Book picks similar to
Summer Evenings at the Seafront Hotel by Vanessa Greene
fiction
chick-lit
chic-lit
contemporary
The Wedding Bluff
Lilly Bartlett - 2017
Just don't look too closely behind the scenes!When Emma’s boyfriend Daniel pops the question with a ring the size of a small country, she realizes just how different their worlds are. Her family can only afford a low-key wedding while Daniel’s mother is expecting a society party that their high-brow guests won’t forget!How will Emma put together a sophisticated champagne-sodden celebration fit for Lords and Ladies when her dad can’t accept any help from Daniel’s family, her best friend Kelly has become a world-class Bridesmaidzilla and her cross-dressing Uncle Barbara is dying to strut his stuff up the aisle?The big day is three months away. Just don’t look too closely, because nothing is as it seems!
You Were Meant for Me
Yona Zeldis McDonough - 2014
She’s been at Domestic Goddess magazine for eight years, she has great friends, and she’s finally moving on after a breakup. Having a baby isn’t even on her radar—until the day she discovers an abandoned newborn on the platform of a Brooklyn subway station. Rushing the little girl to the closest police station, Miranda hopes and prays she’ll be all right and that a loving family will step forward to take her. Yet Miranda can’t seem to get the baby off her mind and keeps coming up with excuses to go check on her, until finally a family court judge asks whether she’d like to be the baby’s foster parent—maybe even adopt her. To her own surprise, Miranda jumps at the chance. But nothing could have prepared her for the ecstasy of new-mother love—or the heartbreak she faces when the baby’s father surfaces.... CONVERSATION GUIDE INCLUDED
The Apple Orchard
Veronica Henry - 2017
War vet Joe has made new friends and a new home for himself here, overlooking a beautiful apple orchard. But when tragedy strikes and Joe is left out in the cold, it will bring them all together in entirely unexpected ways . . .
The Apple Orchard is a truly feel-good short story about friendship and kindness. It's the perfect introduction to Veronica Henry and includes an extract of her upcoming novel The Forever House.
A Notting Hill Christmas
Jon Rance - 2015
One family. A tiny flat in Notting Hill. A beautiful neighbour. A very angry dog. A horny Welshman. An enormous turkey. On the biggest day of the year. What could possibly go wrong? Meet Ben Canterbury, 29, single, lives in a poky flat in Notting Hill with horny Welshman, Rufus. His life has been one disappointment after another. What makes it worse is that his brother, Jamie, is the complete opposite - a Barrister to Ben’s Barista - with a family and a proper house in Twickenham. In an attempt to compete with his perfect brother, Ben insists he hosts the family Christmas, but it isn’t long before he realises he’s way out of his depth. Ben’s flat isn't big enough for everyone (including one very angry dog), the Christmas tree’s from the £1 shop, the decorations are hung with Blu-Tack, and the turkey might not fit in the oven. Ben’s definitely not feeling the Christmas spirit. But when beautiful new neighbour, Mhairi McGregor, appears at his door, Ben’s Christmas worries go out of the window and he begins to wonder if it might not be the worst Christmas in history after all. Amid all the drama, drinking and carnage of Christmas Day, will Ben find true love or will it be another disappointment to add to the list? A Notting Hill Christmas is a brilliantly funny, feel-good, festive novella perfect for fans of romantic comedies like Love Actually and Notting Hill.
Healing Touch
Jenna Anderson - 2009
A mysterious lump on her throat is making it hard. Handsome Dr. Jeremy Nelson is making it harder.
Alphabet Weekends
Elizabeth Noble - 2000
When Natalie's longtime boyfriend walks out on her just when she thinks he's going to propose, Tom offers her a different and wildly romantic proposition. He suggests that they spend twenty-six weekends together, indulging in twenty-six different activities from A to Z, and at the end of that time Tom's convinced they'll be madly in love. Natalie, however, is not so sure.As Natalie's touring the alphabet with Tom, her mother's going through her own romantic crisis—while Tom's unhappily married sister-in-law, Lucy, struggles with temptation. And over the course of six amazing months, three generations of passionate dreamers are going to discover that, no matter how clever they are, love—and life—is never as easy as A, B, C . . .
Rules for Dating a Romantic Hero
Harriet Evans - 2014
She was obsessed with meeting her own Prince Charming until she grew up and realized real life doesn’t work like that. Then she met Nick. A romantic hero straight from a fairytale, with a grand country estate and a family tree to match. They’ve been together four years now and Laura knows that what really matters is the two of them, not everything else around them. She can’t imagine ever loving anyone the way she loves Nick. Now, though, people are openly asking when they’ll hear wedding bells, and Nick is keeping secrets from Laura. She’s starting to feel she might not be ‘good enough’ for his family. Can an ordinary girl like Laura make it work with one of the most eligible men in the country?
The Switch
Beth O'Leary - 2020
Eileen is newly single and about to turn eighty. She'd like a second chance at love, but her tiny Yorkshire village doesn't offer many eligible gentlemen.Once Leena learns of Eileen's romantic predicament, she proposes a solution: a two-month swap. Eileen can live in London and look for love. Meanwhile Leena will look after everything in rural Yorkshire. But with gossiping neighbours and difficult family dynamics to navigate up north, and trendy London flatmates and online dating to contend with in the city, stepping into one another's shoes proves more difficult than either of them expected.Leena learns that a long-distance relationship isn't as romantic as she hoped it would be, and then there is the annoyingly perfect - and distractingly handsome - school teacher, who keeps showing up to outdo her efforts to impress the local villagers. Back in London, Eileen is a huge hit with her new neighbours, but is her perfect match nearer home than she first thought?
