Melody Carlson

Managing the Value Lodge in her hometown was not what Anna Gordon had in mind when she set out in the hospitality industry. But it's a safe choice for a woman whose childhood was anything but stable. Out of the blue, she gets a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reinvent herself by moving to New York...

Home is the place to heal, right? That's what Dillon Michaels is hoping, at least, as she leaves her disappointing career and nonstarter love life behind to help her grieving and aging grandfather on his small Oregon farm. The only problem? Her eccentric mother beat her there and has taken over...

When Madison McDowell returns from several years teaching overseas, she has high hopes of picking up where she left off at her family's Christmas tree farm in Oregon. But between damage from a recent wildfire and the neglect due to her sister Addie's unwillingness to invest, the farm is in sad...

When life feels like it's closing in around you, sometimes the solution is to open the doors wide and invite others in … Jewel McKerry is on the brink of unraveling as she heads home to Oregon to help care for her father who has early-onset dementia. Her thirteen-year-old daughter is upset...

As they struggle to become the women they want to be, four housemates will find new hope, and maybe even learn a thing or two about life, love and the true meaning of friendship....

In the final story of The Inn at Shining Waters, Anna Larson's granddaughter Sarah is beginning to find her independence. But her relationship with her parents suffers as a result and she travels away from all that is familiar. While the solace of the river calls Sarah back, surprises await upon...

Kate Burrows has a life many would envy—a good job at a design firm, a huge house, beautiful memories of the late husband who gave her everything, and two grown kids doing well for themselves. But it's all begun to ring hollow as she wanders around a house that's too big for her. So when she...

Hannah Josephson had always been the “perfect” daughter. Kiera couldn’t live up to her before, and she certainly can’t now that her older sister has died in a car accident....

A crazed competition for bridesmaids, wedding locations, showers, attention, and a little peace and quiet takes over 86 Bloomberg Place....

If you lived in a different place and had a different job, couldn't you have a different life? Ginny Masters manages a popular boutique hotel in Seattle and manages it with aplomb. But the daily challenges and irritations of a fast-paced job and a demanding boss are starting to get to her...

Empty nester and widow Riva Owen lives in the Victorian house that's been in her family for three generations, but finances have become a challenge she can no longer ignore. Her daughter is pushing her to move, and after considering all her options, Riva knows selling would be the smartest...

Following her mother's funeral, and on the verge of her own midlife crisis, widow Anna Larson returns to the home of her youth to sort out her parents' belongings, as well as her own turbulent life. For the first time since childhood, Anna embraces her native heritage, despite the disdain of her...

When she receives the news in late 1944 that her baby's father was shot down in the South Pacific, Amelia Richards loses hope. Jobless and broke, she has nowhere to turn for help but her infant's paternal grandparents. The only problem is, they don't know that she—or their grandson—exists...

Anna Larson's daughter, Lauren, is confused, brokenhearted, and misguided. It's the turbulent 1960s, and feeling alienated from her mother, Lauren chooses to stay with her paternal grandmother. However, repelled by the woman's manipulative and spiteful ways, Lauren returns to her mother, the...

A trip to Hawaii turns into an emotional opportunity for the housemates to confront their deeper fears and work through the most troubling aspects of their relationships....

What will happen when a tropical escape from holiday blues turns into a snowy wonderland filled with joy and cheer? Carol Langstrom hates Christmas. Growing up in a dysfunctional home, with a birthday on December 25 and too many dashed childhood expectations, she would rather avoid the holiday...

An entertaining and humorous look at the relationship dilemmas of four unlikely female friends who share a small bungalow while launching their careers.

When Wendy Harper inherits her family's beach-side cottage in Seaside, Maine, she sees it as a way to finally pay off the debts that have mounted since her husband died. But before it can be sold, the neglected property must be renovated. She and her 12-year-old son Jackson move in -...

Mix six teenaged girls and one ’60s fashion icon (retired, of course) in an old Victorian-era boarding home. Add guys and dating, a little high-school angst, and throw in a Kate Spade bag or two … and you’ve got The Carter House Girls, Melody Carlson’s chick lit series for young adults!...

In Back Home Again, sleepy little Acorn Hill is in for a big surprise when the three sisters reunite after the death of their father, a beloved minister....