By Fate's Design
She lived in a peaceful, sheltered world... For most of her life, JoHannah Sims has lived among the gentle Shakers and wants nothing more than to remain with them. But her dreams are shattered when her guardian takes her from the community with the intention of selling her as a wife to the highest bidder. Sent to a neutral household to await this horrendous sentence, JoHannah finds her faith tested in ways she never imagined by handsome, worldly Michael Lawne. Until a dangerous stranger awakened the fire in her soul. From the moment he sees her, Michael knows he must have this untouchable beauty. He knows full well how to tempt JoHannah, how to make her want him and his world. But the tables are turned when she begins to tempt his spirit, his soul, and especially his heart, as no woman has ever done before. Chance brought two people from different worlds together. But will the hand of fate allow this forbidden love to survive?
Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Romance, Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.
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What the reading experience may hold
A fuller profile for choosing with more confidence—not just another copy of the preview.
Romance · Fiction
Use these as starting points rather than limits; the most memorable books often stretch beyond their catalog labels.
No specific content concerns can be confirmed from the available English catalog information. Consult a publisher or reader-supplied guide when detailed warnings matter.
These notes are inferred from available catalog information and may not be complete. Check a publisher or reader-supplied guide if you need comprehensive warnings.
Balanced tone · Steady pace
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
A good fit if…
Readers who want a thoughtful experience and enjoy noticing the connections beneath a book’s surface story.
This book's DNA
A visual estimate based on this edition's categories, description, and length. Select a star to explore the signals.
This signal is descriptive, not a rating. It helps compare the kind of reading experience this edition may offer.
Spoiler-Free Emotional Arc
A broad estimate of the book’s emotional rhythm, shown without story events or outcomes.
This visualization is an interpretive estimate based on catalog description, categories, tone, pace, and content signals. It does not describe specific scenes.
A quick reading snapshot
Edition facts and catalog signals to help you decide whether this book fits what you want to read next.
- ISBN-13
- 978-0-3129-5926-5
- Language
- English
- Edition record
- OL9808569M
A more thoughtful way into this book
This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
Begin with its place in Romance, then notice where the book resists that label.
Read for connection, not completion.
Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.
Three questions to carry with you
- What must each character learn before the relationship can become believable?
- How do work, family, friendship, or identity shape the central relationship?
- Does the emotional resolution feel earned by the choices that came before it?
Editorial framework by Wesley Bryan, BookenDeX Founder and Editor.
More Romance books
These matches combine shared categories with author, publication-era, and reading-length signals.
Love in the Time of Cholera
by Gabriel García Márquez
Why it fits: shares Fiction and Romance, a similar reading length, a similar publication era.
The Widows Choice
by Gilbert Morris
Why it fits: shares Romance and Fiction, a similar reading length, a similar publication era.
A Passionate Development
by Eleanor Hill
Why it fits: shares Romance and Fiction, a similar publication era.
Idea in Stone
by Alistair Hamish MacDonald
Why it fits: shares Romance and Fiction, a similar publication era.
On the American Contribution
by Winston S. Churchill
Why it fits: shares Fiction and Romance, a similar publication era.
Arthurian Revival
by Debra Mancoff
Why it fits: shares Romance and Fiction, a similar reading length.