Rural Town Fiction

Midwestern movie house owner Virgil Wander is "cruising along at medium altitude" when his car flies off the road into icy Lake Superior. Virgil survives, but his language and memory are altered, and he emerges into a world no longer familiar to him. Awakening in this new life, Virgil begins to piece together his personal history and the lore of his broken town, with the help of a cast of affable and curious locals. Into this community returns a shimmering prodigal son who may hold the key to reviving their town.

Five years ago, Clara Hayes got the diagnosis no one wants: cancer. She fought it and won, but it altered everything. She moved back home, changed her career, and now she approaches life without fear or hesitation. Then her brother’s best friend moves to town. She’s loved Holden for as long as she’s known him. And though she’s been gently turned down by him once before, Clara decides she needs to take one more chance on him, even if ends in heartache. Because as she knows all too well, life’s too short for regrets.

It was always Samantha's dream to run her beautiful rescue centre, Hedgehog Hollow, full-time. But just as her wish comes true, she becomes a victim of her own kindness when she finds herself with a house full of guests - all with their own problems and secrets - looking to her for support. When her self-absorbed cousin, Chloe, unexpectedly turns up at the farm - swiftly handing over her baby to Samantha to care for - trouble is definitely brewing. Especially as Chloe won’t tell anyone why she’s left her husband, James.

Chase has no idea who he is, why he came to Fort Worth, or who tried to put a bullet in his head the night a cowboy named Laredo Smith saved his life. Laredo seems sure that the big burly man is Chase Calder, owner of the Triple C Ranch in Montana. According to the local papers, Chase Calder had been declared dead - a victim of a fiery car crash. Shifting Calder Wind is the latest installment in the immensely readable two-decades-old series about the Calder family saga.

Welcome to Magnolia. Victoria is no longer mayor, a sentiment that she is still trying to get used to saying. After the inauguration of the new mayor, she's pretty sure that she has reached bottom - until her parents inform her that they are selling their house in Magnolia, and she has a week to find a new place to live.

My time with Asher Anderson was supposed to be simple. A long-distance situationship of sorts with someone older and more experienced. No risk of attachment. No threat of commitment. Exactly how I need it. But the single dad is making it hard to stick to my guns. Impossible to hide behind my walls. Asher wants more. More from me. More for us. He doesn't realize how much stands in our way. How little I have to give. And neither of us expects the two pink lines connecting us forever.

I'm supposed to be dating. Doing my level best to find The One™. While I try to give all the guys on my dating app a fighting chance, I might accidentally be falling in love with my ride-share driver instead. Between disaster first dates and getting stood up and ghosted, I've become friends with one of the only car service drivers in my tiny hometown of Cozy Creek, Colorado. Maybe I'm looking forward to my dating fails because it means more time with Noah, the guy I can't stop thinking about. While guarded and cautious, he draws me in with his dry humor and reluctant smiles.

As the new co-owner of Tundish Montana's stationery shop, Delta Douglas knows how to organize a killer crafting event. Creativity and cardstock are all she needs to move one step closer to her ultimate dream: developing her own line of crafting products. But on the night of the workshop, at the swanky hotel venue, glitter isn't the only thing found sprawled on the floor. A hotel guest is discovered dead in the bar, and amid the confusion, Delta's best friend is suspected of the crime.

Detective Abish Taylor left Utah for a reason. But with her husband’s passing, it’s time to come home. Reconnecting with her family means dealing with her past: the father she abandoned and the community she left behind. Her one escape is serving as the sole police detective in the small town of Pleasant View. But when the quiet Mormon suburb in the Wasatch Mountains is shaken by a macabre death - with the hallmarks of a sacred ritual dating back to the days of Brigham Young - Abbie is called into action.

