Winner of the 2020 Reading the West Advocacy Award Winner of the 2020 Colorado Book Award for Creative Nonfiction "This is a book for all of us, right now." —Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild On her 120-acre homestead high in the Colorado Rockies, beloved writer Pam Houston learns what it means to care for a piece of land and the creatures on it. Elk calves and bluebirds mark the changing seasons, winter temperatures drop to 35 below, and lightning sparks a 110,000-acre wildfire, threatening her century-old barn and all its inhabitants. Through her travels from the Gulf of Mexico to Alaska, she explores what ties her to the earth, the ranch most of all. Alongside her devoted Irish wolfhounds and a spirited troupe of horses, donkeys, and Icelandic sheep, the ranch becomes Houston’s sanctuary, a place where she discovers how the natural world has mothered and healed her after a childhood of horrific parental abuse and neglect. In essays as lucid and invigorating as mountain air, Deep Creek delivers Houston’s most profound meditations yet on how “to live simultaneously inside the wonder and the grief… to love the damaged world and do what I can to help it thrive.”

Join America’s First Lady of Romance, Janet Dailey, in the great state of South Carolina, as old rivalries, new ventures, and long-lost loves converge when the daughter who once walked away from the dark chaos of her childhood returns to her Lowcountry hometown, hoping to put the past to rest. Perfect for fans of Dorthea Benton Frank, Debbie Macomber and Linda Lael Miller. For Kit Teague, the island of Hope Creek, South Carolina, is filled with joyful memories of being out on the water with her beloved father. But her small hometown is also the place where her mother battled mental illness—and lost. Returning home to put her mother to final rest, Kit discovers a family divided by grief—and wounds so deep her twin sister has turned against their father—and Kit. Not only has Viv moved up the creek to join a rival fishing business, she’s barricaded herself behind Beau Sutton, the boy Kit once loved from afar. The man who stirs something deep within Kit even now . . . Amid old-fashioned oyster roasts, starlit outings on the creek and sun-drenched fishing expeditions, Kit finds hope for a new life and renewed love. Neither the whispered scandals of the past nor the rift between their families will keep her from discovering the joy she and Beau can share . . .

STOLEN DRUGS. HOSTAGE SITUATIONS. SHOOTINGS. MURDER. —Does it ever end? What happened recently at Finley Creek General Hospital is a bit more than ER Nurse Cherise McAlister wants to think about. Especially while she's alone in the dark, empty parking garage… She should have waited for the security guard to walk her to her car. Even if she'd already been told it wasn't in his job description. She should have waited. That bad decision might just be her last. IT WAS GOING TO GET WORSE BEFORE IT GOT BETTER. Chief of Security at Finley Creek General Hospital, Vince Acardi took his job guarding the hospital seriously. Lives depended on him and he knew it. When he hears a woman scream in the parking lot, Vince runs. Someone was in trouble, and it was his job to help. When pretty nurse Cherise barrels right into Vince’s arms, he promises to keep her safe until her attacker is caught. The only way to do that is to keep the woman as close to him as he possibly can...

As far as Thea Michener is concerned, it's time for a change. With her husband murdered and her much-anticipated baby stillborn, there is nothing left for her in Ladreville. Having accepted a position as Cimarron Creek's midwife, she has no intention of remarrying and trying for another child. So when a handsome Texas Ranger appears on her doorstep with an abandoned baby, Thea isn't sure her heart can take it. Ranger Jackson Guthrie isn't concerned only with the baby's welfare. He's been looking for Thea, convinced that her late husband was part of the gang that killed his brother. But it soon becomes clear that the situation is far more complicated than he anticipated--and he'll need Thea's help if he's ever to find the justice he seeks. Amanda Cabot invites readers back to Cimarron Creek for a tender story of loss, betrayal, and love in the majestic Texas Hill Country.

RT READER'S CHOICE WINNER Sometimes home is the refuge you need—and sometimes it isn't Adelaide Davies, who's been living in Sacramento, returns to Whiskey Creek, the place she once called home. She's there to take care of her aging grandmother and to help with Gran's restaurant, Just Like Mom's. But Adelaide isn't happy to be back. There are too many people here she'd rather avoid, people who were involved in that terrible June night fifteen years ago. Ever since the graduation party that changed her life, she's wanted to go to the police and make sure the boys responsible—men now—are punished. But she can't, not without revealing an even darker secret. So it's better to pretend…. Noah Rackham, popular, attractive, successful, is shocked when Adelaide won't have anything to do with him. He has no idea that his very presence reminds her of something she'd rather forget. He only knows that he's finally met a woman he could love. www.brendanovak.com

Tragedy strikes Katherine Matthews and the small town of Cripple Creek, Colorado. An epidemic teams her with an old enemy, Wyatt Sullivan, the town's doctor. In the midst of desperation and death, Katherine has decisions to make. But she has no idea to what extent they will affect her daily life and livelihood.The town is turned upside-down when the gold miners go on strike. The owners bring in outside reinforcements, ready to break the resolve of the Western Federation of Miners. Everything in an upheaval, Katherine faces a crisis of faith and hard choices. Will life ever be normal again?