Romantic Novelists' Association

July 2018: New Releases

2 July 2018

Peter Perrin: Grace’s Turmoil.
Contemporary/Seasoned Romance
DevineDestinies.com and Amazon.
eBook and paperback
Available Now
Divorced and emotionally damaged, artist Grace Stollery wants nothing more than to spend her semi-retirement painting and let time heal her emotional scars. But when dashing widower Alfred Nobel moves into her retirement village he turns her life upside down and her heart inside out by awakening feelings she wants to keep dormant. Alfred quickly sets out to woo Grace and slowly she warms to him. But the village’s resident femme fatale wants him for herself. Will she succeed in driving a wedge between Alfred and Grace?

 

Jill Barry: Love on Track
Contemporary Romance
F A Thorpe
Paperback
1st June 2018
Flora lands a job as a train manager, working a route taking her through the beautiful Welsh countryside. Although nervous at first, she soon begins to enjoy her job. One passenger, whom she privately names ‘Mr Gorgeous’, is the father of a small daughter. Sadly he’s had no time for romance over the years since his wife died, until one day he notices the lovely woman who sells him a ticket, and realises he’s seen her somewhere before. Flora’s changing cast of passengers adds to the fun in this gentle romance as love blossoms for her and Jack.

 

Angela Barton: Arlette’s Story
Historical/Romantic Fiction
Ruby Fiction (Imprint of Choc-Lit)
(ebook)
26th June 2018
When Arlette Blaise sees a German plane fly over the family farm in 1940, she’s comforted by the fact that the occupying forces are far away in the north. Surely the stranglehold of war wouldn’t reach her family in the idyllic French countryside, close to the small town of Oradour-sur-Glane? But when her brother leaves to join the Resistance and the Gestapo set up their headquarters in a nearby manor house,
Arlette realises that her family’s peaceful existence might be gone for good. Arlette’s confusion intensifies by the arrival of Saul Epstein – a young Jewish medical student who’s been forbidden from training by the Nazis. When autumn arrives with the smell of wood smoke and ripe-honeyed fruit, Arlette is forced to make decisions that bring the danger she feared, right to her doorstep …

 

Amanda James: Rip Current
Women’s fiction/crime/suspense
Ebook/Paperback
Bloodhound Books
27th June
DI Bryony Marshall has been on the tail of Kenny Ransom for two years.
He’s involved in prostitution and trafficking, but there’s never been any real proof. To complicate matters further, Bryony’s best friend from childhood is his daughter Imogen. Bryony worries about admitting the fact that she is trying to put Imogen’s dad away, but unexpectedly, Imogen turns on her father and helps the police. Kenny finds out and swears he’ll get his revenge. Sick of being in the police force, Bryony visits her mother in Cornwall and considers starting a new life. While in Cornwall, Bryony saves the life of a man caught up in a rip current in the sea. But who is this stranger? And is Kenny really bent on revenge? Rip Current explores the relationships between families and friends and asks who can you ever really trust.

 

Georgie Capron: The Distance Between Us
Women’s Commercial Fiction, Contemporary Romance
Aria, Head of Zeus
Ebook and Print On Demand
1st July 2018
Tasha knows that she should count her blessings:
married for eleven years, mother to three healthy children, she should be content with her lot. However, feelings of frustration have settled over her like a dark cloud. Despite living under the same roof and sharing the same bed, Tasha has never felt so distant from her husband, Charlie. She feels worn down by the mental load of motherhood, drowning in the never-ending chores that keep the family and household afloat. Most of all she worries that her once happy marriage is slipping away from her. Tasha longs for something to change, but when change comes calling will it really be the answer she was hoping for? And is it possible to fall in love with the same person twice?

 

Rachel Brimble: The Mistress of Pennington’s
Edwardian saga/romance
Aria Fiction
ebook
July 1st
1910 – A compelling tale of female empowerment in Bath’s leading department store.
Perfect for the fans of the TV series Mr Selfridge and The Paradise. Elizabeth Pennington should be the rightful heir of Bath’s premier department store through her enterprising schemes and dogged hard work. Her father, Edward Pennington, believes his daughter lacks the business acumen to run his empire and is resolute a man will succeed him. Determined to break from her father’s iron-clad hold and prove she is worthy of inheriting the store, Elizabeth forms an unlikely alliance with ambitious and charismatic master glove-maker Joseph Carter. United they forge forward to bring Pennington’s into a new decade, embracing woman’s equality and progression whilst trying not to mix business and pleasure. Can this dream team thwart Edward Pennington’s plans for the store? Or will Edward prove himself an unshakeable force who will ultimately ruin both Elizabeth and Joseph?

