Judging a chocolate-making competition for the women’s shelter’s annual fundraiser should be an easy, even pleasurable, assignment for Maise, new food critic for the Bloomingfield Daily Dispatch. Too bad just the smell of chocolate makes her stomach roil. By the time she reaches the last table, she hopes her face isn’t as green as her holiday sweater. But the tall, square-jawed man behind piles of fudge makes her want to linger, even savor the moment along with his chocolate-coffee-flavored confection.

Love can come softly, like holiday snow. Or sweep you away like a riptide. World-class surfer Krystal Walters would have appreciated the beauty of her surroundings - a quaint cottage in a fragrant Portuguese olive grove - if a wipeout hadn't changed all her holiday plans. Now, suffering the dizzying aftereffects of multiple concussions, she's determined to make it home to Rhode Island for Christmas, even if she has to defy doctor's orders. Except those orders are being enforced by Adolfo Silva. A man as arrogant as he is ruggedly handsome.

As a successful neurosurgeon about to propose to his gorgeous girlfriend, Ryan Harper has the perfect life. When his sister and brother-in-law die in a tragic car accident, he suddenly becomes a single dad to his orphaned niece and nephews. A 60-hour workweek with a houseful of children is a lot to juggle, and he desperately needs help. When Destiny Brown finds herself out of work, she takes a job as a temporary live-in nanny. Despite her lack of experience, she’s certain she can handle four kids. Fighting her attraction to her boss, however, is going to require some extra training.

When Holly steps into a homeless shelter looking for an MIA piano student, she notices a distinct lack of Christmas cheer because a handsome building inspector is forcing the shelter to temporarily close down. Holly knows bad guys - she was married to one. Yet, when the man asks her out, she finds herself agreeing with an absolute yes.

There’s no place like home. Until the heart gallops off in an unexpected direction... Prepare for romance in this heartwarming holiday book brought to you by USA Today best-selling author Josie Riviera. After Chiara passes her RN license exam, she plans to leave Virginia and return to her beloved Kansas hometown for good. Except her home health client’s handsome brother makes her consider changing her plans.

When Dorothy Thompson returns to Cherish, SC, to play piano for her brother’s wedding, memories and fear nearly paralyzes her fingers. If anyone she knew back in high school discovers her secret, the whispers will start. Fake. Fraud. Failure. It’s not as if she can blame God for her troubles. No, she did that all by herself. But, remembering His lessons, she’s fighting to get back on track. All she can do is pray the wedding vocalist—her brother’s friend Ryan, a rising opera star—won’t notice the way her hands shake. When Ryan Edwards sets foot inside a church for the first time in years, he’s no longer the pitiable kid from the poor side of town, but someone who’s made it on his own. Without God’s help—not that He ever cared about misfits like Ryan, anyway.

Escape to Blueberry Beach in this charming collection of sweet, heartwarming romances!

When Sarah Linden-Price arrives at a rental cabin in Maine, she has only one goal: complete the promised photography project for her best friend and go to Manhattan. Making friends isn’t part of the plan. But when a walk on the beach results in a mishap with a man and his dog, she’s surprised to discover they’re old acquaintances. For Dean Jensen, the small town of St. Martin’s Cove is the perfect escape, and the perfect opportunity to keep his pen name a secret. He has no plans to move back to NYC, even less to fall in love. Then he reconnects with Sarah and things chance.

When it comes to getting what he wants, Asher Barrington is a hammer who is known for crushing his opponents. From the moment Emily walks into his office and challenges him, winning takes on a whole new meaning. The only thing standing between Emily Harris and her goal to open a museum for the blind is an arrogant, sexy as hell billionaire, who thinks sleeping with her will not complicate the situation. He won't change. She won't back down. But together they sizzle.

