Rural Fiction

Let’s start here. The twelve days of Christmas are actually after the holiday. And my dad, being the great guy he is, and the battalion chief of the fire department, signs up one of his rebellious firefighters for a retreat because of his bad behavior. The guy is a total grouch. But when he misses the bus for the adult redemption camp, Dad sticks the guy with me for twelve days. Alone.

Nothing was ever simple between a Madison and a Harte. The feud that had divided their families still simmered. Now, only months after their siblings' wedding, Lilian Harte and Gabe Madison are at each other's throats.

The small, rundown village of Great Diddling is full of stories—author Berit Gardner can feel it. The way the villagers avoid outsiders, the furtive stares and whispers in the presence of newcomers… Berit can sense the edge of a story waiting to be unraveled, and she's just the person to do it. In fact, with a book deadline looming over her and no manuscript (not even the idea for a manuscript, truth be told), Berit doesn't just want this story. She needs it. Then, while attending a village tea party, Berit becomes part of the action herself.

Isabel hates Christmas. She’s got a Christmas disaster for each of her 25 years. When her boss sends her from the sun-kissed beaches of Australia to snowy small-town Wyoming, it’s just another thing to add to her "do not like" list. Snow sucks. Christmas sucks. And cowboys suck most of all. Except, maybe, for one.

Bridget Walsh stole my breath the second I saw her, but I never expected her to turn my whole damn life upside down. It would figure that the first time I fell in love, it would be with Nathan Walsh’s daughter. Nathan Walsh, a rich, greedy, ruthless developer took over the neighboring town of Oceanview and now he has his sights set on my hometown, the Stone hometown of Trayton. And he’s made it brutally clear that he doesn’t want me anywhere near his daughter.

I was in the wrong place at the wrong time—and that moment changed me forever. After walking in on a masked man murdering my neighbor, I went back to the one place I swore I'd never step foot in again. Citrus Cove. The sleepy town hasn't changed much, but the people have. Including my old high school bully, Cameron Harlow. He's the last person I want to see. He should be the last person I want.

I loved him from the beginning. In the middle. But maybe not at the end. His love for me was full of possibilities, hopes, and dreams a girl like me wasn't accustomed to. He was a nightmare that cracked and bled through my hands, and I stood there watching as it seeped into the ground. Until him. He put me back together without even knowing he was doing so. And he wasn't even my husband.

Andy Catlett's story begins as his grandfather Marce Catlett rises in the dark to travel from his farm by horseback and train to Louisville for the auction of his 1906 tobacco crop. The price paid for each year's crop has been depressed to virtually nothing by the power of a single buyer, James B. Duke. This year is especially grim since the price offered to each grower is less than the expense of bringing the crop to market. A year's labor is lost.

When her stepmother dies, Caro returns to her childhood home in the rural English countryside. She hadn’t seen Elizabeth in years, but the remote farmhouse offers refuge from a bad relationship and a chance to start again. But going through Elizabeth’s belongings unearths memories Caro would rather stay buried. In particular, the story her stepmother would tell her about two little girls and the terrible thing they do. As heavy snow traps Caro in the village, where her neighbours stare and whisper, Caro is forced to question why Elizabeth hated her so much and what she was hiding.

Dover 1940 As firebombs fall on Dover, Edie Castle's life is thrown into turmoil when the garage where she lives and works is damaged and her beloved boss is arrested. With no job and nowhere else to go, Edie returns to Castle's Café and her formidable mother, Nellie. Living with her mother is never easy, but tensions reach boiling point when an old friend of Nellie's arrives looking for a place to stay. Meanwhile, desperate to clear her boss's name, Edie turns to his nephew for help.

Born in the workhouse and adopted by a former suffragette, Frances Brakespeare was encouraged from an early age to be strong, independent and to pursue a career as a doctor. The tragic loss of the love of her life in the Great War propels Frances to commit to her one true vocation. Rebelling against the unfair treatment of female doctors Frances is dismissed from her London post and things continue to take a turn for the worse when Izzy, her benefactress dies and Frances finds herself homeless.

