Contemporary Fiction Books

It's the most wonderful time of the year in Penmenna... Teaching assistant Alice has sworn off men, which is fine because with Christmas coming she's super busy organising the school Nativity. This should be a blast with the help of close friend and village vicar, Dan - if she can ignore those more-than-just-a-friend feelings she's developed for him... Dan is happy to help Alice - his secret crush - but not only is his beloved Granny Annie about to be made homeless, the church choir has disintegrated and he's battling some dark demons from his past. Can Alice and Dan overcome their past hurts to move forward? Will they be spending Christmas together as friends... or something more? Product Information: • ISBN: 9781788639774 • Author: Kitty Wilson • Publisher: Canelo Escape • Format: Paperback • Pages: 320 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 1.9 cm

Christmas in Cornwall is just around the corner… But after last Christmas revealed a shocking family secret, Scarlett’s hardly feeling merry and bright. All she wants this Christmas is to know who her real father is. So Scarlett heads to the little Cornish town of Porthmellow, where she believes the truth of her birth is hidden. She just didn’t bargain on being drawn into the Christmas festival preparations – or meeting Jude Penberth, whose charm threatens to complicate life further. Everything will come to a head at Porthmellow’s Christmas Festival... But can Scarlett have the perfect Christmas this year, or are there more surprises on the way? Product Information: ISBN: 9780008316150 Author: Phillipa Ashley Publisher: Avon  Format: Paperback Pages: 400 Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 2.5 cm

A Christmas special continuing the charming and heart-warming story of The Canal Boat Café ... Summer and Mason take their upbeat and feelgood Canal Boat Café to London for Christmas. Summer thinks this will give them a chance to find out if they're ready to take the next step in their relationship. But their idyllic winter excursion is thrown into turmoil when the canal freezes over and an unexpected visitor appears on the scene.  Are Summer and Mason facing the Big Freeze in more ways than one? Or will this be one Winter Warmer that they’ll never forget? Product Information: ISBN: 9780008444310 Author: Cressida McLaughlin Publisher: HarperCollins Format: Paperback Pages: 400

In the exclusive gated community of Withered Vale, people's lives appear as perfect as their beautifully manicured lawns. Money, success, privilege - the residents have it all. Life is good. There's just one problem. Olive Collins' dead body has been rotting inside number four for the last three months. Her neighbours say they're shocked at the discovery but nobody thought to check on her when she vanished from sight. The police start to ask questions and the seemingly flawless facade begins to crack. Because, when it comes to Olive's neighbours, it seems each of them has something to hide, something to lose and everything to gain from her death. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781787474338 • Author: Jo Spain • Publisher: Quercus • Format: Paperback • Pages: 416 • Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 1.8cm

Can a trip away lead you home? After a bad break-up, eternal optimist Evie Miller has moved to the small village of Willowbrook to finally pursue her dream of opening a craft shop. Unfortunately, with money worries and an ex-boyfriend determined to track her down, her fresh start isn't going entirely to plan. Jake Hartwood is also looking to escape his past. Haunted by the loss of his wife, he's determined not to get close to anyone again - and the last thing he wants is to be celebrating this December. Hoping to avoid the festivities, Evie and Jake arrange to escape Christmas together as friends in Provence. But will the magic of the season change things between them? And what happens if one of them starts to feel something more? Product Information: • ISBN: 9781529392791 • Author: Sophie Claire • Publisher: Hodder  • Format: Paperback • Pages: 384 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.8 x 2.8cm

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders... But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late? 'So smart and funny. Deplorably good' - Ian Rankin. 'A gripping read' - Sunday Times. Product Information: • ISBN: 9780241425442 • Author: Richard Osman • Publisher: Viking • Format: Hardback • Pages: 400 • Dimensions: 24 x 16.2 x 3.5cm

Kerry Hayes is single mum, living on a tough south London estate. She provides for her son by cleaning houses she could never afford. Taken into care as a child, Kerry cannot forget her past. Noah Martineau is a successful barrister with a beautiful wife, daughter and home in fashionable Primrose Hill. Adopted as a young child, Noah never looks back. When Kerry contacts Noah, the sibling she lost on the day they were torn apart as children, she sets in motion a chain of events that will change both of their lives forever. By turns funny and moving, Half a World Away is a story that will stay with you long after you read its final page. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781473687370 • Author: Mike Gayle • Publisher: Hodder • Format: Paperback • Pages: 368 • Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 2.8cm

