Romantic Novelists' Association

November 2018: New Publications

2 November 2018

Rachel Dove: The Wedding Shop on Wexley Street

 

HQ Digital/Harper Collins
Paperback
1st November 2018
Maria is ready to say yes to the dress. As owner of Happy Ever After, Maria Mallory is Westfield’s resident wedding planner, spending her days making dreams come true for future brides. Maria even has her own perfect day planned out too, she just needs to find the right man. So when she falls in love with local celeb Darcy Burgess she can’t believe her luck – it was finally her turn for her Happy Ever After. Or so she thought. Jilted at the altar, Maria can’t believe that her fairytale ending hasn’t come true. She’s ready to give up on love once and for all. But little does she know that once you stop looking for it, love has a way of surprising you… A laugh-out-loud romance, perfect for fans of Holly Martin and Tilly Tennant.

 

 

 

 

Rosie Hendry: Christmas with the East End Angels

Saga
Little, Brown, Sphere
Paperback and ebook
1st November 2018

It’s the most wonderful time of the year – and the East End Angels are working hard to keep Londoners safe. Frankie is trying hard to keep everything together. She can count on the support of the East End Angels,
even in the face of family trouble. Winnie’s beloved husband, Mac, is putting himself at risk every day in the bomb disposal unit and she’s finding it hard while he’s away. Bella is growing in confidence and happiness. Her friendship with Winnie’s brother, James, is getting closer all the time. Christmas on the Home Front is a hard time with loved ones far away – but the women of the Auxiliary Ambulance service are making do and mending.

 

 

Elaine Everest: A Gift From Woolworths

WW2 Saga
Pan Macmillan
Paperback and eBook
1st November

Will the war be over by Christmas?
As the war moves into 1945 the lives of the women of Woolworths continue. When store manager, Betty Billington, announces she is expecting Douglas’s baby her future life is about to change more than she expects. Freda has fallen in love with the handsome Scottish engineer but will it end happily? Maisie loves being a mother and also caring for her two nieces although she still has her own dreams.  When her brother appears on the scene he brings unexpected danger to the family. Meanwhile Sarah dreams of her husband’s return and a cottage with roses around the door but Woolworths beckons. Will our girls sail into times of peace, or will they experience more heartache and sorrow? With a wedding on the horizon, surely only happiness lies ahead – or does it? A Gift from Woolworths is the next instalment in Elaine Everest’s much-loved Woolworths series.

 

 

Emma Robinson: One Way Ticket to Paris

Romantic Comedy
Ebook and Paperback
Bookouture
1st November 2018

When I was a kid and I’d lost something, my dad always said ‘Go back to the place you last had it’. The problem is that what I’ve lost is… me.
Kate loves her family more than anything, but recently she has started to feel invisible. Lying awake at three a.m. as her husband snores, panicking about shopping lists, birthday parties, and the school bake sale… She finds herself in the kitchen, gulping water, staring at a postcard of the Eiffel Tower from Shannon, her best friend. Paris, with its red wine, slippery cobbles and curly lampposts. Where the scent of freshly-baked croissants hangs in the air,  and Kate last remembers feeling like herself. The postcard is a year old. It has just one line on it: When are you coming?

 

 


Liz Fielding: The Bridesmaid’s Royal Bodyguard

Contemporary Romance
Large Print
Linford Romance
1 November 2018

 

After being sacked from her job with a gossip magazine, Ally Parker is given a fresh start when her childhood friend. Hope asks her to work PR for her marriage to Prince Jonas of San Michele.
The only fly in the ointment is the head of security, Count Fredrik Jensson, who has what can only be described as “!rust” issues..

 

 

 

Sarah Mallory: Beauty & the Brooding Lord

Historical Romance
Paperback & ebook
Mills & Boon
1st November 2018

 

 

Serena is convinced that only a rake will do for a husband – then she finds herself rescued from ruin by a reclusive baron…..

