Closed door romances showcase the importance of relationship building and the lasting impact of love, romantic love but also the love between family, friends, and community. Very little to no graphic sex is depicted in these books.
All Is Bright
RaeAnne Thayne
Sage McKnight is an ambitious young architect working at her father’s firm who takes on her most challenging client in Mason Tucker. The former pro baseball player is still healing from the physical and emotional scars after a plane crash left him a wheelchair-using single dad, and he’s determined not to let anyone breach his emotional defenses. Sage knows her work on Mason’s new home in Hope’s Crossing is her best work yet, and she won’t let her grumpy client prevent her from showcasing her work personally. With Sage’s gift for taking broken things and making them better, the matchmaking talent of the quirky locals and a generous sprinkling of Christmas cheer, Mason doesn’t stand a chance against the power of this magical holiday season.
Read More View in CatalogThe Fifth Avenue Story Society
Rachel Hauck
When five New Yorkers receive an anonymous, mysterious invitation to the Fifth Avenue Story Society, they suspect they’re victims of a practical joke. No one knows who sent the invitations or why. No one has heard of the literary society. And no one is prepared to reveal their deepest secrets to a roomful of strangers. Executive assistant Lexa is eager for a much-deserved promotion, but her boss is determined to keep her underemployed. Literature professor Jett is dealing with a broken heart, as well as a nagging suspicion his literary idol, Gordon Phipps Roth, might be a fraud. Uber driver Chuck just wants a second chance with his kids. Aging widower Ed is eager to write the true story of his incredible marriage. Coral, queen of the cosmetics industry, has broken her engagement and is on the verge of losing her great grandmother’s multimillion-dollar empire. Yet curiosity and loneliness bring them back week after week to the old library. And it’s there they discover the stories of their hearts, and the kind of friendship and love that heals their souls. Sweet, contemporary stand-alone novel Book length: approximately 100,000 words Includes discussion questions for book clubs
Read More View in CatalogBookshop by the Sea
Denise Hunter
Sophie Lawson should be enjoying her sister’s wedding day. But nothing could have prepared her to see the best man again. After her mother became bedridden and her father bailed on the family, Sophie found herself serving as a second mother to her twin brother, Seth, and younger sister, Jenna. Sophie supported her siblings through their college years, putting aside her own dream of opening a bookshop in Piper’s Cove—the quaint North Carolina beach town they frequented as children. Now it’s finally time for Sophie to follow her own pursuits. Seth has a new job, and Jenna is set to marry her college beau in Piper’s Cove. But the destination wedding reunites Sophie with best man Aiden Maddox, her high school sweetheart who left her without a backward glance. When an advancing hurricane strands Aiden in Piper’s Cove after the wedding, he finds the hotels booked to capacity and has to ask Sophie to put him up until the storm passes. As the two ride out the weather, old feelings rise to the surface. The delay also leaves Sophie with mere days to get her bookshop up and running. Can she trust Aiden to stick around? And will he find the courage to risk his heart? Praise for Bookshop by the Sea: “Sophie and Aiden had me hooked from page one, and I was holding my breath until the very end. Denise nails second-chance romance in Bookshop by the Sea. I adored this story! Five giant stars!” —Jenny Hale, USA TODAY bestselling author “Denise Hunter has never failed to pen a novel that whispers messages of hope and brings a smile to my face. Bookshop by the Sea is no different! With a warmhearted community, a small beachside town, a second-chance romance worth rooting for, and cozy bookshop vibes, this is a story you’ll want to snuggle into like a warm blanket.” —Melissa Ferguson, author of The Dating Charade Sweet and thoughtful contemporary read Stand-alone novel Book length: 75,000 words Includes discussion questions for book clubs
Read More View in CatalogThe Chemistry of Love
Sariah Wilson
True love requires a little research and development in a funny, heart-racing romance by Sariah Wilson, the bestselling author of The Paid Bridesmaid. How can Anna Ellis, a geeky, brilliant, and hopelessly smitten cosmetic chemist possibly win over Craig Kimball, the man of her dreams--who also happens to be her boss? The answer is Craig's empathetic (and handsome) CEO half brother, Marco. The makeup mogul knows Craig for the ridiculously competitive rival he is. Whatever Marco has, Craig wants. That can be Anna, if she's game to play. All Anna and Marco have to do is pretend they're falling in love and let the rumors begin. If the experiment in attraction works, a jealous Craig will swoop in and give Anna her happily ever after--if it weren't for one hitch in the plan. There's more to Marco than meets the eye. With every fake date, Anna's feelings are starting to become dizzyingly real. Blame it on chemistry. It's unpredictable, exciting, and occasionally combustible. If Anna and Marco are really falling in love, who are they to argue with science?