Kept apart by their love for one man, two sisters embark on their own paths toward survival, love, and understanding, until they finally meet again in the worst of circumstances. And the reality might break them all. My Heart Went Walking is a beautiful novel that sweeps from the small Irish town of Donegal to the “big smoke” of Dublin City; a book that celebrates the pull of family and the chance of redemption. It is a novel for everyone who feels connected to the Irish approach to life and also for everyone who loves an overriding message of hope and restoration.

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.

Conner Gilroy was my brother’s best friend. Popular. Smart. Gorgeous. With his cocky grin and perfect family, he was the fantasy of almost every girl I knew, including mine. And for some reason, he wanted me. Me, Henley O’Connell; the ugly bookworm with bright orange hair. Poor white trash with a quick temper and a chip on her shoulder. He confused me and made me angry. He treated me like I was something more than what I was. Like maybe what I wanted wasn’t just a silly fantasy.

Music has been the very essence of Daisy Holloway's life for as long as she can remember. Driven by a desperate need to make her father proud, she throws caution to the wind and embarks on a journey to Nashville. Her dream is a long shot, but with no backup plan in sight, besides her entire life's purpose, what does she have to lose?

Ending up in the same bed with my brother's best friend on a spontaneous road trip to his own wedding? Definitely not part of the plan. But when Oliver and I got stuck overnight at a hotel—with only one bed—temptation won. What was supposed to be a one-time thing… was just the beginning. Because now, he's secretly my husband. For convenience, of course. I think.

In rural Ohio, the last connections lonesome Felicity Lavigne has to her late mom are the blueberry farm she inherited and her mom’s old phone number—which Felicity still calls every day. Until she gets a call back. It’s the number’s new owner, Alex Norse, a surly, homeless teenager who has aged out of the foster care system with no one to turn to except the stranger who’s been leaving rambling voicemails for a dead woman. Felicity takes Alex in on one condition: She has to help scare off some kids vandalizing the fields.

A body is found on a quiet lane in Exmoor, victim of a hit and run. He has no ID, no wallet, no phone, and - after being dragged along the road - no recognisable face. Meanwhile, fresh from his last case, DCI Craig Gillard is unexpectedly called away to Devon on family business. Gillard is soon embroiled when the car in question is traced to his aunt. As he delves deeper, a dark mystery reveals itself, haunted by family secrets, with repercussions Gillard could never have imagined. The past has never been deadlier.

When Dr Hannah Rogan, a GP from outback Queensland, moves to Featherwood to open a medical practice of her own, she finds the fresh start she needs. Her first patient is the son of the tight-lipped, attractive Jude, who comes from a mysterious closed community upriver. The rain starts, and doesn't stop. The creeks fill, the river bursts and soon the residents of Featherwood are at risk of losing everything they've rebuilt.

Samantha has a secret. Returning home from her dream honeymoon to the normality of running her beloved Hedgehog Hollow rescue centre, she's ready for the next chapter of her life with Josh. Or is she? Lauren has given up on love. Twenty-six years ago the love of her life, Shaun, left her a note and was never seen again. Samantha and Lauren will need the love and support from the Hedgehog Hollow family more than ever. After all, some dreams are worth chasing.

Kell Luview refuses to be a sucker at love again. Five years ago, he left DC with his tail between his legs and his heart broken. Fiercely protective of his small town in rural Maine, he's determined to save the family tree business and avoid his feelings at all costs. LA native Rachel Hart hates being underestimated almost as much as she hates this small town. She has two goals on this trip: get out of the cheesy tourist trap of Love You, Maine, with a business deal, and avoid running into Kell, her old friend from DC who never became an old flame because of a huge misunderstanding.

John Elliott is a busy man. He runs his farm and his business, keeping to himself, with no time for anything else in his life. Quinn Harper is a single mother, looking for a fresh start. The small town she picked seemed perfect—until her first run-in with John. They strike sparks of the wrong kind and insist that keeping their distance is for the best. Yet, despite his growly nature and curt tone, he is sweet to her daughter. And he finds himself looking for reasons to be in Quinn's company, to do things that make them both smile, make him feel happy.