 

 

 

Heidi Swain: Snowflakes And Cinnamon Swirls at The Winter Wonderland

Commercial fiction
Paperback and eBook
Simon and Schuster
November 1st

Moving into Wynthorpe Hall to escape the town’s gossip, Hayley finds herself immersed in the eccentric Connelly family’s festive activities as they plan to host their first ever Winter Wonderland.
But Hayley isn’t the only new resident at the hall. Gabe, a friend of the Connelly’s son Jamie,
has also taken up residence, moving into Gatekeeper’s Cottage, and he quickly makes an impression on Wynbridge’s reformed good-girl. As preparations commence for the biggest event of the season, the pair find themselves drawn ever closer to one another,  but unbeknownst to Hayley, Gabe, too, has a reason for turning his back on love, one that seems intent on keeping them apart.
Under the starry winter skies, will Gabe convince Hayley to open her heart again once more?
And in doing so, will he convince himself?

 

 

Juliet Bell: The Other Wife.

Contemporary
HQ Digital
ebook
November 2nd
paperback: January
(A Janet Gover and Alison May collaboration)

Two children taken from their homes.
Two young women abused and alone.
Their lives meet in the remote Australian Outback when they both fall under the spell of the charismatic Edward Rochester.  But will either want to stay by his side when they learn the secret of the other wife?

 

 

Caroline James: The Best Boomerville Hotel

Romantic Comedy
Paperback & audible
Ruby Fiction (for ChocLit)
6th November 2018

LET THE SHENANIGANS BEGIN AT THE BEST BOOMERVILLE HOTEL Jo Docherty and Hattie Contaldo have a vision – a holiday retreat in
the heart of the Lake District exclusively for guests of ‘a certain
age’ wishing to stimulate both mind and body with new creative
experiences. One hotel refurbishment later and the Best Boomerville
Hotel is open for business! Perhaps not surprisingly Boomerville attracts more than its fair share of eccentric clientele: there’s fun-loving Sir Henry Mulberry and his
brother Hugo; Lucinda Brown, an impoverished artist with more ego than talent; Andy Mack, a charming Porsche-driving James Bond lookalike, as well as Kate Simmons, a woman who made her fortune from an internet dating agency but still hasn’t found ‘the One’ herself. With such an array of colourful individuals there’s bound to be laughs aplenty, but could there be tears and heartbreak too and will the residents get more than they bargained for at Boomerville?

 

 

 

Karen King: Snowy Nights at the Lonely Hearts Hotel

Romance
Bookouture
E-book and paperback
9 November

Twenty-nine-year-old Saffron Baxter knew her fun holiday plans didn’t stand a chance, the moment her sister called to say she was stuck abroad with no hope of being home before Christmas. Saffy would just have to abandon thoughts of wild festive parties in the city and head down to remote Cornwall. Because every year her sister hosts a huge Christmas meal for all the single parents in her village. And Saffy knows it’d break her heart to let them down. Arriving as snow starts to fall over the thatched cottages of the little harbour town of Port Breok, she meets Logan – the tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed, devoted single dad who lives over the road, with his adorable daughter Chloe. At first, she thinks he might help her make Christmas Day extra-memorable, but he just seems convinced she’ll never manage – that she’s just a party girl who doesn’t care about family or anyone’s feelings. Maybe he’s right. After all – she doesn’t want to settle down, she’s only there for a few days… But she’s still determined to do her sister proud with gorgeous decorations, the most beautiful real tree – complete with extra twinkly lights, and delicious mince pies. To make it a Christmas everyone will remember, especially little Chloe. Even if, when the mistletoe comes down, she knows she’ll probably never see Logan again…

 

 

Lizzie Page: Daughters of War

Historical Fiction
Bookouture
E-book and Paperback
12th November 2018

An emotional tale of wartime love and sacrifice, inspired by an incredible true story… As a teenager in Chicago, May always dreamed of travelling the world. So when she meets handsome George Turner, she jumps at the chance to return to London as his wife. Ten years later, May is wondering if she’s made a terrible mistake. It’s 1914 and war has been declared in Europe. All around, brave young men are being called up to serve. George, banned from conscription himself, has taken to the bottle, and May suspects he’s seeing other women too. She longs for a way to escape. The chance comes when May meets veteran nurse Elsie, who persuades May to join the war effort. May knows nothing of nursing – it will be difficult, dangerous work, but her heart is telling her it’s the right thing to do. But then George does the unthinkable and May’s future is put at risk. Will she have to make the impossible choice between duty to her family and her promise to the soldiers on the front line? And can she live with the consequences if her husband goes through with what he’s threatening to do?

