New England Love Stories- 4 new releases

Abide with Me (M)
by Sabin Willett

"A small-town bad boy, forged into a man in the fires of Afghanistan, returns home, still burning with a romantic obsession nothing can quench. As the fog lifts one morning, a lone soldier is walking home. Who is he? The sleepy, gossipy town of Hoosick Bridge, Vermont, has forgotten him, but it will soon remember. He is Roy Murphy, returning to face his violent, complicated reputation. Returning to Emma Herrick, descendant of Hoosick Bridge's first family, who occupies its grandest, now decaying, house: the Heights. Their intense and unlikely adolescent romance provided scandalous gossip for the town. The young lovers escaped Hoosick Bridge, but Emma remained Roy's obsession long after they parted. Now Roy returns from Afghanistan a changed and extraordinary man who will stop at nothing to obtain a piece of the Herricks' legacy..." - publisher

Margaret from Maine: a novel (M)
by Joseph Monninger

"Brought together by war, separated by duty, a love story for the ages. Margaret Kennedy lives on a dairy farm in rural Maine. Her husband Thomas - injured in a war overseas - will never be the man he was. When the President signs a bill in support of wounded veterans, Margaret is invited to the nation's capital. Charlie King, a handsome Foreign Service officer, volunteers to escort her. As the rhododendron blossoms along the Blue Ridge Highway, the unlikely pair fall in love - but Margaret cannot ignore the tug of her marriage vows. Joseph Monninger's 'Margaret from Maine' is a page-turning romance that poignantly explores the dilemmas faced by those who serve our country - and the men and women who love them." - publisher

The One-way Bridge : a novel (M)
by Cathie Pelletier

"Welcome to Mattagash, the last town in the middle of the northern Maine wilderness. The road dead-ends here, but Mattagash's citizens are fiercely proud. Yet this simple town connected by a single one-way bridge is anything but tranquil. While neighbors bicker publicly over trivialities such as offensive mailbox designs and gossip about suspicious newcomers, they privately struggle to navigate deeper issues - scandals, loss, failed ambitions, the scars of war...and a mysterious dead body in the woods. With her trademark wit and keen eye for detail, Pelletier has assembled an unforgettable cast of endearing and eccentric characters, from scheming mailmen and peeping toms to lovesick waitresses and loggers whose underhandedness belies their ingenuity. The citizens of Mattagash will make you laugh and cheer for them as they stumble into one another's lives and strive to define themselves in a changing world that threatens to leave them behind. The One-Way Bridge is an extraordinary portrait of family, loneliness, and community - and the kinds of compromises we all make in the name of love." - publisher

Twelve Across (M)
by Barbara Delinsky

"Leah Gates makes up crossword puzzles for a living - a nice, tame occupation in a safe urbane setting. Now knee-deep mud, facing lashing rain and a burned-down cabin, what was her friend Victoria thinking of, sending her up here to the wilds of New Hampshire? Meanwhile, woodsman Garrick Rodenheiser was stunned and wary when Leah turned up shivering on his porch, knowing it meant trouble for him. But he couldn't slam the door in her face . . . or shut out the storm of feeling that raged between them." - publisher