 

Lisa Hobman: A Year of Finding Happiness
Contemporary Romance
Aria Fiction.
1st July
‘Heartwarming and uplifting … I was singing along from the very first page’ Heidi Swain.
Poignant, heart-warming and gorgeously romantic, this is a love-story with pure, unadulterated happiness at its heart. A Year of Finding Happiness shows you that the little things in life can make you smile, even when you think you might never laugh again… Happiness doesn’t factor on the deliciously rugged but utterly heartbroken Greg’s radar much these days. Only his beloved Labrador Angus seems to understand his search for a way to make sense of tragedy until he meets new neighbour Mallory Westerman… Instantly they know that the other understands how they feel, and over time, as romance blossoms, they dare to wonder if they might, one day, be truly happy again… There are two sides to every story, and A Year of Finding Happiness is Greg’s journey back from the darkest depths of happiness… A Year of Finding Happiness was previously published as Bridge of Hope.

 

Evonne Wareham: Summer in San Remo
Romantic Comedy
Choc-Lit
Paperback
3rd July 2018
Anything could happen when you spend summer in San Remo … Running her busy concierge service usually keeps Cassie Travers fully occupied.
But when a new client offers her the strangest commission she’s ever handled she suddenly finds herself on the cusp of an Italian adventure, with a man she thought she would never see again. Jake McQuire has returned from the States to his family-run detective agency. When old flame Cassie appears in need of help with her mysterious client, who better than Jake to step in? Events take the pair across Europe to a luxurious villa on the Italian Riviera.
There, Cassie finds that the mystery she pursues pales into insignificance when compared to another discovery made along the way …

 

Janice Horton: The Backpacking Housewife
Contemporary/Women’s Fiction
Ebook and Paperback
Harper Impulse
6th July (ebook)
12th July (paperback)
One mum is leaving it all behind for the adventure of a lifetime… Lorraine Anderson was meant to be making a Sunday roast, not swanning off to Thailand, backpack in hand! But when she finds her husband and her best friend in bed together there’s only one thing to do – grab her passport and never look back! Now, with each mile travelled Lori sheds the woman she once was and finds the woman she was always meant to be. A woman of passion and spirit who deserves to explore the great unknown…and to indulge in the temptation she encounters along the way!

 

Phillipa Ashley: Summer on the Little Cornish Isles: The Starfish Studio
Contemporary romance
Avon
ebook
July 9th, 2018
One summer can change everything …
Poppy has always loved Cornwall – the crisp sea air, the welcoming community. So when her boyfriend Dan suggests they leave their office jobs and take over the Starfish Studio on the Isles of Scilly, Poppy doesn’t need asking twice. But things don’t go to plan when Dan dumps her weeks before they’re due to move. Determined not to give up, Poppy accepts the help of local photographer Jake, her landlord’s grandson. But Jake is distracted by a loss from his past.
Can they turn the crumbling gallery into a success in time for tourist season?
And will a summer on the little Cornish Isles mend just the studio – or Poppy’s heart too?

 

Daisy James: Confetti & Confusion
Romantic comedy
Canelo
ebook
9th July
Millie Harper is feeling the pressure to make the first ever Paradise Cookery School course a dazzling success and to ensure that bride-to-be Imogen and friends have an unforgettable experience. She’s also trying to play it cool around handsome estate manager Zach Barker. But whenever he is near Millie cannot fail to notice the chemistry between them – until someone from Zach’s past arrives and any potential romance seems out of the question. When disaster strikes and the wedding is in jeopardy, Millie realises she may have to go above and beyond to make sure the school is a success. Can Millie manage to create a day that dreams are made of, and will she find a way to tell Zach how she feels?

 

Emma Robinson: Happily Never After
Romantic Comedy
Bookouture
Kindle/ebook and Paperback (POD)
10th July
Rory doesn’t believe in love. She’s got far too many real problems to deal with. She’s just bought a tumbledown house. Her mother is generally behaving like a wicked witch, insisting on calling her Aurora, and generally interfering in her (admittedly pitiful lack of) love life. And her 16-year-old daughter has finally grown out of Disney princesses and discovered dating… But Rory’s adamant that she doesn’t need saving. In fact, the only thing she’s wishing on a star for is a bit of practical help. However, when she meets a builder whose name is John Prince and who seems to be in the habit of rescuing her (right down to finding her lost shoe one evening) she might have to face a truth as uncomfortable as hobbling home barefoot – that maybe there’s something enchanted in the air. Her mother, daughter and friends are convinced her prince has come, but Rory just wishes everyone could let it go. Especially when she hears a story that makes her question whether he is really the hero everyone thinks he is…

