American Editions

Wedding Season

Sarah is a wedding planner hiding a rather inconvenient truth – she doesn't believe in love. Or not for herself, anyway. But as the confetti flutters away on the June breeze of yet another successful wedding she somehow finds herself agreeing to organise two more, on the same day and only two months away. And whilst her celebrity bride is all sweetness and light, her own sister soon starts driving her mad with her high expectations but very limited budget.

Luckily Sara has two tried and tested friends on hand to help her. Elsa, an accomplished dress designer who likes to keep a very low profile, and Bron, a multi-talented hairdresser who lives with her unreconstructed boyfriend and who'd like to go solo in more ways than one. They may be very good at their work but romance doesn't feature very highly in any of their lives.

As the big day draws near all three women find that patience is definitely a virtue in the marriage game. And as all their working hours are spent preparing for the wedding of the year plus one, they certainly haven't got any time to even think about love; or have they? … read more

Going Dutch

When Jo's husband trades her in for a younger model, she suddenly finds herself living on a barge near the Thames. Used to being a kept woman, she soon realises she'll need more than a few culinary skills to keep herself afloat. Aware she was about to make a terrible mistake, Dora has fled from a huge wedding, her fiancé, her mother and a very critical village to come under Jo's protective wing.

While offering mutual support, Dora gets a job where she has to row to work and Jo works out how to make a living. And though they may not know much about boats they're determined to make the best of things. One thing's for certain, though, they've both sworn off men for good. Unfortunately, life has other plans and inflicts arrogant but attractive Marcus, who's the oracle on all things nautical, and laid-back, charming, jack-of-all-trades Tom on their ordered lives.

And as if they didn't have enough to worry about, they've discovered they have to take the barge to sea … read more

Practically Perfect

Anna, a newly qualified interior designer, has decided it's time to put her money and her expertise where her mouth is. She’s risked everything on buying a tiny but adorable cottage so she can renovate it, sell it on, and prove to her family that she can earn her own living.

Outside, the chocolate-box cottage is perfect, but inside all is chaos: with a ladder for a staircase, no downstairs flooring, candles the only form of lighting and a sleeping bag and camping mat for a bed, Anna's soon wondering whether she's bitten off more than she can chew.

Her neighbour Chloe comes to the rescue, providing tea, wine and sympathy – and a recently rescued greyhound, Caroline. But just as Anna's starting to believe she's found the perfect idyll, the good-looking yet impossible Rob Hunter arrives on the scene, putting up more obstacles than the Grand National. Can Anna get over all of life's hurdles? … read more

Bidding for Love [Flora's Lot]

When Flora Stanza’s uncle dies unexpectedly, leaving her a 51 per cent share in the family antiques business, it gives her the perfect chance to leave her glamorous but less than happy London life for the quieter life of the country. Unfortunately, her cousin Charles and his fiancée Annabelle don’t seem pleased to find Flora and her very pregnant cat on their doorstep.

Flora knows almost nothing about antiques, but with her London apartment rented out, her cat about to burst with kittens, and a mysterious man warning her about Annabelle, Flora has little choice but to accept her cousin’s offer to stay in their abandoned holiday cottage, miles from anything remotely like what Flora considers civilization.

Soon, though, Flora is fighting off dinner invitations from the devastatingly handsome Henry and hiding her eco-friendly lodger, William. Could it be that country life isn’t so dull after all? … read more

ISBN 0312359632 Hardback

Restoring Grace

Grace Soudley’s life is coming apart at the seams. Recently divorced, she is still living in the beautiful yet crumbling old house her godmother left her, but unless she can find a fortune, the house will disintegrate around her.

Artist Ellie Summers’ life is unraveling too. She’s pregnant, but her boyfriend is less than enthusiastic about parenthood, and her parents are not exactly inviting her to move back home. She has to come up with a new plan. Fast.

Ellie needs a place to stay; Grace needs a lodger. Each of them needs a friend, and together they begin the work of fixing up the house. But then an unexpected and disconcertingly handsome man arrives on the scene, apparently determined to help. And when Grace discovers some beautiful and potentially valuable paintings hidden behind the tattered dining-room curtains, the whole business of restoration starts to get serious....

This fresh, funny romance from bestselling novelist Katie Fforde offers charm, wit, and restorative new beginnings for all … read more

ISBN 0099446634 Paperback

Paradise Fields

It's not as if Nel Innes doesn't have enough on her plate already: keeping track of her unnervingly beautiful teenage daughter, sorting out a house full of animals, and organizing a farmers' market in the picturesque Paradise Fields. The last thing she needs is yet another complication in her life, but when her old friend Sir Gerald dies, and his son, Pierce, accompanied by his glamorous American wife, takes possession of the property, it seems that preserving the Fields is not on his list of priorities.

