{"id":793,"date":"2019-01-18T01:09:37","date_gmt":"2019-01-18T01:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/?page_id=793"},"modified":"2026-05-22T07:39:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T07:39:18","slug":"a-year-in-paradise","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/books\/a-year-in-paradise\/","title":{"rendered":"A Year In Paradise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome to Paradise Valley, where the locals thrive on the rural landscape, the quirky Oregonian living, and the history of the lesbian commune that founded it. 

Mixing small town attitudes with lesbian dating? Sounds like another day in Paradise.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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JANUARY EMBERS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\nCity girl Mikaiya “Mik” Marcott returns to her hometown to help her ailing grandmother. But who does she see first when she’s barely reached the city limits? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ariana Mura, the girl whose heart she broke ten years ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only Ari isn’t a “girl” anymore. She’s a grown woman who doesn’t take crud from anyone. The lanky Ariana with a flower crown in her long hair is now the big and tough Ari, Paradise Valley’s strongest EMT and all-around “native gal” the other townsfolk are prepared to defend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Locking eyes with her serves a grim reminder to Mik that coming home isn’t always a small-town parade. It reminds them both of the worst night of their lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a small town, these two former lovebirds will never avoid one another. Do they make peace with their tumultuous past? Or do they acknowledge the embers of love that still simmer in their heartbroken shells? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who will stoke the fires first?\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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FEBRUARY KISSES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\nHeaven\u2019s Cafe is the social epicenter of Paradise Valley, but Heaven Mossberg doesn\u2019t have much of a social life to show for it. Between the demanding small business life and dealing with her ex-husband\u2019s pleas to get back together, there isn\u2019t a lot of time for one thirty-year-old to kick back and chill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter Salama Amari, one of the more recent newcomers to Paradise Valley. Author, blogger, and online columnist Salama spends her days typing away in Heaven\u2019s Cafe, partly because it\u2019s the only place to get a decent cup of decaf\u2026 and because she can\u2019t stop staring at the woman who seems to have her whole life figured out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salama wants to be more like the loud and confident Heaven. Heaven wants someone who will bring her back down to Earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When are they finally going to lock eyes from across the cafe? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might be sooner than they imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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MARCH MADNESS<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joan and Lorri have been partners for years, but their mission to have a baby has placed a damper on their love. After the most recent miscarriage, the couple has begun questioning their relationship. 

Yet Joan’s dreams of having the family she always wanted won’t end because of some heartbreak. Yet as she regroups and prepares to try again, she comes up against an obstacle she least expected. 

Lorri. The partner who refuses to explain why she feels sick to her stomach. 

Joan doesn’t know the whole story about Lorri’s upbringing. Lorri would rather drown herself in college basketball tournaments than talk about her issues. It will take the advice of some trusted locals and one bad night to potentially save these two weary souls. 

Will the madness finally end?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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APRIL STARS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hollywood B-list actress Fleur Ros\u00e9 desperately needs a break from her hectic schedule. When she sees her chance to make a break for it, she drives as far as Paradise Valley, with the media (and her manager) hot on her heels.

Cue Jalen Stonehill, stage right. One of the county\u2019s busiest plumbers happens to be in the right place, right time when she crosses Fleur\u2019s path and is sucked into her glitzy world of tabloid fodder and social media wannabes. All Jalen wanted was a hot dog for lunch\u2026

Instead, she gets a famous girlfriend!

Paradise Valley is about to get its first real whiff of fame when Hollywood shows up on their doorstep, ready to explain away Fleur\u2019s presence in their very gay town. Good thing her manager has a story at the ready. All they need is Jalen\u2019s cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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MAY FLOWERS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If anybody deserves a break, it\u2019s Hesper Chess, the only registered CPA within fifteen miles of Paradise Valley. Once tax season is over, she dreams of nothing but mai tais and sandy beaches. Too bad she knows a lot about personal finance, and can\u2019t bring herself to spend the money!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But before she can rest on her laurels, she hears a cry from one of the town\u2019s many business owners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Florist Meadow Hobfield is being audited. She needs help. A lot of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These two townspeople who have never shared many conversations are now about to spend a lot of time together. So much so that Hesper will learn the truth behind Meadow\u2019s love for flowers and Meadow will crack the code behind Hesper\u2019s coarse personality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This month will take a turn in ways they never imagined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s hoping they learn to survive it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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JUNE BRIDE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doctor Brandelyn \u201cBrandy\u201d Meyer has dreamed of the picture-perfect wedding since she was a little girl. Now that fiancee Sunny Croker is ready to tie the knot? All hell breaks loose as Dr. Bridezilla is unleashed, and she has a few victims in sight!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunny is the embodiment of her name, with her blond hair and genial disposition. Yet even the owner of Paradise Valley\u2019s biggest B&B can\u2019t keep her cool when Brandy\u2019s vision overwrites who Sunny really is. Their previously unbreakable bond goes up against the ultimate test!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paradise Valley\u2019s wedding of the year will be the only thing residents talk about for months. But will it be the impeccable flowers and sweet vows they discuss over coffee at Heaven’s Cafe? Or how a certain someone was left at the altar? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s only one way to find out. Check it out in the halfway mark of A YEAR IN PARADISE, which shits gears to a whole new storyline!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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JULY SKIES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody loves Paradise Valley more than Mayor Karen Rath, a woman who works tirelessly to keep the town\u2019s cogs turning and the people content. This doesn\u2019t leave much time for love and dating, but the single mom of two grown kids has better things to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until a stranger comes to town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dahlia Granger of Hibiscus Films is on a mission. Ever since Paradise Valley hit the national news, Dahlia is compelled to create a documentary exploring the history and culture of a town founded by lesbians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She may have an agenda. Just a tiny one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karen and Dahlia represent two very different sides of this film, but their attraction is undeniable. Can Dahlia peel back Karen\u2019s veneer and reveal her true self? Or will Karen have to kick Dahlia out of her town first?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assuming the townsfolk don\u2019t get to Dahlia first, anyway\u2026\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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AUGUST HEAT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firefighter Krys Madison is used to the single life. Although a womanizer, she\u2019s been experiencing a dry spell for the past\u2026 year.

