Holly Bush has 9 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 4 narrators, with an average listener rating of 3★ across 1 ratings. The most-rated is Reconstructing Jackson.
Reconstructing Jackson
Summary
Southern lawyer and Civil War veteran, Reed Jackson, returns to his family's plantation in a wheelchair. His father deems him unfit, and deeds the Jackson holdings, including his intended bride, to a younger brother. Angry and bitter, Reed moves west to Fenton, Missouri, home to a cousin with a successful business, intending to start over.
Belle Richards, a dirt poor farm girl aching to learn how to read, cleans, cooks, and holds together her family's meager property. A violent brother and a drunken father plot to marry her off, and gain a new horse in the bargain. But Belle's got other plans, and risks her life to reach them. Reed is captivated by Belle from their first meeting, but he is wheelchair bound, and unable to protect her from violence.
Bleak times will challenge Reed and Belle's courage and dreams as they forge a new beginning from the ashes of war and ignorance. Reconstructing Jackson contains some violent scenes and some use of offensive racial language in dialogue, true to the period and circumstances.
©2013 Hollis Bush (P)2017 Hollis Bush
Her Safe Harbor
Summary
1893. Jennifer Crawford, the peacekeeper in a well-to-do Boston family rife with anger, deceit, and even treachery, was born to solve mathematical mysteries at a time when women are only beginning to venture from home and into the world of commerce and politics. Beautiful and shy, she struggles to find the courage to face a scheming mother and guide a father denying their familial dysfunction, hesitant to traverse the volatile economics banks are facing at the turn of the 20th century. But danger threatens when she discovers the crimes of an abusive man determined to make Jennifer his own. Zebidiah Moran, chief of staff for a new senator in Washington, is determined to uncover the lovely Jennifer's secrets and guard her from danger. But will his sacrifices be enough to keep her safe? Will he be her safe harbor?
©2016 Holly Bush Books (P)2016 Holly Bush Books
For the Brave
Summary
It is 1869. Matthew Gentry joined the Confederate Army at 18 years of age after an argument with his father, leaving Paradise, his Virginia home and famed horse breeding stables, for the fields of Gettysburg. Having survived the War Between the States, Gentry is haunted by the violence and inhumanity of the war. He continues to roam the country long after the conflict is over, finding solace in the arms of soiled doves and at the bottom of whiskey bottles. Finally traveling home after learning of a family tragedy, he nearly loses his life in a spring flooded riverbed. Annie Campbell, lone survivor of her family, lives at a remote farm near the North River, raising pigs and trying to grow enough to feed herself, and to stay out of the crosshairs of the Thurmans, violent men who run the town of Bridgewater. Annie’s secrets threaten her safety, even as she rescues and nurses Matthew Gentry. Matthew knows he must return to Paradise, to grieve with his family. Will his heart lead him back to Bridgewater and Annie Campbell? The Gentrys of Paradise series: Into the Evermore, Prequel Novella, Book 1 For the Brave, Book 2 For this Moment, Book 3 For Her Honor, Book 4
©2017 Holly Bush (P)2020 Holly Bush
Contract to Wed
Summary
1891...Jolene Crawford Crenshaw, heiress and Boston socialite, went from her family home directly to Landonmore upon her marriage, the mansion she shared with her handsome and charismatic husband. She'd never in her life worried in the slightest over anything as crass as the dollars required to maintain that home or the lifestyle she'd been born to. Her extensive yearly wardrobe, the stables and the prime horseflesh within it, even the solid silver forks and knifes that graced her table, were expected and required to maintain the social standing that she'd cultivated over the years. But suddenly she was a widow with little money and just her pride and her secrets to keep her upright. Max Shelby made his fortune in oil wells and cattle but lost the love of his life the day his wife died, over 10 years ago. Now, his happy, carefree, little girl needs instruction and guidance as she grows into a young lady and his dream of becoming a senator from his adopted state of Texas seems out of reach with few political or social connections. The right wife would solve both problems. As it happens his sister knows of a woman, a recent widow, charming, beautiful and socially astute, but in reduced circumstances, who may want to begin again. Max signed the wedding contract sight unseen. Will Jolene be able to shed her sorrows, anger and fears to begin anew away from the censure and hidden tragedy that marred her life? Is her new husband, confident, strong and capable Max Shelby, the man, the only man, to see past her masks to find the woman beneath?
