Contemporary Fiction Books

From the author of the bestseller Normal People. Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common. Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties – successful, competent and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women – his enduring first love Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke. Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined. For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude – a period of desire, despair and possibility – a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking. Product Information: • ISBN: 9780571365463 • Author: Sally Rooney • Publisher: Faber & Faber • Format: Hardback • Pages: 448 • Dimensions: 22.2 x 14.1 x 4cm 

What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don’t understand yet . . .  When retired Maths teacher Grace is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan. Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the Balearics, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past. Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning. Product Information:  • ISBN: 9781838855574 • Author: Matt Haig • Publisher: Canongate Books • Format:  Hardback • Pages: 336 • Dimensions: 15.9 x 3.55 x 24 cm

Whatever happened to beloved Girls series characters Ellie, Magda and Nadine? They're all grown up now - but if they think life's done surprising them, they'd better think again... Being an adult isn’t quite what Ellie Allard dreamed it would be when she was fourteen years old. Though she’s got her beautiful daughter Lottie, life-long best friends in Magda and Nadine and her trusty cat Stella, her love life is non-existent and she feels like she’s been living on auto-pilot, just grateful to be able to afford the rent on her pokey little flat. But this year on her birthday, the universe seems to decide it’s time to for all that to change – whether Ellie wants it to or not. As she navigates new, exciting and often choppy waters, she’s about to discover that life will never stop surprising you – if only you let it. Bringing the same warmth and humour to an adult novel as she does to her work for children, Jacqueline Wilson finally answers the questions readers have been asking her for years in this uplifting, life-affirming book about friendship, family and finding fulfilment in unexpected places. Product Information: • ISBN: 9780857506108 • Author: Jacqueline Wilson • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd • Format: Hardback • Pages: 352 • Dimensions: 24.2 x 16.2 x 3.2cm

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. Welcome to Chestnut Springs: the big-hitting, small-town series from TikTok sensation Elsie Silver. This incredible bundle includes Flawless, Heartless, Powerless, Reckless, & Hopeless.

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

A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis. This edition features an exclusive cover. Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast - again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold an historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange - again... Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It's clear from the way he tracks Misery's every movement that he doesn't trust her. If only he knew how right he was... Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she's ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what's hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory... alone with the wolf.  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9781408728864 • Author:  Ali Hazelwood • Publisher:  Sphere • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  416 • Dimensions:   12.6 x 3.8 x 19.6 cm

Enjoy this 5-book set of Colleen Hoover’s hit romance novels. Includes: • Heart Bones • Without Merit • November 9 • All Your Perfects • Ugly Love Product Information: • ISBN: 9781398547780 • Author: Colleen Hoover • Publisher: Simon & Schuster • Format: Book Collection • Number of Books: 5

Can their Christmas love story last a lifetime? In a village by the sea, where wintry skies bring a dusting of sparkling snow, somebody is opening an unexpected gift… When Sophie receives a surprise package, she’s intrigued to find a beautifully bound book inside. Sophie is desperate to discover the mystery sender, and her hunt draws her to the enigmatic Harry. The subject of much gossip since his return from London, Harry keeps to himself in his crumbling manor house. But they are both about to learn that the best stories can take on a life of their own. Product Information: • ISBN: 9780008623807 • Author: Cressida McLaughlin • Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers • Format: Paperback • Pages: 384 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 cm

THE BRAND-NEW BOOK FOR 2025 BY 2 MILLION COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR BOB MORTIMER. Bathroom salesman Matt is at a crossroads. He has lost his job, he is about to be made homeless and his girlfriend has left him. He wants his luck to change and he wants things to go back to how they were. Out of the blue he is offered a job that comes with a free luxury apartment. He hopes this might be enough to tempt her back. But, as events unfold, it starts to dawn on him that perhaps she didn't leave of her own accord after all... Product Information: • ISBN: 9781398548046 • Author: Bob Mortimer • Publisher: Simon & Schuster • Format: Hardback • Pages: 336 • Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.3 x 2.4 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!

