Showing results by narrator "Prendergast Colleen" in All Categories

Welcome to Spring Hill, home to a parade of independent shops and cafes and a thriving local community. Amanda is primary carer to her elderly mother and one of the only women employed by a male-dominated company. Used to being second-best all her life, is this her time to finally break ranks and shine? Sky works at the repair shop, patching up old teddy bears, and their owners’ hearts. But her heart beats only for the one man who is strictly off-limits.

Three South Yorkshire friends, all on the cusp of 40, fall pregnant at the same time following a visit to an ancient fertility symbol. For Helen, it's a dream come true, although her husband is not as thrilled about it as she had hoped. Not only wrestling with painful ghosts of the past, Helen has to deal with the fact that her outwardly perfect marriage is crumbling before her eyes. For Janey, it is an unmitigated disaster as she has just been offered the career break of a life-time.

Marnie Salt has made so many mistakes in her life that she fears she will never get on the right track. But when she 'meets' an old lady in a baking chatroom and begins confiding in her, little does she know how her life will change. Arranging to see each other for lunch, Marnie finds discovers that Lilian is every bit as mad and delightful as she'd hoped - and that she owns a whole village in the Yorkshire Dales, which has been passed down through generations.

It’s nearly Christmas, and it’s snowing, hard. Six people have an unexpected stay in the tiny hamlet of Figgy Hollow. Stuck inside a beautiful old inn, how long will it take before the joy of Christmas seeps into their souls and offers them all a new beginning?

Anna, 39, is reeling from the loss of her fiancé, who ran off with a much younger woman. Her pride in tatters, these days Anna finds it difficult to leave the house. So when a handsome, mysterious stranger takes an interest in her, she's not sure whether she can learn to trust again? Then there's Grace, in her 50s, trapped in a loveless marriage with a man she married because, unable to have children of her own, she fell in love with his motherless brood.

As an agent of the Throne, former soldier Ianthe serves Inquisitor Covenant and faces some of the most dangerous and insidious threats the galaxy has to offer. On the hunt for the rogue psyker Silas Norn, Ianthe and her associates run afoul of the Imperial authorities and are imprisoned. Norn too is captured and incarcerated, but with the ability to manipulate the minds of his victims he is far from easy quarry. To stop him, Ianthe must not only find him; she must overcome the buried ghosts of her hidden past.

Life is full of second chances, if only you keep your heart open for them. Spring Hill Square is a pretty sanctuary away from the bustle of everyday life. And at its centre is Leni Merryman's Teashop on the Corner, specialising in cake, bookish stationery and compassion. And for three people, all in need of a little TLC, it is somewhere to find a friend to lean on.

Best friends from work May, Lara and Clare are desperate for some time away. They have each had a rough time of it lately and need some serious R & R, so they set off to a luxurious spa for 10 glorious days. But when they arrive at their destination, it seems it is not the place they thought it was. In fact, they appear to have come to entirely the wrong village. Despite the strange atmosphere, the three friends are determined to make the best of it and have a holiday to remember. But will this be the break they all need?

It's the day they've always dreamed about. But will it turn out to be a nightmare? Bel is in the midst of planning her perfect wedding when disaster strikes and everything she thought she knew is turned on its head. Can she hold it all together and, with the help of her friends, and a mysterious man she meets unexpectedly, turn disaster into triumph? Bel's friend, ice-cream parlour owner Violet, is engaged to Glyn, who is besotted by her although Violet fell out of love with him long ago.

The Lemon Tree Café was originally published as a four-part serial. This is the complete story in one package. A deliciously cosy story of family, friendship and a little dolce vita, perfect for fans of Milly Johnson, Trisha Ashley and Katie Fforde.

Eve Glace - co-owner of the theme park Winterworld - is having a baby, and her due date is a perfectly timed 25th December. And she’s decided that she and her husband, Jacques, should renew their wedding vows with all the pomp and Christmas ceremony that was missing from the first time round. But things keep going wrong in Winterworld - is it because the the usually competent site manager, Effin Williams, has lost his focus, or is there something more sinister going on?

Sep McGilby always said that Emily Kennedy had a happy face. And at 16, Emily had a lot to be glad about. She loved working as maid-of-all-work for the McGilbys, the only cloud on her horizon was her anxiety about her delicate younger sister, Lucy. But when Mrs McGilby dies, and Sep is killed in an accident soon after, Emily and Lucy must leave South Shields to look for work, which they find at Croft Dene House.

When the naked, battered body of an unidentified teenager is found dumped in an alleyway, postmortem finds evidence of a harrowing series of events. Another teenage death with the same MO pushes DI Hannah Robbins and her team on the Nottingham City division Major Crimes Unit to their limits - and across county borders.

Subterfuge and compromise walk hand in hand for an agent of the Throne. On the blighted world of Dustcorn, an assault on an Inquisitorial target goes badly awry, forcing Ianthe and her associates into a pact with an unscrupulous ally, the mysterious Zand. With her mission in tatters, Ianthe has little choice but to agree to Zand’s terms, the assassination of a perfidious traitor. But nothing is simple where Zand is concerned, and Ianthe soon finds herself in a situation that will have far-reaching consequences for her and her team.

Alice Rose is a foundling, discovered on the Yorkshire moors above Haworth as a baby. Adopted but then later rejected again by a horrid stepmother, Alice struggles to find a place where she belongs. Only baking - the scent of cinnamon and citrus and the feel of butter and flour between her fingers - brings a comforting sense of home. So it seems natural that when she finally decides to return to Haworth, Alice turns to baking again, taking over a run-down little teashop and working to set up an afternoon tea emporium.

Eve has never liked Christmas. So when her adored elderly aunt dies, the last thing she is expecting is to be left a theme park in her will. A theme park with a Christmas theme. And that's not the only catch. Her aunt's will stipulates that Eve must run the park with a mysterious partner, the exotically named Jacques Glace. Who is this Jacques, and why did Aunt Evelyn name him in her will?

Polly Potter is surviving, not thriving. She used to love her job – until her mentor died and her new boss decided to make her life hell. She used to love her partner Chris – until he cheated on her, and now she can’t forget. The only place where her life is working is on the pages of the novel she is writing – there she can create a feistier, bolder, more successful version of herself – as the ­fictional Sabrina Anderson. But what if it was possible to start over again? To leave everything behind, forget all that went before, and live the life you’d always dreamed of?

For Ianthe, war is all too familiar. A former soldier in the Astra Militarum, she now serves Inquisitor Covenant as an agent of the Throne. Her first mission sees her investigating a cult called the Children of Eternity. Falling foul of the local Enforcers, Ianthe soon learns that war in the shadows is seldom straightforward and that the local, angry law-keepers are the least of her troubles.

Ven, Roz, Olive and Frankie have been friends since school. They day-dreamed of glorious futures, full of riches, romance and fabulous jobs. The world would be their oyster. Twenty-five years later, Olive cleans other people's houses to support her lazy, out-of-work husband and his ailing mother. Roz cannot show her kind, caring husband, Manus, any love because her philandering ex has left her trust in shreds. And she and Frankie have fallen out big time.

When Lewis Harley has a health scare in his early 40s, he takes it as a wake-up call. So he and his wife, Charlotte, leave behind life in the fast lane, and Lewis opens the antiques shop he has dreamed of. Bonnie Brookland was brought up in the antiques trade and now works for the man who bought out her father's business, but she isn't happy there. So when she walks into Lew's shop, she knows this is the place for her.