Lily Bishop wakes up one morning to find a good-bye note and divorce papers from her husband on the kitchen counter. Having just moved to Alabama for his job only weeks before, Lily is devastated. New to town and knowing no one, Lily finds herself in desperate need of a job and a new place to live. When Lily hears that a hair stylist is needed at small retirement community, she decides to apply.

When Ava Harrison receives a letter containing an unusual job listing one month after the sudden death of her ex-boyfriend, she thinks she’s being haunted. The listing—a job as a live-in caretaker for a peculiar old man and his cranky cat in Driftwood, Alabama—is the perfect chance to start a new life. A normal life. Ava has always been too fearful to even travel, so no one’s more surprised than she is when she throws caution to the wind and drives to the distant beachside town.

Ivy Marin’s life implodes after discovering that her late husband had spent their life savings on a beach house. Strapped for cash as an art teacher and with nowhere to go, Ivy and her recently jilted sister head to Summer Beach to recreate their lives. If only renovating a historical home didn’t unveil a host of hidden secrets in the beachside community - and the mayor wasn’t her former high school crush.

At 26, apprentice baker Mia West has her entire life planned out: a Craftsman cottage in Seattle, a job baking at the Butter Emporium, and her first love - her boyfriend, Ethan - by her side. But when Ethan declares he “needs some space”, Mia’s carefully planned future crumbles. Feeling adrift, Mia joins her vivacious housemate Rosie on a humanitarian trip around the world funded by a reclusive billionaire.

When Marina Moore’s life blows up on national television, she seeks refuge at her grandmother’s beach house called the Coral Cottage. Now in her mid-40s with children in college, Marina is in dire need of her grandmother's gutsy advice to a well-lived life. Marina meets an old friend, Ivy Bay, proprietor of the Seabreeze Inn, who encourages her to share her love of food at the local farmer’s market.

Elizabeth Cranwell's children left home, her husband divorced her and dissolved their shared business, and she's set to spend Christmas alone. Without her husband or the thriving business she spent years of her life building, Elizabeth doesn't know who she is or what to do with her days. She's dreading spending her first Christmas alone when her friends convince her to book a holiday at the Waratah Inn.

Iris Buckley is sew ready for a change. After the death of her beloved grandfather, Iris decides to stay in her Maine hometown to help out her widowed grandmother, Anne-and bring her online hand-made apron designs to real-time retail life. Her and Anne's shop, Ruffles & Bows, is set to include all the latest and vintage linen fashions, a studio for sewing groups and classes, and a friendly orange cat. The only thing that they were not planning to have on the property? A skeleton in the basement.

Free-spirited Opal Gilbert seems to have everything she needs to keep living a happy life in Sunset Cove as she refurbishes vintage furniture to sell at her funky ocean-side boutique, Bless This Mess. Until Lincoln Cole, a new-to-town ex-Marine nursing deep wounds and harboring hurts he can't seem to shake, wanders into her shop. Opal knows a person in need when she sees one and offers Lincoln a job in her workshop. But the brooding former soldier has no interest in Opal's offer.

On the run from a violent past, Leah Allen arrived in tiny Rivertown, South Carolina, battered and broken, but ready to reinvent herself. By a stroke of fate, Leah is drawn to the Southern hospitality of a small café, looking for a warm meal but finding so much more. Lulu, the owner, offers her a job, a place to stay, and a new lease on life. Through Lulu’s tenacious warmth and generosity, Leah quickly finds herself embraced by the quaint community as she tries to put herself back together.

When Rachel Shaw and Jack Fletcher meet on a sunny Georgia barrier island, it seems like the perfect start to a romance. There's just one problem—neither is the least bit interested in falling in love. They're simply looking for peace, and time to work through their losses. But Rachel's Aunt Eleanor and Fletch's Gram have a few surprises in store for these two wounded souls.

