Contemporary Fiction
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Stories We Carry
$18.99A small-town bookstore owner finds herself at odds with a newcomer bent on disrupting her quiet life in this Southern women’s fiction novel by award-winning author Robin W. Pearson.
Glory Pryor has carved out a life for herself in Gilmore, North Carolina, cultivating a community around her bookstore, By the Book. While her business is a success, she carries the weight of stories of her own she’s never told anyone. She holds out hope that one day her estranged brother will turn up on her doorstep so she can finally learn where he’s been all these years. Glory’s husband Eli thinks she has her arms wrapped too tightly around the could-have-beens, and that it’s time for them to let go of the store as they head into their retirement years. Glory has different opinions on that–she’s not ready to give up the dream she’s built just yet. Then Adelle Simonette shows up with her young son, Bennett, and Glory’s carefully controlled life begins to crumble.
Newly widowed Adelle Simonette is a single mother trying to find her footing and navigate parenting her young son. Lost in her grief, one thing she’s certain of is that she needs to confront Glory Pryor and everybody who knows her because the woman’s been living a lie. Adelle thinks it’s high time Glory made things right. But Adelle’s finding it hard to tell the truth . . . and there will be no going back once she does.
In the wake of deeply personal grief and loss, two women reckon with a lifetime of silence and secrets to find a path forward toward healing, hope, and restoration.
Contemporary women’s fiction for fans of Denise Hunter, Vanessa Miller, Rachel Hauck, and Rhonda McKnight
A small-town Southern saga that features bookish heroines and themes of family, forgiveness, and reconciliation
Includes discussion questions for book clubs
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Hidden Hope
$18.99With the arrival of three unexpected newcomers to Stoney Ridge comes an array of secrets and emotions brewing just beneath the surface.
Supervising two newly minted medical residents might be the toughest challenge Ruth “Dok” Stoltzfus has ever faced. Wren Baker, sharp and ambitious, graduated at the top of medical school with a hidden agenda in tow. Charlie King, at the bottom of the class, is determined to succeed–though Dok isn’t convinced he’s got what it takes. Then there’s traveling nurse Evie Miller, whose quiet love for Charlie doesn’t go unnoticed, especially by Wren.
Boarding at Windmill Farm, the trio struggles to balance modern medicine with Plain living. Between medical emergencies, cultural misunderstandings, and brewing romantic tensions, Dok finds herself juggling far more than she bargained for. Soon the stage is set in the small Amish community of Stoney Ridge for plenty of professional and personal complications.
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My Beloved : A Mitford Novel
Original price was: $32.00.$27.97Current price is: $27.97.#1 New York Times bestselling author Jan Karon gives her beloved fans what they want for Christmas: a new Mitford novel.
When Father Tim’s wife, Cynthia, asks what he wants for Christmas, he pens the answer in a love letter that bares his most private feelings. Then the letter goes missing and circulates among his astonished neighbors. So much for private.
Can a letter change a life? Ask Helene, the piano teacher who has avoided her feelings for a lifetime. Ask Hope, the village bookseller who desperately needs something that’s impossibly out of reach. Or, if you’d like to know how a brush with death can be the portal to a happy marriage, Cynthia will tell you all about it.
In My Beloved, Harley gets an important letter of his own; a broken heart teaches the Old Mayor, Esther Cunningham, a lesson long in coming; and thanks to Lace and Dooley, readers get what they’ve been waiting for: Sadie.
Poignant, hilarious, and life-affirming, My Beloved sets a generous table for millions of readers who love these characters like family. With Karon’s signature humanity shining through on every page, this is a season of life in Mitford you won’t want to miss.
Add to cart6 in stock (additional units can be purchased)
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2nd Story Bookshop
Original price was: $18.99.$13.29Current price is: $13.29.Shelby Thatcher adores working in the charming small-town bookshop her grandmother opened years ago. Since high school she’s helped Gram turn the shop into a community hub for book lovers in the lakeside town of Grandville, NC. When her beloved grandma passes away, Shelby inherits the bookstore. But to her shock, Gram leaves half ownership to Gray Briggs, the man who broke Shelby’s heart years ago.
Grandville residents have been vilifying Gray as long as he can remember. After graduating high school he couldn’t skip town fast enough, even though it meant leaving the girl he’d fallen deeply in love with and alienating her family once and for all. Now he’s back, the beneficiary of his elderly friend’s will. Facing the town’s animosity is difficult, but seeing Shelby again is sheer torture. No one could ever stir his heart the way she did.
As the adversaries are forced to work together, Gram’s beyond-the-grave scheme is working–Shelby’s old feelings for Gray begin to resurface. But the problems that destroyed their relationship before still remain, and a new one surfaces–one that threatens Gram’s beloved bookshop. Is their love doomed to fail again, or will they find a way to make it work this time around?
If you’re looking for an enemies-to-lovers, second-chance romance set in a cozy lakeside bookshop brimming with healing, heart, and Southern charm, The Second Story Bookshop is your perfect, feel-good escape. Let Shelby and Gray’s tender journey remind you that sometimes the path back to love starts at the front step of a bookstore.
