This week I am again on the west coast with a Reading Road Trip to Oregon. I really, really want to go to Oregon, and soon. My two must-sees? Sea stacks and Powell’s Books. 😉 I’m afraid that this bucket list destination is on hold, so in the meantime I content myself with reading books set in our 33rd state, and following author Lori Benton on Instagram. Oregon’s geographic diversity — coast line and rivers, dense forest and high deserts — provides ample opportunities for photo shoots. Lori posts absolutely beautiful photographs. If you don’t follow her, definitely check her out.
Here are a few books that I have read with an Oregon setting. Not only did they capture the beautiful setting, they were great stories! Hope you find one to love.
Harbor Secrets by Melody Carlson (Legacy of Sunset Cove, book 1)
A Peaceful Coastal Town . . . Threatened by a Storm of Secrets
It’s 1916 when newspaper woman Anna McDowell learns her estranged father has suffered a stroke. Deciding it’s time to repair bridges, Anna packs up her precocious adolescent daughter and heads for her hometown in Sunset Cove, Oregon.
Although much has changed since the turn of the century, some things haven’t. Anna finds the staff of her father’s paper not exactly eager to welcome a woman into the editor-in-chief role, but her father insists he wants her at the helm. Anna is quickly pulled into the charming town and her new position…but just as quickly learns this seaside getaway harbors some dark and dangerous secrets.
With Oregon’s new statewide prohibition in effect, crime has crept along the seacoast and invaded even idyllic Sunset Cove. Anna only meant to get to know her father again over the summer, but instead she finds herself rooting out the biggest story the town has ever seen — and trying to keep her daughter safe from it all.
River’s Song (The Inn at Shining Waters, book 1)
Sometimes when we look back, we are able to see ahead
Following her mother’s funeral, and on the verge of her own midlife crisis, widow Anna Larson returns to the home of her youth to sort out her parents’ belongings, as well as her own turbulent life.
For the first time since childhood, Anna embraces her native heritage, despite the disdain of her vicious mother-in-law.
By transforming her old family home on the banks of the Siuslaw River into The Inn at Shining Waters, Anna hopes to create a place of healing — a place where guests experience peace, grace, and new beginnings. Starting with her own family . . .
Hope Harbor by Irene Hannon (Hope Harbor series, book 1)
Tracy Campbell never wanted to leave Hope Harbor, Oregon, or the idyllic three-generation cranberry farm where she grew up. But life–and love–altered her plans. When tragedy strikes and changes her plans yet again, she finds herself back in her hometown with a floundering farm to run and a heartbreaking secret. Romance is not on her agenda. Nor is it on Michael Hunter’s. The visitor from Chicago has daunting secrets of his own. But when Tracy recruits him to help save a struggling charitable organization, the winds of change begin to sweep through Hope Harbor, bringing healing, hope, and love to countless lives–including their own.
Fan favorite Irene Hannon brings a whole new cast of characters to life in a charming Oregon seaside village. Emotional and heartwarming, this story invites readers to come home to Hope Harbor, where love and hope bloom — and hearts heal.
Shattered Justice by Karen Ball (Family Honor series, book 1)
There’s no way sheriff’s deputy Dan Justice could have prepared for this. He spent a lifetime ensuring his actions and faith live up to the meaning of his name — Avidan: “God is just.” Then injustice invades his world, ripping away what matters most, forever robbing him of the life he once knew. Can his sisters and small-town community — especially one woman who loves Dan—help him overcome the horrors he’s facing? Or will bitterness and anger shatter him forever?
What happens when justice fails the lawman?
Sanctuary, Oregon . A town where the local diner owner makes you drink your milk—no matter how old you are. Where juvenile delinquency means blowing up outhouses. Where folks not only know their neighbors, but care about them. For widowed sheriff’s deputy Dan Justice, it’s a place where he and his kids can heal and grow.
Shelby Wilson loves Sanctuary and her work with troubled teens. Like Jayce Dalton. Sure, he’s as troubled as they come, but Shelby knows Dan is exactly what Jayce needs. She just didn’t expect that Dan might be what she’s always needed, too.
But sleepy little Sanctuary has a dark side, steeped in pain and secrets. Secrets that could destroy everything Dan holds dear. Secrets that will one day have Dan groping through the fog toward a lifeless body—and faith-shattering grief.
Can Dan find sanctuary in the light of God’s justice?
Rooms by James Rubart
On a rainy spring day in Seattle, young software tycoon Micah Taylor receives a cryptic, twenty-five-year-old letter from a great uncle he never knew. It claims a home awaits him on the Oregon coast that will turn his world inside out. Suspecting a prank, Micah arrives at Cannon Beach to discover a stunning brand new nine-thousand square foot house. And after meeting Sarah Sabin at a nearby ice cream shop, he has two reasons to visit the beach every weekend.
When bizarre things start happening in the rooms of the home, Micah suspects they have some connection to his enigmatic new friend, Rick, the town mechanic. But Rick will only say the house is spiritual. This unnerves Micah because his faith slipped away like the tide years ago, and he wants to keep it that way. But as he slowly discovers, the home isn’t just spiritual, it’s a physical manifestation of his soul, which God uses to heal Micah’s darkest wounds and lead him into an astonishing new destiny.
Great list! I’ve read the Hope Harbor Series. Nice stories! Right now I’m reading, Fragments of Fear by Carrie Stuart Parks. It’s set in New Mexico.
ooh! I liked that book. I have only read a couple of books set in New Mexico — need to find more!
Yes. I agree. 🙂