Rural Town Fiction

Of course, I said yes when Hannah Bell asked me to help her save the library. I say yes to everything. After an accident destroyed my career as a rodeo cowboy, the only things on my schedule were brawling, drinking, and bedding, so it wasn't like I didn't have the time. Now, I have regrets. Because the nerdy little librarian drives me crazy. She has five cats. Five. Her nose is buried so deep in her romance books that she can't see me standing right in front of her. And those long skirts and baggy sweaters leave far too much to the imagination.

From New York Times best-selling author Marie Bostwick comes a beautiful novel of sisterhood lost and found - and of the ways we create the rich tapestries that encompass the past and the future. The economic downturn has hit New Bern, Connecticut, and Tessa Woodruff’s herbal apothecary shop, For the Love of Lavender, is suffering. So is her once-happy 34-year marriage to Lee. They’d given up everything to come back to New Bern from Boston and start their business, but now they’re wondering if they made the right decision.

There's no one I hate more in our small town, and now that my dad is his boss, I can't avoid him. And maybe…maybe I don't want to. Because the more I get to know him, I realize there's more to him than I thought. With each intimate conversation and accidental touch, the sizzling tension between us grows. He makes me laugh. We understand each other in a way no one has before.

Maeve McKenna is on the verge of a breakdown. Having worked herself into the ground as a sought-after interior designer in London, she’s in desperate need of a vacation. Philomena Duffy is a little lonely. After losing her husband, their crumbling mansion, Willow House, feels awfully empty. With the rugged shores of Ireland calling, Maeve visits her aunt Philomena in Sandy Cove, where she once, as a teenager, kissed a wild, mysterious boy - a kiss she has never been able to forget.

The population of Falls Creek, North Carolina, is a collective menace to society. Layla thought the first line of her orientation packet was a joke, but she soon realized it was all facts. After only a few hours on the job, the whip-smart flight nurse found herself flying headfirst into small-town drama.

When Gregory Tomasov moves into an abandoned farm on the edge of McGuane, Arizona, he discovers a terrible secret buried in the walls of the old building.

Every summer the peaches ripen in Port Peter, and the tourists arrive to gorge themselves on fruit and sun. They don't see the bird women, who cavort on the cliffs and live in a meadow beneath the lake. But when summer ends and the visitors go back home, every pregnant Port Peter girl knows what she needs to do: deliver her child to the Birds in a laundry basket on those same lakeside cliffs. But the Birds don't want Georgia Jackson.

Moving to Wyoming wasn't part of my five-year plan. Of course, neither was finding out my husband had a mistress. Or becoming a widow before the divorce was finalized. Really, nothing in the last six months has been anything less than a mess. Desperate for a fresh start, I pack up my life and move to the one place I've ever felt myself: Creek Falls. And it works, too, when I manage the statistically impossible feat of finding my scent matches.

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.

Sloane Parker lives a small, contained life as a librarian in her small, contained town. She never thinks of herself as lonely...but still she looks forward to that time every day when old curmudgeon Arthur McLachlan comes to browse the shelves and cheerfully insult her. Their sparring is such a highlight of Sloane's day that when Arthur doesn't show up one morning, she's instantly concerned. And then another day passes, and another.

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.

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.

Chase Montgomery has always been the golden boy of Wrightsville Beach—reckless, charming, and impossible to resist. And Savannah Monroe? She was the one girl he never forgot. Years ago, Savannah left, determined to escape the past—and him. But when she returns for one last summer in this small coastal town, the boy who once set her soul on fire is no longer just a memory. He's a man. Quieter, stronger, and just as devastating.

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.

Robin never imagined she'd be on the run, but after being framed for a crime she didn't commit, her only option is to disappear. She lands in Fairhaven Falls, a quirky small town full of creatures that should terrify her—but after dealing with real-life villains, a town of monsters is almost a relief. If only she didn't keep falling into the arms of the town's huge werewolf sheriff....

Nestled in a cozy cottage with a lush garden and an abundance of bookshelves, Ursula hopes for a peaceful escape. But strange occurrences quickly unravel, leaving her feeling as though she's being watched. Unusual visions of a mysterious purple-haired woman and out-of-season plants add to her unease. As she becomes acquainted with the enigmatic Rowan and his eccentric house truck, Ursula begins to suspect that he may hold the key to understanding the bizarre happenings in this enchanting world.

One of America’s most celebrated novelists, Cormac McCarthy announced his towering presence on the literary stage with his first novel, The Orchard Keeper. Within the pages of this classic work, John Wesley Rattner, his uncle Ather, and bootlegger Marion Sylder find their lives dangerously entwined in pre-World War II Tennessee. There, the men’s tragedies and struggles are mirrored by the looming specter of industrialization.

Minnesota, 1977. For the teens of one close-knit community, summer means late-night swimming parties at the quarry, the county fair, and venturing into the tunnels beneath the city. But for two best friends, it’s not all fun and games. Heather and Brenda have a secret. Something they saw in the dark. Something they can’t forget. They’ve decided to never tell a soul. But their vow is tested when their friend disappears—the second girl to vanish in a week. And yet the authorities are reluctant to investigate.

Marissa’s catering company is her passion project but it’s swiftly turning into a financial disaster. With bills piling up and her culinary dreams crumbling faster than aged cheddar, she’s determined to win the prize money. There’s just one problem: she’s been paired with William Graff, who wrecked her display when she catered his wealthy family’s party and who she’s convinced is an entitled jerk. But as they race through challenges, from Christmas light chaos to competitive snowman-creation, Marissa discovers there’s more to William than his trust fund and his ugly holiday sweater collection.

I'd spent my entire life voiceless. Ignored. Put to the side. All because I couldn't communicate with the humans that I was forced to be around. All because I wasn't surrounded by my kind. My parents subjected me to the worst type of loneliness because of their history—their hatred.