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Going Dutch
Katie FFORDE
Jo Edwards never planned to live on a barge. She's not even sure she likes boats. But when her husband trades her in for a younger model, she finds her options alarmingly limited. Dora Hamilton never planned to run out on her own wedding. But as The Big Day approaches, her cold feet show no signs of warming up - and accepting Jo's offer of refuge aboard The Three Sisters seems the only alternative. As Jo and Dora embark on reorganizing their muddled lives, they realize they both need a practical way to keep themselves afloat.
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The girl next door
Elizabeth NOBLE
For Eve Gallagher, home is miles away in England since she and her husband relocated to an apartment building on New York's Upper East Side. And life isn't remotely coming up roses. Violet has lived in the building for decades but she's always kept herself apart, until Eve's loneliness touches her heart and friendship blossoms. Jason Kramer in Apartment 6A is no longer sure he loves his wife, but he's head-over-heels for Rachael Schulman in 6B. Meeting Emily Mikanowski from 3A turns Trip Grayling's world upside down. It's love at first sight, but he needs help from Charlotte, the shy romance addict in 2A, if he's going to win the girl. Dreams come true, hearts are broken and no one is left unchanged when the secrets and desires hidden behind closed doors are finally brought into the light.
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Choral society
Prue LEITH
Three single women in their fifties meet when they join a choir. Lucy, recently widowed, is a cook and food journalist; Joanna, a successful business woman, never married; Rebecca is a divorced interior decorator. Each of the women is at a crossroads and they quickly form a bond. The trio decide to combine their talents to restore a crumbling pile in Cornwall and turn it into a cookery school and spa. The project brings its own conflicts, both professional and personal. The novel's themes touch on the sustaining power of female friendship and how a woman copes with mid life and onwards.
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The Italian matchmaker
Santa MONTEFIORE
Do you believe in love after death? Gianluca has to admit his life is empty. His high-pressure City job, his seven-figure income, his glossy girlfriends, all have long ceased to satisfy him. His marriage is over and he barely knows his young daughters. In search of serenity and a deeper purpose to his existence, he flees to Italy, to the magical Palazzo Montelimone lovingly restored by his parents, to chill and to assess his future. But life on the sun-drenched Amalfi coast is not as peaceful as Luca anticipates. The palazzo is filled with his mother's eccentric friends and haunted by the ghosts of its murderous past.
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The last year of being single
Sarah TUCKER
For better or for worse? Everyone tells Sarah Giles how lucky she is to be with Paul O'Brian, a handsome city hot-shot who's steady, financially secure and knows how to throw the perfect dinner party. But what no one else knows is that her seemingly blissful relationship has been celibate for nearly five years. Sarah isn't looking to be rescued, least of all by a man called John Wayne! But what began as an innocent office flirtation is fast turning into erotic obsession. Sarah's plunging deeper into a double life.
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Secrets
Freya NORTH
Joe has a beautiful house, a great job, no commitments, and he likes it like that. All he needs is a quiet house-sitter for his rambling old place by the sea. When Tess turns up on his doorstep, he's not sure she's right for the job. Where has she come from in such a hurry? Her past is a blank and she's something of an enigma. But there's something about her, even though sparks fly every time they meet.
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Love is not enough,
the smart woman's guide to money
M. SOMERSET-WEBB
From shopping sprees to pension plans, ISAs to investments, money plays a crucial role in our present and future comfort. We may not like to admit it, but diamonds (or cold, hard cash) really can be a girl's best friend. So why, when women have much to celebrate, are we reluctant to talk about it? Why, when we have more wealth in our own names than ever before, do women take less interest in money than men? And why do we still feel that demonstrating an interest in finance is somehow! Unfeminine? Because let's face it, for most of us, Prince Charming and his bank balance just aren't coming.
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Lost dogs and lonely hearts
Lucy Dillon
Rachel's aunt has left her a house, a Border Collie and, despite knowing nothing about dogs, a crowded kennels. But since her life has collapsed she's not sure she can deal with any more lost souls. Zoe's ex-husband has given their children a puppy. The kids are in love, but she's the one stuck training Toffee the impossible Labrador. She's nearly at the end of her tether, until Toffee leads her to a handsome doctor... Meanwhile Natalie and Johnny's marriage hasn't been easy since they started trying for a baby. But is a fridge-raiding, sofa-stealing Basset hound like Bertie really the child substitute they're looking for? As the new owners' paths cross on the town's dog-walking circuits, their lives become interwoven.