Clara King is left in sole charge of a fabulous new clifftop hotel for the summer. The owner has barely left the country when Clara realises that someone is hell-bent on putting the Bluebell Cliff Hotel out of business. It becomes a race against time to hunt down the sneaky saboteur before they succeed in bringing the hotel to its knees. With her dream job under threat and her personal life in chaos, Clara discovers that, when what you love the most is in danger, it can bring out the very best in you. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781800481336 • Author: Della Galton • Publisher: Boldwood Books • Format: Paperback • Pages: 326 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 1.9cm

Sam is about to propose to his girlfriend Libby, and his neighbours in Christmas Street all think they know the right way to do it. With their help - and sometimes hinderance - Sam gains a fiancée and the wedding planning begins. Meanwhile, Sam's nine-year-old son Teddy and his friend Pari - with their constant companion Jack the street dog - are fascinated by the arrival of a mysterious new neighbour, Millie, who prefers to stay indoors with the curtains drawn most of the time.  But soon Christmas Street begins to work its magic and Millie is reluctantly drawn into street activities. As Millie starts to relax into thinking she can have a different life, maybe even with Jasper, the local carpenter, someone turns up from her past to threaten that.  But with all of the street looking out for her, Millie's Christmas will be filled with hope and promise. Product Information: • ISBN: 9780751573640 • Author: Ivy Pembroke • Publisher: Sphere • Format: Paperback • Pages: 352 • Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.6 x 2.6 cm

Charley has a strange feeling when she sees the idyllic mill house with its cluster of outbuildings, the lake and the swirling mill stream; a powerful sense of recognition, as if she has been there before. Except she knows she hasn't. After Charley and her husband Tom move into Elmwood Mill, sinister memories of a previous existence start to haunt her. Despite both their attempts to dismiss everything with rational explanations, the feeling turns to certainty as the memories become increasingly vivid and terrifying. Charley is persuaded to undergo hypnosis - but in searching deep into her past, she will soon fear her future. Product Information: ISBN: 9781409181293 Author: Peter James  Publisher: Orion Format: Paperback Pages: 335 Dimensions: 20 x 13 x 2cm

If you leave a door half-open, soon you'll hear the whispers spoken . . . Fifteen years ago, a serial killer known only as 'The Whisper Man' wreaked havoc on the sleepy village of Featherbank. But with the killer behind bars, the village is now a safe haven for Tom and his young son Jake to make a fresh start. Until another boy goes missing. It feels like history is repeating itself. Could the killer still be out there - and can Tom protect his son from becoming the next victim? Product Information: • ISBN: 9781405947084 • Author: Alex North • Publisher: Penguin Books • Format: Paperback • Pages: 386 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 2.4cm

On the hottest day of the year, Caroline Harvey is found dead in Suffolk. Her body is left draped over a cot – but the baby she was looking after is missing.   Hundreds of miles away, Siobhan Dillon is on a luxurious family holiday in France when her husband, Callum, is arrested by French police on suspicion of murder.   As Siobhan’s perfect family is torn apart by the media in the nation’s frantic search for the missing baby, she desperately tries to piece together how Callum knew Caroline. What happened that night? Was Caroline as innocent as she seemed – or was she hiding a secret of her own? The thrilling new book from the number one digital bestselling author of The Doll House and The Girl Next Door. Product Information: • ISBN: 9780008314873 • Author: Phoebe Morgan • Publisher: HQ • Format: Paperback • Pages: 384 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 2.1cm

Janie Johnson is ringing the changes this Christmas. As a thirty-something hairdresser, Janie's single status is a constant source of concern for her clients as well as her friends. So after one too many questions about her love life, a blind date disaster and hearing her ex-boyfriend is getting married, Janie decides it's time to do something dramatic. Leaving winter behind, Janie takes the plunge and books an exotic trip to Africa. Her friends think she's mad and Janie thinks they may very well be right. Until that is she meets her gorgeous tour guide, Dominic. But all good things must come to an end. Can Janie now face spending a snowy Christmas back home without him, or will she get her Christmas wish? Product Information: • ISBN: 9780751579468 • Author: Carole Matthews • Publisher: Sphere • Format: Paperback • Pages: 464 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.6 x 4 cm

Travel to the beautiful northern edge of the world and join the welcoming community of Mure for an unforgettable Christmas. It's a time for hunkering down, getting cosy in front of whisky barrel wood fires, and enjoying a dram with the people you love - unless, of course, you're accidentally pregnant to your ex-boss, and don't know how to tell him.  Meanwhile Saif, the doctor and refugee from war-torn Syria is trying to enjoy his first western Christmas with his sons - but without his missing wife.  Can the little family possibly find comfort and joy? Product Information: • ISBN: 9780751572070 • Author: Jenny Colgan • Publisher: Sphere • Format: Paperback • Pages: 368 • Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.6 x 4 cm

