Books like Lessie by Kristin Holt

Set in a wartime English seaside town of the 1790s, Sylvia's Lovers follows a young woman torn between the passionate whaling harpooner Charley Kinraid and her devoted cousin Philip Hepburn, whose secret withholding ends in tragedy.

In ancient China, Bai Huang and Yue‑ying are drawn together while solving a deadly mystery, forcing them to confront duty, desire, and the possibility of a life beyond their prescribed roles.

Margaret Mitchell’s 1916 short novel, discovered in 1996, follows a love triangle on a South Pacific island, wrapped in intimate letters she wrote to lover Henry Love Angel.

A Regency romance set in Great Britain where Antigone Preston’s daring actions threaten her reputation and heart, drawing the sharp‑witted Captain William Jellicoe into a dangerous affair of scandal and naval duty.

In 1960s North London, Frances Lennox gathers her family and friends at Freedom Hall, where her kitchen becomes a hub of community, hope, and change amid social upheaval.

Everybody in McDade thought of Dellie O'Barr as "the good little sister." Dellie has always done what her father and brother wanted on the family farm; she even married the suitor her older sister stood up - an earnest man with a college education and a fine house in town. Dellie has always done the proper thing. Always, that is, until now. Out of the blue, she finds herself falling for a stranger, a man stirring up the countryside with his fiery Populist speeches. Clearly, no good can come of it - he's an out-and-out rabble-rouser, a man set on disturbing the turn-of-the-century status quo on farms all over central Texas. And he's married. And then, for the love of this man, Dellie O'Barr tosses aside her own status - a privileged life and perfect reputation - and opens herself to whispers of adultery and disloyalty. Not only that, she's suspected of burning down a local store hostile to her lover and his Populist followers. And when he flees town, she leaves her rich husband to chase after him. As much about married love as forbidden love, The Passion of Dellie O'Barr is the story of a singular woman's life and of the lives of the two men she chooses as lovers. One, Andrew Ashland, is a dynamic political crusader. The other, Daniel O'Barr, is the man she leaves behind - the man who waits for her to come back home and stands by her when she returns to the scandalized town of McDade.

Written in the Stars is a historical romance that explores 19th‑century manners and the evolving dynamics between men and women, set against the backdrop of traditional social customs; it examines how personal relationships shape and are shaped by the norms of the time.

A Texas war hero deformed by battle finds hope when a young woman sees past his scars and recognizes his inner worth.

In "Ask the Dust", John Fante’s Arturo Bandini, a struggling writer in 1930s Los Angeles, forms a precarious love‑hate bond with waitress Camilla Lopez while grappling with ambition, poverty and the quest for identity.

In early 19th‑century Hesse‑Cassel, Dortchen Wild falls for the impoverished scholar Wilhelm Grimm while France’s occupation threatens their homeland. Their bond is forged through shared love of tales that later shape the Grimm collection.