Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from The Rainy Day Bookshop by RaeAnne Thayne, which is out June 2nd 2026.

Sandwiched between caring for her mother and rebuilding the relationship with her estranged daughter, Emma, Rosie Lucas’s life is full. In the best way. With Emma and her 3-year old daughter, Olive, back home, Rosie has a partner for The Rainy Day Bookshop, the family business, and a chance to fix the past. What she doesn’t have time for is a romantic relationship. And even if she did, Andrew Morgan is the last person she’d choose. Not only is he an arrogant and reclusive writer, but he’s a single dad with two young kids. She’s already been there, done that.  Still as an irresistible flirtation builds between them, he becomes her unexpected confidante on the distance Rosie can’t seem to overcome with Emma, a secret she can’t quite unravel… 

Emma isn’t proud of her past. But she’s pulled herself up by the bootstraps, caring for her own daughter, and protecting her mom at all costs. Just as she always has. She never told Rosie what she saw all those years ago and she never will. But some secrets refuse to stay buried, and sometimes the truth is more shocking than fiction. Rosie and Emma will have to navigate an unimaginable path forward. Together. 

EXCERPT

Excerpted from The Rainy Day Bookshop, by RaeAnne Thayne. MIRA Books, 2026. Reprinted with permission.

Emma walked inside the bookstore and was momentarily speechless. All she could think was ew.

She hadn’t been in here in nearly a decade and it looked like not one single thing had changed. The bookstore seemed trapped in another era, with fluorescent lights, dingy paint the color of old bandages, and crowded, claustrophobia-­inducing aisles stacked with dusty books.

Olive looked around. “This place is messy.”

That was one word for it. Emma could think of several others, none of which were appropriate to say in the presence of her three-­year-old child.

“We’re in here,” Rosie called out.

Still holding Olive’s hand, Emma made her way to the office that ran along the rear wall. Dust motes floated like tiny shards of gold in the light coming through the front windows. She might think them pretty under other circumstances. Circumstances where she had not found herself suddenly responsible for turning a profit out of this cluttered, disorganized pit of despair.

Inside the office, she found her mother trying to move a chair so Sylvia’s wheelchair could fit at the computer desk.

“Did you see the play area when you came in?” Sylvia asked. “I keep old books I find at Goodwill and yard sales for kids to read while they’re in here. They can even take them home if they want. It’s our own version of a Little Free Library.”

“That’s nice. A play area is a good idea,” Emma said as she exchanged a look with her mother. Wasn’t a bookstore supposed to sell books?

“It gives the children somewhere to hang out in the store so they don’t pull everything off the shelves, plus keeps them occupied while their parents shop for books,” Sylvia said. “The toys may be outdated. I only have some blocks, a couple of trucks and a play kitchen I bought at a yard sale. The kids seem to enjoy it anyway.”

“Maybe Olive can play there sometimes while you’re working,” Rosie said, that anxious note in her voice again.

Her mother was trying so hard to make sure Emma was comfortable. Her eagerness made Emma’s throat feel tight and achy.

“That will be great,” she said, meaning the words.

Olive was the main reason she was here in Wood Briar. For her daughter’s entire life, Olive had spent more time in day care than with her own mother. Emma had been busy working or going to school, though she tried her best to juggle her responsibilities around her daughter’s schedule and take mostly online classes, where she could do the schoolwork while Olive was in bed.

Her daughter was smart, healthy, well-­adjusted. But in her nearly four years, she had already been through eight day care situations.

In another year, she would be heading to kindergarten, then grade school. She was growing up far too fast. Emma wanted the chance to be with her more and to have her enjoy as much time as possible with her grandmother and great-­grandmother.

Finding good quality childcare was the single hardest thing Emma had to do as a single mother. Harder than staying up all night with her when Olive was ill, even after a long shift at work. Harder than the constant grinding worry about finances. Harder than the equally grinding effort to stay sober so she could be the mother her daughter deserved.

Olive’s father was not in the picture whatsoever. Depending on her mood, Emma found that state of affairs either far more simple or much more complicated.

Most of the time, she thanked her lucky stars that she didn’t have to deal with Kevin Hollis on the daily.

Sometimes, though, she couldn’t help thinking how much easier her path would be if she had someone else to help carry the relentless parenting load.

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Intrigued? Well read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from RaeAnne Thayne’s Snow Kissed, which releases on October 7th 2025.

Christmas has always been single mom Holly Goodwin Moore’s favorite time of year. The twinkly lights on the tree, the cookies in the oven, the snow on the ground. But she’s just not feeling it this year. The wedding in her ex’s family is almost here, her daughter, Lydia, is bursting at the seams to be a flower girl…and Holly couldn’t be dreading it more. She told a little white lie about having a new boyfriend as her plus-one, hoping to save face. She needs a date for the wedding…and she needs it now.

Ryan Caldwell wants to be free this holiday season. So even he isn’t sure how he landed in Shelter Springs, looking after his niece, Audrey, with his estranged father down the road. But when he meets Holly, she makes him want to belong for the very first time. So they make a deal: he’ll be her date if she’ll help him give Audrey a true Christmas to remember while her mom is away.

