The Paxton Saga Series

From the shores of the Potomac, a society girl begins an epic journey Karen Hampton comes to Washington, DC, from New York City to celebrate the end of the Civil War. For weeks she dances, dines, and drinks, until all the parties and receptions have blurred together. By the end of the season, she has accomplished what every debutante is after: betrothal to an up-and-coming politician. But Karen is not satisfied with her prize. She intends to marry for love, and there is but one man in Washington who can move her heart. She first meets him under the dome of the Capitol, and then sees him again while bathing on the banks of the river. He is Vance Paxton, an upstart Texas representative whose copper skin and frontier clothes mark him as more than a creature of the Beltway. His love will carry her away from Washington to one of the last great battles of the American West, where Karen Hampton will learn what it means to live.

On a lonely Caribbean island, a teenage girl begins the adventure of a lifetime Raised on the tiny isle of Mysteré, Marie Ravenne has spent her youth swimming in crystal-blue water, eating fresh fish, and listening to stories of the days when her home was a haven for pirates. In her seventeenth year, that all comes to an end. The Spanish sack Mysteré, slaughtering Marie’s family and burning their crops. She and the other survivors are cast out in a rickety boat to take their chances on the high seas. For her companions, it is the end, but for Marie, the adventure is just beginning. Rescued by an English lord, she is taken to London, where she tries to make sense of a country whose customs are entirely foreign to her. Here she meets Jason Paxton, a daring rake who will lead her back to the ocean, to take her place upon the waves.

To avenge her brother, a Gypsy girl will travel the world Adriana was only a child when she watched her parents die. As hateful villagers attacked her family’s camp, Adriana’s brother Giuseppe carried her into the woods. He told her to close her eyes, but she watched the carnage, and the memory has stayed with her ever since. Now a young woman, she is on the verge of choosing a husband when her life is again turned upside down. At a quiet English village fair, Adriana is telling fortunes when one of the local nobility attempts to have his way with her. Giuseppe is killed while defending her honor, and Adriana vows revenge. England offers no justice for Gypsies, and so Adriana must take her vengeance in blood. When her plot against her brother’s killer fails, she is forced to flee to the New World, where she will encounter a passion greater than any she has ever known.

As the British armies march on Charleston, a young girl dreams of love For two years, General Washington and his rebels have outfoxed the British army, humiliating them so soundly that the redcoats have been forced to change strategy. Let Washington have the Northern colonies, they decide—we will attack the South. And the prime target, the jewel of the Southern states, is Charleston. In this cosmopolitan port city where war is about to erupt, Colleen McClagan watches the sea and waits for her lover’s return. It has been four years since Jason Paxton crossed the Atlantic to study music in Europe, and Colleen has counted every day. When he finally returns to the colonies, the two find they are united not only by love, but also by a thirst for liberty. As Colleen writes revolutionary pamphlets, Jason joins the patriots as a secret agent, staking his life on the hope that the land of his birth will one day be free.

In an untamed land, a young woman will meet a man who wins her heart For twenty-two years, Elizabeth’s father has battled the Pennsylvania soil. Each year, his farm gives up a little less, until finally he is forced to admit that it has beaten him. With the last of his savings, he buys a plot in far-off Texas, where settlers have just begun to flood the endless plains. Elizabeth’s mother and big sister are aghast at the move, which will take them even farther from the urban society of the East, but Elizabeth cannot wait to set foot in Texas, where she will discover adventure, beauty, and the burning passion of true love. Joining them on the trail is True Paxton, a son of Charleston who has grown tired of his easy life racing horses and managing the family shipping business. With his brothers, True sets out for the plains, to fight the battles that will make him a man—and change his country forever.