Read More View in CatalogA Wish for Winter
Viola Shipman
Despite losing her parents in a tragic accident just before her fourteenth Christmas, Susan Norcross has had it better than most, with loving grandparents to raise her and a gang of quirky, devoted friends to support her. Now a successful bookstore owner in a tight-knit Michigan lakeside community, Susan is facing down forty—the same age as her mother when she died—and she can’t help but see everything she hasn’t achieved, including finding a love match of her own. To add to the pressure, everyone in her small town believes it’s Susan’s destiny to meet and marry a man dressed as Santa, just like her mother and grandmother before her. So it seems cosmically unfair that the man she makes an instant connection with at an annual Santa Run is lost in the crowd before she can get his name. What follows is Susan and her friends’ hilarious and heartwarming search for the mystery Santa—covering twelve months of social media snafus, authors behaving badly and dating fails—as well as a poignant look at family, friendship and what defines a well-lived and well-loved life.
Read More View in CatalogA Distant Shore
Karen Kingsbury
She was a child caught in a riptide in the Caribbean Sea. He was a teenager from the East Coast on vacation with his family. He dove in to save her, and that single terrifying moment changed both of their lives forever. Ten years later Jack Ryder is a daring undercover agent with the FBI and Eliza Lawrence still lives on that pristine island. She's an untainted princess in a kingdom of darkness and evil, on the brink of a forced marriage with a dangerous neighboring drug lord, a marriage arranged by her father. This time when Jack and Eliza meet, there's a connection neither of them can explain. Both of their lives are on the line, and once again, the stakes are deadly high. Can they join forces in a complicated and dangerous mission, pretending to have a breathtaking love...without really falling? Sometimes miracles happen not once, but twice...along a distant shore.
Read More View in CatalogLast Circle of Love
Lorna Landvik
Newly installed at All Souls Lutheran, Mallory "Pastor Pete" Peterson soon realizes that her church isn't merely going through turbulent waters, but is a sinking ship. With the help of five loyal members of the Naomi Circle, the young, bold minister brainstorms fundraising ideas. They all agree that the usual recipe book won't add much to the parish coffers, but maybe one with all the ingredients on how to heat up relationships rather than casseroles will... Pastor Pete has her doubts about the project, but it turns out the group of postmenopausal women has a lot to say on the subject of romance. While Charlene, the youngest member at fifty-two, struggles with the assignment, baker-extraordinaire Marlys, elegantly bohemian Bunny, I'm-always-right Velda, and ebullient Edie take up their contributions enthusiastically. After all, their book is really about cooking up love in all its forms. But not everyone in the congregation is on board with this "scandalous" project. As the voices of opposition grow louder, Pastor Pete and these intrepid women will have to decide how hard they're willing to fight for this book and the powerful stories within--stories of discovery, softened hearts, and changed lives.
Read More View in CatalogEvery Breath
Nicholas Sparks
Hope Anderson has some important choices to make. At thirty-six, she's been dating her boyfriend, an orthopedic surgeon, for six years. With no wedding plans in sight, and her father recently diagnosed with ALS, she decides to use a week at her family's cottage in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, to ready the house for sale and mull over some difficult decisions about her future. Tru Walls has never visited North Carolina but is summoned to Sunset Beach by a letter from a man claiming to be his father. A safari guide, born and raised in Zimbabwe, Tru hopes to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding his mother's early life and recapture memories lost with her death. When the two strangers cross paths, their connection is as electric as it is unfathomable . . . but in the immersive days that follow, their feelings for each other will give way to choices that pit family duty against personal happiness in devastating ways. Illuminating heartbreaking regrets and enduring hope, Every Breath explores the many facets of love that lay claim to our deepest loyalties while asking a life-changing question: How long can a dream survive?
