They lost. They lived. In the small Yorkshire town of Cottenly - dominated by the steel works and surrounded by beautiful countryside - Isaac Stanford lives with his wife Emily and their three lovely daughters, known locally as the Stanford lasses. Alice, the eldest, lives only for her work as a secretary and chapel on Sunday. Fair and loving Lizzie is content with her job making umbrellas - until she falls in love with George Crossman and all she desires is to be a wife and mother. And headstrong Ruth, the merry one, is intent upon marrying handsome charmer, Walter Wray, despite warnings from friends and family. Already emotionally damaged by a traumatic childhood, Alice struggles to lead a normal life. Poor but happy with her ever increasing family, with the onset of war, Lizzie faces the threat of losing all she holds dear. And Ruth soon realises she has made a terrible mistake in her marriage as she becomes trapped in a life of poverty and violence. As the years pass each sister is forced to confront her greatest challenge ...

    Meryl Howe thinks she's outrun her trailer trash past with a prosperous husband, private schools for her children and winning, after much kowtowing to the elite, the chairmanship of Seattle Children's Hospital Guild. But one horrible night her world and her marriage and her life implodes. Just when Meryl thinks things have hit rock bottom, her estranged mother blows in from Vegas with plans to save her daughter's marriage. After four years of sobriety, Faye's brought along Hot Jesus - a saintly apparition who rides shotgun in her life. Faye, a former stripper and veteran of multiple marriages, plans on talking her daughter into opening an exotic dance and fitness studio. But Meryl has other plans. She's falling for a Sheriff who is accusing her of crimes she didn't commit. Mostly. As Faye steamrolls ahead, Meryl must learn a few of her mother's sexy moves in order to shake the sad memories of her past.

    That is, when they’re someone else’s problems. So when it comes to her sister, Sophie is sure she has all the answers, and offers them without hesitation. If only her sister would listen.Then, through a series of chance encounters, she meets Sam, who is witty, kind, and downright unflappable. Sophie has the overwhelming sense that she’s known him before, and as a relationship builds between them, odd visions invade her mind. Though she tries to dismiss them, their persistence will not allow it.As someone who is quick to judge others, she is intrigued by Sam’s ability to accept people as they are. She begins to see him as a role model, but try as she may, his accepting nature is difficult to emulate.Will Sophie ever be able to put her hasty judgments aside and realize not every problem has a simple solution?

    Now that Sparrow, her ward, has reached nine years of age, she reckons he needs a male role model in his life. With typical efficiency she sets about finding a father-figure by drawing up a series of checklists for each candidate, and following a strict protocol for interviewing them.So far, all the contenders have failed miserably to get enough ticks in the right boxes. But Ferne is focused and nothing is going to stop her from fulfilling her responsibilities…...except maybe a saboteur out to wreck her business; drunken neighbours; her unfortunate past from which it is so difficult to escape; her estranged mother; long-lost sister; and her Jack Russell, Merrie, who is not above galloping over and nipping any prospective role models she thinks Will Not Do.Katie Fforde (best-selling rom com author and President of the Romantic Novelists' Association) said of 'All His Own Hair': 'Susan Alison handles difficult issues with quirky humour and uplifting results.'(To give you some idea of length - 'White Lies and Custard Creams' is 83,700 words long and 'All His Own Hair' is 87,300 words long.)Susan Alison is the Katie Fforde Bursary Award winner for 2011. She has won competition awards for short fiction and sold numerous stories to commercial publications. Her fiction concentrates on the relationships humans forge with each other (and quite often with their dogs). She is a freelance artist.Jill Mansell (best-selling rom com author) said of 'White Lies and Custard Creams': "Susan Alison has written a lovely, quirky romp packed with off-the-wall characters - original, intriguing and great fun!"

