‘The perfect book to take on holiday!’ Pretty Little Book Reviews on Summer at 23 The Strand Escape to the seaside this summer! When Cara Howard’s husband passes away, she and her teenage daughter, Mae, are left with nothing except their beloved family home at Cove End.Overlooking the sparkling sea, Cara decides to renovate the house in time for the summer season, turning it into a gorgeous bed and breakfast for visiting tourists.But with the arrival of the B&B’s first guests and secrets tumbling out of the closets, it’s clear that everything could be about to change for Cara and Mae… Could this summer heal their hearts for good? A wonderfully uplifting holiday read, perfect for fans of Lilly Bartlett, Tilly Tennant and Eve Devon.

    Goodbye life of thirty-something, crazed single mum of two, hello country glamour queen, domestic goddess and yummy-mummy extraordinaire.But her new life at Primrose Cottage isn’t quite what she expected! Very soon she’s chasing pork pies down hills, disguising her shop-bought cakes at the school bake sale – and trying to resist oh-so-handsome Horatio Spencerville, who just so happens to be the Lord of the Manor… Could moving to the country be the biggest mistake she’s ever made? A delightfully uplifting romantic comedy to get you in the mood for summer! Perfect for fans of Christie Barlow, Holly Martin and Tilly Tennant.

    Now, with hundreds of thousands of followers, Jess is now navigating the trials and tribulations of a world online. Being a mummy blogger was original an escape, but now it seems to be turning into a career. And after one wrong post on her social media channels, Jess discovers that life in the spotlight isn't always peachy. With a new baby on the way, the possibility of starring in a reality TV show and a husband who's struggling with his wife's new-found fame, Jess has a lot going on. Jess needs to decide whether this is everything she wanted it to be or whether this is all a bit too much for her? Can Jess persevere against the haters, rise up above the pettiness and find the perfect balance of life in the real world and life online? Perfect for fans of Suzy K Quinn, Fiona Gibson and Gill Simms.

    They commiserate with each other. They celebrate together, clinking glasses and toasting themselves: “Forever friends!” As Maddy battles to gain recognition in the male-dominated property business, she takes her own first tentative but exciting step on the property ladder. She thrives on the cut and thrust of the property boom – she loves her house, her family and her friends. Life is good. All that is missing is a man to share it all with. Enter the gorgeous Greg Delaney! Dream on, Rosie and Sophie! Talk in the Pink Parrot turns from boyfriends to wedding plans. But as the years roll by, will they still – at their joint fiftieth birthday celebration – be able to raise their glasses and toast to “Forever friends! May nothing ever come between us!”?

    We meet the lovely Sallie Broadchurch and follow her bringing back to life an unloved old boathouse - pretty, forty and very much looking for a new life by the sea. Holly and Xian are the gorgeous owners of the Pretty Beach Bakery, along with Holly’s son Rory, a doctor in the city and Sallie’s best friend Nina. Then there’s beautiful Jessica and her amazing bride Camilla of Pretty Beach Fish and Chips, Nel the local bus driver and the delectable David Windsor, businessman extraordinaire. Top it all off with Ben Chalmers, dashing owner of Ben Chalmers Seaplanes, a lot of history behind him and wondering quite what’s happening when a new neighbour arrives in his little town by the sea.

    Instead, she’s focusing on her little gallery and adopting an adorable Border Collie puppy named Tubs. Or so she thought…Because no matter how hard she tries to resist him, local vet Adam Whitney is utterly gorgeous. And in a village as small as this one, Holly can only avoid Adam for so long! Fans of Milly Johnson, Caroline Roberts and Jill Mansell will love this heart-warming read!

    But honestly? She’s running on empty. Desperate for a break from her needy family, Liv is determined that as she and her three life-long friends turn fifty they will honour their promise to each other – made on a beach at sunrise twenty-nine years before – to celebrate this milestone together.And what better place to celebrate than a gorgeous villa in the Algarve? They’ll enjoy the stunning beaches, picturesque fishing towns and glorious climate, and maybe be spoiled by the gorgeous Eduardo, who’s making one particular heart unexpectedly flutter…Liv’s friends can’t wait to escape with her: Debs is newly single, Fiona is caring for her mum, and Samantha is grieving. But does time away make the heart grow fonder? Is the thought of returning to reality too hard to bear? Is what they have really all there is to life?It begins as a reunion in the sunshine, but little do the four friends know what life-changing decisions they’ll all be making before their flight home…

