be my baby: zoe barnes

SOLD: MARIA

RM15

From the back cover:

Lorna had given up her career as a midwife to have her own baby. Happily married to Ed, she had looked forward to telling him that Leo would soon have a baby brother or a sister to play with. But fate had stepped in and left her on her own with a young son and another baby on the way.

Eighteen months later, Lorna knows she must get out and make a new life for herself and her children. When her mum and dad suddenly find themselves desperate for somewhere to live, what could be more natural for them than to come and live with Lorna? It'll be a great opportunity for her to go back to her job, while they get to know their granchildren.

But that's before the mishaps, the arguments over childcare, or the rows that break out when Lorna announces that she's met a hunky doctor and is ready to start dating again.


"Bloody good read" - NEW WOMAN "Top ten book..." - HEAT

the three-day rule: josie lloyd & emlyn rees

RM10

Amazon.com:

No phone. No electricity. Snowed in with your family. Welcome to one hell of a Christmas. When the Thorne family gather for the annual Christmas festivities - the arguments, jealousies and long-held enmities that make every family Christmas so special - they think they've only got to endure each other for three days, and then they can return to normality.

But then the snows come, along with the ninety-mile-an-hour winds and the plunging temperatures, and the Thornes get cut off with only each other for support, or to blame. It promises to be a Christmas like no other.

The "Three Day Rule" is a moving, funny and ultimately optimistic story about a family riddled with secrets who are literally forced into facing up to their problems with each other and themselves.

Get to know a family you're never going to forget...

pinstripes: faith bleasdale

SOLD: SUNSHINEHOMICIDE

RM 10

From the back cover:

Pinstripes: Sacked in the city...

Ella, Virginia and Clara are three very different business babes, all working for the same investment bank. Ella, high-powered and driven, is escaping her past, downtrodden Virginia is stuck without a future, and Clara just wants an easy life with plenty of expenses. But one black Thursday, the girls are all sacked unjustly and with no lycra-clad superheroes to save them, they have no choice but to join forces ... and seek revenge.

As their plotting takes shape, secrets emerge on all sides. Our reluctant heroines must confront their past, and face the fact that they might actually like each other. But as they conspire againts the people who ruined their careers, can they still snare the City men they have their eyes on - this time for romantic reasons?

No pin-striped evil-doer is safe from the avenging angels in Faith Bleasdale's funny, touching second novel: a tale of unlikely friendship, romance and ruthless revenge in the City.


"Riotously funny" - Company

"Faith Bleasdale's vengeful tale of sacked "secs" in the city is the best investment you'll make this year" - Chris Manby

perfect strangers: robyn sisman

SOLD: KIT

RM 15

Can you fall in love with someone you've never met?

Suze Wilding is impetuous, impatient and NEVER wants to get married.

Lloyd Rockwell is complicated, cautious and contemplating marriage to the eminently suitable Betsy.

Although Lloyd and Suze both work for the same company, their lives are worlds apart - three thousand, four hundred and forty miles apart, in fact. But when they job swap and apartment swap for six weeks and Suze discovers that Lloyd's power-suited deputy, Sheri, is plotting to get rid of him, the two begin communicating long-distance and fate steps in to take a hand ...

A novel that is utterly romantic, laugh-out-loud funny and achingly true.

baby proof: emily giffin

SOLD: MARIA

RM 10

The smash-hit New York Times bestselling novel that explores the question: Is there ever a deal breaker when it comes to true love?

Claudia Parr, a 35-year-old New York City book editor has never wanted children. Claudia gets along famously with her husband, Ben, until he changes his own stance on children and decides he wants one after all. At first, she chalks it up to a phase, but soon it becomes clear that the love of her life is choosing fatherhood over her. Devastated, Claudia files for divorce and moves back in with her best friend. To make matters worse, the women closest to Claudia-her two sisters and her best friend-either already have children or are trying to get pregnant.

Claudia makes the most of her situation and starts dating an attractive coworker, steadfastly believing she was right to stand by her values. Until, that is, she realizes that being with Ben is what matters the most.

silent sisters: jenny tomlin

SOLD: NURUL AQILA

RM 15

For years, Jenny and sister Kim suffered horrendous physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their father. They survived in part because of their closeness and their determination to be there for each other. Both sisters left home at the earliest opportunity to escape but before long, Jenny was embroiled in a relationship with an abusive man that kept her locked in a cycle of violence and fear.

