In their culture, drinking is as traditional as blinchiki and piroshkis. So when her mom starts having bad days, it seems like Alyssa’s the only one who notices-or cares.Alyssa would love to focus on regular stuff like her first kiss with Keith, her cute track team partner-or simply come home without dread of what she might find. But someone has to clean up her mom’s mess. Her dad is steeped in work, the evening news, and denial. Her best friend Lana is busy-shamelessly vying for a place with the popular crowd who ridicule their Russian heritage.It’s up to Alyssa to save her mom-and her family. But who will be there to catch Alyssa when her mom’s next fall off the wagon drags her down, too?

    In Dublin, her best friend, Eileen, is getting over a break-up and slips back into flirting with Simon, a man she has known since childhood. Alice, Felix, Eileen, and Simon are still young—but life is catching up with them. They desire each other, they delude each other, they get together, they break apart. They have sex, they worry about sex, they worry about their friendships and the world they live in. Are they standing in the last lighted room before the darkness, bearing witness to something? Will they find a way to believe in a beautiful world?

    On her own. The hard way. She built her part-time business up from nothing and made it successful through her imagination, creativity, and hard work. She has two great children and Dennis, a husband she loves completely.Then, one evening, when Claire returns from a difficult business trip, Dennis hands her divorce papers along with a court order to vacate their house. Claire is devastated. She had no idea her marriage was on the brink of disaster, that Dennis had been planning this ambush for weeks, if not months, or that her hectic but happy life was about to come crashing down around her.Claire doesn't know where to turn or whom to trust. But in a few short weeks she learns what so many women have had to discover—that when the going gets tough, a woman's as tough as she needs to be.

    Soon, they are joined by other high tide swimmers, each with a crisis of their own to weather. Ann, a bossy organiser, is caring for her elderly mother at home; Julie has somehow (although she’s not quite sure how) managed to produce three children under school age; and Chloe, a bright, brittle girl of fifteen, finds calmness in the water, and Quiet, anxious Bill is soon welcomed into the heart of the club. When the swimmers discover plans for their beach to be paved over for a leisure complex, together they are determined to make a stand, and to prove that the beach is more than just a place to swim – it is the heart of the community.

    Gifted the memory bell, a family heirloom, from her grandfather’s will, Grace’s excitement is soon squashed when the bell gets broken right after she receives it. While gluing the pieces back in place, she discovers three are still missing. Determined to find them, she is halted when the new detective, Bennet James, investigates her family. Grace is intent on showing the detective her family isn’t capable of murder, but as the investigation deepens, and pieces of the bell show up with ominous notes, Grace soon realizes the Penners are not what they seem. Amidst the tightly knit family; dark secrets, deception, and possibly even murder unfold. Will Grace be able to save the family she loves more than anything without losing herself forever?

    It's a dazzling performance ...That film made me get out the chess set I'd abandoned three years earlier. It made me search through East Anglia for a blue-eyed boy suffering from wealth-ennui. I never found one, but my chess and my nails were outstanding for a thirteen year old.' Lexicographer, chess master and hedonist, Rose is down on her luck when she meets Jamie, a guy she beat at chess twelve years previously who has never recovered from losing the game or forgotten the sight of Rose's perfectly manicured nails poised to strike over the chess board. She's destitute, he's loaded and terrified of losing her again. They strike a bargain: in return for chess he will keep her. What is it like being a kept woman in the 21st century? Rose is about to find out. She's also about to learn that disguising your moves in chess can lead to victory, but doing the same thing in love leads to disaster.

    She jet-sets around the globe . . Saffron Skies is a magnificent story of sisters, family, friends and love!!

    Tonight is her crowning moment: The beautiful businesswoman has just unveiled the San Francisco Palace, the fabulous new luxury hotel that towers over the neon-bright city like a giant, glittering jewel. But as the star-studded grand opening festivities gather momentum several stories below, Dorothy Anne stands alone on the hotel's penthouse balcony, anxiously scanning the skies for a glimpse of her husband Freddy's private helicopter. It never arrives, and soon her most dreaded fears come true. As Dorothy Anne tries to cope with the devastating loss of the man who was her friend, her lover, and her whole life, a mysterious group of powerful businessmen plot a ruthless takeover of her hard-won international empire. With dizzying speed, Dorothy Anne's world spins wildly out of control, plunging her into a nightmare of scandal, deception, and cold-blooded murder. Then she meets charismatic Hunt Winslow, a decorated war hero and rising political star on a clear career path to the White House - if his domineering mother has her way. Trapped in a loveless marriage, Hunt offers Dorothy Anne something as unexpected as it is miraculous: a second chance at love. But their illicit passion will place both their lives in grave danger and could destroy everything they have worked so hard to attainall they hold most precious.