 

 

 

Morton S. Gray: Christmas at Borteen Bay

Choc Lit
e-book, audio
13 November 2018

Christmas has a way of bringing family secrets to the surface …
Christmas is a bittersweet time for Pippa Freeman. There are good memories, of course – but some painful ones too. Then her mother is implicated in a mysterious occurrence in their hometown of Borteen, and Pippa wonders if she’ll ever experience a happy Christmas again – especially when a family secret is revealed. But when a police officer and old school friend Ethan Gibson offers his support, Pippa begins to realise that even though her life has been turned upside down, a happy and hopeful Christmas isn’t impossible …

 

 

 

Karen Aldous: Five Ladies Go Skiing

Contemporary Fiction
HQDigital/HarperCollins-book 5th November 2018Paperback 13th December 2018

Five ladies, one unforgettable trip…
Escape to gorgeous Switzerland this winter with the brand new, uplifting read from Karen Aldous. When Ginny Watts’ husband passes away, she is left grief-stricken, not only over her husband’s death but the secrets he has left behind… Luckily for Ginny, she has four wonderful friends – Lou, Cathy, Angie and Kim – poised to whisk her away on a ladies skiing holiday to beautiful La Tzoumaz, Switzerland. While all of them appear to have their lives together from the outside, little do the ladies know that every single one of them is fighting a secret battle. As the trip unfolds, they realise that fears of tumbling down the slopes after too much fun at Après Ski is the least of their worries and all is not what it seems… A novel of love, loss and friendship, perfect for fans of Jules Wake, Erica James and Cathy Kelly.

 

 

 

Mandy Baggot: One New York Christmas by Mandy Baggot

Festive romance
Ebury Publishing
Paperback and e-book
15 November 2018

Will this Christmas romance be just for the holidays?
Lara Weeks is heading to New York with best friend Susie for the Christmas trip of a lifetime. A festive break in the snowy Big Apple visiting the tourist hotspots, not to mention the shopping, seems like the perfect way for Lara to get over her ex-boyfriend. Or maybe make him so jealous he begs for a second chance. Enlisting the help of gorgeous actor, Seth Hunt, doesn’t quite go to plan, but there’s something about him that has Lara wishing for a different kind of happy ever after…

 

 

Jill Barry: The Other Side Of The World

Contemporary Romance
D. C. Thomson
Pocket Novel
15th November 2018

Hayley begins a new life in Australia where at first she stays with an old school friend.
But job hunting takes her to a country resort called Misty Mountain. The British girl soon finds her feet, though the past impacts on her when she has to get behind a driving wheel. While she’s falling in love with laidback Australia, Hayley becomes closer to her boss, but his fiancée’s determined to have her own way, while the hotel’s chef is keen to get to know Hayley better. Craig’s offer of a lift to Melbourne results in a showdown that convinces Hayley to hand in her notice.

 

 

Beth Good: Winter Without You

Romantic Christmas Novel
ebook & paperback
Quercus Books
Nov 15th

Hannah Clitheroe is hiding away from the world.
But when she discovers she’s inherited a house in Cornwall, she knows it’s time to face reality. Her estranged grandmother lived in Kernow House for years, but Hannah soon realises someone else thinks it’s rightfully theirs:
Raphael Tregar, a difficult man who quickly gets under her skin. But as winter sets in, there’s one more thing that keeps her up at night …

 

 

Katie Ginger: The Little Theatre on the Seafront

Contemporary Romance
HQ DigitalUK
Paperback 15th November 2018

When Lottie’s Gran dies she leaves one last request; save Greenley Theatre.
Faced with a decaying building, a mayor who most definitely isn’t on board with the project and a group of actors who just can’t get along, Lottie has her hands full, but with best friend Sid by her side, she knows she can do it somehow. But the arrival of Jeremy, a hotshot London developer who sweeps Lottie off her feet, complicates things.  Suddenly Sid gets a new girlfriend, the Greenley Players fall apart, and that crumbling building? Well, it crumbles a whole lot more. With no one to turn to, Lottie has to find the courage to save the day. Will Lottie be able to save the theatre and also follow her heart?