 

Angela Britnell: Here Comes the Best Man
Contemporary
Choc Lit
Ebook and Audio download
10 July 2018
Being the best man is a lot to live up to …
When troubled army veteran and musician Josh Robertson returns home to Nashville to be the best man at his younger brother Chad’s wedding he’s just sure that he’s going to mess it all up somehow. But when it becomes clear that the wedding might not be going to plan, it’s up to Josh and fellow guest Louise Giles to make sure that Chad and his wife-to-be Maggie get their perfect day.
Can Josh be the best man his brother needs? And is there somebody else who is beginning to realise that Josh could be her ‘best man’ too?

 

Liz Fenwick: One Cornish Summer
Contemporary women’s fiction
Orion
Mass-market paperback
12 July 2018

Against the beauty of Cornwall, a story of two women struggling with their past:
one cannot remember hers, the other cannot forget…

 

 

 

 

Jenny Ashcroft: Island in the East
Historical fiction
Sphere/ Little, Brown
Paperback
12th July
1897: Harriet and Mae Grafton, twenty-year-old identical twins born from a scandalous affair, grew up in India slighted by gossip and ostracised from polite society. They had each other and that was enough. But when their wealthy benefactor sends them to Singapore, they meet the mysterious Alex Blake and their relationship fractures with devastating consequences. 1941: Ivy Harcourt is posted to wartime Singapore amid the looming threat of Japanese invasion. Ivy knows the island will be a far cry from war-torn London, but she is totally unprepared for what awaits her: strangers from her grandmother Mae’s past, an unstoppable love affair, and a shattering secret that’s been waiting to be uncovered…

 

Margaret Mounsdon: The Eighth Child
Modern mystery romance
People’s Friend
Pocket Novel
12 July 2018
When Iris Laxton disappears her friend Posy Palmer seems to be the only one worried about her. Then strange things start to happen as she begins to delve into Iris’s background and she finds out there was more to her old school friend than she realised. The only person she can turn to is Sam Barrington, the ex-policeman who once accused her of wasting police time when another friend whom she reported missing subsequently turned up alive and well.

 

Ruby Moone: Thief of Hearts
M/M Historical Romance
JMS Books LLC
e-book and paperback
14th July 2018
It’s 1806 and aristocratic, bastard born jewel thief, David Lambert has few rules in his life. Never bed the staff, never bed a man more than once, and never kiss.
In the space of one weekend, all his rules are shattered by a stunning, violet-eyed footman with a secret. Jeremy Naylor thought he had found the man of his dreams. Thought he had found the one person that might just might, understand him. But in one shocking moment, his dreams are destroyed, and he is forced to run for his life. When Jeremy is flung into Newgate for a crime David committed, it’s a race against time to get him free and David is forced to face up to his past, his family, and accept that he might have a future if he has the courage to fight for it.

 

Sarah Bennett: Summer at Lavender Bay
Contemporary Romance
HQ Digital UK
E-book and audio (paperback August 2018)
4th July (ebook) 18th July (audio)
Love happens when you least expect it…
When Eliza Barnes said ‘I do’ to her husband all those years ago, she thought that they’d be together forever. Instead, he’s flown to Abu Dhabi to start a new life, and she’s returning to the little seaside town of Lavender Bay. It’s finally time to chase the dreams she’s put on hold for so long, whipping up luxury bath products and organic soaps using local ingredients. Of course, she didn’t expect to meet the local farmer, Jack Gilbert, or for him to be quite so gorgeous! So when her husband turns up, she knows she must decide between the man she knows everything about and the man who makes her heart race in ways she’d never imagined – before it’s too late…

 

Catherine Curzon & Eleanor Harkstead: The Captain and the Cricketer
Contemporary rom-com
Pride
Ebook
17th July
When an uptight countryside vet and a sexy TV star meet on the cricket pitch, they’re both knocked for six. Henry Fitzwalter is a solid sort of chap. A respectable rural vet and no stranger to tweed, he is the lonely inhabitant of crumbling Longley Parva Manor. Captain George Standish-Brookes is everyone’s favourite shirtless TV historian. Heroic, handsome and well-travelled, he is coming home to the village where he grew up. Henry and George’s teenage friendship was shattered by the theft of a prize in a hard-fought game of cricket. When they resolve their differences thanks to an abandoned foal, it’s only a matter of time before idyllic Longley Parva witnesses one of its wildest romances. Yet with a golf-loving American billionaire and a money-hungry banker threatening this terribly traditional little corner of Sussex, there’s more than love at stake. A comedy of cricket, coupling and criminality.

