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A Cruel Courtship: (Margaret Kerr Trilogy: Book 3) (Margaret Kerr Trilogy #3)
by Candace RobbScotland, 1297.Passionate, brave and fiercely loyal, Margaret Kerr - a young woman estranged from her husband - is determined to play her part in saving Scotland from the hammer of Edward Longshanks - King of England and would-be King of the Scots. And so she travels to Stirling to discover why the informer upon whom the Scottish rebels depend has become unreliable. It is an important and difficult mission, for he who holds Stirling Castle holds Scotland, and with fresh English recruits marching forth, a bloody battle for the castle is imminent. As the Scots prepare to cast off the English yoke once and for all, Margaret soon realises she can trust no one, not even her closest friends. Is she prepared to give her life for her country?
The King's Mistress: A Novel
by Emma CampionFrom childhood Alice Salisbury has learnt obedience in all things and at fourteen dutifully marries the man her father has chosen for her - at the cost of losing for ever the love of her mother and the family she holds dear. But merchant Janyn Perrers is a good and loving husband and Alice soon learns to enjoy her marriage. Until a messenger brings news of his disappearance and she discovers that her husband had many secrets - secrets which have now put a price on her own head and that of her beloved daughter. Brought under the protection of King Edward III and Queen Philippa she must obediently embrace her fate once more - as a virtual prisoner at Court. And when the king singles her out for more than just royal patronage she knows she has little choice but to accept his advances. But obeying the king brings with it many burdens as well as pleasures, as she forfeits her good name to keep her daughter free from hurt. Still a young woman and guided by her intellect and good business sense, she learns to use her gifts as wisely as she can. But as one of the king's favourites she brings jealousy and hatred in her wake and some will stop at nothing to see her fall from grace...
The Guilt of Innocents: (The Owen Archer Mysteries: book IX): a captivating Medieval mystery guaranteed to have you hooked… (An\owen Archer Mystery Ser. #Bk. 9)
by Candace RobbMany lies. But only one truth...Winter 1372, York: A man has drowned in the River Ouse. It soon becomes clear that his death was not an accident. But why would anyone want to kill a humble river pilot?As the crowds around the murdered man thicken, one-eyed spy Owen Archer is quickly brought to the scene by his adoptive son, Jasper. Renowned for solving many crimes, Owen is immediately drawn into the case. But right from the start he realises that it isn't a simple question of one victim, one suspect.And when a valuable cross goes missing and a woman is badly burnt in mysterious circumstances, the web of deceit widens. Then another body is found in the river. And as Owen and Jasper get closer to the truth, they find their own lives in danger...
The Family
by Mario Puzo'We are a family,' Alexander told his children. 'And the loyalty of the family must come before everything and everyone else. We must learn from each other, protect each other, and be bound first and foremost to each other. For if we honour that commitment, we will never be vanquished - but if we falter in that loyalty, we will all be condemned' In a tale of brutality and betrayal that crowns Mario Puzo's remarkable career, he brings us the story of the greatest crime family in Italian history - the Borgias.
The Reckoning: (Book 2 of The Immortal Trilogy) (The Immortal Trilogy #2)
by Alma KatsuI turned to Luke and reached for him. My blood felt as though it had seized up in my veins."Lanny, what is it?" Luke asked. I clutched his lapel desperately"It's Adair. He's free."FOR 200 YEARS SHE'S BEEN HIDINGHe gave her immortality.She tried to destroy him.Now he is searching for her.They must not meet.Or there will be a RECKONING
The Descent: (Book 3 of The Immortal Trilogy) (The Immortal Trilogy #3)
by Alma KatsuThe stunning conclusion to Alma Katsu's gripping supernatural trilogy that began with The Taker.'We had a tangled history, Adair and I. He had been my lover and my teacher, master to my slave. We had literally been prisoners to one another. Somewhere along the way he fell in love with me, but I was too afraid to love him in return. Afraid of his unexplainable powers, and his furious temper. Afraid of what I knew he was capable of and what even he himself didn’t know he could do. I ran away to follow a safer path with a man I could understand. I always knew, however, that my path would one day leadback to Adair...'
