Bridget Pickwick Buchanan, despite her large (and at times tiresome) family, the wealthy Pickwicks of Pickwick, North Carolina, has never felt more alone. The free-wheeling, avid environmental advocate, with her head full of dreadlocks and sarcastic attitude, finds herself struggling to get through her brother’s wedding one sweltering day in late July. It’s not just the terrible dress she has to wear, but the loss of her husband, Easton Buchanan, that makes it so difficult. Her sister Bonnie is convinced that she needs to snap out of it: Easton died four years ago, and since then Bridget has refused to take off her ring, kept her hair in dreads, and slept in the guest bedroom. Even worse, Uncle Obediah, the Pickwick patriarch, is selling the family estate in order to make restitution to those the (formerly) swindling Pickwicks wronged. Bridget has to find an environmentally-friendly buyer for the estate and its acres of unblemished forest, and fast, or risk seeing it developed into something horrible.
She is intrigued by J.C. Dirk, a handsome Atlanta-based developer who has established a reputation for his “green” work, but no one in his office will return her phone calls. Bridget, never one to be overlooked, decides that if the Mountain won’t come to Mohammed…in short order she finds herself in the polished offices of Dirk Developers Inc., interrupting Mr. J.C. Dirk’s busy schedule. Initially displeased when she crashes his meeting, J.C. agrees to come look at the property when she reveals her prestigious family name. But there may be more in J.C. Dirk, and his fateful trip to the small mountain town of Pickwick, than Bridget bargains for.
An inspirational tale of one woman’s journey back to life, God, and love (saving the planet along the way, of course), this third installment in the Southern Discomfort series doesn’t disappoint!
Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.
New York City-savvy Jamie Newman has just arrived in Seaside Cove, North Carolina, to lick her wounds after her half sister steals her boyfriend. Jamie was not expecting the Waldorf Astoria, but her rental, named Paradise Lost, is dreadful. She is not sure how she will survive the summer until she meets Nick Trent, her landlord. Although the two have a rocky start, Jamie and Nick soon connect over their love of animals, the disappointment of failed relationships, and the shared peace they feel in quaint Seaside Cove. When Jamie’s demanding family begin to invade her sanctuary (and thereby defeat the purpose of her getaway), she relies on Nick to help her make peace with the changes in her life. Jamie discovers that not only do the two agree on almost everything, but also that leaving Seaside Cove to return to the Big Apple might be more difficult than she could have imagined.
Captain Pierce Montgomery, Second Lieutenant Samuel “Preach” Madison, and First Lieutenant Gray Eagle are three veterans traveling home to North Carolina after the Civil War. They cannot wait to get home to their family, the promise of peace, and the taste of sweet tea.