Small Town & Rural

A love triangle unearths dangerous, deadly secrets from the past in this thrilling tale perfect for fans of The Paper Palace and Where the Crawdads Sing.

It’s the 1960s in North Carolina, and Lorraine Delford has it all—an upstanding family, a perfect boyfriend, and an idyllic home complete with a white picket fence....

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival.

After a wild bet, gourmet grilled-cheese sandwich, and cuddle with a baby goat, Alexis Montgomery has had her world turned upside down. The cause: Daniel Grant, a ridiculously hot carpenter who’s ten years younger than her and as casual as they come....

Knox lives alone, and he likes it that way. Unfortunately, runaway bride Naomi is about to have her life implode on his doorstep.

From the award-winning author of The One-in-a-Million Boy comes a heartfelt, uplifting novel about a chance encounter at a bookstore, exploring redemption, unlikely friendships, and the life-changing power of sharing stories.

From the bestselling author of In an Instant comes the moving story of a family grappling with grief and a woman with the power to help them through it—or stand in their way....

Overworked New Yorker Grace Evans books an Airbnb on a ranch in the middle of Wyoming. When she arrives at the idyllic getaway, she soon discovers that she’s not too pleased about: A lack of cell phone service. A missing woman. And a feeling that something isn’t right with the ranch.

In the highly-anticipated sequel to the national best seller The Life We Bury, Joe Talbert returns to investigate the murder of the father he never knew, and to reckon with his own family's past....

Celebrating its 75th anniversary, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men remains one of America's most widely read and beloved novels. Here is Steinbeck’s dramatic adaptation of his novel-as-play, which received the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play in 1937-1938....

I haven't stepped foot in Hartsville, Texas, population one thousand, since my parents split when I was six. Now a city girl through and through, I never imagined having to move back to cowboy country. But I need the money to invest in my company, and a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

The year 1996 was the one that changed everything for Maggie Dawes. Sent away at 16 to live with an aunt she barely knew in Ocracoke, a remote village on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, she could think only of the friends and family she left behind - until she met Bryce Trickett....

Things are heating up in the Black Hamptons, an affluent vacation community of African Americans nestled in Long Island, New York. The families are facing trials and tribulations both individually and collectively, and everyone has a lot at stake.

From Pulitzer finalist, MacArthur Fellowship recipient, and bestselling author of Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove Karen Russell comes a gripping dust bowl epic about five characters whose fates become entangled after a storm ravages their small Nebraskan town

Kirsten Miller, author of The Change, brings us a bracing, wildly entertaining satire about a small Southern town, a pitched battle over banned books, and a little lending library that changes everything.

Set amid Colorado’s wild beauty, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story of a resilient young woman whose life is changed forever by one chance encounter....

The beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author brings her Nantucket novels to a brilliant finish: when rich strangers move to the island, social mayhem and a possible murder follow.

Hear this history-making serial novel - from cliffhanger to cliffhanger - in its entirety. When it first appeared, one volume per month...

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step....

Doctor Jack Troy was born and raised in Faha, but his responsibilities for the sick and his care for the dying mean he has always been set apart from the town.

A Black sheriff. A serial killer. A small town ready to combust.

Meditative, moving, and finely observed, Stone Yard Devotional is a seminal novel from a writer of rare power, exploring what it means to retreat from the world, the true nature of forgiveness, and the sustained effect of grief on the human soul.

Adele and Justine have never been close. Born 20 years apart, Justine was already an adult when Addie was born. The sisters love each other, but they don’t really know each other....

By-the-book forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck and rogue BCA agent Van Reed must catch a cold-case killer who’s returned to abduct a small town’s children one by one in this heart-stopping novel from the Edgar Award-nominated author of Unspeakable Things.

It begins on the shaded town square in a sleepy Southern town. A spirited seven-year-old has a brisk business at her lemonade stand. But the little girl’s pretty yellow dress can’t quite hide the ugly scar on her chest....

Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.

From Pulitzer finalist, MacArthur Fellowship recipient, and bestselling author of Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove Karen Russell comes a gripping dust bowl epic about five characters whose fates become entangled after a storm ravages their small Nebraskan town The Antidote opens on Black Sunday, as a historic dust storm ravages the fictional town of Uz, Nebraska. But Uz is already collapsing—not just under the weight of the Great Depression and the dust bowl drought, but beneath its own violent histories.

On a tiny island off Paradiso, Florida, in 1970, neighbors gather to toast two new arrivals: shy Catherine and her taciturn husband, Dr. Frank Overbrook, who is taking over an old friend’s medical practice. It’s an intimate welcoming for the newlyweds, who have abandoned city life for swaying palms and an ocean breeze. But the morning after is anything but peaceful when Frank is found dead on the beach.

Sarah is a preacher's daughter and a people pleaser. She's also on the verge of graduating high school and following her dream of singing in Nashville. The only thing standing in her way is that the entire town of Devil's Head, Missouri thinks she will marry Matt, the son of the town's richest rancher. But Sarah's not sure he's her future husband, especially when his older brother, Isaac, returns home after serving six years in the Army. He has tattoos on his arms and bad habits that are not "father-approved."