Add to cart6 in stock
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Simple Kindness In Flatsboro
Original price was: $17.99.$15.97Current price is: $15.97.A small dose of kindness can go a long way
Andy Clark has always been different. But it isn’t just the tumorous mass covering half his face that sets him apart–it’s his quiet kindness. As an anonymous do-gooder in Flatsboro, North Carolina, Andy lives out what his mama taught him, even though she’s no longer there.
Della Rose Miller, a well-known former beauty queen, escapes her crumbling marriage to arrogant Wade Miller and moves back to her hometown in hopes of finding reprieve. She and her daughter settle into a little Flatsboro apartment and quickly learn that they’re in the same complex as a childhood classmate whose heart Della Rose broke in third grade.
With her life turned upside down, Della Rose is uneasy about starting fresh, but when unassuming Andy turns his generosity toward her daughter, an unlikely friendship rekindles. When a heroic act suddenly pushes Andy into the spotlight, he risks his anonymity and quiet day-to-day habits to stand up for what’s right.
As Della Rose navigates the end of her marriage and Andy continues his secret philanthropy, they navigate grief and trusting God. Heather Norman Smith weaves a charming and heartwarming Southern story to remind you of the power of simple kindness.
“Readers seeking a touching story of faith and redemption won’t be able to resist the heartwarming friendship at the novel’s center. It’s a tender ode to small-town morals and second chances.”
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Behind Enemy Bylines
Original price was: $16.99.$11.89Current price is: $11.89.Full of small-town charm, this latest cozy, low-spice romance from USA TODAY bestselling author Kathleen Fuller offers a second chance at love for one local reporter and his big-city accountant ex.
Little Rock, Arkansas, 1995: Jade Smith’s life has never been entirely stable. Bouncing back and forth between her mother and foster care, she learned that the only person she can really trust is herself. So when she starts to fall for newsroom reporter Sebastian Hudson, her defenses go up. When she gets a job offer from a company in Atlanta, Georgia, she immediately takes it, leaving Sebastian behind. He might have claimed to love her, but she knows no one sticks around for long.
Clementine, Arkansas, 2005: Ten years after his heartbreak, Sebastian is back in his tiny hometown running the local paper and writing his slice-of-life column. The numbers in the accounting book are telling a story he’s not ready to read, but he’s refused to entertain any buy-out offers from big conglomerates, even as other small presses are being grabbed up, and in some cases, put out of business. He’s determined not to let anything happen to the Clementine Times.
In Atlanta, Jade is eager for the promotion that will finally provide the security she’s always craved. There’s only one hitch–her boss wants her to convince a small-town newspaper owner to sell his paper to their company. No big deal, right? Then she learns the owner is none other than Sebastian Hudson. Now it’s a very big deal.
Reunited for the first time since their awful break-up, Sebastian and Jade dig in their heels, refusing to see each other’s side. But the small town of Clementine won’t let them stay at odds with each other for long. Between a springtime hoedown, a dangerous apartment fire, Sebastian’s slightly meddling younger sister, and the surprise appearance of Jade’s younger brother, Sebastian and Jade end up discussing everything but business. They also rekindle past feelings.
But when one of them makes an unforgivable decision, can they find their way back to each other? Or is this second chance the very last one?
If you love low-spice, high-heart romances where the town is as much a character as the people in it, don’t miss this tender tale of love lost . . . and maybe found again. Grab your copy of Behind Enemy Bylines and fall back in love with small towns, second chances, and the people who just might surprise you.
Add to cart5 in stock
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Bitter End Birding Society
$18.99A forbidden romance, a fractured family, and one woman’s journey to piece it all together
Hometown hero Ana Leigh Watkins ventures to Bitter End, Tennessee, to help her great-aunt prepare for retirement. A town called Bitter End seems an ironic place for Ana to refresh her weary spirit, but she’s desperate for respite from the attention and unwarranted admiration of her community. While on a hike in Roan Mountain, a ragtag group of amateur bird-watchers takes her under their wing–a little against her will. However, she quickly warms to these genuine souls seeking solace in the great outdoors.
But when Ana’s adventures in Bitter End lead her to a severed branch of her family tree–one that involves the forbidden love between a moonshiner’s daughter and a preacher’s son–what began as a getaway to help her great-aunt becomes a transformative journey that binds together two women who, though they live on the same street, have been estranged for sixty years.
An immersive faith-based novel of finding belonging, reconciliation, and new beginnings for fans of southern fiction. This narrative of friendship and community makes for a perfect book club selection.
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Gelato At The Villa
$18.99Chi trova un amico trova un tesoro.
“Whoever finds a friend finds a treasure .”
Italian sayingGrace and Claire have formed a close friendship over their love of reading. After many years and many books that provided armchair adventures, the time has come for them to go somewhere instead of only dreaming of someday.