    The mayor of Chicago will be assassinated at the end of the week, and she is stuck in the year 1893. What she doesn’t know is how she landed 100 years back in time, or why Peter Hastings, the man trying to help her, shares some eerie similarities to her dead husband.When Joey, perhaps unwisely, revealed the year of her origins it didn’t sit well with her host. Her effort to convince him by predicting the mayor’s murder only made matters worse. Now her sanity is in question, and everything she does puts it further into doubt. One of the few bright spots in the whole situation is William, Peter’s five year-old son, but he is a stark reminder that she left a son of her own back in 1993. Stuck in the past and desperate to return to her own Chicago, Joey stumbles her way through a time when women had a barely-audible voice, and very few options. Armed with nothing but her wits, Joey must navigate the rigid waters of the Victorian era while she tries to prevent a murder and find her way home.

    Then, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle move next door as they battle to break Babe Ruth's home run record. Based on historical facts, The M&M Boys explores the parallel lives of an embittered Maris and a self-destructive Mantle who live together incognito in a remote Queens apartment. Maris, a misplaced Midwesterner, gets booed by the Yankee fans who prefer Mantle, and the press pursue him mercilessly. Mantle, on the other hand, basks in New York fans approval, but a series of injuries destroy his hope of winning the competition. Marshall's friendship unearths childhood memories for both men. What all three M&M Boys have in common is a good lesson in how to play the game of life, on and off the field.

    As air raid sirens shriek from her computer’s speakers, her laptop displays an image of Mike’s face, frozen in fear. Medics repair Mike’s leg injury. But when he returns home, Sarah is thrust into the role of caregiver to a man she hardly recognizes. Tortured by wild mood swings, flashbacks, and anti-social behaviors, her husband becomes a danger to himself and others. A business opportunity seems to offer a way out for Mike from a military that now considers him weak and surplus to requirements. But can Sarah risk her family’s future on a man who may be damaged beyond repair?

    Joe, Alex, and Nick are the men in their lives, and each of them wants to be more than just a friend.Samantha doesn't really give romance much thought until her high school sweetheart shows up unexpectedly at her door after a decade-long absence. As much as Sam would like to put the past behind her, she finds herself suddenly trying to choose between whether or not to give her old flame a second chance or to finally take things to a new level with a good friend.When Julia's longtime boyfriend suddenly reveals that he is in love with someone else, Julia reverts to the carefree, reckless behavior of her college days. Julia goes from party girl to pregnant and alone, making Samantha wonder if Julia is the best person to turn to when it comes to seeking advice for matters of the heart.

    She finds herself falling for the attractive estate manager, who carries secrets of his own. As the tension grows more unbearable, Ellen will have to risk everything she holds dear to discover the secrets that lurk in the shadows of the Chateau D'Arc.

    An English lord. A love that overcomes all boundaries, but at what cost?Lord August Grayson, English landlord, has secretly, and much to the dismay of his father, held in reverence the object of his first fancy: poor Irish tenant Maeve O'Connor. Returning to the Ireland for the first time since his youth, August discovers that Maeve has grown into a woman of beauty and tenacity. August understands, however, that he could offer Maeve nothing but shame if her pursued her. But when circumstances allow him an opportunity to indulge his fancy, even if only in a limited scope, August finds himself unable to resist the temptation. Maeve,for her part, knows the danger falling for August holds, but finds her heart and her good senses becoming confused the longer she spends in his company. As two hearts become hopelessly entangled, both Maeve and August are forced to question the costs of their love. As consequences of their romance manifest, both struggle with the pain and difficulties their love causes, both for them and for their loved ones.Killian McRae's delve into historical romance will challenge reader's presumptions of the genre. A title garnering controversy due to McRae's preference towards historical truth versus genre-standard "love despite the realities of the day" perspectives, it asks at what cost winning love is justified. "A Love by Any Measure" is an exploration of a romance that strives to overcome divisions of cultural, socio-economic, and religious differences in an era where options for lovers in such situations were limited.

