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Wednesday Waypoints | Three First Lines of Historical Romance

by Oct 15, 2025Wednesday Waypoints0 comments

Today’s Wednesday Waypoints features a moment from …

Three First Lines of Historical Romance

Welcome to Wednesday Waypoints, your midweek hygge inspiration. Each week, I’ll share a small collection of things to brighten your day. Whether books I’m loving, favorite blog posts, cozy shopping selections, or even a short excerpt to savor.

What is hygge (pronounced “hoo-gah”)? According to Visit Denmark, “In essence, hygge means creating a warm atmosphere and enjoying the good things in life with good people.”  So grab a cuppa, slow down, and enjoy.

About Today's Currated List

First lines carry a kind of magic … the instant where history and emotion meet, inviting us into courage and connection. These openings span centuries and continents, yet they all begin with hope. From colonial shores to Irish hills to the heart of Europe on the brink of war, these authors remind us how love is both timeless and brave.

*as an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Three First Lines of Historical Romance

Tidewater Bride

Laura Frantz

Selah Hopewell seems to be the only woman in the Virginia colony who has no wish to wed. True, there are too many men and far too few women in James Towne. But Selah already has her hands full assisting her father in the family’s shop. And now she is in charge of an incoming ship of tobacco brides who must be looked after as they sort through their many suitors.

Xander Renick is perhaps the most eligible tobacco lord in the settlement. His lands are vast, his crops are prized, and his position as a mediator between the colonists and the powerful Powhatan nation surrounding them makes him indispensable. But Xander is already wedded to his business and still grieves the loss of his wife, daughter of the Powhatan chief.

Can two fiercely independent people find happiness and fulfillment on their own? Or will they discover that what they’ve been missing in life has been right in front of them all along?

Bestselling and award-winning author Laura Frantz takes you to the salty shores of seventeenth-century Virginia in this exploration of pride, honor, and the restorative power of true love.

JAMES TOWNE, VIRGINIA COLONY
SPRING 1634

Alas, she was not a tobacco bride, but she had been given charge of them.

A Dance in Donegal

Jennifer Deibel

All of her life, Irish-American Moira Doherty has relished her mother’s descriptions of Ireland. When her mother dies unexpectedly in the summer of 1920, Moira decides to fulfill her mother’s wish that she become the teacher in Ballymann, her home village in Donegal, Ireland.

After an arduous voyage, Moira arrives to a new home and a new job in an ancient country. Though a few locals offer a warm welcome, others are distanced by superstition and suspicion. Rumors about Moira’s mother are unspoken in her presence but threaten to derail everything she’s journeyed to Ballymann to do. Moira must rely on the kindness of a handful of friends–and the strength of Sean, an unsettlingly handsome thatcher who keeps popping up unannounced–as she seeks to navigate a life she’d never dreamed of . . . but perhaps was meant to live.

Jennifer Deibel’s debut novel delights the senses, bringing to life the sights, sounds, smells, and language of a lush country and a colorful people. Historical romance fans will embrace her with open arms.

BOSTON
OCTOBER 1920

The grandfather clock downstairs chimed the hour, its clangs all too reminiscent of the funeral bells presiding over Mother’s service just yesterday morning.

When Twilight Breaks

Sarah Sundin

Munich, 1938

Evelyn Brand is an American foreign correspondent determined to prove her worth in a male-dominated profession and to expose the growing tyranny in Nazi Germany. To do so, she must walk a thin line. If she offends the government, she could be expelled from the country–or worse. If she does not report truthfully, she’ll betray the oppressed and fail to wake up the folks back home.

Peter Lang is an American graduate student working on his PhD in German. Disillusioned with the chaos in the world due to the Great Depression, he is impressed with the prosperity and order of German society. But when the brutality of the regime hits close, he discovers a far better way to use his contacts within the Nazi party–to feed information to the shrewd reporter he can’t get off his mind.

As the world marches relentlessly toward war, Evelyn and Peter are on a collision course with destiny.

BERLIN, GERMANY
TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 1938

Evelyn Brand had done a crack bit of journalism, and she hadn’t even had to dress like a man to do so.

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Until next time, may your reading bring both light and encouragement.

Happy reading!
~ Danielle.

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