Melody Carlson

"It's official: Brynna Phillips is done with men. They only break your heart. But just when she makes this declaration, her friend Jan convinces Brynna to join her on a camping vacation in Sonoma Wine Country. As they wind their way toward their destination, spanking-new mini camper in tow, Brynna recalls her teenage camp romance with a boy named Leroy. How can it have been nearly 30 years ago? All she remembers is that Leroy was a genuinely good...

"Adelaide Smith has been working hard to put herself through law school and now that the end is in sight, she's determined to stay focused on her goals. Then she receives a letter notifying her that she has been found through a DNA registry to be a direct descendant of King Maximillian V, the ruler of a small Eastern European principality called Montovia. Although the pieces of this surprising family puzzle seem too good to be true, curiosity gets...

"When the fun-loving and spontaneous artist Willow West meets buttoned-up, retired English teacher George Emerson, it's not exactly love at first sight. Though she does find the obsessive-compulsive man intriguing. Making it her mission to get him to loosen up and embrace life, she embarks on what seems like a lost cause--and finds herself falling for him in the process. A confirmed bachelor, George vacillates between irritation and attraction whenever...

When she receives the news in late 1944 that her baby's father was shot down in the South Pacific, Amelia Richards loses hope. Jobless and broke, she has nowhere to turn for help but her infant's paternal grandparents. The only problem is, they don't know that she-- or their grandson-- exists. When Amelia discovers that the family is wealthy and influential, dare she disclose the truth of her relationship with their son?

A woman down on her luck finds a new start at Christmastime in this warm, contemporary story by a much-loved novelist.

Managing the Value Lodge in her hometown was not what Anna Gordon had in mind when she set out in the hospitality industry. But it's a safe choice for a woman whose childhood was anything but stable. Out of the blue, she gets a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reinvent herself by moving to New York City, where she hopes for a management position at a stylish new boutique hotel. The big city is full of surprises--not the least of which is Sean O'Neil....

The people of Christmas Valley always celebrate Christmas to the fullest extent. The mayor plays Santa, every business is holiday themed, and there's a nativity for the kids each Christmas Eve. This town knows Christmas. But this year nothing goes according to plan. Shepherd's Inn is full of strangers, Mad Myrtle is causing problems, and a young couple with a baby due any minute rolls in to the middle of town in their Partridge Family-style bus....

Themes of grief, love, and renewed faith intertwine in this winsome novella by best-selling author Melody Carlson. The recently widowed Claire Andrews is mourning the deaths of her husband and young son who were killed in a boating accident. Grief-stricken and angry with God, Claire, a professional artist, finds she is no longer able to paint. In her sorrow, she flees to an isolated cabin in the Cascade Mountains to find solace and healing, and hopefully,...

Anna Larson's daughter, Lauren, became pregnant while she was at college and decided to keep the baby, Sarah, but life had not been easy for them. When Sarah was only sixteen years old, she ran away from home. It is now Sarah's eighteenth birthday and neither Anna nor Lauren have heard from her in all this time. Anna is certain that her granddaughter is dead. But suddenly, Sarah shows up at the Inn at Shining Waters, a mere shell of her old self....

While giving the laundry room of Grace Chapel Inn a thorough cleaning, Alice Howard finds an old hatbox containing her father's teenage journal dating back to the early 1900s. As Alice reads it aloud each evening to her sisters, Louise and Jane, the hideen history of their beloved father sheds new light on his life and their own. Meanwhile, a guest at Grace Chapel Inn turns out to be the sister of Mark Graves, veterinarian Alice dated back in nursing...