Book picks similar to
The Boy I Love by Lynda Bellingham


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Love, or Nearest Offer


Adèle Geras - 2016
    your perfect new life?On paper, Iris Atkins is an estate agent, but she's not just good at finding suitable houses for her clients. In fact, she has a gift: Iris is able to see into their lives and understand exactly what is missing and what they need - and not just in bricks-and-mortar terms either.Of course, concentrating so much on fixing other people's problems doesn't leave much time for examining your own. Over the course of one whirlwind year Iris discovers that while she may know what's best for everyone else, she doesn't necessarily know what's best for herself - and what she finds out could make her happier than she'd ever dreamed of.

The Dressmaker's Daughter


Nancy Carson - 2015
    Love, passion and romance are reserved for daydreams.But then into Lizzie’s quiet world comes two men – one reliable and kind-hearted, the other heartbreakingly handsome. Just as Lizzie’s made her choice, the ominous call of war sounds, and her life changes again.Will Lizzie get her chance at happiness, or has it gone forever?

My Beautiful Struggle


Jordan Bone - 2017
    This is the inspiring true story of how a girl got her life back.Aged 15, Jordan Bone got into a car with friends. She would never walk again. Paralysed from the chest down, her life was changed forever. Becoming depressed and feeling like life wasn't worth living, these weren't the teenage years that Jordan had envisaged.However, slowly but surely, she began to get herself out of the darkness. With a little help from the internet, Jordan started to embrace positive thinking and embarked on a personal journey to get her confidence - and her life - back. Eleven years on from the accident, Jordan creates her own beauty tutorials on YouTube and has a range of successful brand partnerships. She has reclaimed her life and her independence and now wants to share her inspirational story with others and is telling it through different aspects of beauty. This isn't a book about looking good on the surface, this is a story of inner strength, believing in yourself and finding motivation when you feel like all hope is gone.

The Pets at Primrose Cottage


Sheila Norton - 2018
    Fresh from the heartbreak of a failed relationship, she takes refuge in quiet Crickleford. And not before long – and quite accidentally too – Emma finds herself the town’s favourite pet-sitter, a role she isn’t certain of at first, but soon her heart is warmed by the animals; they expect nothing more of her than she is able to give.The last thing Emma wants is for people to discover the real reason she is lying low, but then the handsome reporter from the local paper takes an interest in her story. Can Emma keep her secret and follow her heart’s desire…?

Wild and Free


Wendy Holden - 2015
    Everyone piles through its gates - and Cupid lies in wait to sprinkle a little midsummer madness on them all.Teacher Ginnie is desperate to forget her crush on headmaster Mark, and hopes glamping might do the trick. But Mark is also heading for Wild & Free to reform his college band ... desperate not to be seen by anyone he knows. Mark's bandmate James dreams of a festival blow-out with his son, Guy ... until his wife Victoria's ambition kills the dream. Now she and Guy are en route to Wild & Free instead but when Guy meets Shanna-Mae and falls for her earthy charms, Victoria is determined to snap Cupid's arrow.Will the magic of the festival send them wild? Or set them free to find peace and love?

Malice


Liz Crokin - 2015
    The lifelong conservative Republican finds herself extremely conflicted covering a sex scandal involving potentially the nation’s first Mormon President. The juicy assignment takes Lana on a wild and dangerous adventure from a desert town filled with sleazy brothels to quiet, Mormon-filled Salt Lake City. Lana’s millionaire boyfriend’s love and support gives her strength during her roller coaster assignment–until her entire world suddenly collapses. Ironically, Lana’s life becomes a worse nightmare than any salacious story she had covered in her ten-year career in the crazy, upside down world of tabloid journalism.

The Girl Behind the Wall


Mandy Robotham - 2021
    Overnight, she’s trapped under Soviet rule in unforgiving East Berlin and separated from her twin sister, Jutta.Two sisters torn apart.Karin and Jutta lead parallel lives for years, cut off by the Wall. But Karin finds one reason to keep going: Otto, the man who gives her hope, even amidst the brutal East German regime.One impossible choice…When Jutta finds a hidden way through the wall, the twins are reunited. But the Stasi have eyes everywhere, and soon Karin is faced with a terrible decision: to flee to the West and be with her sister, or sacrifice it all to follow her heart?

A Scattering Of Daisies


Susan Sallis - 1984
    Will Rising had dragged himself from humble beginnings to his own small tailoring business in Gloucester - and on the way he'd fallen violently in love with Florence, refined, delicate, and wanting something better for her children. March was the eldest girl, the least loved, the plain, unattractive one who, as the family grew, became more and more the household drudge. But March, a strange, intelligent, unhappy child, had inherited some of her mother's dreams. March Rising was determined to break out of the round of poverty and hard work, to find wealth, and love, and happiness.

