Showing results by narrator "Karen Cass" in All Categories

Craft shop owner Mandy Vanes has always enjoyed a commitment-free singleton lifestyle – in fact, she’s well-known for her wild ways in her small seaside town on the coast. But when local teenager Nick Crossten turns to her for help, Mandy has the opportunity to prove she can be a responsible adult - although things get tricky when gin distillery owner Graham Frankley comes to town with some unexpected news. Could this mean that Mandy the party girl is finally ready to grow up?

Student and Zumba instructor Izzy Grant leads a pretty normal life, but in the run-up to Christmas an unusual encounter with a friendly Santa paves the way for the most wonderful and star-studded Christmas she’s ever experienced. Because at almost exactly the same time, Izzy also meets Seth Roberts - as in the Seth Roberts, bona fide rock star and lead singer of Scarlet Gryphon. As their connection grows, Izzy’s Christmas countdown becomes a glittering whirlwind of after-show parties and classy restaurants - and does she have her mystery Santa to thank?

1862. Growing up in a small seaside town on the Isle of Wight, free-spirited Eveline Stanhope feels trapped by the weight of expectation from her well-to-do family. Her mother and two elder sisters would rather she focus her attention on marrying well, but Eveline wants more for herself, and the arrival of the railway provides just the cause she’s been searching for. Driven by the cherished memories of her late father, Eveline is keen to preserve the landscape he loved so much and becomes closely involved with the project.

When Lindsay Ellis was a teenager she witnessed the aftermath of a violent murder involving her lover’s father. The killer was never found. Traumatised by what she saw, Lindsay had no choice but to leave her home village of Hartley Cross and its close-knit community behind. Now, years later, she must face up to the terrible memories that still haunt her. But will confronting the past finally allow Lindsay to heal, or will her return to Hartley Cross unearth dangerous secrets and put the people she has come to care about most at risk?

Aidan Edwards has always been fascinated by the life of his great-great-uncle Robert. A trip to Hartsford Hall and an encounter with Cassie Aldrich leads him closer to the truth about Robert Edwards, as he unravels the scandalous story of a bright young poet and a beautiful, spirited aristocrat in the carefree twilight of the 1930s, before the Second World War. But can Aidan find out what happened to Robert after the war - or will he have to accept that certain parts of his uncle’s life will remain forever shrouded in mystery?

December 1838. A storm is raging outside Kenilworth Hall. Inside, Lord Kenilworth's wife is in agony in the middle of a difficult labour. Lady Kenilworth doesn't survive the birth, but, against all odds, her baby daughter does. Baby Storm grows into a headstrong and adventurous child, close to her sister, Eloise, and their neighbours at Chislestone Manor - her best friend, Cissy, and Cissy's handsome older brother, Hunter, who has promised to marry Storm when she's older.

Early one summer morning Isabel and her 11-year-old daughter, River, walk across Regent's Park. They come across a rain-soaked man sitting alone on a bench and ask him if he's okay. But he doesn't know. In fact he doesn't know the answer to any of their questions - not even his own name. Urged on by her daughter, Isabel takes the man to the hospital she works at, hoping that will be the end of it. But when the tests show there's nothing physically wrong with him, and yet he still can't remember who he is, she realises she can't walk away.

Christy Carlyle dazzles with the first romance in her enchanting Love on Holiday series. Will Hart, the Duke of Ashmore, is everything his father was not: scrupulously honest, forbidding, and apparently joyless. As a duke, he’s a catch, but as a grumpy stick-in-the mud, no lady knows quite how...

In 1450 Christine de Pisan took up the pen to defend her maligned sex. Her book, The City of Ladies, was built around preserving women's reputations from the slights and misunderstandings of history. In it the author is visited by three spirits - Justice, Rectitude and Reason - who guide her in sifting through countless lives, in search of worthy citizens. Nearly 600 years later, the historian and novelist Lisa Hilton picks up the book and promptly falls asleep, only to be visited by three great women from history: Cleopatra, Lucrezia Borgia and Catherine the Great.

To her new colleagues at the lifestyle brand Beautiful You! Jade Fisher is the perfect employee. She's fun, easy to get on with, and knows her stuff. She's also harboring a dark secret… A secret so devastating that if it came out, it would destroy the company and its influential founder, Rebecca Burton-Webb. At least, that's what Jade's hoping for… First, she needs proof. She needs to get close to Rebecca. To get inside her life. As Jade becomes embroiled in Rebecca's world, she realizes there is more to the enigmatic older woman than meets the eye.

