Wherever Grace Is Needed

Sassy Spinster Farm is a place to find solace. At least, that's what it's become since Rue and her sister, Laura, transformed their childhood Texas homestead into a successful tourist destination. It's where Rue is raising her pre-teen daughter on her own--while trying to keep her outspoken sister in check. It's not easy, but together, it seems there's nothing the two can't handle--until an unexpected, and not entirely welcome guest shows up in the middle of one warm summer night.

Moving and uplifting, here is a beautifully written novel about the bonds we are born into and those we create for ourselves--and of the strength that comes in loving without limits.

"Completely wonderful." Beth Harbison

"Funny, poignant, and deeply satisfying." --Nancy Thayer

Emma, a prima ballerina in London, is at a crossroads after an injured knee ruins her career. Forced to rest and take stock of her life, she finds that she’s mistaken fame and achievement for love and fulfillment. Returning home to Australia, she learns of her grandmother Beattie’s death and a strange inheritance: a sheep station in isolated rural Australia. Certain she has been saddled with an irritating burden, Emma prepares to leave for Wildflower Hill to sell the estate.

Beattie also found herself at a crossroads as a young woman, but she was pregnant and unwed. She eventually found success—but only after following an unconventional path that was often dangerous and heartbreaking. Beattie knew the lessons she learned in life would be important to Emma one day, and she wanted to make sure Emma’s heart remained open to love, no matter what life brought. She knew the magic of the Australian wilderness would show Emma the way.

Over the course of one eventful summer, nine-year-old native Mainer Delphine Crandall and Maggie Weldon, a privileged girl "from away, become best friends. Despite the social gulf between them, their bond is strengthened during vacations spent rambling around Ogunquits beaches and quiet country lanes, and lasts throughout their college years in Boston. It seems nothing can separate them, yet after graduation, Delphine and Maggie slowly drift in different directions…

With her MBA, Maggie acquires a lucrative career, and eventually marries. Delphine is drawn back home, her life steeped in family and the Maine community she loves. Twenty years pass, until one summer, Maggie announces shes returning to Ogunquit to pay an extended visit. And for the first time, the friends are drawn to reflect on their choices and compromises, the girls they were and the women theyve become, the promises kept and broken-and the deep, lasting ties that even time can never quite wash away…

"An honest, forceful novel about love, family, and sacrifice.--Booklist on One Week in December

Fans of Nora Roberts, Debbie Macomber, Robyn Carr and Susan Wiggs will enjoy this emotional contemporary romance from #1 New York Times Bestseller Barbara Freethy.

This is a full length novel of approximately 100,000 words.

Famous photojournalist Ryan Hunter has come back to a family torn apart by mistrust and resentment -- to the father who disowned him, to the brother who betrayed him, to the little boy who shares his features. Ryan, the charismatic "bad boy" son, has returned -- stirring up past conflicts like a whirlwind...and throwing Kara Delaney's fragile, passionate heart into turmoil.

Kara has struggled back from a disastrous marriage to build a new life for herself and her little girl -- a peaceful existence now jeopardized by vicious, small town politics, by her daughter's fanciful ghost stories...and by Ryan's return. Now nature's impending fury threatens to expose long-buried secrets. And Kara must join with the enigmatic, misunderstood Ryan -- to discover the truth that will save their families.... and to explore a dangerous, irresistible love as mighty and enduring as the onrushing river.

Reviews...

"Barbara Freethy delivers strong and compelling prose ..." Publishers Weekly

"Ryan's Return is a beautiful and touching tale of redemption and second chances for people who believe in neither." Affaire de Coeur Magazine

"A powerful story of families shattered years ago, and brought together by love, RYAN'S RETURN is a compelling read no one should miss." Genie Romance and Women's Fiction Exchange.

"A superlative novel that proves everyone can indeed go home again." Debbie Macomber

"Rising contemporary star Barbara Freethy hammers home deep and complex emotions in RYAN'S RETURN, a wonderful and powerful book." Romantic Times Magazine

Sage Singer is a baker. She works through the night, preparing the day’s breads and pastries, trying to escape a reality of loneliness, bad memories, and the shadow of her mother’s death. When Josef Weber, an elderly man in Sage’s grief support group, begins stopping by the bakery, they strike up an unlikely friendship. Despite their differences, they see in each other the hidden scars that others can’t, and they become companions.

Everything changes on the day that Josef confesses a long-buried and shameful secret—one that nobody else in town would ever suspect—and asks Sage for an extraordinary favor. If she says yes, she faces not only moral repercussions, but potentially legal ones as well. With her own identity suddenly challenged, and the integrity of the closest friend she’s ever had clouded, Sage begins to question the assumptions and expectations she’s made about her life and her family. When does a moral choice become a moral imperative? And where does one draw the line between punishment and justice, forgiveness and mercy?

The new man in Tracy's life hasn't mentioned love or commitment- and Tracy has just discovered she's pregnant. Janya longs to be a mother-and suddenly has two young siblings in her care. Maggie helps out at Wanda's Wonderful Pies…but is the kitchen big enough for both Gray women? And Alice may lose her beloved granddaughter to someone no one expected….

Olivia Donatelli’s dream of a “normal” life shattered when her son, Anthony, was diagnosed with autism at age three. Understanding the world from his perspective felt bewildering, nearly impossible. He didn’t speak. He hated to be touched. He almost never made eye contact. And just as Olivia was starting to realize that happiness and autism could coexist, Anthony died.

Now she’s alone in a cottage on Nantucket, separated from her husband, desperate to understand the meaning of her son’s short life, when a chance encounter with another woman facing her own loss brings Anthony alive again for Olivia in a most unexpected way.

Beth Ellis’s entire life changed with a simple note: “I’m sleeping with Jimmy.” Fourteen years of marriage. Three beautiful daughters. Yet even before her husband’s affair, she had never felt so alone. Heartbroken, she finds the pieces of the vivacious, creative person she used to be packed away in a box in her attic. For the first time in years, she uncaps her pen, takes a deep breath, and begins to write. The young but exuberant voice that emerges onto the page is a balm to the turmoil within her, a new beginning, and an astonishing bridge back to herself.