Showing results by publisher "Hodder & Stoughton" in Romantic Comedy

Janey Carter has a lot to be grateful for - a home by the sea in Carso that she renovated herself, a job as an audiologist that she loves, two great kids, and a network of kind and supportive friends. But since her husband left, her confidence has taken a nosedive. And then, out of the blue, her grumpy 30-year-old daughter announces she's moving back home. Janey loves Essie dearly but they only just made it out alive from her adolescence. And this really is going to cramp her soon-to-be-rediscovered dating style.

Helen Zhang is the bestselling author who can't write her own happy-ever-after. Grant Shepard is the screenwriter with the movie-star looks who can't afford his therapist. When the two of them are put together to adapt Helen's books for television, it should be a dream come true. Helen can start a new life in Hollywood. Grant can pay his mortgage. Only, Grant Shepard is the last person that Helen wanted to see again. She's never forgiven him for what happened thirteen years ago. So no one is more surprised than her when sparks begin to fly between them in the writers' room.

Hazel is given a one-two punch when she's forced to move out of her Upper East Side apartment and is given a final warning from her publisher. If she doesn't turn in a book by her next deadline, they're cutting her loose. Hazel rashly decides to leave what's left of her city life behind and impulse buys a house in rural Pennsylvania, sight unseen. How better to entertain the loyal readers she still has and rediscover her writing mojo than by immersing herself in small-town life?

Columnist Anna Appleby has left her love life behind after a painful divorce. Who needs a man when she has two kids, a cat, and uncontested control of the TV remote? Besides, she'd rather be single than subject herself to the hell of online dating. But her office rival is vying for her column, and no column means no stable source of income. So, in a desperate attempt to keep her job, Anna finds herself pitching a unique angle: seven dates, all found offline, chosen by her children.

Audrey is marrying Josh; steady, dependable Josh, the love of her life. They share a flat and a bank account, and it's the only relationship that Audrey's ever had that feels like something she can put her trust in. But romance should be full of fireworks, and as the big day approaches, Audrey's found herself wondering if Josh really is 'the one'. So, when Josh's sister, Miranda, arrives at their rehearsal dinner with Fred—Audrey's 'What If? guy', the man she met six years ago and had one amazing day with but never saw again—Audrey can't help but see it as a sign.

Lucy Young may only be twenty-four, but she's already exhausted. She's tired of dating, tired of being on the bottom rung at work, of having no money and living off super noodles and Rice Krispies. She wants to know who she's going spend her life with, to have a successful career, and just once, to get out of her overdraft. She's ready to skip to the good part. But you should be careful what you wish for. Because when Lucy wakes up in a strange bed with a strange man, she finds that somehow the impossible has happened

One morning, Eveleth 'Evvie' Drake got up, packed her suitcase, and got ready to leave her life - and her perfect husband - behind. But before she walked out of the door, she received a phone call asking her to come to the hospital. That day, Evvie's new life as a widow began. Now wrestling with her guilt and grief, Evvie has found her independence, but not the way she planned. Unable to leave the house she once dreamed of escaping, it's clear to her best friend Andy that Evvie needs a change. And Andy might just have the answer....

Literary agent Zoey Moody doesn't like small town life, but here she is: exiled from Manhattan's publishing scene and trapped in a tiny Pennsylvania town with her BFF and only remaining client, Hazel. The problem? She's totally broke. All she needs is for Hazel's next romance novel to become a gigantic hit and Zoey will be back in New York. Nothing will stand in her way. Nothing except her six-foot-two-inch landlord, Gage Bishop. He's smart, serious and sexy. Worst of all, he's ready to settle down.

Lisa Darling - high-flying TV-exec and twice-divorced mother-of-two - has enough on her plate without having to deal with the handsome New Yorker parachuted in to her best friend's job at work. She's already navigating life with a grotty teenage son, organising a PTA cheese & wine event, supporting her oldest friend through breast cancer treatment and, since she hit 47, facing a new perimenopause symptom every day. It's no wonder she never has time for Pilates or that DIY panelling she keeps seeing on Instagram...

Harper Jenkins has her dream job. As Celebrity Editor at a glossy weekend magazine, she's known for persuading tight-lipped Hollywood stars to open up, landing her exclusive stories and a great reputation. Everything's perfect - that is, until her awful boss hires hotshot reporter Ryan as the new Features Editor. Harper is furious: she remembers Ryan from a decade ago, when they were both interns together. Harper had mistakenly thought Ryan was someone she could trust - until he betrayed her in the worst way possible. They've never spoken since.

