Showing results by author "Josie Riviera" in All Categories

When Dorothy Thompson returns to Cherish, SC, to play piano for her brother’s wedding, memories and fear nearly paralyzes her fingers. If anyone she knew back in high school discovers her secret, the whispers will start. Fake. Fraud. Failure. It’s not as if she can blame God for her troubles. No, she did that all by herself. But, remembering His lessons, she’s fighting to get back on track. All she can do is pray the wedding vocalist—her brother’s friend Ryan, a rising opera star—won’t notice the way her hands shake. When Ryan Edwards sets foot inside a church for the first time in years, he’s no longer the pitiable kid from the poor side of town, but someone who’s made it on his own. Without God’s help—not that He ever cared about misfits like Ryan, anyway.

Rachel Lockhart grew up running wild and free with nomadic gypsy children on her father’s estate. Craving adventure, her imagination conjured up an impossibly perfect, grey-eyed man to share it with. Now grown, her outspoken ways are about to send her home from London in disgrace. Until she unexpectedly clashes with an impossibly perfect, grey-eyed man. And the back of her mind echoes with God’s promise: I will not leave you comfortless. As if she’d find comfort with a man as arrogant as Nash Browning.

Fresh pasta isn’t the only specialty that takes extra time...The extra time and expense of Julie Elliot’s old-school cooking methods are worth it, but that means The Pasta Junction’s bottom line is often stretched thin - much like herself. Even during the holidays, the restaurant’s busiest season. When she carves out time in her brutal schedule to meet with Bloomingfield weatherman Lorenzo Rossi, she crushes her reaction to the tall, blue-eyed charmer quicker and harder than a clove of roasted garlic.

Judging a chocolate-making competition for the women’s shelter’s annual fundraiser should be an easy, even pleasurable, assignment for Maise, new food critic for the Bloomingfield Daily Dispatch. Too bad just the smell of chocolate makes her stomach roil. By the time she reaches the last table, she hopes her face isn’t as green as her holiday sweater. But the tall, square-jawed man behind piles of fudge makes her want to linger, even savor the moment along with his chocolate-coffee-flavored confection.

Owning a candy store should be a fun and delightful profession. Besides, what candy could beat Sally’s Elliot’s signature coffee chocolate fudge? None, except for the unique infusion candy she designed for Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately, the signature chocolate required for the candy won’t be delivered on time. No problem. She’ll pick up the order herself.

He's all business. She loves to laugh. When business conflicts with pleasure, what could possibly go wrong? Maeve Doherty needed a hard-earned break...When the offer from Perfect Match to enjoy a week on an island of her choice arrived, she hesitated. But not for long...Edward Newell had one thing on his mind when he reached Corsica, and it didn't involve meeting a perfect match. When unexpected attraction burns for the beautiful Maeve, and business conflicts with pleasure, what could possibly go wrong?

Irishwoman Kathleen Kelly wants to renovate her new tea house in America to a sparkling shine, enticing droves of customers to Roses, NC. But the project quickly takes a turn for the worse when her hard work falls flat. Rob Taylor knows a thing or two about running a business. He’s built Rob’s Marvelous Muffins into a thriving business catering to hundreds of customers. With Rob in Miami and Kathleen in Roses, a May-December romance isn’t a part of Kathleen’s carefully laid-out plans. Besides, they’ve both admitted to each other how unlucky they are in love.

Joseph Slater, an up-and-coming Christian singer and songwriter, doesn’t plan to be in Cherish, South Carolina, longer than a few days. That is, until he meets Scarlett Evans, who finds herself at a loss for words when she is formally introduced to the famous musician. Normally, Joseph would be looking for the fastest way out of town if he thought a woman he was attracted to qualified as a homebody. Yet Scarlett’s appeal - her laugh, her optimism, her obvious passion for the things she cares about - weighs stronger than his reluctance to settle down.

When Charity ran away with the Romany Gypsies, she left everything behind: her name, a way of life constrained by English rules, the punishments her cruel father meted out in the name of God, and the young man who made it all bearable. Certain things she can’t hide, even in wild, remote Wale: a secret longing for the ease of English life, the wisps of faith that still linger, and her reaction to a handsome face she thought she’d never see again.

