Showing results by author "Jessie Gussman" in All Categories

Bev became a successful business woman, designing her own line of spandex undergarments for plus sized women and amassing a fortune as the company grew to a multibillion dollar international conglomerate. If she hadn’t lost her baby and broken up with her boyfriend when she was 15, none of her financial success would have ever happened.

Phoebe Clyborne has always been the perfect child, and she'd certainly never been in jail. So, after being released from her first night in the lock up, the new cowboy in town is bound to get the wrong impression about the girl who has been content on her family's ranch, assuming the Lord just wants her to take care of her family and never have one of her own when she runs smack into him, knocking them both down. It wouldn't have been so bad, but later that day, Phoebe realizes he's the new foreman at their ranch.

With her family and life spiraling out of control, Pam Corrigan needs an escape from the stress of her day job and decides to purchase the old inn just south of Strawberry Sands. Her mother will give her half of her inheritance when she remarries, but Pam isn’t the slightest bit interested in another failed relationship. So, she asks her best friend and neighbor, Mark Shields, to fake a relationship with her in the hopes that she can convince her mother to help fund the repairs of the inn she just purchased.

He’d been deformed in a farming accident years ago. He’d managed to build a successful business on his North Dakota ranch, but clients didn’t need to see him. His sister handled the face of his company.

Everyone thinks Poppy Kyle is naturally happy and positive. But it took a major tragedy in her life for her to overcome her natural negative tendencies and develop a brighter attitude. She will not allow the surly West Barclay to steal her joy.

As they agreed on the night of their high school graduation, Leiklyn and her two friends, Tiffany and Willen, meet on the porch of the Manor at Blueberry Beach on April Fool’s day, 18 years after being given their diplomas. Life hadn’t turned out as expected for any of them. A single mother for 15 years, Leiklyn recently lost her job and her unemployment is running out. Could the manor she and her friends bought for one dollar be the change she needs to move forward in her life? Or will it just complicate things when she finds out the explosive secret her daughter is hiding?

At the annual Christmas barn dance, Eleanor and her best friend Sally devise a mischievous plan to steal Sally's longtime cowboy crush, Peter. They enlist the help of their cousin, who mistakenly kidnaps Peter's brother, Franklin, instead. Determined to keep her intentions secret, Norma Jean convinces Eleanor to embark on a rescue mission. Little does she know that a fierce snowstorm is on its way, trapping her with Peter, a quirky cat, and her adorable litter of four kittens.

Wilson McBride has been working with Judd Landis to make the lives of the residents of Mistletoe Meadows better through their Secret Saint escapades. But there is one woman who needs more than a few little presents and a Christmas tree. She needs a husband.

After losing his wife to cancer, Gilbert McBride just wants to raise his three kids and give them the best life he can. Now that he's gotten his business in the black after losing his wife to cancer he's going to buy a farm and spend lots of time with his kids doing what they love.

People are so serious about life. I feel it was made to be enjoyed. I’m not interested in having a great career or climbing a corporate ladder or being inside much at all, actually. I don’t like to stay with things too long, either. I’ve worked as a short line cook, a firefighter, and a dolphin trainer among other things. So, when the ladies at the Good Grief senior living center offer me a short term job as the photographer for the risqué nature calendar they want to pose for—to cross it off of Miss Agnes’s bucket list—I am all in.

Olive Jardine almost died living her adventure, backpacking around the world and going wherever the wind blew. Coming back to Raspberry Ridge feels safe and she has no interest in leaving ever again. But her sisters want to sell the family home. They need the money and she can’t afford to buy it outright. Her best friend from childhood just might have a plan that could get her the home she wants, but can he get past the pain she caused him before she left and the way she betrayed him? Doyle Lowry is not the boy she remembers. He's better.

Mav Stryker can't seem to convince the town of Sweet Water that he's not the kid he used to be. Of course, taking a gamble on high dollar cattle that didn't pay off isn't helping anything. Especially when it causes him to face foreclosure. Except, there is an inheritance, but he needs to act by midnight.

Blakley Barclay knows her parents are up to something. They’ve been matching all her siblings and even some other people in her hometown of Mistletoe. But the man they want to pair her up with? A huge pro ball player with more muscles than brains, and she is not interested. So she turns to her best friend for help.

Roxane Peterson is up for auction. Well, her and her ranch. She knew it would be too much to hope for that the man who bought her would be more interested in her than in the property and money that came with her. But she’s been down this road before–a marriage that isn’t perfect. Her only concern now is protecting her son and making sure she keeps her independence.

Laura Wilson is back in Blueberry Beach, dealing with a mysterious illness that has depleted her energy and left her listless and unable to enjoy life. She's working part time in her grandfather's shop when a mysterious stranger rents the small apartment above theirs. He's strong, athletic, handsome, and full of life and energy. They couldn't be farther apart physically, but they bond as they each take on more responsibility as her grandfather's health declines. Will they decide providing precious memories to the hundreds of customers in the old shop is enough to build a future on?

Ivory Haines is the daughter of the town’s resident retired prostitute and possibly the town drunk, although her mother wasn’t entirely certain. She resents her position in the town – and especially resents the teasing she’d been subjected to – and has vowed to show everyone that she is just as good as they are. She can hardly believe her luck when Chandler Hudson donates a month of his time to the highest bidder at the charity auction to benefit local victims of the recent tornado damage.

Amara Jardine didn’t expect to leave her big city marketing job and return home. But the death of her parents in a car crash brings her back to Raspberry Ridge along with the two sisters she barely knows. One mystery they all share: why did their mother have such a hatred for the Gilcrest family and why weren’t they ever allowed to talk to their one son, Hobert? Regardless, Amara just wants to clean the mansion out and sell it and get back to her life on the East Coast.

Angela Davis had been the sedate good daddy’s girl all her life, doing whatever her parents wanted, even trying to trap a man into marriage to help them get out of debt. Mack knew of her past and didn’t trust her, but he needed someone to help him with his nieces, and she needed someone to help her put on the best Christmas festival Sweet Water had ever seen.

Two days before Christmas, single mom Blythe Mason is stunned when her car is not at the mechanic’s shop where she dropped it off. Her surprise soon gives way to panic when they figure out that an employee gave her car to the wrong person, and it is now 500 miles away. All the Christmas gifts that she’d carefully budgeted out for her children since July were in the trunk.

Merrit and Sorrel Hines have been trying to find a husband for their mom because they want a dad. Their mom says to be patient, but at the rate she's going–always more concerned with what is happening at her diner than in looking for a husband–they'll be grown and out of the house until she gets around to finding someone.