The Queen's Secret (Shakespeare’s Mistress #1)
by Victoria LambDesire and power collide in the court of Elizabeth IWarwickshire, 1575Pomp, fanfare and a wealth of lavish festivities await Elizabeth I at Kenilworth Castle. Organised by the Earl of Leicester, he knows this celebration is his last chance to persuade the Queen to marry him. But, a fickle man, he is unable to resist the seductive wiles of Lettice Knollys.Enraged by the couple’s growing intimacy, Elizabeth employs a young black singer and court entertainer to keep a watch on them. Brought up by a spy, Lucy’s observational skills are sharper than anyone at the castle realises, and she soon uncovers far more than she bargained for: Someone at Kenilworth is plotting to kill the queen. Can the knowledge Lucy is gaining prevent the death of the monarch? Or has it put Lucy in mortal danger instead?
You Don't Have to Say You Love Me
by Sarra ManningSweet, bookish Neve Slater always plays by the rules. And the number one rule is that good-natured fat girls like her don't get guys like gorgeous, handsome William, heir to Neve's heart since university. But William's been in LA for three years, and Neve's been slimming down and re-inventing herself so that when he returns, he'll fall head over heels in love with the new, improved her.So she's not that interested in other men. Until her sister Celia points out that if Neve wants William to think she's an experienced love-goddess and not the fumbling, awkward girl he left behind, then she'd better get some, well, experience.What Neve needs is someone to show her the ropes, someone like Celia's colleague Max. Wicked, shallow, sexy Max. And since he's such a man-slut, and so not Neve's type, she certainly won't fall for him. Because William is the man for her... right?Somewhere between losing weight and losing her inhibitions, Neve's lost her heart - but to who?
Treason's River
by Edwin ThomasAugust, 1806. As Britain fights alone against France, the greatest political chancer of his age hatches an audacious plot to upend the world order. Only one man stands in his way. Unfortunately, that man is Lieutenant Martin Jerrold.With powerful enemies in England to escape, Jerrold is only too happy to undertake a routine mission to America. But he'll soon wish he had stayed at home, as his journey takes him across pirate-infested seas, through the wilderness of the American frontier and down the mighty Mississippi river - into the heart of an extraordinary conspiracy. The stakes are high - the entire future of Britain's war against Napoleon rests in his not-so-capable hands. One wrong move and the consequences will be catastrophic, even by Jerrold's own dismal standards.
The Blighted Cliffs: The Reluctant Adventures Of Lieutenant Martin Jerrold
by Edwin ThomasNot many men emerged from Trafalgar without an ounce of credit to their names, but courtesy of an over-fondness for rum and his habitual bad luck, Lieutenant Martin Jerrold managed it. In February 1806, he is given one final chance to redeem his reputation and dispatched to Dover.Things don't augur well when, walking off the effects of a night in the tavern, Jerrold stumbles across a corpse lying on the beach. And they take a distinct turn for the worst when, to his horror and bemusement, he is suspected of murder. With a captain who despises him, and the local magistrate determined to see him hang, he knows clearing his name will require an imporbable reversal of his miserable fortunes. Somewhere in Dover's twisted streets, someone must know something. But Jerrold soon discovers that nothing is as it seems in a town where smuggling is a way of life, where everyone from the fishermen to the colonel of dragoons drinks only the finest French brandy...Distrusted by his superiors, set upon by suspiciously well-informed thugs and attacked by the French at sea, Jerrold does find some sympathy in the less-than-respectable arms of the comely Isobel, but he knows he has but two weeks to save his skin - or perish in the attempt.
Escape
by Heleen Van Royen Jantien BlackI have a husband, we have two children and we own our house. I am in good health and so are they, our lives are good; we have everything we need. Sometimes I look at them and wait, in vain, to be moved, as a mother should when watching her own family. Why do I no longer feel anything?Julia is thirty-six years old. At first sight she has it all, but actually she feels miserable. Trapped in the monotony of daily family life and fed up with her passionless marriage, Julia wants out. Escape. For once not to be a good mother, a good wife, a good daughter. For the first time in her life she does something completely irresponsible: she leaves her family behind and heads off into the sun.When Julia finally meets someone who makes her realize what she's been missing all her life, she is forced to reconcile with her past and confront the crucial question: does she dare to go home?
The Harbour Girl: a gripping historical romance saga from the Sunday Times bestselling author
by Val WoodScarborough, 1880Jeannie spends her days watching the harbour girls and waiting for Ethan Wharton to come in on his father's fishing smack. Jeannie had always expected to marry the loyal and dependable Ethan. But then she meets Harry, a stranger who has come to visit from Hull for the day, and she falls for him. When Jeannie finds herself pregnant and Harry breaks his promise to come back for her, she is left isolated. She and her child move to Hull where her life is touched by illness, tragedy and poverty. She longs for the simpler times of her past, and wonders if she will ever find someone who will truly love her - and if Ethan will ever forgive her . . .If you enjoy books by Katie Flynn and Dilly Court, you'll love Val's heartwarming stories of triumph over adversity.
