marius, the general who saved Rome from barbarian invasion and became consul an unprecedented six times, has fallen into decline. Sulla, his closest associate, has withdrawn himself from his commander's circle in preparation for his own bid for power...
  • Marriage and Mayhem for the Tobacco Girls by Lizzie Lane

    Marriage and Mayhem for the Tobacco Girls by Lizzie Lane

    Rated: 4.64 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    Discover the brand new instalment in Lizzie Lane's bestselling Tobacco Girls series! War is fleeting, but true love last forever...May 1944Hope and excitement is in the air when news breaks of the allied forces landing in Normandy. D Day has arrived. However, the day-to-day struggles for the Tobacco Girls continue.Carole Thomas wants her old life back...
  • A Gentleman Under the Mistletoe: A Cozy Regency Holiday Mystery by Grace Burrowes

    A Gentleman Under the Mistletoe: A Cozy Regency Holiday Mystery by Grace Burrowes

    Rated: 4.62 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    Lord Julian Caldicott is standing in for his ducal brother as manager of Yuletide merriment at the family seat. Alas for his lordship, nothing is going as planned. Cranky relatives arrive uninvited, family squabbles ensue, and Julian's annual case of the blue devils is worsening by the day.Julian decides to combat the mayhem and melancholia by anonymously spreading good cheer...
  • A Michaelmas Truce by Mary Kingswood

    A Michaelmas Truce by Mary Kingswood

    Rated: 4.55 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    A family in trade moving up in the world. A family of landed gentry stepping aside for them. And the sons and daughters caught in the middle.Madge Paton has been the mainstay of the Fletcher household for a quarter of a century, and even though her role managing the household and raising the children has been usurped by Harry Fletcher’s new wife, there’s still work to be done for a spinster aunt...
  • Taken to the Grave by Cara Devlin

    Taken to the Grave by Cara Devlin

    Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    The Bow Street Duchess Mystery series comes to a thrilling conclusion in the seventh and final book, Taken to the Grave.As Audrey Sinclair reaches the end of her mourning period, she and Hugh Marsden, the Viscount Neatham, are at long last looking toward their future together — and hoping for a respite from the dangerous criminal investigations they’ve found themselves entrenched in...
  • Petteril's Christmas by Mary Lancaster

    Petteril's Christmas by Mary Lancaster

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    A merry Christmas for the Petterils?Piers wants to make their first Christmas together special, and so it proves to be - just not quite in the way he planned.His eccentric Great Aunt Prudence summons him to London with the news that she is dying and that one of her servants is stealing from her. Only one of these claims turns out to be true, though both require investigating...
  • The Riviera House by Natasha Lester

    The Riviera House by Natasha Lester

    Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
    · 21 ratings
    The New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Secret weaves a lush and engrossing novel of World War II inspired by a true story and perfect for fans of Kate Quinn and Pam Jenoff. Paris, 1939: The Nazis think Éliane can't understand German. They’re wrong. They think she’s merely cataloging art in a Louvre museum and unaware they’re stealing national treasures for their private collections...
  • The Riviera House by Natasha Lester

    The Riviera House by Natasha Lester

    Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
    · 21 ratings
    The New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Secret weaves a lush and engrossing novel of World War II inspired by a true story and perfect for fans of Kate Quinn and Pam Jenoff. Paris, 1939: The Nazis think Éliane can't understand German. They’re wrong. They think she’s merely cataloging art in a Louvre museum and unaware they’re stealing national treasures for their private collections...
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