A bitterly cold, sleety wind was blowing. Christmas was now two days in the past, as a young teenage girl pushed her second-hand bicycle from her family's country cottage where she lived with her mother and elder sister. She was setting off for the four-mile journey to the bookshop where she'd worked for the past year. The love of her work made her oblivious to the bitter wind and blinding sleet. The money earned was a welcome asset to the family, and filled her with a warm, proud feeling knowing she was at last contributing to the household expenses, taking a little extra strain from her mother's shoulders. At the same time another young teenager was sitting impatiently in her father's new car as he loaded her luggage into the boot and strapped her skis on the roof rack before driving from their detached home in London's affluent green belt to the airport where she would meet with friends for their skiing trip to the resort of Val-d'Isere in the French Alps, a Christmas present from her wealthy parents. The lives of these two opposites would, in future years, have untold effects far and wide, that would shake both families to the roots in events of sheer happiness and devastating disaster.

This is a novel that opens in 1900 and is set in the cotton mills area around Rochdale, Lancashire. Lord James lives in a manor house with his family. He owns a mill and the workers' cottages. He is a good employer, ahead of his time. Life was grim in 1900 and life expectancy short. The author transports us back to glimpse life as it was over 100 years ago, through the sad and happy times. Her style is flowing and the book is entertaining and realistic. Read it and enjoy it. Recommended.

Could it be that our fate is decided for us by some mysterious higher power? For example, is there a special someone...a soul mate...made for each and every one of us? Seems like a silly and, not to mention, unfair idea...but what if it were true...and worse still what if we did not recognise our soul mate when the time came for us to meet? Suppose it were true, but that either through our fault, or due to some other circumstance beyond our control we lost our chance with that one perfect match, would it upset the balance of destiny in some way? Imagine for a moment that it was the truth...would the higher power try to put it right, even though death and time had intervened to prevent, seemingly forever, that which was supposed to be. Intrigue, passion, humour, violence, sex, murder and even a ghostly spectre are the hallmarks of this pleasant and gripping tale.

A son who was keeping alpacas in sheep rearing country was enough to despair any man which was probably one of the reasons why Joe Addle persuaded his son Gary to attend that meeting in order to better himself! Still when Gary was elected to serve on the Pink Rose Party against the local school mistress Joe may have been rather surprised but he was even more so when he found out that the two of them were in cahoots planning that Viking Seaway. By this time however other bodies had entered into the fray such as Andrew Masterson and his father in law, an old union official and perhaps even more significantly the figure of Walter Grimsdale who was nothing if not determined to put an end to this fiasco which had its roots in the history books. Thus in the face of such opposition was it possible that true love would survive and if so at what cost?

If Kelly was surprised when she managed to secure the job acting as companion and secretary to a Professor who was returning to England after suffering an accident, she was even more surprised when she met Stefan Rincon. Surprised that was at herself for actually falling for the man! But then life does not always proceed without its complications. One of these was the fact that she herself was being used by others to glean scientific information from the Professor and yet another came in the fact that once back in England and seeking a future in the theatre she was to find herself at the centre of foreign intervention. Even so perhaps the thoughts she had of Marie Sanchez having already formed a relationship with the Professor were to be proved wrong when it was this person who eventually came to her rescue. But Stefan himself still remained an enigma and a happy ending seemed to be quite impossible!

Love is a war in which only the fearless may conquer. The loss of love is a test in survival. Love. It's such an understated word. It has the ability to grip you so hard you become completely consumed by it, and when it releases you, you find yourself on your knees. Lilly Parker has me on my knees and I cannot muster the will to stand. Betrayal. It's all worse when it comes from those we love. The pain, that much more intense. The loss, that much more heart breaking. I took a chance on Theodore Ellis and I lost. How hard is Theo willing to fight for the woman he loves? Can Lilly fight her demons, or will she push away the only man capable of facing them with her? Conquered is the emotional, gritty second part of Lilly and Theo's story.

Julian
If I ever caught on fire, Dahlia Muñoz would fan the flames with a smile. So, when she returns to Lake Wisteria, I fully intend to avoid the interior designer. At least until my meddling mother exploits my savior complex. The faster I help Dahlia find her creative spark, the sooner she will leave town. But while I was busy getting rid of Dahlia, I overlooked one potential issue. What happens if I want her to stay?

Dahlia
People say the devil has many faces, but I know only one. Julian Lopez―my childhood rival and family frenemy. I vow to steer clear of him while recovering from my broken engagement, but then the billionaire makes an irresistible offer. Renovate a historic house together and triple our profits. Our temporary truce becomes compromised as we face years' worth of denied attraction and mixed emotions. Giving into our desire is inevitable…but falling in love? That isn't part of the plan.

Zoe, Al, Rachel, Rob, Yas and Indie. Six friends who were inseparable at university, who have all had their secret or not so secret passions for each other, their hopes and fears.

Over the years, they have gone their separate ways. Rob is a history teacher, with a string of broken relationships behind him. Yas is a surgeon and very much her own woman. Indie is married and a successful coffee entrepreneur. Rachel is a stay at home mum with two children. Al, widowed young, is about to take over his father's funeral business.

