Showing results by publisher "Dreamscape Media, LLC" in Small Town & Rural

Pastry chef Tessa Montgomery knows what everyone in Blossom Glen says about her. Spinster. Ice Queen. Such a shame. It’s enough to make a woman bake her troubles away, dreaming of Parisian delicacies while she makes bread at her mother’s struggling boulangerie. That is, it is until Tessa’s mortal enemy — deliciously handsome (if arrogant) chef Leo Castorini, who owns the restaurant next door — proposes a business plan…to get married.

When Jill Goodman’s picture-perfect marriage implodes, she’s heartbroken. The only thing she receives in the hasty divorce settlement is the deed to her husband’s sprawling beach house on the New Jersey shore. She hates the sight of it but knows she must face it if she’s to move on. With no other choice, Jill travels to Dewberry Beach intending to sell the house quickly - but the task is not as easy as she expects. Still, she can’t help but be charmed by the little town even the unexpected attentions of a handsome local with dark eyes and a teasing smile.

The village of Slyford St. James is no stranger to supernatural happenings, as long-time residents Jed and Emma know all too well. Although Jed’s spiritual connection with the dead was once a source of pride, it now fills him with dread. When he receives an invitation to the family estate of his old army friend Simon, who wants Jed to use his gift to solve the brutal murder of his elder brother, Jed is initially reluctant, but Emma encourages him to agree, hoping that this new sense of purpose might lift him out of his melancholy, despite the circumstances.

Public defender Julia Geary’s star is rising, and now she’s got her first murder case defending local denizen Ray Belmar in the death of a homeless man. Julia can’t shake the suspicion that the murder, and the subsequent killing of a homeless woman, is linked to the death of a state legislator who had been crusading for political reform. With the help of Duck Creek’s homeless community and her old friend, Sheriff’s Deputy Wayne Peterson, she launches her investigation—but then the anonymous threats start pouring in.

For decades, the unsolved murder of Father Michael Leary has haunted Billings, Montana, the community he served. And it’s haunted no one more than Lindsay Keller, who admired and confided in him as a teenager. Compelled by his example to work for justice, she became a prosecutor. But after a devastating case left her shattered, she fled the rough-and-tumble for the safety of a desk, handling real-estate deals and historic preservation projects. Now Lindsay finds herself in possession of the priest’s wallet, the photo of a young girl tucked inside.

Morgan Jo Coyle hasn’t been back to the small town of Brambleberry Creek or seen any of her family for years. But when she receives the heartbreaking news that her Memaw Essie is on her deathbed, Morgan knows she has to go home to face Essie—and her complicated past—before it’s too late. Stepping through the door of her family’s charming old farmhouse, Morgan is reminded of all the happy times she spent baking and talking with Essie. And it’s not long before her childhood sweetheart, Emmett Dawson, with his sparkling blue eyes and teasing smile, comes to find her.

Baby’s heart is in the right place, but she’s got problems—namely, a fierce taste for booze and an on-again-off-again boyfriend who can't commit. She’s living and working at Oakwood Hills, a crumbling lakeside resort, with her friends, Crystal Nugget and DJ Overalls, reeling since her adoptive mother died of a stroke. And now, the return of local drug kingpin Bad Mike is about to throw her already unstable summer into full-blown chaos. To make matters worse, the owner of Oakwood Hills announces plans to sell the resort to Amelia, her boyfriend's wealthy twin sister.

When six-year-old Skye disappears from Everglades City, Noa is hesitant to return to her hometown to help with the search effort. Skye is the daughter of Noa’s ex, Zack, and Taylor, the girl he dumped her for. Going home also means facing the townspeople who have always misunderstood Noa’s medical condition, Congenital Insensitivity to Pain, and dealing with more of their ignorant comments. But returning home is just the beginning of Noa's painful journey.

He sees the world differently than most, and he feels like he has no idea what he’s doing when it comes to raising his fifteen-year-old daughter, Cleo. She also feels like he has no idea what he’s doing, especially now that her mom is gone. They were both better off when Jana was around—Dave's wife, Cleo's mother. But now she's not, and they are left to figure out life on their own.

