Bored with the stultifying etiquette of the Hapsburg Court and her dutiful but unexciting husband, Franz Joseph, Sisi comes to England to hunt. She comes looking for excitement and she finds it in the dashing form of Captain Bay Middleton, the only man in Europe who can outride her. Ten years younger than her and engaged to the rich and devoted Charlotte, Bay has everything to lose by falling for a woman who can never be his. But Bay and the Empress are as reckless as each other, and their mutual attraction is a force that cannot be denied.Full of passion and drama, THE FORTUNE HUNTER tells the true story of a nineteenth century Queen of Hearts and a cavalry captain, and the struggle between love and duty.

    They even moved to the suburbs in anticipation of their future family. But despite approaching her cycle and their sex life with military precision, there's still no sign of what felt like the sure next step, whilst friends' broods seem to be growing by the week. Meanwhile, vying for a promotion at work under the (very attentive) watch of a new boss sends Olivia down a dangerous road of risking it all. Does a happy ever after, she starts to question, even have to include a baby? This is standout, intelligently written commercial fiction for fans of Sharon Horgan's Catastrophe, Dawn O'Porter's The Cows and Mhairi McFarlane's It's Not Me, It's You.

    But Marion Deacon, struggling with being a wife and mother, is about to set events in motion that she cannot control in a story of love, motherhood, betrayal, and long-hidden secrets . . . because everyone has at least one secret.Marion Deacon sits by the hospital bed of her dying husband, Michael. Outwardly she is, as she says, an unremarkable old woman. She has long concealed her history - and her feelings - from the casual observer. And she's learned to ignore her own past, too. But as she sits by Michael's bed, she's haunted by memories of events from almost forty years ago. She and Michael were recently married; their children, Eddie and Sarah, still young. Theirs was an uneventful life in a small village. But, stiflingly bored in her role as mother and wife, Marion fell for a married man, an affair that sparked a chain of events which re-sets all their lives.Moving between the voices of Marion, her teenage daughter Sarah and her youngest son, Eddie, How It Was is a story of love, loss and betrayal. Through Marion and Sarah, Janet Ellis explores the tensions at the heart of mother-daughter relationships, the pressure women face to be the perfect wife and mother, and how life rarely turns out the way we imagine it will when we are young.

    For in the eyes of this raven-haired, half-Indian loner, Martha sees the hint of danger, the depths of sorrow—and the tiniest spark of untold passion. Indeed, tragedy forced Ridge Longtree to leave the Apache stronghold at a young age. But when Martha's father is murdered, and Apache kidnap her younger sister, he cannot bear to see her distraught. Reluctantly, he agrees to lead her to the stronghold to save her kin. But somewhere along the jagged mountain trail, the two discover a passion that threatens to set their hearts aflame and endanger their mission of rescue.

    Your letters are a lifeline and there is something I need to tell you. Please write, please, please.1937, England. Kathleen Motts, with her flame-red curls and gift for geometry, grew up just across the water from the secretive RAF base, Bawdsey Manor, on the bleak and beautiful east coast. When the stars overhead turn red as warplanes surge towards her home, Kath is desperate to do her bit, enlisting as one of the first female radar operators, helping to keep the brave pilots safe in troubled skies.Vikram Mackensie is quiet, exceptional at maths and music, and always the outsider. When he’s recruited for a top-secret war project at Bawdsey Manor, Vic’s chance to belong has arrived at last. He may only be half-British, but he vows to help the country he loves.From their first meeting on windy cliffs above a rocky beach, Kath arrives like a blaze of warmth into Vic’s grey life and turns the colour back on. As the war intensifies, so do Kath and Vic’s feelings for each other. They may have grown up on different sides of the world – but if the war can’t keep them apart, nothing will.But fate intervenes when Vic is posted to America, and Kath is left heartbroken and alone. As the silence between them grows, so does the secret that Kath is holding… As the sky falls around Kath, will she ever have more than one last letter?A heartbreaking and gripping novel, Our Last Letter shows that even in humanity’s darkest moments, light and love will find a way.

