Small Town & Rural

After ten years of loyal service, Daisy Butterworth has been made redundant. Like any clever woman, she knows the cure to redundancy is a little too much wine and her best friend. Only the next morning, Daisy has more than a hangover...she has a whole new house—in France....

Knox lives alone, and he likes it that way. Unfortunately, runaway bride Naomi is about to have her life implode on his doorstep.

I haven't stepped foot in Hartsville, Texas, population one thousand, since my parents split when I was six. Now a city girl through and through, I never imagined having to move back to cowboy country. But I need the money to invest in my company, and a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

Set in the eccentric backwater of Karakarook (pop. 1,374), New South Wales, this is the story of Douglas Cheeseman, a shy and clumsy engineer with jug-ears who meets Harley Savage....

Wade Ashby doesn't let anyone in. With the death of his father and his failed marriage, plus the weight of the family business on his shoulders, Wade has plenty to deal with. He thrives on being the one constant and steady thing in his family's life and on their ranch, Silver Pines.

With its old-world glamour, sprawling seaside grounds and air of possibility, the Duchess Hotel might just be the place to help four women rediscover who they are and bring some spark back to their lives.

Single dad, Joel Grainger, is devoted to his little girl, Imogen, doing all he can to be a key part of her life. But with Imogen’s mum being ever more difficult and Joel’s job suddenly in doubt, he’s worried that everything is about to change.

A body is found on a quiet lane in Exmoor, victim of a hit and run....

After many months of grief over her brother's illness and death, journalist Zara Ellison is finally ready to begin a new chapter of her life and make a commitment to her boyfriend, Senior Constable Jack Higgins....

When former journalist turned café owner Kate Jackson abandons her six-month-old baby and disappears without a word, the quirky offshore community of Cook's Basin quickly steps in to salvage a delicate and difficult situation.

Dolly Maunder is born at the end of the nineteenth century, when society's long-locked doors are just starting to creak ajar for determined women. Growing up in a poor farming family in rural New South Wales, Dolly spends her life doggedly pushing at those doors.

It should be the most wonderful time of the year for Samantha and Josh as they prepare for the arrival of their first baby. But life at Hedgehog Hollow rarely goes to plan and the pair are faced with adversaries, old and new, and unexpected challenges to overcome....

Faith Forrester is at a crossroads. Single, thirty and living on a farm in a small Western Australian town, she's sick of being treated like a kitchen slave by her brother and father. Ten years ago, her mother died of breast cancer, and Faith has been treading water ever since....

A friends-to-lovers, only-one-bed, fake dating romance from million-copy bestseller Portia MacIntosh.

1987: It's late summer and a time of change when a 17-year-old girl leaves the local shopping center in the sleepy town of Lowbridge and is never seen again. Her unsolved disappearance is never far from the town's memory. And it just takes an outsider to ask the right questions....

Kira North hates Christmas. Which is unfortunate since she just bought a Christmas tree farm in a town that’s too cute for its own good.

Born in the workhouse and adopted by a former suffragette, Frances Brakespeare was encouraged from an early age to be strong, independent and to pursue a career as a doctor. The tragic loss of the love of her life in the Great War propels Frances to commit to her one true vocation.

From the author of beloved top 10 best sellers The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club and The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle comes a delightful new novel about friendship, love and finding yourself....

Bristol detective DS George Cross, champion of the outsider, the voiceless and the dispossessed. DS George Cross can be rude, difficult and awkward with people. But his unfailing logic and dogged pursuit of the truth means his conviction rate is the best on the force....

When Conor’s dream for Castle Dysert is facing ruin by circumstances outside his control he refuses to be beaten. Surely there must be a way to save everything they’ve worked so hard for?

Samantha and Lauren will need the love and support from the Hedgehog Hollow family more than ever. After all, some dreams are worth chasing....

Liam Castle knows the secrets of everyone in Bunyip Bay. As the owner of the pub, he's heard it all - from marriage proposals and farming disasters to family rifts and everything in between. The locals love to confide in him, but no one knows he's hiding a tragic past....