Escape to the Edwardian era, when women's hats were large, motorcars were unreliable, and murder methods were very imaginative. If you like cozy mysteries with humor, history, and witty animal sidekicks, you'll love Saddled with Murder. It's perfect for fans of classic whodunnits by M.C. Beaton, T E Kinsey, Karen Baugh Menuhin, and Dick Francis. Saddled with Murder is the first book in the series.

Aimed at HR practitioners and managers, Employee Engagement offers a complete, practical resource for understanding, measuring and building engagement. Grounded in engagement theory and an understanding of psychology combined with practical tools, techniques and diagnostics, this book will help you assess and drive engagement in your organization. Case studies include British Gas, Capital One, Asda, Ministry of Justice, Mace and RSA.

After the sudden death of her estranged husband, Clare is shocked to discover she has inherited a dog and a small fortune. Convinced by her adult children to finally do something for herself, Clare embarks on a coast-to-coast adventure - until she stumbles upon an unmarked location on the fringes of South Devon. When Clare finds herself driving down a narrow road to the tiny village of Little Sorrell, she is met with distant, cold and rude locals. But as she falls in love with a cottage she wishes to call home, can Little Sorrell truly be the place of second chances?

In this hauntingly poetic essay, Virginia Woolf captures the fragile beauty of life and death through the simple image of a moth struggling in the light. As she reflects on the inevitability of mortality and the quiet force of nature, Woolf’s sharp, introspective prose invites readers to confront their own fleeting existence. The Death of the Moth is a meditation on life’s transience, a masterclass in Woolf’s ability to turn ordinary moments into profound reflections on human vulnerability.

What do you do if you're 34 and recovering from being jilted two weeks before your wedding day? While friends are marrying, having children and moving to the depths of the countryside, Gilly Brown finds herself alone in London with just her little dog Ruskin for company. It's time to move on, so on a friend's advice she looks for a lodger, a Monday to Friday one, and finds handsome television producer Jack Baker. Gilly falls for Jack's charm and is transported into an exciting social whirlwind of parties, dining out and glamour.

Lucy has her rigid middle-class life mapped out for her, until she visits Florence with her uptight cousin Charlotte, and finds her neatly ordered existence thrown off balance. Her eyes are opened by the unconventional characters she meets at the Pension Bertolini: flamboyant romantic novelist Eleanor Lavish, the Cockney Signora, curious Mr Emerson and, most of all, his passionate son George. Lucy finds herself torn between the intensity of life in Italy and the repressed morals of Edwardian England, personified in her terminally dull fiancé Cecil Vyse.

Julia and Lauren are sisters, but definitely not best friends. They rarely even speak to each other. But when Lauren's fortieth birthday is ruined by her latest boyfriend dumping her, Julia feels a sudden and unexpected burst of sympathy, and offers to go with her on the special holiday he'd paid for as a birthday present. Unfortunately the holiday turns out not to be a glamorous hotel in a holiday hotspot, but a self-catering cottage in a tiny village called Deepcombe, in the middle of Dartmoor. And it's January.

After the shocking events of last Christmas, Jess Croft is determined this festive season will be the one to remember, for all the right reasons. But when a stranger turns up on her doorstep claiming to be her estranged father, Jess is shocked. Moreso, when the man claims that the little girl with him is none other than Jess’s sister - a child she knew nothing about. Jess isn’t sure she wants these strangers to stay, but she can’t turn them away, especially when she learns that their lives are in danger.

Inga Svartdal has just been married off to the much older Niels. She quickly realises that Gudrun, Niels' adult daughter from his first marriage, does not intend to relinquish control of the family farm. Inga is forced to bow to the will of her wicked stepdaughter. It doesn't take long until Niels starts asserting what he believes to be his rights in bed, which causes Inga distress on the nights he spends at home. But where is he on all the other nights? Everything changes when Martin, a neighbour, appears on the farm.

Inga Svartdal struggles to adapt to her new life on the Gaupås farm. Although she finds joy in the little things and makes new friends, she cannot find any joy in her marriage to the much older Niels. Her heart belongs to Martin Storedal, the son of her father's worst enemy. More complications ensue now that Inga is pregnant, without knowing who the child's father is. Inga longs to be with Martin all the time, but their love seems to continuously run into obstacles.