    Keep up with Nancy Drew in this thrilling collection of mysteries full of intrigue, boys, and murder.In Secrets Can Kill, Nancy goes undercover to investigate the elusive thief stalking the nighttime halls of Bedford High. With her inside contact, gorgeous senior Daryl Gray, Nancy attempts to uncover the dangerous secrets that run deep at Bedford, but soon it’s a whole new game—a game called murder. And Nancy is the killer’s next target. In Deadly Intent, Nancy is ready to rock out at a concert in New York City—but the band’s lead guitarist vanishes minutes before they’re set to go on stage. Nancy and her on-again-off-again boyfriend Ned investigate, and their list of suspects leads them to a conspiracy that threatens to shake the entire music industry. In Murder on Ice, Nancy and Ned head to a ski resort to rekindle their romance. But instead of love, they find deadly peril. Can Nancy find the killer, before an avalanche of murder buries them all?

    What more could you wish for than a poignant, heart-warming saga to read this Christmas? LIVERPOOL, 1943Yorkshire is the place Lana has always called home, but it’s now filled with painful memories of her fiancé, Dickie, who was killed at sea. When she accepts the challenging position of headmistress at a school in Liverpool, she hopes a new beginning will help to mend her broken heart.A BATTLE TO FIGHTNot everyone at Bingham School is happy about her arrival but Lana throws herself into the role, teaching children from the local village and the nearby Dr Barnardo’s orphanage. She thrives in her work, but soon finds herself falling for a man who she would once have considered the enemy – and is torn between what she knows is right, and taking a risk that might see her lose everything.THE STRENGTH TO HOPEThere are children that desperately need her help, and Lana must fight for everyone’s happiness, as well as her own. But one young girl in particular shows her that there is a way through the darkness – because even when all seems lost, there is always a glimmer of hope to be found…

    He is just good old “Mr average” but you'll find that he does have an extremely interesting story to tell.This is about Alfie Watson and his coming of age story of life on a feral sink estate in the heart of 1950's England. It's a story that began as a diary to pass to his grandchildren and became a beautifully written account of his tormented life. The reader will be taken back in time to a period of post war deprivation that would scar Alfie for life. A disciplinarian father and a depraved mother meant that chastisement was always a tactile experience. Abuse in this family, took on many guises, often with heart rending conclusions." via Itunes

    The runaway evacuees who give her shelter call her Nellie, the only girl in 'Toff' Hecht's gang, until, yet again, tragedy strikes, and she is forced to move on. But when Nellie meets the great music hall illusionists, Monsieur and Madame Pierre - alias Bert and Doris Beckwith - her life begins again. In the magical world of bright lights and greasepaint she finds a wonderful new family. But even as she is happily stitching costumes backstage, Nellie can't stop thinking about her old life in the bombed-out rubble - and more particularly, about the restless young Jewish boy, 'Toff' Hecht...

    It is the late 1960s and the family enjoy an idyllic life in the Vale of Kashmir, despite the area being riddled with conflict and poverty. But after a devastating earthquake wipes out her entire family, Jaya is taken into the care of relatives in Delhi, who attempt to marry her off and keep secret from her the possibility that Tahir, her younger brother, has survived the earthquake. After escaping from the arranged marriage Jaya is put through medical training in Scotland, as she had always dreamed, and where she develops feelings for her foster family’s eldest son, Alastair, who is engaged to someone else. In the meantime, Tahir has been abducted by a band of Kashmiri freedom fighters, who have made him one of their own. Jaya finally returns to her troubled homeland to find him and come to terms with the loss of her family. Alastair, who arrives in Kashmir to announce his love for Jaya, is kidnapped by the freedom fighters, forcing her to risk everything to get him back.

    Can any woman ever grab back a piece of her younger self? For one weekend only, Hannah, Sadie and Lou are determined to give it their best shot.