Nel takes up arms, determined to fight for the meadow and the market she loves. But who can she trust? She's pretty sure her friends Sacha and Vivian are on her side, but her sensible boyfriend of six months, Simon, an estate agent, is less encouraging. And then there's Jake, the infuriating yet attractive stranger who surprised her with a kiss under the mistletoe at the last market before Christmas. Maybe she's been a celibate widow for a little too long … read more

ISBN 0312333323 Paperback

Highland Fling

Jenny Porter, a ‘virtual assistant’, spends her life sorting out other people’s problems. But when one of her clients asks her to go to Scotland to do a little hands-on investigation into a woolen mill he has a financial interest in, it doesn’t turn out to be the working vacation she hoped for. For not only does her role at Dalmain House include rather a lot of unexpected tasks – of which the cooking is the least taxing – but she also finds herself charmed into helping run ‘The Homely Haggis’, a mobile burger bar.

But it’s when her abrasive customer, Ross Grant, turns out to be someone she can genuinely talk to, that she really gets confused. And when Jenny finds herself torn between loyalty to her client and letting down the people of Drumossie, her problem-solving skills are stretched to the limit. It’s a pity they don’t seem able to stretch to sorting out her own, increasingly complicated personal life … read more

ISBN 0312317689 Hardback

Artistic License

Thea Orville traded her promising career as a photo-journalist for the quiet gentility of Cheltenham in the English Cotswolds. Cajoled into an art appreciation holiday in Provence by her bossy friend, she meets a sexy Irish painter, Rory, and follows him to Ireland.

Impressed by Rory’s talent, Thea is determined to showcase his paintings for the world. Resisting his sex appeal while convincing him to forgo the London art scene where his work was trashed years before, she transformed an abandoned building into a cutting-edge gallery in down-at-heel Stroud … read more

ISBN 031299141X Paperback

Second Thyme Around [Thyme Out]

For years, things have run quite smoothly for Perdita and her organic gardening business. So what if her hair needs a complete overhaul, her sweater has more holes than Swiss cheese, and there’s no hope of a boyfriend on the horizon. The last thing Perdita wants is a meddlesome man in her life—but she's about to get one, in the form of her completely infuriating ex-husband, Lucas.

Lucas is disagreeable, curt, arrogant, and smolderingly gorgeous. He's also the new chef at Grantly House, Perdita’s number one customer. Worse, Mr. Grantly has the insane idea of starting a television cooking show that will put Lucas and Perdita together as The Gourmet and the Gardener.

Now, things are heating up in the kitchen—and elsewhere. With the bright lights blazing and old feelings stirring up the pot, it could be a recipe for disaster … or absolute delight … read more

ISBN 0312980345 Paperback

Life Skills

A combination of overwork and jet-lag had propelled Julia Fairfax into becoming engaged to Oscar. She then realised she had fonder feelings for his adorable Labrador than for Oscar himself and that something was drastically wrong. Ditching her fiancé and jacking in her job, she decides to revolutionise her life.

Her new career as a cook on a pair of hotel boats is certainly a departure, and teaches her more about life than how to get a couple of narrow boats through a lock. But even afloat Julia’s past catches up with her. Not only must she contend with the persistent Oscar (not to mention his frigthful mother and her own mother’s determined matchmaking), but also the arrival of her childhood enemy, the enigmatic Fergus Grindley … read more

ISBN 0312979460 Paperback

Stately Pursuits

‘You're not doing very much at the moment, darling. I don't suppose you'd care to house-sit for a while?’

Thus begins the irresistible story of two fixer-uppers—an old house and a young woman—and their efforts to recapture their true luster.

When Hetty Longden, freshly dumped and broken-hearted, agrees to look after her great-uncle’s long-abandoned mansion in the British countryside, she’s at something of a lifetime low. With no job, no lover, no prospects, and no particular talent for resuscitating crumbling estates, she hopes for nothing more than some good old-fashioned escape. What she finds includes a cast of quirky and ever-present neighbors, a couple of SNAGs (Sensitive New Age Guys), some very humorless bank officials, two disarming little canines, one gracious, dilapidated, romantic old house, and, just maybe, enough elbow grease to polish everything up again.

A British bestseller that’s as inviting as an elegant old house full of unexplored rooms (after a good scrubbing-down, of course), Stately Pursuits is the funniest, smartest, and warmest read of the season … read more

ISBN 0312206763 Paperback

Wild Designs

Saddled with too large a house – albeit in a beautiful Cotswolds village – worrisome mortgage payments, a bossy younger sister and irksome ex-husband, Althea still manages to muddle through life comfortably enough.

Until she loses her job. Seeking solace in her borrowed greenhouse, Althea decides to develop her passion for gardening. And when she wins the opportunity to design a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show – with the unexpected help of gorgeous architect Patrick Donahugh – it looks as though Althea may have unearthed a new man as well as a new career … read more

ISBN 0312190328 Paperback