Showing results by author "Jessie Gussman" in All Categories

After losing his country music superstar sister in a plane crash, Jones Dunn brings his niece to Sweet Water so they could stay where no one will recognize or bother them. He doesn't intend to stay in town long, but a marriage proposal from an unlikely source makes him think that maybe his plans should change.

Hines Cannon, a recluse haunted by the scars of his heroic sacrifice, never expected to find love in the rural North Dakota town of Sweet Water. But when a freak accident leaves him helpless, Eliza Walton, the woman he once saved, becomes his lifeline. As they spend time together, secrets unravel and barriers crumble.

Ezra Clyborne, a man of principles and routine, never expected Alaska, a woman embroiled in a world of trouble, and her children to turn his world upside down. His offer of marriage was meant to be a safe haven, a simple solution to her troubles, but it becomes the foundation of a bond that deepens with each challenge they face. Yet, as they confront the threats lurking around them, Ezra and Alaska discover that love often thrives in the most unexpected places.

Dakota Estenben’s life took a turn she never expected after a heartbreak and a whirlwind of bad decisions led her away from her one true love. Now divorced, she’s back in the picturesque town of Strawberry Sands, seeking a fresh start as she reopens the souvenir shop she inherited from her grandmother and struggles with the challenges of single motherhood.

When Matt Landry sees a woman with two little girls and a broken down car, of course he stops to help. When he finds out she needs a job and a place to stay, he hires her because he knows his mother will take her under her wing. What he doesn't expect is to start falling for her himself. Reeling from her divorce and the death of her mother, Jubilee Jones is trying to hold herself together and make a life for her girls. With no other options, she seeks refuge and a fresh start in the nostalgic embrace of Strawberry Sands.

Lark Stryker, a compassionate veterinarian with a heart full of hope, can't forget the man who broke her teenage heart. She has built a fulfilling life centered around caring for others. But beneath her selfless exterior lies a lingering longing for the man who shattered her heart years ago. As she tends to her animal patients and nurtures the teenage girls in her shelter, Lark wonders if God has a greater love in store for her.

Birdie Pollock just rented a beach house for the summer. She needed to get away from the noise and the lights and the pressure…okay, she’s burnt out and can’t let anyone know. She has to be back to full speed by fall when her big American tour kicks off. Wesley Moffett is burnt out. He’s lying low after the last game of the hockey season, and trying to write the book his agent is demanding from him. He used to love hockey, but that love turned to hate and he never did like writing. It’s going to be the worst summer ever. Unless he can con his next-door neighbor into writing his book for him.

Gage has been happy in Blueberry Beach, living above the store on the Main Street, working from home, and raising his two girls. Alone. The tightknit community supports each other and his daughters enjoy working in the ice cream shop and playing in the beach band. When Zariah and her teenage niece, Macie, move in across the street, opening a clothing boutique, Gage's attraction to her is immediate. Their relationship seems too good to be true. Or maybe it’s Macie that’s too good to be true.

They were high school sweethearts, but money and pride came between them. Can their twin sons trick them into falling in love again? Reid Hudson would be happy on his Missouri farm except he’d always thought he’d be sharing it with his soul mate, Emerson. Instead, he gets six months with each of his boys and splits the holidays. Not the life he’d planned.

Olive Jardine almost died living her adventure, backpacking around the world and going wherever the wind blew. Coming back to Raspberry Ridge feels safe and she has no interest in leaving ever again. But her sisters want to sell the family home. They need the money and she can’t afford to buy it outright. Her best friend from childhood just might have a plan that could get her the home she wants, but can he get past the pain she caused him before she left and the way she betrayed him? Doyle Lowry is not the boy she remembers. He's better.

I thought it would be a good idea to buy a dog…. I ended up with an ATV I have no idea how to drive. I’m not sure how this happened, especially since the man I purchased it from, Justin Gabriel, introduced himself by running his remote-controlled monster pickup into my high heeled shoe. I’m serious, studious, and a high school English teacher at Good Grief High. Needless to say, Justin Gabriel is not my type.

I’m a city girl and proud of it. Chicago is my hometown and I’m in my element surrounded by people and buildings and busyness. Actually, my business—my vlog—depends on my interactions with people. You can’t go viral talking about your pet turtle. Well, maybe some people can, but that’s not how I became a highly paid influencer. I was happy to use my influence to help my grandmother, Agnes, save her assisted care facility. I thought I was going to hate being out in the wilderness for days on end…bugs and bears and no internet or sushi bars.

People are so serious about life. I feel it was made to be enjoyed. I’m not interested in having a great career or climbing a corporate ladder or being inside much at all, actually. I don’t like to stay with things too long, either. I’ve worked as a short line cook, a firefighter, and a dolphin trainer among other things. So, when the ladies at the Good Grief senior living center offer me a short term job as the photographer for the risqué nature calendar they want to pose for—to cross it off of Miss Agnes’s bucket list—I am all in.

It took me a while—most of my life, in fact—to decide that my hometown of Good Grief, Idaho, is the best place in the world to live. But I have and I love it...except for one thing. My boss. Okay, so the man is good at his job. We just have a tendency to disagree on how much activity the seniors at our assisted-living center want to have.

Famous pro baseball player Dwight Eckenrode never thought he’d need the services of a group of small-town matchmakers. But nothing he does seems to catch the eye of Orchid Baldwin, and he’s just desperate enough to go along with his best friend’s suggestion–hire the Piece Makers. Except the Piece Makers don’t want him. So now what?

Serious and quiet, Silas hardly seems like the kind of man who would be out drag racing in the wee hours of the night. Unwilling heir of her family’s multimillion-dollar ranching operation, Gladys Lefrak is a daredevil who vows to never settle down. And she loves drag racing–with Silas beside her. But her 25th birthday is fast approaching, and the conditions of her inheritance state that she must be married by that date.

Bellamy Levine is the highest paid actress in Hollywood, but she just inked her name on her fifth divorce settlement and her personal life is in shambles. Again. She vows it’s for the last time. That’s why she’s rented the entire vacation spot in rural North Dakota and intends to spend the holidays alone, figuring out what she’s going to do with her life.

Sadie Powers has crushed on her brother’s best friend for years, but when the Piece Makers, Sweet Water’s own quilting and matchmaking group, ask her to help them match him up with the new single mom in town, she just wants the man she’s loved for years to be happy, even if that’s with someone else. When rancher and livestock auction owner Colman Baldwin is asked to give riding lessons to the son of the new single mom in town, he doesn’t hesitate to make time in his schedule to help out. That’s what small towns are for. He doesn’t realize he’s being set up.

Single mom Peyton Sinclair came to the town of Sweet Water to raise her son away from the influence of her ex-husband’s mother. She’s happy with her bookstore and bake shop and is not interested in doing anything but making a living and raising her son. Bryce Shaker had been baseball’s highest paid athlete at one point in his career.

When she develops pneumonia, Shasta Bingley can’t believe how the town of Sweet Water comes together to take care of her. Especially Nolt Powers, who not only pays her rent, but sits up with her through the worst of her sickness so she’s not alone. Although she loves the town of Sweet Water, Shasta has to leave, since her job as a painter can’t support her in such a small town. Then an unthinkable accident happens, and Nolt needs help.