The second is the reason I'm here. When Alexandra discovers that her husband Philippe is having an affair, she can’t believe he’d risk losing the love that has transformed both their lives.Still in shock, Alexandra finds herself powerfully attracted to a much younger man. Jean-Luc Malavoine is twenty-three, intense and magnetic. He’s also the son of Philippe’s best friend.With every increasingly passionate liaison, Alexandra is pulled deeper into a situation that threatens everyone she holds dear.Beautifully told through the boulevards and arrondissements of the City of Light, Paris Mon Amour is a sensual novel about inescapable desire and devastating betrayals. It is the story of one woman and two men, and what happens when there is no way out.‘A truly emotional ride. A story of lust, love and loss with a beautifully described Paris as its backdrop. I galloped through it in a couple of days’ Claire Fuller, author of Our Endless Numbered DaysIsabel Costello is the host of the Literary Sofa blog, which features authors from new talent to New York Times bestselling novelists. Guest writers on the blog have included Patrick Gale, Linda Grant, Tracy Chevalier and Karen Joy Fowler. She read Modern Languages (French and German) at Oxford, before pursuing a career in marketing and communications. She is now a full-time writer, and lives in London.

    In the London office my new boss Victor tells me I shall be working in a regional office - and he wants me to drive there. I am to deliver Victor's shiny Jaguar: his pride and joy. The office is in Calcutta. This all sounds like fun to me. A month long holiday. How bad can that be I think and decide to invite my friend Douglas to come along for the ride. This will be a road trip to die for I tell him. Victor's P.A. Shirley is the all seeing eye. Nothing gets past here. I have to report in on my progress at key points on the route. Shirley is going to be watching me. 'If you so much as scratch it you're dead.' I laugh, what could possibly go wrong....? well just about everything. We were OK up till Trieste; then a goat got in the car - after that it was downhill all the way to Calcutta.

    It is an outrageously funny, often touching, and continuously shocking tale of a modern sea gypsy. Cap'n Fatty's story is too bizarre to be fiction. Father wears floral skirts; mother is a tad vague. Sister Carole isn't interested in her millionaire suitor; she's too busy smooching with the kid in the cesspool truck. Their strange live-aboard boat caravan includes Mort the Mortician, Backwards Bernie, Ruby Red the Conman, Barefoot Benny, Geeper Creeper, Para the Paranoid, Lusty Laura, Xlax, Shark Boy, the Pawtucket Pirate, Bait Broad, Colonel Crispy, Scupper Lips, Bob the Broker, the Pirate Queen, Otto the Owner, the Twin Slaves of Green Slime-and even a terribly long-winded fellow named (Hurricane) Hugo. All seem hell-bent on avoiding the cops, the creeps, each other, and especially the Dreaded Dream Crushers. Dive in!

    It is a wonderful place to visit and to live in. Packed with fact, anecdote, and insight, A Traveller’s History of Paris offers a complete history of Paris and the people who have shaped its destiny, from its earliest settlement as the Roman village of Lutetia Parisiorum with a few hundred inhabitants, to 20 centuries later when Paris is a city of well over two million—nearly one-fifth of the population of France. This handy paperback is fully indexed and includes a Chronology of Major Events, as well as sections on Notre-Dame and historic churches, Modernism, parks, bridges, cemeteries, museums and galleries, the Metro, and the environs. Illustrated with line drawings and historical maps, this is an invaluable book for all visitors to read and enjoy.

    Her first bike was stolen in Bulgaria, she was knocked down by a buffalo cart in India and battled with a parasitic illness in Malaysia. These were some of the challenges she had to deal with, but above all, what stood out for Ann was the depth of human kindness she experienced throughout her travels.

    Updated atlas contains maps of every U.S. state that are 35% larger than the standard atlas version plus over 350 detailed city inset and national park maps and a comprehensive, unabridged index. Road construction projects and updates highlighted for every state and conveniently located above the maps. Contains mileage chart showing distances between 77 North American cities and national parks with driving times map. Tough spiral binding allows the book to lay open easily. Other Features Best of the Road - Our editor's favorite road trips from our Best of the Road collection follows scenic routes along stretches of coastline, both east and west, to forests mountains, and prairies; and through small towns and big cities. For a weekend or a week there's something for everyone. Tell Rand! As much as we work to keep our atlases up to date, conditions change quickly and new construction projects begin frequently. If you know of something we haven't captured in our atlas, let us know at randmcnally.com/tellrand. Tourism websites and phone numbers for every U.S. state and Canadian province on map pages

     Aside from the bipolar hillbillies, unfriendly wild animals, run-ins with the law, a mental breakdown, a bad first date, and a near-death experience . . . things actually went pretty well. Taking plenty of detours along the way, Rob’s contagious and hilarious sense of wanderlust carries him on a whirlwind road trip from the Smoky Mountains in the East, to Yellowstone, the Tetons, and Colorado’s snow-covered peaks in the West. In a refreshing style that brings these incredible wild places to life like no travel guide ever could, on seemingly every page we’re reminded of the one universal truth of travel . . . the best parts of any journey are the adventures we least expect.

