Showing results by narrator "Cecily White" in All Categories

Betty Kowalski isn't looking forward to the holidays. She just can't seem to find Christmas in her heart. There's church, of course. But who can she bake for these days? And who would care if she pulled out the decorations? Her new neighbor just adds to the problem. He's doing home improvements that don't appear to be improving much of anything. When Betty looks out the window, she sees a beat-up truck, a pile of junk, and lots of blue tarps. But when a mangy dog appears at her doorstep, the stage is set for Betty to learn a very important lesson about what Christmas is all about.

When Mabel Ryerson opens her social media to find a friend request from her grandmother, the seamstress’s simple life screeches to a halt. Grandma Betty died two years ago. Mabel suspects the old account must have been hacked. Still, curious to a fault, the thirty-something wants to go home to investigate. But her fiancé forbids it. Relations are strained among Mabel’s family, and her groom-to-be thinks it’s better that she focus on her new life, away from Prairie Creek and its memories and secrets.

Kelly Watts is living the American dream. As the CEO at Homestead Sweet Home, she’s created an empire out of home decor and lifestyle trends on social media. What’s more? She’s engaged to a highly successful Bitcoin investor. Everything is perfect. And then it’s not. A scandal descends over the Americana-inspired influencer. In a matter of hours, media and fans alike have decided to cancel Kelly and her brand. She has only one choice: lay low until the media storm blows over.

Divorced empty-nester Becky Linden wants a fresh start. After two decades away, she returns to her hometown to find herself. What she discovers instead is the long-abandoned schoolhouse where she had her first kiss as a teenager. Others might see an eyesore, but Becky sees the neglected building as a charming business opportunity and…her future. However, she can’t do it on her own. The one man who can help her is the last one she ever thought she’d ever ask — her ex-boyfriend.

It's winter, and Liesel Hart needs a project. Single and over the hill, she's more likely to turn to the convent than to find a date for the Christmas tree lighting. But when her friend's daughter reaches out with questions about Liesel's favorite passtime, she sees a chance to reinvent herself...until a family secret comes knocking like the Ghost of Christmas Past.

Fresh on the heels of a broken engagement and a dead-end subbing gig, would-be English teacher Greta Houston goes home for the summer. She needs to recharge, and the farm town is just the place. Friday night fish fries and dusty back roads bring her down to earth, but Hickory Grove is only a pit stop on Greta's way back to the big city. Then she gets an interview...with the last place she'd ever thought to apply.

When a pipe in her home freezes and bursts, antiques collector Fern Gale knows her holiday season is off to a bad start. Her house was already a mess and all she wants to do is drink hot chocolate and binge-watch Christmas movies. The winter catastrophe pushes Fern to spruce things up at 313 Pine Tree Lane. And that's when she stumbles across something that belongs to her estranged husband.

As far as Thea Michener is concerned, it's time for a change. With her husband murdered and her much-anticipated baby stillborn, there is nothing left for her in Ladreville. Having accepted a position as Cimarron Creek's midwife, she has no intention of remarrying and trying for another child. So when a handsome Texas Ranger appears on her doorstep with an abandoned baby, Thea isn't sure her heart can take it.

The matchmakers have their eyes on romance - and in this small Amish community, no one is safe. Their sights are first set on plain, independent Willow, who’s shocked when her parents try to marry her off to bachelor Samuel. But can she and Samuel evade their parents’ meddling long enough to find love on their own? Then there’s Valerie, a widow who’s never recovered from losing the man she really loved. Now at her friend’s urging, she and Ed have one last chance to find their own happiness…if they can revive the spark that once promised a lifetime of love.

Wanted: an Amish husband. It’s time for Violet to marry - or so her mother and matchmaking aunt claim as they compile a list of suitable Amish bachelors. The problem is that Violet prefers solitude and won’t marry just anyone...especially now that her childhood friend from schul, Nathan Beiler, has returned. The boy Violet once knew has turned into a surprisingly handsome man. But Nathan left their community years ago and is seen as trouble. As Violet’s family plans for her marriage, Nathan must decide if there’s a place for him in the Amish community.

