Showing results by publisher "-emdashery books-" in Small Town & Rural

The mask she wears for the world is flawless. But I want the mess that she hides underneath. Samantha Harper is untouchable. She's the closest thing we have to royalty in my small town. Daughter of a senator. Richer than sin. Classy, elegant, and Ice cold. She's my polar opposite. And unfortunately, She's exactly my type. Too bad royalty doesn't fraternize with peasants. Until one night, Samantha Harper finds herself at my mercy, and the temptation to dirty up her flawless façade is too great.

Geoffrey Lushington, Mayor of Marlow, dies suddenly during a Town Council meeting. When traces of aconite – also known as the queen of poisons – are found in his coffee cup, the police realise he was murdered. But who did it? And why? The police bring Judith, Suzie and Becks in to investigate as Civilian Advisors right from the start, so they have free rein to interview suspects and follow the evidence to their heart’s content, which is perfect because Judith has no time for rules and standard procedure. But this case has the Marlow Murder Club stumped.

Nestled in a cozy cottage with a lush garden and an abundance of bookshelves, Ursula hopes for a peaceful escape. But strange occurrences quickly unravel, leaving her feeling as though she's being watched. Unusual visions of a mysterious purple-haired woman and out-of-season plants add to her unease. As she becomes acquainted with the enigmatic Rowan and his eccentric house truck, Ursula begins to suspect that he may hold the key to understanding the bizarre happenings in this enchanting world.

Welcome to The Leap, an outback town fuelled by fear, churning with corruption, prejudice and misogyny–and blighted by its inescapable history of frontier violence. Into this nightmarish morass falters traumatised British diplomat, Benedict Fotheringham-Gaskill. He’s on his first Australian mission, one seemingly straightforward enough–until he arrives in The Leap to battle a town conspiring against him.

Savannah Abbott was my best friend growing up, and the reason I could be the best version of myself. But then, without warning, she was gone. And my life began unravelling the day she left. My guard went up, and my ability to trust people disappeared. But now, Savannah is back in Magnolia Falls, and she’s acting like I’m the enemy. That is, until she needs a favour. A temporary husband.

Summer Sullivan, the youngest founding member of Elm Creek Quilts, has spent the last two years pursuing a master’s degree in history at the University of Chicago. Her unexpected return home to the celebrated quilter’s retreat is met with delight but also concern from her mother, Gwen; her best friend, Sarah; master quilter Sylvia; and her other colleagues—and rightly so. Stymied by writer’s block, Summer hasn’t finished her thesis, and she can’t graduate until she does. vElm Creek Manor offers respite while Summer struggles to meet her extended deadline.

Charles Arrowby has determined to spend the rest of his days in hermit-like contemplation. He buys a mysteriously damp house on the coast, far from the heady world of the theatre where he made his name, and there he swims in the sea, eats revolting meals and writes his memoirs.But then he meets his childhood sweetheart Hartley, and memories of her lovely, younger self crowd in - along with more recent lovers and friends - to disrupt his self-imposed exile. So instead of 'learning to be good', Charles proceeds to demonstrate how very bad he can be.

Julia Volpe’s Italian dream has turned into a nightmare. Still living with her ex, Luca, a year after they’ve broken up, desperate to sell the dilapidated B&B that was meant to be their future, Jules knows she needs to leave. There are just two problems. Her passport has expired and she’s broke. Not quite ready to ask her parents for help – at the ripe old age of twenty-seven – Jules decides to head as far away from Luca as she can to work on an olive farm until she has enough money to pay for her passport and a ticket back home.

After breaking free from the gilded cage of my abusive marriage, I have nothing to my name but a letter from a long-lost relative. Come home, Willow. Your family is waiting for you. I sacrificed everything to flee for the tiny town of Briar Valley and its promise of a better life for my young daughter. Hope often takes the unlikeliest of forms, but I didn't expect to find it nestled among the rugged, snow-capped mountains. Nor did I intend to surrender my heart to three tortured mountain men hiding from their own grief in the thick forest of pine trees.