After a disastrous first meeting, Cassie and Marc become arch nemeses. He might have great cheekbones and a sexy French accent but he's a terrible person who did a terrible thing. Too bad that Cassie's best friends Lucy and Russell think he's wonderful. But years later, when an unexpected tragedy strikes their friendship group, Cassie and Marc team up to give Lucy and Russell the best weekend ever so they can make new memories with all of their favourite people. Which means convincing everyone that Cassie and Marc are head over heels in love.

After Mirren Sutherland finds a priceless antique book in her great aunt's attic, she is contacted by Jamie McPherson, who is hopeful she might be able to find another one- a book lost in his own house. He doesn't even know the name of it, only that it is so valuable it could potentially save the entire estate from ruin, and time is running out. On arriving at Jamie's vast crumbling home in the highlands of Scotland (on the family train, no less), Mirren meets rival bookseller Theo Palliser, whose motives are not remotely honourable; and sets out on the quest.

As a professional bridesmaid, Sophie is hired by brides to be their right-hand woman, posing as a friend but working behind the scenes to ensure their big day goes off without a hitch. From wrangling rowdy hen dos to navigating last minute portaloo cancellations and family dramas, there's no problem she can't solve. So when she's hired by an actual Marchioness to help plan the society wedding of the year, it should be a chance for Sophie to prove just how talented she is.

Still grieving the death of her best friend, Erin knows she needs to start living - but has no idea how. Then she loses her favourite book, a heavily annotated copy of To Kill A Mockingbird containing her friend's last gift. When James finds Erin's note-filled book in his local community bookshelf, it sparks a life-changing conversation. He writes his own message for her to find, inviting her to meet him in the margins of Great Expectations. As the book exchange continues, they both begin to open up . . . and perhaps fall in love.

After a year from hell, Haf is ready to blow off steam at a Christmas party: a kind stranger, a few too many drinks and suddenly she's kissing Christopher under the mistletoe—in front of his ex-girlfriend. The next day the news is out that they're apparently a couple, coming to Oxlea to spend the festive season with Christopher's family. But Haf doesn't have better holiday plans and to save her new friend from embarrassment, she agrees to pretend to be Christopher's girlfriend for Christmas. It has the makings of a hilarious anecdote. Until Haf meets Christopher's sister....

Thirty-three-year-old Kara Moon dreamt of going to college to study floristry but couldn't bring herself to leave her emotionally delicate single father, and has worked on the market's flower stall ever since leaving school. When her good-for-nothing boyfriend, Jago, cheats on her and steals her life savings, she finally dumps him and rents out her spare room as an Airbnb. Gossip flies around the town as Kara welcomes a series of foreign guests to her flat overlooking the estuary. Then an anonymous postcard arrives, along with a plane ticket to New York.

Freya Scott is getting married. Her wedding to Matthew, her long-term boyfriend, is the first of eight in her calendar this year, and as someone who prides herself on being meticulously organised, Freya is intent on making it the perfect day to remember. But when Matthew calls things off hours before they walk down the aisle, Freya's entire life plan goes up in smoke. Humiliated and heartbroken, the last thing she wants is to attend a summer of other peoples' nuptials on her own.

Margot and Will cross paths at the local dog rescue centre where - after a series of misunderstandings and a lot of consternation - they agree to foster Blossom (a gentle Staffy with a giant head, soft, floppy ears and kohl-rimmed brown eyes) together: one week on, one week off. Margot and Will don't get off to the best of starts: he thinks Margot is demanding and needy and Just So Much. And she thinks Will is emotionally unavailable, slightly brittle and very mistrustful. But the more they bicker, the worse Blossom behaves....

London. Nine million people. Two-hundred-and-seventy tube stations. Every day, thousands of chance encounters, first dates, goodbyes and happy ever afters. And for 20 years, it's been where one man and one woman can never get their timing right. Jennifer and Nick meet as teenagers, and over the next two decades, they fall in and out of love with each other. Sometimes they start kissing. Sometimes they're just friends. Sometimes they stop speaking, but they always find their way back to each other.

Thirty-nine-year-old Glanna Pascoe—also known as 'the Rainbow Painter'—runs the Hartmouth Gallery in Ferry Lane Market in Cornwall. She is just getting her head and broken heart around being single, childless and sober when Cupid flies in, shooting arrows all over the place. Meeting the mysterious and fascinating Isaac Benson, famous local artist and recluse, allows Glanna's disillusioned heart and attitude to soften, and she begins to learn more about herself than she ever thought possible.