Which New Historical Fiction Books 2024 Feature Strong Female Leads?

Scarlett Hayes thought marrying James Whitmore would finally make her family see her as more than a burden. Instead, it destroyed her life. Framed for crimes she didn’t commit, betrayed by the people she trusted most, and sentenced to prison while pregnant, Scarlett lost everything in a single night. Then came the cruelest blow of all. After giving birth in chains, she was told her baby had died. The people responsible believed she would spend the rest of her life rotting behind bars. They were wrong. Five years later, Scarlett returns. No longer the discarded daughter of the Hayes family. No longer the broken woman they left behind. Now she is Commander Scarlett Hayes—a decorated war hero, the unseen force behind a global intelligence empire, and a woman powerful enough to make governments tremble. She comes back for one reason only: revenge. Her ex-husband, the stepsister who stole her life, and the family who buried her alive are about to learn exactly what happens when a woman with nothing left to lose takes back everything they stole. But as Scarlett tears through the secrets of her past, one truth threatens to change everything— the child she mourned for years may not be dead. And the mysterious man connected to the night that changed her life has been watching from the shadows all along.

I died with blood pooling and betrayal. My fiancé never loved me—he only wanted. My stepsister never saw me as family. And when I discovered I was carrying his child and tried to expose their affair, they shoved me into a shattered glass table and left me to bleed out alone. But I woke up a year earlier, with my voice miraculously returned and a second chance burning in my chest. This time, I refuse to be the silent, obedient sacrifice they used and discarded. This time, I'll make them pay. And when a ruthless billionaire offers me an impossible deal—a fake marriage to save his crumbling empire, I accept without hesitation. They still see me as that broken, voiceless girl who couldn't fight back. They have no idea I've already won.

When Nyssa finally becomes pregnant, she believes her life is complete. She has a loving husband, a daughter on the way, and a future she can finally look forward to. Then Serena—the woman Kieran once loved—returns. From that moment, everything begins to unravel. Betrayed, heartbroken, and forced to watch her unborn daughter die, Nyssa loses her life with nothing but regret and hatred in her heart. But death is not the end. When she opens her eyes again, she finds herself back on the very day tragedy began. Given a second chance, Nyssa swears she will protect her daughter at all costs. She will stay away from Serena, rewrite her fate, and never again place her trust in the man who failed her when she needed him most. Yet as the future slowly changes, so do the truths she thought she knew. The husband she believed betrayed her doesn't seem to be the man she remembers. The events that led to her death hide secrets she never uncovered. And the orphan she believed herself to be may possess an identity powerful enough to shake the foundations of everything she thought she knew about her past. As buried truths begin to surface and old enemies reveal themselves, Nyssa realizes that her previous life may have been built on lies. This time, she will uncover the truth. This time, she will protect her daughter. And this time, those who stole her future will pay the price.

Have you ever read a story from the Villainess’s perspective? Leah Bellmoore was branded a villain, rejected by her chosen mate, and burned alive for crimes she didn’t commit. Then she wakes up a year in the past—before she ever stepped foot in Eclipse Academy and crossed paths with the heirs of the four great packs. The only problem? The memories of her previous life—the ones that could save her—are shattered, returning only in fragments with time. As each memory resurfaces, Leah uncovers the truth behind her murder, exposes the carefully buried secrets of Willow Rosante—the kingdom’s beloved golden girl who stole the life meant for her—and fights to reclaim everything that was taken from her. This time, she won’t be anyone’s sacrifice. She’ll rewrite fate before it kills her again.

Torn between the man she loves, and the man who loves her.... Cordia Pike has always been strong-willed, but she knows her family expects her to accept the hand of her childhood friend, Jaris Adams, in marriage. As the conflict between the states continues to escalate, Cordia hopes it will last long enough for her to find a way to free herself without breaking her friend’s heart. On the eve of war, as the men prepare to ride off to battle, Cordia meets a mysterious newcomer. There’s just something about Will Tucker that she finds both intriguing and dangerous. Under the guise of caring for his sister, she makes a plan to write to him. Perhaps by the time the war is over, Will’s feelings for Cordia will have blossomed into the love she is starting to feel for the Union soldier. But war is evil and complex, and by the time it begins to wind its way through Southwest Missouri, one of these men will be dead, and Cordia will find herself betrothed to a man she loathes. Will she have the courage to follow her heart and stand up for what she believes in like so many others, or will she do as she is told and acquiesce to a loveless marriage to a heartless traitor?

When Vessara Laurent discovered she was the fake daughter of the Laurent family, she did everything she could to welcome the real heiress home. Instead, she was betrayed, framed, and sent to prison for a crime she never committed. Five years later, Vessara walks free. The broken girl they abandoned is gone. Now she returns with unimaginable wealth, powerful allies, and secrets capable of shaking the entire city. Her first stop? The family that destroyed her. The sister who stole her life. The fiancé who betrayed her. They thought prison would break her. Instead, it forged a queen with countless hidden identities—each one powerful enough to shock the world. But revenge is only the beginning. On the very day she walks out of prison, fate reveals a shocking truth—she was never the fake heiress after all. The mysterious Barclay family, one of the most powerful legacy families in the country, claims her as their long-lost daughter.