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P.S. I love you
Cecelia AHERN
Gerry's death devastates Holly. But as her 30th birthday looms, Gerry comes back to her. He left her a bundle of notes, one for each of the months after his death, gently guiding Holly into her new life without him, each note signed 'PS, I Love You'. As the notes are gradually opened, and as the year unfolds, Holly is both cheered up and challenged. The man who knows her better than anyone sets out to teach her that life goes on. With some help from her friends, and her noisy and loving family, Holly finds herself laughing, crying, singing, dancing, and being braver than ever before. Life is for living, she realizes, but it always helps if there's an angel watching over you.
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Sugar and spice
Jules STANBRIDGE
A rich, indulgent treat of a novel, love, life...and chocolate cake. When Maddy loses her high-paying city job, her instant reaction is blind panic. But after the 'drowning her sorrows' hangover has cleared, she realizes that this is an opportunity to change her life and do what she loves best: baking cakes. And so she sets up her own cake company, embracing the highs and lows of getting a new business off the ground, while looking for love along the way.
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The best of times
Penny Vincenzi
A hot summer's day, a crowded motorway, a split second that changed people's lives forever. Gripping, heartbreaking, exciting and unputdownable, this new novel will be one of 2009's biggest and most enjoyable novels, from the irresistible Penny Vincenzi.
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As the night end
Audrey HOWARDS
Driven by her idealism and courage, Alex Goodwin will make any sacrifice to win votes for women. Her despairing family, unable to rescue her from yet another dangerous prison sentence, is overjoyed when Patrick O'Leary comes into her life. A hard-working young surgeon, Patrick is as idealistic as Alex and loves her with all his heart.
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Distant images
Audrey HOWARD
As they dazzle all the men at Queen Victoria's jubilee ball, Beth and Milly Goodwin seem to be mirror images of one another: beautiful, graceful and rich, they can take their pick of any man in St Helens. Only those who know them best realize that Milly's dark brown eyes hide a wild, untamed wantonness, while Beth's silvery-grey ones betray her idealism and kindness. But the only man in the room either of them wants is the one who could destroy both their lives.
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31 DREAM STREET
Lisa Jewell
In a rambling house, failed poet Toby Dobbs has created a refuge for people who need one. But when a quiet tragedy and an unwelcome letter interrupt Toby's sedate existence, he needs his housemates to find some direction in their lives. Leah Pilgrim has watched the tenants of the house over the road for several years, and when the owner of 31 Silversmith Road asks her for advice, he opens the door not only to the eccentric building across the street but to five lives in various stages of turmoil.
Can Toby and Leah help these misfits to grow up, move on and move out? And in doing so, can they make their own dreams come true?
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THE FRIDAY NIGHT KNITTING CLUB
Kate JACOBS
Casting on! It starts almost by accident: the women who buy their knitting needles and wool from Georgia's store linger for advice, for a coffee, for a chat and before they know it, every Friday night is knitting night. Finding a pattern! And as the needles clack, and the garments grow, the conversation moves on from patterns and yarn to life, love and everything. These women are of different ages, from different backgrounds and facing different problems, but they are drawn together by threads of affection that prove as durable as the sweaters they knit.
The Friday Night Knitting Club, don't you want to join?
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SHOPAHOLIC & BABY
By SOPHIE KINSELLA
Becky's life is blooming! She's working at London's newest fashion store The Look, house-hunting with husband Luke (her secret wish is a Shoe Room)...and she's pregnant! She couldn't be more overjoyed; especially since discovering that shopping cures morning sickness. Everything has got to be perfect for her baby: from the designer nursery...to the latest, coolest pram...to the celebrity, must-have obstetrician. But when the celebrity obstetrician turns out to be her husband Luke's glamorous, intellectual ex-girlfriend, Becky's perfect world starts to crumble.
She's shopping for two...but are there three in her marriage?
