Showing results by narrator "Róisín Rankin" in All Categories

Katie Collins has barely ever left her tiny Irish village of Ennisbawn. Why would she? With its tightknit community, friendly local pub, surrounded by glistening lakes and perfectly mysterious forests, it’s a place of peaceful beauty. Or it was peaceful. Until Callum Dempsey turned up. Part of a hotshot (and, Katie has to admit, hot is annoyingly apt for him...) development team with zero eye for beauty or charm, he’s not only building a hideous hotel just outside the village, he’s also just announced a plan to knock down Ennisbawn’s only remaining pub.

Christian’s fed up of being on his own every Christmas. He doesn’t mind being alone, but he hates his family’s sad eyes and soft tones as they sit around coupled up. Because he’s actually, totally, fine. So when Megan literally bumps into Christian in a Dublin pub, they come up with a pact to see them through the holiday season. They’re going to be the very best fake dates for each other, ever. Rules are drawn up, a contract is signed on a wine-stained napkin. They will sit through each other’s family gatherings and be outrageously in love until freed from their annual obligations.

Brought up in a devout household in Ireland, Jay is now living in London with her girlfriend, determined to live day to day and not think too much about either the future or the past. But when she learns that her beloved older brother, who died in a terrible accident, may be made into a Catholic saint, she realises she must at last confront her family, her childhood and herself . . .

Laura used to have big dreams, but she gave them up - because that's what grown-ups do. Trying to turn her love of music into a career would have been absolutely ridiculous. But when she hears one of Tadhg's songs on the radio, she isn't so sure. Tadhg and Laura used to be in a band together. They used to be a lot of things. Now he's a superstar, touring the world with his songs, making Laura feel like a failure and reminding her of what might have been. Then she gets an email that could change everything: Tadhg wants to finish a song they started writing together nearly twenty years ago.

Where Nirrim lives, crime abounds, a harsh tribunal rules and society's pleasures are reserved for the High Kith. Life in the Ward is grim and punishing. People of her low status are forbidden from sampling sweets or wearing colours. You either follow the rules, or pay a tithe and suffer the consequences. Nirrim keeps her head down and a dangerous secret close to her chest.

It’s Katie’s 17th birthday – the dancefloor is packed, the drink is flowing and Raven’s Hill School confession site is alight with gossip. Then a huge fight breaks out, sending guests fleeing. When Frankie, Jess and Sorcha go back to help Katie clear up her wrecked house before her parents get home, they find more than broken bottles… There’s a body on the living room floor.

Ranka is tired of death. All she wants now is to be left alone, living out her days in Witchik's wild North with the coven that raised her, attempting to forget the horrors of her past. But when she is named Bloodwinn, the next treaty bride to the human kingdom of Isodal, her coven sends her south with a single directive: kill him. Easy enough, for a blood-witch whose magic compels her to kill. Except the prince is gentle, kind and terrified of her. He doesn't want to marry Ranka; he doesn't want to be king at all.

My world shattered when Declan disappeared five years ago. My grown-up children fell apart without their father, and it was up to me to pick up the pieces of our broken lives. I never thought I’d get married again, but then I met George. Some people might think we’re moving too fast. But as I look around on our wedding day at our little family, the sounds of laughter and clinking glasses ringing out, I know that I’ve made the right decision. Until Declan steps out the shadows. He says he still loves me, and now he’s back for good. But where has he been all this time?

When arrogant new colleague Benjamin swans into Fia’s small office at her New York law firm, it’s no secret they dislike – no, hate – each other. But there is one secret no one knows. The last time Fia and Benjamin saw each other was one summer night nearly ten years ago, at a little chapel – in Vegas. Benjamin isn’t just Fia’s co-worker, he’s also her long-lost husband. They made a promise – they even signed a pact – that they’d divorce after one year. But they never did. Now, if anyone discovers they’re husband and wife, both their jobs are on the line.

