Showing results by author "Deborah Grace Staley" in All Categories

Patrick Houston has worked hard to make changes in his life so he can be someone his children and Angel Ridge will be proud of. But Frannie Thompson is back in town reminding him of a time when he'd been out of control and failing the people in his life. Can love and loyalty grow from such a rocky start? Was Mayor Patrick Houston actually going to pretend he didn't know her?

Hey, ya'll. Dixie Ferguson here. I run Ferguson's Diner in Angel Ridge, Tennessee, population 345. It's a picturesque town in the valley of the Little Tennessee River, established in 1785. In the early days, its first families - the McKays, the Wallaces, the Houstons, the Joneses, and, of course, the Craigs - staked their claims on hundreds of acres of the richest bottom land anyone had ever seen. After all the years I've spent behind the counter at Ferguson's, I could probably tell ya'll a story about near everyone in town. But we only have so much time, so I'll narrow it down to just two for now....

In Angel Ridge, Tennessee, not much goes on around town in the winter. After Christmas, folks usually hunker down and wait for spring to come to the Smoky Mountains. But given recent events, which included a bombing and newspaper publisher Jenny Thompson's disappearance, people in town are understandably on edge. Now Jenny's in hiding on a nearby mountain, waiting for trouble to catch up with her and none too sure it hasn't, when reclusive mountain man Cord Goins comes to her rescue.

With a nickname like "Candi Heart" and a plan to open a frilly lingerie and perfume shop called Heart's Desire, Lark Hensley knows she may raise some eyebrows by moving to quiet little Angel Ridge, Tennessee. She hopes no one remembers that the women in her family were once accused of being seductive witches by townsfolk, and that decades ago her moonshiner grandpa committed a deadly crime. Lark has questions she can't answer and secrets she doesn't want to share.

Jaye Baxter is a woman in man’s world. She’s on track to become the first female general manager in major league baseball. She loves her job, but she’s in desperate need of a little quality time to explore her long-lost feminine side. So she does what any sensible girl would do - she picks up a sexy local man in a Puerto Rican bar and has a one-night stand.

Bad boys are her weakness, but Maddie Greene gave into that particular weakness when she was a teenager with devastating results. But she’s not that girl anymore. She’s a mature, successful businesswoman, who dates polished businessmen but never gets attached. Twenty years after leaving her hometown, Maddie returns to sell her grandmother’s home. Here, she’ll come face-to-face with a bad boy she can’t resist, along with the demons from her past.

Successful Broadway dancer Di Jenson makes a bet with bad boy Van Vanzant to dance at Vanz, his exclusive gentlemen’s club. The bet? That Di can make more money with one dance than all the rest of the club’s dancers combined - without taking her clothes off. Van accepts the bet because he hasn't been able to forget his blind date with Di the year before. He wants to show her he’s more than a guy whose name is synonymous with adult entertainment.

The third of the Sweet Tea story collections treats listeners to a panorama of Southern life, both then and now. Family dramas, comic mishaps, sentimental remembrances and poignant choices illuminate these thirteen stories by new and established authors. There's something for every listener: The gritty realism of a hunt for wild boars, the gentle grieving for a home now filled only with memories, the funny battle between a woman and her recipe for deviled eggs, and much more.

Dr. Janice Thornton has been lonely for too long, especially at Christmas. But Angel Ridge, Tennessee, the one place that holds the key to what family should be, is offering her a chance at a new life. Could she find happiness by taking over her uncle's small-town practice? Local contractor and carpenter Blake Ferguson comes from a big family. He'd like to fill his rambling old Victorian with one of his own. But there's one problem. He needs a wife! When Janice shows up at his house, Blake sets a course to win her, but soon finds she's built a wall around her heart.