Mary Ellen Boyd has 4 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 4 narrators. The most-rated is Warrior of the Heart.
His Brother's Wife
Summary
In the days of ancient Israel, Hannah is a woman oppressed. Her once-hopeful marriage is a nightmare, her husband Levi is violently abusive. Hannah believes it is because she is barren, and if she could only give him a child, all would be well. But no child comes, and she does not know how long she can possibly endure. She prays for release and after six long years of Levi's cruelty, he suddenly drowns. Hannah is finally free, free to heal her body and spirit. But she has forgotten brother-in-law marriage, and Levi has a brother. Far from being free, she is given to Joshua, whom she barely knows, and Hannah fears being plunged once more into the nightmare she just left. Joshua is a virtual stranger for one reason. He fell in love with Hannah the day she married his brother, and he has kept his secret, and his distance. Now he has what he always dreamed; he has his brother's wife. It seems too good to be true, that God has given him his dream. Surely there must be punishment for his coveting. Indeed there is. All is not well, not with Hannah nor with the farm he inherits with her. Joshua faces a mystery that he must unravel, and in the doing risks losing everything he thought he knew about this brother he loved before Levi's plot traps both Hannah and himself.
©2013 Mary Ellen Boyd (P)2015 Mary Ellen Boyd
Fortune's Flower
Summary
Verbena Barnes and Damon may have lived in the same village, but the lines between their two families are harshly enforced. The Therns own most of the village, while Mr. Barnes is merely a sailor. Once, six years before, Damon's older brother Andrew had dared to marry across those lines - to Verbena's older sister Edeline. The Barnes have since fallen upon hard times. Then Andrew dies, leaving Edeline in a world that no longer has any use for her. Without her husband, she has no one to guarantee her the status she once had. Edeline confides her troubles to Verbena, and one of them is a secret too big to conceal for long. Against her better judgment, Verbena agrees to help. But there is one large - and complicated - impediment: Andrew's brother Damon. Damon barely survived Napoleon's war, He has returned to the family's country home to recover. The day of Andrew's death, Damon finds Verbena in his woods, flouting the fences that are supposed to keep everyone out. He had hoped, for his own reasons, to find her. They had met once long ago, a meeting that had long-lasting consequences for him but he does not know if she even remembers him, or that brief conversation. She might not agree but she needs him, and he intends to stay very close. His sudden and surprising interest in her puts Verbena in direct conflict with her promise to her sister. The secrets mount, tearing Verbena between family loyalty and the promise of security - and love. It is not so easy to get rid of a man who has no intention of giving up a dream. Verbena might be willing to deny her growing feelings to keep her sister's secret, but Damon is willing to risk everything to win her heart. He will have to, because somewhere out there is a totally unexpected threat.
©2014 Mary Ellen Boyd (P)2015 Mary Ellen Boyd
Temper the Wind
Summary
For 18 years, Gilead has been under relentless attack from neighboring Ammon. Javan, a tall, handsome Israelite warrior, has lost everything during the Ammonite attacks. The sole survivor of his family, possessor of nothing but burned land, he joined with Jepthah's army to bring vengeance, decimating 20 cities along the Israelite/Ammonite border. During the mopping-up after the last victorious battle, Javan finds Taleh hiding in the remnants of her house. Caught off guard by her stunning beauty, he claims her for a wife, not telling her that one of the conditions she must comply with is having her head shaved. That nasty surprise is dumped on her the night their marriage is registered in the village. Now she's bald, and her husband seems to have forgotten her in the village to make her own way among people who are as unhappy to have her as she is to be there. Unbeknownst to either of them, another soldier had also spoken for Taleh, and he will stop at nothing to get her for himself.
©2001, 2013 Mary Ellen Boyd (P)2015 Mary Ellen Boyd
Warrior of the Heart
Summary
An ugly civil war has just ended in Israel. One lone woman's death in the territory belonging to the tribe of Benjamin has shocked the nation. Fathers, brothers, and sons joined the army to demand justice. The guilty must pay for such a crime, and so they have. As everyone is left picking up the pieces, Benjamin has lost the most. Cities are burned to the ground, and Benjamin itself is in danger of disappearing. The once mighty tribe has been reduced to a mere 600 men. As the nation grieves over the possible loss of a tribe, a strange solution is set forth. Word comes down—God has approved it. At the yearly celebration in Shiloh, any man of Benjamin who can capture a woman can keep her. These brides will be the foundation of a new, chastened Benjamin. Aksah worries, even as she joins in the dances, that her pretty and foolish younger sisters may be just careless enough to be caught. She tries to celebrate as she mourns the loss of her older brother, one of the casualties of this bitter conflict. She is not ready to forgive any of Benjamin for the ugliness that caused the war. Eliab hides with his fellows in the vines and waits for the signal to rush the dances. He is not particular. He will take whichever woman lags behind, and he will do his part to rebuild his tribe. And the lovely woman who spots their signal seems to be running right into his trap. He does not expect her to be willing, but neither does he expect to capture a woman with the will and courage to fight him every step of the way, who knows the reason for the war, and will carry the memory of the poor murdered woman at the core of the bloodshed all by herself if need be until the last man in Benjamin can prove his worth. It is just Eliab's troublesome lot that he must bear that burden, because his new wiife will not give in until he can demonstrate he is deserving.
©2016 Mary Ellen Boyd (P)2017 Mary Ellen Boyd