Showing results by narrator "Charlotte" in All Categories

It starts with a fight between her and Charlie Davis—the usual bane of her existence—and ends with a drink thrown on her. Then, she somehow agrees to be fake friends with the same man to ensure her best friend's wedding goes off without a hitch. And last but certainly not least, her apartment collapses, and the only person with an open room is Charlie himself.

Nobody asked him to step in. I had everything under control, but by the time I shuffled onstage, there was no chance to stop him. Men ogled and touched as I offered my body and soul to the highest bidder, and I could tell my stranger didn’t like what he saw. Or maybe he did. Maybe he liked it too much, and that was why his number shot up. A quarter billion dollars and one existential crisis later, Cash Primrose was dragging me down the aisle in the name of convenience. I suppose it could be worse.

The night my mum disappeared, after a panicked 3am phonecall, I knew something was wrong. The police tried to reassure me. There had to be a logical explanation they said – perhaps she’s taking a break after the tragic death of my father. But I know my mum. Or do I? She would never leave without telling me. Or would she? The harder I look, the more I discover deep, dark family secrets I was not privy to. Worrying secrets I was never meant to know. Which means my parents have lied to me my whole life.

If you won a gorgeous purple motorbike and your domineering husband said you were too fat for leathers and should sell it, would you do as you were told - or learn to ride it in secret? Artist and café owner Lucy Daumier intends to do just that - but learning to ride is far from easy, especially under the critical eye of prickly motorcycle instructor Ash Connor. So starts an exciting summer of new friendships and fun - as well as a realisation that there is more to Ash than meets the eye when she is introduced to his seven-year-old daughter, Daisy.

Ireland, 1950s. After a tragic accident leaves Tamara alone on the most westerly tip of Ireland, she begins an affair. At first her romance is filled with passionate secrecy, but when her lover Niall's younger brother, Kieran, disappears after a bicycle race, he slowly falls into despondency. Distraught, Tamara decides she has no option but to leave, making her way from Ireland to New York. Slowly she interweaves her life story with Kieran's as she searches for the truth about Niall.

Lady Juliette Trent has spent the months since becoming London's most notorious jilted bride in virtual isolation. When the impromptu Frost Fair on the Thames finally draws her out of her self-imposed confinement, the last person she expects to see is the very man who left her standing at the altar. But things aren't always what they seem, and when Sebastian Holmes, Earl of Haverstan, reveals his true reason for abandoning her, Juliette is determined to right the wrong that was done to them both - even if it means causing a scandal the ton won't soon forget.

Encounter one of the most influential figures in Christian spirituality. "To be full of things is to be empty of God. To be empty of things is to be full of God." Said by Meister Eckhart, these words encapsulate the insight of a timeless philosopher, theologian, author, preacher, and mystic. Eckhart has contributed spiritual direction and knowledge to generations of Christians, yet his wisdom remains unknown to many.

Helsinki, 2016. Olenka sits on a bench, watching a family play in a dog park. A stranger sits down beside her. Olenka startles; she would recognise this other woman anywhere. After all, Olenka was the one who ruined her life. And this woman may be about to do the same to Olenka. Yet, for a fragile moment, here they are, together - looking at their own children being raised by other people.

I'm the girl with a past that's come back to haunt me. I've spent years trying to move past the trauma that he inflicted on me. There were moments I didn't think I'd live to see the next day. I thought he was dead. I was wrong. So wrong.

Disguised as a man, Josephine O'Malley strolls into a Dodge City mercantile with one thing on her mind: to even the score with the man who murdered her husband. What she doesn't count on is Fletcher Collins - the handsome and irresistible new marshal in town - bursting through the doors of the mercantile with guns blazing...and a plan to stop her from pulling the trigger.

London, 1929. Lady Alice Mayton-Walsh has always been a free independent spirit. With wealth and position, Alice defies convention and created, Sheer, a women's magazine. However, after years of hard work, she finds that her life isn't as complete as she expected it to be. Then her brother's best friend Vince reveals plans to marry an heiress to save his family's fortunes. The news shocks Alice as she realises she wants more than just friendship with him. Yet, before she has a chance to follow her heart, Vince turns his back on the extravagant life.

By the time the agoraphobic, unhinged, and musically gifted Grayson James came crashing into my life, I was deeply infatuated with his elder sibling. But that didn't stop him from ruining everything. He stole something that wasn't his to have. Something I hadn't known I was giving him. After realizing he was unsatisfied with that little taste, he wanted more—wanted me. Now, he's asked me to keep him company while he hides out in his family's rustic mountainside estate. Blackmailed me, really. Unfortunately, I need the money, the escape. It's not like I have much of a choice.

Having married once for love and been abandoned by her husband, Ellen is determined that her second marriage will be for money. And conveniently Duncan, her divorce lawyer, is not unattractive - and he’s enticingly single. But when she meets painter Matthew, Ellen has to remind herself very strongly indeed that Duncan is the man for her....

Ever Montgomery suffered the ultimate betrayal by the one man who she should have been able to count on for anything. It has left her hurt, jaded, and incapable of forming relationships, but it also means that she can spot a liar a mile away. These traits are earning her a reputation as a reporter with a keen nose for a good story and a complete understanding of the extreme power of the written word.

Sarah's heart sank as she listened to the headmaster's words. Her private little seduction of Stacie, the delicious young single mum, hadn't been so private after all - he knew all about it. She faced the choice of being sacked on the spot or submitting to corporal punishment at the hands of the PE teacher. On top of that, she was absolutely desperate to go to the loo!

Amara is my dark obsession. She was promised to me in a deal she knows nothing about. Four years ago, I sent her away to protect her from the life I live as the son of a crime lord. Now her brother—my best friend—is dead, and though I wasn’t there for him in the end, I intend to look after his little sister. I should stay in the shadows, let her live the life her brother wanted for her, but she’s in trouble in more ways than one, and I’m the only one who can save her...but I’ll have to break her first.

It's a time of coming together, yet sisters Prue and Cece have very different ideas about how to celebrate the holiday, and their clash of personalities also causes damage to their hearts. All Millie wants is a happy home, yet her warring sisters try her patience, and she's stuck in the middle! Not only that, but her husband, Jeremy, is dealing with his own problems regarding his parentage, her mother is acting strangely and her grandmother is as opinionated as always! Will Christmas at the Chateau bring the family together or tear them apart?

When he invited me to join him for a drink, I thought Alessandro was an ordinary guest at my family's hotel. I didn't know I belonged to him until he told me right there in the restaurant. I thought I had a say in the matter. But when I stood up to leave, it just earned me a sore bottom for the plane ride to New York, where our wedding was already planned for the next day. But I was soaking wet for him before he even walked me down the aisle.

Jenny Diski was a fearless writer, for whom no subject was too difficult, even her own cancer diagnosis. Her columns in the London Review of Books - selected here by her editor and friend Mary-Kay Wilmers, on subjects as various as death, motherhood, sexual politics and the joys of solitude - have been described as ‘virtuoso performances’ and ‘small masterpieces'. Why Didn’t You Just Do What You Were Told? is a collective interrogation of the universal experience from a very particular psyche.

1851. Wealthy businessman Jacob Welland is dying of consumption and implores private detective Laetitia Rodd to find his beloved brother, whom he has not seen for 10 years. An impoverished Oxford scholar who left college to live as a wandering hermit, Joshua Welland has been spotted in a gypsy camp, where it was rumoured he was learning great secrets.