When Rob's engagement party throws the gang together once more, some passions are reignited, old connections and resentments resurface. Over the next twelve months, there will, among the friends, be a birth, a marriage, and a death – but whose?

BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES is an era-spanning, globe-trotting novel about love, friendship, and how to stay at least relatively sane in an ever crazier world. It’s about a group of friends growing older, the possibility of second chances, about kindness and joy. It’s about births, deaths, marriages... and everything in between.

It may seem odd to seek peace by moving to a war-torn African country, but for medical missionary Dr. Cynthia Myers, it provided a way to escape a shallow life of unearned wealth, a philandering fiance, and a father now square in the public eye as vice president of the United States. At least here she knows her work and life have meaning. But all that is thrown into chaos when she fails to save the life of a local warlord's mortally wounded son. As part of the Army Special Forces "A-Team" on a mission to capture and subdue the warlord, Captain Rick Norton is compelled to use deadly force to save Cynthia's life. Enraged at the violence she witnessed and riddled with guilt that men died because of her, Cynthia tries to hold on to her anger--but an unwanted attraction is taking hold. With two members of his team badly injured and rebels in hot pursuit, Rick will have to draw upon all his strength and cunning to get her out alive . . . because he's beginning to think they just might overcome their differences and be able to make a life together.

A special invitation. A night to remember . . .

The Ball at Versailles is a sparkling, captivating tale of four young women and one life-changing night, from the billion copy bestselling author, Danielle Steel.

1958. The Palace of Versailles is hosting an event that will go down in history. It is a glamorous dusk-to-dawn ball, where a select group of debutantes will be presented to international society and royalty. And for four young women, all with something to prove, it is an event they will never forget.

Amelia Alexander is the daughter of a hard-working, single mother who sacrifices everything to ensure that Amelia can take every opportunity for a better life.

Caroline Taylor is pursuing a passionate affair with an up-and-coming movie star ten years her senior. But does he love her, or is his interest because of her famous father?

Nuclear physics student, Felicity Smith, is uninterested in fashion and socializing, but she attends the ball to please her parents and to step out of the shadow of her sister.

And Samantha Walker is the beloved, over-protected daughter of a wealthy businessman, her excitement about the invitation overshadowed by a past tragedy that still haunts her.

An exclusive invitation, a trip to Paris, and one spectacular, show stopping night will change these young women’s lives forever . . .

"I'll read anything she writes" EMILY HENRY Can a little Christmas magic mend a broken heart? "Sparkles with wit and warmth . . . I'll read anything Lindsey writes, but this one might just be my new favourite of her novels"-BETH O'LEARY, author of The Flatshare Newly single lawyer Gwen Baker is hoping that a family Christmas-countryside, a mountain of food and festive films-will salve the sting of her career hanging by a thread and her heart being trampled on. Because everyone else has their life sorted: even Dev, her boy-next-door crush, is now a tall, dark and handsome stranger with a fiancee. She can't help wishing her future was clearer. Then Gwen wakes up to discover it's Christmas day all over again. Like Groundhog Day but with eggnog. And family arguments. On repeat. As she figures out how to escape her own particular Christmas hell, Dev is the one bright spot. He might be all grown-up but underneath he's just as kind and funny as she remembers. Maybe, just maybe, her heart can be mended after all. But how do you fall in love with someone who can't remember you from one day to the next? AUTHORS LOVE LINDSEY KELK "The kind of book you can't put down, but also want to last forever"-EMILY HENRY "I fell head over heels in love"-BETH O'LEARY "The literary equivalent of opening a glass of wine with your best friend"-MHAIRI MCFARLANE "So uplifting and wildly romantic"-MARIAN KEYES

Having watched her dissolute father squander the family's fortune on his disreputable and extravagant lifestyle, young flame-haired beauty Aria Milborne despises the empty glamour of Society. So she is dismayed when she is forced take a job with an American millionaire in order to save the beloved family home, Queen's Folly, where her brother, Charles, works night and day to make ends meet. Appalled by Dart Huron's arrogance and the behaviour of his spoilt film star floozy Lulu Carlo, who is desperately trying to marry him, Aria finds herself at loggerheads with her new employer while being pursued relentlessly by his amorous aristocratic friend, Lord BAuckleigh. When Dart offers Aria a fortune to agree to a pretend engagement designed to free him from the grasping Lulu, she finds herself emblazoned across the Press throughout the land to her shame and humiliation. Her heart fills with hate for the dashing Dart Huron until the news that he has been shot almost stops her own heart and she understands that this is not hate at all - This is love.

After the death of her parents, young Andrina Maldon has selflessly borne the responsibility not only for the running a household impoverished by her father's profligacy but also for the future happiness of her two sisters. Strikingly beautiful as they are, there is no hope of their finding a suitable suitor without someone to introduce them to the Social world. So she travels unchaperoned to London to seek the assistance of the Duke of Broxbourne, her father's friend and the Godfather she has never met. On the stagecoach journey Andrina has a frightening encounter with a gentleman at a Posting inn - and on arrival at Broxbourne House she is appalled to find that this man is none other than the Duke of Broxbourne himself. At first unwilling to help her, the Duke grudgingly agrees to her requests and although grateful, Andrina despises this arrogant and insensitive man - until, little by little, his true nature is revealed and a very different emotion begins to stir in her heart.

