Books like Born in Shame by Nora Roberts

Frank McCourt's memoir recounts a harsh childhood in Depression‑era Brooklyn and Limerick, where poverty, a neglectful father, and a mother named Angela shape his survival through storytelling.

Dora Conroy runs an antiques shop in Philadelphia that hosts an exciting auction of mysterious collectables, but the event draws burglaries, murders and danger—intertwining romance and suspense as former cop Jed Skimmerhorn steps in to protect her.

Three sisters inherit a Montana farm under a strict test of a year together, revealing family secrets, romance, and danger in this dramatic rural saga.

Maggie Concannon, gifted Irish glass designer, lives in seclusion with her late father’s memories and her sister. A visionary gallery owner invites her to international markets, sparking a passionate, career‑driven romance set against the windswept hills of County Clare.

Margo Sullivan, raised in the mansion of the Templeton hotel family, leaves home to pursue modeling and a glamorous life, only to return humbled and supported by lifelong friends who help her rebuild her career and love.

An unexpected inheritance forces an unlikely duo to retreat to the Catskills, where a reluctant matchmaker and a stubborn relative confront their past, love, and the secret that could change everything.

When a group of men and three women in Hawkins Hollow confront a demon unleashed years earlier, a town lawyer and a telepathic woman must unite and trust each other to fight a looming supernatural threat.

Shawn Gallagher, a gifted songwriter whose music belies a lonely heart, finds unexpected magic that forces him to confront his feelings for the fiercely independent Brenna O'Toole.

Nate Burke, a Baltimore cop haunted by a partner’s death, takes on the role of chief of police in the remote Alaskan town of Lunacy. A New Year’s Eve kiss beneath the Northern Lights inspires him to stay and face his past.

Fiona Bristow, a canine search‑and‑rescue volunteer on Orcas Island, must confront a copycat serial killer while training an unruly puppy given to a reluctant artist.

Sea Swept opens the Chesapeake Bay saga, introducing the Quinn family and their lives in Maryland’s waterfront community.

A captivating tale of forbidden love and ancient curses in 17th century Ireland.

Adelia Cunnane follows her uncle’s footsteps at the famed Royal Meadows stable, where a passionate trainer’s pride clashes with her own spirited ambitions. Meanwhile, her cousin Erin faces an alluring yet notorious gambler who may hold the key to her heart.

Montana wildfire fighter Rowan must keep her strict no‑romance rule, but the arrival of new recruit Gull Curry tests it—while a determined enemy seeks vengeance for a jumped partner’s death, forcing Rowan to rely on Gull’s help and support.

A gripping collection of contemporary romance tales where passion, danger, and professional rivalries intertwine—anthropologists, writers, antiques dealers, cops, and journalists find themselves drawn together in unpredictable entanglements.

Rebecca Bayliss confronts a shattered past when her dying mother reveals a hidden family, leading her from a Cornwall mansion into passionate and greedy entanglements that ultimately hold the key to her future and heart.

Roxy Nouvelle, a fiery daughter of a famed magician, inherits both a gift for illusion and a talent for jewel theft. Together with Luke Callahan, they become partners in magic and crime, until a dark secret from Luke's past forces him to vanish.

After surviving a botched kidnapping, Emma McAvoy—faced with her father's secrets and a dangerous fame—must confront memories that threaten her life and love as a former idol’s new husband hides a deadly past.

A wealthy Irish American horse-breeding heiress meets a humble Irish trainer in America, and their contrasting worlds collide in a passionate romance that tests both their hearts and ambitions.

In Cedar Cove, private‑investigator Roy McAfee and his wife Corrie confront mysterious postcards while their daughter Linnette starts a new job at a local clinic and flirts with a horse‑farm worker. A cozy mystery filled with local life, romance, and family ties.

A captivating contemporary romance series with a deliciously unpredictable plot in the charming city of Cedar Cove.

Cedar Cove’s Judge Olivia Lockheart, daughter of the town’s best friend, must decide if love or marriage of convenience is right for her newly wedded niece.

Maeve Binchy’s collection of short stories explores the everyday dramas of family, travel, and chance encounters.

Midnight Bayou (James Daniels with Sandra Burr, Sandra Burr, Jill Sovis): Declan Fitzgerald had always been the family maverick, but even he couldn't understand his impulse to buy a dilapidated mansion on the outskirts of New Orleans. Determined to restore Manet Hall to its former splendor, Declan begins the daunting renovation room by room, relying on his own labor and skills. But the days spent in total isolation in the empty house take a toll. He is seeing visions of days from a century past, and experiencing sensations of terror and nearly unbearable grief - sensations not his own, but those of a stranger. Only the companionship of the alluring Angelina Simone can distract him from the mysterious happenings in the house, but Angelina too has her own surprising connection to Manet Hall - a connection that will help Declan uncover a secret that's been buried for a hundred years. Chesapeake Blue (James Daniels, J.C. Howe, and Jill Sovis): Seth Quinn is finally home. Now a grown man returning from Europe as a successful painter, Seth is settling down on Maryland's Eastern Shore, surrounded once again by Cam, Ethan, and Phillip, their wives and children, all the blessed chaos of the extended Quinn clan. Still, a lot has changed in St. Christopher since he's been gone - and the most intriguing change of all is the presence of Dru Whitcomb Banks. Dru's past has made her sensitive to deception - and slow to trust. And Seth's past has made him a target of blackmail - as a secret he's kept hidden for years threatens to explode, destroying his new life and his new love... Birthright (Bernadette Quigley, Laura Grafton, Matthew Christilaw): On a hot July afternoon, a worker at an Antietam Creek construction site drives the blade of his backhoe into a layer of soil -- and strikes a 5,000-year-old human skull. As an archaeologist, Callie Dunbrook knows a lot about the past. But her own past is about to be called into question. Recruited for her expertise on the Antietam Creek dig, she encounters danger -- as a cloud of death and misfortune hangs over the project, and rumors fly that the site is cursed. She finds a passion that feels equally dangerous, as she joins forces in her work with her irritating, but irresistible, ex-husband, Jake. And when a strange woman approaches her, claiming to know a secret about Callie's privileged Boston childhood, some startling and unsettling questions are raised about her very identity.

A determined art student must complete Louis Tiffany’s stained‑glass chapel amid a glassworker strike, proving herself as a "New Woman" and discovering the true meaning of art, love, and independence.

After a rocky university finish, young Lexie Sinclair leaves rural Devon for 1950s Soho, where she navigates the bohemian art world and a passionate partnership with Innes Kent, redefining love and ambition.