Abbie Williams Books in Order
Explore Abbie Williams books in order, with concise summaries, series background, and practical guidance on where to start with each story.
Last updated: July 15, 2026
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Abbie Williams books in publication order
13 books
Summer at the Shore Leave Cafe
by Abbie Williams
2012
After catching her husband cheating, Joelle Gordon leaves Chicago with her three daughters and returns to Landon, Minnesota. At her family's lakeside cafe, she faces single motherhood, an alluring younger man, and a family curse that makes love feel dangerous.
Second Chances
by Abbie Williams
2013
Joelle Gordon has found a new life and love in her Minnesota hometown, but neither is secure. When Blythe is in trouble and Joelle's estranged husband returns, she must choose between the past she fled and the future she wants.
Heart of a Dove
by Abbie Williams
2014
After the Civil War, orphan Lorie Blake escapes the Missouri brothel where she has been trapped and joins men traveling north. Pursued by a vengeful madam and a revenge-driven soldier, she must face the secrets and trauma she carries.
Wild Flower
by Abbie Williams
2014
Three years after Joelle's return to Landon, the women of the Shore Leave Cafe face another turbulent summer. Jillian's pregnancy is threatened by danger, while Camille's unsettling dreams pull her toward Montana and answers about the family curse.
Winter at the White Oaks Lodge
by Abbie Williams
2014
Young single mother Camille Gordon finds an old photograph hidden in her grandmother's attic and becomes obsessed with the stranger in it. Her search leads to White Oaks Lodge, a nearby inn where history, family secrets, and an unexpected love converge.
The First Law of Love
by Abbie Williams
2015
Ambitious law graduate Tish Gordon heads to Montana for a summer internship, eager to return to Chicago and her planned career. Instead, a land dispute and cowboy musician Case Spicer force her to question what kind of future she really wants.
Until Tomorrow
by Abbie Williams
2015
After a devastating fire leaves Tish's true love critically injured, she searches for whoever is responsible. Her family arrives from Minnesota, while Ruthann discovers a dangerous connection to the past and feelings that may change her future.
A Notion of Love
by Abbie Williams
2016
Widowed Jillian Henriksen has built a steady life around her son, family, and the Shore Leave Cafe. When damaged longtime friend Justin Miller returns, they must decide whether two wounded hearts can risk love despite the family's feared curse.
Soul of a Crow
by Abbie Williams
2016
In 1868, Lorie Blake and her chosen family travel northwest, hoping to build homesteads in Minnesota. But former soldiers Boyd and Sawyer cannot outrun the war's resentments, and Lorie must fight for love, safety, and a true new beginning.
Grace of a Hawk
by Abbie Williams
2018
Former Confederate soldier Boyd Carter and his brother Malcolm set out for family in Minnesota, but vanish on the road from Iowa. Lorie and Sawyer must face a threat they thought had passed and find the brothers before old enemies close in.
Return to Yesterday
by Abbie Williams
2018
Ruthann Gordon's disappearance pulls Camille and Tish into a desperate search shaped by a feud spanning generations. As the Davis and Yancy families collide across past and present, the sisters fight to protect one another and the people they love.
The Way Back
by Abbie Williams
2018
Ruthann Gordon vanishes into a frightening past, far from everything she knows. As Marshall Rawley also disappears, Ruthann must learn why their families are connected and find the strength to save the people she loves.
A Place to Belong
by Abbie Williams
2020
Millie Jo Gordon has loved Wyatt Rawley since childhood, and at seventeen she learns he returns her feelings. A devastating revelation separates them, leaving both to build adult lives while their unspoken connection refuses to fade.
Where to start with Abbie Williams
For a contemporary family romance: Summer at the Shore Leave Cafe → Second Chances → A Notion of Love.
For a historical romance saga: Heart of a Dove → Soul of a Crow → Grace of a Hawk.
For a stand-alone, coming-of-age love story: A Place to Belong.
