Author Colleen Coble is my first reader and sister of my heart. Thank you, friend! This writing journey has been ever so much more fun because of you.
I’m grateful to my agent, Karen Solem, who’s able to somehow make sense of the legal garble of contracts and, even more amazing, help me understand it.
To my husband, Kevin, who has supported my dreams in every way possible—I’m so grateful! To all our kiddos: Chad, Trevor and Babette, and Justin and Hannah, who have favored us with two beautiful granddaughters. Every stage of parenthood has been a grand adventure, and I look forward to all the wonderful memories we have yet to make!
A hearty thank you to all the booksellers who make room on their shelves for my books—I’m deeply indebted! And to all the book bloggers and reviewers, whose passion for fiction is contagious—thank you!
Lastly, thank you, friends, for letting me share this story with you! I wouldn’t be doing this without you. Your notes, posts, and reviews keep me going on the days when writing doesn’t flow so easily. I appreciate your support more than you know.
I enjoy connecting with friends on my Facebook page, @authordenisehunter. Please pop over and say hello. You can also visit my website DeniseHunterBooks.com or drop me a note at deniseahunter@comcast.net. I’d love to hear from you!
Pining for You
Where else could I start, but with everyone at Thomas Nelson? From the amazing efforts of the sales team to gorgeous designs of my cover designer, I am appreciative of you all every single day. Special hugs and cheers to: Kim Carlton, Jocelyn Bailey, Kerri Potts, Amanda Bostic, Becky Monds, Nekasha Pratt, Matt Bray, Marcee Wardell, Savannah Summers, Laura Wheeler, Jodi Hughes, and Margaret Kercher.
Special thanks to Kim Carlton: supremely intelligent, witty, insightful, and an overall joy and balm to the soul to be around. I love our little lunches that surprise us both by turning into something more—like this!
To Erin Healy for your perennial wisdom that continues to grow me into the writer I want to be. I love working with you.
To Halie Cotton, thank you for making the cutest cover for this collection!
To Nathaniel Pellman of Swinging Bridge Farm, thank you for answering all my questions about Christmas tree farms.
To Ashley Hayes, dear friend and marketing genius. You get zero points for the actual writing of this book, but you get approximately 1,000 points for keeping me sane. Where would I ever be without you? Why would I even need a phone if I didn’t have you and our FaceTimes?
To Christine Berg, for always reading my books and brainstorming with me . . . even when my books are far from ready to be seen by anyone.
To Kimberly Whalen, agent extraordinaire! Thank you for always being so open and available and encouraging; it means a lot to me.
To the ACFW community, fellow Thomas Nelson authors, and dear writer friends. I love growing together.
To my patient husband, for all those nights you put the kids to bed so I could work, for all the times you read my drafts, and the thousands (millions?) of hours you’ve listened to me talk through my books. I love all our memories riding the Creeper Trail in this town, camping on Whitetop Mountain, and that one notable Sunday we accidentally walked 17 miles up the trail with nothing but $2 for a Pepsi and a candy bar. I love you and our never-ending adventures.
To The Martha Washington Inn, The Barter Theatre, and the incredible areas of Whitetop, Damascus and Abingdon I’ve been privileged to enjoy as a Bristolian all these years. Thank you for being the most Hallmark-worthy communities in all creation. You are a world of inspiration, and I can’t wait to show readers our wonderful town through this book and my other rom/com, The Cul-de-Sac War!
To those bookstagrammers and bloggers who have shared my books in the most gorgeous of ways.
To my Creator. This book was about mistakes and forgiveness, and I’m so thankful you are quick to forgive all of ours.
And thanks to every single reader who encourages me on social media, replies to my newsletter emails, shares my books, writes reviews, tells your book clubs, and just makes me feel like I’m part of a cozy community. I appreciate everything you do more than I can say.
