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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.... 

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....

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.

Kathy Courage has never visited the famous Italian city of Florence before, so she's thrilled when she and her boyfriend, Neil, are invited there for a wedding. Unfortunately, with Neil's constant complaining and his teenage children in tow, it's not exactly the romantic break Kathy was hoping for. But when a mix-up with her flights leaves Kathy stranded in the city, she decides to embrace the unexpected and stay on alone. 

New York, 2015. In a city of more than eight million people, there are always new places to visit, new connections to be made, new experiences to be shared. But not for Alice Quick. Determined to finally take her MCAT exam and become a doctor, this has to be a summer of no distractions. So it's a shame that her chaotic roommate Roxy is persistently getting her into trouble, not the most convenient timing for her millionaire brother, Bill, to decide to embark upon a spiritual search for the meaning of life and plain inconvenient that Alice just can't seem to put down her phone. 

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.

Sunny is the queen of living a double life. On the one hand, she's 30, flirty and thriving. But on the other, she's just moved back in with her parents while all her friends are getting married, buying houses and having babies. To complicate matters further, she's a secret serial dater, sneaking out of the house every night, leaving her parents with a trail of little white lies. But one day, her two lives collide in her parents' hallway as she's trying to slip out the front door under the cover of darkness.

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.

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...

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.

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. 

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....

Would you take the chance that could change everything? After leaving university with two degrees and no idea what to do with her life, 25-year-old Hannah is stunned when she is left a mystery bequest by her rich, estranged great-uncle Donald. But there's a catch: before she can find out what she's inherited, she must undertake a series of unknown tasks alongside Alec, Donald's reluctant (but rather gorgeous) PA. As the tasks progress and she and Alec grow closer, Hannah begins to think that Donald's real gift might have more to do with love than money.

Dani Parker had grand plans for her life - but that was 22 years ago. Now she's a single mother still living in the quaint seaside town of Newbay, still working at the hotel where she got her first ever job. When she bumps into ex-boyfriend Nat, Dani wonders if this might be the start of something not-quite-new. But that's before she meets his fiancée....

Just as 29-year-old Ella loses her dream job after an unfortunate incident (it was just a bit of hot sauce, for goodness' sake - he totally overreacted!), her phone rings. Her aunt Gillian, who lives in a tiny mountain village, has had a fall and needs her help. Ella gives in to fate and agrees to go, looking forward to a few quiet weeks to work out what to do with her car crash of a life. But as soon as she gets there, she realises it's not going to be the idyllic break she had hoped for.