This is the dark but humourous tale of Sarah Pemberton, who is not a happy woman. A down to earth, inventive soul who despises her stuck up pompous husband Neil, who believes he is much more intelligent and important than she is. When he refuses her a divorce and emotionally blackmails her into staying with him by threatening to take custody of their daughter, she's decides to make life a little more entertaining for herself, by subtly torturing him at every available opportunity. Creative and adaptable by nature, with a wicked sense of humour, she comes up with more and more ways to ridicule him, without him ever knowing she has a hand in it. ...."During 1993-1994 amongst other things, I cooked him a meat pie with pedigree chum; Stole his car more times than I can count; put chilli powder in his underpants, sent a stripagram to his work (a fat one), and subscribed him to a gay porn mag! (Our paperboy avoided him like the plague after that.)"..... Finding accomplices in the form of her Aunt May, who lives in a crumbling old former hotel which was damaged during WWII, and May's two lodgers, a shy young hippy named Darren, along with his brother Matthew a former life model, they try to get rid of her husband by either 'Plan A', which consists of 'frame him for a crime so that he gets incarcerated', or 'Plan B' drive him to a nervous breakdown. Both plans are designed to discredit Neil in case of a custody battle for their daughter. There is only one little prerequisite for every little torturous idea though, and that is, IT HAS TO MAKE THEM LAUGH! Unbeknown to Sarah at first, she isn't the only one with a vendetta against her husband, his entire workforce hate his guts and exploit any opportunity to make him look bad. When plans A & B go disastrously wrong, Sarah and co set their sights on a new target, her in-laws. Interwoven throughout the story is the tale of Aunt May, the lynch pin of her little make shift family, who harbours secrets of her own that go back to the night the bomb fell on the east wing of the hotel. This is not a tale of a submissive woman suffering at the hands of abuse; this is the tale of a strong courageous woman having one last laugh at other people's expense. Contains very occasional strong language, and scenes that should not be repeated at home. Volume One of 'The Cuckoo' series

    But Alice receives a strange bequest from Bea - a collection of unfinished tasks to help out those in Polperran most in need.As each little act brings her closer to understanding her mother, it also begins to offer Alice the courage to open her clamped-shut heart. Perhaps Bea's project will finally unlock the powerful secrets both women have been keeping... THE KINDNESS PROJECT will draw you deep into the lives of two compelling women who should never have missed their chance to say goodbye. It will break your heart - and piece it back together again...

    What’s worse is that every time she leaves the house, she winds up in some kind of altercation. She can’t help but wonder if she’s an idiot magnet, or if she’s the smart-mouth stirring things up. Hoping for a little peace of mind, Ace gives in to the advice of her best friend and goes to see a therapist. But she quickly discovers that the road to nirvana isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. And as Ace goes from one therapeutic misadventure to another, the plus-sized spitfire becomes more determined than ever to find enlightenment—even if it means bending herself into a pretzel to do it.

    She returns home triumphant, but there is trouble brewing—the Serpentes face peril from both internal and external forces, and El’Jyiurma finds herself caught up in the middle. With word of their existence growing, they catch the attention of a race they’d rather not meet. At the same time, they must battle the hatred and fear that automatically comes from humans, based merely on their appearance. Fearing an invasion from outside forces, President Frazier of Gieliv sends a desperate plea to the Serpentes, requesting help to bolster their weak navy. With a potential attack looming, the king of the Serpentes sends El’Jyiurma to the Gieliv system to foster diplomatic relations and help defend Gieliv. Hard choices have to be made, and El’Jyuirma is in the hot seat. Which is the more significant threat, and how can it be stopped? A wrong choice could lead to the end of the Serpentes civilization, and El’Jyiurma has little time to decide.

    

    

    Forced to quit her terraced house in Bermondsey for rent arrears, Kate has to take the unpalatable step of moving to a slum tenement block in Milldyke Street, Dockhead. Here she meets the attractive Amy Almond whose friendship opens new doors of opportunity for fresh relationships. When Kate stumbles over the murdered body of a single woman who lived in the next block, she realises that she, herself, could be a target. She turns to the attractive and sympathetic Sergeant Cassidy for protection and finds that her emotions, as well as her life, are in danger...

    So she did. But she didn’t know about the other occupant that never left, not until it was much too late. Piper Williams is barely keeping her larder stocked, and is way behind on the rent when for the price of the back taxes she can claim a house that has been in her family for generations past. Seeing it as a solution to her financial woes and an opportunity to be left alone to work in peace  Piper empties what is left of her bank account and moves in. Yet old places need work and everything is on the fritz. But ‘old’ doesn’t account for the face that sometimes appears in the window. And 'old' doesn’t account for that stain that keeps returning on the rug. And ‘old’ doesn’t account for the old armoire that holds an ancient cloak that is only sometimes dry. When events turn hellishly evil and Piper finds herself in the battle of her life, can she find a way to put the house to rest or, like those that her passed before her, will she be destroyed and bound to the house forever?

    It hasn't always been pretty, and there's no way to sugar-coat ugly.So, if you're easily offended or faint of heart, my book may not be for you.If, on the other hand, you think your life is over cause you've made a mess of it, turn the page.Have I got a story for you?

    Until the feisty young prostitute, Tibs Tyler, takes her under her wing, and the two girls, one dark, one fair, set themselves up as a music hall act. As they desperately try to break free from Tibs's violent pimp, and to avoid the educated and wealthy yet sinister Dr Tressing, they are also hoping to make a new life for themselves as the new century breaks.