Sam's daddy always said she shouldn't get a vintage car until she knew how to fix one. And when her 1965 Mustang breaks down in a town smaller than a matchbox, she realizes he might have been right. Now she's stranded in the middle of nowhere, on the run from heartache, until she can get the vehicle repaired. At least Jack the mechanic is one tall drink of water. And Sam's pleasantly surprised to learn there's more to him than meets the eye when he shows his soft side by sending her to the only B&B in town, run by his grandmother, to take refuge.

Lessyn Bradshaw had been taught very young that a man was only good for one thing: his money. If he couldn't provide security, then he wasn't the man for her. However, Lessyn didn't want that for herself. She wanted someone who could provide love, safety, fidelity, and multiple orgasms. After being engaged for three years and never truly being fulfilled in the bedroom or otherwise, Lessyn was unsure if being married to the rich designer was worth the risk of being unhappy—unsatisfied. When she meets Gabriel, his energy and vibe immediately have her intrigued.

When Works Progress Administration editor Millie Lang finds herself on the wrong end of a potential political scandal, she’s shipped off to Montana to work on the state’s American Guide Series—travel books intended to put the nation’s destitute writers to work. Millie arrives to an eclectic staff claiming their missed deadlines are due to sabotage, possibly from the state’s powerful Copper Kings who don’t want their long and bloody history with union organizers aired. But Millie begins to suspect that the answer might instead lie with the town’s mysterious librarian, Alice Monroe.

In an immersive Southern Gothic with echoes of Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery and Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, a restauranteur lured by pandemic-era incentives moves her family to a seemingly idyllic small town in Georgia, only to discover a darkness lurking beneath the Southern hospitality and sun-dappled streets.

Welcome to Big Bend—my nightmare and my home, all in one. I don't fit in here. I don't fit in anywhere. I've made so many mistakes. Over and over. Two of those mistakes haunt me. One, being responsible for a friend losing his job and reputation in this town. And two, well, that one is even worse. I ruined so many lives with one stupid decision I barely even remember. And now, I'm going to pay for it.

This novel was a Finalist in 2022 for The Kindle Storyteller Award in Spain. ARE YOU SURE IT WAS AN ACCIDENT? The lives of Greta Leister, a renowned painter who gave up everything for love, and Diego Quirón, a writer of modest success, become intertwined in Redes, a coastal town in A Coruña, through Leo Artes, her husband. Leo, a pop music legend, joined the infamous 27 Club when he died at that age under tragic circumstances. After many refusals, Greta has hidden reasons for finally allowing Diego, pressured by his brother and his financial problems, to be the one to write Leo's ...

Growing up on his family’s cattle farm in western Iceland, young Orri has gained an appreciation for the beauty found in everyday things: the cavorting of a newborn calf, the return of birdsong after a long winter, the steadfast love of a good (or tolerably good) farm dog. But the outer world still beckons, so Orri leaves his no-nonsense Lithuanian Jewish mother and his taciturn father, Pabbi, to attend university in Reykjavík.

My name is Luc Lenaghan, and I'm a man who knows mistakes. I'm especially skilled at making them. Bathing in them. Compounding them. But hell, being an expert in the matter means I know how to spot the opposite, too. Kari Macchio was the girl I met when she was only seven. We kissed when she was eighteen. We committed to each other when she was twenty-four. And we married when she was twenty-eight. Unfortunately, she was the woman I destroyed when she was thirty.

Pur produit des années soixante, Athene Forster n'est pas pressée de se marier. Cette jolie fille trop gâtée est devenue une jeune femme aussi capricieuse qu'imprévisible, et elle multiplie les écarts de conduite. Aussi ses parents accueillent-ils avec soulagement la nouvelle de son mariage avec Douglas Fairley-Hulme, héritier de bonne famille. Mais à peine deux ans plus tard, la rumeur court qu'elle a une liaison, et le scandale la rattrape. Trente-cinq ans plus tard, Suzanna Peacock s'efforce de vivre une vie aussi paisible que celle de sa mère a été tumultueuse.

“Ask anyone non-Northern, they’ll only know Donny as punchline of a joke or place they changed trains once ont way to London.” But Doncaster’s also the home of Rach, Shaz, and Kel, bezzies since childhood and Donny lasses through and through. Never mind that Rach is skeptical of Shaz’s bolder plots; or that Shaz, who comes from a rougher end of town, feels left behind when the others begin plotting a course to uni; or that Kel sometimes feels split in two trying to keep the peace―the girls are inseparable, their friendship as indestructible as they are.

Being bonded to Caden Blackburn used to be all I dreamed of. Those dreams were crushed the moment this pack branded my entire bloodline traitors for challenging his father. Life in Silver Falls isn't easy. As the only packmate unable to shift, I'm considered broken. No one wants a useless mate. Especially not Caden. Imperfections don't fit within the rigid way he rules our pack as alpha. I never thought he'd look at me with anything other than fury until our bond awakens.

