Books Set in Arkansas
Our journey through the 50 states continues with a stop in Arkansas!
Book Club Pick – Arkansas
Wishing for the Girl Next Door by Tia Marlee
What is Wishing for the Girl Next Door about?
He isn’t looking for a relationship. She’s determined to protect her heart. Will attending her sister’s wedding open their eyes, or are they bound to be in the friend zone forever?
Evan has a nearly perfect life. He’s got a great job, amazing friends, and a close-knit family. What he doesn’t have is someone to share it with. After a traumatic high school relationship ends with a bang, he’s determined to protect his heart. When the adorable girl next door catches his attention, he vows to place her firmly in the friend zone.
Karlee’s life plan has just been obliterated. Determined to pick up the pieces and create a life on her terms, she moves to the idyllic small town of Piney Brook. What she didn’t count on was a gorgeous and charming neighbor. When she needs a date for her sister’s wedding, he seems like the perfect option.She’d sworn off men, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be friends, right?
When the line between friendship and more begins to blur, will they overcome past hurts and find the courage to give love another chance?
Tia Marlee on Literary Escapes Podcast
Want to know more about Tia and her books? Listen to this conversation on the Literary Escapes Podcast!
coming 9/5
More Sweet Reads Set in Arkansas
Enjoy this additional selection of books set in Arkansas, spanning cozy mystery, romance, and romantic suspense. Perfect for easy reading, these delightful tales promise happy, hopeful endings.
Which one will you choose for a literary escape to Arkansas?
Dying for Dominoes by Jane Elzey
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Meet four ambitious women who risk losing it all when they play to win… while the husband dies trying.
It’s all fun and games until Amy’s best friend wants her husband gone and then he’s found dead.
Now Amy fears a not-so-innocent game of dominoes has turned into premeditated murder with a little help from some friends. Scrambled evidence and sketchy alibis compel Amy to uncover the truth before they all land in jail for murder.
How does a game of dominoes turn so deadly? And who killed the husband? If she can’t solve the crime in time, there’s more at stake than Amy realizes. She knows what she has to do — find the courage to face her doubts and learn the true meaning of friendship. All while hunting down a killer on the run.
Will she unravel the facts and the fibbery fast enough to keep them safe? Not if her misadventure through the back roads of Arkansas keeps derailing her plans. Amy risks everything to hunt down the truth, but what she doesn’t know might kill her, too.
Lana’s Leap by Delilah Dewey
Genre: Sweet Romance
This Christmas in Riverbend Falls is shaping up to be very different. A whirlwind of days transport Lana from neat routines to being hip deep in a reckless project with newcomer Garrett Wilcox. She is roped into helping him transform his campground into a destination resort, but he asks more of her than she can give. As they get closer to compromise, Lana knows she is preserving heritage for her town, but she might lose her heart in the deal.
After buying his grandparents’ campground, Garrett hires local talent to help him spin out the resort he’d been designing in his head for years. The talent is Lana Stone, and she’s more than he expected. Garrett is impulsive, which worked well in the past, but he’s never been in love before. Can he design a plan to win Lana? He can feel them growing as friends, but can he convince her they need to unify their stubborn hearts all while building his dream?
Engaged in Trouble by Jenny B. Jones
Genre: Cozy Mystery
When a washed-up pop star inherits a wedding planning business, it’s all bouquets and bliss until a bride turns up dead.
Paisley Sutton shot to stardom as a teenage rock sensation, but ten years later that star has fizzled out, just like her bank account. When she unexpectedly inherits her aunt’s wedding planning business, Paisley leaves the glamour of Los Angeles for a charming small town in Arkansas. Thinking she’ll arrive in Sugar Creek and liquidate the moldy property, Paisley’s shocked to find Enchanted Events has experienced a major makeover and is now the place for brides. She’s got two months to keep Enchanted Events afloat if she wants to sell and rekindle her music career with the profits.
Paisley’s tossed into a world of vows and venues, but her most difficult challenge comes in the form of one demanding bride. When this Bridezilla’s found facedown in her cake, all fingers point to Paisley as the prime murder suspect. And she does not look good in prison orange.
Canter with a Killer by Amber Camp
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Mallory Martin left her marriage and her unfulfilling job to move back to her hometown of Hillspring, Arkansas, and start a horse rescue. It’s everything she’s been missing, with paddocks of happy horses and one very quirky donkey. But when her cantankerous neighbor and longtime critic, Albert Cunningham, is found murdered in his fancy show barn, Mallory becomes suspect number one. Since Sheriff Grady Sullivan is ignoring all good sense and focusing only on Mallory, she decides to take matters into her own hands.
Aided by her best friend, Lanie, and rescue volunteer Tanner, Mallory races headlong into the investigation in search of the real killer. But horses and murder aren’t the only thing on her mind when she meets Albert’s handsome son, Braydon. Sparks fly, and soon she’s got a new boyfriend. But there’s a case to be solved, and she redoubles her efforts to learn the truth.
The suspects mount quickly. There’s Albert’s girlfriend, Kathleen, who was on the farm when he was murdered; organic farmer Heather Rogers, who accused Albert of contaminating her creek; and Philip Atwood, who’d been trying for a right-of-way across Albert’s farm. None of the evidence is holding up though, and Mallory learns that she’ll need to take the reins on this investigation if she’s going to clear her own name.
The Witness by Nora Roberts
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Daughter of a cold, controlling mother and an anonymous donor, studious, obedient Elizabeth Fitch finally let loose one night, drinking too much at a nightclub and allowing a strange man’s seductive Russian accent to lure her to a house on Lake Shore Drive.
Twelve years later, the woman now known as Abigail Lowery lives alone on the outskirts of a small town in the Ozarks. A freelance security systems designer, her own protection is supplemented by a fierce dog and an assortment of firearms. She keeps to herself, saying little, revealing nothing. Unfortunately, that seems to be the quickest way to get attention in a tiny southern town.
The mystery of Abigail Lowery and her sharp mind, secretive nature and unromantic viewpoint intrigues local police chief Brooks Gleason, on both a personal and professional level. And while he suspects that Abigail needs protection from something, Gleason is accustomed to two-bit troublemakers, not the powerful and dangerous men who are about to have him in their sights.
And Abigail Lowery, who has built a life based on security and self-control, is at risk of losing both.
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