Rural Town Fiction

Herring is a hapless lobster fisher lost in an unexceptional life, bored of thinking the same old thoughts. One December day, following a hunch, he cuts a hole in the living room floor and installs a hoist, altering the course of everything in his life.

As a millworkers’ strike in the northern lumber town of Roberval drags on, tensions start to escalate between the workers—but when a lockout renews their solidarity, they rally around the mysterious and magnetic influence of Querelle, a dashing newcomer from Montreal. Strapping and unabashed, likeable but callow, by day he walks the picket lines and at night moves like a mythic Adonis through the ranks of young men who flock to his apartment for sex.

I know Tuck Monroe is trouble the second I walk in to interview for the nanny position. Six-four and covered in tattoos, he's distractingly hot. He's also grumpy as hell. But I need to pay for school, so I take a job as his daughter's live-in caretaker and move into the apartment above his garage. I fall hard for Katie, his adorable four-year-old. But I never expected to fall for my new boss, who's a decade older than I am. Turns out there's a heart of gold beneath Tuck's broody exterior, one I work to reveal bit by bit.

At the Coral Cottage, this summer is as busy as ever. Marina’s sister Kai moved up her wedding, but she won’t say why, and her new theater production is shrouded in secrecy. Frankly, the timing couldn’t be worse. Still, Marina is determined to expand her Coral Cafe with a new food truck and staff. As for Marina’s relationship with her on-again, off-again boyfriend Jack, she’s unsure if her grown children will accept a new marriage and a younger stepbrother. Or will this summer spell an end to their romance?

With my little girl in tow, I pack up my Texas roots, seeking a fresh start in Landmark Mountain. Leaving behind a trail of shattered trust and a cheating ex, the last thing I expect is to collide with a sexy stranger. Our first encounter is a whirlwind of heated words and fiery glares. But fate's twisted sense of humor places him right in my path, not once, but many times over and over again. Why does Dr. Wyatt Landmark have to be related to my best friend's boyfriend?

Tucked away in the foothills, surrounded by pine forests, loaded with kids who still play outside, Millwood is the small town everyone knows. For Heather Bradley, it's a place that keeps her family safe; her biggest worries are the daily grind of her job and the kids coming home late. She doesn't know that unfathomable forces are set to converge on her town and thrust their neat lives into darkness, but when her oldest son Stuart opens a one-sided door in the woods and a black cloud pours out, the Bradleys and their whole town find themselves locked in a desperate struggle for survival.

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?

In Louviec, einem kleinen Ort in der Bretagne, gehen merkwürdige Dinge vor sich: Ein Wildhüter wird mit einem kostbaren Messer in der Brust tot aufgefunden. In der Nacht zuvor wollen die Alten des Dorfes den hinkenden Schritt eines Geistes gehört haben, der immer dann erklingt, wenn Unheil bevorsteht. Als Adamsberg, der legendäre Kommissar, von dem Fall Wind bekommt, ist er nicht mehr zu halten: Er steigt in die Ermittlungen ein und sofort fallen ihm drei Flohbisse an der Leiche auf – ein Detail, das sonst niemand gesehen hat.

He's the hottest man I've ever seen, someone I can't forget. So it hurts when I find out I've slept with the enemy. As a list maker and a rule follower, the last thing I planned on one of the worst days of my life was to fall into bed with a guy who literally charmed the clothes right off of me. With him, I felt safe to lay my sadness down for the night and embrace a stranger. Little did I know, that hot, gorgeous man would be Jamison Ledger, the one who has taken everything I've ever wanted—my legacy, my happiness, and what I've worked my whole life to attain.

Caught between two worlds, Caleb Stoltz is bound by a deathbed promise to raise his orphaned niece and nephew in Middle Grove, where life revolves around family, farm, faith - and long-held suspicions about outsiders. When disaster strikes, Caleb is thrust into an urban environment of high-tech medicine. Dr. Reese Powell is poised to join the medical dynasty of her wealthy, successful parents. When a shocking accident brings Caleb Stoltz into her life, Reese is forced to deal with a situation that challenges everything she thinks she knows.