After surviving a devastating tragedy, combat reporter Nate Garrison returns to the only place that ever felt like home: Starfish Bay on the Northern California coast. But his reunion with childhood friend Lindsey Collier is nothing like he’d imagined. The wary widow who runs Starfish Bay Mercantile was once the girl who made young Nate dream—of a future, of family ties, of deep roots. Now Lindsey avoids love, loss … and Nate. Yet when they join forces to save a beloved town landmark and help a hurting little boy, might they also find healing, hope—and love?

Sharon has lived calmly in Chinook Springs, Washington, her entire life. All that changes when her best friend of twenty years, Penny, takes an impulsive trip to seek out her only living relatives in Finland, and brings Sharon with her.

Sophia Prescott is still mending from the embarrassment of a highly publicized divorce from a pro football player, and the now-single mother is back in Sunset Cove, surrounded by the supporting love of her family and the Sand Queens. Sophia doesn’t think there’s any hope for starting over until an unexpected trip to the pediatrician’s office gives her a second chance after all.

Still reeling from her husband’s untimely death, Deborah Robinson needs a fresh start. So she decides to pack up her family and return to her grandmother’s ancestral home on Cavanaugh Island. The charming town of Sanctuary Cove holds happy memories for Deborah, and, after she spies a gorgeous stranger in the local bakery, it promises the possibility for a bright future. Dr. Asa Monroe is at a crossroads. Ever since the loss of his family, he has been traveling from one town to another. When he meets Deborah, the beautiful bookstore owner with the sunny smile, Asa believes he has finally found a reason to stay in one place.

It's the end of the summer and prodigal daughter Maggie Crozat has returned home to her family's plantation-turned-bed-and-breakfast in Louisiana. The Crozats have an inn full of guests for the local food festival. But when the elderly couple keels over dead within minutes of each other - one from very unnatural causes - Maggie and her family suddenly become suspects in a murder.

This winter, let four tales of mistletoe magic and the spirit of the season cast a special glow as some of your favorite authors introduce stories of hope, happiness, and holiday hearts.

Christina Antonioni is preparing for the holidays at her Nantucket toy shop, unpacking last-minute shipments and decorating for her loyal Christmas shoppers. But when her Scrooge of a landlord, Oscar Bittlesman, raises her rent, it seems nearly impossible for Christina to continue business on the wharf. Even so, Christina firmly believes there may be a warm heart underneath Oscar's steely exterior. When she bonds with Wink, his sweet, young granddaughter who frequents the shop, it becomes clear that perhaps he isn't so cold after all.

Rosa Santos is cursed by the sea - at least, that's what they say. Dating her is bad news, especially if you're a boy with a boat. But Rosa feels more caught than cursed - caught between cultures and choices, between her abuela, a beloved healer and pillar of their community, and her mother, an artist who crashes in and out of her life like a hurricane. As her college decision looms, Rosa collides - literally - with Alex Aquino, the mysterious boy with tattoos of the ocean whose family owns the marina.

Baking fanatic Charlie Quilter, still nursing a broken heart, is surprised when her late uncle bequeaths his vintage 1950s Routemaster bus to her in his will. She adored driving around with him in it when she was a child and can’t contemplate selling it. When Charlie loses her job, her friend Juliette has an exciting idea and suggests Charlie come to stay with her in the picturesque Cornish village of Porthgolow.

After watching the man she loves walk down the aisle with her sister, Cathy Thompson needs to get away. Alaska - beautiful, remote, and far from bitter memories - sounds like the perfect place to start over. But a brand-new life comes with brand-new challenges...namely Grady Jones, a pilot and single dad who has a solution to both their problems: a marriage of convenience.

Dr. Emilie Getz and Jonas Fielding are as different as two people - of the same age, with the same faith, living in the same small Pennsylvania town - could possibly be. She's a first-class neatnik; he's a world-class slob. She's into saving historical relics; he's into saving souls. But perhaps opposites do attract. For when this historian and this land developer meet, sparks fly. And despite the rather inauspicious beginning to their relationship, neither one will escape unchanged - or unsmitten!