Excerpted from Snow Kissed, by RaeAnne Thayne. Canary Street Press, 2025. Reprinted with permission.

Holly stuck in the spray of aster before looking at the name on the order form. “Dana Harris. I don’t know her. Do you?”

There was a time when she had been certain she knew every single person in their small Idaho town of Shelter Springs.

Hannah frowned. “Never heard of her. What’s her husband’s name?”

She looked at the form again. “I don’t know. I didn’t have a chance to speak with him. Ginger took the order before she left to make deliveries. She didn’t write his name down, only the words hot dad.”

Hannah laughed. “Well, that’s super helpful. Sounds like our Ginger.”

“Right?”

Ginger Martineau, one of four staff members at Evergreen & Ivy, might be scattered and easily distracted but she was also creative, loyal and hardworking. More importantly, her sunny attitude and whimsical sense of humor made Holly laugh in a world that sometimes didn’t feel all that funny.

She and her sister were chatting about Hannah’s work as a music therapist when the bells on her front door chimed and in walked the most gorgeous man Holly had ever seen in real life.

He was tall, muscular, with a hard jawline, short dark hair and stunning green eyes.

She was aware of a completely inappropriate flutter of awareness.

This must be the hot dad who had ordered the new baby flower arrangement, though how Ginger had managed to deduce he was gorgeous simply over the phone, Holly had no idea.

She did know she had never seen this man before in her life or she absolutely would have remembered him.

He looked around at her shop, bedecked for the holidays with three live trees, garlands, wreaths and fairy lights.

Somehow the inherently feminine surroundings, flowery and cheerful, only served to make him look more gorgeously masculine in contrast.

She gave him a bright smile. “Hi. You’re right on time! I just finished your order. Congratulations!”

She walked around the corner of the worktable holding out the lush arrangement in a pink container shaped like a large building block with the words It’s a Girl on the front.

He looked at it as if she had held out a live barracuda.

“Um, what’s this?”

She tried not to bristle at his blatant rejection of something she had considered lovely, perfect for the situation.

“This is what you wanted for your wife, who just had a baby girl this morning. Congratulations again. The holidays are such a fun time to have a new baby. You must be so thrilled. What’s her name?”

“I think there’s been some kind of mistake.”

She gazed down at her lovely creation then back at him, dismayed. “Oh no. Was it a boy? I’m so sorry.”

She seriously needed to have a long chat with Ginger about paying more attention to details. This wasn’t the first order the other woman had typed wrong into the system. Or even the first one this week.

“Don’t worry at all. I can change it. Give me five minutes. I’ve got some pale blue roses and some yellow aster that came in this morning. I can swap them out. And we can put everything in a different container.”

She hurried back behind her counter but before she could start undoing all her hard work, he followed her.

“No. I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else. I don’t have a wife. Or, God forbid, a newborn baby, girl or boy.”

Good heavens. How many hot strangers had moved into town when she wasn’t looking? And why did they all suddenly need flowers?

She winced. “I’m sorry. I jumped to conclusions. I assumed you were here to pick this up. How can I help you?”

“I’m looking for my niece. I was told to meet her here.”

“Your niece?” Holly exchanged a look with her sister, who had been following the interchange with interest. “Why would she be here?”

He shrugged, wide shoulders rippling inside his black jacket. “I have no idea. I only know she texted me and said she was picking up somebody named Lydia and would meet me here.”

All the pieces suddenly clicked into place. “Oh! You’re talking about Audrey! You must be Audrey’s uncle. Ryan, isn’t it? I had no idea you were coming today. Audrey didn’t mention it. In fact, Kim said you wouldn’t be able to make it to town until next week.”

“I was able to rearrange some things back in San Diego. I texted Audrey this morning to tell her I was on my way.”

Why hadn’t Kim ever mentioned that her brother looked like he should be on the cover of some sexy military calendar?

“You’re Kim’s little brother?”

He turned his attention to Hannah when she spoke and Holly could see him do a double-­take.

As for Hannah, she looked at him with an appreciative look that left Holly feeling oddly territorial, like when they were kids and Hannah wanted to play with one of Holly’s brand-new toys.

“Yes. Hi. Ryan Caldwell. You’re twins.”

“Have been all our lives. I’m Hannah Goodwin.”

Her sister beamed at him and held out her hand. After a beat, he shook it, looking bemused.

Not for the first time, Holly wished she wasn’t always the quiet sister, the serious, bookish one. Sometimes she wanted to be the fun, flirty twin who was comfortable talking to anyone.

“How kind of you to drop everything in San Diego and come out to help Kim with Audrey during the holidays,” Hannah went on.

He shrugged. “We’re family. Isn’t that the kind of thing family does for each other?”

“Definitely, though I would have thought Audrey could stay with your dad over in Haven Point.”

Something hard flashed across his expression but it was there and gone so quickly Holly thought she must have been mistaken.

“The colonel is busy taking care of Diane after the accident as well as running Caldwell Aviation. He doesn’t have time to run Audrey back and forth to school here in Shelter Springs.”

