Rural Life

A Nebraska native, Claude Wheeler wants to attend the State University but instead lives a typical college life as a Temple College student. However, when his successful father decides to expand the family farm, Claude's reality is changed forever as he's forced to drop out to help realize his father's dream. Later, as war wages on in Europe, he enlists, hoping to escape his dreary fate and find purpose.

After one too many heartbreaks, Travis Blake hung up his cowboy hat and put Big Verde, Texas, behind him. But when he gets the call that his young nephew needs him, he knows he has to return home. His plan is to sell the family ranch and hightail it back to Austin, but there's a small problem: The one person who stands in his way is the one person he can't resist.

This collection of humorous short essays combines affection for the timeless values of community life in an English village with a nostalgia for aspects that are quietly slipping away. Easy to dip into, this light-hearted volume provides entertaining reading for anyone interested in modern English rural community life, wherever they live. Written between 1991 and 2015, most of these essays first appeared in the Hawkesbury Parish News, the community newspaper for Hawkesbury Upton, the Cotswold village in which Debbie Young has lived for the last 25 years. Very active in village life, she is ...

In Shifting Sands and Second Chances at Anchor Cove, Addie Parker returns to her coastal hometown to rebuild her family’s inn—and her life—after her New York dreams collapse. Facing small-town secrets, a ruthless developer, and a rekindled romance with childhood love Dan Winston, Addie must decide if the past deserves a second chance. Set against crashing waves and cozy charm, this heartwarming story of redemption, resilience, and love proves that sometimes, coming home is the greatest risk—and the greatest reward.

Laurel Hill and her precocious daughter, Skye, have always been each other's everything. The pair lives on Lake Superior, where the local school has classes of just four children and the nearest hospital is a helicopter ride away. Though they live frugally, eking out a living with Laurel's patchwork of jobs, their deep love for each other feels like it can warm them even on the coldest of nights. What more do they need? One otherwise normal afternoon, their landlord decides to evict them in favor of a more profitable summer rental, and they are pushed farther to the margins.

Wiesbaden, 1968. In das Café Engel wurde eingebrochen. Die Familie Koch ist zutiefst erschüttert. Doch als Hilde bei den Aufräumarbeiten ein altes Foto aus der Gründerzeit findet, offenbart dies eine freudige Überraschung: Ihr Café wird 75 Jahre alt - und das muss gefeiert werden! Doch die Vorbereitungen zum Fest werden von unerwarteten Ereignissen überschattet. Während Hilde mit gesundheitlichen Problemen kämpft, verliert sich ihr Sohn Andi in Frankfurt in den Wirren der 68er-Bewegung, wo er in Claudia seine große Liebe findet.

A total of 1,843 days. That's how long I survived in that hellhole. They tried to break me, but I resisted. I owe it all to the memory of warm summer nights, the scent of peaches, and the one woman who loved me more than I ever deserved to be loved. Now, I'll do anything to get back to her. Only Shelby Eubanks isn't the girl I left behind all those years ago. She's someone else, a stranger.

A Mystery Book set in rural England during the late 19th century. "The Sin of Silence" weaves a captivating tale of village life centered around Parker Hall Farm in rural England. The narrative ignites with the leasing of Parker Hall Farm to the enigmatic Mr. Williams, leaving local farmer John Servideo's aspirations thwarted. The plot thickens with the arrival of Olivia Williams and her maid, Lucy, as they find themselves braving a cold reception and the village's dormant secrets. The Williams family’s arrival is marked by an overturned cab, a dilapidated farmhouse, and an unwelcome ...

The latest in this enchanting and fast-selling series, featuring the beloved ghost Aunt Dimity, opens in a picturesque English cottage where the lovable Lori Shepherd is up to her elbows in pureed carrots and formula bottles, striving to be the perfect mother to twins! Luckily, a beautiful Italian nanny arrives just in time - so Lori can help settle the local civil war stirred up by a visiting archaeologist's excavation. With Reginald, the stuffed pink rabbit, and Edmond Terrance, the stuffed tiger in tow, Lori hunts down a missing document.

A clean-but-cozy small-town romance novella with second chances, furry sidekicks, and a slow-burning spark that might heal them both. She came to rescue animals. He needed rescuing too. After her divorce and a career burnout, flirty optimist Evie Langford trades high heels and heartbreak for muddy boots and mutts in the quirky town of Hazel Bluff. She’s here for a fresh start—volunteering at the local animal rescue, baking lemon muffins no one asked for, and pretending her life isn’t held together by caffeine and goat hair. Dr. Nate Hawthorne isn’t looking for complications. The ex-...

