Rural Town

In my perfect world I would be selling gourmet donuts, creating art that people loved, be married to my high school sweetheart, live in an adorable dream house. I had big plans for my life once, but nothing was turning out like I thought it would. One day I looked in the mirror and the strong, creative girl of my childhood wasn’t smiling back at me anymore. My aunt must’ve known something that I didn’t, because when she left me her cottage on Sweetwater Island, a tiny spark lit inside me. Could this be a second chance at the life I always dreamed of?

Posadas County, sitting along New Mexico's southern border, has enjoyed a surge in visitors, jobs, and prosperity since rancher Miles Waddell used much of his inherited half billion to create an internationally renowned astronomy complex atop Torrance Mesa. Passion, not profit, drives Waddell. Yet benefits include a narrow-gauge train linking the village of Posadas to NightZone. But a ripple of unease is felt across the county with the arrival of developer - no, speculator - Kyle Thompson.

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.

Molly Wells is keeping a lot of secrets, such as why she's stolen her ex-husband's expensive stallion and driven him hundreds of miles to the ranch of horse whisperer Jake Coulter and why she's arrived with no job, no money, and an all-consuming fear. Molly may be willing to risk everything to save the stallion, but it's herself she really needs to save. By making a place for Molly on his ranch, Jake suspects that he may be harboring a thief. But there's something about this courageous, yet vulnerable, woman that tugs on his heartstrings.

Billy Edgewater is a harbinger of doom. Estranged from his family, discharged from the navy and touched by a rising desperation, he sets out hitchhiking home to East Tennessee, where his father is slowly dying. On the road, separately, are Sudy and Bradshaw, brother and sister, and a one-armed con man named Roosterfish. All, in one way or another, have their pasts and futures embroiled with D. L. Harkness, a predator in all the ways there are.

Luka and Rook have been best friends since they were nine years old. Five years ago, Luka threw it all away. When his dad’s health takes a turn for the worst, Luka must come home to say his goodbyes and mend the bridges he burned all those years ago. Coming home is harder than he imagined, and after reuniting with his family, there’s only one person he needs. Rook. His best friend. The one man he pushed away, the one man, no matter how hard he tried to forget, he can't stop himself from loving. Even if loving him means breaking his heart all over again.

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?

In the tiny village of Sandy Cove in Ireland, Ella Caron is trying to recover. When she moved to a beautiful coastguard cottage on the sea, she wanted quiet and the space to grieve after her mother’s death. She never imagined that her mother’s best friend, Lucille, would insist on moving in to keep her company. With Lucille by her side, it soon becomes clear that Lucille has her own reasons for coming to Sandy Cove. But then Lucille’s son, Rory, comes to town and her dream is under threat: he wants her in Tipperary, where she can safely grow old in their family home.

Blade Hamilton is the last of his line. He's never even heard of Crossroads, Texas, until he inherits land there. Riding in on his vintage Harley-Davidson, Blade finds a weathered ranch house, an empty prairie, and a dark river that cuts a decisive path between the Hamiltons' land and that of their estranged neighbors. When Dakota helps a stranger on the roadside, she isn't prepared for the charisma of the man on the motorbike - or for the last name he bears: Hamilton, of her family's sworn enemies.

Dating Matthew O’Brien - a playboy and younger man - cost Laila Riley her career and her parents’ respect: a high price, even for love. So when Laila decides it was just a fling, she breaks it off, despite Matthew’s objections. But the O’Brien family has other ideas, and they conspire to get Laila to join them on a Dublin holiday. It’s a great time to get away from it all, but Laila has reservations about the trip. Matthew’s bound to be there, and she’s far from immune.

Lottery winner and ex-journalist Donal Fitzgerald joins forces with his girlfriend, DNR conservation officer Mercy Virdon, to solve the mysterious death of a beloved angler, Charlie, who was murdered in his tent in a state campground and who was known by all - and who may have known too much. Set in the engaging small town of Ossning on the Borchard River in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula - an angler’s dream, filled with eccentric, believable, sympathetic, and unforgettable characters - Riverwatcher is a classic whodunit.

Dani unexpectedly inherits an enormous old house in a quaint college town and pursues her true passion - cooking! She opens Chef-to-Go, preparing delicious, ready-made meals for hungry students as well as providing personal chef services. To help support her new business, she opens her home to a few students, renting them rooms and becoming almost like a big sister figure in their lives. But just as Dani is relishing her sweet new life, the friend of one of her boarders is murdered, and Dani becomes one of the primary suspects!

When Jim Qwilleran's friend Polly decides to spend two weeks on vacation with an old girlfriend in Oregon, he finds himself at a loose end—but not for long. A visit from Nick Bamba brings news of a hotbed of mystery. Nick and his wife fear that their new venture, the Domino Inn, won't see out one summer season, let alone a lifetime. A series of fatal accidents on the recently developed Breakfast Island is beginning to deter further visitors, forcing Jim and his cats, Koko and Yum Yum, to scramble for clues.

In all the time the Tufa have existed, only two have ever been exiled: Bo-Kate Wisby and her lover, Jefferson Powell. They were cast out, stripped of their ability to make music, and cursed to never be able to find their way back to Needsville. Their crime? A love that crossed the boundary of the two Tufa tribes, resulting in the deaths of several people. Somehow, Bo-Kate has found her way back and she intends to take over both tribes. The only one who can stop Bo-Kate is Jefferson.

This complete collection includes all of the published stories of Eudora Welty. There are 41 stories in all, including those in the earlier collections A Curtain of Green, The Wide Net, The Golden Apples, and The Bride of the Innisfallen, as well as previously uncollected stories.

Young nurse Gemma is struggling with the traumas she has witnessed through her job. Needing to escape from it all, she agrees to help renovate a rundown farmhouse in Doullens, France, a town near the Somme. There, in a boarded-up cupboard is a tin that reveals the secret letters and heartache of Alice Le Breton, a young volunteer nurse who worked in a casualty clearing station near the front line. Set in the present day and during the horrifying years of the war, both women discover deep down the strength and courage to carry on in even the most difficult of times.

Ivy Marin’s life implodes after discovering her late husband spent their life savings on a beach house. Strapped for cash as an art teacher and with nowhere to go, Ivy and her recently jilted sister head to Summer Beach to recreate their lives. If only renovating a historical home didn’t unveil a host of hidden secrets in the beachside community—and her former high school crush wasn’t in charge of the small town.

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.

May Rosevere has reached the grand old age of 110, thanks to several slices of toast with butter every morning, a glass (or two) of port, and the wonders of the Cornish sea air - or so she tells everyone. But there’s much more to May than her remarkable age. She has a secret. One that no one has ever discovered....

Two years ago, I chose him over me. Just because I was stuck in this small town, living a small-town life, didn't mean he had to be stuck, too. He had so much talent, and he was destined to do big things, but I knew he'd never leave without me. Not unless I made him. I knew it would break his heart, but it was the price I'd have to pay for his freedom.