 

 

 

Fiona Ford: Christmas At Liberty’s

Saga
ArrowKindle/Paperback/Audiobook

15 November 2018

A wonderful, uplifting story of friendship and courage. Characters that you can’t help falling in love with!’ This new saga series will surely touch the hearts of saga readers everywhere’ Nancy Revell

September 1941:
Mary arrives in war-torn London nursing a broken heart and a painful secret. When she is offered her dream post as an assistant in the fabric department at Liberty store, she knows this is the fresh start she needs. Amid the store’s vibrant prints and sumptuous interiors, Mary finds a new family who can help her to heal. But not everyone will give Mary such a warm welcome, and the trauma of her past will soon catch up with her. As Mary and the Liberty Girls endure the heartache and uncertainty of war, it will take a steady heart to keep the magic of Christmas alive.

 

 

 

Francine Beaton: Summertime Blue

(Book 1 in the Blue Mountain Series)
Contemporary sports romance
Electronic and print on demand17 November 2018Booklink:https://www.books2read.com/u/mqZxVv

A brief interlude just before Christmas was supposed to be more than that.
Anyway, that was what Nathan Sinclair intimated to Meghan Carstens when they said goodbye and the young fashion designer believed him.
She should have known that it was a lie and that he would end up being just like all the other assholes she had dated before. When they meet again a few months later, Meghan has to believe that it is over. Nathan ignores her as if those few days spent together on Twin Peaks never happened. She had no choice but to take a page out of his book and do the same, even though it still hurt. Nathan couldn’t understand it. Meghan belonged to an industry he absolutely abhorred. Apart from his mother and his sister, he vowed long ago never to have anything to do with someone who had aspirations to be a model,
designer or a journalist. He had been burned once too often. Why then did he feel this compelling attraction to the sultry fashion designer? When the truth finally emerged, would Meghan be willing to give Nathan another chance?

 

 

Sarah Bennett: Snowflakes at Lavender Bay (Lavender Bay Book 3)

Romance
HQ Digital
E-book 8 Nov,Audio 19 Nov

The most wonderful time of the year…
Libby Stone has lived in Lavender Bay all her life. She loves the little seaside town and has big dreams to turn her father’s greasy old chippy into a dainty teashop – not that she’s told him yet! Finding love isn’t easy amongst the cluster of coastal houses, but it’s not every day that someone quite as handsome and mysterious as Owen Coburn walks into the local pub. And as the snowflakes begin to swirl on the promenade, Libby realises she’s falling for him. But Owen has been keeping a secret that could destroy everything…

 

 

 

Nicola Slade: The Convalescent Corpse

Cosy historical mystery
Crooked Cat
e-book and paperback.
20.NOVEMBER.2018

A story of Family, Rationing and Inconvenient Corpses.
Life in 1918 has brought loss and grief and hardship to the three Fyttleton sisters. Helped only by their grandmother (a failed society belle and expert poacher) and hindered by a difficult suffragette mother,
as well as an unruly chicken-stealing dog and a house full of paying-guests, they now have to deal with the worrying news that their late – and unlamented – father may not be dead after all. And on top of that, there’s a body in the ha-ha.