Their lives followed parallel paths, with first marriage, then kids and always the terror that things would never change. Eventually, with a lot of love, grit and courage they helped each other to climb out of the pit of despair and truly free themselves from the legacy of the past. Every bit as harrowing and inspiring as Behind Closed Doors, this is a story of the power of unstintingly loyal love.

"'This woman is an inspiration and I am honoured to call her my mum' - Martine McCutcheon"

bumps: zoe barnes

SOLD: AZRINA

RM 10

Bump number one - Just when Taz Norton's life is on a smooth upward glide - youngest sales manager at a flagship department store, own flat, cat and vintage motorbike - her lover leaves her for her ex-best friend.

Bump number two - is finding out she is pregnant the same day she is asked to handle the biggest store promotion in the company's history.

Bump number three - is the one in front of her. Goodbye toes and glamour, hello heartburn, morning sickness and support tights. Typically, Taz decides to be Superwoman. No one is going to tell her she can't get to the top and be a single mum as well. But no one told her it was going to be so damned hard...

prep: curtis sittenfeld

SOLD

RM 10

Barnes and noble review:

Curtis Sittenfeld’s debut novel, Prep, is an insightful, achingly funny coming-of-age story as well as a brilliant dissection of class, race, and gender in a hothouse of adolescent angst and ambition.

Lee Fiora is an intelligent, observant fourteen-year-old when her father drops her off in front of her dorm at the prestigious Ault School in Massachusetts. She leaves her animated, affectionate family in South Bend, Indiana, at least in part because of the boarding school’s glossy brochure, in which boys in sweaters chat in front of old brick buildings, girls in kilts hold lacrosse sticks on pristinely mown athletic fields, and everyone sings hymns in chapel.

As Lee soon learns, Ault is a cloistered world of jaded, attractive teenagers who spend summers on Nantucket and speak in their own clever shorthand. Both intimidated and fascinated by her classmates, Lee becomes a shrewd observer of–and, ultimately, a participant in–their rituals and mores. As a scholarship student, she constantly feels like an outsider and is both drawn to and repelled by other loners. By the time she’s a senior, Lee has created a hard-won place for herself at Ault. But when her behavior takes a self-destructive and highly public turn, her carefully crafted identity within the community is shattered.

Ultimately, Lee’s experiences–complicated relationships with teachers; intense friendships with other girls; an all-consuming preoccupation with a classmate who is less than a boyfriend and more than a crush; conflicts with her parents, from whom Lee feels increasingly distant, coalesce into a singular portrait of the painful and thrilling adolescenceuniversal to us all.

night shift: stephen king

SOLD: MARIA

RM 10

From the back cover:

A collection of tales to invade and paralyse the mind as the safe light of day is infiltrated by the shadows of the night.

As you read, the clutching fingers of terror brush lightly across the nape of the neck, reach around from behind to clutch and lock themselves, white-knuckled, around the throat.

This is the horror of ordinary people and everyday objects that become strangely altered; a world where nothing is ever quite what it seems, where the familiar and the friendly lure and deceive. A world where madness and blind panic become the only reality.


"King cannot be faultered as a yarn-spinner" - The Times

the vodka dialogue: kirsty brooks

SOLD: FARHAH

RM 10

The Vodka Dialogue

1oz Gordons or Sapphire Gin
1/2 oz Absolut Vodka
1/2 Barcardi Limon
1/2 oz Blue Curucao
1/2 oz Butterscotch Schnapps
1/2 oz lime juice
1 tablespoon powered sugar

Mix with ice, strain from cocktail shaker and serve in a highball with a quarter wedge of lime

Cassidy Blair, twenty-nine years old and addicted to pot noodles, is making little progress convincing customers at DVDWorld that John Hughes movies are better than recreational drugs. But when she helps a colleague spy on a wayward fiance, and gets paid rather well for her trouble, Cass realises she has the perfect credentials for any P.I. — she's tense, cynical and slightly grouchy. Plus she owes the VISA company a lot of cash.

