The Heart's Location — Michael Ryan

When he arrives back in town after fifteen years away and two years after the disappearance of his grandfather, Mark O'Brien inherits an old house and a big dog. Now that he's fallen in love with a local, he's also inherited a town full of trouble. As the presidential candidates arrive for a debate before the upcoming election the town of Hart's Location, known as the "First Vote in the Nation," decides to write-in Mark for president to force him out. With the press hounding him for information on his past, a corrupt politician taking out a contract on his head, a drug-fueled killer poisoning his breakfast cereal, and a relationship that just might be going somewhere, Mark is forced to confront everything he's been avoiding in his life, all at once. As the winter storm, an angry mob, a determined killer, and an unusual election day arrives, Mark comes to realize that one town can influence an entire nation, that one girl can change your whole life, and that it doesn't matter where you live as much as how you live there. If home is where the heart is, then maybe coming home is as easy as following your heart.