    So when one of their own was wronged in any way, the community always had its own way of dealing with it.The first title in a series of gritty family sagas, Our Vinnie accounts the dramatic true story of a brother’s determination to avenge his younger sister’s rape. Josie was just 11 when her Vinnie, then 14, was taken away to a detention centre. Distraught by his absence and left alone with indifferent parents, when she escapes from one of their rows she naively enters the house of a neighbour, Melvin, who – horrifically – leads her upstairs and overpowers her.Convinced by her friend Carol, Josie tells her sister Lyndsey about the rape but, with Vinnie out of the picture, Lyndsey uses the information for her own ends. When Vinnie returns, hardened by years inside the system, his outrage on discovering the truth is severe. And with new abuses continually coming to light, a cataclysmic series of violent events begins to spiral out of control…Dramatic and shocking, Our Vinnie is an unbelievable page-turner, documenting a community forsaken by society, and one brother’s unrelenting determination to take justice into his own hands.

    Well, not literally, but it felt like my life was over. Melodramatic? Me? Just a teensy bit…When workshy socialite Magenta Bright learns that inheritance comes with one horrific condition, she mentally kisses goodbye to the money. Get a job and keep it for a year? Not likely.Naïve CEO Anthony Shearman is persuaded to hire her as his PA, and Magenta decides to stick it out, if only because of her sexy boss. But between the bitchy receptionist, Anthony’s beautiful fiancée and not having a clue how to be a career girl, Magenta barely makes it to the end of her first day.So, just 364 to go then…

    And when she receives an accidental text from a mystery man, could it be the new start she needs? Or someone she really shouldn't be falling for?Anna’s neighbour Sophie is a stressed-out mum-of-two with a third on the way. Her husband is a constant frustration, and their children are a regular source of newly-invented swear words and unidentifiable sticky surfaces.Luckily, Anna and Sophie have each other – and Wildflower Park proves to be a sanctuary as they map out a path to find the happiness they both deserve… Fantastically funny, this irresistibly heart-warming novel will charm fans of Milly Johnson and Jill Mansell.

    He’s miserable because the woman he was planning on marrying has dumped him.He’s now worried that with his A-list celebrity status he won’t find a woman who genuinely loves him. Ruby devises a plan to disguise Steve, so that he is unrecognisable as the famous Hollywood actor, in a hope to help him find true love. It worked for Clark Kent, right?As Steve searches for his not-so-perfect woman and has a taste of normality, his relationship develops with his sister. But will he find the right woman before he has to head back to his real life in Hollywood?

    Harriet is waiting for her husband to tell her if their marriage is on or off, while Pippa is about to receive some potentially devastating hospital results. Evie has one week to save her career, and Nick's wife died two years ago, leaving him with a troublesome teenage daughter. Martine, a French au pair, is about to run off with a married man while Kitty accepts a bet to find a man in a week. And Betty watches by the roadside, looking for the driver who killed her son. Little do any of them know that by the end of the week, the school run will have become a collision course, connecting their lives in more ways than one.

    The fact that she's been so single-minded in this quest that she's forgotten to have a life has completely passed her by - until disaster strikes. With her flaky flat mate AWOL and even her reliable old dad a bit distracted, Isla is out of options. Forced into a corner, she heads to the remote island of Auchenmor to help out her aunt who is in desperate need of an extra pair of hands at her salon.Finn is thirty-five and reality has just hit him hard. Now his best friends are about to have a baby and everything is changing. When into his life walks Isla . . .

    Lucy is the wrong side of thirty and tormented daily by the idyllic family pictures cluttering up her Facebook newsfeed. All of her friends seem to be getting married and having babies, and yet here she is, resolutely single, and no prospect of creating the perfect family she's always dreamt of. How she longs for it to be her turn. But finding love is complicated, and as time passes she wonders if there might just be another way to make her dreams come true. Is she brave enough to go it alone, or is the fantasy of 'baby makes three' just too precious to give up on?

    Inspired by her Italian Poppa, Lucy’s chasing a new dream with her pizza van business. And at one particular party she meets Jack, the brooding but gorgeous owner of the Cocktail Campervan.Wary of repeating mistakes of the past, Lucy and Jack keep it strictly business. But as the summer drifts by in a swirl of garden parties, fun and fizz, laughs and celebrations, and as the cocktail campervan creates the community they so desperately need, romance starts to blossom – one stop at a time…