Showing results by publisher "Zaffre" in Contemporary

Globetrotter Addie Macrae always follows her wanderlust. As a travel consultant, she jet sets around the world - anywhere but Scotland. But when she's sent on assignment to help a struggling family-run tour company in the Highlands - and save her own job - Addie packs away her emotional baggage and turns on the professional charm.

Ailsa Rae is learning how to live. She's only a few months past the heart transplant that - just in time - saved her life. Life should be a joyful adventure. But.... Her relationship with her mother is at breaking point, and she wants to find her father. Have her friends left her behind? She's felt so helpless for so long that she's let polls on her blog make her decisions for her. She barely knows where to start on her own. Then there's Lennox. Her best friend and onetime lover. He was sick too. He didn't make it. And now she's supposed to face all of this without him. But her new heart is a bold heart. She just needs to learn to listen to it....

Millie is a perfectionist. She's happy, she's successful and, with a great support network of friends and family (and a very grumpy cat), she's never lonely. She loves working at a big tech firm and is on track be promoted to her dream role. The last thing she needs is romance messing up her perfectly organised world. Besides, normal people just don't have romantic relationships. Everyone knows that being in a couple is a bit...well, odd. You know, like having a pet snake or referring to yourself in the third person. Why rely on another person for your own happiness?

Robin Wilde is acing life. After the year from hell, she's pulled herself up and out of the Emptiness, her love life is ticking along nicely, single motherhood is actually quite fun and she is ready for whatever life throws at her. When a thrilling opportunity at work arises, Robin is more than excited to step up and show everyone, including herself, what she's made of. But her best friend, Lacey, is increasingly brokenhearted about struggling to conceive, and her daughter, Lyla, is starting to come out with some horrible attitudes she's learning from someone at school.

Iris is good with numbers. In fact, she's great at numbers. Educated, cultured and career-driven, she's got it all. Well, nearly. The only thing missing from her perfectly calibrated life is a partner—and not for lack of trying. After almost 30 years of searching, Iris has tried it all. Now, she approaches disappointing dates like research, gathering statistical evidence and formulating hypothesis on why she just cannot seem to find 'the one'. But something still alludes her—that unquantifiable spark.

When Frank Woods at number 79 Primrose Square comes home to a surprise birthday party thrown by his wife and adoring children, it is his guests who get the real surprise. Finding himself alone, he befriends the cantankerous Miss Hardcastle, who hasn't left her home for decades, and Emily Dunne - fresh out of rehab and desperate to make amends. As gossip spreads through Primrose Square, every relationship is tested, and nothing in this close-knit community will ever be the same again....

Despite living firmly in her comfort zone, Frankie McKenzie feels unsettled. She can't help feeling something's missing. Is it a home to call her own? Travel? A more rewarding job? A relationship? Before she can work it out, she dies in a freak kebab-related accident after yet another dud of a first date.

Twenty-five-year-old Kat Bennett has never had a place to call home, and when she moves into the crumbling Shelley House, she thinks it will just be temporary. Seventy-seven-year-old Dorothy Darling has lived in Shelley House for longer than anyone can remember, and if you believe the other tenants, she's as cantankerous as they come. When the building faces demolition, sworn enemies Kat and Dorothy become unlikely allies in their quest to save their historic home...and even less likely investigators when they suspect that foul play is coming from inside the house.

Three years ago, when receptionist Millie Chandler had her heart broken in a very public way, she became a closed book, vowing to keep everything to herself - her feelings, her truths, even her dreams. It's safer that way. There's less chance of her getting hurt. But Millie does have an outlet: her draft emails. She never sends them. Never would. They live in her drafts, where nobody can read them and nobody gets hurt - especially, not her. But after a server outage at work, Millie wakes up on a normal-seeming Wednesday morning to find that all of her emails have been sent. Every. Single. One.

Recently divorced, the family home sold and her son all grown up, Clare is at a crossroads. She's dedicated her whole adult life to her family, and now it's time she did something for herself. In the lead up to Christmas, Clare decides that a bit of time in the countryside might be just what she needs, so she moves back to Little Bramble, the village she grew up in. But living with her mum for the first time in years - and not to mention Goliath the Great Dane - can be challenging.

When Ada set up her own PR firm from a coffee shop, she didn't expect to meet journalist Fraser. Also working there daily, he soon becomes a friend. Reporting on interesting things to do around Edinburgh, Fraser ropes Ada into accompanying him on his assignments. As they work side-by-side Ada can't help but notice how attractive Fraser is, and how well they get along. But, Ada has been chatting to a guy she met on an Agatha Christie fan fiction site, and she can't stop wondering about him. His interests are the same as hers, and the anonymity helps them both be more honest and open.

Not even in her wildest imaginings did Kumari ever think she'd become a princess. But having fallen for Ben - or rather Prince Benedict, sixth in line to the throne - it looks like nothing will ever go as planned again. And as Christmas rapidly approaches, the distinction between family festivities and Royalty becomes ever more apparent. With the paparazzi hounding her, her job on the line and some rather frustrating royal training, Kumari feels panic set in. Does loving Prince Charming mean she'll get her fairy tale ending - and on her own terms?

When her daughter was born with cystic fibrosis, Kate Micklethwaite vowed that Daisy would never be defined by the illness. When Daisy starts school, Kate meets her new teacher, the kind and charming Mr Spencer Swanson. Now, with more time on her hands, Kate can start thinking about her own future. With her Open University dissertation deadline looming, Kate needs to decide what she wants next. But as she and Spencer get to know each other, Kate notices that people are whispering behind her back once more.

Elisha Rowe has her heart set on one thing and one thing only: putting her hometown back on the map. So, when she gets the chance to secure the long-hoped-for sequel to Sleighbells Under Starlight, she's willing to do whatever it takes to make sure everything goes smoothly. Unfortunately, that includes claiming to have already gotten permission to film at the town's historic Christmas House-permission she was very much denied by the mysterious new owner.

When Zara's Mum puts together the most archaic of arranged marriage resources (not exactly the romcom-worthy love story she had envisioned for herself), she is soon exhausted by her family's failed attempts to set her up with every vaguely suitable Abdul, Ahmed and Farook that they can find. Zara decides to take matters into her own hands. How hard can it be to find a husband at twenty-nine? With just a year to go, time is of the essence, so Zara joins a dating app and signs up for speed dating.

1958. When it-girl Vivienne George flees on the eve of her wedding, she seeks refuge in a scheduled lodge surrounded by the lush rainforest of tropical North Queensland. There, she is relieved to find that the small farming town couldn't be further from the high society she's left behind. Now, Vivienne spends her days swimming in the beautiful Lake Evelyn where she befriends the larger-than-life Josie. But all is not as it seems in this quiet, close-knit community.

Lottie has always followed the rules, her life is comfortable and she is - finally, finally - marrying her long-term, reliable boyfriend, Dean. Tina is carefree, wild and, maybe, just a little bit careless. She doesn't understand Lottie's obsession with settling down with 'dull Dean' - there's so much to explore in the world. The two sisters have drifted apart, living in different countries until the death of their older sister, Mia. Mia was the glue that held them together, made them a family, and without her Lottie and Tina realise how little they know each other.