When Lily married her soul mate Connor, buffeted by the sea spray and wild winds of her coastal homeland in Maine, she never imagined she’d be planning his memorial just three years later. Connor has been lost at sea in the bleak, stormy Atlantic, leaving Lily heartbroken. But as she prepares to say good-bye to Connor for the last time, she is shocked to discover a message to him that he never told her about.

Keeley and Jude are closer than blood. Inseparable since childhood, they share everything: clothes, secrets, booze - and blame. So when they wake up after a new year’s party to find Keeley’s boyfriend stabbed to death beside them, they agree to share something else: the story they’ll tell the police. But who is that story really meant to protect? Is Jude risking her bright future to protect her friend? Is there more to sharp-eyed Keeley than she lets on? Or are they conspiring to let Keeley's brother get away with the drugs he's been selling in their small town?

It's the dawn of the 1930s, and the three privileged Guinness sisters, Aileen, Maureen and Oonagh, settle into becoming wives and mothers: Aileen in Luttrellstown Castle outside Dublin, Maureen in Clandeboye in Northern Ireland, and Oonagh in Rutland Place in London. But while Britain becomes increasingly politically polarised, Aileen, Maureen and Oonagh discover conflict within their own marriages.

On a remote farm in the deepest Devonshire countryside, four pregnant women arrive at an exclusive yoga retreat for a five-star weekend of prenatal pampering. The location is idyllic. Their host, Selina, is eager to teach them all she knows about pregnancy and motherhood. But, like Selina, each of the women has a secret. And secrets can be deadly.

Mallory Estate is the last place 12-year-old Piper Peavey wants to spend her summer vacation. The grounds are always cold, the garden out back is dead, a mysterious group of children call the property home, and there’s a rumor that Melena M. Mallory - the owner of the estate and Piper’s wealthy grandmother - is a witch. But when Piper’s father falls ill, Mallory Estate is exactly where she finds herself.

Granddaughters of the first Earl of Iveagh, the three daughters of Ernest Guinness are glamorous society girls, the toast of Dublin and London. Darlings of the press, with not a care in the world. But what beautiful ruins lie behind the glass of their privileged worlds? The love affairs, the scandals, the tragedies, the secrets....

Nirrim's heart is lost, traded to the god of thieves in order to restore her peoples' memories of their city's history. Sid, the person she once loved most, has returned to Herran to take up her duty to the crown. But frightening rumours are growing in the Herrani court: of a new threat rising across the sea, of magic unleashed upon the world and of a cruel, black-haired queen who can push false memories into your mind so that you believe your dearest friends to be your enemies. Sid doesn't know that this queen is Nirrim, seeking revenge against a world that has wronged her.

Oliver wants to give his best friend Lara the happy Christmas she deserves, and he hatches a plan - with disastrous consequences. Zoe just hopes the season will pass without a hitch for her and her almost four-year-old - but the universe seems to have other ideas. Hannah is determined to show her girlfriend just how much she loves her - if only she could think away from the chaos of the Fitzpatrick household. And Sean knows it will take something pretty spectacular to sweep Colleen off her feet. Four short stories. Four Christmas wishes.

When an explosion rips through the chemistry lab at Raven’s Hill School and six girls are injured, the first thought is that it’s an experiment gone wrong. Then the guards start investigating and suspect a bomb. But – if so – who was it targeting, and why? Ella, Becky, Maeve and Mackenzie are rushed to hospital, along with the injured Frankie and Sorcha, who team up with Jess to try to find out what actually happened. But what they discover is more sinister than even they could have imagined …

Jenna Walker has suddenly found herself with no job, no boyfriend, nowhere to live—and she's been wondering for a while now if, apart from her beloved cat Bertie, she has anything to live for. She really doesn't want to turn up on her sister's doorstep, but that feels like her only option. Already stretched between her job and the demands of looking after their mother, Rosie is not happy about having yet another person to take care of. If only one thing in her life would work out the way she wants it to.

Trained for from birth in espionage and seduction, the triplet princesses of Bessemia must travel to three distant lands to marry three princes and enact their queen mother's plan to rule from sea to sea. But when they arrive, each sister discovers her task is not so simple, and their mother's motives may not be what they seem.