The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes
by Marcus SakeyIt starts with you waking on a Maine beach, naked, half-drowned and very, very cold. Your name is Daniel Hayes. At least, you think it is. That’s the name on the insurance card you find in the BMW parked near you. How did you get here? And why?All you remember is a woman’s face. So you set off to the only place you might find her. But this raises the most chilling question of all: what will you find when you get there?From Lee Child . . ."Like any reader, I love old favourites . . . but I love new voices too, and I especially love it when a new voice starts to become an old favourite. It doesn't happen often, but right now it's happening with Marcus Sakey. He's got it all. he writes like a dream, he creates characters exactly like people you know, he scares you, and above all keeps you turning the pages.But most of all he does the 'what if' thing better than anyone in the business.'What if' questions power a lot of plots, but Sakey is special. He doesn't just check a box or construct a neat twist for the sake of it. Reading him between the lines, I guarantee he lives this stuff. . . he thinks it through and sweats it out, probably for weeks at a time. I can see him, looking around at all the things he loves, looking at his house, turning and looking at his wife, asking himself, 'What if? What if I had to put all this at risk? Would I? Could I? How would it feel? What would be the effect on me?'It's that kind of depth and intelligence and passion and emotion that sets Sakey apart. These are not just clever plots. These are real people with night sweats and wide eyes and everything to lose.The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes takes 'what if' in a new direction and to new heights. Every writer muses, 'What if the reader isn't sure whether the husband killed his wife, or not?' That's a basic whodunit. But Sakey asks, 'What if the husband isn't sure whether he killed his wife, or not?' That's a terrific premise, and it boosts an already-terrific thriller plot into the stratosphere."
The Zombie Autopsies: Secret Notebooks from the Apocalypse
by Steven C Schlozman DrIt seems that renowned zombie expert Dr Stanley Blum kept a detailed record of the vital work that he and his crack medical team conducted in their desperate bid to find a cure for the epidemic that is devastating the world. This is his notebook and it doesn't make comfortable reading. Here he documents the unique biology of zombie organisms for the first time, Notes taken during his dissection of immobilized but still functioning zombies include graphic depictions of the internal workings of these once-humans, and reveal in grim detail the zombie anatomy and offer shocking insights into how these creatures function. This is not a book for the fainthearted. And what soon becomes tragically clear is that Blum and his staff were caught up in a race against time...for they too start to succumb to the zombie plague. We can only guess at the fate of Dr. Blum. But now that his notebook has been made available to the UN, the WHO and the wider world, we can only pray that Blum's scientific discoveries offer some hope for humankind on earth against the plague of the living dead...
Any Man of Mine (Chinooks Hockey Team Ser. #No. 6)
by Rachel GibsonHey, pretty lady, haven't we met?Yes, beautiful thirty-something Autumn Haven has definitely met hockey-superstar Sam LeClaire before. Several years ago she had a passionate, Vegas-inspired fling with him involving getting hitched in an Elvis-themed wedding chapel and ending with her waking up in a hotel room: alone, heartbroken... and pregnant.So these days, reminding her ex-husband that she even exists isn't high on Autumn's to-do list. But they have a child, Conner, and suddenly Sam claims to have grown up, wanting to be more involved with his son. And handsome, drop-dead sexy Sam always gets what he wants. Being a good dad to Conner is one thing, but to her horror, Autumn realises she still finds it practically impossible to be around Sam without falling for his charms once again. And that's the last thing she wants... isn't it?Sexy, funny, unputdownable - there's no one quite like Rachel Gibson.
The Quarry: Oland Quartet series 3 (Oland Quartet #1)
by Johan Theorin'Powerful' Guardian'Haunting' IndependentHow close can you get to the truth...before you become the target?Jerry Morner lives quietly in a cabin by the old quarry, hurting no one. Or that’s what he wants people to believe. It takes one spark and a can of petrol to expose the truth.The fire is deadly. Not for Jerry, but for the two strangers found burnt to death inside. His son starts to search for answers. But he soon realises that some secrets are better left to the dead.
