Showing results by narrator "Laura Kirman" in All Categories

When Jane Bennet meets Mr Bingley at the ball in Meryton she quickly loses her heart to him. Everyone thinks their union will be announced imminently, ut arrogant Mr Darcy has other plans. Determined to make a better match for his friend, Darcy contrives to separate the young couple, leaving Jane heartbroken. With Jane and Bingley both in London, the Bennet sisters hope their paths will cross, and Jane and Bingley will resume the relationship between them. But will fate – or others – intervene to keep these two young lovers apart forever?

When Alec asks Jess out, she knows it won't work. Is Alec charming? Of course. Attractive? Definitely. Can she not stop thinking about him . . . yes, but that's also the problem. Because Jess has rules. And the first? Don't fall in love. What no one knows is that Jess has inherited Huntington's disease from the mother that she cares for. And while witnessing her own future play out, Jess has learnt to keep everyone and everything at arm's length. But Alec is determined to break down those barriers. When she finally tells him why they have no future, he proposes a different option.

For too long, Violet and the people of the outer circles of the Lone City have lived in service of the royalty of the Jewel. But now, the secret society known as the Black Key is preparing to seize power. Now, after fighting so hard to escape the Jewel, Violet must do everything in her power to return - not only to save her sister Hazel, who has been taken by the Duchess of the Lake, but the future of the Lone City....

Violet, Ash and Raven have escaped the palace, but Regimentals are hunting for them across the city. If they can reach the safety of the White Rose then Violet may be able to help Lucien in his plan to rescue more surrogates. For one surrogate, however, it is already too late. Violet's best friend, Raven, is pregnant. And in the Jewel, surrogates cannot survive giving birth.

In seven days, Maggie’s son, Max, turns three. But she’s not planning a party or buying presents or updating his baby book. She’s dreading it. Because in her world, third birthdays are the days on which the unthinkable happens...she loses her child. For the last 12 years Maggie has been imprisoned in a basement. Abducted aged 15, she gave birth to two sons before Max, and on their third birthdays her captor came and took them from her. She cannot let it happen again. But she has no idea how to stop it. And the clock is ticking....

Berlin, September 1944. Ulrich von Hassell, former ambassador to Italy and a key member of the German Resistance, is executed for his part in an assassination plot against Hitler. In response to the attack, Himmler, leader of the SS, orders the arrest of all the families of the plotters. In a remote castle in Italy, von Hassell's beloved daughter, Fey, is discovered just when she thought she had escaped the Nazi net. She is arrested, and her two sons, ages three and two, are seized by the SS.

Devastated when her wedding is called off and an injury ruins her career as a violinist, Amber escapes to her parents' holiday home on a beautiful windswept island. The charming cottage is falling apart, and Amber loses herself in the renovations. But then she meets Kai, a seriously ill young boy who loves music. Amber is determined to help him, and as she teaches him to play, she can feel herself coming back to life.

World War II wages on. Rationing, blackouts, evacuees and military training camps have become the norm in the village of Beckindale, but happiness has been found during these hard times. Lily Dingle is getting married, Annie Pearson has returned after volunteering with the Wrens and there are new neighbours to get to know...including a female vet, of all things.

Blackpool, 1938. Miss Margaret Finch - a rather demure young woman - has just begun work in a position that relies on her discretion and powers of observation, when her path is crossed by the disgraced Rector of Stiffkey (aka Harold Davidson) who is the subject of a national scandal, and newspaper headlines. Margaret is determined to discover the truth about Davidson; is he a maligned hero or an exploiter of the vulnerable? But her own troubles are never far away, and Margaret's fear that the history is about to repeat itself means she needs to uncover the truth urgently.

Ruby Brooks is a little sceptical when her horoscope say she’s going to have a fabulous year – especially when she loses a boyfriend and a job in quick succession. So, Ruby takes luck and fate into her own hands with an unusual resolution – she’ll enter 10 competitions a day, whether they’re for her dream Japanese holiday or a year’s supply of dog food (she doesn’t have a dog), and win her way to happiness. But when a Valentine’s Day prize from a local restaurant results in chef Adam Finder (and his dog, Brutus) appearing in her life, is that luck or fate?