“How is Diane?” Holly asked, feeling great sympathy for the other woman. She couldn’t imagine being laid up over the holidays, with broken bones sustained in an accident a week earlier.

“She came home from the hospital a few days ago, apparently. I talked to her this morning while I was driving and she assured me she’s fine. I haven’t seen her yet. I was thinking I could take Audrey there this evening, after we pick up her things from your place. She has been staying with you, right?”

Audrey, Kim’s thirteen-­year-­old daughter, had been sleeping in Holly’s spare room since Sunday.

“She has. It’s been no problem.”

“Thank you for that. I know my sister is grateful.”

“There is nothing to thank me for. Audrey is a delight. I enjoy her company and she’s wonderful with my daughter. I was grateful her mother trusted me enough to let her stay with me while Kim gets the help she needs.”

His mouth tightened again and he gave a short nod. She hadn’t heard from her friend and employee since Kim checked herself into an addiction treatment facility in Boise the morning after the accident, the one that had injured Kim’s step-mother as well as the other driver, who had actually been at fault.

“I didn’t mind at all,” she said again. “In fact, she could have stayed with me the whole time Kim expects to be in Boise. I told your sister that. You really didn’t have to come out here.”

“I wish I could have made it earlier, but it took me a few days to arrange leave.”

Kim talked often about her younger brother while she and Holly were working together at the shop. Holly almost felt like she knew him. She likely knew far more about him than he did about her.

She was aware that Ryan Caldwell was a naval pilot who flew helicopters—­a pilot who had been relegated to a desk job the past two months while healing from a knee injury sustained in the line of duty. It was one thing to know information about a man in the abstract. It was entirely different when the same man was standing in her floral shop, looking rough and masculine and gorgeous.

About the Author
#1 Publishers Weekly, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne finds inspiration in the beautiful northern Utah mountains where she lives with her family. Her books have won numerous honors, including seven RITA Award nominations from Romance Writers of America and a Career Achievement Award from RT Book Reviews magazine. RaeAnne loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her website at raeannethayne.com.

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Intrigued? Well read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from RaeAnne Thayne’s The Lost Book of First Loves, which is out June 3rd 2025.

Raised by her literary icon father Carson Wells, Alison Wells always felt loved, even though her mother died when she was a teen. But when she takes a DNA test on a whim and discovers she has a sister she never knew about, it’s clear there are things her father didn’t tell her before he died. Determined to meet Juniper—her half sister—and unravel the truth of what happened all those years ago, Ali finds herself taking a job as Juniper’s intern. She’ll eventually figure out a way to tell Juniper the truth of their relationship. But she never could have imagined what would happen next…

Juniper Connolly has always been incredibly healthy…until she wakes up in the hospital after experiencing cardiac arrest, with her new—and recently fired—intern to thank for saving her life. It’s clear June needs to de-stress her life a little, so when Ali offers her the use of her family’s cabin in a small Wyoming town, June has no reason not to go. But when she arrives, her life will never be the same.

Under the wide-open spaces of the Wyoming summer sun, Ali and June will untangle the secrets and lies their lives were built on to discover who they really are and what family really means. But even more than that, they’ll build a real relationship with one another and finally become sisters.

The day she died, Juniper Connelly had just finished firing her latest intern.

For three weeks, June had tried to be as patient as possible. She loved mentoring other women, especially bright, creative women like Alison Wells. With a shiny new law degree but no practical experience, the woman had seemed like a good fit for the corporate development program at Move Inc. On paper, she seemed perfect. An undergraduate degree in business. Second in her class at the University of Utah law school. Accolades from multiple professors.

Move Inc received hundreds of applications from recent graduates for their highly coveted internship program, with only a handful chosen each summer. Alison Wells’s name had quickly risen to the top of the pile to be June’s personal protégé.

She had high hopes that Alison would be another triumph like her predecessor, who had gone on to take a prestigious position at Microsoft, straight out of her internship. But after three weeks of the woman’s blunders and missteps, June had to accept that Alison wasn’t a good fit for the internship program.

She had tried to be as kind as possible. June might have a reputation for brusqueness in her position as head of marketing at one of the fastest growing tech innovation companies in the world, but she wasn’t cruel.

Still, June didn’t see any value in wrapping the hard truth in pretty paper.

“I am sure you will agree that these past three weeks have been something of a disaster, from start to finish,” she said, keeping her voice deliberately calm as she surveyed Alison over the wide expanse of her desk.

Out her window on the twenty-first floor, she had a stunning view of the Seattle skyline and the water of Puget Sound beyond. It never failed to give her a rush of joy.

“I didn’t think it was a complete disaster,” Alison said, her voice low and her eyes fixed on the hand-loomed carpet June’s designer had assured her was the finest quality, straight from the souks of Morocco.

An unmistakable note of hurt pierced the other woman’s voice like a splinter hidden beneath the skin.

June sighed, wishing she could point out that was exactly what she meant. Alison needed to be more tough if she wanted to succeed in this fast-paced, cutthroat world at the top executive level.

