Hometown Sweethearts

Sometimes the love you need has been waiting for you all along. 

Grace Bennett left heartbreak behind when she fled Atlanta and her cheating ex-husband. Returning to Serenity Crossing, Tennessee—the mountain town she left fourteen years ago—was supposed to be a fresh start. She has twelve weeks to restore her late grandmother’s historic inn before the town’s biggest festival, and she’s determined to prove she can do it alone. She doesn’t need help. She doesn’t need rescuing. And she definitely doesn’t need complications.

But she didn’t count on Jim Hartwell.

The boy she loved in high school has become a man impossible to ignore—steady, kind, and still living in the town she once couldn’t wait to leave. As the owner of the only hardware store in Serenity Crossing, Jim is impossible to avoid. And his loyal hound, Boone, keeps escaping to find her, as if the dog knows something neither of them is ready to admit.

Jim Hartwell has built a good life in the years since his divorce. He runs his family’s hardware store, lives close to the people he loves, and has made peace with the fact that romantic love might not be in the cards for him. His ex-wife told him he’d never be enough, and he’s spent four years believing her.

Then Grace drives back into town, more beautiful and more guarded than he remembers, and suddenly his settled life doesn’t feel so settled anymore.

Two wounded hearts. One small town full of memories. And a second chance neither of them saw coming—if they’re brave enough to take it.

Set against the breathtaking beauty of the Great Smoky Mountains, Hometown Sweethearts is a faith-filled, heartwarming story about second chances, the healing power of community, and learning that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is let yourself be loved.

Reader Promise: This clean, wholesome romance will wrap you in the warmth of a small-town community where neighbors become family and mountain views remind you that some things are bigger than your problems. You’ll fall for a heroine who’s strong but scared, a hero who’s steady and kind, and a matchmaking dog with soulful eyes who knows a love story when he sees one.