Southern Roads Books In Order

Publication Order of Southern Roads Books

Southern Roads is a series of romance novels written by Stephanie Bond. The books follow the exploits of three brothers who try to rebuild their town.

+The Story

The Southern Roads series tends to rub different people in very different ways. Some readers love the inventiveness of the concept. They appreciate Bond’s unique approach to telling stories of love, romance, and sex.

Others think the idea of Southern Roads is silly on so many levels. And because they cannot take it seriously, they cannot enjoy it. Interestingly enough, there are also readers who think Southern Roads is inconceivably silly but they love it because it delivers the sort of escapist fiction they desire.

These Stephanie Bond books take place in Sweetness, a town in Georgia. Ten years ago, Sweetness was decimated by a powerful tornado that practically wiped it off the map.

Porter, Kendal, and Marcus Armstrong were absent at the time of this catastrophe. The brothers grew up in Sweetness but they left to explore the world and make something of themselves.

However, they promised they would return. And they eventually live up to that promise. But by then the town has been obliterated by an F-5 tornado. Being enterprising young gentlemen, though, not even that particular catastrophe would deter them.

In fact, they saw an opportunity to rebuild their town, transforming it from barely habitable terrain into an inviting residence constructed using eco-friendly means. And the brothers were fortunate enough to get a government grant to pursue their ambitious goal.

When the Southern Road series begins, the Armstrong brothers are hard at work. They have a large crew of competent and able-bodied men and construction is well underway.

Problems arise when the workforce begins to complain, not about salaries or resources or work hours or any other sensible matter but the stark absence of women. Sweetness, even in its infancy, needs a feminine touch.

Any other team might have balked under the pressure. But the Armstrong brothers are nothing if not daring and resourceful. They put an ad in the newspapers asking for a couple of dozen single women to flock over to the rising town of Sweetness and do their part to lay its foundation.

To the shock of everyone involved, including the Armstrong brothers, the plan actually works. Women flock to the town. In order to maintain sanity, it is determined that the women will stay together in a boarding house while the men will occupy the barracks.

The brothers go to great lengths to maintain peace and order, this including barring late night visits to either the Barracks or the Boardinghouse by members of the opposite sex.

The Southern Roads series attempts to chart the lives of the Armstrong brothers from that point onward. Porter, Kendall, and Marcus are written to be drastically different individuals and that is what makes their love stories so intriguing.

None of the brothers came to Sweetness looking for love. And while they put that ad for single women in the newspaper so that their workers could elicit the companionship they so desired, Porter, Kendall, Marcus had their sights firmly set on completing the works on Sweetness.

The grant the brothers got from the government wasn’t without its restrictions. The boys were given two years to complete the rebuilding process. Failure to do so would mean forfeiting control of Sweetness over to the government.

That factor drives the brothers. This is especially true for Marcus. Stephanie Bond designed him to be the most focused of the bunch. He is the no-nonsense leader of the Armstrongs. Marcus makes sure that the construction train keeps chugging along without a hitch.

He wasn’t on board with the idea of bringing women to the town and wastes no time in making known his irritation with the sudden injection of female bodies. It takes an equally headstrong woman to stumble Marcus, forcing him to let loose and enjoy the brighter aspects of life.

Porter is the youngest of the brothers, and he doesn’t have much in the way of control. This is because Porter isn’t especially mature, a fact that is made abundantly clear by his penchant for inadvertently but consistently bombarding the woman he loves with insults because he doesn’t know how to deal with his attraction to her.

Kendall is the middle brother and he is the most sensible. However, Stephanie Bond designed him with an element of cluelessness, which is why his love story is the most frustrating.

Kendall never seems to see the truth of things even when it is staring right at him.

The Armstrong brothers struggle to keep their project on course. This requires them to balance their varying perspectives. Over the course of the Southern Roads series, they realize that having the right woman in their arms isn’t a hindrance but a tool that could help them achieve their full potential.

The women of Sweetness, though primarily drawn to the town for the escape and the adventure, eventually gain a deep appreciation for their new home, so much so that they begin to work just as hard as the Armstrong brothers to see Sweetness rebuilt.

+Baby, Drive South

The first book in the Southern Roads series picks up with the Armstrong brothers who have taken up the task of rebuilding their town which was ravaged by a tornado. When they put out an ad for women in the newspaper, they get more responses than they bargained for.

This first book tells Porter’s story. The youngest of the Armstrong brothers, Porter is so shocked by the number of women who answer the ad that he falls off a water tower and breaks his leg.

Fortunately for Porter, Nikki is on hand. A doctor by trade, Nikki, who is just looking for a fresh start, takes Porter’s breath away. Porter decides that he must have her.

+Baby, Come Home

Kendall was always the sensible Armstrong brother. And when he put out an ad asking single women to come to Sweetness, the town the Armstrong brothers were rebuilding following a catastrophic tornado, he knew it was a long shot.

There was no way his ex-fiance would answer the call, come to Sweetness and give him another chance to fix things. When Amy Bradshaw does come to Sweetness, Kendall finds that fixing things might be a lot more complicated than he expected.