Rural Life

In The Sweet Hereafter, Russell Banks tells a story that begins with a school bus accident. Using four different narrators, Banks creates a small-town morality play that addresses one of life's most agonizing questions: When the worst thing happens, who do you blame?

★★ Fall in love with clean, wholesome, and cozy small-town romance, filled with delightful characters and brimming with joy! ★★ Savor the magic of romance in the complete collection of Josie Riviera’s 1-800 home-flipping series. SIX clean, sweet, and wholesome contemporary romances—exclusively in one giant collection. Small-town romance at its best. Cozy up with your favorite beverage and lose yourself in these delightful stories. This collection includes the following 6 books:1-800-CUPID A house flipper looking for quick profit. A survivor with a dream. Can two broken hearts ...

Charlene Ann Baumbich—award-winning journalist and best-selling author of the Dearest Dorothy novels—launches a series of heartwarming stories linked by the swirling flakes of one special snowglobe. In this charming tale of second chances, renewed faith, and forgiveness, a captivating heirloom triggers inexplicable changes.

Jay Austin did what it took to get ahead and make the quick sell at work. Problem was - the more successful he was, the more he traded what really mattered. His integrity. His relationship with his wife. His time with his son. He was chasing things that had no eternal significance. It wasn’t until God slowly unraveled everything that he saw how empty his life had become.

When she was still a child, Lucy Nelson had her alcoholic failure of a father thrown in jail. Ever since then she has been trying to reform the men around her, even if that ultimately means destroying herself in the process. With his unerring portraits of Lucy and her hapless, childlike husband, Roy, Roth has created an uncompromising work of fictional realism, a vision of provincial American piety, yearning, and discontent that is at once pitiless and compassionate.

At nine years of age, Logan Weber knows the routine. Keep quiet, make the food last, and don’t ever cause trouble. He’ll do what it takes to evade the rages of his troubled, violent father. Even though he’s only a child, Logan already knows too much - has seen too much. So when the opportunity presents itself, Logan runs. He has no idea where his journey will lead, or that the grandmother he’s been told is dead is desperately searching for him. Alone with no home of his own, Logan looks for a safe place to hide.

Chris Thornton, a rugged cowboy with eyes that hold the warmth of the prairie sun and the mysteries of the Montana mountains, has a big heart in need of a woman’s love. As he herds cattle, dreams of the future, and whispers to the horses in the quiet of the night, fate and an odd set of circumstances set their sights on him. Julia Brown, a high school teacher with a smile as bright as the morning sun and dreams that reach beyond the classroom, finds herself at the Double Horseshoe Ranch when a twist of destiny brings her car careening into a snowbank. As her life takes an unexpected turn,...

Michael is a rising OB/GYN at a prominent private practice in Albany, New York; he also moonlights at a local women’s health clinic. But Annie, his wife, has become tired of her workaholic husband’s absences, and the soccer-mom lifestyle has worn thin. She begins a passionate love affair with bad-boy, fading celebrity painter Simon Haas—an affair that quickly goes awry when Simon’s wife, Lydia, who is also the model upon whom he built his career, discovers the truth.

An exquisite new collection from a Pulitzer Prize-winning master of the short story, the culmination of a five-decade career: work that takes us beneath the placid surface of suburban life into the elusive strangeness of the everyday.

A thrill-seeking, deceitful, devious woman who wields her beauty as a weapon arrives in the isolated Mojave Desert town of Smoke Tree on a sweltering hot day in July of 1974 with her overmatched boyfriend. A Black family fleeing the wrath of the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi arrives at the same time. Their confluence leads to a murder and a kidnapping. Captain Carlos Caballo of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, known as "Horse" throughout the Lower Colorado River Basin, must sort through the pieces to protect his town.

Todd, the youngest of four children, has a developmental disability that keeps him at home on the farm with his mother and father. One special holiday season, Todd hears an ad on the radio from a shelter looking for temporary homes for their dogs during the holiday week. When Todd's parents at last give in to his pleas for this charitable cause, the family is faced with an entire shelter full of dogs needing homes.