Attorney Desiree Contando can think of only one word to describe her very first home: disaster. The vintage Queen Anne is beautiful - or will be, in about 1,000 years. Certainly not in time to host the family Christmas gathering. “Disaster” also describes the bad breakup that left her picket-fence vision in tatters. Even the carpenter she’s hired is a reminder of lost dreams - the high school crush who never spared her a passing glance. But she’s a grown-up now, perfectly capable of keeping things professional.

Losing his wife and daughter to influenza shook James Colchester's faith in God. As another epidemic threatens, he's torn between what's best for his fragile son: fleeing to his Welsh homeland, or staying put. In a moment of weakness, the black-haired, green-eyed Gypsy's delicate touch on his palm quells his fears, and her beauty ignites a warmth he hasn't felt in years. Desperate to return to her people, Valentina Rupa goes against every lesson her mother taught her to soothe the Englishman into a false sense of security.

When Holly steps into a homeless shelter looking for an MIA piano student, she notices a distinct lack of Christmas cheer because a handsome building inspector is forcing the shelter to temporarily close down. Holly knows bad guys - she was married to one. Yet, when the man asks her out, she finds herself agreeing with an absolute yes.

Faith is fragile. Faith takes time. Alone in a mountain cabin near Cherish, North Carolina, David wrestles with his inner critic as he struggles to put brush to canvas. Until he meets a luminous woman who dispels his crippling fear with her warmth and laughter. Ashley’s optimism is a balm to David’s hurting soul. Yet as their attraction warms, Ashley senses David is holding something back—and that saving her own dream is intimately tied to restoring his faith.

Penelope Reid owns a toy business, and meets an elusive, handsome stranger on a plane trip to Hilton Head Island. Along the way, she confesses her problems and fears, her aspirations, and unrealized goals, while she believes the man is only half-listening. She is a single mother in her late 40s, readjusting to her life after a difficult divorce, and raising a challenging 12-year-old son. Two months later, she comes into direct contact with Jacob Williams, the new pediatrician in town, and the man she met on the plane.

Holiday love and romance are in the air—but Shanice Williams will be spending the second most popular date night of the year alone, agonizing over selling the quirky old farmhouse she inherited from her beloved grandmother. The money would help save her struggling landscaping business, but emotionally, she can’t bear to part with a place so filled with memories—especially of Lincoln Reid, her mad teenage crush. Then she accidentally overhears his heartbreakingly familiar voice, and she realizes Lincoln still makes her heart race.

Music of both birds and harmonicas fills Max’s life, but it’s the near-silent forest guide he meets in Cherish, SC, who captures his attention. Small and slim, pretty Sarah’s smiles and graceful hands speak louder than her voice. In fact, she’s so quiet, he's not sure he’s made much of an impression. But with her, he can imagine making this temporary stopover into something permanent.

Hardworking accountant Nora Lancaster returns to her modest hometown to help manage an inn that her parents once owned. In order to escape small-town living, she’d married young and moved away. Now, as a single mother of a rebellious teenage daughter, she doesn’t intend to stay long - only a few weeks at most - or until the current owner of the inn recovers from his heart attack. World-weary Julian Wilson is a businessman who arrives in town for one reason - to open another restaurant.

Colum O’Brien, a professional ballet dancer, is still hurt from a breakup four decades earlier. All this time, his heart has gravitated toward the woman who left him behind. Sure, he’s moved on with his life, but he’s never forgotten his childhood sweetheart Keira Murphy. That is, until he meets her again. Because, his father is marrying her mother.

In Cora Carpenter’s small California hometown, Christmas is tailor-made for couples. Unfortunately, Cora is a party of one, thanks to a con man who stole her heart, then bilked her out of thousands of dollars. What’s on her Christmas wish list this year? Nothing whimsical. She’ll take a new vacuum cleaner, thanks - and no dating for the foreseeable future. But when she meets a stranger with a broken-down car, his warm smile and perilously blue eyes almost make her want to tweak that list. If only she could get over the pain and humiliation of her past.

The last thing she can fix is her own life. Until one man’s offer changes everything. There’s been one constant in Belle Boots’ nomadic life. Horses. She’s lived in Roses, North Carolina, for a couple years, but lately the universe seems to be telling her it’s time to pack up her equine therapy practice and move on. Maybe Florida. Or California. But when she’s offered a horse-friendly fixer-upper near where she grew up, her usual sense of adventure gives way to a longing for something familiar. Salt air, wheeling seagulls, summer sand between her toes. Wilmington. Home.