Army veteran Cameron Pope arrives back in Jubilee, Kentucky, for the first time in years. He barely has time to catch his breath when he becomes embroiled in a race of life or death for his little niece and a deadly hunt for the human traffickers who are destroying the peace of his mountain town. When he's reunited with Rusty Caldwell—a woman from his past he's never stopped thinking about—he wants to believe they can finally be together.

Cecil Younger is a man who takes comfort in the absurdity of the universe, and the universe is obliging him when he gets a call from his lawyer and psychiatrist, who offers him a job. A client wants to hire Younger to kill someone. Though common sense tells him murder just isn't a good career move, his finances tell him it can't hurt to meet his potential client, hoping he can succeed in appeasing him - without a dead body.

After her mother’s sudden death, Karen finds herself back in her childhood home in Nova Scotia for the first time in a decade, acting as full-time caregiver to Kelli, her older sister. Overwhelmed with grief and the daily needs of Kelli, who was born with a developmental disability, Karen begins to feel consumed by the isolation of her new role. On top of that, she’s weighed down with guilt over her years spent keeping Kelli and their independent-to-a-fault mother, Irene, at arm’s length.

This 1936 novel—set in the California apple country—portrays a strike by migrant workers that metamorphoses from principled defiance into blind fanaticism.

In small-town Tennessee, 18-year-old Charlie Ross wagers a kiss from Anna Cochran, the prettiest girl in town, and wins. But before their burgeoning romance can take flight, Charlie is drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. Anna promises she'll wait for him, no matter how long it takes. But when Charlie is taken prisoner, and later presumed dead, Anna is left to pick up the pieces to her shattered world. Eight years later, Charlie comes home. But his triumphant return is short-lived when he discovers the love of his life has moved on.

Silver Tesdal has a head for business and a mouth made for kissing, and banker Drew Lovato has his eye on both. But ever since he was dumb enough to let her go, she’s kept him at a distance. When the bank turns her down for a loan, Drew sees an opportunity - he can finance her idea and win back her trust. Despite her reputation, Silver’s not as tough as she seems. Losing Drew nearly destroyed her. Still, his kisses are as tempting as his offer to invest in her business. If she can’t quite get over him, maybe she should get under him and knock him out of her system.

It’s been seven years since Gloomy Knob landed in the Ted Stevens High-Security Federal Penitentiary and five years since the end of the war, the one North Korea started when they sent a missile to Cold Storage, Alaska. Serving a life sentence for the murder of his sister, Gloomy spends his time trying to forget about the past. Then one day, Gloomy is snatched from his off-site work station. Instead of celebrating his newfound freedom, Gloomy comes unmoored - he feels he belongs in prison. But his kidnappers believe Gloomy knows where a second nuclear warhead is hidden.

An inheritance has reunited three estranged cousins. Their grandmother Lucy left Nessa, Flynn, and April her cabin nestled in the woods near Blossom, Texas, as well as a hope chest to be unlocked after they complete a special task. Together, they must hand stitch a cherished quilt Lucy left unfinished. It meant everything to her. And now, to three people struggling with their own patchwork pasts.

When the exuberant president of Ng'ombwana proposes to dispense with the usual security arrangements on an official visit to London, his old schoolmate, Chief Superintendent Alleyn, is called in to persuade him otherwise. Consequently, on the night of the embassy's reception, the house and grounds are stiff with police.

Always up for trying something new, Kath and her friends from the fiber and needlework group TGIF - Thank Goodness It's Fiber - are visiting Cloud Hollow Farm for the day to learn the fine art of dyeing. With spring in the air, the friends head out to greet the sheep. But the sheep are more interested in something else - two bodies spread under a tall tree. And one of those bodies is someone they know. Kath's friends nudge her to investigate.