Showing titles in Small Town & Rural

I can’t decide if my new summer tenant—a devastatingly handsome hockey player and single dad—is the answer to my problems or the start of a new one. When big-city developers threaten to buy up my small town, I need to save the rental cottage next door from demolition. I have a plan . . . until Daniel Sutton checks in. Six-four, a face chiseled by the gods, and a body built by a career on the ice, I’m knocked sideways. He’s charming with me and adorable with his son. And when we touch, it’s electric. But two things change everything.

This is the story of two women. One old, one young. One looking for new adventures. One looking for a purpose. Both needing a friend. And this is how, along with two little girls in need of a family, a gorgeous stranger and a scruffy dog, they bring the whole community together every Saturday morning for love, laughter and a little bit of running...(well, power walking).

Seventeen-year-old Noel Crowe is idling in the unexpected sunshine when Christy makes his first entrance into Faha, bringing secrets he needs to atone for. Though he can't explain it, Noel knows right then: something has changed. As the people of Faha anticipate the endlessly procrastinated advent of the electricity, and Noel navigates his own coming-of-age and his fallings in and out of love, Christy's past gradually comes to light, casting a new glow on a small world.

At 22, I've already had my share of hell with being forced into an arranged marriage with an abusive man by parents, who couldn't care less. But Whispering Grove is my fresh start. My own apartment. My brewery job. My life, finally.

Connor Laird frightens people: he's intense, he's fearless, and he seems to be willing to do anything to protect himself and those he loves. He arrives in the Longacre Children's Home seemingly from nowhere, and instantly becomes hero and villain to every other child there.

Bella's living her dream life, running a beautiful, rural French B&B and has finally put her past behind her. But when her husband suddenly asks for a divorce, everything changes. Forced to abandon everything she'd built before, she finds herself moving to the beautiful town of Versailles, where she takes a job working in a hotel, and moves into a chaotic house share. At first, it doesn't feel like a problem that she can't seem to convince her young housemates she's older than them – it's quite nice to pretend she's in her 20s again.

Brought to you by Penguin. LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2021 Clara's sister is missing. Angry, rebellious Rose, had a row with their mother, stormed out of the house and simply disappeared. Eight-year-old Clara, isolated by her distraught parents' efforts to protect her from the truth, is...

Will its words uncover a dark family secret? Readers love Josephine Cox! ’Loved the story and the characters’ ’Family secrets hidden away for years. I really loved this story’ ’I was hooked from start to finish’ ’This one goes to the top of my list … a five star read’ Another...

Following their father's death, Cass and her sister Sid will do whatever it takes to keep their family's dive school afloat. It used to be the go-to destination in Cornwall for those keen to explore the ocean's hidden depths. But when Cass returns from a long trip, she's shocked to discover how bad things have become. The business is in decline. Sid's new boyfriend has far too much control over the accounts - and her sister. Then, Cass discovers a body in the water. And as more girls go missing, she wonders just how far someone will go to keep their secrets buried.

Music sensation Aurora Storm finally has her career back on track, but then she’s caught up in a media storm. Desperate to distract from the story, she enlists the one man she trusts to pretend to be her boyfriend. Meanwhile, in the small seaside village of Mermaids Point, Nick Morgan never expected to see Aurora again. When she calls out of the blue needing his help, he agrees at once. It feels like she’s back in his life for a reason, and he’s determined to make the most of it.

A remote island on lockdown. A killer on the loose. There is no escape for Inspector Jimmy Perez in Blue Lightning, the fourth Shetland mystery from Ann Cleeves. Now a major BBC One drama, Shetland, starring Douglas Henshall. Shetland detective Jimmy Perez knows it will be a difficult homecoming...

As Rachel picks up the threads of her life as a single parent, she can’t shake off the memories of her loving family in New Zealand—and her dream house, the villa on the bay. But it’s time to move forwards with their life in Ireland, close to the children’s grandparents, amid the familiar surroundings they all know well. Until the children’s grandmother, still grieving, starts to interfere, questioning Rachel's position as stepmother. Until Rachel’s attempts to strengthen the family she loves so dearly backfires, pitting everyone against each other.

A woman disappears under ghostly circumstances, and Inspector Jimmy Perez must separate fact from fiction in Thin Air, the sixth Shetland mystery from Ann Cleeves. Now a major BBC One drama, Shetland, starring Douglas Henshall. A group of old university friends leave the bright lights of London...

One Good Thing is the heartwarming, hilarious alternative love story, from the internationally bestselling author of Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up, Alexandra Potter. 'A joyful, wholly unpredictable love story' - Woman's Own In life, nothing is certain. Just when you think you have it...

Maeve Brannigan is only 18 when she leaves her rural home in County Donegal and moves to Birmingham, where she falls in love with handsome Brendan Hogan. But married life isn't as idyllic as she'd imagined, and when Maeve falls pregnant with their first child, she soon realises that Brendan isn't the man she thought he was.

"Christine Lakin's reading is terrific. Her narration is wonderfully deadpan...and her characterization is pure ear candy. Lakin grants each character complexity and humanity..." — BookPage (Starred Review) "[Narrator Christine] Lakin excels in her performance of the characters’ dialogue...

Few women in Compton Magna could fail to notice the arrival of Luca O'Brien. The village stud's new manager, known internationally as the Horse Maker, brims softly spoken sex appeal from his wild blonde curls to his leather boot soles. Gossipy riding quartet The Saddle Bags are all smitten...

Brought to you by Penguin. Discover the gothic horror phenomenon that is sweeping across Europe, with over 2 million copies sold As the dark and menacing waters of the local river submerge Perdido, a small town in the south of Alabama, the Caskeys - a family of rich landowners - must confront...

Welcome to Patrick Taylor's Irish Country Books and the colourful Ulster village of Ballybucklebo, where two doctors work hand in hand to mend the bodies and spirits of the town's diverse and engaging inhabitants. But who is looking after the wounded hearts of the doctors? In An Irish Country...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017 'A quiet explosion of a book, exquisite and unforgettable' The Economist 'A cleverly constructed rural Gothic fable . . . Elmet is a marvellous achievement' TLS 'Pastoral idyll, political exposé, cosy family saga and horror tale, it reads like a...