Rural Fiction

Scarred on the inside and the outside, Valentina has spent the majority of her life living and working online. Online, no one can see her, so she can be whoever she wants to be, do whatever she wants to do… love whoever she wants to love. And she fell hard for the sexy thirst trap behind the devil mask. He's smart, sensual, and flirtatious, but also sweet, funny, and he makes her feel seen for the first time ever. But… he's never actually seen her. And it's better that way; someone as beautiful as him would never want to be with someone like her. Right?

Ivy Yoder hasn't heard from John King in over a year. She knows it's time to let go of the idea that they will one day marry, but she's humiliated to be one of the oldest single women in her Amish community of Birch Creek. When quirky Cevilla Schlabach asks her to help clean out an attic, Ivy is grateful for the distraction.

Leila Lantz has been in love with Jesse Glick from the day she first saw him at his father's store, but she can't make sense of his intentions. One day he wants to come courting, the next he seems to be putting distance between them. Jesse may be the bishop's son, but his faith has been wavering of late. If he is so unsure, is it fair to give Leila false hope for a future he doubts he can provide?

Michigan's Upper Peninsula is blessed with a treasure trove of storytellers, poets, and historians, all seeking to capture a sense of Yooper Life from settler's days to the far-flung future. Since 2017, the U.P. Reader has offered a rich collection of their voices that embraces the U.P.'s natural beauty and way of life, along with a few surprises. The sixty-plus short works in this 8th annual volume take listeners on U.P. road and boat trips from the Keweenaw to the Soo and from St. Ignace to Escanaba.

The emotional equivalent of a Category Six hurricane is raging through the small Southern town of Barksdale in the form of a rumor that a provocative African American newcomer might be of supernatural origin.

Take a trip to Blessings, Georgia, where bestselling author Sharon Sala welcomes you with a touching small-town romance. Ruby Butterman and her husband, Peanut, cannot have children, but they're given a second chance at a family when eight-year-old orphan Carlie is left in their care. It's a challenge for Carlie to adapt to a new town, a new school, and a new family, and when she gets bullied at school, Ruby and Peanut discover how to step up as parents, and how to make a forever family for their beloved little girl.

Colorado's Redstone Ridge is a place of extraordinary beauty, but this rugged mountain wilderness harbors a horrifying secret. When a charred body is discovered in a shallow grave on the ridge, officer Mattie Cobb and her K-9 partner, Robo, are called in to spearhead the investigation. But this is no ordinary crime - and it soon becomes clear Mattie has a close personal connection to the dead man.

When Leonie Baxter finds herself out of a job and out of a relationship, she’s at her wits end. Her life has just been turned upside down and she needs a plan, fast. By chance, on a walk with her rescue puppy, Leonie stumbles across a striking house in the woods; fully furnished but unoccupied. As a journalist, she is determined to find out more, after all, reporting is in her nature. But her attempts are thwarted by Lily Cruickshank who lives in the cottage next door.

I wasn’t looking for love. Putting down roots in this small, Southern town was the last thing on my mind. Ben changed all that with his kind nature and gentle ways. Somehow, he painted over the cracks on the canvas of my heart. Never did I feel more alive than with my arms around his waist on the back of his motorcycle and my hair blowing in the wind. But I was a nobody. To his family of wealth and privilege, I wasn’t worthy of him. And they were willing to do whatever it took to drive us apart.

In the dark, wintry highlands of Lochdubh, Scotland, where the local Calvinist element resists the secular trimmings of Christmas, the spirit of old Saint Nick is about as welcome as a flat tire on a deserted road. Nor is crime taking a holiday, as Constable Hamish Macbeth soon finds himself protecting an unhappy girl, unlocking the secrets of a frightened old woman, and retrieving some stolen holiday goods. Now the lanky lawman must use all his Highland charm and detective skills to make things right.

Welcome to the Village of Ballybucklebo. Come and say hello to Dr. O'Reilly's odd-as-two-left feet patients, his housekeeper, Mrs. "Kinky" Kinkaid, and O'Reilly's pets, Arthur Guinness, the beer-swilling black Lab and Lady MacBeth, the demonically possessed white cat. And of course, to young Dr...

On the eve of a new year, Catherine Glick is expecting her bu of five years to propose. Instead, the unexpected arrival of an old boyfriend, Elijah, sends her life spiraling out of control. When a rash decision damages her current relationship, Catherine leaves for Florida to work in her cousin's bakery - anything to flee the source of her shame. Elijah Graber knows he hurt Catherine when he left their Amish district six years ago. He's determined to explain his actions, even if it means following her to Florida.

Lucy Bowman would never have guessed that her best friend, Duffy McCready (of McCready’s Bait Shop & Funeral Home) has been in love with her since they were kids. Fear of rejection and his own romantic complications prevented Duffy from confessing his true feelings in high school, so he stood by and watched her wed Wayne Garten right after high school. Wayne had always been a cheapskate, so it comes as no surprise when he suffers a fatal accident while fixing his own truck.

“Sharks are as timid as rabbits,” says a superintendent of the Coast Guard, dismissing the possibility that a shark could be the culprit in an unprecedented fatal attack at the Jersey Shore. It’s July, and swimming in the sea is a popular new pastime, but people up and down the East Coast are shocked and mystified by the swimmer’s death. A prominent surgeon at the shore, Dr. Edwin Halsey is the one who examines the victim, and the only one who believes the perpetrator was a shark—and that it will strike again.

Brightwater Valley, New Zealand, is beautiful, rugged, and home to those who love adventure. But it's also isolated and on the verge of becoming a ghost town. When the town puts out a call to its sister city of Deep River, Alaska, hoping to entice people to build homes and businesses in Brightwater, ex paratrooper Chase Kelly is all for it. He sees the benefits of building the economy, but only if those who come to Brightwater are ready for its challenges.

When Sarah Lewis inherits a run-down B&B from her late grandmother in coastal Blue Moon Bay, the logical thing to do is sell it and focus on her life in LA. But when she learns that interested buyers will only tear it down in its current state, she feels a sense of obligation to her grandmother to get it back to the landmark tourist destination it once was...even if that means hiring the best contractor for the job, who happens to be her old high school crush.

As a firefighter, Kent Wakefield has been burned before, and not just by fire. So when Casey Bradford, his best friend's off-limits, gorgeous little sister, asks him to be her fake boyfriend, he flat out refuses. He doesn't do relationships, real or otherwise. But when his well-meaning, marriage-pushing mother corners him about his cousin's wedding, he panics and tells her he has a date. After being left at the altar, Casey is out of options. She needs a boyfriend ASAP or she can kiss her dreams goodbye. Who better than her brother's emotionally unavailable best friend, Kent?

The SideRoad Kids follows a group of boys and girls as they enter the sixth grade in a small town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula during 1957-58. This meandering collection of loosely-connected short stories is often humorous, poignant, and sometimes mysterious. Laugh as the kids argue over Halloween treats handed out in Brimley. Recall Dorothy's Hamburgers in Sault Ste. Marie.

Now in her early teens, Laura moves to the village of Candleford Green to work in the post office under the tutelage of her cousin Dorcas Lane, and grow into womanhood. In Candleford Green, new ideas and new ways are coming in from the outside world, from Dorcas' famous telegraph machine to the scandalous sight of ladies riding bicycles. There are also new people entering Laura's life: the curmudgeonly old servant Zillah, the grand Sir Thomas, the Irish Harvesters and the ardent young gamekeeper Philip White.

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?