Romance is Aglow in Catherine Anderson’s Mulberry Moon

Catherine Anderson returns to the picturesque and healing town of Mystic Creek, Oregon, in her latest romance, Mulberry Moon. The story of a bachelor with a heart of gold and a guarded, sensitive café owner, Mulberry Moon is the perfect addition to Anderson’s canon of sweet and easy-paced romances with a happily ever after as beautiful as the town she depicts.
Each Mystic Creek novel explores one of the Sterling brothers—previous books Silver Thaw and New Leaf saw Jeb and Barney find loves of their own, and this time, it’s Ben’s turn. After years of being successful in the rodeo—and avoiding permanent attachments by way of his constant travel—Ben has decided to make like his brothers and start a real life. The problem? He can’t find the right woman. Ben has a bit of criteria when it comes to the perfect woman: she has to be adventurous and spontaneous, but not too much, since he wants to settle down on his farm. She can’t be squicked by dirt, and has to be a fan of animals of all kinds. And, well, she has to be Sissy Sue Bentley, owner of the town café, because ever since he started noticing her a year ago, no other woman would do.

Sissy, however, has no intention of being with Ben—or any other man, for that matter. Thanks to a mysterious and tragic past, she is content with managing her café, and living a small-town life…and that definitely does not include getting her heart broken by rodeo bachelor Ben Sterling. But when a minor crisis involving eighty-eight escaped chickens brings Ben and Sissy together—and the days that follow continue to prove how reliable, steadfast, and helpful Ben can be…and how spontaneous, animal-loving, and caring Sissy is…it seems inevitable that these two will fall in love.

One of Anderson’s trademarks of the Mystic Creek series is the exploration of the setting—the women have escaped trauma to find peace and serenity in nature, which Sissy certainly does. But she also finds peace and serenity in Ben, who saves her from many a snafu (if you’re a fan of damsel-in-distress romances, this will definitely be a favorite!), and in whom she decides to confide her deepest, darkest secret. By the time Ben and Sissy have confessed their love to one another, however, this secret past comes to Mystic Creek to roost. They will need to unite against an unforeseen threat before they can claim the happiness and love they both deserve.
A heartwarming, slow-burn romance that will warm up your winter nights.
Mulberry Moon is on B&N bookshelves now.