She could try to teach Alison how to run a meeting and ways to organize and inspire a team, but she couldn’t help her grow a spine. The woman was nervous every time they were in the same room, even after three weeks. She hardly said a word and when she did, she fumbled through her sentences, aiming most of her responses to the floor.

“You have potential, Alison,” June said as gently as she could manage. “If you didn’t, I wouldn’t have chosen you as my intern. I am absolutely certain you will achieve wonderful things, once you figure out what you want to do with your life. It’s clear that life goal isn’t working as an executive at Move Inc.”

Was that relief she saw in the other woman’s eyes? June couldn’t quite tell.

“Maybe not, Ms. Connelly,” she said after a pause. “I am a little lost when it comes to new technology. But I am grateful for the chance you gave me, even with the obvious holes in my base knowledge.”

“I appreciate you saying that.”

“The experience has been enormously educational. I’ve learned more than I can ever tell you, watching you in action.”

June wasn’t entirely certain that was meant as a compliment. She started to answer but before the words could emerge, she felt a sudden intense pain in her chest that stole her breath.

She clutched at the monster pain ripping through her chest and uttered one imprecation she rarely ever used before she slid off her chair to the floor.

Excerpted from The Lost Book of First Loves, by RaeAnne Thayne. Canary Street Press, 2025. Reprinted with permission.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
#1 Publishers Weekly, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne finds inspiration in the beautiful northern Utah mountains where she lives with her family. Her books have won numerous honors, including seven RITA Award nominations from Romance Writers of America and a Career Achievement Award from RT Book Reviews magazine. RaeAnne loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her website at raeannethayne.com.

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Intrigued? Well read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from RaeAnne Thayne’s The December Market, which is out October 8th 2024.

Amanda Taylor isn’t a fan of Christmas, but as the owner of a local soap shop, ignoring the holiday season isn’t an option. To forget the pain of Christmases past, Amanda focuses on making the season bright for her customers at the Shelter Springs Holiday Giving Market. But when her beloved grandmother, Birdie, starts dating the dashing new resident of the Shelter Inn retirement community, Amanda smells trouble. Fortunately, Rafe Arredondo, the grandson of Birdie’s charming suitor, is equally dubious of the match. Unfortunately, he’s just as fiery as his grandfather—and Amanda has zero interest in getting burned.

As a single father, paramedic and assistant fire chief, Rafe has more than enough on his plate. Sure, he and Amanda share a common goal in keeping their grandparents apart. Still, that doesn’t mean he should allow himself to feel as drawn to her as he does. Even if she is great with his young son. Even if she does help the burden of his own painful past feel a little lighter… But when their paths keep crossing at the holiday market, it starts to feel like fate, prompting them both to wonder if taking a chance on love might gift them everything they’ve been wishing for.

Amanda quickly rang up the woman and had just finished gift wrapping the basket in cellophane tied with a wide buffalo print ribbon when another customer opened the door to enter the store, letting in the strident sound of sirens.

Amanda wasn’t the only one who turned to look out the wide front windows in time to see a fire truck stop in the middle of the road, right in front of her store.

“What’s going on?” Scarlet asked, looking panicked. “Is there a fire?”

Amanda gave the young woman’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Scarlet still suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after her family’s home in the countryside outside town was consumed by a fast-moving wildfire a few years earlier. She and her parents and siblings had barely escaped alive and were still in the process of rebuilding.

“I’m not sure. Cat, can you take over this cash register? I’ll go check it out.”

She quickly grabbed her coat from the hook inside the supply room and hurried outside. The street was buzzing with people and firefighters, all focused on something happening on the roof of the yarn shop across the street, Cozy Creations.

She watched as a second fire truck approached, this one fitted with a bucket.

“What’s going on?” she asked a bystander.

“Somebody is stuck on the roof, apparently. They went up to hang a few Christmas lights and panicked. That’s what I heard, anyway.”

On the roof? Who on earth was it?

Amanda had a sudden suspicion. The twin sisters who ran the shop, Opal and Pearl Barnes, were both as stubborn as they were frugal. The woman tried to do everything themselves, whether that was shoveling snow, repainting their storefront or building new display cases inside.

They hadn’t put up Christmas lights in years past, as far as she could remember. They usually only decorated their front windows with lights around a huge stuffed knit penguin they had made together.

Why hadn’t they asked Amanda for help or hired one of several professional companies that would hang lights for residences or businesses alike?

How had they even gotten up there? She saw a large extension ladder going up the side of the building, which gave her the answer.

The women were in their early seventies. They had no business up on the roof!

She watched the flurry of action as a firefighter she couldn’t recognize from here climbed into the bucket of the truck and it extended up two stories to reach the roof. Amanda caught her breath as the rescuer climbed out, then sidestepped toward the figure she could now see huddled near the edge of the roof.

The crowd on the ground cheered as the firefighter wrapped a blanket around the figure, helped them to their feet and carefully guided them along the roofline.

The sky began to spit snow as a cold wind blew off the lake. Amanda shivered. Her store was packed and she knew she should return to help her customers but she couldn’t drag herself away from the drama happening out here in downtown Shelter Springs.

