Love and Devotion
At the age of thirty two, Harriet Swift thinks she has the perfect life - a satisfying career, her own flat and a new boyfriend who respects her need for her own space. But when tragedy strikes and her only sister is killed in a car crash, Harriet is forced to give up her well ordered life and to help her parents look after her orphaned niece and nephew. Moving back to her childhood home, Maple Drive, and sacrificing so much doesn't come easy and before long Harriet discovers things about her family she never believed possible. As she uncovers a web of secrets and lies, while rekindling old friendships with the McKendrick boys - the dangerously dynamic Dominic and his brother, Miles - she learns that the sister to whom she was devoted was not all she seemed. Meanwhile, the shabbiest house in Maple Drive has a new occupant. In his mid-forties, Will Hart also thinks he has the perfect life. Having dispensed with an early mid-life crisis and swapped his successful career as a lawyer for that of an antiques dealer, he believes in living for the moment and is entirely happy with his lot. He has everything he needs; two fantastic daughters to whom he is devoted and a comfortable home, but when he discovers he's about to become a grandfather, things start to unravel for him. Then from nowhere tragedy strikes and he faces the biggest challenge of his life. Harriet and Will have no choice but to piece together a new future for themselves, but can they see it through?
Tell it to the Skies
The beautiful city of Venice has been Lydia's home for many years. It's a place she loves and where she's found a sense of peace and fulfillment. Then one day she glimpses a young man's face in the crowd that threatens to change all that. He's a heart-stopping reminder of a dreadful secret she believed she had banished to the past...As a young child, Lydia and her sister are sent to live with grandparents they've never even met before. It's a cruel and loveless new world for them and it teaches Lydia to grow up fast. She learns to keep secrets and to trust sparingly. And through it all she suppresses her grief and guilt, believing she is to blame for her mother's death. Now, twenty-eight years later, Lydia is persuaded to leave behind the safe new life she has created for herself and return to England to face the past. And maybe her future. Compelling and heart-breaking, with a touch of bittersweet romance, this is Erica James at her finest.
Hidden Talents
Dulcie Ballantyne knows that creative writers' groups attract an unlikely mix of people, so when she starts up Hidden Talents, she is well prepared for the assortment of people she is bringing together: Beth King is facing empty-nest syndrome as her only son, Nathan, leaves home for university. Jack Solomon, a local estate agent, is having trouble coming to terms with the shock of his wife leaving him for his best friend. Jaz Rafferty is an intensely private seventeen-year-old girl, who writes to escape her large, boisterous family. Victor Blackmore is a know-it-all, who claims to be writing the blockbuster novel every publisher will be clamouring for. What they all have in common is a need to escape, as well as a desire to keep their lives as private as possible. As they grow more confident in their writing skills, friendships develop, and gradually they come to realise that a little openness isn't necessarily a bad thing...