Dakota Born (Dakota Series #1)

Review Readers are "certain to take to the Dakota series as they would to cotton candy at a state fair." -- Publishers Weekly Product Description Buffalo Valley, North Dakota. Like so many small Midwesttowns, it's dying. Stores are boarded up, sidewalks cracked,houses need a coat of paint. But despite all that, there's a spiritof hope here, of defiance. The people still living in Buffalo Valleyare fighting for their town.Lyndsay Snyder is a newcomer. She's an outsider, even though shespent childhood vacations here. Now she returns to see the familyhouse again, to explore family secrets and to reevaluate her life.To her own astonishment, she decides to stay, to accept thevacant position of teacher. Her decision marks a new beginningfor Buffalo Valley and for Lyndsay, who discovers in this brokenlittle town the love and purpose she's been seeking. About the Author Debbie Macomber is a #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author and a leading voice in women’s fiction today. She is a multiple award winner with more than 200 million copies of her books in print. Five of her Christmas titles have been made into Hallmark Channel Original Movies, as well as a series based on her bestselling Cedar Cove stories. For more information, visit her website: www.DebbieMacomber.com. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. "We're doomed," Jacob Hansen said in sepulchral tones. He marched into the room, shaking his grizzled head."You might as well board up the entire town right now." Marta Hansen followed her husband into the dining room at Buffalo Bob's 3 OF A KIND. With the energy that so often accompanies righteousness, she plunked herself down at the table with the other members of the Buffalo Valley town council.Joshua McKenna figured this kind of pessimism pretty much ensured that they wouldn't accomplish anything. Not that he blamed the couple. For nearly twenty years the Hansens, along with everyone else in Buffalo Valley, had watched the once-thriving farm community deteriorate, until now the town was barely holding on. The theater had closed first, and then the beauty shop and the florist and the hardware store… It hurt most when the catalog store pulled up stakes—that had been six years ago—and then the Morningside Café, the one decent restaurant in town, had closed for good.Even now, Joshua missed Melissa's cooking. She'd baked biscuits that were so light and fluffy they practically floated into your mouth. Joshua got hungry just thinking about those biscuits.Businesses survived as long as they could on their continually diminishing returns—until they were driven to financial ruin and finally forced to close up shop. Families drifted away and farmland changed ownership, the bigger farms buying up the smaller ones. Large or small, everyone struggled these days with low agricultural prices. He had to hand it to the farmers, though. They were smart, and getting smarter all the time. Over the years, agricultural research and hardier strains had made it possible to urge a larger yield out of the land. Where an acre would once produce a hundred bushels, it was now possible to harvest almost twice that. Somehow, a lot of the farmers had managed to keep going—because they believed in their heritage and because they trusted in the future, hoping they'd eventually get a fair price for their crops. Since they stayed, a few of the businesses in town clung, too.Joshua's was one of them, although he'd certainly been struggling for the last while. He sold used goods and antiques, and did repairs; in that area, at least, business was steady. It was his gift, he supposed, to be able to fix things. With money tight, people did whatever they could to avoid buying something new. He just wished his talent extended to fixing lives and rearranging circumstances. If it had, he'd start with his own family. Heaven knew his son needed help. His daughter and granddaughter, too. He didn't like to think a