I've loved Sofie Copewell for as long as I can remember. She was all I ever wanted. We said someday we'd have a family together and raise them on our ranch in Landmark Mountain. She was my home. My forever....

Peony flower farmer Clancy Parker was born and bred in the Australian high country. Small-town Bundilla is the only place she will ever truly belong, even if staying means remaining alone. The man she'd loved is long gone, and single men are as rare as a summer snowfall....

Lucie Tamberlani had it all: a business manager with a passion for naturopathy, she was set to take over the bookwork at the family strawberry farm in South Australia. But the unexpected fallout from a relationship sees her flee to Melbourne....

When Gabrielle Solomon falls, she falls hard. Even if that means literally toppling over a porch railing in nothing but a flimsy towel—right in front of her sexy new neighbor. Jay Stetson is 100 percent hero material with those arms, that chest, and his deliciously oh-so-sexy smirk. The chiseled hunk in flannel has an irresistible off-limits attitude while plucking Gabrielle out of the bushes and saving her from a snake. Unfortunately, he’s not indulging in what Gabrielle is offering—not with his emotional train wreck of a past.

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.

Successful horse trainer Alissa Morgan–Jones has the world at her feet, until a tragic fire destroys everything. Widowed, in debt and under suspicion for arson, Alissa's life is in tatters. Her mother–in–law's isolated farm gives her the opportunity to pull her life back together and get herself back on her feet. Four years after fleeing the city and the scandal that ruined his career, disgraced lawyer Cameron Blakely has a successful new business and a new life.

A week on Pearl Island is exactly the R&R that perpetual planner Andie Alcott needs.

I waited eight years to marry the father of my children. I worked on our relationship. I was patient. I forgave—the thoughtless remarks, the disappointments, the test results when I was expecting our youngest that proved he hadn't been "working late." Then, when we finally made it to the altar, he looked deep into my eyes, smiled, and cracked a fat joke. That wasn't the worst of it. His vows weren't a promise to love. They were a final test of exactly what I'd do to get his ring on my finger—what I'd take—in front of our family, friends, and their cell phones.

A city girl leaves her life behind in LA to start over in a small town… It’s a cliché, but it’s also Amelia Taylor’s life. And her new life as a romance novelist and motelier is going great—until Nathan Hart checks in. Of course he’s disastrously handsome, thoroughly disagreeable, and seems to be set against Amelia on sight. Of course there’s smoldering tension between them that can’t be ignored. They’d make the perfect enemies to lovers story. It’s one of Amelia’s favorite tropes.

All Pippa Green has ever wanted is marriage and kids, but at thirty-four and about to embark on IVF, her dream of having a family is far from certain. Pippa’s younger sister Georgie has the opposite problem, juggling her career, her lover, a young daughter and a husband who wants baby number two. She seems to have it all. But does she? Carefree Sienna, Pippa’s best friend, is happy travelling the world with her successful career in film, however, long term boyfriend Ashton is desperate for Sienna to commit to their future. When mother nature has a surprise, will it make or break them?

When Marina Moore’s life blows up on national television, she seeks refuge at her grandmother’s beach house called the Coral Cottage. Now in her mid-forties with children in college, Marina is in dire need of her grandmother's gutsy advice to a well-lived life. Marina meets an old friend, Ivy Bay, proprietor of the Seabreeze Inn, who encourages her to share her love of food at the local farmer’s market. Soon Marina’s sister Kai arrives on a summer break from her musical theater troupe.

April Raines is facing the end of her long-term marriage after her husband begins another family. Eager for a fresh start, she returns home with her grown daughters to Crown Island, just off the coast of Southern California. When Ryan Kingston acquires the historical Majestic Hotel, he is determined to bring the vintage Victorian beach resort back to life. But it could come at a steep cost to him and his carefully guarded privacy. Especially when April Raines, head of the new Crown Island Historical Society, captures his attention. Will they both get a second chance at life?