 

Victoria Cornwall: The Daughter of River Valley
eBook
Choc Lit
Audiobook Publisher: Soundings
17th July 2018
Cornwall, 1861
Beth Jago appears to have the idyllic life, she has a trade to earn a living and a cottage of her own in Cornwall’s beautiful River Valley. Yet appearances can be deceptive … Beth has a secret. Since inheriting her isolated cottage she’s been receiving threats, so when she finds a man in her home she acts on her instincts. One frying pan to the head and she has robbed the handsome stranger of his memory and almost killed him. Fearful he may die, she reluctantly nurses the intruder back to health. Yet can she trust the man with no name who has entered her life, or is he as dangerous as his nightmares suggest? As they learn to trust one another, the outside threats worsen. Are they linked to the man with no past? Or is the real danger still outside waiting … and watching them both?

 

Merryn Allingham: House of Glass
Timeslip
The Verrall Press
Ebook
19 July 2018
Appearances don’t always reveal the truth. Grace Latimer knows that better than most. A troubled past has trapped her in illusions of commitment and comfort – until Nick Heysham charms his way into her world. Commissioned to recover a prestigious architect’s missing designs for the Great Exhibition, he persuades her to assist in his research. The mystery of the Crystal Palace seduces Grace, and once she discovers clues about a forbidden Victorian love affair, she is lured into the deep secrets of the past… secrets that resemble her own. As Grace digs into the elusive architect’s untold story, the ghosts of guilt and forbidden passion slip free. And history is bound to repeat itself unless Grace finds the courage to break the glass…

 

Roland Moore: Land Girls – The Promise
Historical Saga / Second World War
Harper Impulse
20th July 2018
The Land Girls are back in a brand new, standalone story from the creator of the popular, award-winning BBC drama series. Land Girl Iris Dawson seems to have a rosy future. She’s working with her friends at Pasture Farm in the warm, breezy days of summer. She’s learning to read and write in the evenings and interested in hunky Martin Reeves who seems interested in her. In fact, she seems to be getting her life back on track after the awful events at the hands of a man named Vernon Storey. But Vernon made a threat to come back for her – and Iris is convinced he’ll keep that promise…

 

Tracy Buchanan: The Lost Sister
Women’s fiction
Ebook
Avon Harper Collins
20 July 2018
Summer, 1991. A trip to the beach leads to disaster for Becky’s family. It is the day a boy nearly drowns, and the day Becky’s mother decides to abandon her own husband and child for the mysterious man who saved him.
Now: It’s been ten years since they last spoke, but Becky’s mother has just weeks to live. And she has something important to tell her. I had another child. How far would you go to track down the sister you never knew existed? And how can you trust a woman who has lied to you your whole life?

 

Penny Hampson: A Gentleman’s Promise
Traditional Regency mystery/romance
self-published with Troubador Publishing
eBook
Release date: 26th July 2018
Emma struggled across a Europe devastated by Napoleon to get her brother home, but when she arrives she finds her family all but destroyed. A stranger claims the estate that now belongs to him. Who is he? Emma doesn’t know. She does know that it would be madness to fall in love and surrender her freedom…
Richard never wanted this inheritance. He hadn’t known of his connection to the family until his solicitor revealed it to him. But when Emma and her brother turn up claiming to be the rightful heirs, he can’t ignore his suspicions. Nor can he ignore his growing feelings towards Emma. Could she be the woman he’s been searching for? Independent and strong, Emma never wants to marry. Richard is looking for a docile wife. Can their quest to catch a killer teach them that what they both wish to avoid is exactly what they need?

 

Vivien Brown: Five Unforgivable Things
Contemporary women’s fiction / domestic drama
Harper Impulse
ebook
25 July
Almost thirty years ago, Kate’s dream came true. After years of struggling, she was finally pregnant following pioneering IVF. But the dream came at a cost. Neither Kate nor her husband Dan could have known the price they would have to pay to fulfil their cherished wish of having their own family. Now, years later, their daughter Natalie is getting married and is fulfilling her own dream of marrying her childhood sweetheart. Natalie knows she won’t be like most brides as she travels down the aisle in her wheelchair, but it’s the fact her father won’t be there to walk beside her that breaks her heart. Her siblings, Ollie, Beth and Jenny, gather around Natalie, but it isn’t just their father who is missing from their lives… as the secrets that have fractured the family rise to the surface, can they learn to forgive each other before it’s too late?

