Showing results by narrator "Rosie Akerman" in All Categories

Beth Brandon has always dreamed of owning a flower shop, but today the bouquets of peonies and bright spring flowers are failing to calm her nerves...because, today, Beth has a life-changing decision to share with her husband. Izzy Vaughan thought she and her husband would stay together forever, but sometime last year, their love began to fade. They both find such joy in their young son Noah - but is he enough to keep them together? Eight years ago, something happened to these two women - something that is about to bring them together in a way no one thought possible....

A female thief, with four husbands, a lover, and, reportedly, over 12 children, is arrested and tried for the murder of her stepson in 1872, turning the small village of West Auckland in County Durham upside down. Other bodies are exhumed, and when they are found to contain arsenic, she is suspected of their murder as well. The perpetrator, Mary Ann Cotton, was tried and found guilty and later hanged on 24 March 1873 in Durham Gaol. It is claimed she murdered over 20 people and was the first female serial killer in England.

Nell Cosgrove is the new wife who got it all. She married her handsome, wealthy boss within six months of meeting him. They live in a beautiful riverside home. She has a flourishing career. The only problem is her two stepdaughters, Ruby and Poppy, who are fiercely loyal to their mother and reject all of Nell's overtures.

Considered by Time magazine to be one of the best fantasy books of all time, Edith Nesbit's Five Children and It follows a tribe of children on their magical adventures during a summer in the English countryside. When a strange, furry creature appears in front of the children and offers a wish a day, the children take advantage of the creature's abilities and discover that their wishes have many unforeseen - and often quite funny - consequences.

Single father and confirmed bachelor Jack Skeffington is the mastermind behind an international smuggling ring, yet unable to control his rambunctious ten-year-old twins. What he needs is a stern, experienced, no-nonsense governess. What he gets is his business partner’s untouchable sister, whose delectable body Jack yearns to pull close. Mademoiselle Désirée le Duc cannot wait to return to France and regain her lost vineyard. But to do so, she must repay crippling debt. Determined to buy freedom, she accepts temporary employment from an Englishman with a wicked smile and a big… wine cellar.

Olive Harper's family has been feuding with the Westons for decades. The Westons’ stud farm is the biggest, but the Harpers’ is the most famous... and she's the sole heiress. Or was, until her father brokers a truce by offering the Weston heir the Harper farm. The only way to get it back is to marry the knave who kissed her and humiliated her, twice—or prove to her father that some rifts can never be healed.

As the daughter of a duke, Lady Isabelle’s pristine reputation is paramount. Her high status is how she’ll attract the titled suitor her mother insists she wed. When Belle’s chaperone falls ill en route to a party, she must pose as an independent widow to avoid gossip. Why not have a wee innocent flirtation with a handsome tailor staying at the same inn? She’ll be gone in the morning…

Due to the terms of an estranged relative's will, the duke of Silkridge must revisit the cold, unforgiving mountains where he lost everything he once loved. As soon as he restores his family legacy, he'll return to London where he belongs. He definitely won't rekindle the forbidden spark crackling between him and the irresistible spitfire he'd left behind.

With Christmas approaching, the Brogan family of London's East End are braving the horrors of the Blitz. With the men away fighting for King and Country and the ever-present dangers of the German Luftwaffe's nightly reign of death and destruction, the family must do all they can to keep a stiff upper lip. For Jo, the youngest of the Brogan sisters, the perils of war also offer a newfound freedom. Jo falls in love with Tommy, a man known for his dangerous reputation as much as his charm.

The Duke of Azureford isn’t the arrogant, aloof lord his peers perceive him to be. Yes, he’s awkward, but he has a plan to fix it. In order to woo a respectable lady, he must learn how to flirt. The completely inappropriate girl next door would make a perfect instructor, but a terrible duchess. So why can’t he walk away? Incorrigible hoyden Miss Carole Quincy likes fast carriages, carom billiards, and the beautiful, buttoned-up Duke of Azureford. She’d be delighted to help him out of his shell and into her arms. Who cares if they’re just pretending to flirt?