Traveling to Venice, Florence, and Bellagio, the Suitcase Sisters find themselves immersed in the magnificent works of art, scrumptious gelato flavors, and endless pasta variations of Italy. And they discover a vulnerability to disclose their struggles in ways they never did at home. As Grace experiences a newfound freedom and confidence in who she is, Claire wrestles with painful memories of her teen years.
A special dinner party brings unexpected revelations about faith and God’s nearness. Then a life-changing moment on the shores of Lake Lugano causes Grace and Claire to discover they are not just tourists but pilgrims on a path to becoming all God created them to be.
Robin Jones Gunn whisks you away to experience the incredible culture of Northern Italy in this inspiring, faith-based contemporary fiction with themes of European travel, midlife adventures, and lifelong friendships, making this a perfect book club selection.
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What The River Keeps
$18.99Hildy Nybo is a successful biologist, her study of the Pacific Northwest’s wild fish both a passion and a career. But behind her professional brilliance, Hildy’s reclusive private life reflects a childhood fraught with uncertainty. Despite her father’s love and her mother’s sympathy, she grew up constantly losing even her most cherished belongings, unable to recall where she misplaced them. Haunted by the confusion of those early years, she now records her life in detailed diaries and clings tightly to memory-prompting keepsakes.
Then her mother’s health fails, and Hildy accepts a job near her childhood home, joining a team of scientists who will help restore her beloved Elwha River after the demolition of two century-old dams. There Hildy settles into one of the cabins on her family’s rustic resort–a place she both loves and dreads, for reasons she can’t fully explain.
When local artist Miranda Rimmer rents an adjacent cabin for her pottery studio, Hildy shrinks from such a close neighbor. But then Miranda’s carpenter brother, Luke, shows up to help with construction and captures Hildy’s attention. Now a few years beyond a tragedy that brought him to his knees, Luke recognizes a kindred soul in Hildy, and they build a relationship that dismantles the walls Hildy’s built to keep people out. As troubling pieces of the past surface, Hildy dares to wonder if she can banish the shadows that have burdened her and follow her river’s course to freedom.
*A compelling story of forgiveness, redemption, and overcoming painful secrets that explores the beauty of the natural world
*A poignant and emotive contemporary novel perfect for fans of Delia Owens and William Kent Krueger
*Includes discussion questions for book clubs
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Sands Of Sea Blue Beach
$18.99Can anything rekindle the summer love between former sweethearts facing old wounds and a divided town?
Emery Quinn finds herself at a crossroads between her career and complex family dynamics. Struggling to connect with her blended family and ready for a fresh start, Emery accepts the position of editor-in-chief at the Sea Blue Beach Gazette. Upon her return to the Sands Motor Motel, she is flooded with bittersweet memories of her late mother and past regrets from a long-ago summer.
Architect Caleb Ransom has returned home to Sea Blue Beach, a place filled with cherished memories and potential opportunities. He means to make a difference for his family and his hometown by caring for his troubled sister’s son and preserving the history of the town as the leader of the new Main Street initiative. He certainly never expected to run into Emery Quinn, the girl who captured his heart sixteen summers ago.
As Emery and Caleb revive their friendship, they find themselves facing a bitterly divided town. Together, they navigate family challenges, professional setbacks, and a high-stakes royal visit to discover how forgiveness and love can reshape their hearts and their destiny.
A poignant tale of second chances and the enduring power of love, perfect for your book club. This faith-based contemporary fiction makes for a delightful summer beach read and includes themes of small-town romance, dual-time storytelling, and complex family dynamics.
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Unshaken
$18.99He helps her hide until danger has passed. She hopes her cover lasts long enough.
When Stephanie Miller planned her visit to a dollar store in southern Ohio, she was expecting to pick up a few items she couldn’t find in her Amish community. She was not expecting to find herself an innocent bystander as a drug deal went horribly wrong. The sole witness to a murder, now Stephanie is targeted by the gunman.
Hardy Anderson is always ready to help his social worker sister, Bev–which now includes hiding an Amish woman until a killer can be brought to justice. Surely if they dress her in English clothing, Hardy can hide her at the sprawling ranch where he works. But the killer is desperate–and there’s no telling what lengths he will go.
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Lulus Cafe : A Novel
$18.99When a young woman is given a chance to reclaim her life in a small Southern town, she must reckon with the dark secrets she left behind in order to accept the love she deserves.
On the run from a violent past, Leah Allen arrives 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 cafe, 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. Leah quickly finds herself embraced by the quaint community as she tries to put herself back together.
Not long after arriving, Leah meets Crowley Mason, the most eligible bachelor in town. A lawyer and friend of Lulu’s, Crowley is wary of Leah’s sudden, mysterious arrival. Despite his reserve, something sparks between them that can’t be denied. But after all she’s been through, can Leah allow herself to truly love and be loved, especially when her first urge is to run?
Exploring the resiliency of both the heart and the spirit, Lulu’s Cafe gorgeously illustrates how old scars can finally heal no matter how deep they seem.
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