Books like The Cactus by Sarah Haywood

In 1964 South Carolina, Lily Owens, grieving her mother’s death, seeks refuge with a fierce stand‑in mother and a trio of black beekeeping sisters who open her to the secret world of bees, honey, and healing.

Don Tillman, a genetics professor with Asperger’s, designs a scientific survey to find a wife, only to meet Rosie Jarman, a drinker and late arriver who challenges his controlled worldview and leads him to discover that love can’t be measured.

Harold Fry, recently retired, embarks on an unlikely 250‑mile journey from Kingsbridge to Berwick‑upon‑Twed to visit a dying friend, and in doing so discovers his own past and the meaning of love.

Set in a Southern California black community, The Mothers follows 17‑year‑old Nadia Turner as she navigates grief, a forbidden romance, and an unplanned pregnancy that shapes her and her friends' futures for years to come.

When a mysterious psychic arrives in 1969 Lower East Side, New York, four siblings learn the day they will die, setting off a life‑long quest that tests fate, choice, family and the search for meaning.

In the idyllic English village of Edgecombe St. Mary, retired Major Ernest Pettigrew finds unexpected companionship—and love—with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, a Pakistani shopkeeper, as they navigate friendship, loss, and cultural boundaries.

A quartet of intimate stories about family bonds and personal reconciliation, showing how ordinary choices shape destinies in the everyday lives of sisters, a school janitor, a stranger on the street, and a long‑absent daughter.

Monsieur Perdu, a literary apothecary aboard a Seine barge, prescribes novels to heal broken hearts. When his own love remains a mystery, he journeys south of France to find closure and prove stories can mend souls.

A family of four brothers struggles after their father's suicide, and years later one son follows his tragic path, forcing the siblings to confront inherited grief, faith, and the thin line between destiny and choice.

Mary Jo Wyse arrives in Cedar Cove for Christmas, searching for her baby's father, but ends up hosting a pregnant woman on her ranch.

After a man’s sudden death, his assistant inherits a curious collection of dropped items and a mission to return them to their owners while building new bonds in a quiet English town.

Joy, recently divorced and bereft of holiday cheer, journeying alone to a Pacific Northwest town where she meets a grieving boy, and together they confront grief, hope, and unexpected love during a magical Christmas season.

THE DEDICATED LAWMAN AND THE DESPERADO'S DAUGHTER She was only ten when she first saved Aaron Hunter, and eighteen when she saw and saved him again. Cactus "Maxie" Maxwell rescued the lawman from her outlaw father and brothres only to become Hunter's hostage herself. He thought to turn her into a lady, but she defied him. A raven-haired hellion, she preferred seeking refuge in a brothel and enduring capture by Apaches to the shelter of his arms. Her innocence long hidden under a vixen's veneer, Maxi surrendered at last to her own awakening passions. She began to soften and bloom. But as lurid truths of the past emerged, she found herself suddenly scorned as the desperado's daughter ... torn between passion for a lawman and devotion to her brothers ... swept toward a dangerous choice between family loyalty and enduring love.

Hannah Matthews, a single mother and breast‑cancer survivor, returns to Seaview Key where her aging grandmother, pregnant daughter, and a rekindled romance with former love Luke Stevens create a tapestry of love, loss, and renewal.

A romance story set in the fictional town of Virgin River, featuring a man who returns to help his family run the apple orchard and falls in love with a single mother.

In a New York‑set family torn by an ancient curse, three Owens siblings must navigate their unique gifts while obeying strict rules that forbid love—yet love keeps pulling them back toward one another.

After opening an antiques shop in Charleston, Teddi Overman discovers a skill for restoring furniture—and a chance to mend her fractured family when news of her long‑missing brother resurfaces.

See https://openlibrary.org/works/OL19781733W/Eleanor_Oliphant_Is_Completely_Fine