No question some of the highest quality books I read these days are published independently by their authors. I love that authors have the freedom to use another way to quickly and easily get their stories to readers who can’t wait to read them.

Today I’m putting some recent and upcoming indie books in the spotlight. As the author doesn’t have the benefit of a marketing department, it can be a little harder to get their books in front of readers. I love that I can share with my readers some excellent stories they might not otherwise discover. If you haven’t added these books to your TBR already, I recommend you do.

Enjoy!

The Party Planning Committee by Amy Matayo

Reality Show #3

When Charlotte Pringle Frost won The Party Planning Committee three years ago, she gained name-recognition, money, and enough wealthy clients to keep her Beverly Hills party-planning business running for months. But when her father used all her winnings to pay off his gambling debts, he left her with nothing but the clothes on her back and a damaged reputation. Now she’s living in Arkansas, was just fired from her party store cashier job, and can’t figure out how it all went wrong.

Lance Dutton hasn’t been at his mental wellness retreat in Switzerland five minutes when his mom calls to tell him his little sister is engaged. Alexandria is twenty-two, and her overly tattooed fiancé fronts an underground boy band; so much for mental wellness. It isn’t enough that Lance has spent ten years of his life starring on Dealing with the Duttons—his family’s reality show; now he’s expected to come home and oversee the wedding. With multiple product lines and new endorsement deals in the works, his family can’t afford any bad press.

When Alexandria impulsively hires some random contestant she remembers from an old reality game show to plan the wedding, all Lance sees is a disaster in the making. It’s bad enough that the wedding is in four weeks and his sister wants the whole process aired live, but this Charlotte chick is cuter than he expected, and she’s messing with his head. Suddenly he’s thinking about the future, and nothing could possibly be worse than that.

Nothing, that is, until Alexandria tells them her ridiculous wedding theme.

As the only sane people around, it’s up to Lance and Charlotte to make this disastrous wedding a success, a nearly impossible feat that soon has them both wondering…

Even if the wedding doesn’t work out, could they?

Available Now

Amy’s novels are stellar – all unique, fun, and meaningful! This one is no different – I loved it.

Autumn by the Sea by Melissa Tagg

Get swept away to the seaside in Maine in this captivating romance brimming with mystery

Abandoned as a toddler, Sydney Rose has spent years wondering who she really is, homesick for a life she’s never lived. When a private investigator crashes into her world, she finds herself heading to a tiny seaside town in Maine to meet a woman named Maggie, who’s searching for the granddaughter she lost decades ago.

If not for Maggie, Neil MacKean might still be back in Scotland, bereft and alone. Instead, he has a full life in Muir Harbor with an adopted family he loves and a blueberry farm to run. But the farm is struggling and strange occurrences have him concerned. Worse, Maggie’s once again caught up in the past, convinced she’s finally found her long-lost granddaughter.

Worried for Maggie, Neil is suspicious of the city girl who shows up at the farm. But there’s something about Sydney that tugs on him, drawing out secrets he never meant to share. While Neil grapples with the future of the farm, Sydney wrestles with a past that’s messier than ever. Together, they’re pulled into a mystery complete with a centuries-old legend, unexpected danger . . . and a love as deep and wild as the sea.

Available now

Another tender romance from Melissa. This one has a gentle pace and is well worth adding to your collection

The Inn at Walker Beach by Lindsay Harrel

The Barefoot Sisterhood #1

A dream years in the making becomes reality with the inaugural meeting of The Barefoot Sisterhood…

Jenna Wakefield has been through a lot in her twenty-seven years—losing her mother, becoming a teen mom, and battling depression, just to name a few. And working a dead-end job, barely paying her bills, and fighting unrequited feelings for her boss aren’t exactly part of the life she always imagined.

With her six children grown and her husband constantly traveling for work, Elise Griffin finds herself utterly without purpose for the first time ever at age sixty-three. But “retirement” isn’t as wonderful as it might sound—it gives her far too much time to think about the affair her husband had a year ago … the one she’s never told anyone about.

When both women are invited into the mysterious Barefoot Sisterhood and asked to help restore an old beachside inn for a good cause, they find themselves supported and encouraged in new and exciting ways. This inspiration leads to dream seeking … and new romance as well.

Discover what happens when women give each other the space to finally dream—and in doing so, make the world a better place.

Available now

I’ve yet to read the start of Lindsay’s new series but I’m hearing wonderful things and it comes highly recommended!

Have Yourself a Christiansen Christmas by Susan May Warren

Please…come home for Christmas…

It’s Christmas in the winter wonderland town of Deep Haven, and the Christiansen kids are all heading home for the holidays. But no one feels very merry.

• Grace is worried about her husband’s life-changing illness…
• Eden is facing devastating news…
• Casper is in over his head (of course!)…
• Amelia is dodging a walk down the aisle…
• Owen…well, Owen just nearly died, again…
• But it’s Darek who has news that just might destroy the family legacy.

The trip home for all is filled with secrets, memories and old dreams. But when they discover the real reason they’ve been asked home for the holidays, it will shake their world. It’ll take a disaster for them to discover that home is the place for answers, hope and most of all…miracles.

This year, spend Christmas with your favorite small town family.

November 25

Another Christiansen family story? Yes, please! Susie’s beloved family will always have a place in my heart and on my shelves!

Which ones have you read, or plan to read?