    With no training, no plan, and no idea about the benefits of Lycra, the ride was destined for misadventure.But the men had a purpose, and despite the odds, they survived three countries, thirteen pub-crawls, two storms, and one memorable night in a youth hostel. These 'end-to-enders' also learnt a thing or two about broken spokes.890 miles and twenty years later, it's time to tell their story. For one of the riders, it's a story that changed his life.

    gorgeous glitter with a high price tag. On a winter’s day it is beautiful, but on a spring day after bud burst it spells devastation. For Sean and Caro Feely, a couple whose love affair with wine and France has taken them through financial and physical struggle to create their organic vineyard, it could spell the end. Until they receive an unexpected call that could save their skins… This book is about life, love and taking risks, while transforming a piece of land into a flourishing vineyard and making a new life in France.

    If the truth be known, I secretly couldn’t resist the novelty of passing time with a bloke called Serge Bastarde. When ex-blues drummer John Dummer decamps to France to start up as an antiques dealer and live the simple life, he doesn’t count on meeting Serge Bastarde. The lovable (if improbably named) rogue and brocanteur offers to teach John the tricks of the trade in return for his help in a series of breathtakingly unscrupulous schemes. As the pair trawl through antiques markets and old farmhouses looking for hidden treasure, they get into more than their fair share of scrapes: whether they’re conning hearty lunches from unsuspecting old peasants, secretly manufacturing priceless collectibles or losing a Stradivarius to gypsies. Filled with eccentric characters, high jinks and unlikely adventures, this is a hilarious romp through the real rural France.

    

    It includes lively reviews of the best places to eat, from street kitchens to the upmarket restaurants of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, and practical advice on activities, from home-stays in ethnic minority villages to boat trips around Ha Long Bay and visits to its national parks. There are extensive, user-friendly descriptions of Vietnam's many sights, including Hu''s Imperial city, temples and pagodas and Vietnam's impressive colonial architecture, as well as its deserted beaches and the waterways of the Mekong Delta.

     When the fifty-something friends from Lancashire decide to take some time out together, little do they know that they will end up traversing Spain from north to south in an old and somewhat unsightly mini-campervan. Garrulous Geoff, hefty Harry and the relatively rational Jeremy, unused to spending longer than an evening in each other’s company, are thrust together for a month of travel and cohabitation which the latter relates to us with candour, pulling no punches when it comes to describing their more embarrassing escapades.

    Their small task force is assigned to work for Sheikh Mahmoud, who is distressed to discover that men whose true loyalty is to the radical preacher, British-born Mullah Khaweini, have infiltrated his own security forces. Whilst the trio try to unravel two complex frauds that are funding Middle Eastern terrorism, they uncover a plot that nobody anticipated - a monstrous plan to bring Dubai to its knees. The three agents have very little time to stop Khaweini, but all they know is that somehow the infamous bomb-maker, The Shadow, and the radical Mullah are in this together.This fast paced thriller from the writer of the City of London thrillers is based in Dubai and reeks of the authenticity that J Jackson Bentley brings to all of his books. The story is told in just over 105,000 words and approximately 270 paperback pages.

     A celebration of one couple's decision to dig deeper roots in one of the happiest places on earth. In her best work to date, Nadine Hays Pisani shares what it's like to follow her dream of starting a new business on a strict budget in Costa Rica. Along the way, she shares the ups and downs of renting, buying, and building her new home in this country known for red tape, taking its time, and the Pura Vida lifestyle. She struggles to live alongside construction crews, invading critters, and a delusional husband who insists everything will work out fine. Nadine introduces a variety of zany characters, makes new friends, and wrestles with unending challenges all while celebrating this beautiful country. This is a stand-alone story, so if you are new to the Happier Than A Billionaire series, it's fine to start right here. But be warned, your friends will wonder why you are wearing a silly grin for the weeks that follow.