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Find out moreStories from the heart. This category combines Romantic Fiction with Sagas and Romance to create a collection of lovely tales. From rags to riches stories to tales of tight-knit communities, this carefully curated collection is bound to have the perfect match for you, and as the Beatles said, ‘love is all you need’.
An absolute delight of a romantic comedy debut, stuffed full of smiles, flirtations, and feel-good moments. Evie has to prove that it is possible to meet and fall in movie-style love, her job depends on it, and so her life is taken over by arranging ridiculously cheesy meet-cutes. The intriguing chatty prologue made me snort with laughter and I found myself relaxing and sinking into the story. Text messages, emails, and screenplay excerpts appear within the pages (but not too many), which keeps things interesting. Anette, and Evie’s friends are a fabulous supporting cast, while the two leading men add an edge to the will-they-won’t-they potential! Rachel Winters keeps things beautifully bright and breezy, bringing out the very best of the romcom. Would Like To Meet is very lovely indeed, in fact, it allows you to properly escape reality for a while and I really didn’t want to leave the pages!
A sparky, touching, thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable relationship tale that is both accessible and engaging. When Zara flies to the UK to be with the man she loves, she really doesn’t expect to bump into Jim. As Jim spends time with Zara, he begins to look at his humdrum life, and what he can do about it. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Zara and Jim, Hayley Doyle really does bring these two characters and their friends to life. I felt as though I was becoming friends with them myself. Imperfections and flaws allow depth and emotion to emerge. This most certainly isn’t pink and fluffy, it has a tangy edge, and isn’t afraid to delve into feelings and look beyond romance. Wonderfully buzzy and full of light, Never Saw You Coming celebrates taking a chance in life with friendships, love, and new beginnings.
Constant Tides is a really lovely story spanning several generations and set in Messina, Sicily. This book is split into three different stories, and from three different periods in history the author weaves together a tapestry of relationship stories with a common essence. The story of Lilla and Enzo is set during and in the immediate aftermath of the 1908 earthquake. Mira and Nicolas’ story is told with the backdrop of WWII, Mussolini leadership and German occupation. Antonio and Caterina’s modern story helps to bring events full circle and shows “When families are close, there is no one closer”. Throughout there is also a collection of equally endearing, interesting and colourful supporting characters. I really enjoyed this book, although by Book 3 I had created myself a little family tree to work out whether Caterina and Antonio were related, or whether they would receive the happy ending I was hoping for. While also being a delightful relationship tale, this book also does a very good job of being a travel brochure for Sicily. The descriptions of the places and the peoples of Ganzirri and Messina were charming and inviting. I feel like I’ve had a little holiday while reading. I don’t want to go into any more detail about the plot. I thoroughly enjoy waiting to see what each outcome would be and where each story would take us, and I would want everyone else that reads this book to enjoy Constant Tides without discovering anything in advance. I think this is a lovely book with real heart and I would recommend it.
A delightfully readable, emotional, warm and witty relationship tale. This is Milly Johnson’s 17th novel, and I still look forward to them, each feels fresh, different, and I just know I will have a lovely reading experience. Friendships form and love whispers hello at a counselling group, will it be recognised or even welcomed? If you haven’t read any of her books before, just be aware that there are plenty of emotional subjects to discover along the way, you just have to read the book synopsis here to know that! The prologue sent a shiver coursing through me, grief has kept company with many of the characters. Milly Johnson approaches the more difficult side of life with true compassion. Here, there are also some wickedly funny excerpts from the local paper which balance the story beautifully. Although your heart may well ache during, the overall feeling that I was left with after, was that I had just been given the hugest, squashiest hug. My One True North is a truly lovely read, and after I had turned the final page was left feeling fully satisfied and contented.
The long-awaited sequel to Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, the stunning conclusion to Hilary Mantel's Man Booker Prize-winning Wolf Hall trilogy. 'If you cannot speak truth at a beheading, when can you speak it?' England, May 1536. Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivion, Thomas Cromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmith's son from Putney emerges from the spring's bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry VIII, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen, Jane Seymour. Cromwell is a man with only his wits to rely on; he has no great family to back him, no private army. Despite rebellion at home, traitors plotting abroad and the threat of invasion testing Henry's regime to breaking point, Cromwell's robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. But can a nation, or a person, shed the past like a skin? Do the dead continually unbury themselves? What will you do, the Spanish ambassador asks Cromwell, when the king turns on you, as sooner or later he turns on everyone close to him? With The Mirror and the Light, Hilary Mantel brings to a triumphant close the trilogy she began with Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. She traces the final years of Thomas Cromwell, the boy from nowhere who climbs to the heights of power, offering a defining portrait of predator and prey, of a ferocious contest between present and past, between royal will and a common man's vision: of a modern nation making itself through conflict, passion and courage.
The second book in the dramatic new Village Secrets trilogy from the Sunday Times bestselling author. It was her wedding day... the roses and bluebells were blooming and their sweet-scent was filling the air, so why did Daisy feel the cold fingers of fear run down her spine? Spring in the village, April 1869 It's spring in Little Creek and wedding bells are ringing. After their hasty marriage the Christmas before, Daisy is overjoyed to be finally marrying dashing Jay properly, in front of the whole village. But then, on the evening of their wedding, amid the festivities, Jay disappears. Daisy doesn't know if Jay is dead or alive, if she's his wife or his widow. And what's more, without her husband, she has no means of supporting herself or her household. Refusing to give up hope, Daisy must draw on all her strength and courage - after all, she has people who depend on her. But the secret of Jay's disappearance is more scandalous that she could have ever imagined... Don't miss the latest spellbinding story from Dilly Court - the sequel to The Christmas Wedding!
