Books like Gilding the lily by Emilie Richards

Sydney Sage, a studious alchemist, and Jill Dragomir, a Moroi princess, hide at a California boarding school, juggling hidden powers, budding romance, and the looming threat of Strigoi as they protect their secret.

A biting satire that exposes post‑Civil War America’s political corruption, city life, and speculative greed through Twain’s wry commentary on legislators, businessmen, and urban excess.

Zac Randolph owns and runs the Little Corner of Heaven Saloon in San Francisco's notorious Barbary Coast. He's a gambler by trade and by nature. He takes care of the girls who work for him, but no woman is as exciting as gambling, no woman means as much to him as his saloon. His life is perfect until a distant cousin, Lily Sterling, arrives from Virginia and upsets everything. Taking Zac up on a casually extended invitation, this fresh-faced beauty has fled her father and a prospective husband. She insists she doesn't want Zac to take care of her, but Zac is as good-hearted as he is selfish. He knows Lily is too innocent for San Francisco. When he can't convince her to go back to Virginia, he tries to find her a safe job. But Lily's good-heartedness continually gets her into trouble from which Zac has to rescue her. When she is caught in his bed, compromised (she wasn't, but nobody's going to believe two nearly naked people), an immediate wedding was the only solution. Lily was more than happy to believe Zac loves her, but Zac is determined to stay away from Lily so he can leave her with a clean conscience. Lily sees only the good in Zac and believes she's been sent to San Francisco to save him from himself, but Zac is determined to get Lily away from the saloon and out of his system. He should have known by now that where there's a "flower woman", there's a Randolph about to lose his heart.

A tale of revenge and passion on the opulent Fifth Avenue of New York City, featuring the captivating Nina De Bonnard and the dashing rogue Jordan Windsor, where a woman's true love and her pursuit of revenge collide with the world of opulence and decadence.