Small Town Development

Every unforgettable love story deserves a place to call home. There's something magical about a fictional small town. The little bakery where everyone knows your order. The bookstore with the crooked shelves. The old houses filled with memories. The neighbors who know entirely too much about everyone else's business. And the quiet streets where ordinary people discover extraordinary love. But how do you create a town that feels so real your readers wish they could move there? The Towns We Call Home is a comprehensive, hands-on small-town worldbuilding workbook designed especially for cozy ...

This book reveals a battle-tested blueprint from 25 home service HEAVYWEIGHTS, including Tommy Mello, Marcus Sheridan, Roger Wakefield, Mike Prencavage, and Stephanie Allen, who've all mastered local dominance. With the H.E.R.O. Framework, turn your logo into an emblem of community, purpose, and belonging. Stop letting competitors eat your lunch. Start becoming the obvious choice everyone recommends.

Inheriting her aunt's historic beachfront hotel should have been Vanessa Lewis's chance at a fresh start. But returning to Isabel Island means facing two ghosts from her past—her aunt's legacy, and Wesley Anders, her childhood best friend who broke her heart fifteen years ago. Now a decorated Marine Captain, Wesley is temporarily stationed at the local base, and he's just as infuriatingly handsome as he was the summer everything she thought she knew about their friendship changed. Between his offer to help renovate the hotel and their undeniable chemistry, Vanessa finds herself falling ...

In the small, close-knit town of Kick-a-me-su, Arkansas, a leisurely stroll along the Dogwood Trail takes a dark turn when a local walking club stumbles upon a gruesome discovery—a body lying lifeless in the woods. What was supposed to be a quiet walk among friends becomes a twisting mystery that shakes the town to its core. As suspicion mounts and secrets from the past start to surface, the members of the walking club must band together and turn into amateur sleuths. With no shortage of suspects and a killer on the loose, their investigation becomes a test of their resolve, ...

Discover the gripping urban history of a dusty mountain settlement forged into the restless, revolutionary heart of Iran. Perfect for your daily commute or immersive armchair travel, this sweeping narrative captures the atmospheric rise of a crossroads empire. Witness how climate, trade, and...

Enjoy the drama and excitement of a novel experience in compact short stories, contemporary lives moving through dark trials to light and hope. A collection of short stories involving families, friends, and distant relations. It is the hazards of daily life that test the soul. Nobility, bravery, decency, kindness, and mercy are the shafts of light that pierce the darkness of the human experience.

Amy Jo Burns grew up in Mercury, Pennsylvania, an industrial town humbled by the steel collapse of the 1980s. Instead of the construction booms and twelve-hour shifts her parents’ generation had known, the Mercury Amy Jo knew was marred by empty houses, old strip mines, and vacant lots. The year Burns turned ten, this sleepy town suddenly woke up. Howard Lotte, its beloved piano teacher, was accused of sexually assaulting his female students.

A second chance small-town romance from USA Today bestselling author, Debbie Mason. Hidden in Graystone Manor is a book containing all the dark secrets of Harmony Harbor, and Ava DiRossi is determined to find it. No one—especially not her ex-husband, Griffin Gallagher—can ever discover what...

When a young mother's crisis sparked a movement that has the ptential to serves 2,600+ people annually at just $8.50 per person—proving rural communities can solve complex problems with remarkable efficiency and authentic compassion. In the hills of rural West Virginia, Clarissa Tallman faced every parent's nightmare: her infant son needed specialized formula that wasn't available locally, and the stress of trying to meet this basic need threatened to overwhelm her family. What happened next challenges everything we think we know about effective social services and rural capacity. Instead...

Sometimes protecting what you love means risking everything. Lucy MacLeod has spent her twenties building something that's entirely hers—a beloved café that serves as the beating heart of MacLeod's Cove. As the youngest of five siblings, she's carved out her independence in the coastal village where her family has deep roots, creating a gathering place where neighbours become family and community thrives. When Oliver arrives with plans to redevelop the historic pub across from her café, Lucy sees everything she's worked for under threat. His sleek vision will transform her quirky ...

A marriage ends. A life begins. In between is Charlie’s story of our journey home, breath by breath. His canvas is a life cracked open, to reveal the cost of freedom and the power of love. Set in backwoods British Columbia, Charlie Utopia is a cautionary tale with a redeeming outcome. Chasing Utopia—from community, to relationship, to success itself—Charlie loses all, then finds himself torn between two new loves. Does he need to heal first in order to love, or does he need love in order to heal?

Inspired by a true story. In 1825, in a remote Irish valley lying between the mountains and Flesk River of Killarney, three women are brought together by strange and troubling events. Nora Leahy, a widow, has lost her daughter and her husband in the same year and is now burdened with the care of her grandson, Michael. The boy cannot walk or speak, and Nora has kept him hidden from neighbours, who might see in his deformity evidence of supernatural interference.

A minute-by-minute analysis of Richard Linklater’s 1993 film, Dazed and Confused. Blending film criticism with creative nonfiction, each book in the Timecodes series focuses on one film, exploring it minute by minute beginning with minute one, and ending with the final minute before the...

Small-town drama makes Hollywood look like a walk in the park. For those going through a divorce in a small town and are ready to feel confident, capable, and competent, now is the time to take action with Small Town Divorce. Denise Anderson walked through those same trenches after experiencing her own dramatic small-town divorce. She has coached and mentored dozens of others who have experienced similar drama, taking them from surviving to thriving.

A sweet-yet-sincere portrayal of one man’s search for answers to a puzzling riddle. J.D. and his wife Karlie have enjoyed a long, good life in the small town of Hanson, NC. But problems with the family business, conflict with their college-age daughter, and ripples in their otherwise happy...

Bramble Challoner has had a very normal upbringing. She lives in the suburbs of London with her parents and works at the call centre down the road. She still goes out with the boy she met at school. Bramble is dying for an adventure. So when her grandfather, Lord Penrose, dies, leaving his huge...

Ranked Top 10 "Best Lit Mags of 2023" by Chill Subs Delight in intriguing, thought-provoking conversations about ethics, philosophy, and social issues! After Dinner Conversation is a monthly literary magazine publishing short fiction. Each issue features both established writers and up-and-coming authors who contribute fascinating philosophical insights on controversial topics like marriage equality, assisted suicide, the meaning of death, animal rights, and defining your "purpose." It's time to go deep in search of truth! If you love reading imaginative short stories on hot topics that ...

He’s a fish out of water, she’s fighting the current, but together will they Sink or Swim? Arriving back in the small Lake District town of Inglemere, Aria thinks she’s reclaiming her childhood home after her dad’s untimely death. Resentful of her self-involved stepmother, and dodging...

By the Booker-shortlisted author of Astonishing Splashes of Colour; a wittily observed slice of modern life as it plumbs the gulf between nostalgia and reality Who is the Roundabout Man? He doesn't look like a tramp, yet he lives on a roundabout in a caravan and survives on the leftovers from a...

Doc Martin’s idea of a perfect Christmas Day is to remain steadfastly alone and catch up with back issues of The Lancet. However, Portwenn is fighting off the cold and frost with a period of determined revelry before it heads into its deep winter sleep, and his patients are even more...