Quiet progress in Sugar Creek
Jan 13, 2026 2:16 pm
Hi ,
I wanted to share a small update from my writing desk—and a quiet moment that’s been staying with me this week.
Sara and JD’s story is continuing to take shape, and it’s been one of those rare stretches where everything feels steady instead of rushed. Their journey is settling into place in a way that makes me excited to keep going, and it’s a reminder of why I love telling their story so much.
Outside of writing, I’ve been soaking up the peace of winter walks, even in January. There’s something just as beautiful about a forest of bare branches as there is in summer—sticks and silence, resting and waiting. Everything looks still, but it’s only gathering what it needs before spring sends life rushing back through every trunk and limb.
A Sugar Creek Moment
The café smells like espresso and wool coats drying by the door. Boots line the entryway, and conversation hums low and easy. Hands wrap around mugs, warming fingers and hearts. Outside, snow keeps falling, but in here, time pauses, warmth lingers, and nobody is in a hurry to leave.
I hope your week holds a moment of calm—whether that’s a walk outside, a good book at night, or simply a pause in the middle of a busy day.
Keep chasing your happily ever after,
River
Book Shares
A cruise should’ve been their honeymoon.
Rachelle Stewart has spent the last year working through her Breakup Bucket list, something her roommates helped her create to get over her ex-fiancé, Landon Higgins. The cruise she won is going to be the crowning achievement of her list, but she can’t seem to get rid of Landon when he shows up as a passenger. Luck is on Landon’s side when he finds out he’ll get uninterrupted time with his ex-fiance. He ruined things a year ago and getting her back is a long shot. But seeing the changes in her gives him the sliver of hope that they might forgive and forget. As the truth is revealed, will she trust him after all they’ve gone through apart? Or will they leave the ship and go their separate ways?
She’s sunshine and spontaneity. He’s grumpy and prefers trees to people. Too bad she keeps getting lost in his woods.
Children’s book author Daisy Harper comes to Mountain Laurel Lodge for inspiration—but with zero survival skills and a chaos-loving Yorkie, she keeps needing rescue. Enter Rowan Callahan, the brooding groundskeeper who prefers solitude and definitely didn’t sign up to babysit a city girl. She’s all sunshine, he’s all walls, and one misty mountain evening changes everything. The only problem? Daisy has a life waiting back home… and Rowan has learned not to believe anyone ever stays.
She came to blend in. He showed her how to shine.
Sophisticated candle maker Vivian Wells came to snowy Cedar Pines to disappear, not belong. But when the town’s beloved Christmas Eve candlelight vigil is threatened, she volunteers to handcraft three hundred candles—an ambitious task that cracks her careful solitude. Enter Noah Daniels, the town veterinarian with a healer’s heart and a gentle persistence she didn’t expect. As Christmas approaches, sparks fly, walls weaken, and Vivian must decide whether to retreat into anonymity… or step into the warmth of love and belonging.