 

 

Victoria Cornwall: A Daughter’s Christmas Wish

Seasonal Romance
EBook
Choc LitAudiobookSoundings20th November 2018

A Cornish Christmas wish sent across the ocean …
Christmas, Cornwall 1919. A promise to a fellow soldier leads Nicholas to Cornwall for Christmas, and to the teashop managed by Rose; the youngest daughter of a family whose festive spirit has been blighted by their wartime experiences. But as Nicholas strives to give Rose the best Christmas she could wish for, he begins to question whether
his efforts are to honour his friend, or whether there is another reason …

 

 

Jessica Thorne: The Queen’s Wing

Fantasy Romance
ebook & paperback
Bookouture21st November

Bel, born to nobility, would do anything to spend her days alongside her
brothers – soaring through the heavens in her beloved flyer. She’s faster
than any of them, but she knows her days in the skies are numbered.
When a surprise attack on the palace lands Bel’s father on the throne, her
life is forever changed. In order to secure her father’s empire, Bel must
travel to a distant land to marry the recently widowed young ruler,
Conleith. But Bel’s new home is less than welcoming: compared to the refined ladies at court, Bel seems like a wild woman, and assassination attempts, treason and mystery threaten her at every turn. With a growing attraction to Con, her life is further complicated by the attentive leader of her bodyguards – a warrior called Shae whom she has loved since childhood… A heart-stoppingly magical new novel that will keep you turning the pages. Perfect for fans of *The Selection*, Bella Forrest and Sarah J. Maas.

 

 

Lesley Cookman: Murder and the Pantomime Cat

Crime
Accent Press
Christmas Short ebook
November 22nd

 

Libby and Fran get drawn into murder during the Nethegate pantomime.

 

 

 

 

Victoria Leybourne: Glass and Roses

Historical/Fantasy Romance
Independent
Ebook
23 November

There is a secret in Venice. Like love, it’s beautiful, fragile and dangerous – and finding it changes everything. Feel the magic of true love in these two romantic fairy tale retellings, set in eighteenth-century Venice. This ebook box set contains two complete novels, inspired by Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella.

 

 

 

Tora Williams: The Gift of Time

Time-travel romance
e-book
The Wild Rose Press
November 26th

Hoping to escape her dismal life, young widow Kat Beaumont throws a treasured coin into a lake. But how did a wish send her back in time? Now she’s in a snowbound medieval castle complete with vertigo-inducing staircases and smelly drains. While participating in the Christmas festivities, she continues to search for a way home and fights her attraction to the castle’s lord, Ralph d’Eyton. Ralph needs an alliance through marriage to protect his lands and live up to his father’s legacy. But Kat, with no influential family, would not make a suitable wife. He resists his fascination with this mysterious and beautiful woman who appeared out of nowhere. Can Ralph reconcile his dawning love with his need to protect his people, and can Kat let go of her fear of loss and surrender to love?

 

 

 

Sylvia Broady: The Lost Daughter

Saga
Allison & Busby
Hardback and E-book
Late November

1930, Hull.
Alice is fleeing from her violent husband and fearing for her life and that of her two-year-old daughter, she is running to the police station to seek help, when she is involved in a road accident. In the hospital, she awakes from her coma to find that her daughter is missing.

 

 

 

Sylvia Broady: The Yearning Heart

Saga
Allison & Busby
Paperback and E-book
Late November

It is war-time Britain and seduced by her brother-in-law, sixteen-year-old Frances becomes pregnant and is banished to a lonely farm.
She gives birth to twins, a boy and girl, whom her mother heartlessly wrenches from her. And when told her baby girl has died, Frances is overcome with grief.

 

 

 

Lynn Bryant: An Untrustworthy Army: Book 5:

Peninsular War Saga.
Historical romance
Independently published
e-book
November 30th.

