Contemporary Fiction Books

This morning, I met the man who started the fire. He did something terrible, but then, so have I. I left him. I left him and now he may be dead. Once upon a time there was a beautiful village that held a million stories of love and loss and peace and war, and it was swallowed up by a fire that blazed up to the sky. The fire ran all the way down to the sea where it met with its reflection. A family from two nations, England and Greece, live a simple life on a tiny Greek island: Irini, Tasso and their daughter, lovely, sweet Chara, whose name means joy. Their life goes up in flames in a single day when one man starts a fire out of greed and indifference. Many are killed, homes are destroyed, and the island's natural beauty wiped out. In the wake of the fire, Chara bears deep scars across her back and arms. Tasso is frozen in trauma, devastated that he wasn't there when his family most needed him. And Irini is crippled by guilt at her part in the fate of the man who started the fire. But this family has survived, and slowly green shoots of hope and renewal will grow from the smouldering ruins of devastation. Once again, Christy Lefteri has crafted a novel which is intimate and epic, sweeping and delicate. The Book of Fire explores not only the damage wrought by human folly, but also - and ultimately - our powers of redemption and renewal.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781786581563 • Author: Christy Lefteri • Publisher:  Bonnier Books Ltd • Format:  Hardback • Pages:  400 • Dimensions:  2.4 x 16.2 x 3.3 cm

The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it. But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the crime, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn't so sure.  When she chooses the case as the topic for her final project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden.  And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth...? Product Information: ISBN: 9781405293181 Author: Holly Jackson Publisher: Egmont Publishing Format: Paperback Pages: 448 Dimensions: 13 x 19.8 x 2.9cm

Enjoy the new TikTok favourite, Icebreaker! An adorable rom-com about a competitive figure skater and a hockey team captain who are forced to share the rink… Anastasia Allen has worked her entire life for a shot at Team USA. It looks like everything is going according to plan when she gets a full scholarship to the University of California, Maple Hills and lands a place on their competitive figure skating team. Nothing will stand in her way, not even the captain of the hockey team, Nate Hawkins. Nate’s focus as team captain is on keeping his team on the ice. This is tricky when a facilities mishap means they are forced to share a rink with the figure skating team—including Anastasia, who clearly can’t stand him.  But when Anastasia’s skating partner faces an uncertain future, she may have to look to Nate to take her shot… Warning: This book contains explicit adult content and is recommended for 18+  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781398525689 • Author:  Hannah Grace • Publisher:  Simon & Schuster UK • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  448 • Dimensions:  13 x 2.65 x 19.8 cm

New York Times bestselling author Elle Kennedy brings her signature angst, humor, and spice to the icy-hot Off Campus books.  The series follows a house of hockey-playing college roommates and the women who knock them off their pedestals, teaching them that love is worth more than any game-scoring goal.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9780349443560 • Author:  Elle Kennedy • Publisher: Piatkus • Format:  Book Collection Titles in this Collection: • The Deal • The Mistake • The Score • The Goal • The Legacy

New York Times bestselling author Elle Kennedy returns to Briar University in these hot and hilarious spinoffs of the Off-Campus series.  Favourite hockey players return and get the chance for their own happily-ever-afters with the smart and sassy women who win their hearts. Product Information:  • ISBN:  9780349443577 • Author:  Elle Kennedy • Publisher:  Piatkus Books • Format:  Book Collection Included in this Collection: • The Chase • The Risk • The Play • The Dare

She's been driving him wild for years... the good kind of wild. The kind of wild that comes with wanting your best friend's little sister and knowing you can't have her. Forbes may have labeled Ford Grant the World's Hottest Billionaire, but all he cares about is escaping the press and opening a recording studio in gorgeous small town Rose Hill. Something that comes to a screeching halt when he ends up face-to-face with a young girl who claims he's her biological father. Now, he spends his days balancing business with parenting a sullen twelve-year-old, all while trying desperately to keep his hands the hell off his best friend's sister, Rosie Belmont. After living in the city, Rosie came blasting back into town like a storm. Beautiful, messy, and chaotic. And one wide-eyed, desperate plea for a job is all it takes for Ford to hire her. He vows to keep her at arm's length. Tries to stick to scowls and grumpy one-liners. But with her, verbal sparring is a type of foreplay―friction that soon turns to blistering heat. Ford knows damn well he shouldn't cross this line. But shouldn't and can't are two very different things. And the only thing he truly can't do is resist her.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9780349441634 • Author:  Elsie Silver  • Publisher:  Little, Brown Book Group • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  464 • Dimensions:  19.6 x 12.6 x 4.4 cm

Online Only! Get more for less with The Work’s expertly hand-picked Book Bundles. These are a collection of great quality products, grouped together to give you amazing value. Discover the BookTok sports romance series everyone is talking about... the Windy City Series by Liz Tomforde. Includes the three books in the series Mile High, Caught Up & The Right Move.

