Year Of Weddings (Deborah Raney) Books in Order

Deborah Raney's contribution to the Year of Weddings project is A January Bride, a short contemporary romance that can be read on its own. The larger project brought together wedding-themed novellas by different writers, with each story tied to a month of the year rather than to one shared cast or location.

Raney's January entry follows novelist Madeleine Houser, who needs a quiet place to work while her temporary home is being renovated. Her elderly neighbor arranges for her to use a bed-and-breakfast during the day, leaving Madeleine and its owner, widowed professor Arthur Tyler, to communicate through notes without having met.

They begin to know each other before they know who the other person is.

That setup gives the story a gentle mix of mistaken assumptions, letters, grief, and new attraction. Arthur is still living with the loss of his wife, while Madeleine is wary of being hurt. The romance is brief by design, but it has room for both characters to reconsider what they think they know about the other.

The book was first published as Playing by Heart, then revised and released as A January Bride. It also appears in the Winter Brides collection. Those different editions can make it look like more than one story, but it is the same Raney novella in a new package.

Think of this page as a guide to a standalone entry in a multi-author line, not a continuing Deborah Raney series. It is a good choice when you want a quick, low-stakes romance with a winter setting, an inn, and the pleasant tension of two people getting close through words before they meet face to face.