Books Set in Indiana
Our journey through the 50 states continues with a stop in Indiana!
Book Club Pick – Indiana
Love to Hate You by Camilla Isley
![Love to Hate You by Camilla Isley book cover](https://literaryescapes.fun/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Love-to-Hate-You_Camilla-Isley_web.jpg)
What is Love to Hate You about?
Good-bye New York, hello cowboy?
If Samantha’s Baker’s life were as simple as one of the movies she produces, when she – a latte-loving city girl – gets banished to the country and fights with the local hunk cowboy soon afterwards they’d fall in love. But everyone knows the movies aren’t real life! (And just FYI, Mr Cowboy, it’s not gonna happen!)
Travis Hunt knows what it’s like to miss the city. He’s given up everything to take over the family ranch and become mayor of Emerald Creek. He has responsibilities. But how does he convince a gorgeous, hot-shot executive like Samantha to swap her stilettos for cowboy boots and her Friday night cocktails for country dance competitions? Small town life just can’t compete with all the hustle and bustle of New York City.
But what if it’s not where you are that you call home… What if it’s who you find while you’re there?
Camilla Isley on Literary Escapes Podcast
Want to know more about Camilla and her books? Listen to this conversation on the Literary Escapes Podcast!
More Sweet Reads Set in Indiana
Enjoy this additional selection of books set in Indiana, spanning cozy mystery, sweet romance, and historical fiction. Perfect for easy reading, these delightful tales promise happy, hopeful endings.
Which one will you choose for a literary escape to Indiana?
A Dark and Stormy Murder by Julia Buckley
![A Dark and Stormy Murder by Julie Buckley book cover](https://literaryescapes.fun/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/A-Dark-and-Stormy-Murder_Julia-Buckley_web.jpg)
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Lena London’s literary dreams are coming true—as long as she can avoid any real-life villains…
Camilla Graham’s bestselling suspense novels inspired Lena London to become a writer, so when she lands a job as Camilla’s new assistant, she can’t believe her luck. Not only will she help her idol craft an enchanting new mystery, she’ll get to live rent-free in Camilla’s gorgeous Victorian home in the quaint town of Blue Lake, Indiana.
But Lena’s fortune soon changes for the worse. First, she lands in the center of small town gossip for befriending the local recluse. Then, she stumbles across one thing that a Camilla Graham novel is never without—a dead body, found on her new boss’s lakefront property.
Now Lena must take a page out of one of Camilla’s books to hunt down clues in a real crime that seems to be connected to the novelist’s mysterious estate—before the killer writes them both out of the story for good…
When We Were Enemies by Emily Bleeker
![When We Were Enemies by Emily Bleeker book cover](https://literaryescapes.fun/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/When-We-Were-Enemies_Emily-Bleeker_web.jpg)
Genre: Historical Fiction
Camera-shy Elise Branson is different from the other women in her maternal line. Her mother is an award-winning actress. Her late grandmother, Vivian Snow, is a beloved Hollywood icon. But when Elise’s upcoming wedding coincides with a documentary being made about Vivian, Elise can’t escape the camera’s gaze. And neither can her grandmother, even in death.
It’s 1943 when Vivian, a small-town Indiana girl, lends her homefront support to the war effort. As a translator in the nearby Italian POW camp, she’s invaluable. As a celebrated singer for the USO, she lifts men’s spirits and falls in love with a soldier. But behind this all-American love story is a shocking secret—one that is vital to keep buried if Vivian is to achieve the fame and fortune she covets.
For Elise and Vivian, what’s hidden—and what’s exposed—threatens to unravel their lives. The heart-wrenching choices they must make will change them both forever.
Home to River’s Edge by Nan Reinhardt
![Home to River's Edge by Nan Reinhardt book cover](https://literaryescapes.fun/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Home-to-Rivers-Edge_Nan-Reinhardt_web.jpg)
Genre: Sweet Romance
She’s determined to start a new chapter, so why is she still drawn to a man from her past?
When Jasmine Weaver, the chief of staff to a powerful D.C. congresswoman, chose integrity, she didn’t anticipate ringing in the New Year disgraced, unemployed, and sleeping in her childhood bedroom. Now back in River’s Edge, Indiana, identical triplet Jazz has her sisters’ support while she plans her next steps. She agrees to lead the committee for their high school’s fifteenth reunion, never dreaming that her co-chair is the man who broke her teenage heart.
As the new CEO of Walker Construction, Elias Walker has taken the family business to new levels of success. He’s buried himself in work to ease the grief of losing his fiancé several years earlier and wants nothing more than to be a carpenter again. Elias grudgingly agrees to co-chair the high school’s reunion committee, but when Jazz Weaver blows into town, suddenly anything seems possible.
These high school sweethearts have lived half their lives apart. Can they reinvent themselves back in the town where it all began?
Flipped for Murder by Maddie Day
![Flipped for Murder by Maddie Day book cover](https://literaryescapes.fun/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Flipped-For-Murder_Maddie-Day_web.jpg)
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Nursing a broken heart, Robbie Jordan is trading in her life on the West Coast for the rolling hills of southern Indiana.
After paying a visit to her Aunt Adele, she fell in love with the tiny town of South Lick. And when she spots a For Sale sign on a rundown country store, she decides to snap it up and put her skills as a cook and a carpenter to use. Everyone in town shows up for the grand re-opening of Pans ‘n Pancakes, but when the mayor’s disagreeable assistant is found dead, Robbie realizes that not all press is good press.
With all eyes on her, she’ll have to summon her puzzle-solving skills to clear her name, unscramble the town’s darkest secrets, and track down a cold-blooded killer–before she’s the next to die…
The Schoolhouse by Elizabeth Bromke
![The Schoolhouse by Elizabeth Bromke book cover](https://literaryescapes.fun/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/The-Schoolhouse_Elizabeth-Bromke_web.jpg)
Genre: Sweet Romance
To move forward, she might have to take a step back.
Divorced empty-nester Becky Linden wants a fresh start. After two decades away, she returns to her hometown to find herself. What she discovers instead is the long-abandoned schoolhouse where she had her first kiss as a teenager.
Others might see an eyesore, but Becky sees the neglected building as a charming business opportunity and…her future. However, she can’t do it on her own. The one man who can help her is the last one she ever thought she’d ever ask—her ex-boyfriend.
Zack Durbin works for the school district that owns the run-down building, and he agrees with locals: the schoolhouse is a problem. What’s more? It’s his job to solve the problem. Then Zack’s old high school sweetheart shows up with a dream to open a bookshop and reboot her life. Is Zack willing to sacrifice his career for the only woman he’s ever loved? Or will the past haunt him forever?