A delightfully readable, emotional, warm and witty relationship tale. This is Milly Johnson’s 17th novel, and I still look forward to them, each feels fresh, different, and I just know I will have a lovely reading experience. Friendships form and love whispers hello at a counselling group, will it be recognised or even welcomed? If you haven’t read any of her books before, just be aware that there are plenty of emotional subjects to discover along the way, you just have to read the book synopsis here to know that! The prologue sent a shiver coursing through me, grief has kept company with many of the characters. Milly Johnson approaches the more difficult side of life with true compassion. Here, there are also some wickedly funny excerpts from the local paper which balance the story beautifully. Although your heart may well ache during, the overall feeling that I was left with after, was that I had just been given the hugest, squashiest hug. My One True North is a truly lovely read, and after I had turned the final page was left feeling fully satisfied and contented. Explore our '80+ Books That Deliver a Hug' listicle for more feel-good or uplifting books.
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER AND WOMAN & HOME BEST BOOKS OF SUMMER Betty is running for her life. When Betty's husband returns from the war broken and haunted, she knows her marriage is doomed. Taking a fleeting chance to escape, she goes on the run armed with a new identity. Yet penniless and alone, Betty quickly finds that starting again is much harder than she thought. And she never imagined it could end in murder . . . But sometimes you have to keep running if you want to survive.
An absolutely delightful story ready and waiting to wrap you up in a delicious blanket of warming feel-good. Ellie thinks she is happy, assumes she is happy, but a present from a harp-making stranger heralds change. Oh I did enjoy this story, told in alternate chapters by Ellie and Dan, I settled myself into a comfy spot and stayed there until I had finished. Dan introduces himself in the most simple and beautiful way, he is able to see through clutter to the heart of things and I have to admit to rather falling in love with him. Hazel Prior doesn’t spell things out for you, instead I felt that I was able to explore and encouraged to contemplate. The descriptions of Exmoor, nature, and colour are particularly special, and I now find myself taking the time to look properly, to really see, to feel, to smile. Ellie and the Harp Maker is truly lovely and rather special, if you feel like a hug, then read this book!
A refreshingly different, sparkling romantic comedy with real depth and heart. Tiffy and Leon agree to share his flat, which has just the one bedroom. They’ve never met or want to meet, he works nights and stays away at the weekend and she works days, what could go wrong? I absolutely adore this premise, it feels as though it shouldn’t work, but oh, it so does! I settled in straight away, with chapters either headed by Tiffy or Leon. They are both wonderful characters, and I felt as though I really got to know them, the more I read, the closer friends we became. The surrounding cast are fabulous and add real flavour. There are some darker and disquieting aspects to explore, which are handled with sensitivity and empathy by Beth O’Leary, while the humour dances feather-light across the page. The Flatshare is an original romantic comedy debut that made my heart smile. Explore our '80+ Books That Deliver a Hug' listicle for more feel-good or uplifting books.
Sofia, Bulgaria, a landlocked city in southern Europe, stirs with hope and impending upheaval. Soviet buildings crumble, wind scatters sand from the far south, and political protesters flood the streets with song. In this atmosphere of disquiet, an American teacher navigates a life transformed by the discovery and loss of love. As he prepares to leave the place he’s come to call home, he grapples with the intimate encounters that have marked his years abroad, each bearing uncanny reminders of his past. A queer student’s confession recalls his own first love, a stranger’s seduction devolves into paternal sadism, and a romance with a younger man opens, and heals, old wounds. Each echo reveals startling insights about what it means to seek connection: with those we love, with the places we inhabit, and with our own fugitive selves. Cleanness revisits and expands the world of Garth Greenwell’s beloved debut, What Belongs to You, declared ‘an instant classic’ by the New York Times Book Review. In exacting, elegant prose, Greenwell transcribes the strange dialects of desire, cementing his stature as one of our most vital living writers.
A MOVING, HEARTFELT AND FAMILY DRIVEN SAGA SET IN TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY LONDON FROM THE BESTSELLING SAGA AUTHOR Effie Grey has fallen on hard times since the death of her husband. Forced to live on a narrowboat owned by her tyrannical father-in-law, Jacob, Effie must put aside her own despair in order to protect her brother, Tom, and her young son, Georgie. Life becomes even more unbearable when Jacob hires the villainous Salter and his vile wife Sal to run the barge. When Tom is sent away without a penny, Effie is forced to make a choice to protect her family. Driven by desperation, Effie steals Jacob's hidden cache of money and flees with her son in search of Tom. No matter what, she will make a home for little Georgie and keep him safe from harm.
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We all love a good saga. From Wuthering Heights and Jamaica Inn, to the modern works of authors like Katie Flynn, Katherine Webb and Nadine Dorries, there is something so captivating about the journey of a romantic heroine through an unfamiliar world, where the hearts and desires of all around her form the centre of everything. These stories can take place on grand settings: on the High Seas and foreign lands, or on a small cobbled street in a northern mining town. It doesn’t matter, as the journey of the heart is the most important of all. Get your tissues at the ready and find yourself happily shipwrecked on the ragged rocks of epic romance.