 

Mandy Baggot: Desperately Seeking Summer
Romantic Comedy
Ebury Penguin Random House
Ebook and paperback
27 July 2018
Abby Dolan is having a very bad day…
In twenty-four hours, she’s lost her job and her boyfriend. Single and with nothing left to lose, she’s headed for a Corfu escape to spend time with her family while she heals her broken heart. Only her mum and sister’s estate agency ‘Desperately Seeking’ is just that, desperate! Instead of the relaxing, sunshine holiday, she’d hoped for, Abby finds herself spending her break helping get the business back on its feet. Determined to attract new clients and give her family a second chance at success, she finds the perfect property to sell in Villa Pappas complete with the gorgeous gardener, Theo. Perhaps working this summer could be a welcome distraction after all. But Theo has his own secrets and Abby isn’t the only thing he wants to take off the market…

 

Lynne Shelby: The One That I Want
Contemporary Romantic Fiction
Accent Press
Paperback and e-book
26th July 2018
When Lucy Ashford lands a top job at a leading theatrical agency in London, work mixes with pleasure, as she literally falls into the arms of Hollywood heartthrob Daniel Miller. Handsome, charming and irresistible, Daniel is just what unlucky-in-love Lucy needs, and she is quickly drawn into his glittering celebrity lifestyle. But can she tame the A-list bad boy or is she just one more girl in Daniel’s long line of conquests? And then there’s up-and-coming actor Owen Somers, fiercely talented but as yet uncast in a starring role. After she takes him onto the agency’s books, Owen and Lucy’s friendship slowly grows. If she looks closely, Lucy’s leading man might be right before her very eyes…

 

Annie Burrows: The Captain Claims His Lady
Regency Romance                                                                      Harlequin Mills & Boon                                                          paperback and ebook format
26th July 2018
Last in “Brides for Bachelors” mini-series, where you will find out “whodunnit” and how the culprit is brought to justice. Shy Lizzie Hutton knows her height and clumsiness alone make her a debutante to avoid. Until she meets tall, strong and striking Captain Harry Bretherton, who takes a surprising interest in her! Their intense chemistry makes him hard to resist? if only it weren’t for the secrecy around his past…

 

Rosemary Morris: Thursday’s Child. Book 5
Romantic Historical
e-book print book
BooksWeLove Ltd
July
Lady Margaret is reminded by her brother, the Earl of Saunton, not to be outspoken. At a ball, she forgets his warning and voices a controversial opinion to Lady Sefton, one of Almack’s powerful patronesses, who can ruin a debutante’s reputation. Horrified by her indiscretion, Margaret flees. When she slips and is about to fall, the notorious rake, Baron Rochedale, catches her in his arms before following her into the street. Margaret, who does not want to the make a splendid marriage expected by her family, and enigmatic Rochedale are immediately attracted to each other. When Margaret refuses either to identify herself or face her family’s anger, he takes her to his manor. His quixotic impulse leads to complications which force him to question his selfish way of life. Her reputation ruined, Margaret is forced to choose what is important to her. She must decide whether her future is with Rochedale.

 

Callie Langridge: A Time To Change
Time travel romance
ebook, paperback and audio
19 July 2018
Bombshell Books in                                                               ‘I would rather live passionately for an hour than benignly for a lifetime’
Lou has always loved Hill House, the derelict manor on the abandoned land near her home. When a family disaster sends her life into a downward spiral, she seeks comfort in its ruined corridors. The house transforms around her and Lou is transported back to Christmas 1913. Convinced she has been in an accident and is in a coma, she immerses herself in her Edwardian dream. With the Mandevilles oblivious to her true identity, Lou becomes their houseguest and befriends their son, a man she knows is destined to die in the First World War. She feels more at home in the past than the present and sets out to do everything in her power to save her new friends.

 

New Releases: compiled and brought to you by Sheila Riley.

Sheila writes gritty family sagas and enjoys chatty lunches with the Sandpipers – The North West region of the RNA based at Southport. She has been an RNA member since 2004 and wrote a number of bestselling sagas under the name of Annie Groves. She is a member of the Society of Authors.                                        twitter@1sheilariley                                                                  http://my-writing-ladder.blogspot.co.uk

Please send details of New Releases by 27th of each month to releases@romanticnovelistsassociation.org