The Christmas Tea Shop & Bakery
De-ann Black - 2013
She moves to a lovely Scottish seaside town and opens up a vintage tea shop and bakery selling cakes, bread, scones and tea.It's Christmas time, and although Erith wants a quiet life, baking during the day and sewing her quilts in the evenings in her house above the shop, the local shopkeepers soon involve her in their festive plans.Stuart, who owns the shop that sells everything, flirts with her. Handsome interior designer, Muir, takes an interest in her, but is she interested in him? And what about Zack, the gorgeous bad boy?In this Christmassy romance, Erith bakes everything from chocolate bread to traditional Victoria sponge cakes. She blends her special selection of teas. She becomes friends with the local sewing bee women, Doreen, Millie and Belle. She also realises that when it comes to love, she has to trust her instincts rather than listen to local gossip.Set in a Scottish seaside town in a snowy December, there's baking, sewing, snogging and sexy men in this light-hearted romance novella. It's 22,000 words of Christmas cheer.Amid the chaos of Christmas, will Erith find time for love? Will there be a festive proposal? Who will be Santa and switch on the town's Christmas tree lights? In the busy little town there's only one thing for sure - no one wants to dress up as the reindeer's bum.
Annie's Holiday by the Sea
Liz Eeles - 2017
Even though there is zero phone signal and the locals – including the gorgeous but brooding Josh Pasco – can be decidedly grumpy at times, Annie starts to feel at home in Salt Bay.Soon Annie’s love of music leads her to relaunch the Salt Bay Choral Society, and she’s surprised to see how just much the choir means to the community – and she even starts to break through Josh’s surly exterior…But London is calling Annie back, and she has to make a decision. Give up her old life completely, or leave Salt Bay, her new-found family – and the choir – behind?Annie’s Holiday by the Sea is a heart-warming story about family, belonging and the healing power of music, perfect for fans of Jo Thomas, Holly Martin and Carole Matthews.
The Third Wish: A Novella
Carolyn Brown - 2017
Jessica’s wishes never came true—no other kids ever matched her height and she only ever found a small conch shell at the beach—but twenty years later, when she finds her mother’s old love letters, she has a chance to make the third wish come true. Jessica travels to Florida to find her father but their reunion is interrupted by his arrogant junior business partner, Rocky Rycroft. Indignant, Jessica goes back to her Texas hometown and is surprised that Rocky follows her home. He explains he’s been sent by her father’s family learn more about Jessica, but all of Jessica’s friends insist his interest is more personal than that.
Jessica was looking for her father, not love. Could she now possibly have both?
Valentine's Day at the Café at the End of the Pier
Helen Rolfe - 2018
The café is a hub for many people: the single dad who brings his little boy in on a Saturday morning; the lady who sits alone and stares out to sea; the woman who pops in after her morning run.Jo soon realises that each of her customers is looking for love - and she knows just the way to find it for them. She goes about setting each of them up on blind dates - each date is held in the café, with a special menu she has designed for the occasion.But Jo has never found love herself. She always held her grandparents' marriage up as her ideal and she hasn't found anything close to that. But could it be that love is right under her nose...?
The Cottage on Lily Pond Lane - New Beginnings: Part One
Emily Harvale - 2018
Mia Ward is amazed to be told she has inherited her great-aunt Matilda’s thatched cottage in the tiny seaside village of Little Pondale – especially as Mia didn’t know she had a great-aunt Matilda. She’s even more astonished to discover she’ll only inherit the place if she actually lives there for one year. Mia’s a city girl at heart, not to mention she’s afraid of water, so the fact the cottage backs on to a sandy beach, is not, in her opinion, a bonus. But Mia’s struggling to pay her rent since being fired for inappropriate behaviour at the office party, and her boyfriend’s also dumped her. When her best friend, Ella and Ella’s brother, Garrick offer to help her move and settle in, Mia decides to see this as a new beginning. It may also be the start of an exciting adventure because now Mia wants to know just who, exactly, was great-aunt Matilda. And she’s determined to find out. But it soon becomes clear that someone is trying to make sure Mia doesn’t stay in Little Pondale….
A Perfect Heritage
Penny Vincenzi - 2014
The legendary Athina Farrell remains the company's figurehead and in her kingdom at the Berkeley Arcade, Florence Hamilton plies their cosmetics with the utmost discretion. She is sales advisor - and holder of secrets - extraordinaire.But of course the world of cosmetics is changing and the once glorious House of Farrell is now in decline, its customers tempted away by more fashionable brands.Enter Bianca Bailey, formidable business woman, mother of three, and someone who always gets her way. Athina and Bianca lock horns over the future of the House of Farrell but it is the past that tells its devastating tale of ambition and ego, passion and wonder.Here is a tale of survival ... and a perfect heritage.
The Irish Cottage: Finding Elizabeth
Juliet Gauvin - 2014
Book 1 of 3. Elizabeth Lara built a perfect life as San Francisco’s top divorce attorney, but when she loses her great-aunt Mags, the woman who raised her, she boards a plane and leaves it all behind.The Irish shores welcome her as she learns a shocking truth, kept secret for thirty-five years. Devastated and now alone in the world, Beth tries to find peace in a beautiful cottage by Lough Rhiannon, but peace isn’t what fate had in mind. Almost as soon as she arrives, Beth’s solitary retreat into the magic wilds of Ireland is interrupted by Connor Bannon. A man with light brown hair, ice blue eyes and a secret of his own. He’s gorgeous, grieving, and completely unexpected. With the help of Mags’ letters, the colorful townspeople of Dingle, and Connor, Elizabeth might just find a way back to the girl she lost long ago and become the woman she always wanted to be.