He Loves Me; He Loves Me Not
A big thank you to my editors, Kimberly Carlton and Jodi Hughes for their expert help and guidance as I wrote Sophie and Joe’s story, and as always thank you to my agent, Natasha Kern, for her amazing support. Everything I know about golf (which isn’t much!) is due to my husband, James. Thanks for showing me how to drive a golf ball. Next time we’ll work on our putting. ☺
About the Authors
Denise Hunter
Photo by Neal Bruns
Denise Hunter is the internationally published bestselling author of more than thirty books, three of which have been adapted into original Hallmark Channel movies. She has won the Holt Medallion Award, the Reader’s Choice Award, the Carol Award, and the Foreword Book of the Year Award and is a RITA finalist. When Denise isn’t orchestrating love lives on the written page, she enjoys traveling with her family, drinking good coffee, and playing drums. Denise makes her home in Indiana, where she and her husband are currently enjoying an empty nest.
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Visit Denise online at DeniseHunterBooks.com
Instagram: @deniseahunter
Facebook: @authordenisehunter
Twitter: @DeniseAHunter
Melissa Ferguson
Taylor Meo Photography
Melissa Ferguson lives in Bristol, Tennessee, where she enjoys chasing her children and writing romantic comedies full of humor and heart. Her favorite hobby is taking friends and acquaintances and turning them into characters in her books without their knowledge. She is confident you should read all her novels, starting with this one.
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Connect with Melissa (and prepare for the possibility of becoming her next character) at:
MelissaFerguson.com
Instagram: @melissafergusonwrites
TikTok: @melissafergusonlife
Facebook: @MelissaLeighFerguson
Kathleen Fuller
Photo by Kathleen Fuller
With over a million copies of her books sold, Kathleen Fuller is the author of several bestselling novels, including the Hearts of Middlefield novels, the Middlefield Family novels, the Amish of Birch Creek series, and the Amish Letters series as well as a middle-grade Amish series, the Mysteries of Middlefield.
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Visit Kathleen online at KathleenFuller.com
Instagram: @kf_booksandhooks
Facebook: @WriterKathleenFuller
Twitter: @TheKatJam
Other Books by the Authors
Denise Hunter
The Bluebell Inn Novels
Lake Season
Carolina Breeze
Autumn Skies
The Blue Ridge Novels
Blue Ridge Sunrise
On Magnolia Lane
The Summer Harbor Novels
Falling Like Snowflakes
The Goodbye Bride
Just a Kiss
The Chapel Springs Romance Series
Barefoot Summer
A December Bride (novella)
Dancing with Fireflies
The Wishing Season
Married ’til Monday
The Big Sky Romance Series
A Cowboy’s Touch
The Accidental Bride
The Trouble with Cowboys
Nantucket Love Stories
Surrender Bay
The Convenient Groom
Seaside Letters
Driftwood Lane
Stand-Alone Novels
Bookshop by the Sea (Available April 2021!)
Summer by the Tides
Sweetbriar Cottage
Sweetwater Gap
Novellas included in Smitten, Secretly Smitten, and Smitten Book Club
Melissa Ferguson
The Cul-de-Sac War
The Dating Charade
Kathleen Fuller
The Maple Falls Romance Series
Hooked on You
Much Ado About a Latte (Available January 2022!)
Copyright
This Time Around
A Summer Detour Copyright © 2021 Denise Hunter
Pining for You Copyright © 2021 Melissa Ferguson
He Loves Me; He Loves Me Not Copyright © 2021 Kathleen Fuller
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.
Thomas Nelson titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please email SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.
Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the authors’ imaginations or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hunter, Denise, 1968- Summer detour. | Ferguson, Melissa (Assistant professor), Pining for you. | Fuller, Kathleen, He love me; he loves me not.
Title: This time around / Denise Hunter, Melissa Ferguson, Kathleen Fuller.
Description: Nashville, Tennessee : Thomas Nelson, [2021] | Summary: "From three beloved romance authors come sweet and light stories perfect for lovers of Hallmark movies"-- Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020056699 (print) | LCCN 2020056700 (ebook) | ISBN 9780785248767 (paperback) | ISBN 9780785248774 (epub) | ISBN 9780785248798
Subjects: LCSH: Romance fiction, American. | Christian fiction, American.
Classification: LCC PS648.L6 T463 2021 (print) | LCC PS648.L6 (ebook) | DDC 813/.08508--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020056699
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020056700