Rural Fiction

I promised my best friend I'd take care of his hellion of a sister. A sham marriage probably wasn't what he had in mind. Growing up, the three of us were inseparable. Now, the only time she speaks to me is to tell me to get lost. Fair enough. Maybe I do go out of my way to make her mad, but I'd take her hate over her indifference any day. But when it comes to a rodeo competition, we're on the same side for once. With a prize of $100,000, it would make her career—and she could finally give her mom the help she needs. Her skill and my horse are a winning combination. The only problem?

Billy and Dawnie may be in their seventies, but that won’t stop them taking chances or starting again. Their grown-up children have families and lives of their own, so now it’s Billy and Dawnie’s turn and a life near the sea in Devon beckons. But the residents of Margot Street (or Maggot Street as Dawnie insists on calling it), don’t quite know what to make of their new neighbours.

"The charm of Taylor's Irish Country tales is brought to life in John Keating's performance. His Irish lilt will transport listeners straight to Ballybucklebo...Keating's pacing and inflections are perfect as he gives a unique vocal personality to each character." — AudioFile Magazine on An...

Kelly Jenkins heads to bucolic Blue Moon, Alabama, believing a new life will heal the two orphaned children in her care. Signing on to revive the drive-in theater seems like a worthy venture, until she discovers the property is in deep disrepair. Still, spurred on by the elderly owner’s plea, Kelly takes on the renovation, beginning with an ancient tree that needs to come down—and unexpectedly bringing on the wrath of her reclusive neighbor.

I'm keeping some pretty big secrets from my best friend. Secrets, I'm not sure how much longer I can hold onto. Secrets that'll likely destroy our friendship. Because he thinks we're going to college together—but I just can't do it. I can't spend any more time with this lie. Big Bend may have been my beginning, but it never felt quite right. Something was always off—truly, I think it was my false start. Now it's time to live my life with nothing but the truth.

When my parents passed, leaving my siblings and me completely alone in the world, I was broken—thrown down a path of reckless decisions. Seven years later, I was finally gaining solid ground. The bold attitude I'd held for most of my life had been shaken but not shattered. Except when it came to matters of the heart. As my mating heat approaches, I'm faced with the daunting task of finding a mate—of choosing one out of the four men that have stolen my heart.

The first time I saw Grayson Phillips, I fell. Tripped, to be specific. His seven-year-old self saved me from scraped knees and sentenced me to a fate of pining after my brother’s best friend for years. People change. Childish crushes fade. I’m an adult now, a doctor with more important things to worry about. I gave up on the boy next door ever loving me a long time ago. Or so I thought…until he returns to our hometown on leave from the Air Force. For the first time, not everything between us feels one-sided. That doesn’t make it matter. He’ll take off soon—literally.

Dorothy Jean Wetstra, 87, is the town matriarch in Partonville, Illinois. Fully aware of both her strengths and flaws, she often asks "the Big Guy" in heaven for help: "Dear Lord, DO SOMETHING!"

With this follow-up to The Royal Wulff Murders, acclaimed author Keith McCafferty brings back fly-fishing PI Sean Stranahan for a second quirky adventure. When two graves are found on the mysterious Sphinx Mountain, the local sheriff suspects murder and calls on Stranahan to join the case. Then a vintage Gray Ghost lure from a riverside cabin disappears, and Stranahan begins to suspect that a deeper mystery is lurking just beneath the surface.

As a motorcycle club member and firefighter, Ian Walsh is used to riding the line between the good guys and the bad. He may owe the club his life, but his heart rests with his fire station brothers - and with the girl he's loved since they were kids, Rory Sorenson. Ian would do anything for Rory. He'd die for her. Kill for her. Defend her to his last breath - and he may just have to.

He's the grumpy hotshot hockey player. She's too shy to look him in the eyes. He needs a live-in summer assistant, and she's perfect. Chord Davenport is the hottest, surliest man to ever slap shot a puck. He's given up everything to be the best—family, friendship, love—but he's about to retire as a legend of the game, and that makes his sacrifices worth it.

For years, Harris Hayes has taught his daughter, Aggie, the ways of the northern woods, where she sketches nests of wild birds as an antidote to sadness. Then her depressed, unpredictable mother forbids her to climb the trees that give her sanctuary and comfort. Angry, ten-year-old Aggie accidentally lights a tragic fire and flees downriver. She lands her boat near untamed forest, then hides among trees and creatures she believes are her only friends—determined to remain undiscovered.

A remarkable collection of stories, Bad Dirt is filled with the vivid characters for which Annie Proulx has become known. In every story in this book, Proulx displays her wit and her knowledge of the West, of history, and, most of all, of characters who must use sheer will and courage to make it in tough territory.

A mysterious virus has infiltrated the good people of Lake Wobegon, transmitted via unpasteurized cheese made by a Norwegian bachelor farmer, the effect of which is episodic loss of social inhibition. Mayor Alice, Father Wilmer, Pastor Liz, the Bunsens and Krebsbachs, formerly taciturn elders, burst into political rants, inappropriate confessions, and rhapsodic proclamations, while their teenagers watch in amazement. Meanwhile, a wealthy outsider is buying up farmland for a Keep America Truckin' motorway and amusement park.

Working as the head trainer at Lodestar Ranch is my chance to prove I have what it takes to be a woman in a man's world. The only problem? My boss is the world's grumpiest cowboy… and I can't keep my eyes off him.

Aux yeux du monde, Dolorès vit un conte de fées avec Franck, superstar de cinéma, et leurs trois beaux garçons... Mais son destin de mère au foyer dérape quand son compagnon lui annonce qu’il souhaite « réorienter » leur couple. Et, comme un virage n’attend pas l’autre, elle se voit forcée d’accepter l’héritage de son père : une cour à scrap et un garage en faillite, dans son très petit village natal.

As a millworkers’ strike in the northern lumber town of Roberval drags on, tensions start to escalate between the workers—but when a lockout renews their solidarity, they rally around the mysterious and magnetic influence of Querelle, a dashing newcomer from Montreal. Strapping and unabashed, likeable but callow, by day he walks the picket lines and at night moves like a mythic Adonis through the ranks of young men who flock to his apartment for sex.

When high flying, workaholic Katy Smith is suddenly made redundant, she needs to find a job fast! After mistakenly answering an advert online, she quickly realises that the rundown railway station in sleepy Cranfield isn’t the 5-star London hotels she’s used to working in! But a job’s a job. Right? Chef Ryan Connelly is having a crisis of confidence after his Italian dream turns sour. Returning home to try to pick up the pieces of his parents broken marriage, he soon discovers that his family home, the railway station, is close to financial ruin.

Substitute counselor for wayward teens isn’t how public-school teacher Jayden Bennett planned to spend her summer vacation. However reluctant, she’s hiking up her jeans and heading for remote Piney Wood Academy in north Texas. Two months. Seven days a week. Few amenities. And three troubled girls daring Jayden to make a difference. She understands what she’s up against. She has her own burdens to bear. Jayden’s not in it alone. The devoted elderly couple who run Piney Wood trusts in Jayden’s tough-love approach to get the job done. So does drill instructor Elijah Thomas.

Adrift in the wake of her father's death, a failed marriage, and multiple miscarriages, Libby McKenzie feels truly alone. Though her new life as a wedding photographer provides a semblance of purpose, it's also a distraction from her profound pain. When asked to photograph a wedding at the historic Woodmont estate, Libby meets the owner, Elaine Grant. Hoping to open Woodmont to the public, Elaine has employed young widower Colton Reese to help restore the grounds and asks Libby to photograph the process.