Read More View in CatalogThen You Came Along
Debbie Macomber
The right person could appear anytime, anywhere, in these two stories of finding love and creating family. Father's Day Robin Masterson’s little boy wants a dog more than anything in the world. And there just happens to be one right next door! But the friendly black Lab belongs to Cole Camden, the unfriendliest man in the neighborhood. Cole hasn’t always been so solitary, so aloof, but life has dealt him some harsh blows. Robin actually understands and shares his heartache, and soon Robin and Cole are looking at each other in a whole new way. They can make each other whole, and make a family again. Same Time, Next Year With a broken engagement behind him, James Wilkens decides to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas…where he meets Summer Lawton. She’s just suffered a painful betrayal, and James promises her that in a year, she’ll be over it. To prove his point, he makes a date to meet her in Vegas at the same time a year from now. Except it turns out to be more than a date—it’s a wedding! Reading a Debbie Macomber book is like wrapping yourself in a warm, cozy blanket. —BookLoons
Read More View in CatalogMurphy Shepherd Series, Book 1
The Water Keeper
Charles Martin
Murphy Shepherd is a man with many secrets. He lives alone on an island, tending the grounds of a church with no parishioners, and he’s dedicated his life to rescuing those in peril. But as he mourns the loss of his mentor and friend, Murph himself may be more lost than he realizes. When he pulls a beautiful woman named Summer out of Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway, Murph’s mission to lay his mentor to rest at the end of the world takes a dangerous turn. Drawn to Summer, and desperate to find her missing daughter, Murph is pulled deeper and deeper into the dark and dangerous world of modern-day slavery. With help from some unexpected new friends, including a faithful Labrador he plucks from the ocean and an ex-convict named Clay, Murph must race against the clock to locate the girl before he is consumed by the secrets of his past—and the ghosts who tried to bury them. With Charles Martin’s trademark lyricism and poignant prose, The Water Keeper is at once a tender love story and a heartrending search for freedom. Praise for The Water Keeper: “I’m telling you, it’s an action-packed, classic Charles Martin romance novel unlike anything I’ve ever read. And remember . . . the day you pick up this book is the day you become temporarily unavailable to the world.” —Charlie Martin, son of Charles Martin “Charles Martin fans rejoice, because he’s done it again . . . a multilayered story woven together with grace and redemption, and packed tight with tension and achingly real characters.” —Lauren Denton, USA TODAY bestselling author of The Hideaway Part of The Murphy Shepherd novels: Book 1: The Water Keeper Book 2: The Letter Keeper Book 3: The Record Keeper Coming July 2022!) Full-length novel (110,000 words) Includes discussion questions for book clubs Also by Charles Martin: The Mountain Between Us, Send Down the Rain, Long Way Gone, When Crickets Cry, Chasing Fireflies
Read More View in CatalogHope Harbor Series, Book 8
Sea Glass Cottage
Irene Hannon
Christi Reece is desperate. The one-time golden girl's life has tarnished, and a cascade of setbacks has left her reeling. She needs help, and she's certain Jack Colby is in a position to provide it. When she shows up in Hope Harbor, however, Jack wants nothing to do with the woman who betrayed him. He's built a new life on the Oregon coast--and there's no room in it for Christi, even after she takes refuge in a charming but mysterious cottage nearby. Yet it soon becomes apparent his opinion of her may need revising . . . especially when he ends up needing her help. Can these two hurting souls make peace with their past and open their hearts to a new beginning? Come home to Hope Harbor--where hearts heal . . . and love blooms. Bestselling and award-winning author Irene Hannon delivers another heartwarming and romantic story set in the enchanting seaside community of Hope Harbor that is loved by readers the world over. Once you visit, you'll never want to leave.
Read More View in CatalogThe Summer Hideaway
Jenny Hale
Alice Emerson and best friend Sasha Miller have made a pact. They've decided to swap city living for the beautiful white beaches of the Outer Banks and pour everything they have into launching an ice cream shop in the little house by the sea where Alice spent blissful childhood holidays with her grandfather. As Alice and Sasha add color to the walls of the beach house and tempt the locals with their delicious recipes, their fresh new life begins to take shape. Swept away by her plans, love is the last thing on Alice's mind. But she keeps running into mysterious doctor Jack Murphy, and finds herself falling for his golden charm and warm smile. As they laugh through sunshine-filled days and long romantic evenings, Alice tries hard not to think he could be the one for her - Jack is only here for the season, and Alice has had her fair share of heartbreak. Just when Alice's summer couldn't be more perfect, she discovers an old letter tucked away in the beach house. It contains a family secret that turns Alice's world upside down and threatens the future of the ice cream shop. And then Jack reveals a secret of his own...
Read More View in CatalogAny Dream Will Do
Debbie Macomber
Shay Benson adored her younger brother, Caden, and that got her into trouble. When he owed money, Shay realized she would do anything to help him avoid the men who were threatening him, and she crossed lines she never should have crossed. Now, determined to start fresh, she finds herself in search of a place to stay and wanders into a church to escape from the cold. Pastor Drew Douglas adored his wife. But when he lost her, it was all he could do to focus on his two beautiful kids, and his flock came in a distant third. Now, as he too is thinking about a fresh start, he walks through his sanctuary and finds Shay sitting in a pew. The pair strike up a friendship—Drew helps Shay get back on her feet, and she reignites his sense of purpose—that, over time, turns into something deeper, something soulful, spiritual, and possibly romantic. Even Drew’s two children are taken with this woman who has brought light back into their lives. Perhaps most important, Shay learns to trust again as she, in turn, proves herself trustworthy to her adopted community. But Caden’s return to town and a disastrous secret threaten to undo the life Shay has tried so hard to rebuild. It will take the utmost courage and faith if she and Drew hope to find healing and open their hearts to a brighter future.
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