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

In the darkness of an old asylum, a young man unscrews the lid from a bottle of sleeping pills. In the nearby village, two couples begin their day. Local doctor, Eric Parry, mulling secrets, sets out on his rounds, while his pregnant wife sleeps on in the warmth of their cottage. Across the field, in a farmhouse impossible to heat, funny, troubled Rita Simmons is also asleep, her head full of images of a past life her husband prefers to ignore. He's been up for hours, tending to the needs of the small dairy farm he bought, a place where he hoped to create a new version of himself.

When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early 40s, the town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty facade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils.... Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen.

When Sassi Stapleton receives a middle-of-the-night phone call to tell her that her beloved grandmother is unwell, she quickly puts her job on hold, packs her ute and sets off on the long drive home, knowing her grandfather will need her. Less than an hour away from Sassi's hometown, Barker, she swerves to miss a roo and her car rolls down an embankment. By the time Sassi is found, her grandmother has already passed away.

Horsewoman Brenna Lancaster has no time for relationships. Unless a man looks good on a horse and lets her call the shots, she isn't interested. She'd rather wear a dress and heels than give someone else power over her life. Finance guru Wyatt Killian is a self-made man who has left the train wreck of his childhood behind. There is zero room in his workaholic world for downtime and distractions, let alone emotions or country girls. When Wyatt's corporate horse-riding retreat is led by a woman determined to unplug him from his urban life, it isn't just his laser focus that becomes compromised.

Martha Wallace came to Dublin from her home in America to find her birth mother. But instead she has lost her heart to the impossibly charming JP Deverill. Bridie Doyle, now mistress of Castle Deverill, is determined to make the castle she used to work in her home. But her flamboyant husband, Cesare, has other ideas. Kitty Deverill has come to terms with her life with her husband, Robert. But then Jack O'Leary, the love of her life, returns to Ballinakelly....

Everyone in Halfmoon Quay, the picture-perfect village clinging to the edge of the Cornish coast, knows Rick Penrose is the person to turn to for help. Friendly and reliable, not to mention drop-dead gorgeous, he’ll do anything for anyone. When his teenage crush Anya moves back to the quay for a fresh start, he has the perfect solution. She needs a job and his great uncle needs help to run his hotel. It’s a win-win.

The road to love is a rutted dirt track for the other vet from Snowy River ... An unmissable, funny, feel-good romance from the author of The Vet From Snowy River, Stella Quinn.

Once upon a time, Natasha believed in love. At nineteen, her heart was captivated by a man who promised her the world, only to vanish, leaving her to carry the weight of shattered dreams—and the child she never expected. A decade later, Natasha is focused on providing love and stability for her daughter, determined to break the cycle of poverty and trauma that haunted her own childhood. As they settle into the peaceful rhythms of Settlers Bridge, Natasha is drawn to the local mechanic, Hamish, whose quiet strength stirs feelings she hadn't expected to ever experience again.

Vera De Rossi no longer believes in love...and thanks to her ex-boyfriend­, she's also broke, jobless, and staring down the barrel of a court case that could land her in prison. Turning to her talent for baking, Vera opens a cafe in Hanrahan, a cozy tourist town in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains. Josh Cody, once Hanrahan's golden boy, escaped 16 years ago with gossip hard on his heels and a pregnant girlfriend in tow. Now he's back: a qualified veterinarian - and a single dad with a lot to prove

Richard is a middle-aged Englishman who runs a B&B in the fictional Val de Follet in the Loire Valley. Nothing ever happens to Richard, and really that’s the way he likes it. One day, however, one of his older guests disappears, leaving behind a bloody handprint on the wallpaper. Another guest, the exotic Valérie, persuades a reluctant Richard to join her in investigating the disappearance. Richard remains a dazed passenger in the case until things become really serious and someone murders Ava Gardner, one of his beloved hen...and you don’t mess with a fellow’s hens!

When Graham Barnett named his diner The Tourist Trap, he meant it as a joke. Now he's stuck slinging reindeer dogs to an endless parade of resort visitors who couldn't interest him less. Not even the sweet, enthusiastic tourist in the corner who blushes every time he looks her way...Two weeks in Alaska isn't just the top item on Zoey Caldwell's bucket list. It's the whole bucket. One look at the mountain town of Moose Springs and she's smitten.