The Chinese Lantern


Harry Bowling - 1997
    In Tanners Alley in Bermondsey, Ruby Neal gives birth to a son, Paul. On the edge of a paddy field in Eastern China, a young woman dies giving premature birth to a girl. A travelling trader takes pity and takes the tiny child to the Anglican mission to be cared for. He becomes the child's guardian and names her Mei Li Ching.By the time Paul and Mei Li reach their twenty-first birthdays, they could not have had more different lives. And it is only as a consequence of war that they ever meet. Instantly attracted to each other, they are soon to discover the problems their cultural differences - and family prejudices - will bring.

The Christmas Key


Kim O'Brien - 2005
    One daughter is flunking three subjects, and the other is riddled with tattoos.Already late for her Suddenly Single support group two nights before Christmas, Joanie rushes to the church only to run into her ex-husband, Mitchell, who claims to be there to meet Pastor Frank. But as they try to leave, the door is stuck, and the lock won’t budge. With escape on the mind, from the building and each other, Joanie and Mitchell scavenge for a way out, but what they find is a key to emotions that have been locked away and ignored too long.Back at home, Natalie is reprimanding Amelia for allowing her boyfriend to come over when no one else is home when suddenly the doorbell rings…and Pastor Frank is on the other side. Forced to entertain Pastor Frank while Amelia and her boyfriend hide, Natalie discovers that she can’t hold her family together herself, and Amelia realizes that she can’t afford to let her.

Christmas at Tuppenny Corner


Katie Flynn - 2018
    Forced to say goodbye to all she holds dear and embark on a new life aboard The Kingfisher, her world is suddenly full of uncertainty. But new beginnings open up new possibilities... When fellow bargee – the handsome Tim Bradley – offers to show Rosie the sights of Liverpool, she jumps at the chance and it’s not long before their friendship grows into something more. But when Tim is called up to join the RAF, Rosie's dream of a future together must be put on hold. If Rosie can find the strength to embrace her new life on the canals, there might still be the chance of a miracle this Christmas…******** Praise for Katie Flynn 'One of the country's most popular storytellers' Scottish Daily Record'A poignant war-time romance' Daily Express‘A heartwarming story of love and loss’ Woman's Weekly ‘One of the best Liverpool writers’ Liverpool Echo 'If you pick up a Katie Flynn book it's going to be a wrench to put it down again' Holyhead and Anglesey Mail

A Mansion by the Mersey


Anne Baker - 2003
    She thought she was about to lose her job but instead the business's new owner, Mr Wyndham, wants to keep her on. Lorna's mother, though, is horrified by the news and finally confesses that Lorna was the result of an affair with Oliver Wyndham, whose family cast her out when Oliver died and the pregnancy was revealed. Shocked to the core to learn that the man she has always thought to be her beloved father simply adopted her at birth, Lorna resolves to find out everything she can about the past and especially about the tragic death of Oliver Wyndham. Working with the Wyndhams, she soon begins to stir up old secrets and the truth starts to emerge. But Lorna hasn't reckoned with falling in love with a member of the family she should hate...

A Beginner's Guide to Free Fall


Andy Abramowitz - 2020
    Brothers and sisters. Mothers and daughters. Okay, everybody. Hold on tight. Davis Winger has it all. A respected engineer who designs roller coasters in theme parks across the country, he is deeply in love with his wife and has a beautiful young daughter and a happy home. Until an accident strikes on one of his rides. Nothing fatal—except to his career. And to his marriage, when a betrayal from his past inadvertently comes to light. In one cosmically bad day, Davis loses it all.His sister, Molly, is at a crossroads herself. She’s coasting through a dire relationship with an incompatible man-child. And she’s a journalist whose deeply personal columns about mothers and daughters are forcing her to confront the truth about her own mother, who abandoned Molly and Davis years ago and disappeared.For these two siblings, it’s just a matter of bracing themselves for one turbulent summer in this redemptive and painfully funny family drama about making the best of the sharp turns in life—those we choose to take and those beyond our control.

How We Started


Luanne Rice - 2012
    "Paul and Clare" introduces the heroine of her upcoming novel, Little Night, and offers a glimpse into how she met the love of her life—and the beginning of her life-long passion for birds and nature, even in New York City. "Miss Martha's Vineyard" is a snapshot of the quirky, unconditional friendship with larger-than-life blueblood Harrison Thaxter that has kept Rory McCarthy from The Silver Boat afloat even in rough romantic seas.

Scarlet Ribbons


Emma Blair - 1991
    Left with only a pair of scarlet ribbons from her mother, she is given up for adoption. It's 1927, and an operation fixes her hip. She can now walk and run as well as any other child. Sent off to Canada as an orphan, Sadie meets Robbie on the Trikhardt's farm. Although he becomes her good friend, Sadie finds it difficult to overcome her cruel past...