The snow is falling and Fliss's friends have arrived to celebrate her wedding for a week at Holly Cottage. It's the perfect way to kick off her brand-new life, isn't it? Except Ruth wishes she was anywhere other than a remote Scottish island, Caitlin is keeping a secret from her friends, Lara is suddenly facing her ex a decade after turning down his proposal and even the bride has something to hide... But as the friends prepare for a week to remember, will Fliss's dream wedding go off without a hitch, or will the secrets they've been hiding change everything? The perfect cosy Christmas romance to curl up with this holiday season about family, friendship and love. For fans of Jill Mansell, Sue Moorcroft and Heidi Swain. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781409189794 • Author: Sophie Pembroke • Publisher: Orion • Format: Paperback • Pages: 384 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 13 x 2.8cm

When Retreat owner Amy offers three lucky competition winners a holiday on the Cote d’Azur, she has no idea that this act of kindness will have life changing repercussions on her own life and those who join her… Young entrepreneur Chelsea, is still grieving the tragic loss of her mother and has just been subjected to a very public relationship breakup. She needs to get away and lick her wounds. MP’s wife Victoria is at a crossroads in her life now that the children have left home. Much to her husbands shock, she realises she has ambitions of her own and is desperate to reconnect/find her own identity. She needs some ‘me time’. Recently widowed Matilda, is assessing life without her beloved husband. Their dream had always been to retire to France. Can she find the courage to follow their dream on her own? Over the course of the ten days they spend together, the four women, despite their differences, support and bond, making memories and forming friendships that will last for years. Product Information: • ISBN: 9781800481329 • Author: Jennifer Bohnet • Publisher: Boldwood Books • Format: Paperback • Pages: 338 • Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 2cm

All they want for Christmas is a new home. Number five Kitchener Avenue heralds the start of a new life for the Hope family. For pregnant Miriam it is a safe environment to bring up her child. For her sister, fourteen-year-old Barbara, it means independence . . . and boys. And for Fred it provides the security he craves for his young family. In the lead up to Christmas the Hopes start to settle in, but World War II is round the corner ... Soon the family are split up. Bar, wanting to do her bit for the war effort, joins the ATS, while Miriam and her children are evacuated to the countryside and away from her husband. As the country is thrown into turmoil, can the Hope family come back together and find the happiness they crave? Product Information: ISBN: 9781785761898 Author: Sheila Newberry Publisher: Zaffre Format: Paperback Pages: 480 Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 2.6 cm

Christmas has arrived in the little village of Welford. The scent of hot roasted chestnuts is in the air, and a layer of frost sparkles on the ground. This year, vet Mandy Hope is looking forward to the holidays. Her animal rescue centre, Hope Meadows, is up and running - and she's finally going on a date with Jimmy Marsh, owner of the local outward bound centre. But when a mysterious local starts causing trouble, Mandy's plans for the centre come under threat.  She must call on Jimmy and her fellow villagers to put a stop to the stranger's antics and ensure that Hope Meadows' first Christmas is one to remember. One thing's for certain: this Christmas, there'll be animal escapades, kisses under the mistletoe...and plenty of festive cheer for all. Product Information: ISBN: 9781473653900 Author: Lucy Daniels Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks Format: Paperback Pages: 384 Dimensions: 19.9 x 14.7 x 2.4 cm

Jess still thinks about the man who disappeared from her life seventeen years ago, and the tragedy that tore them apart. So when she discovers a hidden box of letters in her mother's attic, Jess realises that the truth about why he walked away has been kept from her all this time. Jess sets out to follow the faded postmarks across the country, determined that her journey will bring her closer to him. As each clue falls into place, Jess discovers new things about herself - and the man who once broke her heart. Maybe she can find him. Maybe their love story isn't over. Maybe one day, they will be together again... Product Information: ISBN: 9781409187981 Author: Debbie Johnson Publisher: Orion Books Format: Paperback Pages: 384 Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.6 x 2.6cm

After a scandal forces DI Kelly Porter out of the Met, she returns to her home turf in the Lake District.  Crimes in the Cumbrian constabulary tend to be of the minor sort, but Kelly begins work on a cold case that shocked the local community – the abduction and brutal murder of ten-year-old Lottie Davies. Meanwhile, Kelly is also investigating two seemingly straightforward crimes: a case involving an illegal immigrant, and a robbery following the death of local businessman Colin Day. But evidence comes to light that reveals a web of criminal activity beyond anything Kelly imagined.  Behind the veneer of sleepy, touristy towns lies a dark and dangerous underworld. As Kelly threatens to expose those with much to lose, she risks paying the ultimate price to get to the truth... Product Information: ISBN: 9781788633994 Author: Rachel Lynch  Publisher: Canelo Format: Paperback Pages: 370 Dimensions: 20 x 13 x 2.5cm