Unpaid and under-appreciated journalist Miss Eve Shelling never goes anywhere without a trusty notebook and her overprotective Duenna—who happens to be a bullmastiff. Eve learned the hard way that men are not to be trusted. She’s definitely not falling head-over-heels for the deceptively charming subject of her front-page column.

Ewan Galbreith is out of prison. Libby Owen is scared. Fifteen years earlier she saw Ewan murder her aunt and uncle with their own shotgun, and now he's coming for her. Watching You is an edge-of-the-seat thriller with intriguing characters, an enthralling story line, and a shocking ending.

Raised in the darkness of Satis House where the clocks never tick, the beautiful Estella is bred to hate men and to keep her heart cold as the grave. She knows she doesn’t feel things quite like other people do but is this just the result of her strange upbringing? As she watches the brutal treatment of women around her, hatred hardens into a core of vengeance, and when she finds herself married to the abusive Drummle, she is forced to make a deadly choice: Should she embrace the darkness within her and exact her revenge?

In Suzanne Enoch’s Great Scot, Jane Bansil knows she will never have a fairy-tale life. But even at three-and-30, well past marriageable age, she has to admit that the architect the MacTaggerts have hired could turn even a confirmed spinster’s head. In Amelia Grey’s Christmas at Dewberry Hollow, Isabelle Reed has no plans to ever fall in love - and certainly not with Gate, a man who doesn’t live in Dewberry Hollow. She will fulfill her duty and help him keep his promise to have his ill grandfather back in London in time for Christmas dinner.

A new neighbour becomes a new friend. She looks up to you. She admires you, but then - you realise - she wants your life.... When Sharni and Tom move into 24 The Pines, it seems like Clare and Chris have the perfect neighbours. Sharni is always there to help, especially with childcare for Clare's two-year-old, Ben. As Sharni's influence touches everyone around her, Clare finds herself fighting for her sanity as well her family.

Lady chemist Penelope Mitchell took England by storm with Duke, a perfume for men that has women swooning at their feet. To prove the same aphrodisiacal potency of her upcoming version for ladies, the new perfume must cause a rake to fall in love with her in 10 days. And she has just the man in mind.

Meg Church adores two things: life in a village of perennial Yuletide, and the freedom of being a spinster with no reputation to protect. Oh, very well, three things: She’s harbored a secret tendre for Christmas curmudgeon Lucien le Duc since the moment she first glimpsed him. But the sexy blacksmith won’t give her the time of day, much less a night of torrid passion.

This year, the Duke of Nottingvale's Christmastide house party doubles as a bride hunt. The handsome duke seeks a blue-blooded debutante as respectable as he is, and his parlor is brimming with paragons of propriety. Inveterate spinster and unapologetic hoyden Miss Cynthia Louise Finch does not fit the mold. Any mold. Her younger cousin is perfect for the duke! By matchmaking the two, Cynthia will save her favorite cousin from a horrific fate. The only problem? Cynthia has always held a tendre for the duke. And for the first time, she seems to have caught his attention.

When Edgar dies in a Far East prisoner-of-war camp, it breaks the heart of fellow prisoner Starling, the man who loved him. When he visits Edgar’s family after the war, Edgar's mother, Clementine, mistakes him for another man, and he fails to correct the mistake. Playing the role of someone else and being in Edgar’s home with those who loved him stirs powerful and disorientating emotions in Starling. Edgar’s loss has driven his sister, Aida, to seek solace in the arms of a series of men–but the meeting with Starling sparks a powerful and complex connection.

Renee keeps a diary after she finds out her daddy is sick with cancer. She even starts praying and asking God to make him better. But what if he doesn’t get any better? She is worried that she won’t be able to talk to her daddy after he has gone, but her daddy encourages her to keep talking to him, no matter what.