Guest Post: Small Town Romance Recommendations by Chelsea M. Cameron

Chelsea’s new book, The Girl Next Door, will be released on May 26. She stopped by to give us some recs for some other small town romances. Thanks Chelsea!

I’m from a small town. When I say that, I don’t think a lot of people have a concept of HOW small I mean. I’m talking less than 3,000 people. I went to the same school for kindergarten through eighth grade. Many of the teachers I had are still teaching there, some of them with friends of mine who are now teachers themselves. Our town dump used to be on one road, but was moved probably twenty years ago. People still call that road “the Dump Road.”

There’s a comfort in small towns, of things changing, but remaining the same. I have a sense of security every time I go back and visit and see the same faces at the gas station, or the bank (where I worked as a teller), or the library.

In my book, The Girl Next Door, I wrote a love letter to small towns like mine, where everyone knows everyone else’s business, but where you can always count on people to take care of their own. Iris, the main character thinks that she can’t possibly belong where she grew up, but she comes to find that there are people just like her, even in the most unlikely of places.

One of my most favorite reads that I think fits under the definition of small-town romance is Tikka Chance on Me by Suleikha Snyder. I’m a HUGE fan of books where the character has left home, but has to return (which happens to be what The Girl Next Door is about!). Pinky comes home to help her parents at their restaurant and runs into a guy she knew from high school, who’s also back in town. This novella is DELICIOUS in so many ways.

Another I loved that really made the town feel like an entire world is When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore. It’s an utterly gorgeous book about people who don’t really fit in finding comfort in each other, and that resonates so strongly with me, because it’s how I always felt.

A recent read that ranks as one of my favorite Beverly Jenkin’s books is Vivid. It takes place in Michigan in the 1870s, featuring a female physician and the mayor of a town his family founded. I love meddling family and neighbors who all conspire to make the two main characters realize they’re meant to be.

This might be considered more of a small village romance, but the last book I read was A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant, and it knocked my socks off. A widow and a rake conspire together to save her land (and the people on it) from being inherited by her husband’s evil brother. Both of them are aristocrats who get completely entangled in the lives of their tenants, and are changed for the better for it.

About the Book

Title: The Girl Next Door by Chelsea M. Cameron

New York Times bestselling author Chelsea M. Cameron is back with the opposites-attract, sweet-and-sexy small-town romance you’ve been waiting for.

Iris Turner hightailed it out of Salty Cove, Maine, without so much as a backward glance. Which is why finding herself back in her hometown—in her childhood bedroom, no less—has the normally upbeat Iris feeling a bit down and out. Her spirits get a much-needed lift, though, at the sight of the sexy girl next door.

No one knows why Jude Wicks is back in Salty Cove, and that’s just how she likes it. Jude never imagined she’d be once again living in her parents’ house, never mind hauling lobster like a local. But the solitude is just what she needs—until Iris tempts her to open up.

A no-strings summer fling seems like the perfect distraction for both women. Jude rides a motorcycle, kisses hard and gives Iris the perfect distraction from her tangled mess of a life. But come September, Iris is still determined to get out of this zero-stoplight town.

That is, unless Jude can give her a reason to stay…

One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!

Carina Adores is home to highly romantic contemporary love stories featuring beloved romance tropes, where LGBTQ+ characters find their happily-ever-afters.

A new Carina Adores title is available each month:

The Hideaway Inn by Philip William Stover (available May 26, 2020)
Just Like That by Cole McCade (available June 30, 2020)
Hairpin Curves by Elia Winters (available July 28, 2020)
Better Than People by Roan Parrish (available August 25, 2020)
Full Moon in Leo by Brooklyn Ray (available September 29, 2020)
If You Can’t Stand the Heat by KD Fisher (available October 27, 2020)
Just Like Us by Cole McCade (available November 24, 2020)

Buy Links

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About the Author

Chelsea M. Cameron is a New York Times, USA Today and internationally bestselling author from Maine who now lives and works in Boston. She’s a red velvet cake enthusiast, obsessive tea drinker, vegetarian, former cheerleader, and world’s worst video gamer. When not writing, she enjoys watching infomercials, tweeting, and playing fetch with her cat, Sassenach. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Maine, Orono that she promptly abandoned to write about the people in her own head. More often than not, these people turn out to be just as weird as she is. Visit her at www.chelseamcameron.com.