Sophie used to adore everything about Christmas. Hot chocolate and velvet bows, fairy lights and mince pies. Until the December her fiancé jilted her. Since then, Sophie opened Sunnyside Hotel, a quaint guesthouse nestled deep in the Cumbrian countryside. And, though it might be winter at Sunnyside, it’s never Christmas. Marketing her hotel to those who wish to avoid the festivities, Sophie is busy preparing for a season full of joy and laughter, but without the tinsel and mistletoe. Yet, as she finds herself growing closer to her gorgeous neighbour, Brody, her heart begins to melt. Will this Christmas bring the touch of magic Sophie needs to give love another chance? Product Information: • ISBN: 9781804945544 • Author: Phillipa Ashley • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd • Format: Paperback • Pages: 400 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 2.3 cm

She’s snowed in with the family. The only problem? They’re not her family. A family gathering This Christmas the Miller siblings have one goal – to avoid their family’s well-meaning questions. Ross, Alice and Clemmie have secrets that they don’t intend to share, and they are relying on each other to deflect attention. An uninvited guest Lucy Clarke is facing a Christmas alone, and the prospect of losing her job – unless she can win a major piece of business from Ross Miller. She’ll deliver her proposal to his family home in the Scottish Highlands and then leave. After all, she wouldn’t want to intrude on the Miller’s perfect family Christmas. A Christmas to remember When Lucy appears on the Miller’s snow-covered doorstep, she is mistaken for Ross’s girlfriend. But by the time the confusion is cleared up, a storm has hit and Lucy is stuck. As everyone settles in for a snowed-in Christmas, tensions bubble to the surface and suddenly Lucy finds herself facing a big family fallout with a family that isn’t hers… Product Information: • ISBN: 9781848458468 • Author: Sarah Morgan • Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers • Format: Paperback • Pages: 464 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 cm

Releasing 10 is an epic and unforgettable love story in the international bestselling and TikTok-phenomenon The Boys of Tommen series, from Chloe Walsh. A love that couldn’t be broken, except by the truth. Lizzie Young has always felt she was too much everything. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder at a young age, she’s never fit in with her family, her friends, her community. Lizzie wants to be accepted and understood, but with few people in her corner, she’s carried her burdens and her trauma on her own. But when she meets a kind boy on the school bus, things start to look bright for the first time in her life . . . Hugh Biggs has an old soul and the wisdom of someone far beyond his years. A young man with a sharp mind and a firm code of ethics, he sees something in Lizzie Young that he can’t resist. He wants to be her everything and shoulder her burden. And Lizzie wants that too. Lizzie and Hugh’s bond seems unbreakable – their chemistry is electric, their love is potent, and their connection is soul deep – but even the truest love can be shaken by forces beyond control. Product Information: • ISBN: 9780349439341 • Author: Chloe Walsh • Publisher: Little Brown • Format: Paperback • Pages: 768 • Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.6 x 5.2 cm

Will this Christmas finally bring comfort and joy? A PAINFUL SECRET Imogen loves her job as an events organiser, and her colleagues are in awe of her. But Imogen isn’t the person she pretends to be, and she’s hiding painful truths about her past. But as long as she can keep on top of her work, Imogen can put everything else to one side. AN ACT OF KINDNESS And then Imogen makes a catastrophic mistake at work, and finally realises it's time to reset. When her favourite client, Dorothy, invites her to spend Christmas with her and her family, in her cottage in the Cotswolds, it sounds like the perfect way for Imogen to take stock. FINDING HAPPINESS AT CHRISTMAS Imogen soon settles into idyllic cottage life, especially with the prospect of a new romance on the horizon … but when long-buried secrets and unwanted faces from the past resurface, Imogen’s new peace is threatened. Will Imogen end up alone this Christmas, or can she find it in her heart to forgive and move on? Product Information: • ISBN: 9781848459229 • Author: Sarah Morgan • Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers • Format: Paperback • Pages: 400 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 3 cm

Welcome to Catpurrcino, the cosy cat cafe where you'll fall in love with every cat you meet - and maybe even one special human... When Emmie's aunt offers her a job at Catpurrcino, it is the fresh start she needs after a rough year. Now, in the lead-up to Christmas, Emmie can't imagine anything more purr-fect than pouring hot chocolate for customers and taking care of the cafe's many feline residents. Needing an extra pair of hands for the holidays, Emmie's aunt hires Jared as a driver. Emmie is immediately struck by how tall and handsome he is, but there is something guarded about Jared, not to mention his allergy to cats. Emmie could never fall for someone who can't be around her furry friends - and she doesn't have much time to spare, anyway. Until an unexpected blizzard arrives on Christmas Eve. Trapped in the cafe with Jared and the cats, Emmie discovers Jared has been holding on to more than one secret - and is in desperate need of someone to help him lay his past to rest. What seems like the most disastrous Christmas might not be such a cat-astrophe after all. Will being snowed in finally open Jared up and let Emmie into his heart? Product Information: • ISBN: 9781399737951 • Author: Rachel Rowlands • Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks • Format: Paperback • Pages: 304 • Dimensions: 12.7 x 2.54 x 19.69 cm