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THE CHOCOLATE LOVERS' CLUB
MATTHEWS Carole
"The Chocolate Lovers' Club" brings together four very different women with one thing in common: they can't resist chocolate. This is an irresistible novel for anyone who wishes they were a member! Lucy Lombard can't resist it - rich, creamy, sweet, delicious chocolate. For her there's nothing it won't cure and she's not alone.
Sharing her passion are three other addicts: Autumn, Nadia and Chantal. Together they form The Chocolate Lovers' Club. They meet in their sanctuary, Chocolate Heaven, as often as they can, and with a cheating boyfriend who promises he'll change, a flirtatious boss, a gambling husband and a loveless marriage, there's always plenty to discuss!
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DEDICATION
KRAUS Nicola, MCLAUGHLIN Emma
What if your first love left town, without a word to anyone, days before graduation? What if, within months, he became one of the biggest recording stars on the planet, and every song he's famous for is about you? What if, after thirteen years of getting on with your life - walking past his face on newstands, flipping past his image on TV, tuning him out on the radio - you get the call that he has finally landed back in your hometown for an MTV special two days before Christmas? What if you finally had the chance to confront him? What would you do? This is the dilemma faced by Kate Hollis, a woman on the threshold of her 30th birthday who discovers that the only way to becoming a well-adjusted, fully-fledged adult is to revisit 17.
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THE INTERRUPTION OF EVERYTHING
MCMILLAN Terry
At 44, Marilyn Grimes is facing up to the menopause (something is definitely up with her hormones), bored to tears by her responsible but unsexy husband Leon, and feeling the strain of having raised three children who may be great kids but who leave her feeling anxious all the time. Her mother-in-law, Arthurine, has moved in, as has Arthurine's beloved elderly dog, Snuffy. Meantime the needs of her own extended family (particularly her crack-head foster sister) are escalating like mad.
No wonder Marilyn is feeling tired and hormonal. But everything is interrupted when Marilyn finds out she's not menopausal...but pregnant.
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NOT MARRIED, NOT BOTHERED
CLEWLOW Carol
Not Married, Not Bothered is a refreshing and hilarious celebration of women -- and of a woman's right to joyfully celebrate whichever lifestyle she chooses, at whatever age she is. Riley Gordon would not go as far as her best friend, Magda, who has decided to have the full wedding ceremony and celebrations. So far, so traditional.
But in Magda's case, the lucky person she will be saying I do to is herself. It is Magda's statement for single women everywhere. This is Riley's call to arms, her challenge to celebrate singleness, and to re-establish that much maligned, splendid word: spinster.
The life of Riley is an excellent one. She has no issues, no life crises. She is celebrating her life.
Her mother is not so sure. Her marriage to Riley's father may have been a mistake, but as a merry widow, at least she is allowed lovers. Her sister, happily married with two children, is certain that married life is the right choice.
Riley's extensive relations, including those in the more successful branch of the family, feel free to give their opinions, frequently and unasked. Her various friends, straight and gay, are delighted to have such available and lively companionship. And her lovers, all ex at present, simply wonder when they might be able to weight the balance from freedom towards themselves.
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SIZE 14 IS NOT FAT EITHER
CABOT Meg
It's the first day of the winter semester at New York College, and assistant dorm director Heather Wells has a lot more to worry about than room-mate conflicts. One of the New York College cheerleaders has lost her head - literally - in the Fischer Hall cafeteria, and no one can find the rest of her. With the entire population of the dorm under suspicion for murder, it doesn't look like anyone on campus, least of all Heather, who is starting night classes, is going to have a good semester.
She's got a decapitated cheerleader and a demoralized student body to deal with, as well as enough guy problems to make a normal girl seek shelter in a convent. With her ex insisting she has to be at his wedding - The Celebrity Wedding of the Decade, her incompetent new boss freaking out over his job demands, her long lost father looking to reunite (with an eye on Heather's far-from ample bank account), and the love of her life still no closer to realizing she's the girl of his dreams, it's no wonder Heather prefers questioning suspects to dealing with her personal life. But when the murder trail leads her to the door of one of New York College's oldest and wealthiest fraternities, Heather finds that initiation rites have been taken to a whole new level ...
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