London City Vet, Phoebe Dashwood, finds her partner Hugh and their boss in a passionate clinch beneath the mistletoe at their works Christmas party. Heartbroken, she bolts to the New Forest, her childhood home to regroup and soul search. Being home gives Phoebe the chance to reconnect with friends and family and especially with her fiercely independent gran, widower Maggie Crowther, owner of Puddleduck Farm, and makeshift animal shelter New Forest Neddies. Deciding not to return to London, Phoebe hunts for work locally, hoping she can also help Maggie.

Molly McDaniel’s life is falling apart. Between her day job as a barista, her night job at a call center, and her crushing student loans, she’s barely getting by. And that dream she has of starting a wedding event planning business? The dream that led to all those student loan in the first place? She can feel it slipping farther and farther out of reach every day. So the absolute last thing she needs is to discover she’s inherited a run-down, struggling horse barn out of the blue, courtesy of her estranged late aunt.

Two places I never thought I'd be: a church and my little brother's funeral. I was the one who was supposed to die first. Not Hayes. He hadn't chosen my path. I took lives but Hayes had wanted to save souls. Yet here I was drinking from a flask, around people that hated me, unable to take my eyes off the fiancé he'd left behind.

This is the story of two women. One old, one young. One looking for new adventures. One looking for a purpose. Both needing a friend. And this is how, along with two little girls in need of a family, a gorgeous stranger and a scruffy dog, they bring the whole community together every Saturday morning for love, laughter and a little bit of running...(well, power walking).

It was a straightforward request. Take her gran home to her beloved Scotland. In the space of a few days, Elle loses her job and her home and faces moving back in with her parents - where she knows she'll hear a lot about how she is wasting her life, unlike her three siblings. Then Gran's will is read and everything changes.

In the aftermath of devastating bushfires that destroyed the property where she grew up, Eve Nicholls finds herself grappling with the smouldering ruins of her life. It might be possible to rebuild a house, but what about her dream of renewing friendships and becoming part of her home-town community of Yarrabee? Haunted by loss, Eve discovers a glimmer of hope when she learns that new life is growing within her – a fragile and unexpected beacon of renewal, and an added complication in her blossoming relationship with the local vet, Hugh.

I moved home to take care of my grandmother. Instead, I got caught up with the worst kind of people in town, and now, I'm the personal punching bag for a member of the mafia who has no intention of ever letting me go. He doesn't care about me. He cares about what he owns. I used to care about things like staying alive or trying to be a good man, but the longer this goes on, the harder it is to see a future different from this. I don't even have friends in this town.

In Troy, Georgia, Lula Dean has decided to cleanse the town’s reading habits. All banned books have been removed from public spaces, and the townspeople are only allowed to read books Lula has deemed ‘appropriate’. But a small group refuse to be told what they can and can’t read. The revolution is coming . . .

As the Hughes family celebrates bonfire night, a terrible accident leaves the garden shed in flames - and father and grandfather Thomas trapped inside. Tragic though it is, Thomas’ death passes without suspicion - until a local journalist makes accusations of a police cover-up in the press. WPC Trudy Loveday is sent to investigate and asks Coroner Clement Ryder to help.

Welcome back to The Potting Shed! Join Maddie and Sabi as they re-open the doors of their family-run garden center. Autumn is falling, business is thriving, and rival garden center BIG has been held at bay once more. Maddie and Sabi have decided it's time to give back to the community that has kept The Potting Shed afloat, by opening a dementia cafe called the Forget-Me-Not Café.

John Grady Cole is the last bewildered survivor of long generations of Texas ranchers. Finding himself cut off from the only life he has ever wanted, he sets out for Mexico with his friend, Lacey Rawlins. Befriending a third boy on the way, they find a country beyond their imagining: barren and beautiful, rugged yet cruelly civilised.... A place where dreams are paid for in blood.