Assisted by the handy skills of her friends and her favourite cocktail, the Vodka Dialogue, Cass manages to follow the trail and escape from more embarrassing incidents than she's ever known in her life… this from a girl who's been drunk on Wheel of Fortune!

the cleaner: brett battles

RM 10

Meet Jonathan Quinn: a freelance operative with a take-no-prisoners style and the heart of a loner. His job? Professional 'cleaner'. Nothing too violent, just disposing of bodies, doing a little cleanup if necessary. But in Brett Battles's thrilling debut novel, Quinn's latest assignment will change everything, igniting a harrowing journey of violence, betrayal and revenge. The job seemed simple enough: investigating a suspicious case of arson. But when a dead body turns up where it doesn't belong - and Quinn's handlers at 'the Office' turn strangely silent - he knows he's in over his head. With only a handful of clues, Quinn scrambles for cover, struggling to find out why someone wants him dead - and if it is linked to a larger attempt to wipe out the Office.

This book is a pure delight. Protagonist Jonathan Quinn is a unique and welcome addition to the world of crime fiction. I'm on the edge of my seat, awaiting future instalments of Quinn's adventures.
- Jeffery Deaver

Brett Battles makes a grand entrance into the thriller scene. An unputdownable spy novel. The Cleaner has it all: exotic locales, James Bondian derring-do, and ingenious plot twists that will keep you sweating all the way till the end.
- Tess Gerritsen

no time for goodbye: linwood barclay

SOLD: TRINITY

RM 10

The house was deathly quiet. That was the first sign that something was terribly wrong. Fourteen-year-old Cynthia Bigge woke that morning to find herself alone. Her family - mother, father, and brother - had vanished without a word, without a note, without a trace. Twenty-five years later, Cynthia is still looking for answers. Now she is about to learn the devastating truth.

Cynthia and Terry Archer still live in Milford, Connecticut, not far from the old Bigge house on Hickory Street. With a solid marriage and a young daughter, the Archers seem on track for a successful future. But the questions raised by Cynthia's past still haunt her, and her obsession to find the answers threatens to destroy everything they've worked for. For Cynthia, there can be no closure until she finds out why her family disappeared - and how they could have left her behind.

Terry thinks the segment on the popular TV crime-stopper program Deadline is a mistake. But his wife hopes that someone watching will have a lead to her missing family. Sure enough, it's Cynthia who spots the strange car cruising the neighborhood, hears the untraceable phone calls, and discovers the ominous gifts.a And as Cynthia's nerves begin to unravel, no one's innocence is guaranteed, not even her own. By the time the first body is found, it's clear that her past is more of a mystery than she ever imagined - or may ever survive.

Someone has returned to this Connecticut town to finish what was started twenty-five years ago. And by the time Terry and Cynthia discover the killer's shocking identity, it will be too late even for goodbye.

the welsh girl: peter ho davies

RM 10

From Publishers Weekly:

Esther, a WWII-era Welsh barmaid, finds her father—a fiercely nationalistic, anti-English shepherd—provincial; she daydreams that she'll elope to London with her secret sweetheart, an English soldier. In short order, Esther is raped by her boyfriend, and her Welsh village is turned into a dumping ground for German prisoners.

Meanwhile, Karsten, a German POW who is mortified that he'd ordered his men to surrender, believes that only by escaping can he find redemption. Davies (Equal Love) uses the familiar tensions of WWII Britain to nice ensemble effect: among the more nuanced secondary characters is a British captain who is the son of a German-Jewish WWI hero—the man's father had always considered himself a Lutheran until the Nazi ascension forced him to flee Germany. As Esther begins to question her own allegiances, Karsten comes into her orbit. What makes this first novel by an award-winning short-storyteller an intriguing read isn't the plot—which doesn't quite go anywhere—but the beautifully realized characters, who learn that life is a jumble of difficult compromises best confronted with eyes wide open.


