Showing results for "Quest" in Women's Fiction

Rosa Larkin is down on her luck in London, so when she inherits a near-derelict corner shop in a quaint Devon village, her first thought is to sell it for cash and sort out her life. But nothing is straightforward about this legacy. While the identity of her benefactor remains a mystery, he - or she - has left one important legal proviso: that the shop cannot be sold, only passed on to somebody who really deserves it. Rosa makes up her mind to give it a go: to put everything she has into getting the shop up and running again in the small seaside community of Cockleberry Bay. But can she do it all on her own?

When Melissa is made unfairly redundant from her job at an estate agents' office, she decides it's time for a change. Instead of working for other people, Melissa will go into business for herself: using her organisational skills to whip the lives of London's socially and romantically challenged men into shape. Then Melissa meets Jonathan, and suddenly she must decide if she can mix business with pleasure....

A heart-warming story about family secrets and one woman’s escape to dreamy Sandy Cove on the stunning west coast of Ireland. The picturesque beach of Wild Rose Bay is the last place Lydia Butler thought she’d be. But having just lost everything, the run-down cottage she inherited from her Great Aunt Nellie is the only place she can take her daughter, Sunny. Hidden away in a tiny Irish village, she can protect Sunny from the gossip in Dublin, and the real reason they have nowhere else to live....

His first, last and only true love has always been rugby. Until now. She's damaged. He's determined. Fate brought them together. Love binds them. Johnny Kavanagh has everything going for him. On the rugby pitch, he's a force to be reckoned with. Primed for stardom, he's heading straight for the top. Nothing can possibly get in his way, right? Not even the shy new girl at Tommen College. The one with the sad eyes and hidden bruises. The one that distracts him like no one ever has.

On a hot summer’s day in a poor suburb of Tokyo we meet three women: 30-year-old Natsu, her older sister, Makiko, and Makiko’s teenage daughter, Midoriko. Makiko, an ageing hostess despairing the loss of her looks, has travelled to Tokyo in search of breast-enhancement surgery. She's accompanied by Midoriko, who has recently stopped speaking, finding herself unable to deal with her own changing body and her mother’s self-obsession. Her silence dominates Natsu’s rundown apartment, providing a catalyst for each woman to grapple with their own anxieties.

Hannah is 38 and the happily married mother of 11-year-old Luke. Her marriage is reassuringly stable and after 15 years she has managed to push the wild dreams of youth from her mind and concentrate on the everyday satisfactions of here and now. The first half of her life hasn’t been as exciting as she had hoped, but then, she reckons, whose has? When she succeeds in convincing husband Cliff to rent a villa in the south of France for a summer vacation with her sister Jill and gay friend Tristan, she’s expecting little more than a pleasant few weeks with her family.

Mia Ward is amazed to learn she has inherited her great-aunt Matilda’s thatched cottage in the tiny seaside village of Little Pondale - especially as Mia didn’t know she had a great-aunt. She’s even more astonished to discover she’ll inherit the place only if she actually lives there for one year. Mia’s a city girl at heart, not to mention she’s afraid of water, so the fact the cottage backs onto a sandy beach is not a bonus. When her best friend, Ella, and Ella’s brother, Garrick, offer to help her move and settle in, Mia decides to see this as a new beginning.

Aria Philips has lived on Jewel Island all of her life. Even when her sisters left its stunning shores, Aria stayed to help her father run their family hotel. A year after her father’s death, Aria’s done everything she can to keep things afloat, but the hotel has long been struggling to make a profit. With so few guests, Aria risks losing the only home she’s ever had. Noah Campbell earned his fortune from making hotels a success, and he also just happens to be staying on Jewel Island this summer.

Sixteen years ago in the middle of the night, Cleo Merrifield and her parents left her Aunt Clara’s house in Goldebury Bay. Cleo also left the two young men who loved her, Oliver Sutton and Thaddeus Beaumont. Now Cleo’s back, and she’s brought her best friend, Poppy. Long, hot days and sultry nights, gorgeous men and chilled champagne, seem the perfect summer cocktail for two 30-something girls intent on having fun. But Cleo knows not everything is as it seems in the picturesque seaside resort, including Aunt Clara. And secrets have a way of getting out.

Mia Ward was amazed to inherit her great-aunt Matilda’s thatched cottage in the tiny seaside village of Little Pondale - especially as Mia didn’t know she had a great-aunt Matilda. She was equally astonished to discover she’d inherit the place only if she lived there for a year. But it didn’t take long for Mia and her friends, Ella and Garrick to settle in. Now Mia’s mum, Lori, has joined them, and they’re all enjoying village life. Mia’s keen to overcome her fear of water, and with Garrick by her side, she’s confident about the future.