From internationally bestselling author Emily McIntire comes a dark and delicious fractured fairy tale reimagining of Peter Pan, The Lion King, The Wizard of Oz, Aladdin and the latest release, Crossed.  This collection of standalone novels can be enjoyed in any order. Included in this Collection: • Hooked • Scarred • Wretched • Twisted • Crossed Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781464226779 • Author:  Emily McIntire • Publisher:  Sourcebooks • Format:  Book Collection

Introducing our Book of the Week! Each week we personally recommend a trending title that we're super excited about. Want to find a bestselling book worthy of a spot on your bookshelf? Then look no further… She’s no damsel in distress, and he’s certainly not wearing shining armour. But one knight can change everything… Daisy Hastings has always thought she was born in the wrong era. So when she bags a summer job at the Tower of London helping to run their Knight school, it feels like a step in the right direction. Theodore ‘Teddy’ Fairfax is a loose cannon. A disgraced distant relative of the royal family, he’s tall, dark and now (begrudgingly) helping with the Tower of London’s summer programme – and there’s nowhere he’d like to be less. When Teddy’s oath to be an obstruction almost gets Daisy fired, she declares war. But as the two cross swords, they start to discover they both need a little rescuing… And that maybe, just maybe, love can bloom, even on a battlefield… Product Information:  • ISBN: 9780008647346 • Author: Megan Clawson • Publisher: Avon • Format:  Paperback • Pages: 384 • Dimensions: 12.85 x 2.4 x 19.8 cm

The bookworm and the basketball player are about to meet their match... Kendall Holiday spends her Friday nights exactly where she wants to be: with her head buried in a spicy romance novel while she works the graveyard shift at her university's library. She knows she could join her friends for a weekend of drunken debauchery and college parties, but she likes her alone time, so she tells herself she isn't hiding when she gets lost in the pages of fictional love stories.  But that all changes when Vincent Knight, captain of the basketball team, turns up with an injured wrist, a sour mood, and a pressing need for poetry recommendations for a class he hates. Vincent is tall, smart-mouthed, and challenges Kendall like no one has before. Suddenly, she's falling headfirst into her very own romance novel. But it takes a lot more truth than tropes to get to a happy ever after in real life...  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781405968683 • Author:  Annie Crown • Publisher:  Penguin Books Ltd • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  234 • Dimensions:  12.9 x 19.8 x 2 cm

Daphne always loved the way Peter told their story. That is until it became the prologue to his actual love story with his childhood bestie, Petra. Which is how Daphne ends up rooming with her total opposite and the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra's ex, Miles. As expected, it’s not a match made in heaven – that is until one night, while tossing back tequilas, they form a plan. And if it involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their adventures together, well, who could blame them? But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex . . . right? Product Information:  • ISBN: 9780241624128 • Author: Emily Henry • Publisher: Viking • Format:  Hardback • Pages: 400 • Dimensions:  16.3 x 3.5 x 24.2cm

As he continues showing me their incredible penthouse apartment, I have a terrible feeling about the woman behind closed doors. But I can't risk losing this job - not if I want to keep my darkest secret safe... It's hard to find an employer who doesn't ask too many questions about my past. So I thank my lucky stars that the Garricks miraculously gave me a job, cleaning their stunning penthouse with views across the city and preparing fancy meals in their shiny kitchen. I can work here for a while, and stay quiet until I get what I want. It's almost perfect. But I still haven't met Mrs Garrick, or seen her inside the guest bedroom. I'm sure I hear her crying. I notice spots of blood around the neck of her white nightgowns when I'm doing laundry. And one day I can't help but knock on the door. When it gently swings open, what I see inside changes everything.... That's when I make a promise. After all, I've done this before. I can protect Mrs. Garrick while keeping my own secrets locked up safe. Douglas Garrick has done wrong. He is going to pay. It's simply a question of how far I'm willing to go...  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9780349132600 • Author:  Freida McFadden  • Publisher:  Orion Publishing • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  352 • Dimensions: 12.6 x 2.8 x 19.6 cm

