Healing Springs Series

Kindergarten teacher Ava O ́Connor has never had a relationship last long enough to sustain a houseplant, let alone the life she dreams of. She thought she had found lasting love, but then she caught her fiancé cheating on her. With another man. On the satin sheets he had given her for their anniversary. When Cole Stanton—a summer love from years ago and the only man who has ever made her blood burn—returns to town, he ́s suddenly interested in rekindling old flames. But with her confidence shaken, she knows she can ́t let him into her heart. Fate seems to bring them together, but is their love strong enough to intervene when life threatens to tear them apart?

First comes...baby? A one-night stand is meant to be just that—one night. Not a lifetime. When Karly and Ben hook up at a wedding, they never dream the passion will spark something that will last into the next week, never mind the next eighteen or more years. Can two self-professed players commit to raising a child they didn’t intend to conceive? And is a baby enough to bind together the lives of two slightly damaged, extremely commitment-phobic adults?

She’s running from a painful past. Can he catch her and help her heal? Savannah Grace left her hometown after the traumatic death of her young brother ten years ago. Fresh out of high school, she trudged through life under a shroud of guilt and shame. She couldn’t face her family after what she did, and she knew she didn’t deserve happiness. Quentin Elliott became a paramedic so he could save people. He hadn’t been able to help his high school girlfriend’s brother, but he vowed to prevent as many tragedies as possible. He managed to build a life without Savannah, but he never moved past her. When Savannah returns to town in hopes of donating bone marrow to her estranged mother, Quentin knows he will only have a short time to help Savannah realize she should stay in Healing Springs. Where she belongs. With him. Savannah prefers to lace up her running shoes, but Quentin is determined to create a treatment plan to help her settle in for the long haul. Can a decade of pain be healed with a healthy dose of love? Or will Healing Springs fail to live up to its legendary name?

After an indifferent divorce, Reed Peterson traded in her high-profile career in the city for an opportunity to try her hand at running a business of her own. She’s not sure if the small town life is for her, but since part of her new mission in life is to adopt the free-spiritedness her mother had once embodied, she knows she has to give it a try. She needs her freedom, and she needs it now. Even if the fresh air might suffocate her. Rogan Douglas agrees to take on the job of getting Reed’s property up-to-snuff so she can re-open the once grand—now dilapidated—cottage motel in town. Struggling to raise his five kids on his own after the accidental death of his wife, Rogan didn’t realize the job would cost him so much. Like his sanity. And his heart. Reed and Rogan are venturing down different paths in life, but can they resist the powerful attraction that threatens the way they see themselves? Their futures? And is it possible for two people with such different personalities and values to find a way to call each other’s heart their home?

The last thing Paisley Peterson needs is to fall in love. Take a break from her stressful career? Yes. Try her hand at writing a romance novel? Yes. Beat the heck out of her cancer? Hell, yeah. Get in over her head in a stressful relationship with a mechanic with major family problems? No. Thanks anyway. Asher has always been the one to take care of the people in his life, so when sexy Paisley strolls in and takes the lead, he finds himself turned on by her independence and confidence in a way he has never been turned on before. But after suffering too many losses in life and with a plate already brimming with family members who need his care and protection, can he handle the truth behind her sudden appearance in Healing Springs? How is he supposed to allow himself to get close to her when he could lose her? Asher and Paisley are from two different worlds with two different life plans. Will their unplanned love affair turn into a dead end? Or will it be just the detour they have both needed all along?

Simplicity Peterson has never cared about fitting in, but she’s ready to put her couch-surfing days behind her. First step toward planting roots—find a way to make a difference in her new community. Volunteering to help the reclusive and notoriously difficult Ethan Witherford will help people see the good side of her. If she tries hard enough, she should be able to keep everyone in town from thinking of her as the crazy hippie. She expects to feel good about performing this important community service, but she’s far from prepared when Ethan turns out to be the most dangerous rollercoaster she’s ever had the pleasure of riding. Ethan had been tortured enough as a POW. He doesn’t need this free-spirited nymph interfering in his quiet, uncomfortable existence. His one goal in life is to make his estranged parents miserable, and he can’t fulfill that destiny if Simplicity continues yanking him from his dark cave as she chases a world of make-believe. His scars are external. Hers are internal. She can look past his. Can he do the same?

