Böcker av Laurie Beach

She doesn't need gifts under the tree this holiday season. What she longs for is a second chance.Emma Shea Abernathy is fully aware of her social role: marry well, live extravagantly, and, most of all, exhibit perfection. And it started with saying "I do" to future governor Trent Broadway.With her carefully crafted life in full swing, she knows she's made a big mistake. Leaving it all behind, she hides out at her great-grandmother's beach house in Crickley Creek. There, she discovers a secret room containing a well-preserved 1920s Prohibition speakeasy-and some surprising information about the women in her family. This leads to a new plan: to become a woman who acts contrary to what is expected. In other words, a Firefly Girl.The problem is, no one else embraces her change of heart, especially her first love, Scruggs Willingham III. He still refuses to forgive her for marrying someone else. Despite the olive branches she extends throughout Crickley Creek, it appears she'll spend Christmas alone.Until a rare Christmas snow brings the one miracle she needs: the freedom to accept herself.

She's determined for her rags to riches story to have a fairy tale happy ending.Krista Hassell might be a member of the poorest, least respected family in Crickley Creek, South Carolina, but she believes deep in her soul that character counts. She's finally curated the perfect plan-and boyfriend-that, together, will save her societal standing and rewrite her future. That is, until a family tragedy strikes and her mother goes off the rails...again. If only Krista could show her community who she really is beyond her old, crumbling shack on the marsh, she could find the inner peace she yearns for.Army veteran Johnny Merrick came to Crickley Creek for a wedding and decided to extend his stay in the quaint town, renting the small house next door to Krista for the summer. As their friendship grows, Krista is forced to rethink the very relationships her plan needs to succeed-and yet it might be exactly what she needs to fully embrace what fills her soul most: the marsh she's trying to escape.But only if she makes her move before the fireflies disappear for the season...

Welcome to Crickley Creek, where dreams are encouraged-as long as they fit within the proper rules of etiquette.Sweet Charlotte Sinclair has no idea that "bless your heart" is the same as "screw you"-and she's about to find out the hard way. After her mother's death, Charlotte moved from free-wheeling California to her mother's tiny hometown in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, longing to feel closer to her and searching for closure.Charlotte loves her status as a popular coffee shop owner and is enjoying her budding romance with local hero Will Rushton more than she'd like to admit. So why is she still struggling to find acceptance within the Crickley Creek community? There's a secret nestled among the plantation homes and Spanish moss-covered oaks-a truth her mother's arch rival will do anything to hide.And if Charlotte doesn't learn how to overcome the damage some well-placed gossip can do to her reputation, she might lose everything, including her rose-colored memories of her mother. But is it possible for an outsider to belong in the deep South and still remain true to her own roots?