With one daughter married, this matchmaking Amish mother has a plan for her second daughter, Tulip. Tulip, always seen as the "smart" daughter, has ideas of her own. While Tulip's mother is busy with community events, Tulip agrees to go on a buggy ride with someone totally unsuitable. When another more interesting man comes along, Tulip is caught between the two. How will she get out of this problem?

Nancy, the twins' mother, is up to her old matchmaking tricks. When Daisy suddenly meets a man from out of town, Nancy's plans are thrown into disarray, but she must act quickly when she notices that the other twin, Lily, is keeping bad company. Does Daisy have to choose between the man she loves and staying in the same town as her family? Will Lily see that her man is totally unsuitable?

As the daughter of a deacon, Amy Yoder knows all eyes are on her to set a good example by marrying an Amish man. But Amy has discovered that finding one is much easier said than done. When her mother secures her a suitable match, Amy isn't expecting much, but Andrew is everything she could have hoped for in a husband. The only trouble is, the man she's now pining for lives in Wisconsin, a great distance away. Now that Amy has found Andrew, she's determined to bridge the space between them, but will absence make the heart grow fonder - or stop their happily-ever-after before it begins?

Ever since she and her friends opened a market stall for employment, Amish maid Claire Shoneberger has finally stopped worrying about finding a husband. After all, there are no eligible bachelors left in her community. Now Claire is starting a new job at an English bed-and-breakfast - where the owner's son has a flirty reputation with women. Only, Englisher Donovan Billings isn't quite the worldly scoundrel Claire expects. An attraction to Donovan could be dangerous, yet Claire finds herself warming to him. Any man can have a change of heart.

Heidi King was one woman who needed a miracle. She left the Amish community years ago and built a life for herself as a successful New York City realtor. Loneliness and regret cause her to cry out to God. Heidi wakes the next morning to the life she would've had if she'd stayed in the Amish community and married Derek, her old Amish love.

Coming of age during the Great War and seeing her brother shipped off to fight, Jane begins to feel trapped in her merry-go-round of social calls and hotel luncheons. As her desire to do something important for the war effort increases, she is astonished to be recruited by a government agent to keep tabs on her neighbors. And, as it turns out, Jane has a natural talent for being a spy.

Anna Goodman’s mother is dead, her father has given up on life, and her brother is missing in action in World War II. Anna’s dreams for the future are held captive by the responsibilities the war and life have thrust upon her. She’s desperate to hold the farm together while working at a war factory in nearby Kearney. She can’t do it alone. She must interact daily with Specialist Sid Chance, the cocky know-it-all who oversees the German prisoners who work on her family farm - prisoners that are a constant reminder of her father’s harrowing experience in World War I.

Morgan Calhoun and her parents are whisked away in the middle of the night, something Morgan always knew was a possibility because of her father's CIA job. But she'd always thought if such a scenario played out that she would have time to say goodbye to those she loved - particularly her boyfriend, Kyle. Adding to her unbearable situation, several weeks after the move, Morgan finds out that she's pregnant.

Addison Burke is a successful real estate agent who specializes in high-end closings and who enjoys an elite lifestyle not often afforded someone her age (27). But following her estranged mother's stroke and a recent fall, Addison is forced to hire a caregiver for her. It's a job Addison chooses not to take on, despite her financial freedom to do so. She hires an agency to fill the position, and to her surprise, they send a man for the job.

Abducted against his will, theater manager Matthew Scott is conscripted into the Confederate army because of his Copperhead senator father’s political leanings. Injured at Malvern Hill, Matthew is taken by the Union army to Shirley Plantation in Virginia, where he is tended by seamstress Angelina Rose, a freed slave. Given an opportunity to leave the South and start a new life for herself, Angelina remained for the sake of her sister’s orphaned twins, who are still enslaved. Will Matthew find the family for which he longs?