Showing results by narrator "Amy Bentley" in All Categories

Lively, determined, and independent, Poppy Christner isn't about to let some vandal keep making mischief on her family's farm. She's been outrunning boys and standing up for picked on children ever since she was a girl - no matter how much her prideful, arrogant schoolmate Luke Bontranger insulted her. So Poppy certainly doesn't need his interference now, especially since he's made it plain he prefers demure, ladylike companions.

When I found out I was cast opposite my crush in the school musical, I thought it was a dream come true. Nash Hastings is the type of guy a "good girl" like me should want. He's sweet, attentive, loyal, and best of all, he finally asked me on a date. It's the perfect setup for an onstage romance to move offstage. There's just one problem: Asher Park—the bad-boy rumored to have been involved in the mysterious disappearance of his ex last spring—is also in the play.

It's the holiday season on Daybreak Island, and Maddie James is looking forward to stepping out of the limelight, watching the island's Christmas decoration competition from afar, spending time with her boyfriend and family, running tours for visitors as part of the festivities, and spreading holiday cheer through cute cats in jingle bell collars. But trouble hits close to home when word gets out that Donna Carey, the publisher of the island's only daily newspaper where Maddie's best friend Becky is editor, may be selling the business.

Benjamin Church came to the Grange Hall expecting to meet someone else, but then the girl in the red dress looked across the dance floor and smiled.... Passing Through Perfect is a heart-wrenching Southern family saga that starts on the night Benjamin falls madly in love with Delia. Once he tastes the sweetness of her kiss, he envisions them spending the rest of their life together. He doesn't stop to consider that her daddy is a learned Pastor, and her mama a woman with a college degree; he knows only that she sets his heart to racing.

Grab your tickets for Cajun Country Live!, the pickers' and crooners' answer to the legendary New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Maggie Crozat, proprietor of the Crozat Plantation B&B, plans to be in the cheering section when her friend Gaynell Bourgeois takes the stage with her band, Gaynell and the Gator Girls. The festival's headliner, native daughter Tammy Barker, rocketed to stardom on a TV singing competition. When a member of Tammy's entourage is murdered at the festival, Tammy makes sure Gaynell is number one on the suspect list.

Imogene Lynch has decorated the chapel for Greener Pastures' first wedding-funeral, but on the morning of the big event, one casket is empty. Has the bride gotten cold feet? Or has someone absconded with her? The spirits aren't talking, but they are making Imogene's life a misery. When the police suspect the mortuary's head embalmer of stealing the corpse to sell on the black market, she and El realize it's up to them to find the missing body.

It was the early 1900s when Obadiah (Oba) and Merriweather's (May's) parents died tragically, leaving them orphans at ten and eleven years old. When none of their nearby relations volunteer to take them in, they are set on a train to Arkansas to go live on their Amish aunt and uncle's cotton farm. Once there, it didn't take long to discover they would be treated cruelly, no matter what they did. May, always anxious to be a godly young lady, took on more and more responsibility, trying desperately to keep the peace and convince her older brother not to run away.

It's Mardi Gras season on the bayou, which means parades, pageantry, and gumbo galore. But when a flood upends life in the tiny town of Pelican, Louisiana - and deposits a body of a stranger behind the Crozat Plantation B&B - the celebration takes a decidedly dark turn. The citizens of Pelican are ready to laissez les bon temps rouler - but there's beaucoup bad blood on hand this Mardi Gras. Maggie Crozat is determined to give the stranger a name and find out why he was murdered.

Maddie James has big plans for the summer season at JJ’s House of Purrs. But when her friend, master meditator and Tai Chi teacher Cass Hendricks, brings a potential animal hoarding situation to her attention, Maddie has to refocus her attention on the furry felines who may need a helping paw.

Caroline Adams returns to Indian Territory after tiring of confining society life. She wants adventure, and when she and her friend Amber come across swaggering outlaw Frisco Smith, they find his dreams for the new territory are very persuasive. With the much-anticipated land run pending, they may just join the rush. Growing up parentless, all Frisco Smith wanted was a place to call his own. It's no wonder that he fought to open the Unassigned Lands. After years of sneaking across the border, he's even managed to put in a dugout house on a hidden piece of property he's poised to claim.