Certain things should never be known about one’s best friend. How they rate as a kisser is at the top of the list. Turning thirty wouldn’t be a big deal if Aleen hadn’t been given bad news about her future fertility potential. Now the clock is ticking and she needs to find a man who can not only get her body and heart buzzing, but who is also husband and father material. She hasn’t had a date in years, but finding a man shouldn’t be so hard to do in this age of internet dating, right? Finding an adequate man in thirty days is a challenge she has no choice but to accept. Luke tried the relationship thing for the sake of his dying mother. It didn’t work out. When his best friend, Aleen, starts searching for love in all the wrong places, he offers to step up to the plate. What the heck—they already love each other, why not commit to being more than friends? Her response? Laughter. She doesn’t believe he’s capable of deviating from his quest for the next bright and shiny thing in life, and thus would not make a good life partner. But after a staged kiss in the bar, she’s the only woman he can think about. And he wants to get to know parts of her he hasn’t yet known. Aleen is trying to hunt down a man. Luke is chasing after her. With their emotional wires crossed and burning, does their friendship stand a chance of survival?

If someone leaves without a goodbye, can they expect to be welcomed back with an open heart? Mackenzie O’Brien made the biggest mistake of her life when she left her husband on the eve of their sixth anniversary. But when she returns to Healing Springs to beg for forgiveness, she’s met with a man who is harder and angrier than the sweet, kind man she left behind. This new version of her husband has no problem humiliating her and casting her aside. She won’t go so easily this time... Gabe never imagined his loving wife would leave him like an unwanted kitten, but he’s been dealing with the abandonment every day. When she shows up at his door—the door she slammed behind her—expecting him to take her back, his first temptation is to slam the door right back at her. He’s done his best to harden his heart, but having her and her vulnerability in close proximity messes with his head... and other parts. When fate laughs in their faces and thrusts them together, neither Mackenzie nor Gabe knows how to navigate the muddied waters. Is the love they once shared strong enough to get them through the lowest of marital woes? And if they manage to brave this storm, will they be able to settle the undercurrents that continuously threaten to tear them apart?

A marriage of convenience isn’t on Harmony Peterson’s agenda when she’s forced to sneak into Healing Springs to retrieve important papers, but if marrying a stranger keeps her from reuniting with her estranged sisters, how dumb would she be to turn down the offer? She’ll do whatever it takes to keep her vow to protect the infant she hadn’t planned on raising. Keegan O’Malley knows he’s not qualified to save anyone, but if a sham marriage can help this beautiful, intriguing stranger who forced her way into his life and maybe help him in return, why should he talk himself into reason? Though he’s failed to live up to his moral code before, he has to believe he’s somehow been given a second chance to right the wrongs. A fake marriage may be something they can live with. But can they honor the unspoken promise to keep their hearts out of the bargain?

Tired of being the subject of the town's gossip for a scandal she hadn't known was in the making, Abigail Moore is ready to leave Healing Springs before her four-year-old becomes aware of the dirty looks and mumbled rumors. With no family remaining to anchor her to her hometown, she can sell the toy shop her parents left her and move somewhere far away. Preferably to a place where Christmas is a little less... well, Christmasy. Enrique Gonzalez is on a mission to give his daughter the childhood she deserves. The postcard-perfect town of Healing Springs checks off all the boxes for creating a joyful, trauma-free existence. When he finds a toy shop with a year-round Christmas department for sale in the idyllic small town, he knows he needs to leap on the opportunity. New to operating a business, he's lucky enough to get the current owner to agree to stay until the New Year in order to teach him the ropes. Little does he know the woman selling him the shop will check off a few boxes for him, too. Though the timing is impossible, they're unable to keep things professional. And just when they are ready to wrap it all up in ribbons and bows, outside forces threaten everything they tried not to hope for. As much as they wish the spirit of Christmas could light the way, they both know that falling in love was not in the contract either of them signed. He helps her see herself and her hometown with the newness of sparkly snow on a Christmas morning. She helps his heart learn to believe in the goodness of humanity and the power of trust. Will their strong feelings for one another be enough to conquer the icy patches on their road to love? Or is the idea of making a life together too great a burden to place on even the most magical wish-fulfilling elves?