The Widow Ginger: A heart-warming and upliftingly funny saga from the East End
by Pip GrangerIt is 1954, the year Roger Bannister won the four-minute mile. Rosie, and her beloved Auntie Maggie are opening up their café in Old Compton Street for Uncle Bert's breakfast special when the Widow Ginger comes to call. The Widow Ginger, an ex-GI with ice-cold blue eyes, is especially scary. He has unfinished business with Uncle Bert - business that includes being cheated on his share of a 'liberated' lorry-load of guns and explosives during the War - and he intends to make sure he now gets paid in full. And this isn't all: the lovely Luigi appears to be suffering from a severe case of unrequited lust; Bert and the local Mafioso Maltese Joe have had an acrimonious falling-out; and, most worrying of all, Rosie's best friend Jenny has begun to keel over mysteriously in the school playground. With a cast of colourful characters with wonderful names like Sugar Plum Flaherty and Bandy Bunion, Soho streets so authentic you can lean out and touch them, and a story that will make you laugh and cry, The Widow Ginger is another heart-warming novel that will establish Pip as the queen of London saga-writers.
Not All Tarts Are Apple: A perfectly feel-good comic saga from the East End
by Pip GrangerA rags-to-riches story with a delightfully original spin, Not All Tarts Are Apple is narrated by seven-year-old Rosie who grows up in a cafe in 1950s Soho, watched over by her eagle-eyed Auntie Maggie and Uncle Bert, and visited on occasions by her mother, the mysterious, and often drunk, Perfumed Lady. But it soon transpires that the Perfumed Lady's family - landed gentry who hail from a country estate near Bath - are desperate to get their hands on Rosie, and will stop at nothing - even kidnap - to acquire her. Not All Tarts Are Apple is peopled with a wonderful cast of eccentric subsidiary characters - Great Aunt Dodie, Madame Zelda and Paulette, Sharky, the Campini Family who run an Italian delicatessan in Old Compton Street, and Maltese Joe - all of whom live in a Soho so atmospherically evoked that you can smell and taste it.
No Peace For The Wicked: The East-End is brought to life in this heart-warming Cockney saga
by Pip GrangerIt is 1956, and Lizzy is working in Soho when Peace comes to stay. Peace is a beautiful sixteen-year-old part-Chinese girl, the daughter - it turns out - of her employer Bandy Bunion's estranged sister. Peace has been at a boarding school in the country - but, tired of feeling lonely and of being bullied, she has run away, and does not intend to go back.Lizzy, who lives above the nightclub run by Bandy and Sugarplum Flaherty, offers to take her in; she lost her own daughter - Rosie's best friend - to leukaemia two years previously and she feels a special bond with Peace. Life, Lizzy also feels, has been rather too quiet recently; but things are about to change dramatically. Bandy has got a new man in her life - a crook for certain, Lizzy thinks, especially when Bandy's valuables start to go missing. And Lizzy's got a new man too. TC is Rosie's dad and everyone's favourite policeman. But is he interested in her? But when Peace goes missing a second time, and no one knows where she's gone, it looks as though there's only one thing to do. Lizzy asks TC to help her find Peace, and the first place they must visit is the seedy dock area in Limehouse. The home of the Chinese community, it's a very dangerous place indeed...
Trouble In Paradise: A fantastically funny and feel-good tale from the East End… (Magna Large Print)
by Pip GrangerIt is 1945, and all over England people are looking forward to being at peace again. Except for one woman. For recently married Zelda, peace means the return of her husband, and this is bad news indeed. Zelda has had to marry Charlie Fluck because she was pregnant by him. And the Fluck clan are backed by the unsavoury Holes, at the centre of whose criminal empire sits Ma Hole like a large malevolent toad. Not only is Zelda frightened of her husband - and she has reason to be, having lost her baby due to a bad 'fall' when Charlie pushed her down the stairs - but so is her good friend, Zinnia Makepeace, local midwife, herbalist, wise woman and layer out of bodies. Her house fronts Paradise Gardens, and she has the choicest of garden allotments - both of which Ma Hole is determined to have at any cost.Meanwhile young Tony, Zelda's nephew, is going off the rails. His dad's missing, presumed dead, his mum is in a state, and he's running wild with Bung 'Ole, or Brian Hole as his police records call him. But Tony can sing. He has, in fact, the voice of an angel. So Zelda arranges for Tony to have singing lessons to straighten him out - and this takes her to Soho, where she meets Maggie and Bert Fetherby who run a cheerful and very busy café in Old Compton Street.When Zelda reads Maggie's cards, and tells her that she can see a baby, she is unprepared for the tears that follow. For Maggie has always wanted a baby, and it seems that this is the one thing that she and Bert cannot have. Zelda knows there's a solution - but she has reckoned without the trouble now raging back in Paradise Gardens...
