The Schoolhouse

Book excerpt: Locals see an eyesore, but she sees a charming business opportunity... Becky Linden needs a fresh start. Her family is miles away. Her ex-husband is remarried. Her son is off to college. With an early mid-life crisis looming, Becky is at a crossroads: keep working dead-end jobs to survive, or take a leap of faith. During a visit home, she stumbles across the abandoned one-room schoolhouse where she played as a child and had her first kiss a teenager. With her family's encouragment, Becky decides to stay in town and find a way to save the historic building from demolition. As she works on her business plan, Becky begins to reconnect with her past. Her best friend, Maggie, is three kids deep into a dysfunctional marriage. The grandparents who raised Becky have aged exponentially, and her beloved grandfather is ill. Still, Becky finds herself enchanted by the small southern community where she was raised. What's more, her high school sweetheart, Ben Durbin, still lives in town, working for the school district and looking as handsome as ever. The stage is set for a sweet reunion for the former lovebirds, until Zack reveals crushing news: he's in charge of tearing down the historic building. Just before giving up, Becky uncovers a local secret: something that might compel Zack to save the past and give Becky a second chance. With flashbacks to her childhood play dates with Maggie and first kiss as a teenager, The Schoolhouse is a sweet, nostalgic, and romantic women's fiction. Head to Hickory Grove and see if Becky can bring the old schoolhouse back to life and help those she loves most overcome life's troubles. This is the first book in a standalone series about a southern small town and the people who live there.