Brightwater Valley, New Zealand, is beautiful, rugged, and home to those who love adventure. But it's also isolated and on the verge of becoming a ghost town. When the town puts out a call to its sister city of Deep River, Alaska, hoping to entice people to build homes and businesses in Brightwater, ex paratrooper Chase Kelly is all for it. He sees the benefits of building the economy, but only if those who come to Brightwater are ready for its challenges.

For nearly a decade, twenty-nine-year-old Hudson Miller has made his living in the boxing ring, but a post-fight brawl threatens to derail his career. Desperate for money, Hudson takes a gig as a bouncer at a dive bar. That’s when life delivers him another hook to the jaw: his estranged father, Leland, has been murdered in what appears to be a robbery-gone-bad at his salvage yard, Miller’s Pull-a-Part.

In the first line of Ocean State, we learn that a high school student was murdered, and we find out who did it. The story that unfolds from there with incredible momentum is thus one of the buildup to and fallout from the murder, told through the alternating perspectives of the four women at its heart. The murderer Angel, her mother Carol, and the victim Birdy, all come alive on the page as they converge in a climax both tragic and inevitable. Watching over it all is the retrospective testimony of Angel’s younger sister, Marie.

Bah, humbug. Christmas is not the most wonderful time of the year for Charley Dawson. After writing a column suggesting readers cancel Christmas, she’s sent on assignment to St. Nicholas, Colorado, home of the Scrooge Legend. The legend says that any “Scrooge” who enters the town will end up loving Christmas as much as Santa does. She’ll go; she’ll prove the myth wrong; she’ll have a fantastic new column - easy as mincemeat pie.

Evans Pemberton has always had a problem saying no - to her overbearing Mississippi Delta family, to her business mentor’s push to expand her thriving pie shop, and to her lifelong crush, Jake Champagne. But Jake chose her beauty-queen cousin three years ago and ghosted on their close friendship. When he comes to her small town in Alabama with a new pro-hockey franchise, Evie fears she’ll lose her heart all over again. Of course, she'll forgive him like the good Southern woman she is, but anything more than that is off the table. So why can’t she stop baking for him?

Heather Gabriel is a widowed mother struggling to be there for her children. She takes a job at Magnolia Bay's Animal Shelter and meets Adrian, the shelter's new business consultant. But she's not interested in being anything more than colleagues - this definitely isn't the right time for a summer affair. The shelter's animal-communication expert, Reva Curtis, knows there's more to Heather and Adrian's mutual attraction than they let on, and she's determined to bring them together.

Deacon Brannock is determined to make a name for himself and the saloon he's worked his whole life to afford. He was prepared for life in the Wild West, but he hadn't counted on Grace Legend.... Grace has always fought hard for what she believes in, and after her best friend is killed at the hands of her drunk and angry husband, that includes keeping alcohol out of her town.

Abby Curtis has made such a mess of her life that rock bottom is an ambitious climb. With nowhere else to go, she lands on her Aunt Reva's doorstep at Buckaroo Barn, home to a motley assortment of rescue animals. Reva, a telepathic animal communicator, gives Abby time to reinvent herself by leaving Abby in charge of the farm while she's away. Abby immerses herself in caring for the animals and running educational programs to teach kids to appreciate and relate to them. Just when Abby is finally starting to feel like herself again, a sexy new neighbor moves in next door.

The residents of the small town of Artemis are suspicious when a community called The Drummers moves into a local abandoned church. Their leader, Gideon, claims their aim is simple: to live peacefully off the grid without government interference. But when local power substations are sabotaged and the whole of West Texas loses electricity, all fingers point to them. Forced to intervene, Police Chief Josie Gray and her team try to enter the church only for gunshots to be exchanged. Inside the church, one young girl is killed, with Gideon claiming Josie's stray bullet hit her.

Annie and her devoted but comically incompetent childhood sweetheart, Sam, are the owners and operators of Annie's, a gourmet sandwich shop, home to the legendary Paul Bunyan Special Sandwich - their nutritionally challenged continual source of income and marital harmony and local fame. But into their mostly charmed marriage comes a scary medical diagnosis for Annie - and the overwhelming challenge of finding a way to help Sam go on without her. Annie decides to leave Sam step-by-step instructions for a future without her and considers her own replacement in his heart and their bed.

When a corpse is discovered by a mountain, Lacey McCrae must trade in her Christmas shopping for Victim Services in order to find the killer before they strike again.