    She’s felt that grief firsthand. So when Jaden, her crush and almost-boyfriend, loses his parents in a car accident, MacKenzie steps back. It might not be the right thing to do, but with an alcoholic mother and a father who deals with their family problems by not dealing at all, self-preservation is her only option. Then the pair meet by chance one night, reunited for the first time in months. Before MacKenzie can throw up her walls again, old feelings resurface and new memories are made. MacKenzie has missed Jaden more than anything. But can she dare to fall for the one person she’s so afraid of growing close to?Praise for Did I Mention I Love You:“A solid romance with a tantalizing helping of forbidden love.” —Booklist on Did I Mention I Love You?

    Plus special BONUS material at the end. What are the characters up to? Save money by buying the bundle instead of individually! Tied Together Includes: Tied to the Boss Set to be Tied Wickedly Tied Tied in Knots Tied Down Special Bonus Material Tied to the Boss Want to taste the forbidden? Victoria Carson does. She's had a crush on her boss since he hired her five years ago. Her promotion to be his personal secretary fuels her fantasies. But she's not familiar with his sexual appetite. Her boss introduces her to a whole new world of sexual desires, enticingly different from her vanilla lifestyle. She's unsure at first, but Dominic Nox takes the reins. A true dom, Dominic can't take it anymore; he wants his sweet little secretary. With the help of his smoldering hot colleague, Raphael Silver, he leads Victoria in the right direction. His direction. And he'll do everything to ensure she's tied to the boss. Set to be Tied Set up for pleasure. Jessica Coleman, numb and distraught from her job, is forced to take a vacation to recoup. So she gets in her car with an unknown destination. She meets hot-as-hell entrepreneur Raymond Silver who is looking for someone to fill his needs. When he spies her. But when Jess refuses his blunt offer, Ray does whatever it takes to show her how ignitable their passion can really be. Little does Jessica know that she is set to be tied. Wickedly Tied She’s tied. Timid librarian Michelle has one night with gorgeous Raphael Silver. A hero in her eyes, he saved her friend Vicki from getting date raped. He’s wicked. Dominant Raphael can’t resist showing his shy little mouse a taste of his world. With just giving her a taste, he forces himself to let her go. He changes his mind in taking her fully into his world because he can’t taint something so pure. When her best friend’s wedding day arrives, can they avoid each other without going up in flames? Michelle appears as if she has moved on, but has Raphael? Or are they both wickedly tied? Tied in Knots Victoria Carson has lived under gorgeous CEO Dominic Nox’s dominant reign for a full year. They have a true dominant/submissive relationship. All of her friends have tied the knot, but Dom hasn’t even said the three words she longs to hear. Tired of his incomprehensible attitude, Vicki takes the reins into her own hands, but is Dom too dominant to relinquish control? Will he realize the full extent of his feelings or will Vicki have to let go? She’s simply tied in knots. Tied Down She's a free spirit. After having a one night stand with a powerful man, Katrina Day flees. Both parties agreed to have no-strings sex, but Kat feels the need to sneak out anyways while his back is turned. She never wants to tie herself to a man like her friends. She's too independent to give up control. He's in his prime. Cristoff Rivera, owner of Rivera Inc. finds he's intrigued by young Kat. She's not like the women he's dated. After their night, he is furious that she's escaped and will do anything to tie her down, if only temporally so he can get her out of his system. Both players. Neither wants to settle, but they both find themselves tied down.

    

    We became very proficient at moving the patients who could walk quickly to the shelters when the sirens went. We were equally proficient at talking those who couldn’t walk into believing that they would be safe where they were. Some believed us, others didn’t.’ Surprising Matron as well as herself, Evelyn Prentis managed to pass her Finals and become a staff-nurse. Encouraged, she took the brave leap of moving from Nottingham to London – brave not least because war was about to break. Not only did the nurses have to cope with stray bombs and influxes of patients from as far away Dunkirk, but there were also RAF men stationed nearby – which caused considerable entertainment and disappointment, and a good number of marriages … But despite all the disruption to the hospital routine, Evelyn’s warm and compelling account of a nurse in action, shows a nurse’s life would always revolve around the comforting discomfort of porridge and rissoles, bandages and bedpans.