She had to make sure Opal or Pearl, whichever twin was up there, made it to safety.

“Paolo tells me this is where you went,” a voice suddenly said beside her. “What’s going on? Is there a fire or is someone hurt?” Birdie asked.

Because of her advanced macular degeneration, her grandmother could only see things that were close to her face. Of course she wouldn’t be able to have any idea what was happening all the way across the street. If not for Paolo, hovering closely at her side, Birdie wouldn’t have been able to find Amanda on the crowded street. He must have pointed her out and led Birdie here.

“I don’t know for sure. There seems to be someone stuck on the roof. I don’t know if it’s Opal or Pearl.”

“Oh no! Those poor dears!”

Her grandmother bought yarn and other knitting supplies from Cozy Creations and was friendly with both women.

“What happened?” Paolo asked. “How did they get up there?”

Amanda watched as the firefighter helped the woman back into the bucket. He seemed to be attaching a safety harness to her.

“I’m not sure. I heard from someone they were trying to hang Christmas lights and panicked. I’m not sure if that’s what happened, though.”

“Neither of those nice ladies should be up on a slippery roof,” Paolo said, frowning with concern.

“Agreed. But they are, apparently.”

She moved slightly to the right, where she had a different perspective. Now she could see a woman in a blue coat, knit scarf and hat, standing in front of the store with both hands pressed to her mouth.

“There’s Opal, across the street.” Though her grandmother certainly couldn’t see that far, Amanda pointed to the woman. “So that means the person on the roof must be Pearl.”

“And her with those bad knees! She has no business climbing onto a roof.” Paolo’s face twisted with concern, and Amanda had to wonder if he knew all the women of a certain age in the entire town.

“The rescuer is trying to help her into the bucket, it looks like,” she explained to her grandmother. “They’re going to lower her down that way.”

The town had only recently purchased the bucket truck, she had read in the weekly community newspaper, after their previous ancient one that had been in service for more than thirty years had broken down beyond repair.

“Hey! That’s my grandson up there!” Paolo said. She looked at the firefighter on the roof.

She should have realized. How could she have missed that powerful frame, those broad shoulders inside the firefighter uniform?

Her heart gave a little kick in her chest that severely annoyed her.

She had no business even noticing the man, let alone finding him attractive. In the slightest.

Amanda was fully aware that Rafe Arredondo was likely the last man in town who would ever be interested in her.

Excerpted from The December Market by RaeAnne Thayne. Copyright © 2024 by RaeAnne Thayne. Published by Canary Street Press, an imprint of HarperCollins.

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15 summers ago, everything changed… Ava Howell seemed to have it all. She moved away from Emerald Creek, Idaho, married the love of her life and published a bestselling memoir. But she never expected that her husband would feel so betrayed by a secret from her past—the truth of what happened to her and her sister all those years ago—that he’d walk away. Now Ava is back home and trying to move on with the only person who can truly understand…

Following years of healing, Madison Howell is finally happy. After college she built a no-kill shelter where she works with animals every day, and she’s in love with the town veterinarian, Dr. Luke Gentry. But she can’t ever bring herself to tell him. Years ago, his dad died protecting Madi and her sister, so how could he ever love her back?

With the truth laid bare, and the past that Ava and Madison have worked so hard to leave behind threatening everything they have built for themselves, the Howell sisters’ reunion is bittersweet. And as Ava and Madi attempt to remedy the rifts in their lives and reconcile their futures, they must face the demons of their past together.

One

The present is a delicate tightrope walk between liberation and the haunting memories that cling to us. The scent of freedom is both intoxicating and terrifying, and each step away from the compound feels like a small victory against the darkness that threatened to consume us.

—Ghost Lake by Ava Howell Brooks

Madison

“Here, let me get that for you. You shouldn’t be grabbing heavy bags of food off the shelf without help. You might hurt yourself, honey.”

At the well-meaning but misguided efforts of her seventy-year-old neighbor, Madison Howell tried not to grind her teeth.

Under other circumstances, she might have thought the old rancher was being misogynistic, assuming any young woman was too fragile and frail to heft a fifty-pound bag of dog food onto her cart.

Unfortunately, she knew that wasn’t the case. Calvin Warner simply thought she couldn’t do it.

How could she blame him, when the majority of her neighbors shared his sentiments, believing she was forever damaged?

“It’s fine. I’ve got it,” she insisted, taking a firm hold of the bag.

“Now, don’t be stubborn. Let me help you.”

He set his cane aside—yes, he actually had a cane!—and all but shoved her out of the way.

Short of engaging in a no-holds-barred, Greco-Roman wrestling match right there in the farm supply store with a curmudgeon who had arthritis and bad knees, Madi didn’t know what else to do but watch in frustration while he lifted the bag onto her large platform cart.

“Thank you,” she said as graciously as she could manage. “Now I need five more bags.”

“Five?” Calvin looked aghast.

“Yes. We have twenty-two dogs right now at the rescue. You don’t need a new Aussie, do you? We have four from an abandoned litter.”