"Skilled, beautifully empathetic . . . Peter Ho Davies is a wonderful writer." --Andrea Barrett

"The Welsh Girl is a beautiful, ambitious novel . . . Emotionally resonant and perfectly rendered." --Ann Patchett

"This is a deeply felt, deeply imagined novel, and its characters remain a presence after the book is closed." --Stuart Dybek

"Deeply compelling and utterly uncompromising . . . each sentence is a pleasure. This book is a rare gem." --Claire Messud

the last summer (of you & me): ann brashares

SOLD: ANITA

RM 10

blogcritics.org review:

In The Last Summer (of You and Me), recent college graduate Alice returns for yet another idyllic summer on Fire Island, only to discover that life, in its inevitable way, is moving out - with or without her.

Alice, her older sister Riley, and next-door neighbor Paul have grown up together, barefoot on the splintery boardwalks of the kind of resort town where nobody locks the door or carries a wallet. As a teen, Riley was the youngest of the lifeguards; now, at 24, she’s the oldest, still content to stare out over the ocean in the hopes of catching sight of a dolphin. Alice worries that both of them are aiming too low in the journey towards adulthood, hence Alice’s decision to go to law school, where she hopes she’ll learn to be a grown up.

Paul’s reaction to Alice’s plans is disappointment. He’s always wanted more for Alice, with whom he’s been in love as long as he can remember. To his surprise and delight, Alice reciprocates his affections, and, for a moment as fleeting as the midnight tide pools that so delight Alice, the past and the future converge.

When tragedy strikes, Alice finds herself filled with fear that she and Paul are betraying Riley by turning a threesome into a couple plus third wheel. Technically, Paul is Riley’s best friend, and they’ve always “shared” Alice as a little sister. For Alice to claim a greater stake in Paul than Riley is more than she feels entitled to allow herself.

Ann Brashares has written a glorious novel of unrequited love, longing and the meaning of friendship in The Last Summer (of You and Me). She weaves a tale full of delicious plot twists and revelations that will surprise and enthrall you. Riley and Alice are sisters, their relationship is as potent and complex as the real thing. Funny, deep and true, this one will keep you reading long after the sun has gone down. -- Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author of Big Stone Gap and Lucia, Lucia

keeping mum: brian thompson

RESERVED: MYRA

RM 10

Amazon.com review:

Mum and Dad - Squibs and Bert - were a complete mystery to Brian Thompson as he grew up in Cambridge and London during the 1940s. His mother danced with the Yanks all night and slept under a fake fur coat all day, and when his father bothered to come home he resolutely discouraged Brian in everything. Whilst other children were evacuated out of the big cities, Brian found himself travelling into London, and spent much of the war with an eccentric crowd of ribald relations.


'A wonderful book that brings vividly to life one of the oddest childhoods I've ever read about.' Michael Frayn

'Flawless...genius... this book is evidence of children's capacity not only to survive and thrive, but also to look back and laugh.'

Peter Stanford, Independent On Sunday

'Funny and terrifying in turns... a magnificent study of malevolence, of a husband and wife for whom hatred is more potent than love.' Paul Bailey, Sunday Times

'Wildly funny... a knee-high view of the strange adult world.' Francis Wheen'

foreign body: robin cook

RM 10

amazon.com review:

A series of unexplained deaths in foreign hospitals sends an idealistic UCLA medical student on a desperate search for answers, in this chilling tale from the master of the medical thriller.

Jennifer Hernandez is a fourth-year medical student at UCLA, just completing an elective in general surgery, whose world is shattered during a break in an otherwise ordinary day. While relaxing in the surgical lounge of L.A.’s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, she half-listens to a piece on medical tourism, where first-world citizens travel to third-world countries for surgery. But when she hears her beloved grandmother’s name mentioned, her own heart nearly stops: the CNN reporter says Maria Suarez-Hernandez had died, a day after undergoing a hip replacement in New Delhi’s Queen Victoria Hospital.

Maria had raised Jennifer and her brothers from infancy, and their bond was unshakable. Still, the news that Maria had traveled to India was a shock to Jennifer, until she realized that it was the only viable option for the hardworking yet uninsured woman. Devastated, and desperate for answers, Jennifer takes emergency leave from school and heads to India, where relations with local officials go from sympathetic to sour as she presses for more information. With the discovery of other unexplained deaths followed by hasty cremations, Jennifer reaches out to her mentor, New York City medical examiner Dr. Laurie Montgomery, who has her own deep connection to Maria. Laurie, along with her husband, Dr. Jack Stapleton, rushes to the younger woman’s side, discovering a sophisticated medical facility with little margin for error.