When the arguing reaches a fever pitch, is it time to admit feelings that have been bubbling under the surface all along? Madison Taylor can’t forget the huge argument she’d had with her brother’s best friend. Technically he was her friend, too, but now that they were older they couldn’t seem to get along. And a year after their unforgettable fight, he’s trying her patience again. Alex Clark is determined to become a cowboy by the end of their dude ranch vacation. He wants the accomplishment, but he also wants to impress his friend Madison. Even though she’s a little prickly ...

The family saga of Johann Gehring, who at sixteen years old, travels to America. He begins his new life in the prairies of Nebraska. There he learns to dig a well and exist amid nature’s foes: tornados, prairie fires, and freezing winters. Johann changes his name to John and finds love with Helena. Together they build a home and raise five independent children including the head-strong, Berta. Helena teaches her children to be as strong as the prairie cottonwood. She warns that someday they will need to bend in the wind and support each other. Berta vow to be as formidable as the ...

Take a look at farm life in the 1950s After getting out of the Army in 1945, Bud Mertens embarks on his new life as a civilian. He finds love, attempts various career paths, and finally settles on farming—a life he was born into. Follow Bud and his wife Ida as they struggle to raise their family and try to make a success of farming. Despite many setbacks, they achieve more than they ever hoped they could. Humorous and heartwarming, you’ll laugh and cry along with Bud as he faces new challenges almost daily. Armed with only an 8th grade education, Bud not only survives, he thrives, ...

Viola Smith plays the viola in an orchestra (yes really!), but this year she's been asked to stretch her musical talents to organising Notting Hill's local nativity. Nate Williams isn't looking forward to Christmas, but as his small daughter, Grace, has the starring role in the show, he's forced to stop being a Grinch and volunteer with Viola. With the sparks between them hotter than the chestnuts roasting in Portobello market, Nate and Viola can't deny their feelings. And as the snow starts to fall over London, they find themselves trapped together in more ways than one....

Amazon Bestselling Author Kathleen Ryder brings you Fling With The Flying Doctor A cynical doctor. A nurse with a secret. How far would you go for the person you loved? James Cristo loves his role as a doctor working with the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Based in the isolated outback town of Alice Springs, his job is demanding, every call is another fight to save the life of a stranger. Betrayed by his ex-fiancé, he is cynical of relationships, vowing to never risk his heart again. Meghan Richards is a compassionate and talented nurse working on the children's ward. Trapped by her past ...

When 21-year-old Christopher’s life in the city becomes unbearable, he decides to spend the summer with his distant step-grandfather, Percival, on his farm. In the quiet of the countryside, Christopher finds himself drawn to Percival in ways he never expected. Percival, a rugged man with a commanding presence, has spent years keeping others at a distance. But Christopher’s arrival stirs unfamiliar interest in him, and as the two navigate the rhythms of farm life together, their connection grows. Christopher and Percival must grapple with the lines they’re tempted to cross—and the ...

As a toddler, Elodie Jacques was abandoned by her mother and left in the care of her French grandmother, Gabriella in Dartmouth, Devon. Now 24 years old, Elodie struggles to reconcile the deep anger for the mother she has never since seen. When Gabriella unexpectedly announces she wants the two of them to spend Christmas and her 70th birthday in her home town of Juan-les-Pins in the South of France, Elodie is thrilled. Gabriella meanwhile has her own ulterior motives for wanting to return after 40 years, a homecoming potentially filled with memories, secrets and recriminations.

When the Mast family is forced to evacuate their home in the West Kootenai region of Montana, Christine chooses not to move with her family to her father’s childhood home in Kansas. Instead, she wants to stay closer to home and to her beau, Andy Lambright, who has yet to ask for her hand in marriage and who seems to be holding tightly to secrets from his past. Now, living with her aunt and uncle in St. Ignatius, Christine is on her own for the first time in her life.

This Christmas Eve, I had one simple plan: close up the family café and face another quiet night alone. But fate had other ideas when Trystan—the boy who was once my best friend and first love—walked back into my life, dusted with snow and wearing a Marine uniform that made my heart skip a beat. I never expected to see him again, let alone offer him a place to stay when a canceled flight leaves him stranded. Under the glow of twinkling Christmas lights and over cups of hot cocoa, old memories resurface and the sparks between us reignite. But letting him in means risking the walls I've ...

The first four books in the Sagebrush Ranch in Montana series are part of this sweet romance collection! You'll find tropes like friends to lovers, single dad, best friend's sister, competing in business. Books in this collection are: When You're Friends When the friend you have a crush on gets dumped, you step up to help. Even if that means pretending to date her to make her ex jealous enough to come back. Bo’s best friend is suddenly single. He’s happy about that – her ex-boyfriend was a jerk. And now that she’s gotten rid of that dead weight, maybe he’ll have a chance. He’s ...