Romantic Women's Fiction

Date Published: June 9, 2025

Love can make even the most fragile person bloom.

Misty Owen escapes Florida and comes home to Lilac Lake following a disastrous relationship with an emotionally and physically abusive man. David Graham runs a landscaping business with his father and has created a memorial park in town for his sister who died in cancer. Kind, gentle, he is the sort of man Misty can’t help being attracted to. But until she heals from her past, how can she move forward? She knows it’s going to take someone like David to help her, but he’s content to be just friends. When gifts of flowers start to arrive with more than friendship, Misty discovers that sometimes love blooms in the sweetest ways possible.

A spinoff book from the Lilac Lake Inn series, a sweet second-chance, small-town romance. Another of Judith Keim’s books with strong women facing challenges and finding love and happiness along the way.

Excerpt

Misty Owens sat with several of her friends at the table usually reserved for locals in Jake’s Bar and Grill on Main Street in Lilac Lake, New Hampshire. She was pleased to have their company. Since moving back to her small hometown following a disastrous relationship with an emotionally and physically abusive man who still troubled her dreams, she needed to feel connected to good people who truly cared about one another.

Of all the men who sat at the table that evening, she was attracted to David Graham, who owned a successful landscaping business with his father. Gentle, kind, and handsome, he was everything she wanted in a man if only she could get through her past issues.

She warmed under David’s friendly smile and knew he was interested in her. But how would she ever be able to explain to him what had gone on in the past and how it had affected her? Many in town had seen her bruises and heard her tale of running away from her apartment in Florida to the safety of her home. But not many knew she still struggled with the aftermath of Vince Tucci’s abuse of her. That was an issue that would take time to get over as would learning to trust a man again.

As Misty munched on her chicken Caesar salad, she studied the men and women sitting around her and listened as they caught up with one another’s daily activities. She glanced at her sister, Crystal, who’d recently sold the Lilac Lake Café to a couple of Melissa Hendrickson’s friends from Boston. As the town was growing and members of their group were pairing off, many changes were taking place.

Tomorrow, she’d move into the cabin she’d rented by the river flowing outside of town. It was the beginning of a whole new life. A happy one, she hoped.

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About the Author

Judith Keim, A USA Today Best-Selling Author, is a hybrid author who both has a publisher and self-publishes. Ms. Keim writes heart-warming novels about women who face unexpected challenges, meet them with strength, and find love and happiness along the way, stories with heart. Her best-selling books are based, in part, on many of the places she's lived or visited and on the interesting people she's met, creating believable characters and realistic settings her many loyal readers love.

She enjoyed her childhood and young-adult years in Elmira, New York, and now makes her home in Boise, Idaho, with her husband and their adorable dachshund, Wally, and other members of her family.

While growing up, she loved the idea of writing stories from a young age. Books were always present, being read, ready to go back to the library, or about to be discovered. All in her family shared information from the books in general conversation, giving them a wealth of knowledge and vivid imaginations.

Ms. Keim loves to hear from her readers and appreciates their enthusiasm for her stories.

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