As the death count grows, so do the questions, leading Laurie and Jennifer to unveil a sinister, multilayered conspiracy of global proportions.


“A top-notch thriller with the freshness and impact of his earlier efforts. . . . Critical is tightly written, and each supporting character is vivid and memorable. The novel is a credit to the medical genre, which Cook is generally thought to have created and made popular.”
--San Francisco Chronicle

why he's so last minute & she's got it all wrapped up?: allan & barbara pease

SOLD: TRINITY

RM 10

From the no.1 bestselling authors of WHY MEN DON'T LISTEN & WOMEN CAN'T READ MAPS...

As the festive season comes round once more, it can so easily be a time of increased stress for everyone - a time when the differences between men and women are never more apparent!

Renowned relationship experts Allan and Barbara Pease tackle the Christmas Season to give a uniquely informative and fascinating guide:

The battle of the sexes, made worse by the festive season
Kids at Christmas - how to get them to do what you want
Why women get upset at men's solutions to Christmas catering
And why men always get lost on the way to the in-laws

Thank goodness Christmas only comes once a year...

hippy chick: louise harwood

SOLD: ANITA

RM 10

Ibiza: paradise for the clubbers, hedonists and sun-seekers, but for Honey Ballantyne it is the only home she has ever known. With the responsibility of running a hotel on her shoulders, and two hippy-dippy parents whose idea of a hard day’s work is a yoga class without their clothes on, Honey feels trapped. When her first love, Edouard, returns to the island from London and truths about her parents start to unravel, Honey is forced to realize that before she can make decisions about her future she must reconcile herself with the past . . .


The Times
'This is sheer bliss - romantic fiction with a brain.'

Heat
'A fun and fast-paced holiday read.'

Tribune
'Louise Harwood sure knows how to write a chick lit bestseller.'

any way you want me: lucy diamond

SOLD: MARIA

RM 10

fantasticfiction.co.uk review:

On paper, Sadie's got it all - the partner, the children, the house. But in real life, that doesn't feel quite enough. Sadie can't help harking back to the time when she was a career woman by day and a party animal by night. And what happened to feeling like a sex kitten, anyway? The only sleepless nights she's getting now are due to the baby. Maybe a little reinvention is the answer...

Sadie can't resist creating a fictitious online identity for herself as a hot TV producer. It's only a bit of harmless fun...until truth and fantasy become dangerously tangled. It isn't long before she's wondering if the exciting alter ego she has dreamed up really is the kind of person she wants to be after all...


Wry, funny and with a wonderful twist in the tale, Any Way You Want Me is an enchanting novel of infidelity, motherhood and friends reunited that heralds the debut of a lovely new voice in fiction.

a quiet belief in angels: R. J. Ellory

RM 10

Joseph Vaughan's life has been dogged by tragedy. Growing up in the 1940s, he was at the centre of series of killings of young girls in his small rural community. The girls were taken, assaulted and left horribly mutilated. Barely a teenager himself, Joseph becomes determined to try to protect his community and classmates from the predations of the killer.

But despite banding together with his friends as 'Guardians', he was powerless to prevent more murders - and no one was ever caught. Only after a full ten years did the nightmare end when the one of his neighbours is found hanging from a rope - with articles from the dead girls around him. Thankfully though, the killings finally ceased.

Ill-fortune was not yet done with Joseph though and in desperation he leaves the town of his birth to forge a new life in New York. But the past won't leave him alone - for it seems that the real murderer still lives and is killing again. And the secret of his identity lies in Joseph's own history?

