The Moonshiner’s Daughter by Donna Everhart

Jessie Sasser was four years old when her Mama died, and she blames her Daddy, Easton, for it. The way she sees it, if her Daddy wasn’t obsessed with making moonshine—just like all the Sassers that came before him—her Mama might still be alive. Instead, all she has left of her is the horrifying memory of seeing her engulfed in flames. Making moonshine is in her veins, or so Easton says, and her younger brother Merritt agrees… but they’re both wrong. Jessie hates moonshine, and she’s come up with a plan to destroy all of her Daddy’s stills… not knowing her actions would lead to terrible consequences that would touch the lives of everyone closest to her.

Same Beach, Next Year by Dorothea Benton Frank

(Author Photo by Debbie Zammit)

While vacationing on the Isle of Palms, Adam and Eliza Stanley strike up a friendship with Carl and Eve Landers—something Eliza didn’t expect to happen, given that Adam and Eve were once childhood sweethearts. Despite an awkward beginning marked by Adam acting like a besotted school boy with Eve, as well as Carl’s shameless flirting with Eliza, the unlikely friends spent the next two decades vacationing together with their families. But when two of them are found in a compromising situation, the bonds of couples’ long friendship—not to mention their marriages—are tested as never before.

Bless Her Heart by Sally Kilpatrick

There were only three words in the English language that I hated with all of my being: bless, your, and heart—specifically in that order.

Every Southerner knows what it means when someone blesses your heart, so it’s no mystery why Posey Love hates hearing that phrase, especially after a lifetime of having her heart blessed by someone. But then, her life hasn’t exactly turned out the way she’d planned, either. She thought she would be a teacher, married with a couple of kids. At 32, she was married, had no children, and is a receptionist at her husband’s church, Love Ministries. She’s content with her life—for the most part—and feels completely blindsided when she discovers that not only is Chad having an affair, he’s also mismanaged their money and sold their home without telling her.

The Road to Bittersweet by Donna Everhart

After reading The Education of Dixie Dupree, I knew I’d be reading Donna Everhart’s next novel, but I didn’t expect to have the pleasure of reading her second book this year. (I’m an Outlander fan, so I’m accustomed to waiting four years-ish for a new novel from an author I love.) Needless to say, I was thrilled to see The Road to Bittersweet listed on Edelweiss, and requested it immediately.

If The Creek Don’t Rise by Leah Weiss

Life is hard in Baines Creek, an impoverished town in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. For Sadie Blue, it’s made even harder by an unplanned pregnancy that led to her marriage to Roy Tupkin—a mean-spirited moonshiner who began beating her days after their marriage. Her story of hardship is just one of many in the small town that lost hope long ago. The arrival of the new school teacher, Kate Shaw, is met with suspicion and gossip from some, but is a source of inspiration and hope for others in the town.