“No. I’m afraid not. I’m a border-collie man myself and I have three of them. Twenty-two dogs. My word. That must be a lot of work.”

Yes, the work required to care for the animals at the Emerald Creek Animal Rescue was endless. All twenty-two dogs, ten cats, two llamas, three potbellied pigs, four goats and two miniature horses and a donkey required food, attention, medical care, exercise and, unfortunately, waste cleanup.

Madi didn’t care. She loved the work and adored every one of their animals. After years of dreaming, planning, struggling, she considered it something of a miracle that the animal shelter was fully operational now.

For the past three months, Madi had been running full tilt, juggling her job as a veterinary tech as well as the hours and hours required to organize her team of volunteers, hire a full-time office assistant and do her part caring for the animals.

She was finally ready to take a huge leap of faith. In only a few more weeks, she would be quitting her job as a veterinary technician at the local clinic so that she could work full time as the director of the animal rescue.

She tried to ignore the panic that always flickered through her when she thought of leaping into the unknown.

“The dogs are easy,” she answered Calvin now. “Don’t get me started on the goats and the potbellied pigs.”

“I heard you were doing something over there at Gene Pruitt’s old place. I had no idea you were up to your eyeballs in animals.”

“Yes. We’ve started the first no-kill animal sanctuary in this area. Our goal is to take in any abandoned, injured or ill-treated animal in need, help rehabilitate them and place them in new homes.”

He blinked in surprise, his bushy eyebrows meeting in the middle. “Is that right? Are there really that many animals in need of help in these parts?”

“Yes. Without question. We have no other no-kill shelters serving this area of Idaho. I’m grateful we have been able to fill that need.”

For years, since finishing college and returning to Emerald Creek, Madi had been struggling to start the shelter. She had modest success applying for grants and seeking donations from various national and local donors, but it still seemed out of reach.

A year ago, the sanctuary had come closer than ever to reality when a crusty old local bachelor with no remaining family had left his twenty-acre farm, as well as a small house on the property, to the Emerald Creek Animal Rescue Foundation.

She was still overwhelmed at Eugene Pruitt’s generosity.

Even so, it had taken an additional incredibly generous gift from an anonymous donor to truly allow them to be able to take care of the start-up operating expenses for the sanctuary without having to heavily mortgage the property.

As hard as she had worked to make her dream a reality, there were still plenty of people in town who would never see her as anything other than that poor Howell girl with the leg brace and the permanent half smile.

“Thank you for your help, Mr. Warner,” she said, after the two of them managed to load up the platform cart.

He appeared slightly out of breath and his hand trembled as he reached for his cane. She shouldn’t have let him help her. The strong, confident woman she wanted to be would have politely told him to move on. Thanks but no thanks. She could handle it, as she had been handling all the challenges that had come her way since her mother’s death when she was twelve.

She had a fair distance to go before she truly was that strong, confident woman.

“Glad I could be here.” Calvin gripped his cane. “You know, they have staff here that can give you a hand next time. They can probably help you take this out to your car. That’s why they’re here.”

She forced a smile. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks. And if you decide you need another Aussie, let me know. They’re smart as can be and are all caught up on their shots. Dr. Gentry takes very good care of all of our animals at the sanctuary.”

“He’s a good man. Not quite the vet his father was, but he’s getting there.”

Before she could object on Luke’s behalf and express that he was an excellent veterinarian in his own right, the rancher’s eyes went wide and he suddenly looked horrified at his own words.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. Shouldn’t have brought up old Doc Gentry with you.”

Madi could feel each muscle along her spine tighten. “Why not?” she managed.

Calvin gave her a significant look. “You know. Because of…because of the book.”

The book. That blasted book.

“The wife bought a copy the day it came out, after she saw all the buzz about it online. She’s a good reader. Me, not so much. I like audiobooks, but we’ve been reading it together of an evening. It’s awful, everything that happened to you.”

Madi tightened her hands on the handle of the platform cart, fighting the urge to push it quickly toward the checkout stand.

The last thing she wanted to talk about was her sister’s memoir, which had hit bookstores two weeks earlier and had become the runaway success of the summer, already going back for a third printing.

Madi didn’t want to talk about Ghost Lake, to hear other people talk about it or to even think about it.

“Right. Well, thank you again for your help, Mr. Warner. I should get on with my sh-shopping.”

Now she did tighten her hands on the cart, jaw tight.

She hated her stammer that sometimes came out of nowhere. She hated the way her mouth was frozen into a half smile all the time, how she only had partial use of her left hand and the way her leg sometimes completely gave out if she didn’t wear the brace.

And she especially hated the way her sister had exposed their history, their past, their pain to the entire world.

“Take care,” Calvin said, a gentleness in his gruff tone that made her somehow want to scream and weep at the same time.

“Thank you,” she said, as graciously as she could manage, and then pushed the unwieldy cart toward the checkout stand.

She reached it as the woman seated on a high stool at the cash register slid a book with a familiar white-and-bloodred cover beneath the counter.

That blasted book was everywhere. She couldn’t escape it.

