Showing results by author "Jessie Gussman" in All Categories

I thought it would be a good idea to buy a dog…. I ended up with an ATV I have no idea how to drive. I’m not sure how this happened, especially since the man I purchased it from, Justin Gabriel, introduced himself by running his remote-controlled monster pickup into my high heeled shoe. I’m serious, studious, and a high school English teacher at Good Grief High. Needless to say, Justin Gabriel is not my type.

I’m a city girl and proud of it. Chicago is my hometown and I’m in my element surrounded by people and buildings and busyness. Actually, my business—my vlog—depends on my interactions with people. You can’t go viral talking about your pet turtle. Well, maybe some people can, but that’s not how I became a highly paid influencer. I was happy to use my influence to help my grandmother, Agnes, save her assisted care facility. I thought I was going to hate being out in the wilderness for days on end…bugs and bears and no internet or sushi bars.

People are so serious about life. I feel it was made to be enjoyed. I’m not interested in having a great career or climbing a corporate ladder or being inside much at all, actually. I don’t like to stay with things too long, either. I’ve worked as a short line cook, a firefighter, and a dolphin trainer among other things. So, when the ladies at the Good Grief senior living center offer me a short term job as the photographer for the risqué nature calendar they want to pose for—to cross it off of Miss Agnes’s bucket list—I am all in.

I live in Idaho. (Yes, potatoes. *eye roll* Can we talk about something else?) And I love it here. Small town values galore and it’s right where I want to raise my girls after my jerk ex traded me in for a “younger, newer model” (his words, not mine).

It took me a while—most of my life, in fact—to decide that my hometown of Good Grief, Idaho, is the best place in the world to live. But I have and I love it...except for one thing. My boss. Okay, so the man is good at his job. We just have a tendency to disagree on how much activity the seniors at our assisted-living center want to have.

Birdie Pollock just rented a beach house for the summer. She needed to get away from the noise and the lights and the pressure…okay, she’s burnt out and can’t let anyone know. She has to be back to full speed by fall when her big American tour kicks off. Wesley Moffett is burnt out. He’s lying low after the last game of the hockey season, and trying to write the book his agent is demanding from him. He used to love hockey, but that love turned to hate and he never did like writing. It’s going to be the worst summer ever. Unless he can con his next-door neighbor into writing his book for him.

What else is a man supposed to do when God clearly shows him his life's calling is no longer healing physical hearts, but spiritual? It would have been easy to tell God no, and to ignore the call back to a tiny town in the Ozarks to begin a ministry in a small church that was about to close its doors. But at 53, Race walked away from his prestigious and successful career and agreed to follow the Lord–under one condition. He told God he wanted a wife to labor alongside of him.

It was supposed to be simple. Marry the tall Texan. Her children get a father. They save the ranch. A business transaction, nothing more. She definitely wasn’t going to fall in love. After her husband ran off with her little sister, she was no longer susceptible to cowboy charm. But the North Dakota girl had never met a Texas cowboy.

Everyone thinks Poppy Kyle is naturally happy and positive. But it took a major tragedy in her life for her to overcome her natural negative tendencies and develop a brighter attitude. She will not allow the surly West Barclay to steal her joy.

Olive Jardine almost died living her adventure, backpacking around the world and going wherever the wind blew. Coming back to Raspberry Ridge feels safe and she has no interest in leaving ever again. But her sisters want to sell the family home. They need the money and she can’t afford to buy it outright. Her best friend from childhood just might have a plan that could get her the home she wants, but can he get past the pain she caused him before she left and the way she betrayed him? Doyle Lowry is not the boy she remembers. He's better.

They were high school sweethearts, but money and pride came between them. Can their twin sons trick them into falling in love again? Reid Hudson would be happy on his Missouri farm except he’d always thought he’d be sharing it with his soul mate, Emerson. Instead, he gets six months with each of his boys and splits the holidays. Not the life he’d planned.

Madeline Reese has a successful cooking show, a best-selling line of cookbooks and is considered one of the top celebrity chefs in Hollywood. One small problem – she can’t cook. Loyal Hudson doesn’t want to open his world-class kitchen to the cameras Madeline will bring with her, but the celebrity chef could be the bridge between him and a future with his little girl.

Waverley Madris is two months behind on her rent and about to lose her house and her children. Getting stuck with handsome Zane Hudson and his four kids in the Diner bathroom seems like just the type of thing that was just her luck. Except she emerges from that bathroom an engaged woman.

On the day Deacon Hudson was set to be ordained, a bundle shows up at the church with a simple note on it. Deacon Hudson is the father. Take care of her. Deacon knows he’s not the father. The Immaculate Conception was a one time thing. But the baby needs a parent, and he has to decide if he will give up his life dream of being a pastor to take the child, despite the fact that the note is a lie. Can he do it without resenting the child?

Ivory Haines is the daughter of the town’s resident retired prostitute and possibly the town drunk, although her mother wasn’t entirely certain. She resents her position in the town – and especially resents the teasing she’d been subjected to – and has vowed to show everyone that she is just as good as they are. She can hardly believe her luck when Chandler Hudson donates a month of his time to the highest bidder at the charity auction to benefit local victims of the recent tornado damage.

Braxton Emmerson was born and bred in the heartland. He loves his farm and his family, but he was willing to give it all up for the woman who stole his heart. But she didn’t want to give up her career and insisted on keeping their romance a secret. But then her business partner doubled crossed her, and she ended up with a prison sentence for tax evasion. Now she’s out and she’s much wiser.

After her husband walks out, leaving her with three small children, Shelby isn't interested in romance. She just wants her roof to not leak and the furnace to work. Keene Emmerson is ready to settle down, but he's not expecting to find love in a single wide trailer amidst the chaos of kids and construction and a pair of September sky blue eyes.

Originally diagnosed with Lyme disease, Esther MacCartney is frustrated because she’s been bedridden for months and doctors can’t tell her if she’ll ever be well again. The only person who’s visited her regularly is her sister’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, Monroe. He makes her laugh and treats her like he enjoys her company. But her sister has a job offer off the farm, and Esther is afraid Monroe will propose to get her to stay.

Elias Emerson has worked hard and become a successful businessman. Fellow businesswoman Catherine Hutchison has been with him, helping him, all his adult life, but he’s never really paid attention to her. She's just there. Never noticed how much she did for him behind the scenes. How much she lifted him up and made him better. How much she sacrificed to give him the support and encouragement he needed.

Cormac Henderson is shocked when he discovered his friend from college has willed him half-interest in a high-dollar roping horse...and his daughter. But then he finds out that the woman who has hated him since high school is the person he's supposed to be sharing custody of both with.