This was supposed to be Aspen Arthur’s year. No longer held back by a loser boyfriend or terrible boss, she was well on her way to getting everything she wanted—following her carefully crafted set of rules would ensure it. But one unexpected night and two pink lines later, the year Aspen had envisioned for herself just got a lot more complicated. Becoming a mom is something Aspen has always dreamed of. Unfortunately, that dream now includes a baby daddy she can’t stand.When Simon Cadwell first met Aspen in high school, he thought there could be something there. But when he sees her again after almost a decade and she doesn’t have a single nice thing to say to him, he knows he screwed up somehow. Getting her pregnant wasn’t part of the plan to win her over, but Simon is always up for a challenge.Now that they’re both in Bluefield for the summer, they have a chance to either work out their differences and prepare for parenthood, or let everything they’ve ever wanted slip through their fingers. But Simon isn’t the only one hoping to catch Aspen’s eye this summer, and with the increasing number of missing women plaguing Bluefield, who can really be trusted?Staged River is a hate-to-love, small-town romantic suspense novel set in the fictional town of Bluefield, Canada.This story can be read as a standalone but reads best after Inky Water, the first book in the Bluefield Beach series.