Best-selling author Lisa Wingate serves up small-town values with humor and romance. Lauren hasn't returned to her hometown since her husband's death. But when her dad needs her help, she heads for their horse ranch in Daily, Texas. There she must prepare a 'broke down' race horse for his role in a movie that will alter the fortunes of her dad, a Hollywood star, and a screenwriter.
Allie Kirkland has never been one to take wild risks. But when she's offered a costuming assistant's job on a docudrama in the hills near Moses Lake, she jumps at the chance. She's always dreamed of following in her director-father's footsteps, and the reenactment of the legendary frontier settlement of Wildwood is a first step. The family expectations will have to wait.
But in 1861, the real Wildwood held dangerous realities. Town founder Harland Delevan held helpless residents, including young Irish schoolteacher Bonnie Rose, in an iron grip. Mysterious disappearances led to myths and legends still retold in the folk songs of Chinquapin Peaks. Eventually, the entire site was found abandoned.
When strange connections surface between Allie and the teacher who disappeared over a century ago, everyone in Wildwood, including Allie's handsome neighbor on the film set, Blake Fulton, seems to be hiding secrets, and Allie doesn't know who she can trust. If she can't find the answers in time, history may repeat itself . . . with the most unthinkable results.
Tandi Reese and her sister, Gina, have always been bound by complicated ties. Amid the rubble of a difficult childhood lie memories of huddling beneath beds and behind sofas while parental wars raged. Sisterhood was safety...once. But now? Faced with legal papers for a fraud she didn't commit, Tandi suspects that her sister has done something unthinkable. With Tandi's wedding just around the corner, a trip to the North Carolina Tidewater for a reckoning with Gina is not part of the plan. But unraveling lies from truth will require confronting strained sibling bonds and uncovering a dark family secret that will either free Tandi from her past or stain her future forever.
From the author of A Month of Summer, an inspiring new novel in the Blue Sky Hill series about one woman's effect on a struggling Dallas neighborhood.
With her adopted son missing and the rest of her family increasingly estranged, Sandra Kaye Darden is drawn to the little pink house where her Uncle Poppy once provided security. What begins for Sandra as a simple painting project, meant to prepare the house for sale, becomes a secret venture that eventually changes everything.
Cass Blue is having trouble keeping food on the table since she ditched foster care. When Sandra Kaye shows up with lunch one day, Cass has no way of knowing that the meeting will lead to the creation of a place of refuge that could reunite a divided community.
In this moving story of second chances, two unlikely allies realize their ability to make a difference...and the power of what becomes known as the Summer Kitchen to nourish the soul.
Successful New York editor Jen Gibbs is at the top of her game with her new position at Vida House Publishing—until a mysterious manuscript from an old slush pile appears on her desk. Turning the pages, Jen finds herself drawn into the life of Sarra, a mixed-race Melungeon girl trapped by dangerous men in turn-of-the-century Appalachia. A risky hunch may lead to The Story Keeper’s hidden origins and its unknown author, but when the trail turns toward the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a place Jen thought she’d left behind forever, the price of a blockbuster book deal may be higher than she’s willing to pay.
“I am in awe of Lisa Wingate’s talent.”—Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author, praise for the author
From modern-day Roanoke Island to the sweeping backdrop of North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains and Roosevelt's WPA folklore writers, past and present intertwine to create an unexpected destiny. Restaurant owner Whitney Monroe is desperate to save her business from a hostile takeover.
The inheritance of a decaying Gilded Age hotel on North Carolina's Outer Banks may provide just the ray of hope she needs. But things at the Excelsior are more complicated than they seem. Whitney's estranged stepfather is entrenched on the third floor, and the downstairs tenants are determined to save the historic building.
Searching through years of stored family heirlooms may be Whitney's only hope of quick cash, but will the discovery of an old necklace and a Depression-era love story change everything?