©2015 Holly Bush (P)2015 Holly Bush
For This Moment
Summary
1871 Born to privilege and duty, Olivia Gentry comes of age as women begin to find their social and political independence. The youngest child, and only daughter, of a successful Virginia family, she has been raised and educated to carry on the family horse breeding business with her brothers. Having been deceived in love as a young woman and unsure of her instincts, she is wary to commit to marriage, but she cannot deny her long-buried feelings for a family friend. Jim Somerset has been in love with Olivia Gentry from the moment she gazed up at him as a young girl. A farrier by trade like his father before him, and Olivia's brother's closest friend, he is inexorably entwined with the Gentry family. He has watched her be courted by statesmen and considers her and her goals out of the reach of a common workman. Can he purge Olivia from his mind and his heart? Or has the moment come for him to reveal his passion for her? The Gentrys of Paradise Book 1 Prequel Novella: Into the Evermore Book 2: For the Brave Book 3: For This Moment Book 4: For Her Honor
©2018 Holly Bush (P)2020 Holly Bush
Into the Evermore: Prequel Novella
Summary
1842. Eleanor McManus, upright daughter of a minister, is rescued from kidnappers by a rough-and-tumble fur trader Beauregard Gentry in the wilderness of northern Virginia. With Beauregard’s help, Eleanor makes her way back to her intended groom, who declares her soiled, and she finds herself alone, pressured to make life decisions without benefit of family or others she can trust. Beauregard and Eleanor agree to begin a life together, build their legacy, and their growing devotion to each other is witnessed one cold, crisp Christmas morning. This novella was originally included in the anthology Christmas in America. This is a prequel to The Gentrys of Paradise series.
©2016 Hollis Bush (P)2020 Hollis Bush
Romancing Olive
Summary
1891... Spinster librarian Olive Wilkins is shocked to learn of her brother's violent death at a saloon gaming table and her sister-in-law's subsequent murder, traveling far from her staid life to rescue her niece and nephew, now orphans. She arrives to find the circumstances of her brother's life deplorable and her long held beliefs of family and tradition, shaken. Accustomed to the sophistication of Philadelphia, Olive arrives in Spencer, Ohio, a rough and tumble world she is not familiar with, facing two traumatized children. Her niece and nephew, Mary and John, have been living with a neighboring farmer, widower Jacob Butler, the father of three young children of his own and a man still in pain from the recent loss of his wife. Real danger threatens Olive and Mary and John, while Jacob and his own brood battle the day-to-day struggles for survival. Will Olive and Jacob find the strength to fight their battles alone or together? Will love conquer the bitterness of loss and broken dreams?
©2011 Holly Bush (P)2015 Holly Bush
For Her Honor
Summary
1873 - Adam Gentry, heir to the celebrated Paradise Stables in Virginia, is haunted by the visions of his lost love. Feeling cursed by fate, he slips deeper into grief, shrouded in a cloud of liquor and depression, and neglects his duties and responsibilities. But when Adam is forced to accept that there’s nothing he can do to change his past, he knows he must move on. And he accepts his own destiny: that he will never love again. Emmaline Somerset finds herself in the worst possible position any unmarried woman can be in. She will have to abandon all of her plans, hopes, and dreams for an independence using her own talents. The only viable solution is to move to a distant relative’s home and reinvent herself as a widow with an infant. No one will ever be the wiser. Adam, now determined to secure the Gentry legacy, plans to save longtime family friend Emmaline from her embarrassment with an offer of marriage. But what Adam didn’t plan on was how his unexpected attraction to her would stir something inside of him, something he's kept locked deep within. Can love find its way between two troubled souls, one driven by duty, the other by honor, both determined to find their way home? The Gentrys of Paradise Book 1 Prequel Novella Into the Evermore Book 2 For the Brave Book 3 For This Moment Book 4 For Her Honor
©2019 Holly Bush (P)2021 Holly Bush
Train Station Bride: Prairie Romance
Summary
Crawford Family Series: Book 1 - 1887 Debutante, Julia Crawford endures a lifetime of subtle ridicule as the plump, silly daughter of a premiere Boston family. Julia strikes out on her own to gain independence, traveling to the Midwest to marry an aging shopkeeper and care for his mother. Julia finds her new home rough and uncivilized after the sophistication of a big city, while closely held secrets threaten to ruin Julia’s one chance at love. Jake Shelling was sixteen and grew up quick when his parents died from influenza on the South Dakota prairie. Left with a half-cleared farm and two young sisters, he spent little time on his own needs . . . until now. At thirty-five, he figured it was high time to have some sons and a mail order bride would suit him just fine. No expectations of love, just a helpmate from sturdy stock, ready for farm life. Will fate and chance play a trick on Julia and Jake?
©2012 Holly Bush (P)2015 Holly Bush