Get ready for your new obsession – meet Summer and Aiden. When Summer Preston's professor issues her with an ultimatum, she finds herself on an unexpected collision course with hockey captain, Aiden Crawford. Summer hates everything about hockey, for good reason, but she isn't going to let that stand in the way of her becoming a sports psychologist. Aiden loves being the hockey captain, except when his team's reckless mistakes risk jeopardizing their entire season. When coach puts him forward for a research paper as punishment, he has no choice but to accept. Summer can't stand his blasé approach to life, and Aiden doesn't understand her uptight, scheduled one. They are off to a rocky start, and provoking each other – it turns out – is what they do best. But losing isn't something either of them does well. Maybe there's a way for both of them to win? Product Information: • ISBN: 9781526677525 • Format: Paperback • Author: Bal Khabra  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing • Pages: 416 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9cm

He's a boy who's lost. She's girl who might just be the home he's never had. The second born son in a broken marriage, Joey Lynch has spent a lifetime picking up the pieces of a family unravelling. When his older brother Darren skips town, twelve-year-old Joey finds himself thrown into the role of protector to his younger siblings and mother.  Plagued by self-loathing, and furious with the world, he grapples with teenage life and his unwavering sense of duty to his family, while balancing precariously close to a life of addiction that threatens to swallow him whole. The only light in his sea of darkness is his boss's firecracker of a daughter who refuses to back down. A girl who just so happens to be his classmate. Aoife Molloy has never been backwards in coming forward. Her bubbly and self-assured nature has never led her astray. Until her first day of secondary school when she collides with a hot-headed boy who sparks a burning curiosity inside of her that only grows stronger by the day. Falling into a complicated friendship with her father's apprentice, Aoife works to unravel the secrets around Joey Lynch's life - while he desperately fights to keep her out. Product Information: • ISBN: 9780349439280 • Author: Chloe Walsh • Publisher: Piatkus • Format: Paperback • Pages: 656 • Dimensions: 12.6 x 4.6 x 19.6cm

I'm saving you, six. With his world unravelling around him, and pressure rising at home, Joey Lynch's life has never been in more turmoil. Desperate to prove himself worthy of the only person he's ever put his trust in, Joey fights to stay away from a world that threatens to destroy everything. But with the odds stacking against him by the day, can he keep his head above water? Unwilling to give up on the boy she loves, Aoife Molloy fights to save her best friend from the edge of self-destruction. Drowning in a world she doesn't understand, with only her heart to guide her, Aoife refuses to turn her back on Joey, no matter how badly the odds are stacked against them. Through heartbreak and horror, Aoife and Joey have had each other's backs, and this time is no different. Come what may. Product Information: • ISBN: 9780349439303 • Author: Chloe Walsh • Publisher: Piatkus • Format: Paperback • Pages: 960 • Dimensions: 12.6 x 4.6 x 19.8cm

Everyone knows her life story. But who will win her heart? Gertie has always wondered what her life would be like if she could pluck up the courage to leave the remote Scottish island where she was born. It’s the only place she’s ever known, but it can be stifling. The glue of this community is the Knitting Circle, a group of strong, capable (and nosy) women who gossip, knit and support each other through thick and thin. So when the chance comes for change – a new job, new friends and maybe even a new romance – a world of possibilities opens up for Gertie: if she can finally be brave enough to make her dreams come true. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781399745888 • Author: Jenny Colgan • Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton • Pages: 368 • Format: Paperback • Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.6 x 3 cm

When Jeanie’s aunt gifts her the beloved Pumpkin Spice Café in the small town of Dream Harbor, Jeanie jumps at the chance for a fresh start away from her very dull desk job. Logan is a local farmer who avoids Dream Harbor’s gossip at all costs. But Jeanie’s arrival disrupts Logan’s routine and he wants nothing to do with the irritatingly upbeat new girl, except that he finds himself inexplicably drawn to her. Will Jeanie’s happy-go-lucky attitude win over the grumpy-but-gorgeous Logan, or has this city girl found the one person in town who won’t fall for her charm, or her pumpkin spice lattes…  Product Information:  • ISBN:  9780008610678 • Author:  Laurie Gilmore • Publisher:  One More Chapter • Format:  Paperback • Pages:  374 • Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.6 x 19.8 cm