What do you think?
Rate this book
The Arden Road
She built a quiet life on a farm in rural Indiana. She just didn't know someone was already looking to destroy it.
When Molly James arrives in Follett Township, she isn't using her real name. She chooses the farm for reasons she can't say it can't be seen from the road, the previous owner had a thing for fencing, and she needs to disappear. She names it The Arden Road and begins, carefully, to build something that looks like a French Angora rabbits, a pair of horses, a black Lab named Stella, and a spinning wheel turning in the evenings while the fire burns low.
But someone has been walking her fence line. And someone has been cutting it.
Jack Gibson, the newly appointed mayor of Follett, has his own quieter a predecessor who died in February with a secret on his legal pad, a sheriff who is rarely reachable, and a series of strange incidents accumulating in a town that runs mostly on goodwill and one retired schoolteacher's information network. When he finally drives out to introduce himself to the woman at the old Cooper farm, he doesn't find what he expects. She is guarded, self-sufficient, and not looking for anything here.
He can't stop thinking about her anyway.
What follows is an intensely charged slow burn between two people with reasons to be careful. When a Christmas Eve blizzard traps them together on the farm, slow becomes something else entirely. But Molly's secrets didn't stay buried on their own, and whatever is circling the property wants her found. Keeping her heart hidden from Jack may be the least of her problems.
For readers of Nora Roberts, Kristen Ashley, and Denise Grover Swank - a deeply satisfying romance with genuine danger and serious heat.
When Molly James arrives in Follett Township, she isn't using her real name. She chooses the farm for reasons she can't say it can't be seen from the road, the previous owner had a thing for fencing, and she needs to disappear. She names it The Arden Road and begins, carefully, to build something that looks like a French Angora rabbits, a pair of horses, a black Lab named Stella, and a spinning wheel turning in the evenings while the fire burns low.
But someone has been walking her fence line. And someone has been cutting it.
Jack Gibson, the newly appointed mayor of Follett, has his own quieter a predecessor who died in February with a secret on his legal pad, a sheriff who is rarely reachable, and a series of strange incidents accumulating in a town that runs mostly on goodwill and one retired schoolteacher's information network. When he finally drives out to introduce himself to the woman at the old Cooper farm, he doesn't find what he expects. She is guarded, self-sufficient, and not looking for anything here.
He can't stop thinking about her anyway.
What follows is an intensely charged slow burn between two people with reasons to be careful. When a Christmas Eve blizzard traps them together on the farm, slow becomes something else entirely. But Molly's secrets didn't stay buried on their own, and whatever is circling the property wants her found. Keeping her heart hidden from Jack may be the least of her problems.
For readers of Nora Roberts, Kristen Ashley, and Denise Grover Swank - a deeply satisfying romance with genuine danger and serious heat.
203 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 1, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
June 13, 2026
Let's start with things I liked:
• I liked story that was part mystery, part drama and part romance.
• I liked mystery about Molly, Jack's character, small town vibe and rabbits of course. Jack's family was interesting too and it worked well within the story.
• Mystery part was well executed and as tension in the story rised, I felt intrigued by who was really the culprit. Romance part felt natural and characters development felt natural too. There was a good progress and first half of the book gave it enough pages to fully develop it.
Things I didn't like:
• First half of the book worked better than second and I felt like ending was a little bit rushed. I think if book had a little more pages, story would have enough place to gave satisfied ending and tying all the loose ends.
• It is my first meeting with author's books, so it took me a while to get used to flowery, almost poetic writer's style. Then sentences grew shorted, almost clipped. While I enjoyed it in the end, I felt like in the first half of the book were a few pages where I thought those short sentences got repetitive. While it partially goes in line with Molly's secrets, there was one time (around middle of the book) when I thought it dragged the story because Molly talked, but haven't actually said anything that Jack's character understood. Like words were said, but didn't said anything, held no information inside. Then all those secrets dropped almost all in once and there was suddenly too much information.
Overall, I enjoyed reading and I liked scenery and characters. I don't usually read small town romances, so it's kinda nice to read something like that. And I enjoyed that thriller/mystery storyline more than I expected.
• I liked story that was part mystery, part drama and part romance.
• I liked mystery about Molly, Jack's character, small town vibe and rabbits of course. Jack's family was interesting too and it worked well within the story.
• Mystery part was well executed and as tension in the story rised, I felt intrigued by who was really the culprit. Romance part felt natural and characters development felt natural too. There was a good progress and first half of the book gave it enough pages to fully develop it.
Things I didn't like:
• First half of the book worked better than second and I felt like ending was a little bit rushed. I think if book had a little more pages, story would have enough place to gave satisfied ending and tying all the loose ends.
• It is my first meeting with author's books, so it took me a while to get used to flowery, almost poetic writer's style. Then sentences grew shorted, almost clipped. While I enjoyed it in the end, I felt like in the first half of the book were a few pages where I thought those short sentences got repetitive. While it partially goes in line with Molly's secrets, there was one time (around middle of the book) when I thought it dragged the story because Molly talked, but haven't actually said anything that Jack's character understood. Like words were said, but didn't said anything, held no information inside. Then all those secrets dropped almost all in once and there was suddenly too much information.
Overall, I enjoyed reading and I liked scenery and characters. I don't usually read small town romances, so it's kinda nice to read something like that. And I enjoyed that thriller/mystery storyline more than I expected.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review