Dispatched on a secret mission to Paris by the Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Benjamin Disraeli, the dashing Earl of Hawkshead is held up on the road out of Calais by an accident between a post chaise and a diligence. Stopping to assist the victims, he is accosted by a beautiful young waif called Baptista, who pleads with him to take her to Paris to escape the clutches of her cruel father the 'Preaching Peer', who aims to have her locked up forever in a Home of Penitence as punishment for the 'sins' of her wayward mother. Reluctantly his Lordship agrees to escort Baptista to Paris in search of her mother and soon she is caught up in his perilous adventures on a thrilling journey whose final destination is love.

Travelling out to Gibraltar Dawn Middleton fully expected to receive an engagement ring and certainly not the ring of a hollow bullet. Nevertheless as a language expert Dawn soon found her services were required by H.M. Intelligence. Yet whilst she was aware of Governmental ideas to curb illegal immigration, she never expected to find herself involved in a mission to actually bring one such person back to Europe. Neither come to that had she expected to become involved with the likes of Callum Seddon. Even so during the extent of this mission many things came to pass that caused her to change her mind, not only on the task she had to undertake but also on the person she had now fallen in love with. Sometimes however fate can often provide tricks such as Marcus Sanchez, whom Dawn had believed to be dead, entering her life again and this in itself provided some soul searching.

Almost identical in their golden-haired, blue-eyed beauty and similarly named, cousins Antonia 'Toni' Combe and Latonia Hythe are nevertheless very different personalities. Desperate to avoid a journey to India forced on her by her stern uncle, Kenrick Combe, the new Lord Branscombe, and which would prevent her marrying the man she desperately loves, the flirtatious and capricious Toni beseeches her cousin to take her place as her Uncle Kenrick has not seen Toni for many years. So conscientious Latonia nervously accepts the pretence, assumes the role of her cousin and then sets sail with her stern protector for India. Berated and frowned upon by his Lordship for her cousin's 'misdeeds', Latonia nevertheless looks forward to the adventure of visiting and seeing India, until her deception is revealed to his Lordship's fury But, when she overhears a sinister plot to kill him, she rushes in the night to warn him and is rewarded with passionate kiss, she suddenly knows that it is not hate but love that burns in her heart - love for a man who must surely despise her forever -

When she was just five years old, Melissa Braxton watched her father take her mother's life. Separated from her sister, Lola, at that time, Melissa grew up with a strong desire to help those stuck in abusive relationships. It's why she became a therapist and opened a domestic abuse shelter. After losing a leg to a gunshot wound in the line of duty, Phil Osbourne has felt like a man without a purpose--until he hears Melissa's story and decides to use his Special Forces contacts to track down her missing sister. He knows what he discovers will break Melissa's heart. What he doesn't realize is that helping the women reunite will bring the cartel down on them like the category 5 hurricane striking Miami. Bruised yet not quite broken, Melissa and Phil battle the storm and the cartel, calling on strength they didn't know they had to escape death, save the innocent, and--just maybe--find healing in each other's arms.

The 6th book in the bestselling "A Shade Of Vampire" series has arrived Welcome back to The Shade... Derek and Sofia are finally enjoying a well-deserved break. Staying at a resort with good food, sun and sea, Sofia is thrilled to witness Derek's re-introduction to the human world. They would almost be mistaken for a normal young couple, if it were not for the red-eyed monster lurking in the shadows and watching their every move, waiting for his signal to pounce...

Contribution is the sequel to The Girl from Penthorpe Hill. Poppy Anderson, Jasmine's adopted granddaughter, is a beautiful and compassionate young woman, dedicated to educating the world about our fragile planet. Her energy and passion for living life to the full, protecting the environment, helping others and striving to be the best she can, makes Poppy an international celebrity. Poppy, whose parents are devoted physicians working abroad, was raised by her wise old grandmother, Jasmine, living in the magnificent tropical jungles of Costa Rica before going on to further her education in the United States. After a long life, Jasmine's spiritual legacy lives on in the lives of Poppy and her best friend Sam, who plays a pivotal role in Poppy's journey. Contribution tells of the twists and turns in Poppy's life, learning to grow and confronting heart-breaking challenges. Recovering from a tragedy in India, which changes her world for ever, Poppy discovers there are many kinds of love and joy a person can experience in one lifetime. Poppy ultimately takes a trip back to Penthorpe Hill and begins to understand for herself that true love has no end. As with The Girl from Penthorpe Hill Carol Clayton writes about resilient women with honesty of emotion, be it sorrow or joy, and of meeting life's challenges with the main character emerging the stronger for it. Contribution is an intensely moving story of self-discovery, learning to live with loss and moving forward to experience life in all its fullness! A truly enjoyable read!