Rural Fiction

In the mid-nineteenth century, Ciarán McCrohan moves to the small remote island of Inishean to take over the position of lighthouse keeper. But there is one catch: he needs a wife. On the edge of Europe, shielded from the potato blight and ensuing famine that rages in Ireland, two young people find refuge both in their small community and in each other. Almost two centuries later, Josh O’Brien’s happy life in Ireland is threatened, despite the efforts of his new family. But there is someone who will stand above the others to secure his future.

I've never been enough for the people around me, not for my parents before they died and not for the tough grandfather who raised me. When he unexpectedly passes, leaving me the famous (and failing) Sugar Maple Farms, all I want is to sell so I can leave the weight of being a Carville behind. Until Jane shows up. The woman is smart, salty, and sexy as can be. I can't admit it, but her vision for Sugar Maple Farms is captivating. Everything about her is captivating. While we spend every day arguing, I spend every night thinking about her.

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.

Holt Davidson, a Kansas firefighter, hasn’t been back to his hometown of Thompsonville, Colorado, for more than two decades, but when he learns that his estranged mother has taken her own life, he returns for the funeral, hoping to make peace with her memory. He spends the night at his childhood home, rummaging through each room, exploring the past. But instead of nostalgic souvenirs, he discovers a gun, a love letter, and a Polaroid photograph of a man lying in his own blood. Who is the dead man? Was his mother the one who killed him, and, if so, why? Who sent the love letter?

A high school history teacher in a small Colorado town, Guthrie is raising his two young sons alone. Thoughtful and honest, he is guiding them through a world that is not always kind. Victoria, one of his students, is pregnant, homeless, and vulnerable to the scorn of the town. When Guthrie helps two elderly ranchers take the young woman into their home, an unlikely extended family is born.

Here are FOUR full length novels from New York Times Bestselling Author Kristen Proby, all featuring some of her swooniest single dads!

I've always lived a simple life. The ranch and my horse are all I've ever needed. My world was quiet and solitude. It suited me just fine. Until I met her… Maddison Mackenzie ended up in Clearwater Creek by chance. She's beautiful, she's chaotic, and she's everything I never knew I wanted. Now I just have to convince her to stay.

Scarlett Fontaine is a true Hollywood legend—a singer, actress, and beloved fashion icon. But Scarlett dies tragically at just thirty-six years old, leaving behind no children. Or so the story goes… Gwen Hollingsworth is the curator at a museum dedicated to Scarlett’s life. She’s also sole heir to Scarlett’s fortune as a descendant of the star. But all is not well in Gwen’s world. She’s dealing with a messy marital separation and is struggling to move forward.

Open the door for her. Lend her your coat in the cold. And flowers. Always flowers. It was the reason he started MaineStems, his flower delivery service—to help more men be gentlemen. And one of those men is his best friend on his wedding day—even if the bride is the woman of Max’s dreams.

Charlene Ann Baumbich—award-winning journalist and best-selling author of the Dearest Dorothy novels—launches a series of heartwarming stories linked by the swirling flakes of one special snowglobe. In this charming tale of second chances, renewed faith, and forgiveness, a captivating heirloom triggers inexplicable changes.

Ellie and Eric Nyland have moved their two sons back to Eric’s childhood farmhouse, hoping for a fresh start. But there’s no denying it, their family is falling apart, each one of them isolated by private sorrows, stresses, and missed signals. When Eric finds Hannah Finch, the girl across the road, wandering alone in the bitter cold, his rusty police instincts kick in, and he soon discovers there are bad things happening in the girl’s house. With nowhere else to send her, the Nylands reluctantly agree to let Hannah stay with them until after the Christmas holidays.

I should've married my childhood best friend, but I chose another man. Now I'm a single mom, back in my hometown, trying to make ends meet, and my ex-bestie is my new boss. The moment our eyes meet, I know I'm the last woman on earth Nash McCreedy wants to see. Now we're forced to work together and face old memories I've avoided for years. Everywhere I look, he's there, and it doesn't help that he's the only man I've ever loved. I ignore him and the bubbling feelings for as long as I can, but fail.

One summer evening, Lib Hanson is confronted by her painful past when Matt Marlow, the forty-year-old son she abandoned as an infant, shows up on her porch. Fiercely independent, Lib has never revealed her son's existence—or her previous marriage—to her husband, Jack. Married nearly three decades but living in separate houses (to the confusion but acceptance of their neighbors), they enjoy an ease and comfort together in small-town Anthem, Wisconsin. But Jack is a stickler for honesty, and Lib's long-dormant secret threatens to unravel their lives.

Miranda Day, known as "Mama Day", is the elderly matriarch of Willow Springs, a small sea island off the southeast coast of the United States. Mama Day finds herself pitted in mortal combat with dark forces that threaten the body and soul of her beloved great-niece, Cocoa, who has gone "mainside" and married an urban Northerner.

Clayton Burroughs comes from a long line of outlaws. For generations the Burroughs clan has made their home on Bull Mountain in North Georgia, running shine, pot, and meth over six state lines, virtually untouched by the rule of law. To distance himself from his family's criminal empire, Clayton takes the job of sheriff in a neighboring community to keep what peace he can.

In midwinter in an English village, a teenage girl has gone missing and everyone is called upon to join the search. The villagers fan out across the moors as the police set up roadblocks, and a crowd of news reporters descends on what is usually a place of peace. As the seasons unfold and the search for the missing girl goes on, there are births and deaths, secrets kept and exposed, livelihoods made and lost, small kindnesses, and unanticipated betrayals. Reservoir 13 explores the rhythms of the natural world and the repeated human gift for violence.

In Claire-Louise Bennett's shimmering debut, an unnamed young woman - wry, somewhat misanthropic, keenly observant - chronicles her life on the outskirts of a small coastal village.The charms of bananas and oatcakes in the morning and Spanish oranges after sex; the small pleasures and anxieties of throwing a party, exchanging salacious emails with a new lover, sitting in the bath as it storms outside. Broken oven knobs prompt a meditation on survival that's both haunting and playful.

Struggling in his role as a newly single father, former army medic Kevin O’Brien moves home to Chesapeake Shores. He wants a haven for himself and his toddler son, surrounded by the family he knows he can count on and a future that’s nothing like his past. But Kevin is suddenly facing a risk he hadn’t anticipated...in the form of Main Street bookseller Shanna Carlyle. Shanna immediately recognizes Kevin as a wounded soul - she’s had way too much experience with the type.

Living with an eccentric little brother can be tough. Falling through the ice at a skating party and nearly drowning are grounds for embarrassment. But having a vision and narrating it to assembled onlookers? That solidifies your status as an outcast. What Ruby Carson saw during that fateful day was her entire town—buildings and people—floating underwater. Then an orange-tipped surveyor stake turns up in a farmer’s field. Soon everyone discovers that a massive hydroelectric dam is being constructed and their homes will eventually be swallowed by rising water.

The Jock. The Gamer. The Outsider. The Goth. The Overachiever. They don't get along at all. They'll have to set aside their differences to make the movie for their class's final project, or risk failing. But there's more to these kids than their stereotypes. Jay, the gamer, is working with his former science teacher on a very troubling scientific device. Brittany, the overachiever, hides a dark and deadly secret. And Cassandra, the goth, has a little sister with paranormal abilities.