"Once again R.J. Ellory shows off his special talents... This isn't your standard shock and bore serial killer novel. It's an impassioned story of a man's life told in Ellory's distinctive voice, and it confirms his place in the top flight of crime writing." (Susanna Yager Sunday Telegraph )

"Each jolt strikes perfectly, and the reader will seek, utterly riveted, this masochistic beating right to the end of the book... This is thriller writing of the very highest order." (Matthew Lewin The Guardian )

exit music: ian rankin

RM 10

Amazon.com Review:

It's late autumn in Edinburgh and late autumn in the career of Detective Inspector John Rebus. As he tries to tie up some loose ends before retirement, a murder case intrudes. A dissident Russian poet has been found dead in what looks like a mugging gone wrong. By apparent coincidence a high-level delegation of Russian businessmen is in town, keen to bring business to Scotland. The politicians and bankers who run Edinburgh are determined that the case should be closed quickly and clinically.

But the further they dig, the more Rebus and his colleague DS Siobhan Clarke become convinced that they are dealing with something more than a random attack - especially after a particularly nasty second killing. Meantime, a brutal and premeditated assault on local gangster 'Big Ger' Cafferty sees Rebus in the frame. Has the Inspector taken a step too far in tying up those loose ends? Only a few days shy of the end to his long, inglorious career, will Rebus even make it that far

‘A fitting end to one of the most beguiling characters in the history of crime fiction… it leaves them gasping for more.’ Marcel Berlins, The Times

‘Like the best of its predecessors, it weaves a complex plot against an intimately realised background’ The Herald

corner shop: roopa farooki

RM 10

Amazon.com Review:

Like her delightful first novel, Bitter Sweets (2007), Farooki’s second is a multi-generational tale about the struggle to achieve a dream and the reality that follows even the most amazing accomplishment. Zaki defied his father and married a beautiful young pregnant widow, only to find himself widowed a few years later and forced to accept his father’s offer to run a small shop in London. Zaki’s daughter-in-law—and former lover—Delphine has everything she thought she wanted: a loving husband and a smart, ambitious son, but she finds herself longing for the passion she shared with Zaki. Her 15-year-old son, Lucky, is an aspiring footballer, but he’s chagrined when his coach puts him in the goalie box. Still, Lucky finds love with his dream girl and success on the football field, growing ever closer to his dream to be on England’s World Cup team.

A complex exploration of the ever-changing nature of wants and desires and the consequences of achieving one’s dreams, Farooki’s tale eschews easy answers for the complex, appealing characters that people its pages. --Kristine Huntley

angel uncovered: katie price

SOLD: MARIA

RM 10

Amazon.com review:

An explosive and highly charged tale of love, lies and celebrity.

Angel Summer looks as if she has found her happy ever after. She’s married to the love of her life, sexy footballer Cal, they have a beautiful baby girl and Angel is Britain’s top glamour model. But all is not as it seems and there is heartache in store.

When Cal is transferred to AC Milan, instead of embracing the WAG lifestyle of designer shopping and pampering, Angel feels isolated being so far away from her family and friends. Surrounded by beautiful people, will Angel and Cal pull together or will they turn elsewhere to seek comfort? Things only get more complicated for Angel when an old flame of Cal's comes back on the scene and suddenly Angel is fighting to save her marriage, and herself..

'The Perfect sexy summer read' heat 'A page turner... it is brilliant' Evening Standard 'The perfect post-modern fairy tale' Glamour

the duke and i: julia quinn

SOLD: KIT

RM 10

Amazon.com Review:

Relentlessly pursued by match-making mamas and their charges, Simon Bassett, the handsome Duke of Hastings, has grown tired of the societal chase. Tired too is the lovely Daphne Bridgerton, whose matrimonially minded mother is set on finding her daughter the perfect husband. Neither Simon nor Daphne is happy with this annoying state of affairs and both would give anything for a little peace and quiet. Their mutual wish for a respite from the ton's marriage mart leads to a pretend engagement--a scheme that is threatened with exposure by Daphne's suspicious older brother, who happens to know Simon's way with women very well. The two never anticipated that a mutual attraction would lead to the very thing they set out to avoid--a wedding. But Simon fears that his painful past may keep him from being able to truly love anyone. And though Daphne cares for him deeply, she won't settle for anything less than his heart.

The Duke and I is rich with author Julia Quinn's trademark humor and engaging dialogue. Beneath the Regency charm of this novel, however, dwells an insightful exploration of the impact of childhood trauma and the healing power of love. Quinn just keeps getting better and better, a fact that's sure to delight readers. --Lois Faye Dyer