There’s nothing unusual about the sound of a gunshot in Twelve Sleep. In remotest Wyoming, where elk roam the pine forests and cougars prowl the mountains, everyone owns a gun. But when Joe Pickett hears two sharp cracks ring out months before hunting season, it’s his job to investigate. As game warden, dad-of-two Joe is not only badly paid and poorly housed, he’s deeply unpopular. So when the source of the shots – a well-known poacher – gets off scot-free, the locals are delighted. And then the poacher turns up dead in the Picketts’ back yard.

Josie Hayes is always on the run. From bad decisions. From heartbreak. From cowboys. Her latest escape was supposed to be a quiet reset at her family's cabin in Tennessee—not a reckless detour at a smoky backwoods bar and definitely not a collision with Lincoln Carter. Rugged and magnetic, he's temptation in a cowboy hat, and his slow smile makes forgetting her rules far too easy. Their connection is instant, electric, and impossible to ignore. What starts with teasing glances and lingering touches spirals into a series of nights that feel like more—too much more.

Isla's got the designer clothes and dream job as head stylist at an exclusive salon. She's been so single-minded in this quest that she's forgotten to have a life outside of it. When her aunt is in desperate need at her own salon, Isla heads to the remote island of Auchenmor to help. Finn is 35, and reality has just hit him hard. Now his best friends are about to have a baby, and everything is changing. When into his life walks Isla...

Being thirty-something, broke, divorced and in a cold war with her ten-year-old son is a lot, but Jo's handling it. Just. At least she is until her job at the Natural History Museum is put in jeopardy. An invitation to dig up dinosaur bones on a remote Queensland sheep station arrives at just the right time. It's not her first trip to Yindi Creek, but it's not as though anyone will remember her from fifteen years ago ... And by anyone, of course, she means the pilot she had that fling with. The fling that taught her she's far safer sticking to science.

Wade Ashby doesn't let anyone in. With the death of his father and his failed marriage, plus the weight of the family business on his shoulders, Wade has plenty to deal with. He thrives on being the one constant and steady thing in his family's life and on their ranch, Silver Pines. Ivy Spencer knows two things for certain: Animals make better friends than people, and she can only count on herself. After a turbulent childhood and a string of bad luck since, Ivy is excited to start fresh at Silver Pines Ranch and live out her dream of training a racehorse en route to the Kentucky Derby.

Running the bakery with my sister is my life—early mornings, endless dough, and just enough sugar to keep me sane. I don't have time for distractions. But when I accidentally text a stranger, everything changes. He's not just mysterious—he's sharp-tongued, wickedly charming, and far too good at making me forget common sense. What starts as playful banter turns into something more…something that stirs my Omega instincts in ways I don't understand.

Under extreme pressure, neurosurgeon Maggie Sullivan knows she needs to slow down, and the best place she can do that is Sullivan's Crossing, the land and store at the crossroads of the Colorado and Continental Divide Trails. She relishes the opportunity to indulge in a simple way of life. But Maggie's world is rocked, and she must take responsibility for the Crossing. When Cal Jones offers to help, Maggie is suspicious.

Dan Armstrong hasn’t done much retiring since moving to Tuscany, and with his new career as a successful private investigator taking off, it seems murder seems to follow him. He’s hoping a much-needed trip to beautiful Portofino will give him the break he needs and quality time with girlfriend Anna. Portofino is a celebrity paradise, and holidaying on a nearby superyacht is a group of British media stars, all famous for being infamous. Dan isn't impressed by their status or wealth, but when he overhears an argument between two of the group, he suspects something fishy could be going on…

I thought I knew who I was, until I accidentally discovered my adoring parents' biggest secret on my twenty-fifth birthday. I am adopted. Part of me is missing, and I set out to find it. Trying to figure out the past piece by piece, I bought a little fixer-upper in the small town I was given up in. Old lies will come out. Secrets that everyone is trying to keep buried. Who am I really?