She doesn\u2019t realize what\u2019s missing until she discovers a litter of kittens after a barn fire. The only one who can help is rural veterinarian Siobhan O\u2019Connor, a reclusive woman who prefers a life of solitude – and doesn\u2019t need someone like Krys causing trouble in her life.

Too bad Krys is instantly smitten with the redheaded beauty. Too bad Siobhan doesn\u2019t think she\u2019s too bad, either!

But it will take a lot of healing for Siobhan to finally move on from the breakup that still haunts her heart. Someone like Krys? Her heat may start fires Siobhan never asks to have extinguished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SEPTEMBER LESSONS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the first day of senior year in a new school, Alabaman transplant Carrie Sage meets the girl of her lesbian dreams.

Too bad the mayor\u2019s daughter is a bit too straight to go for a troublemaking Southerner like Carrie.

Enter Leigh-Ann Hardy, the only girl in Clark High School who knows a thing or two about the girl Carrie crushes after like it\u2019s Valentine\u2019s Day. After all, Leigh-Ann and the mayor\u2019s daughter used to be best friends!

While Carrie navigates life in a brand-new place that automatically labels her more trouble than she\u2019s worth, Leigh-Ann faces a truth she\u2019s been suppressing her whole life in Paradise Valley.

She might be a little bit gay. It only took the new girl to make her see that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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OCTOBER TWILIGHT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life as a small-town housewife is usually what Sally Greenhill needs. With four kids and a busy wife to keep her preoccupied, she\u2019s got more than enough to do from sunrise to sunset – at all times of year. It’s a miracle she hasn’t had a mid-life crisis yet.

But as Deputy Candace Greenhill becomes bogged down in an arsonist investigation, Sally begins to suspect that the ring of flaming rebels might be closer than any of them foresaw. These suspicions are doubly compounded when their oldest child, Tucker, becomes involved with an online website that Sally doesn’t fully understand.

With Halloween right around the corner, both Sally and Candace are too busy to keep an eye on the precocious son with an eye for adventure\u2026 and trouble. It’s going to take a lot of parenting tenacity and a keen understanding of one another to keep people sleeping safe in Paradise Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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NOVEMBER RAINS <\/strong><\/p>\n

Frankie Delacour has everything she could possibly want in life: a steady business, a supportive family, and townsfolk who don’t give her too much flack.<\/p>\n

All right, so she doesn\u2019t have a girlfriend, let alone a wife. She swears she can live without one. She’s too busy minding her little brother and her deli, anyway.<\/p>\n

But one of her online friends is talking more and more about finally meeting in real life. In fact, Z, aka Elaine Hadley of the teashop Tea & Thyme has been wanting to meet for years, but Frankie can\u2019t bring herself to consent.<\/p>\n

She hasn\u2019t told Elaine a few things. Such as who she actually is.<\/p>\n

Some things are left best on the internet. Like the endless possibilities of a girlfriend maybe, someday. Not that Frankie is getting her hopes up or anything.<\/p>\n

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DECEMBER WISHES<\/b><\/p>\n

In the final installment of A YEAR IN PARADISE, we fly through town and catch up with every couple to grace the page so far. But while Christmas shopping and holiday parties light up the windows, one lonely resident comes to the unfortunate conclusion that Paradise Valley might not be for her.<\/p>\n

Skylar Kersten originally moved to town with friend Mikaiya a year ago. Yet what Skylar quickly realized was that one could not simply pack up her bags and leave her worries behind. Paradise Valley is a small, claustrophobic town. It\u2019s hard to make friends. It\u2019s even harder to face one\u2019s chronic singledom when happy couples grace every sidewalk.<\/p>\n

While Skylar comes to terms with what she wants from life, the rest of Paradise Valley\u2019s citizens rejoice in their strengthened bonds with one another. As the new decade approaches, one thing\u2019s for sure.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been an eventful year in Paradise Valley.<\/p>\n

AMAZON<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Paradise Valley, where the locals thrive on the rural landscape, the quirky Oregonian living, and the history of the lesbian commune that founded it.  Mixing small town attitudes with lesbian dating? Sounds like another day in Paradise. JANUARY EMBERS City girl Mikaiya “Mik” Marcott returns to her hometown to help her ailing grandmother…. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":511,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-793","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PaRtqI-cN","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1930,"href":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/793\/revisions\/1930"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hildred-billings.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}