Elizabeth Gallagher has been balancing on the ragged edge for a while now. Then a rough case on the boards of her 911 operator's job collides with a family conflict at home, and Elizabeth finds herself finally coming apart at the seams. A four-state road trip-trapped in a car with her mother-is the last thing she needs. Their destination may be beautiful Hatteras Island, but the reason for going is anything but pleasant. After one disastrous hurricane, and with a second one working its way up the coast, it's time to convince Aunt Sandy to abandon her little seaside store on North Carolina's Outer Banks and return to the family fold in Michigan. But when the storm sweeps through, the three women will discover that sisterhood and the sea can change hearts, lives, and futures...often in the most unpredictable of ways.
I want to be like this stretch of freshly cleared shore. At times, I think I'm ready. Let the waves wash over me. But then I catch myself running from the tide just before it happens... New York editor Jen Gibbs knew that buying Evan Hall's next blockbuster book would change her career. She didn't know it would change her life. But after being sent along on the European book tour at Evan's request, she has made a promise she's not sure she can keep-she's crossed professional lines and accepted Evan's surprising engagement proposal. Now she's scared to death. In Jen's family, marriage represents the death of every dream a woman holds for herself. Can the revelation of her mother's long-held secret open the doors to Jen's future and change her beliefs about life and love?
A young woman, an old woman, and the story of a lifetime…
When Iola Anne Poole, an old-timer on Hatteras Island, passes away in her bed at ninety-one, the struggling young mother in her rental cottage, Tandi Jo Reese, finds herself charged with the task of cleaning out Iola’s rambling Victorian house.
Running from a messy, dangerous past, Tandi never expects to find more than a temporary hiding place within Iola’s walls, but everything changes with the discovery of eighty-one carefully decorated prayer boxes, one for each year, dating from Iola’s youth to her last days. Hidden in the boxes is the story of a lifetime, written on random bits of paper—the hopes and wishes, fears and thoughts of an unassuming but complex woman passing through the seasons of an extraordinary, unsung life filled with journeys of faith, observations on love, and one final lesson that could change everything.
“I am in awe of Lisa Wingate’s talent. She strikes the heart and turns my gaze toward heaven’s door. The Prayer Box is a masterpiece of story and skill.”—Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author
When a woman's whole life falls apart, she finds refuge in the home she left behind in this touching novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours.
Karen Sommerfield has been hiding from the big questions of her life--the emotional distance in her marriage, her inability to have children, and her bout with cancer. Getting lost in her high-powered career provides the sense of purpose she yearns for. Until the day she's downsized out of her job and the doctor tells her the cancer may be back. It's a double blow that would send anyone reeling.
It sends Karen to Grandma Rose's old farm, where her sister has made a seemingly perfect life. Opening herself to the unexpected, Karen finds a lonely child in need of nurturing and insights into her family's past. In the quiet of the Missouri Ozarks, where the sycamore leaves whisper their soft, secret language, she begins to discover answers--and a joy to make her life complete.
According to USA Today, best-selling author Lisa Wingate "dishes up fun and charm" with her touching romance novels. In Texas Cooking, Wingate tells the story of Colleen Collins, a big city reporter who thinks she's seen and heard it all until she visits the tiny town of San Saline. Listeners from all walks of life will relish this tale of passion, new beginnings, and the comforts of good food and good conversation.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours comes a heartfelt novel about the bonds of family and the power of second chances.
When Kate Bowman temporarily moves to her grandmother's Missouri farm with her husband and baby son, she learns that the lessons that most enrich our lives often come unexpectedly. The family has given Kate the job of convincing Grandma Rose, who's become increasingly stubborn and forgetful, to move off her beloved land and into a nursing home. But Kate knows such a change would break her grandmother's heart.
Just when Kate despairs of finding answers, she discovers her grandma's journal. A beautiful handmade notebook, it is full of stories that celebrate the importance of family, friendship, and faith. Stories that make Kate see her life-and her grandmother-in a completely new way...