Grumpy cowboys and steamy romance... Welcome to Chestnut Springs: the big-hitting, small-town series from TikTok sensation Elsie Silver.  Two childhood best friends. Two broken hearts. One impromptu road trip to get away from everything. I've been living in the friend zone for years now. To Jasper Gervais's fans, he's just the hockey heartthrob on TV. But to me, he's still the lost boy with sad eyes and a heart of gold. The man I've loved in secret for years. So when my life falls apart on my wedding day, it only makes sense that he's the one to swoop in and save me. And when his world comes crashing down around him, I'm there to return the favour. But the more time alone we spend together, the more I start to realise that Jasper isn't looking at me like a friend anymore. And he isn't touching me like one, either. He acts like he wants me. But after years of turning me away, he's going to need to prove it...  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9780349437705 • Author: Elsie Silver  • Publisher:  Piatkus • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  496 • Dimensions:  12.8 x 3.8 x 19.8 cm Click here to purchase books 1-4 of the Chestnut Springs Series!

Two wolf shifters agree to be fake mates but unexpectedly find something real in this steamy paranormal romantic. Fake mate... or perfect date? Mackenzie hasn't had a successful date in months. She's only a year out of residency, and her grandmother's obsession with finding the perfect mate threatens to drive her barking mad, so it should be a small thing when she lies about meeting someone . . . until she blurts out the name of the last man she would ever date: Noah 'The Big Bad Wolf of Denver General' Taylor. Noah, interventional cardiologist and all-round grump, has spent his entire life hiding what he is - an unmated alpha. But when an anonymous tip brings everything to light, he's left with two choices: come clean to the board and risk his career or find himself a mate. So, when the chatty, overly friendly ER doctor asks him to be her fake boyfriend the same day he's called to meet the board, it must be kismet, right? Mackenzie gets her grandmother off her back, and Noah gets the chance to prove he can continue to work without a real mate - it's a mutually beneficial business transaction. But when the fake-mate act turns to a very real friends-with-benefits arrangement, lines start to blur, and they quickly realise love is a whole different kind of animal.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9780349439655 • Author:  Lana Ferguson • Publisher:  Little, Brown Book Group • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  400 • Dimensions:  19.6 x 12.6 x 2.2 cm

Theo Silva. Rowdy bull rider, notorious ladies' man, scorching hot trouble wrapped up in a drool-worthy package. Welcome to Chestnut Springs: the big-hitting, small-town series from TikTok sensation Elsie Silver. And he's looking at me like I might be his next meal. I'm almost free of my toxic marriage and have sworn off men entirely. So all I see when I look at Theo is temptation served up with a heaping side of heartbreak. The man is hard to trust-and even harder to resist. Make that impossible. Because Theo is persistent. And no matter how hard I try to freeze him out, he melts my icy exterior and pulls apart all my defences. Then I spend the singular hottest night of my life with him. It was supposed to be a one-time thing. A secret. But that little plus sign is going to make this secret impossible to keep.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9780349437729 • Author: Elsie Silver • Publisher:  Piatkus • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  432 • Dimensions:  12.6 x 3.6 x 19.6 cm Click here to purchase books 1-4 of the Chestnut Springs Series!

Discover the BookTok sports romance series everyone is talking about... Ryan: She's a distraction, that's what she is. I'm the newest Captain of the Devils, Chicago's NBA team, and the last thing I needed this year was for Indy Ivers, my sister's best friend, to move into my apartment. She's messy, emotional, and way too tempting. But when the team's General Manager vocalizes his blatant disapproval of my promotion to Captain, referring to me as an unapproachable lone wolf with no work-life balance, I can't think of a better way to convince him otherwise than pretending to date my outgoing roommate. The only problem? Faking it feels far too natural. Having a fake girlfriend wasn't supposed to be messy but having Indy under my roof and in my bed is complicated, especially when she wants all the romantic parts of life that I could never give her. Indy: I never imagined I'd be living with my best friend's brother, NBA superstar Ryan Shay. Even more unbelievable? He needs me to act as his loving girlfriend who's suddenly changed him into a friendly and approachable guy. Because, well... he's not. He's controlling of his space and untrusting of others. Our arrangement isn't one-sided, though. I'm in a wedding coming up, one where every one of my childhood friends, including my ex-boyfriend, will be in attendance, and there's no better date than my ex's celebrity hero. Blurred lines make it almost impossible to separate real from fake. Falling for my roommate was never part of the deal, especially when Ryan is quick to remind me that he doesn't believe in love. I'm a romantic and can't help fantasizing that he'll change, but soon enough, I find myself questioning if sharing a roof with my best friend's brother was the right move after all...  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781399728560 • Author:  Liz Tomforde  • Publisher:  Hodder Paperbacks • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  512 • Dimensions: 12.8 x 3.8 x 19.4 cm