    Now, at thirty-two, she's got the perfect career (in advertising), the perfect body (just say no to doughnuts), and at last, the perfect man (who finally left his overbearing wife). Life with sexy, career-driven Hugh is like a page from a magazine -- what more could a woman want? She never planned on getting pregnant. Now she's the kind of woman who scavenges the office trash bin for that last doughnut...who bursts into tears reading baby books...and whose life is about how it feels on the inside, and not how it looks on the outside. But as George grows bigger, Hugh grows more distant. The tiny being who hasn't even entered the world is already testing theirs. And by the end of nine months, George will know what it truly means to love someone unconditionally -- including herself.

     Newly unemployed, Sophie White has nothing better to do when her recently widowed best friend, Gina, invites her along on a much-needed, postcrisis getaway. When, after only one day in Ireland, Gina decides she should do her grieving back at home, she urges Sophie to remain and make the most of the summer in Booley, the tiny seaside village that was their destination. A job offer accepted on a whim lands her in the village's craft shop, and in the position once held by Finola O'Flynn, a woman who'd swiftly left town a few years before. Sophie takes on Finola's job of creating beaded bracelets, but also takes over Finola's abandoned home, then Finola's left-behind wardrobe, and finally, after her own episode of lost love, Finola's discarded man, charismatic shop owner Liam. But could Sophie -- or anyone -- ever take over the legendary place that her predecessor still holds in the hearts of Booley? Friend, confidante, and guru to all -- literally a lifesaver to some -- even in her absence Finola continues to captivate. Her myth manages to reenergize Sophie, who passes along the gift through bracelets she infuses with invented "powers" that make the wearers believe they have what it takes to face life's challenges. But is Sophie powerful enough to face a whopper of her own when Finola returns to Booley and to the life she deserted? Does Sophie have the magic to make room in one tiny village for two women who want the very same life?

    Sequel to This Can't Be Life

    Their school is about to be taught a lesson...Beverley Franklin will do whatever it takes to protect her local school's reputation.So when a scandal involving her own daughter threatens to derail the annual school musical's appearance on national television, Beverley goes into overdrive.But in her efforts to protect her daughter and keep the musical on track, she misses what's really going, both in her own house and in the insular Glass Lake community - with dramatic consequences.Glass Lake primary school's reputation is about to be shattered...

    And falling in love...Nell Stockdale is in a pretty good place, managing to combine a full-on career with single motherhood, a lovely flat, great girlfriends, and a sexy younger man on the scene. But her mother is very ill. Will she return to the family's large, damp Cornish farmhouse to care for her? Normally Nell keeps her family at arm's length. Her sister is engaged to Nell's ex big love, and she has never got on with her eccentric, distant mother. But something powerful is pulling her back to Cornwall...

    'Brilliant and superior women's fiction' HeatIn the Cornish town of Talting, everyone is famous for something.Until recently Rose was known for many things: her infectious positivity; her unique artistic talent; and her devotion to childhood sweetheart Lucas.But two years ago that changed in one unthinkable moment. Now, Rose is known for being the young woman who became a widow aged just twenty-four.Though Rose knows that life must go on, the thought of carving out a new future for herself is one she can barely entertain. Until a newcomer, Robert, arrives in Talting for the summer...Can Rose allow herself the chance to love again?Get lost in Victoria Walters' immensely touching debut novel, and discover a world that will capture your imagination and heart.Readers are falling in love with THE SECOND LOVE OF MY LIFE:'A beautiful story - full of heart' Giovanna Fletcher'An emotional read' Daily Mail 'A wonderful love story' Heat'A sobtastic story' Red Online 'Just darn brilliant' Look 'Brilliant and superior women's fiction' Heat 'A moving debut' Sun 'A well-written, heart-wrenching read' Best 'Heartbreaking and heart-awakening' Lisa Dickenson*New Magazine BOOK OF THE WEEK*

    Plagued by personal tragedy and united by failing marriages, they mastermind a shocking plan to turn the tables on their husbands.Set against a backdrop of exotic locations, designer boutiques and London's high society scene, these Chelsea Wives are about to join forces and risk it all for the ultimate revenge…'A fun, romp of a read, the perfect poolside companion' Grazia‘Funny, sexy and 100% beach-read fabulous’ Cosmopolitan‘Think Desperate Housewives in Chelsea and you’ll be on the right page with this delicious drama, where trophy wives turn the tables on their other halves’ Glamour‘An easy and enjoyable holiday romp, which allows you to leave behind your own cares and worries as you’re whisked through the streets of super-rich Chelsea’ Fabulous‘A sassy mix of glamour and thrills, this is a real gem’ Closer