When Elizabeth's husband dies, leaving her with crippling debt, the only person she can turn to is her friend, Jo. Soon Jo has called in her daughter, Lucy, to help save Elizabeth from bankruptcy. Leaving her old life behind, Lucy is determined to make the most of her fresh start. As life slowly begins to return to normal, these three women, thrown together by circumstance, become fast friends. But then Jo's world is turned upside down when she receives some shocking news. In search of solace, Jo and Elizabeth find themselves enjoying midnight dips in the freezing Irish Sea.

Laney Cochrane loves her life. With her friends Millie and Tash, she runs a proposal agency, organising the perfect setting for their clients to pop the question. Finding that forever love is something Laney knows all about. Her marriage to Cameron is blissfully content, and she has never doubted they’ll live happily ever after. Then Cara Deacon walks into their office. When Cara enlists their help to set up a romantic engagement to her boyfriend, they visualise a breathtaking scene under a moonlit Manhattan sky.

Heartbreak has forced Millie to make a new start, and when she arrives at the old bakery in the village of Honeybourne, her imagination has been captured by the tumbledown bakery. But with no running water and dust everywhere, her cosy dream quickly crumbles. Luckily the locals are a friendly bunch and step in to help. One in particular, Dylan, a laid-back lothario, soon captures her attention. But just as Millie is beginning to settle in, an unexpected visitor from her past suddenly turns up determined to ruin everything for her.

Thea Thomas needs to get away from her old life...and the interfering ex who won't leave her alone. When she lands a job heading up the restoration of Mill Grange, a stunning Victorian manor in Somerset, it feels like the perfect opportunity to start afresh. What she didn't anticipate was how hostile the volunteer team - led by the formidable Mabel Hastings - would be about accepting new leadership. And with the deadline looming before the grand opening, Thea is in desperate need of more volunteers.

Meet DI Hilary Greene, a policewoman fighting to save her career. Not only has she lost her husband, but his actions have put her under investigation for corruption. Then a bashed and broken body is found floating in the Oxford Canal. It looks like the victim fell off a boat, but Hillary is not so sure. Her investigation exposes a dark background to the death. Can Hillary clear her name and get to the bottom of a fiendish conspiracy on the water?

When Bella finds a dashing homeless man on her doorstep, she invites him into her cottage and into her life. But Isaac's keeping a secret from her, this woman whom he hadn't expected to fall for. She can't ignore the chemistry between them, but she's had her trust broken before. Will Bella run when she learns the truth, or could he be the man to help her to love again?

Artist Abigail Carey has always dreamed of a life in the country and, when Winfield Hall comes up at auction, she's desperate to make the place her home. The only trouble is that businessman Edward Townsend has exactly the same idea. With its position high on the Sussex Downs, Winfield is a stunning house, but it hasn't been a home for a long time and there's a lot of work to do to restore it to its former glory. It's going to take a lot of time and money, so Edward and Abi decide to take a risk and share the house, each living in their own wing.

Anna Cooper and Jake Reynolds both live at a luxury London building. The only difference is that Jake lives in the penthouse, and Anna lives in a tent on the roof. When Jake finds out, he offers Anna a chance of a new life in his grandmother's childhood home in Pepper Bay, and she decides to take the opportunity to see if she really can make a fresh start somewhere else. The beauty of Pepper Bay, with its quaint shops, chocolate box cottages and all of Jake's closest friends, immediately fills Anna's heart with nothing but love.

When 30-year-old Kate’s childhood sweetheart dumps her without a goodbye, she almost hits rock bottom. But she’s determined to have a fresh start and goes to Italy’s stunning capital city in search of healing. Hot sun, fresh coffee and white marble piazzas; here, Kate might be able to put herself back together. But when a glass (or three) more wine than is strictly necessary leads to questioning by a concerned policeman – a tall, Italian policeman, with wavy, black hair and cheekbones to die for – she knows she’s in trouble.

When Lily McDermott walks in to find her husband of just three months in bed with a famous actress, life as she knows it is over. Lily thinks things can't get any worse when she sees photos of her husband and his new lover splashed across the glossy magazine pages, but when she loses her job, too, she is at her lowest ebb and turns to baking to soothe her soul. Wounded and broken, she has to try to pick herself up again with the help of her best friend, Frankie. With her encouragement, Lily decides to turn her hobby into a business and sets up Baked with Love.