From USA Today bestselling author Dakota Davies comes an all new small town suspense romance about a broken military hero and the soft-hearted girl he’ll burn the world down to save.

Forty-four years after a whirlwind romance whisked Kelly away, her past crashes like a wave on Provincetown's shores where Lily, armed with a shattered marriage and a burning need for answers, seeks the truth behind her mother's mysterious departure. Dive headfirst into a stunning tale of family ties and forbidden truths. Lily, once the wife of a high-powered defense attorney and mother to three, now stands at life's crossroads.

Von der Schönheit und der Härte des einfachen Lebens, von der Gnade der Freundschaft und dem Moment des Verlusts. Der alte Max hat alle Zeit. Draußen vor dem Fenster legt sich der Schnee wie eine Decke über das Dorf. Da dringt das Läuten des Totenglöckchens durch die Stille. Es schlägt für den Schorsch, der viel mehr war als nur ein Freund, ein Leben lang. So macht sich Max am Abend auf zur Totenwacht, wo die Alten zusammenkommen, um des Verstorbenen zu gedenken und sich zu erinnern. Eine ganze Nacht erzählen sie von den Freuden bei der Ernte, von Abenden in der Wirtsstube, vom kleinen Glück.

When seasoned bodyguard Jack Morgan arrives in Ashford, he expects a simple assignment: protect a prominent politician whose recent anti-corruption policies have sparked backlash. But Jack quickly realizes that Ashford is no ordinary town. Beneath its quaint, small-town charm lies a network of secrets, and a sinister presence seems to be manipulating events from the shadows.

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.

Parent. Work. Football. That’s my life summed up in three words. Sure, I used to be a pro NFL baller, but now I’m perfectly content with a quiet life in my small hometown of Peachtree Grove, Georgia. That is until Bree, a beautiful blonde dating expert, gets tackled at my Pee Wee football practice, knocking me off my game.

Professional rodeo cowboy Rye Calhoun has been the primary breadwinner for his family since he was seventeen. Now thirty, there’s still no time for romance, and there certainly isn’t room for beautiful Texan Ansley Campbell, an artist with big dreams…dreams that don’t align with his.

Joseph Walls spends his childhood in a haunted house. Elsewhere, Kristin Stevenson finds herself in a hospital bed. Before long, she and Joseph meet through their mutual friend, T.J. The trio spend their weekends exploring Appalachia in a blue Buick Roadmaster. On Halloween night in the year 2000, everything changes. Joseph takes his new friends to the house where he grew up. Unbeknownst to Joey, Kristin has been having bad dreams about this house.

Oregon, 1925. Like his semi-reclusive parents, ten-year-old George Graham doesn’t have friends, preferring to live inside the safe and predictable world of his books. This all changes when his classmate Louise Pearson, new to town, befriends him. Curious about his family’s secrets, and with plenty of her own, the pair become an irrepressible, inseparable team, bantering and bickering their way through what turns out to be an unforgettable summer.

Farbenprächtige Rosenfelder, ein geheimes Archiv der Düfte, mysteriöse Todesfälle... Es ist Mitte Mai in der Provence. Pierre Durand genießt das Zusammenleben mit Charlotte, doch als deren Jugendfreundin Anouk auftaucht, ist es mit der Idylle vorbei. Die Rosenzüchterin steht unter Mordverdacht – ihr Nachbar wurde tot in seinem »Archiv der Düfte« aufgefunden, wertvolle Dokumente fehlen. Charlotte ist von der Unschuld ihrer Freundin überzeugt. Die Beweislage ist alles andere als eindeutig, und so macht Pierre sich auf die Suche nach der Wahrheit.

Boston-born first-responder Alex Flynn is back with wry wit and still chasing emergencies in rural Vermont in this tale involving a gas line, a chainsaw, and other things that might or might not go boom and that might or might not go horrible wrong. Eavesdrop on emergency personnel as they attempt to diffuse a dicey situation in this, the first in the Trowbridge Dispatch collection of short stories.