Showing results by narrator "Lorana Hoopes" in All Categories

Falling for the single mom? Nope. The potential for heartache is too high. I should know. My mum proved that dating a single parent leaves one open for soul-crushing bachelorhood. Which is why I was determined to keep things friendly with Denali Wilde once I learned that the beautiful police dog trainer came with a kid. Why add the possibility of angst and suffering to my already stressful move to Alaska and opening of an animal rescue center? Yet getting close to Denali and her son proves I have more than a few roos loose in the top paddock.

Sara Williams wasn’t always Sara Williams. Twelve years ago, she was Liz Jennings - a small-town nobody and best friend of Ian Hart. The only future she could imagine included him, but after one tragic night, she’s forced to flee her home and leave behind the best friend she secretly loves. Ian Hart was sure of two things. He was in love with his best friend, and he’d do anything to protect her. As teenagers, they made a pact to run away together, but when she left town without him, Ian spiraled into a storm of anger.

Firefighter Kyle Rimes couldn’t believe how his entire world turned upside down in the blink of an eye – nor how he was standing on an auction block, being foisted off to the highest bidder despite his protests. Had everyone in town lost their mind – including him?

Brilliant engineer Tessa Fuller has the opportunity of a lifetime at work, and all she needs to change the world is a little help from her old college friend, Ethan Bedford. Ethan can give her five weeks before he’s off to chase his own dreams, and when they meet again for the first time in six years, Tessa realizes the gawky guy she graduated with has grown into a super hot tech genius. Just as she’s on the verge of a fun, short-term fling to discover once and for all what-might-have-been, her wayward sister drops a baby on her doorstep and disappears, leaving Tessa to take care of the kid.

Joanna Drake can’t wait to escape to Freedom Ridge for the holidays. She needs to put hundreds of miles between her and her creepy coworker who won’t seem to take no for an answer. When she runs into her brother’s best friend at the ski resort, every relationship gets complicated. Between hiding their fake relationship from her brother and flaunting it in front of her pursuer, Aiden and Joanna find themselves wishing the relationship was as real as it seems under the mistletoe.

An ex-Army operator defining a new life by rescuing abused horses. A socialite striving to escape her devious family. Will the evil that threatens them rip them apart? Derrick Nicholson’s last fifteen years have been spent living the life his older brother never got to have. After a tragic accident took his brother, Derrick has become obsessed with perfection. Everything has to be triple checked. He’ll never allow his lack of attention to cause disaster again. Too bad Kiki Payne, his friend and housemate, is a distraction he can’t seem to ignore.

Rock Henderson needs a wife - and fast. His dying mother's last wish is to leave this world knowing her son is blissfully married...and producing grandchildren. It's just a small lie to make her eternally happy, one he doesn't think he'll have to make good on until Zelda shows up the week before Christmas with her nurse and her 20-pound tabby cat. With his ex-fiancée long gone and his wheelchair-bound mother sitting in the living room of his penthouse demanding to meet his wife, he's desperate - and hard-pressed - to find a stand-in on such short notice.

When Clayton is offered his family business, his initial excitement is weighed down by overwhelming worry. The only problem? He's a butcher, not a bookkeeper. Numbers were never his thing, but he's determined to make it work. That leaves him with only one choice: He'll have to learn the books or give up what he's always wanted. Unless Emmalee can find a job, she will have to forfeit her lifelong dream of living successfully in a quiet, friendly small town. The only problem? There's only one job available and it's not even remotely close to business management.

Twenty-two-year-old Garnet Adams longs to marry and have a houseful of children. Forced to support her widowed mother, she embraces her role as a teacher, although the Carrie Town board of education's rules for female teachers leave no opportunity for a social life. She contents herself playing the violin at church. Tall, bearded, and rough around the edges, Deputy Noah Scott would rather hunt than socialize. Garnet thinks he’s a rude, insensitive drifter, and Noah's sure the last person he'd want to court is a schoolmarm - especially with her unladylike sneeze.

The last thing Chloe Savage needs is a boyfriend. But she’s caught the eye of Travis Goldman, and the more he gets to know her the more he realizes she is a lot like the heroine in his book, the girl of his dreams. Fiercely independent and struggling with inexplicable health issues, Chloe is determined to get her own place and strive for contentment on her own, without the help of any guy. Travis Goldman’s dream is to become a best-selling author. He’s been working on a young adult fantasy novel and now he is ready to submit his manuscript to eager agents.

December isn't filled with the magic of Christmas for Noelle Holiday. Only the looming dread she's about to lose something or someone else dear to her. When good things start happening, alarms go off in her head. It’s too good to be true. That’s why Noelle is worried when she adopts an adorable Golden Retriever and meets a guy who seems to really care for her. For the first time in a long time, she doesn’t feel alone. But she knows it can’t possibly last.

At her mother's insistence, Haley keeps her cancer diagnosis a secret from Gavin. For his own protection. Haley must hide the terrible truth from him... that she can never be the wife he deserves--a mother to his children. She disappears with no explanation, leaving both of them heartbroken. Now, with her cancer in remission, Haley lands a job with Holiday, Inc., where Gavin works. She still loves him, but he's moved on. Or at least she thought he had. Turns out he's still single, and his dad puts Haley on Gavin's team.

Chase Marks was anything but a normal guy. Plucky, a high-spirited personality, combined with an assured swagger that would melt any woman. This firefighter and single-dad would gallantly run into danger without a second thought, until he was face-to-face with his neighbor, Beth.

Charlie loves being a personal trainer, but her new boss Zane is trying her last nerve. If she can't find a way to work with him, she might have to find a new job. Zane knows his employees think he's a nightmare, but they don't have to like him. Of course, if they knew the reason for his behavior, they might like him more. But can he really share that side of him again?

After a recent breakup leaves Amelia Ames with suspicions about her ex, she doubles down on documenting the history of her small town of Smuggler’s Springs. However, when her high school crush crosses her radar, she finds herself distracted.

Jan Clark lost her firefighter husband 10 years ago. She fills her days running Stories and Scones and doting on her first grandchild. Finding someone new feels like betraying the husband she loved for decades, and the thought of tragically losing someone again is terrifying. But Pete O’Rourke is handsome, charming, and makes her feel young again—and what could be safer than an insurance agent?

Have you ever had to pack all your belongings in a trash bag? No? Just me then? Trust me, it's not glamorous, but it is the byproduct of being an orphan. This being said, I can't help but hope that this is my last foster home. After all, I'll be graduating soon so I’m planning to keep my head down. No drama from the likes of snobs like Stephanie and her pack of raving narcissistic psychos and most certainly no boys.

Adeline Cole is not looking for love. She only returns home to add a horse to her therapeutic riding business. Not to see her family for Thanksgiving and definitely not to meet a cowboy whose kiss takes her breath away.

Hattie Swan has secret dreams of being a photographer, but after her parents pass away, she’s left running the family market. Everything, including her love life, plays second fiddle. When a famous musician saunters into her store humming her favorite tune, she’s smitten. Too bad he’s out of her league.

Jenson Macklin loves working with horses and keeping his family laughing. It’s easier to bury the pain of his past by working hard and cracking jokes. But when he is saddled with a niece and nephew he didn’t know he had, everything changes.