Kat Wolfe loves her new home in idyllic Bluebell Bay, especially as it comes with a resident wildcat. But when she starts pet-sitting for pocket money, she finds that beneath the town's perfect surface lie some dark and dangerous secrets...After a pet owner vanishes from his clifftop mansion, Kat turns to her new friend, Harper Lamb, for help. What began as mystery-solving holiday fun quickly turns deadly for Wolfe and Lamb....

Ex-fireman and edible flower farmer Shay McGillen has plenty of reasons not to give Sarah Pickering even one chance when she turns up in his small Yorkshire village. After all, she is only there to try and convince him and his fellow villagers to sell up so her company can build a bypass. If Sarah thinks she can make Shay give up his farmhouse and his business, she has another thing coming!

Can a little Cornish village panto convince a troubled Hollywood heart throb to act again? Oh no it won't! At least that's what Zach Broussard initially thinks when the eccentric Anna Teague tries to railroad him into helping out with her community pantomime production in the run-up to Christmas. Zach has his reasons for leaving Hollywood behind, and his retreat to the remote village of Polcarne in Cornwall signals the start of a new acting free life for him.

Georgiana Darcy is about to embark on her first Season, but after meeting Major Jonathan Brownstone, she is having serious doubts about going. The major is to be groomsman for his best friend, Adam King, when he marries Kitty Bennet at Pemberley and Georgiana would rather stay at home than travel to London. Darcy insists Georgiana must go to town, but with Lizzy pregnant he won’t be able to accompany her. Instead he arranges for his new brother in law to stand guardian in his stead. Georgiana begrudgingly agrees.

Pip Smith knows she owes it to her family to hold on to the festive traditions that have been a comfort since the year everything changed - but this Christmas she's going to need a miracle to keep everyone in her life happy. After she's dumped by her fiancé, an invitation to visit a friend in Hong Kong in the run-up to the festive season seems to offer Pip the perfect escape. Except her escape ends up becoming far more complex than she intended, when she becomes involved with arrogant American Ryan Hawke and his niece, Shelby - a little girl Christmas wish is for a proper family.

After the sudden death of her husband, Tess is drowning in grief. All she has left is her son, Jamie, and she'll do anything to protect him - but she's struggling to cope. When grief counsellor Shelley knocks on their door, everything changes. Shelley is beautiful and confident and takes control when Tess can't bear to face the outside world. But when questions arise over her husband's death and strange things start to happen, Tess begins to suspect that Shelley may have an ulterior motive. Tess knows she must do everything she can to keep Jamie safe - but whom can she trust?

Browsing antiques shops in Wiltshire, Alison Bannister stumbles across a delicate old portrait - supposedly of Anne Boleyn. Except Alison knows better.... The woman is Mary Seymour, the daughter of Katherine Parr, who was taken to Wolf Hall in 1557 as an unwanted orphan and presumed dead after going missing as a child. The painting is more than just a beautiful object from Alison's past - it holds the key to her future, unlocking the mystery surrounding Mary's disappearance and the enigma of Alison's son.

It should have been a time of romance and excitement for Anne - but it's 1941 and the war is raging. So instead, she spends her days repairing spitfire wings and reminding herself that the real sacrifice is going on far away from her Cornish village. When the news breaks that America has entered the war, jeeps filled with GIs eventually roll in, and it seems their little community is to play a pivotal role in the next stage of the fight. But the Americans don't just bring Hollywood glamour and optimism, they also bring something more tantalising.

Verity Love - Jane Austen fangirl and an introvert in a world of extroverts - is perfectly happy on her own (thank you very much), and her fictional boyfriend, Peter, is very useful for getting her out of unwanted social events. But when a case of mistaken identity forces her to introduce a perfect stranger as her boyfriend, Verity's life suddenly becomes much more complicated.

There are some things you can never leave behind… Kate Forrest is invisible…her husband doesn’t seem to know she’s alive and her two children have become stroppy adolescents. With her fortieth birthday approaching, Kate walks out of her life, and gets on a plane to Italy. With no responsibilities, she soon finds herself caught up in the arms of a man half her age. But eventually Kate will be forced to choose between her past and the future.