With the summer season looming, former Hollywood sitcom writer Dee Stern has one small goal—scrubbing her motel's unflattering moniker as the "Murder Motel." Dee and ex-husband-turned-business-partner Jeff Cornetta are excited to introduce a family-friendly panning activity complete with fool's gold just in time for the peak tourist months. Except neither could have anticipated the discovery of a real gold nugget or the ensuing social media frenzy.

The second in a fantastic new cozy mystery series with a vintage flair from USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award–winning author Ellen Byron. It’s hurricane season in New Orleans and vintage cookbook fan Ricki James-Diaz is trying to shelve her weather-related fears and focus on her...

When Marianna Santino's roommate is killed, Detective Ethan O'Hara can't fathom the motive. Then he realizes the deaf teacher was the intended target. Marianna must have something the murderer desperately wants. But what? Digging for the truth, the guarded cop tries to learn everything he can about Marianna. Her world. Her family. Her beauty, faith, and fierce independence. In spite of himself, Ethan finds that he can't keep his feelings at bay. Soon, he's willing to risk everything to lay the silent terror stalking Marianna to rest.

When my math tutor made me sign a contract promising I wouldn't fall in love with him, I thought he was joking. He wasn't. Yes, Carter Hastings is the prince of Eden Falls Academy—one of the most beautiful humans on earth—and boy, does he know it. But I can use this to my advantage. Since I basically signed a paper saying I'd never catch feelings for him, it makes my plan even more perfect. So I offer him a deal: a fake relationship.

Life hasn't sparkled too brightly for Bonnie Balfour over the past few years, but a heart-breaking divorce has brought her back to her small rural hometown of Bliss, Georgia, and things are starting to shape up. The proud new owner of Bless Her Heart - a second chance dress shop and boutique on the town square - Bonnie thinks 38 might not be too late for a fresh start in life after all.

I've heard a lot of things about Weston Cole. Popular. Conceited. Supercilious. He's spent the last three years steadily dismantling my family's legacy. I should hate him. And I did. Until I encountered him freshman year and discovered he's also troubled. Captivating. Audacious. And when I come across him again senior year, it turns out that knowledge is even more dangerous than his suggestive smirk....

When Violet Mooney's coworker and fellow witch calls to say that their Connecticut crystals shop, The Full Moon, has been selected as a vendor at the Spring Equinox Fair, it's welcome news. Ever since she learned about her magickal ancestry, Violet has been struggling to learn her craft while staying out of trouble. She tries to focus on the Fair, which is being run by one of her personal heroes. Horatio Hale is a proponent of ethical crystal mining, but apparently not everyone is a fan. Violet is shocked when she goes to attend a meeting and finds Horatio dead—with an axe stuck in his chest.

Everyone has three lives. A public life, a private life, and a secret life. I'm a junior in high school, and yet, I've never been on a date. Everybody says it's because my overprotective brothers scare all the guys away, but I can't help wondering if there's something wrong with me. That is, until I hear a rumor that I'm secretly dating my brothers' best friend. What?

Seventeen-year-old Eliana Costa has never kissed a guy. Her best guy friend, Jess, is more than willing to help her out. He has plenty of experience, since he finds a new girlfriend every other week. But when a practice kiss brings on feelings Eliana hadn't bargained for, her already messy life is thrown into a new level of chaos. Life is already more than she can handle after her dad's disappearance. Eliana worries that if she admits her feelings to Jess, she just might lose her best friend. And right now, a best friend is all she needs.

With the spirit of the holidays wafting through the Beacon Bakeshop, Lindsey thinks she has the recipe for the sweetest Christmas ever - winning the town-wide cookie bake-off. Low on staff and bombarded by visits from family, Lindsey can barely meet demands at work, let alone summon the confidence to face fierce competition.... Self-appointed Christmas know-it-all Felicity Stewart is determined to take the top spot in the bake-off, and she's not afraid to dump a little coal in everyone's stocking to do it.