    He thought he understood the way the world worked, but now, as a sacrificial lamb of the credit crunch he finds himself drifting... drifting into the clutches of the ever resourceful Pete who could find the angle in a Fairy Liquid bubble... and into the arms of the enigmatic hippy girl, Astrid, who’s about to introduce Tony to rabbits, magic caves and the joys of mushrooms. eBook of the Month Club describes ‘The Return of the Hippy’ as “The funniest and most heart warming novel of the year.”

    To mask betrayal, or deceit. But what happens when those lies start to catch up with us? When our lives begin to be shaped by the lies of others?The late 'noughties'. A global recession looms. A group of old friends, all leading outwardly successful, interesting lives. All in apparently loving, secure relationships. Yet all, in some way, lying to those closest to them, concealing secret worries, jealousies, desires. This group of friends is about to discover that the truth won't stay buried for ever...Welcome to the darker side of love.

    What if you find him—and he doesn’t remember you? In her captivating new novel, Susan Shapiro explores the perils of revisiting past passion. Lila Penn leaves Wisconsin for graduate school in the big city, where she falls for her professor Daniel Wildman. Decades after their tangled link, she arranges a tête-à-tête in downtown Manhattan. But the shocking encounter blindsides Lila, causing her to question her memory—and sanity. Switching between Greenwich Village and Tel Aviv, the saga unravels the sexual secret that’s haunted Daniel and Lila for thirty years.“Frank, darkly funny, entertaining...”—New York Times Book Review“A promiscuously readable guilty pleasure...”—Elle Magazine“Funny and original, with a soulfulness beneath the humor.”—Ian Frazier“Sly, candid, disarming...”—Pam Houston“Shapiro’s voice is so passionate and honest,it’s bewitching.”—Erica Jong“Irresistible energy, winning humor... breathtakingly frank honesty.”—Philip Lopate“Unputdownable.”—Gael GreenePublisher’s Weekly, October 2015:In raw and elegant prose, Shapiro (Five Men Who Broke My Heart) sensitively examines the subject of the one who got away—and what happens when you try to revisit an old romance. When brash, naive graduate student Lila Lerner arrives in New York City from Baraboo, Wisc., she immediately falls for her poetry professor, Daniel Wildman, who is 20 years her senior. As the tale opens, a now-happily married Lila attends the book signing of her former love, and is appalled when he doesn't seem to recognize her. But is his forgetfulness real, or simply a defense mechanism? Shapiro then leads the reader into the past, skillfully illustrating why Daniel's reaction is so upsetting to Lila and even leads her to think that her own memory is faulty. The author deftly toggles through decades, opening in 2010 and often moving to the early '80s, and from New York City to Israel, telling the story from Daniel's point of view as well as Lila's—lending empathy to a character who could have been the stereotypical older man taking advantage of a younger woman. Shapiro's witty, flawed characters leap off the page, showing the before, during, and after of a love affair. Library Journal, October 15, 2015: Lila Penn came to New York City from Wisconsin in 1980 as an idealistic young student in a graduate writing program. She fell in love with the city and with her professor and mentor, Daniel Wildman, but their relationship ended abruptly when he left for Tel Aviv. Professor Wildman turned out to be more indecisive than wild, and Lila was very young. Now, 30 years later, both are happily married to other people. But is there still a spark between the former student and her much older professor? Forward to 2010: Wildman has just won a Pulitzer Prize for his writing. Lila nervously decides to go to his reading and book signing, but it doesn't go well. Could it be that her former love doesn't even remember her? This wistful story of love and poetry is told from the viewpoints of both characters, then and now. Shapiro (Overexposed) is especially clever in her portrayal of the petty dramas and rivalries of creative writing programs. VERDICT This wry look back at a complicated and doomed romance is a sophisticated and witty novel about academia and New York publishing.—Leslie Patterson, Rehoboth, MA

    She thought marrying would liven him up, but after twenty-five years he's just as boring as the day she married him , and now she wants to lead her own life. Her newly-married daughter, Olive, is shocked, but Hilda is adamant. Meanwhile, a heavy East End gang has moved into the area from Shoreditch, and has established a lucrative protection racket, bringing drama and anxiety to this closely-knit neighbourhood.

    Nevertheless, she has little hope of finding true love, as it seems that no one truly appreciates her golden heart and boundless intelligence. Fate smiles on her though when she meets a dashing lord, whose presence will give her butterflies. Little did she know that her own sister would be jealous of her sweet romance...Will the imperfectly perfect Lady capture the charming Lord’s heart?Lord Lovell Trenowden is a man who cares deeply for his family. When their lives are falling apart along with their estate, Lovell accepts that he has no choice but to marry for money. Luckily for him, Lady Grace not only has wealth, but also the most beautiful soul from all women he has ever met. When she accepts his marriage proposal, he feels he is the luckiest man in the world. However, what Lovell hasn’t confessed to Grace, is that finding a wealthy wife was his only option...Will Lord Lovell manage to both save his family estate and marry the woman of his dreams?The more time they spend together, the more Lovell and Grace's romance blossoms into something neither was expecting. Everything crashes down though the moment Grace’s spiteful sister tells her that Lovell was on the hunt for a wife to merely secure a fortune. When Grace calls off the engagement, will Lovell manage to convince her that she is the love of his life? In the end, will Grace and Lovell follow the truth of their hearts, defying anything that comes between them?"When a Lady says I Do" is a historical romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.