When I escaped my abusive ex and stumbled into the mountains... I never expected to find three rugged mountain men ready to claim my heart—and my body. They offer refuge and safety for me and my sweet little girl. But nothing in their world comes without a price. As we bond beneath the stars, my daughter giggles and twirls. Her innocent laughter lights up the night. Our moments ignite like wildfire, consuming my fears and awakening long-buried desires. I'm drawn into a whirlwind of passion that challenges everything I know about love and trust.

Six months ago, I had my life all figured out. I was going to be free of this horrible town, away from the small-minded, perfect people who judged me at first glance without bothering to look again. Nothing has changed. And yet everything has changed. The alphas that once acted as my shield now look at me with hatred in their eyes. They say it's my fault. All of it is my fault. But when fate decides I haven't suffered enough, she slaps me across the face with a mating bond none of us wanted.

Posy is brand new to Fairhaven Falls, but she's determined to find her place in the charming small town—even if it means participating in an unusual bachelor auction. But she certainly doesn't expect to end up bidding on the mysterious orc whom everyone seems to avoid.

The job at Sunday Orchard was supposed to be temporary. A chance to gain some work experience, to have some fun. I had not expected to be welcomed into a family of gorgeous and weirdly efficient lumberjack-types, or to find purpose in the tiny Vermont town whose claim to fame seemed to be apple-based products and copious amounts of charm. And I most definitely hadn’t expected to fall for Knox Sunday, my grumpy, burly, fifteen-years-older, reluctant roommate, with his infuriating lectures, his hot-as-fire body, his superior attitude - I’ve never been one to put down roots.

After surviving a devastating tragedy, combat reporter Nate Garrison returns to the only place that ever felt like home: Starfish Bay on the Northern California coast. But his reunion with childhood friend Lindsey Collier is nothing like he’d imagined. The wary widow who runs Starfish Bay Mercantile was once the girl who made young Nate dream—of a future, of family ties, of deep roots. Now Lindsey avoids love, loss … and Nate. Yet when they join forces to save a beloved town landmark and help a hurting little boy, might they also find healing, hope—and love?

After 15 years of her husband never having time for her, Lindy Coats moves with her teenaged daughter to their summer cottage on the shores of Lake Michigan outside the town of Blueberry Beach. With a lonely single dad on one side of her, a crochety old business owner on the other, and a young mother with terrible secrets and a son fighting leukemia across the road, it doesn’t take Lindy long to discover that learning to enjoy life is less about what she chooses to do for herself and more about what she chooses to do for others.

"You don't know me yet, but in a few hours that's going to change. You see, I'm inviting you to my home and my town of Cedar Cove, because I want you to meet my family, friends, and neighbors. Come and hear their stories - maybe even their secrets!"

The last person I expected to see at the funeral was Jake Blackwood—my best friend's older brother, my first love turned bearded mountain god. He brought backup. Two ex-SEALs who share his cabin in the woods. Noah is the calm in the storm. Eli's the storm itself. He blames me for the past. I blame him for that kiss in the woodshed. Then the threats started. Jake insists I stay with them. I should've said no. But I didn't. Being snowed in with a mountain man is a bad idea... Let alone three. And falling for all of them? Disastrous.

In need of work and a change of scenery, Aussie expat Jayden Turner agrees to a short-term chef position at a bed-and-breakfast over the Christmas holidays. What he finds is a grand old house in a beautiful town, and his new boss is gorgeous, gay, and single. After his divorce, Carter “Cass” Campion bought his great-aunt’s run-down country manor in his hometown, and he’s determined to get it ready for the busy holiday period. Recently out as gay, he’s been focused solely on his business and hasn’t had time for a man. Not that many gay men come through Hartbridge...