    Seth can’t let go of the past. Recent Wellesley College graduate Caroline Prescott’s future is set in stone. After Harvard Law School, she’ll step into place beside her two brothers in their father’s legendary Boston law firm. Caroline secretly longs for the quiet, peaceful life and a career designing jewelry with precious gemstones instead of life as a hotshot Boston attorney. On a hiking trip with her two best friends weeks before entering law school, Caroline meets Seth Barnes in charming Evergreen, Maine. A mineralogist and part-time college professor, Seth drives a truck sporting an I DIG ROCKS license plate, lives in hiking clothes, flannel shirts and jeans, and loves Jesus. Two years later, when they meet again, Caroline and Seth confront both the promise of possibility and the pain of past heartaches. What’s a girl to do when the man she secretly loves has a serious girlfriend and seems determined to hold her at arm’s length? And what’s a guy to do when he can’t stay away from a certain irresistible woman no matter how hard he tries? Does the Lord have His own design for their hearts? Heart’s Design, a story filled with faith, friendship, love, family, and the power of forgiveness.

    To boost her self-esteem, overweight Kate joins Slimforever'. Will it help her find herself again? Jenny longs for a baby but time is running out. If she lost weight, would it help her to conceive? She joins 'Slimforever' in a last-ditch attempt to beat her biological clock. Is it the answer to her prayers? Their friend Lauren, a beautiful ex-model, decides she could lose a few pounds too. Lauren appears to have it all – elegant Georgian home, barrister husband, two lovely children and a successful business as an interior decorator. But is it all as it seems? Meanwhile sexy, voluptuous Diana craves excitement and detests being buried in the backwoods of Ballyfern. She’ll stop at nothing to get what she wants – even if it’s another woman’s husband. Four women – different goals – can they all be winners?

    . . but won a treasure. Due to a lost wager, the Duke of Ravenham is obliged to bring a pretty little nobody from the country into fashion among the high-sticklers of London Society. Ravenham would never refuse a debt of honor, no matter how unorthodox, so he overlooks Miss Gordon's vulgar relations to do what is necessary, escorting the unsophisticated chit to balls, etc. But what he expects to be an irksome duty turns out to be something quite different as he falls under the spell of his protege's innocent charm. When he lost that wager, he definitely never counted on losing his heart as well! First impressions can be deceiving. Miss Gabriella Gordon only came to London at her mother's and sister's insistence, for she'd much rather assist in running her father's veterinary practice than attempt to fit into fashionable society. No sooner has she arrived in London than the exalted (and exceedingly handsome) Duke of Ravenham comes to call. The reason is less than flattering, however: due to a lost wager, the Duke is forced to bring Gabriella into fashion, a "favor" she would certainly refuse if her family would let her. But the more time she spends in the dashing Duke's company, the more conflicted she feels-- particularly when she discovers they have more in common than she ever dared dream. A sparkling traditional Regency romance from bestselling author Brenda Hiatt.

    Thrilled for a new life in the exotic West Indies, privileged seventeen-year-old Tessa Monroe eagerly embraces her father’s reassignment to the fledgling Caribbean colony of St. Kitts where she can stake her claim as an up-and-coming socialite.But that dream unravels when a hurricane downs their ship on the passage from England, leaving Tessa as the sole survivor. Rescued by a passing ship, Tessa’s grief soon turns to terror as she realizes she isn’t a passenger—she’s a captive.With a future of slavery in the offing, Tessa joins forces with Nicholas Holladay, a charismatic sailor ready to break free from a life of piracy. Mutiny is in the air. Tessa and Nicholas will either win their freedom or earn a spot at the gallows.

    Penelope was the love of his life, the woman of his dreams. Scarlet knew how far her best friend was going to fall and she had to catch him. Scarlet became Sean’s rock and helped him through a very painful breakup, but her own hidden desires bubbled to the surface in the process. When they finally gave in and slept together, she thought it was the start of their new relationship. Unfortunately, Sean didn’t feel the same.Humiliated and heartbroken, Scarlet moved across the country and found what she least expected. She rekindled her damaged relationship with her brother, who she hadn’t spoken to in a year, and her brother’s best friend was attractive and interesting. Their relationship was natural and unforced, and she was immediately drawn to him. Would she be able to get over Sean, forget about him, by sleeping with Cortland, or would that just be another repeated mistake?THIS IS NOT A CLIFFHANGER*Recommended for mature audiences 17+ due to strong language and sexual content.*