When Sandra Meyer's violent ex-boyfriend returns to sleepy Edgarville, Illinois, she turns to the man who stood up to Nick Benedetto years ago. If brawny Garth Benson will pose as her boyfriend on social media, maybe Nick will leave her alone. Sandra adores Garth, but she doesn't want any more ties to Edgarville. Now finished with a decade of dedicated service as her mother's caregiver, Sandra is planning her exit from this one-stoplight town.

Garth is firmly rooted in Edgarville with the family monument business and a trophy shop that will need a "mom" to his "pop." Garth has wanted Sandra ever since he slugged Nick more than ten years ago. Her secrets run deep, as do the strengths that he admires within her, but whenever he tries to move their casual flirtations from talk to dating, she backs away.

Small town life has strangled Sandra as effectively as Nick tried to before he left town. Garth might be the one man who can protect her from Nick, but what he expects in return is too much. On top of that, her deceased father's unexpected appearance in the mirror of her new home exposes long-held secrets that will change Sandra's view of her family and hometown forever.

When the last tie holding her to Edgarville is cut, Sandra runs as fast as she can, but the world outside her small-town community isn't all she expects.

THE MIRROR (Epitaph 3)

Karla Brandenburg takes readers back to Hoffman Grove with Book 4 in her series of small-town romance and a family of friends.
After spending her life manipulated and belittled by her codependent family, Kayleigh Cragin is fired by her sister from the job she’s “lucky” to have. Eager for an escape, Kayleigh attends her ten-year reunion while she plans a reboot of her life, but some things never change. Upon her return to Hoffman Grove, false friends she had back in the day indicate they are eager to repeat old patterns, until a knight in shining armor steps in to rescue her.

Rafe Martin’s family moved to the suburbs from the city after a gang-related shooting disabled his mother. Now, with the fortune he earned from his Shark Tank invention, he’s taken it upon himself to make a better life for his family, even if his family doesn’t appreciate his efforts. When he overhears people talking behind Kayleigh’s back, he rides to her rescue and volunteers to be her pretend boyfriend for her reunion weekend.

Bolstered by unexpected support from her classmates, Kayleigh chases her dream to open a ceramics studio in Hoffman Grove, an expansion of the Etsy store she’s secretly been running from her home. Riddled with self-doubt, she must find the courage to live life on her own terms, especially when old frenemies bring trouble to her doorstep.

LANDSLIDE - Sample

When you grow up believing you'll never be good enough, it's hard to break the mold. But like with ceramics, once you smooth out the rough edges and fire the clay, something beautiful emerges.

BREAKING THE MOLD - RetailAudioSample

Eighteen-year-old Brynn Taylor eagerly heads for college, ready to escape the aunt and uncle who resented being saddled with their orphaned niece. Her excitement to be on her own quickly turns to dismay when a hit-and-run accident totals her car, she discovers her aunt has stolen her college fund, and her credit card is maxed out.Stranded in a throwback Wisconsin town, Brynn meets an aunt she didn’t know she had. With nowhere else to turn, Brynn reluctantly accepts her new-found Aunt Nora’s offer for temporary room and board. Rumors abound, and Brynn fears her aunt might be a witch—and that Brynn herself might share this unexpected family legacy. Are the goods made from Nora’s garden—the ones she sells in her gift shop—more than herbal remedies and homemade bath products? Brynn finds in Nora the family she’s been missing since her parents died and allows Nora to teach her the art of alchemy passed down from one generation to the next. But past sins catch up to both Brynn and Nora, threatening their relationship and their lives.

Family Alchemy

Welcome to Whimsical Collectibles. Antiques dealer Elle Barclay is called to Horned Owl Hollow to do a valuation of a collection of figurines. While she's there, a man returns from the Bermuda Triangle after 100 years, waking the ghosts of his ancestors to help him claim his inheritance.

Horned Owl Hollow

In the second Elspeth Barclay novel, Elle has to rely on her paranormal gifts and battle with an aggressive spirit while learning to accept help from those around her, including friends who linger beyond the shadow of their own deaths.

Demon from the Crypt Retail Sample

A high-profile contract in the famed New Orleans Garden District can bring architect Kathleen McCormick’s dream of owning her own home that much closer, but she’ll have to stifle her fiery temper while she’s on location. The senior project manager is a notorious workaholic and the last associate to work with him got fired amid controversy. Still, Kathleen can’t resist the urge to push his buttons. 

Sebastian Brooks’ father likes to remind him that he founded his own firm by the time he was thirty. As Sebastian nears that same milestone, he's checking off the boxes for promotion at a more prestigious architectural firm, including contemplating an engagement with an acceptable socialite. The pursuit feels hollow, especially when his boss lobs an attractive, unpredictable new associate into his path to derail his promotion, a woman who reminds him of all the compromises he’s made in the interest of living up to expectations.

A mischievous ghost in a NOLA hotel decides to play matchmaker, but with a strict non-fraternization policy at work, getting involved could get both Kathleen and Sebastian fired. Caught up in the city’s steamy atmosphere, their unexpected connection throws all their plans into a tailspin.

The Architect

Athletic trainer Emma Parrish travels to Ireland to assess a recovering athlete for the Chicago Cowboys Soccer Club. While there, she's told a story about selkies - seals that rise from the sea, shed their skin and walk the earth as men. Overserved, the legend holds its appeal for Emma, but when she sees two men come out of the sea and hide their "sealskins" under a rock, she questions whether it might be true.

The Selkie Sample

Now that Elspeth “Elle” Barclay’s mother has retired from “clearing” haunted houses, Elle steps in to evaluate disturbances. She debunks a haunting, but finds spiritual energy outside the house. The victim of a recent hit and run accident demands that Elle “tell them,” but tell whom what? The accident victim, a young woman, lies in the morgue as a Jane Doe. Details in the ghost’s visions send Elle to Bar Harbor, Maine, to tell Jane Doe’s family about the accident, but they aren’t interested in talking to her.

Jane Doe grows more aggressive in her pleas. When the man Jane came to Illinois to find turns up dead, Elle fears her own life may be in danger. She has never encountered a spirit who can manifest energy physically before, but this one grabs her arm, leaving burns. What more does she want?

The Jane Doe Ghost

Book reviewer Maggie Grant has a romantic soul. When she happens on a tender moment in a cemetery, the man who places a fingertip kiss on a headstone provides inspiration for her popular magazine blog. 

After inheriting the family monument shop, Thad Benson struggles with his new-found responsibilities. Teased by his sister as having a face only a mother could love, Thad is only comfortable sharing his thoughts with a dead woman. Until he meets Maggie.

The more Maggie learns about Thad, the worse she feels for exposing his private moment on her trending blog—except no one seems to recognize him, and that makes her angry. Does she, a stuttering stranger, dare to show Thad’s family and friends, the people closest to him, what they’re missing? And how does she compete with the ghost of a dead girl to win the heart of Edgarville’s confirmed bachelor?

The Sculptor

Chapter 1 The Sculptor

Karla Brandenburg is an award-winning author of contemporary romance novels which include paranormal elements. Now that her children have settled into lives of their own, she loves to go out into the world on adventures with her husband, from Milwaukee to the French Riviera, but the Chicago suburbs have always been “home.” She is an avid reader across multiple genres and is a card-carrying cookie-holic (we all have our vices).

Karla Brandenburg

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