“Hi there, Madi.” Jewel Littlebear, whose family owned the feed store, gave her a nervous-looking smile, her gaze shifting in the direction of the book.

Jewel had been in Ava’s grade at school. The two of them had been friends once, before Madi’s sister walked away from everything she once cared about here in Emerald Creek.

“Hi Jewel. How are things? How are the boys?”

Jewell had three hellion sons. She and her family lived on the same street as Madi’s grandmother, in a small ranch-style home where the front yard was covered in toys and bikes and basketballs.

“They’re good. All three of them are playing baseball this summer. I swear, I spend more time over at the park watching their games than I do in my own house.”

She smiled, rose from her stool and carried the handheld scanner around the counter so she could capture the codes on the large bags of food without Madi having to lift them onto the counter.

“Um. That will be a hundred sixty-five dollars and fifteen cents. I’m sorry.”

What exactly was she sorry about? That the price of quality dog food was so high? Or that Madi had caught her reading That Book?

Madi decided not to ask. She swiped the rescue’s credit card and felt a burst of pride when it went through easily.

A moment later, the register spit out her receipt, which Jewel handed over with a smile.

“There you go,” she said, handing it to Madi.

“Thanks. I’ll see you later.”

She hadn’t even walked away from the checkout counter before Jewell pulled the book back out and picked up where she had left off.

Was she reading about their mother’s car accident and the raw, visceral pain their family went through afterward?

Or their father’s steady but inexorable downward spiral into obsession, depression, mental illness?

Or those final horrible days when she and Ava, fourteen and sixteen respectively, had escaped a grim situation that had become impossible, only to find themselves in even worse circumstances?

She didn’t want to know.

Madi hurried out to her pickup, the classic, if dilapidated, teal 1961 Chevrolet Stepside pickup she called Frank that she had inherited from her maternal grandfather.

A few months ago, she had ordered a vinyl-lettered sign for Frank’s side, with the stylized teal-and-yellow logo for the animal sanctuary. Now she only used Frank for sanctuary errands and for social media purposes. It photographed wonderfully and helped raise awareness for their mission.

She had considered driving the pickup in the town’s Fourth of July parade in a month, maybe with a few of the animals in crates in the bed, but now the idea made her slightly ill. She could imagine how everyone would point and talk about her now.

There goes poor Madi Howell. Did you read about what happened to her?

I knew she was odd, with her perma-smile and that limp and her curled-up hand. I guess now we know why.

Renewed fury at her sister broiled under her skin. She did her best to push it away as she maneuvered the big cart to her pickup and opened the tailgate.

Though there were several vehicles in the parking lot, none of them was occupied. At least she didn’t have to fend off more offers of help.

She loaded the bags by herself into the back of the truck, then paused a moment to breathe away her stress, trying to focus instead on the glorious early June day, with the mountains green and verdant and still capped with contrasting white snow that had yet to melt at the higher elevations.

She dearly loved living in Emerald Creek. This small community a half hour from Sun Valley was home. She could never forget how warm and supportive everyone had been when she and Ava moved back to live with their grandmother Leona after everything that happened.

She had wonderful friends here, a job at the vet clinic that she had loved for eight years, and now her passion project, the animal sanctuary.

She had never seriously considered living anywhere else.

But sometimes she had to wonder what it would be like to make her home in a place where she could be a little more…anonymous.

Did that place even exist, now that her sister had spilled their secret trauma to the whole blasted world?

She climbed into the cab of the pickup, fighting a headache, then drove away from the farm supply store, heading through town on her way toward the sanctuary.

It was a beautiful summer afternoon. A couple of older men sat on a bench, shooting the breeze outside the Rustic Pine Trading Post and she saw a healthy line of tourists waiting for the always-busy Fern & Fir Restaurant to open.

As she turned onto Mountain View Road, she slowed down when she spotted a trio of girls on bicycles ahead of her. Four, she realized. One bike held two girls. She was aware of a quick, sharp ache. How often had she and Ava ridden together through the streets of their own town in eastern Oregon like that? Too many to count, but that was in the days before their mother died and everything changed.

She waved at the girls as she passed, recognizing Mariko and Yuki Tanaka as well as Zoe Sullivan and Sierra Gentry. Sierra and Zoe both volunteered at the animal rescue a few hours a week.

She pulled the truck over ahead of them, and the girls rode up beside her. “Hey girls. What are you up to on this beautiful day?”

Sierra leaned into the open passenger window, her brown hair streaked with sunlight. “We were hanging out at my place and thought maybe we would ride to the Dixon’s farm stand and grab some fresh strawberries.”

“We really love strawberries,” Zoe said with a giggle.

Madi strongly suspected the real draw wasn’t so much the strawberries but Ash Dixon, the heartthrob fifteen-year-old whose family ran a popular farm stand and also had a stall at the Emerald Thumbs Farmers Market on Saturday mornings.

“Sounds like fun. Enjoy a crepe for me.”

“I will. Bye, Mad. See you later.”

She waved and put the truck in gear again, though before she drove away she thought she heard the words book and Ghost Lake from the girls, through her open window.