Love is in the heir in this royally good rom com – perfect for anyone who likes relatable heroines (with great hair), hot and aloof book boyfriends (with great hats), near misses, almost kisses and a corgi or two. Despite living in an actual castle, happily ever after is evading Margaret ‘Maggie’ Moore. From her bedroom in the Tower of London, twenty-six-year-old Maggie has always dreamed of her own fairy-tale ending. Yet this is twenty-first century London, so instead of knights on white horses, she has catfish on Tinder. And with her last relationship ending in spectacular fashion, she swears off men for good. And then a chance encounter with Royal Guard Freddie forces Maggie to admit that she isn’t ready to give up on love just yet… But how do you catch the attention of someone who is trained to ignore all distractions? Can she snare that true love’s first kiss… or is she royally screwed?  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9780008554415 • Author:  Megan Clawson  • Publisher:  Avon • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  384 • Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.4 x 19.8 cm

Falling in love was the easy part. What comes next is the test... Following a devastating injury that has left him sidelined and stripped of his beloved number 13 jersey, Johnny Kavanagh is struggling to hold onto his dreams. Lost, insecure, and desperately seeking comfort, he sets his sights on unravelling the mystery of the girl with the midnight-blue eyes, who haunts his every waking hour. Keeping secrets has never been a problem for Shannon Lynch. The life she was born into demands nothing less. She knows that demons and evil men don't just exist in fairytales. They exist in her world, too. Traumatized beyond repair after her return from Dublin, and desperate to protect her little brothers, Shannon finds herself falling into the same old cover-up, barely keeping her head above water, as her future unravels before her eyes. Beaten and broken, her walls are up and her trust is shaken. Only one boy has the ability to climb those walls. The boy who owns her heart. But secrets are about to be exposed and lives could be changed forever - can Johnny and Shannon's love survive? Part of the Boys of Tommen series!  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9780349439273 • Author:  Chloe Walsh  • Publisher:  Piatkus • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  832 • Dimensions:  12.6 x 5.2 x 19.6 cm

A stunning new YA thriller from the bestselling, award-winning author of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder! 18-year-old Bel has lived her whole life in the shadow of her mom's mysterious disappearance. Sixteen years ago, Rachel Price vanished and young Bel was the only witness. Rachel is gone, presumed dead. The case is dragged up from the past when the Price family agree to a true crime documentary. Bel can't wait for filming to end, for life to go back to normal. But then Rachel Price reappears, and life will never be normal again...  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9780008582197 • Author:  Holly Jackson • Publisher:  HarperCollins Publishers • Format:  Hardback • Pages:  448 • Dimensions:   22.2 x 14.1 x 4.5 cm

Hockey's golden girl just made a deal with the bad boy... Gigi Graham has exactly three goals: qualify for the women's national hockey team, win Olympic gold, and step out of her famous father's shadow. So far, so good, except for two little things. Fine - a little thing and a big, grumpy thing. She needs to improve her game behind the net, and she needs help from Luke Ryder. Ryder is six-foot five, built, opinionated, rude... and sexy as hell. But he's still the enemy. Briar's new hockey co-captain has his reasons, though. The men's team just merged with a rival program, leaving Ryder with an angry roster where everyone hates one another's guts. To make matters worse, the summer coaching spot he's angling for with the legendary Garrett Graham is out of reach after he makes the worst possible first impression on his hero. So, really, this compromise with Gigi is win-win. He helps her make the national team, she puts in a good word with her dad. The only potential snag? This bone-deep, body-numbing, mind-spinning chemistry they're trying to ignore. It's a dangerous game they're playing, but the risks just might be worth it. Product Information:  • ISBN:  9780349439501 • Author:  Elle Kennedy • Publisher:  Piatkus • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  496 • Dimensions: 12.6 x 3.8 x 19.6 cm