Abbie Williams sub-series and character series
Dove books in order
Explore this seriesShore Leave Cafe books in order
Explore this series
Summer at the Shore Leave Cafe
by Abbie Williams
2012Shore Leave Cafe, Book 1
Second Chances
by Abbie Williams
2013Shore Leave Cafe, Book 2
Wild Flower
by Abbie Williams
2014Shore Leave Cafe, Book 4
Winter at the White Oaks Lodge
by Abbie Williams
2014Shore Leave Cafe, Book 3
The First Law of Love
by Abbie Williams
2015Shore Leave Cafe, Book 5
Until Tomorrow
by Abbie Williams
2015Shore Leave Cafe, Book 6
A Notion of Love
by Abbie Williams
2016Shore Leave Cafe, Book 7
Return to Yesterday
by Abbie Williams
2018Shore Leave Cafe, Book 9
The Way Back
by Abbie Williams
2018Shore Leave Cafe, Book 8
Shore Leave Cafe books in chronological order

Summer at the Shore Leave Cafe
by Abbie Williams
2012Shore Leave Cafe, Book 1
Second Chances
by Abbie Williams
2013Shore Leave Cafe, Book 2
Winter at the White Oaks Lodge
by Abbie Williams
2014Shore Leave Cafe, Book 3
Wild Flower
by Abbie Williams
2014Shore Leave Cafe, Book 4
The First Law of Love
by Abbie Williams
2015Shore Leave Cafe, Book 5
Until Tomorrow
by Abbie Williams
2015Shore Leave Cafe, Book 6
A Notion of Love
by Abbie Williams
2016Shore Leave Cafe, Book 7
The Way Back
by Abbie Williams
2018Shore Leave Cafe, Book 8
Return to Yesterday
by Abbie Williams
2018Shore Leave Cafe, Book 9
Standalone Abbie Williams books
Author bio
Abbie Williams is a lifelong Midwesterner who lives in rural Minnesota with her family. Her novels return often to things close at hand, changing seasons, lake country, close-knit families, difficult choices, and people trying to make a life after loss.
Writing was not a late detour for Williams. She has described herself as someone who got hooked on love stories after reading a romance from her mother's collection, then filled notebook after notebook with tales of her own. A computer with a word-processing program eventually replaced the spiral notebooks, but the habit stayed the same.
She writes because she wants to spend time with the people in her stories.
That interest in relationships runs through all of her work. Williams writes about heartache, family loyalty, romantic hope, and the question of whether a painful past can be lived with rather than simply escaped. Women carrying responsibility, desire, and the weight of other people's expectations are especially important to her fiction.
Williams introduced her historical Dove trilogy with Heart of a Dove in 2014. Set in the unsettled years after the Civil War, the series begins with Lorie Blake, an orphan forced into prostitution who flees with a small group of former Confederate soldiers traveling north. Soul of a Crow and Grace of a Hawk follow the group's search for safety, home, and a future that old violence keeps threatening.
The past is never merely background in these books.
In Summer at the Shore Leave Cafe, Williams shifts to contemporary Minnesota and a family-run lakeside diner. The Shore Leave Cafe books follow Joelle Gordon, her sister Jillian, and Joelle's daughters Camille, Tish, and Ruthann as love, old wounds, and a troubling family history pull them in different directions. Later novels, including Winter at the White Oaks Lodge, The First Law of Love, and Return to Yesterday, widen the story through mysteries, romance, and connections between the present and the past.
Her 2020 novel A Place to Belong centers on Millie Jo Gordon and Wyatt Rawley, whose childhood bond becomes a difficult love story as they grow older. It brings together several concerns that matter across Williams's books, family ties, loyalty, horses, the pull of home, and feelings that do not disappear on schedule.
Williams also teaches. When she is not writing, teaching, or spending time with family, she has said she enjoys reading by the water and listening to bluegrass music.
It is a fitting picture for a writer whose stories make room for both quiet places and big emotions.
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