It’s the summer of 1919, and Ellen O’Brien has her whole life ahead of her. Young, in love and leaving home for her first job, the future seems full of shining possibility. But war is brewing, and before long, Ellen and everyone around her are swept up by it. As Ireland is torn apart by the turmoil, Ellen finds herself facing the ultimate test of love and loyalty. A hundred years later and Clare Farrell has inherited a dilapidated old farmhouse in County Meath.

Will Anya, the beautiful unclaimed treasure of Orchard County be swept off her feet by the newcomer? How might the tension between them spark a relationship of love and productivity for the farm and their futures? The Fruits of Orchard County is a Christian Romance Series predicated on the Fruits of the Spirit verses found in Galatians 5:22-23. The setting is a rural Michigan county where there is an abundance of orchards and fields of vegetables. Life in Orchard County is laid back and full of rich traditions and family values. This clean romance series will give you a heartwarming ...

FROM DUSTY ROADS AND DEAD ENDS, A NEBRASKA NATIVE SON FINDS HIS WAY A former Nebraska state senator hails from the heart of rural Nebraska—tiny Bassett, Nebraska, population 1,010—where his father and grandfather owned and operated the fertilizer plant, the backbone of the rural community. Born into the tapestry of small-town existence, Coash’s narrative unfolds against the backdrop of tight-knit neighbors and the enduring spirit of the American small town. In this inspiring coming-of-age memoir. Coash chronicles the challenges of the rural economy on his father and his fertilizer ...

Freddie and Greg Tyler seem to have it all: a comfortable home, a beautiful young daughter, a bond that feels unbreakable. But when Greg is diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer, the sense of certainty they once knew evaporates. Throughout their town, friends and neighbors face the most difficult of life’s challenges and are figuring out how to survive thanks to love, grace, and hope.

Emma Laurent has always preferred helping others to asking for help. But now, she’s the one in need. Her stepmother is selling her late father’s candy shop, her grandmother’s assisted-living facility has become a financial burden, and the anniversary of her fiancé’s death is quickly approaching. Rather than face her problems, Emma does what she does best - finds someone else to help by offering a mother and son with nowhere to go somewhere to stay.

The Lindsay family has come west hoping to help the father, John, recover from an illness. When they arrive, they are induced to purchase Spanish Peaks Ranch, an abandoned United States military post surrounded by mountains. It seems like a perfect place to settle into their new life as ranchers. As they soon find out, though, this deserted fort is equally suited for both protection and imprisonment.

Once Elle lets the tiger out of the cage, it’s impossible to get him back in… Elle Baker’s had enough of men telling her how to live her life. She loves her job at the Treats to Tempt You shop in Doubtless Bay, New Zealand. But repeated issues with her overbearing father and arrogant ex have persuaded her it’s time for a fresh start, and she’s planning to move away to Wellington at the end of the month. When Stuart Casey’s childhood sweetheart lay dying, she made him swear to her that he’d never love another girl as long as he lived. So far, he’s kept his promise, even ...

She’s settling into a new life. But when a fishing trip totally capsizes, can she get a friend off the hook for murder? Elizabeth Trout still feels awkward living back home. Discovering a BFF from her raucous high-school days has become the perfect mom is as weird as staying with her mother while awaiting construction of her new home. But she’s shaken to her core when her newlywed husband and beloved dog are nearly blown out of the water in a dockside explosion which leaves another woman dead … and her bestie is arrested for the crime. To clear her friend, Elizabeth and her spouse set...

Aurora Sinclair is about to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a small town baker. There's only one problem. The rundown bakery she inherited from her Uncle Jim is in serious need of repairs. How does Randall Woods fit into this equation? He's the best (and grumpiest) man for the job. The lumberjack with a troubled past knows exactly what Aurora needs to get her uncle's old bakery up and running in no time. If he's willing to help, that is... And who better to convince him than the sweetest new resident of Love Springs! Aurora bakes up a plan to persuade the grumpy lumberjack to help. ...