Showing results by publisher "Hodder & Stoughton" in Romantic Comedy

Meet Theo. Handsome, sexy, funny. kind. And he can cook. He's literally the man of Esme's dreams. But Esme's sensible enough to know that you can't just manifest your perfect boyfriend then have him turn up on your doorstep. Or can you?

Freya Scott is getting married. Her wedding to Matthew, her long-term boyfriend, is the first of eight in her calendar this year, and as someone who prides herself on being meticulously organised, Freya is intent on making it the perfect day to remember. But when Matthew calls things off hours before they walk down the aisle, Freya's entire life plan goes up in smoke. Humiliated and heartbroken, the last thing she wants is to attend a summer of other peoples' nuptials on her own.

Dani Parker had grand plans for her life - but that was 22 years ago. Now she's a single mother still living in the quaint seaside town of Newbay, still working at the hotel where she got her first ever job. When she bumps into ex-boyfriend Nat, Dani wonders if this might be the start of something not-quite-new. But that's before she meets his fiancée....

New York, 2015. In a city of more than eight million people, there are always new places to visit, new connections to be made, new experiences to be shared. But not for Alice Quick. Determined to finally take her MCAT exam and become a doctor, this has to be a summer of no distractions. So it's a shame that her chaotic roommate Roxy is persistently getting her into trouble, not the most convenient timing for her millionaire brother, Bill, to decide to embark upon a spiritual search for the meaning of life and plain inconvenient that Alice just can't seem to put down her phone.

After a disastrous first meeting, Cassie and Marc become arch nemeses. He might have great cheekbones and a sexy French accent but he's a terrible person who did a terrible thing. Too bad that Cassie's best friends Lucy and Russell think he's wonderful. But years later, when an unexpected tragedy strikes their friendship group, Cassie and Marc team up to give Lucy and Russell the best weekend ever so they can make new memories with all of their favourite people. Which means convincing everyone that Cassie and Marc are head over heels in love.

As the wife of retired ship's doctor Dr Henry Parker, Evelyn is living out her twilight years aboard the Golden Sunset. Every night she dresses for dinner - gown, tiara, runners - and regales her fellow passengers with stories of a glamorous life travelling the world in luxury, as well as showing off her superior knowledge of everything from ships' customs to biographical details of her heroine, Florence Nightingale. The crew treat her with deference. And forbearance.

A big-city romcom author who no longer believes in real-life happily ever afters seeks inspiration by buying a house-and a spot on the town council-in a small lake town that needs its own happily ever after.

Kathy Courage has never visited the famous Italian city of Florence before, so she's thrilled when she and her boyfriend, Neil, are invited there for a wedding. Unfortunately, with Neil's constant complaining and his teenage children in tow, it's not exactly the romantic break Kathy was hoping for. But when a mix-up with her flights leaves Kathy stranded in the city, she decides to embrace the unexpected and stay on alone.

Jen is turning 30 and has spent her entire life jumping from man to man. So, when her latest relationship ends without warning, she decides to stop pleasing others and focus on herself. And where better to do that than the famously picturesque Canadian ski resort of Whistler? Okay, she can't ski and desperately needs to find a job fast, but it's nothing she can't handle. Her only rule is to stay single for the entire ski season. While Jen is throwing herself into Whistler life, Art is doing his best to keep his distance from the people who remind him of everything he once lost.

Single mum Jules lives next to a tennis club, but has no plans to play. Especially when her old school crush, handsome doctor Sam Delaney, returns from the USA thirty years after leaving and is now displaying a killer forehand in direct view of her bedroom window. Despite what she tells her personal trainer fiancé, Jules finds exercise as tedious in her 40s as she did as a teenager. But when she's hit by perimenopause and her 19-year-old daughter's solo trip around the world - she's in urgent need of a distraction and rashly agrees to join an amateur women's tennis team.

The life of 79-year-old pensioner Peggy Smart is as beige as the décor in her retirement village. Her week revolves around aqua aerobics and appointments with her doctor. The highlight of Peggy's day is watching her neighbour Brian head out for his morning swim. Peggy dreams of inviting the handsome widower to an intimate dinner. But why would an educated man like Brian, a chartered accountant no less, look twice at Peggy? As a woman of a certain age, she fears she has become invisible, even to men in their 80s.

With four chart-topping albums, Lacey Logan is a superstar whose life no longer feels like her own, her every move photographed, videoed and dissected. Lacey skilfully governs her narrative throughout it all, an expert at showing fans and paparazzi only exactly what she wants them to see. But when she discovers her boyfriend is hiding some devastating secrets, she begins to lose her confidence, and her control over her own story. Then big shouldered baseball player Jimmy Hodges walks into the bar where she's venting to a friend.

Margot and Will cross paths at the local dog rescue centre where - after a series of misunderstandings and a lot of consternation - they agree to foster Blossom (a gentle Staffy with a giant head, soft, floppy ears and kohl-rimmed brown eyes) together: one week on, one week off. Margot and Will don't get off to the best of starts: he thinks Margot is demanding and needy and Just So Much. And she thinks Will is emotionally unavailable, slightly brittle and very mistrustful. But the more they bicker, the worse Blossom behaves....

Annie naturally embraces the baby boomer's credo that old age, far from being a biological inevitability, is a mere lifestyle choice. If not downright carelessness. That doesn't stop her marshalling her contemporaries into suitable relationships - before it's too late. Perhaps it's even time she did the same for herself. But while smart, sassy Ms Stoneycroft may temper any romantic fancies with Yorkshire common sense, what she has yet to learn is that love is like the measles. The later it strikes, the harder it hits....

Maybe my main character will slowly lose their mind too. Novels usually need an abandoned woman going crazy in them. It's gonna be, like, a sad girl novel. An Australian expat in Berlin, Kim is jobless, rootless, and - as she's slowly discovering - somewhat useless. That is until a chance encounter with Matthew, a hotshot New York literary agent, gives Kim the direction she's been craving.

When Ava's flatmate challenges her to make a new friend, Finn happens to be in the right place at the right time. In exchange for his friendship, Finn persuades Ava to work through his London summer bucket list before he leaves the city for good. With every passing day, their fake friendship turns into something more. But the problem with summer is that it always ends.

Long-time couple Megan Givens and Tom Prescott are preparing for what should be the happiest weekend of their lives. But their plans for a perfect wedding are ruined when a huge fight causes them to call it all off on the night of their rehearsal dinner. Megan and Tom think the worst is over - until they wake up the next morning and find themselves stuck in a time loop. Somehow they are being forced to relive the worst day of their lives - with its painful secrets, age-old grievances and family dramas - again and again.

Clem is the baker in charge of creating delicious cat-themed treats for the loyal customers of the Catpurrcino cat café. From iced kitten doughnuts to macarons with ears and whiskers, Clem's creations always bring a smile to the face of anyone lucky enough to taste them. But outside of the café's kitchen, Clem struggles with feelings of anxiety and where she fits in. Until Sylvie, the owner of the café, decides to push her out of her comfort zone. The Whisked Away baking competition is a chance for Clem to shine and find her inner confidence.

Sophie isn't going to let a little thing like divorce stop her from flying to New York to see her family. Mike isn't going to let a little thing like losing his wife stop him from flying to New York for work. The one thing they both know for certain is that they're done with love: they're too old, too tired, too lonely for any of it. And when the luggage carousel at JFK airport decides to give them each the wrong suitcase, they agree that a friendly dinner in the big apple won't do any harm. After all, love stories come when you least expect them.