June 1812
Back with her husband and his brigade, Anne van Daan is beginning to recover from her ordeal at the hands of Colonel Dupres as Lord Wellington marches his army into Spain and up to Salamanca. In a spectacularly successful action, Wellington drives the French back although not without some damage to the Third Brigade of the Light Division. Still recovering from their losses at Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz earlier in the year, the Light Division remains in Madrid while Wellington lays siege to Burgos
but some of Paul’s brigade have troubles of their own. Lieutenant Simon Carlyon is determined not to allow his dead brother’s shameful reputation to blight his career in the army but finds it harder than expected to serve under the man who killed him. Colonel Johnny Wheeler is finding the lie he told to protect others difficult to live with, faced with the unrelenting hostility of a young officer while Captain Michael O’Reilly’s life is complicated through a casual act of kindness. Finally, Keren Trenlow begins to discover some unpleasant consequences of her love affair with Major Carl Swanson. The end of the campaigning season is not going as well for the Allied army and triumph turns to an undignified and dangerous retreat. At a time when the discipline of Wellington’s army seems to have broken down, Van Daan’s brigade needs to set personal matters aside and concentrate on staying alive long enough to reach safety…

 

 

Louise Allen, Laurie Benson, Carla Kelly: Convenient Christmas Brides

Historical Romance
Novella
Paperback & ebook
Harlequin Mills & Boon
November 2018

Drew Stanton has inherited the title of Viscount Ravencroft – and not much else. He needs money to tide him over and a roof over his head for Christmas but when he answers an advertisement he finds himself masquerading as Miss Ellie Jordan’s fiancé. Christmas with a respectable household wasn’t quite what he’d bargained for – and the attraction between himself and Ellie is definitely perilous for a man in need of an aristocratic wife and a lady who is very wary of fortune hunters. The truth of his identity puts their growing love in peril – can the magic of Christmas heal the rift?

 

 

Glenda Young: Belle of the Back Streets
Saga
Headline
Hardback and ebook
November 2018

1919. ‘Any rag and bone!’ Everyone recognises the cry of Meg Sutcliffe as she plies her trade along the back streets of Ryhope. She learnt the ropes from her dad when he returned from the War. But when tragedy struck, Meg had no choice but to continue alone, with only her trusty dog Spot and beloved horse Stella for company. Now the meagre money she earns is the only thing that stands between her family’s safety and predatory rent collector Hawk Jackson… Many say it’s no job for a woman – especially a beauty like Meg who’s noticed everywhere she goes. When she catches the eye of charming Clarky it looks like she might have found a protector and a chance of happiness. But is Clarky really what he seems? And could Adam, Meg’s loyal childhood friend, be the one who really deserves her heart?

 

 

GLYNIS PETERS: THE SECRET ORPHAN

WW2 Romantic Suspense/Thriller
HarperImpulse
e-book

Keep her secret. Keep her safe.
On the 14th November 1940, Hitler’s bombs rain down on Coventry. From the rubble of a bombed-out family home, a young girl is saved. But at what cost? As the Nazis’ relentless bombs fall during the Blitz of Coventry, six-year-old Rose Sherbourne is orphaned and under the guardianship of a Cornish farmer’s daughter, Elenor Cardew. Elenor knows that the only way to protect spirited Rose is to leave the city and make a new life for themselves away from harm. But soon Elenor discovers that Hitler’s firestorm is not the only thing she must fear when she learns a devastating secret about Rose… With Rose’s life in imminent danger, Elenor turns to the only person she can trust to keep the deadly secret, heroic Canadian pilot, Jackson St John. And amidst the destruction of war, an unlikely romance blossoms as they find a way to protect the child they have both grown to love…and each other.

 

 

Elizabeth Bailey: Widow in Mistletoe (Brides by Chance Book 7)

Romance
Independently Published
e-book
November
An overturned curricle creates a vanished memory.
When Chloe takes in the injured lord, she puts her heart in danger.
Dare she hope Lance may realise she is not his dead betrothed and learn to love her for herself?

 

 

Anne Holman: Jemima’s Nobleman

 

Romance
DC Thomson
Pocket Novel
October 2018

 

 

 

 

 

New Publications: brought to you each month by Sheila Riley.

Sheila has been a member of the Romantic Novelists Association since 2004 and is a member of the Society of Authors. She has written a number of Sagas under the pen name of Annie Groves.

All new publications should be sent to Sheila no later than the 27th of each month. Members of the RNA, please send your latest release to releases@romanticnovelistsassociation.org

 

Happy reading!