Unchained Melanie: The perfect, light-hearted, feel-good romance to settle down with (Isis Cassettes)
by Judy AstleyIf you like Milly Johnson and Carole Matthews, you'll love this funny and touching novel from Judy Astley about life after marriage . . .Melanie finds herself single again after years of being one half of a couple. Her friends predict loneliness, frustration, disaster. Her parents are convinced she's a failure in life. But Melanie is overwhelmingly excited to be able to do her own thing - she plans a programme of behaving badly, after a lifetime of behaving properly. With her daughter off to university and ex-husband Roger married off at last - to his lamentably young girlfriend - she has a Free House, and she intends to make the most of it.But is the single life quite all it's cracked up to be?Readers love Judy Astley:"Warm, funny and unerringly true to life" Katie Fforde"A laugh-out-loud read" Woman's Own"A light, enjoyable, read you won't be able to resist warming to" Daily Mail
Size Matters: a witty and warm-hearted comedy from bestselling author Judy Astley (Isis Series)
by Judy AstleyBig and beautiful? Or thin and miserable?Jay has always envied her cousin Delphine. While Jay was brought up in a large, noisy and chaotic family, Delphine was indulged, perfectly dressed with a co-ordinated bedroom, an immaculate wardrobe, dancing lessons and monogrammed silver-backed hairbrushes. Now Jay lives happily with her architect husband and their three teenage children, running a successful cleaning company and trying to keep some kind of order on her disorderly household, while Delphine has long since disappeared to Australia with her second husband. But Jay does sometimes wonder whether she should be more like her cousin - utterly well-organised and with a size ten figure.So Jay decides to diet. But what should it be? High carb, no protein? High protein, no carb? High fibre? Wheat free? Fat free? Food free? She tries them all, with a variety of successes and failures. But then Delphine reappears, with a third husband in prospect and the same old air of apparently effortless superiority. Jay never considers that perhaps Delphine is the envious one...
All Inclusive: an unputdownable and unforgettable laugh-out-loud read from bestselling author Judy Astley (Isis Cassettes)
by Judy AstleyDo the friendships you make on holiday have anything to do with real life?It might be sensible to hope that they don't.For the last few years, Beth and Ned have gone to the same Caribbean island to the same luxury spa hotel. There they meet the same crowd, and take up where they left off last time. Real life, home life, family life, are all safely left behind.Except this year. This year, home problems have somehow tagged along for the ride. Ned has been playing away - a bit of a drunken fling, that's all, nothing to worry about, Beth thinks.But although they have put it all behind them, what Beth doesn't know is that Ned's fling was with the female half of one of the couples they are holidaying with.To make matters worse, Beth has insisted on bringing along their sixteen-year-old daughter Delilah, who¹s been ill and needs rest and sunshine. Not so ill, however, that she can't look around for some entertainment...
Away From It All: a delightful, light-hearted and heart-warming novel about finding the right life for you… (Isis Cassettes)
by Judy AstleyIf you like Carole Matthews and Milly Johnson, you'll love this delightful, light-hearted read from ever-popular Judy Astley Alice has a scrupulously organised, comfortable life in West London with Noel - her second husband whose main ambition in life is to sharpen his golf handicap in time for retirement. But when her mother Jocelyn, residing in shabby splendour in a crumbling house on a clifftop in Cornwall, becomes ill, Alice and the family goes to look after her. What she finds there appals her: her glorious childhood home falling into decay. Noel, helpfully, thinks Jocelyn should offload the house ('She's sitting on a goldmine, you know') and move into sensible sheltered accommodation. But their children love the freedom and beauty that they discover in Cornwall, and Alice begins to wonder whether her chosen way of life is necessarily the right one . . .Readers love Judy Astley:"Warm, funny and unerringly true to life" Katie Fforde"A laugh out loud read" Woman's Own"Wickedly funny" Daily Mail"A lively laughter-packed riot of a story" Heat
The Mistress's Revenge
by Tamar CohenYou think you are rid of me. You think you have drawn a line under the whole affair.You are so, so wrong.For five years, Sally and Clive have been lost in a passionate affair. Now he has dumped her, to devote himself to his wife and family, and Sally is left in freefall.It starts with a casual stroll past his house, and popping into the brasserie where his son works. Then Sally befriends Clive's wife and daughter on Facebook. But that's alright isn't it? I mean they are perfectly normal things to do. Aren't they?Not since Fatal Attraction has the fallout from an illicit affair been exposed in such a sharp, darkly funny and disturbing way.. After all, who doesn't know a normal, perfectly sane woman who has gone a little crazy when her heart was broken?