A venticinque anni Cloe ha una vita da film: dopo essersi lasciata alle spalle la provincia italiana vive a Londra, frequenta la prestigiosa Goldsmiths ed è fidanzata con un fantastico... STOP! La rifacciamo, grazie. A venticinque anni, la vita di Cloe fa schifo. Si è trasferita nella città dei suoi sogni solo per ritrovarsi senza borsa di studio, fa la cameriera in un pub, vive in un appartamento infimo, frequenta senza troppo impegno il suo coinquilino... e, stando a quello che sostiene il suo avvocato, ha appena ereditato l'attività di famiglia, il vecchio cinema di paese a Schiforate, provincia di Milano.

It's 1975 in Austin, and the Rush Creek Saloon, five miles west of town, is a bar without a crowd. But when a strange new house band takes the stage, the hippies roll in and the good ole boys find their way back. Told in a trio of voices—a guitarist chasing what may be his last shot at success; a bar owner trying to see a future in her lifeless marriage; and a young kid from East Texas desperate for kinship, or at least something to take the damn edge off—Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine delivers a riotous love song to an enigmatic city.

It’s murder out there… In the new Baker & Tate mystery, Ruth faces a sniper’s deadly game on a remote desert highway where escape is impossible and survival is uncertain. Texas Ranger Ruth Baker thought she’d seen everything—until travelers start turning up dead along an isolated stretch of highway, victims of a group of snipers who strike without warning and without apparent motive. Partnered with Aaron Tate, Ruth is called in to investigate the chilling case. But with no witnesses and no evidence, the killers seem to vanish into the endless desert, leaving only fear and carnage ...

When thirty-eight-year-old Nick Sullivan agrees to deliver hot chocolate to the new English professor at the local University, he has no way of knowing a simple good deed will forever change his life. After losing his wife and daughter in an automobile accident, Nick believes his wounds are too deep to heal, so he withdraws to the safety of the East Tennessee mountains. There, he purchases a small farm where he spends his days riding horses and nights battling the ghosts of his past.

It’s 1900 and Skerry, a small Scottish fishing village, is destined for an unyielding winter. During a storm, a young boy washes up on the shore. He bears an uncanny resemblance to teacher Dorothy’s son, lost to the sea at the same age many years before, his body never found. The village is soon snowed in, and Dorothy agrees to look after the child until they can uncover the mystery of his origins. But over time, the lines between reality and desperate hope start to blur as the boy reminds Dorothy more and more of her own lost child.

My return home to my family's small town hasn't been easy, but the new contractor I hired—a struggling but strong-willed single mom—keeps stripping her clothes off on the job site, which certainly spices things up. (She swears a spider crawled under her shirt.) She also divulges she's scared of her ex and he's taking her to court for custody of their daughter. I hate to see a woman mistreated, so I step up and marry her so she has a stronger case in front of the judge. Temporarily, of course.

En el transcurso de dos semanas, todo cambiará en Beartown. Han pasado dos años desde aquellos sucesos que nadie quiere recordar. Todos han intentado seguir adelante, pero hay algo en este lugar que lo impide. La destrucción causada por una feroz tormenta de finales de verano reaviva la vieja rivalidad entre Beartown y el pueblo vecino de Hed, una rivalidad que siempre se ha librado a través de sus equipos de hockey sobre hielo.

Die schönste Überraschung dieser Saison – der berührende Coming-of-Age-Roman des Fußballers. Der wärmste Sommer aller Zeiten, die erste große Liebe, eine Nacht, die alles verändert. Christoph Kramers Roman ist eine so persönliche wie berührende Geschichte über das Fünfzehnsein und die Momentaufnahme einer Zeit, in der alles noch so einfach schien. Erzählt mit ganz viel Herz und einem unwahrscheinlichen Gespür für die kleinen Dinge, die im Leben einfach alles bedeuten. Es ist der Sommer 2006, ein Hitzerekord jagt den nächsten, die Fußballweltmeisterschaft verändert das Land — und für den 15-jährigen Chris verändert sich gerade das ganze Leben.

When his former hockey coach passes away, Declan Cadell is shocked to learn the man left him a cattle ranch. Well, not exactly. He's got one little hurdle to jump first. He has to win a trivia contest against the man's estranged daughter. Oh, and there's a caveat: he's only in the running if he lives and works with the spoiled princess who blew off one of the greatest men he's ever known. As if it wasn't hurtful enough that Seraphina Crutchley's biological father replaced her with a bunch of sweaty hockey boys, now he's forcing her to vie for her inheritance with one of them.

Back Home 3: A Love That Defies the Odds Review by Clara T: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Back Home 3 is a beautifully woven tapestry of love, resilience, and the complexities of community. The setting of Fredericksburg, Texas, comes alive with vivid descriptions that make you feel the warmth of the sun on your skin and the gentle rustle of leaves in the breeze. Robby and June's relationship is portrayed with such authenticity; their laughter and tender moments leap off the page, inviting readers to root for them as they navigate both personal and societal challenges. This book captures not just a love ...