No. She was imagining things. That damn book seemed to be popping up everywhere…but only a narcissist would think everyone in town was talking about her, right?

Excerpted from 15 SUMMERS LATER by RaeAnne Thayne. Copyright © 2024 by RaeAnne Thayne. Published by Canary Street Press, an imprint of HarperCollins.

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We had the pleasure of speaking with author RaeAnne Thayne about her latest release The Path To Sunshine Cove, writing, book recommendations, and much more!

Hi, RaeAnne! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

Sure. I am the middle girl in a family of seven children. I went to elementary school in Indiana, where my parents had a small farm out outside Fort Wayne. When I was thirteen, my family moved back to Utah, where both were from, and I’ve been here ever since. I live in the mountains of northern Utah, near the Idaho border. My husband of 35 years and I have three adult children. I can say that now as our youngest graduates from high school this year!

After the chaos that was 2020, have you set any goals for this year? If so, how are they going so far?

I’ll be honest, I have mostly been in survival during the lockdown, busy with caregiving and trying to meet my deadlines. Our middle son has severe disabilities and fragile health so we have definitely stuck close to home. It’s been quite an adjustment to have him home all day instead of in school or his day program and has definitely impacted my writing schedule. We are all vaccinated now, though, and ready to re-enter the world. My goals for this year are to squeeze in all the fun things we didn’t have the chance to do in 2020!

Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!

I read voraciously as a child so it’s hard to pick just one. My parents always would let us open a gift on Christmas Eve and it was always a book. I have memories of reading all night long to Escape to Witch Mountain when I was probably eight or nine. The first book that made me fall in love with romance novels was The Enchanted Land by Jude Devereaux. I was twelve when I read that one, sneaking it out of my older sister’s room, and it completely changed my life J I knew from high school I wanted to write a romance novel. As to the book I can’t stop thinking about … that is usually whatever book I’m currently writing. It’s always in my head, pushing out other books.

When did you first discover your love for writing?

In grade school, I used to love writing assignments that would make other people cringe but it was never in my mind to be a writer until high school, when my mom encouraged me take a journalism class she thought I would enjoy in high school and I totally fell in love with storytelling. I went on to become a newspaper reporter and editor, even as I still dreamed of writing a book one day. I started my first book when I was on maternity leave with our oldest, now 30, and sold to a publisher five years later. I’ve been doing it ever since and just finished my 68^th book.

Your new novel, The Path to Sunshine Cove, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Sisters, romance, emotional, tender, heartwarming

What can readers expect?

This is a new standalone title in my Cape Sanctuary world, which right now consists of three books set in the same community but with characters who do not jump between books. Each book can truly be read alone. THE PATH TO SUNSHINE COVE is about two sisters who shared the same trauma in childhood yet each has taken a different route to healing. One, Rachel, is all about family, connections, community, while the other, Jess, had isolated herself from close connections and spends her life living out of an Airstream trailer and helping older people downsize.  Their paths connect with Jess takes a temporary job in Cape Sanctuary where Rachel lives with her family.

Where did the inspiration for The Path to Sunshine Cove come from?

A radio advertisement on NPR, actually. I heard about a company that helps people downsize and thought that would be the perfect career for someone who doesn’t want to put down roots. My heroine Jess emerged from that.

Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?

The biggest challenge for this one was the actual writing time because of COVID. I previously mentioned our son with special needs. I started this book in April 2020 when the whole world was in chaos and we were still trying to come to terms with the changes to our lives and figuring out how to adapt to all of it while also struggling through online school with our high-schooler. I went from having six or seven hours a day to work while our middle child was in school or a day program to squeezing that into a few hours during the day when my husband could be with him and then a few more hours at night after he was in bed. It was also such an emotional, stressful, frightening time. Writing the book became a refuge of sorts. That’s one great thing about being an author – you control the universe of your books. It’s a heady feeling. I can guarantee no coronavirus in my books!

If it’s not too spoilery, were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

I loved the character of Jess. She’s wounded from her past but deeply lonely, despite telling herself she is self-sufficient and doesn’t need anyone. In truth, she yearns for connection and family. I loved researching Airstream trailers, too, especially those classic models that have been renovated into gorgeous retreats.

What drew you towards the romance genre?

I’ve always loved to read romance novels, I think because I’m inherently an optimist. I want happy endings for everyone and I truly believe love heals. My mother was a huge reader and also a huge reader of romance and that definitely had an influence.

What’s next for you?

I have another book coming out in July, A BRAMBLEBERRY SUMMER, that revisits my Women of Brambleberry House series on the Oregon Coast, and another one in October, SLEIGH BELLS RING, a holiday story set closer to home in Star Valley, Wyoming. I just finished writing that one and am now the early writing stages of my next Cape Sanctuary book, coming April 2022, which features something else I’m fascinated by, glamping.

Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?

I really enjoyed THE VINEYARD AT PAINTED MOON by Susan Mallery, which I consider one of her best, and THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB by Richard Osman.

Will you be picking up The Path To Sunshine Cove? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: RaeAnne Thayne, Author of ‘The Path To Sunshine Cove’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.