Showing results by narrator "Penny ." in All Categories

Jack loves his childhood toy Dur Pig. DP has always been there for him, through good and bad. Until one Christmas Eve something terrible happens - DP is lost. But Christmas Eve is a night for miracles and lost causes, a night when all things can come to life...even toys. And Jack’s newest toy - the Christmas Pig (DP’s annoying replacement) - has a daring plan: Together they’ll embark on a magical journey to seek something lost and to save the best friend Jack has ever known....

Rosa Larkin is down on her luck in London, so when she inherits a near-derelict corner shop in a quaint Devon village, her first thought is to sell it for cash and sort out her life. But nothing is straightforward about this legacy. While the identity of her benefactor remains a mystery, he - or she - has left one important legal proviso: that the shop cannot be sold, only passed on to somebody who really deserves it. Rosa makes up her mind to give it a go: to put everything she has into getting the shop up and running again in the small seaside community of Cockleberry Bay. But can she do it all on her own?

Aria Philips has lived on Jewel Island all of her life. Even when her sisters left its stunning shores, Aria stayed to help her father run their family hotel. A year after her father’s death, Aria’s done everything she can to keep things afloat, but the hotel has long been struggling to make a profit. With so few guests, Aria risks losing the only home she’s ever had. Noah Campbell earned his fortune from making hotels a success, and he also just happens to be staying on Jewel Island this summer.

When Bella finds a dashing homeless man on her doorstep, she invites him into her cottage and into her life. But Isaac's keeping a secret from her, this woman whom he hadn't expected to fall for. She can't ignore the chemistry between them, but she's had her trust broken before. Will Bella run when she learns the truth, or could he be the man to help her to love again?

Welcome to the Hummingbird Hotel! When florist-to-the-stars Abbie Coleman catches a glimpse of her boyfriend through the window of Tiffany's, she couldn't be more excited. Keen to share her happiness, she organises a huge surprise party for all their family and friends… except things don't quite work out as she expected, and instead of planning a flower-filled wedding, she finds herself single, and fired from a job she loves.

Experience the magic of CP Ward’s Delightful Christmas series with this boxed set containing the first nine novels in the series.

Romance blossoms under the stars in this feelgood love story! Lily Harper is an events organiser, but her neat, ordered world has just exploded. First she lost her job, then she lost her fiancé. Her five-year plan is looking increasingly shaky. Lost and lonely, Lily heads home to her childhood village, and accepts the position of live-in housekeeper at the grand but welcoming Willow Tree Hall. It's not exactly her dream job – Lily is more used to arranging parties than pantries – but at least she's working.

Willow Tree Hall, the proud ancestral home of the Earl and Countess of Cranley for centuries, has seen better days. Annie Rogers takes the job as housekeeper at Willow Tree Hall, having to work with a reluctant heir Sam Harris to renovate the failing estate. With Sam running from his past and Annie hiding from hers, just maybe together they can bring Willow Tree Hall back to life.

A feelgood Christmas love story set in a gorgeous country village, perfect for fans of Milly Johnson and Heidi Swain. Previously published as "A Way Back Home". After recent heartbreak, Skye Jackson is homeless and on the road with only a classic Airstream trailer to her name. A surprise inheritance of a rundown little lodge in the grounds of beautiful Willow Tree Hall forces her to change her plans. The only problem is that the lodge is co-owned by care-free playboy Will Harris, currently in hiding after a recent tabloid scandal.

Melody Rosewood loves her new home in idyllic Sandcastle Bay. The beautiful little cottage on the edge of Sunshine Beach, with its bright yellow door and view of the sea, has captured her heart. And she loves being close by to her family and her best friend, Tori Graham. Life by the sea is pretty much perfect. There’s just one thing missing.... Gorgeous Jamie Jackson, with his cheeky grin and adorable puppy, works as a sculptor opposite Melody’s jewellery shop. From the moment he and Melody meet, sparks fly. But despite their instant attraction, a past heartache is holding Jamie back.

Evergreen Winter lives an unconventional life. Her home is a ramshackle red caravan and her Clydesdale horse Thunder is her only companion. She's never anywhere long enough to put down roots, and that's just the way she likes it. Until she arrives at beautiful Wishing Wood eight days before Christmas...

Ruby Matthews has a plan - 12 jobs in 12 months, until she finds the one of her dreams.... After an unexpected redundancy, Ruby begins to question her priorities. Inspired by a quote from Kahlil Gibran about loving your work, she launches her mission to find the ideal job. Her year of gainful (and sometimes painful!) employment includes nannying for clients in the South of France, dealing with embarrassing ailments in a Harley Street clinic, waiting tables in a buzzy Soho cafe and meeting the celebs of years gone by in a home for retired actors.

In this wonderful, fraught, witty, real comedy about a middle-aged mother desperate to begin her post-children life, Stella is wondering why those grown-up children are all still in her house. Dreaming of retiring to a life in the countryside with her husband, instead she's dealing with four extra people in the house, rooms that urgently need de-junking, surprise pregnancy tests, difficult neighbours and a mother who really isn't helping anything. When she attempts to clear the useless clutter from the house, Stella realises it's her children who really need to go.

Growing up on Hope Island, Eden Lancaster always believed that if you wished hard enough for something, dreams really could come true. But Eden’s greatest wish is also her biggest secret: she has been in love with her childhood friend, the charming Dougie Harrison, for as long as she can remember. And he has no idea. When Dougie leaves his life in New York to return home to Hope Island for good, Eden can’t escape her feelings. Her heart is full of hope that her romantic dreams are finally going to come true....

Tori Graham is in need of a holiday. Trying to piece her heart back together after losing the love of her life, she escapes to Blossom Cottage, with its picturesque views of the sea. And plans to spend the summer in gorgeous Sandcastle Bay, where her best friend, Melody Rosewood, lives. Tori’s not expecting her summer by the beach to be eventful - until she meets handsome and mysterious Aidan Jackson.... Aidan looks after the holiday cottage Tori is staying in. Healing from past hurts, he wants to avoid any further chance of heartache. But could this newcomer be the breath of fresh air he needs?

Death is undeniable and unavoidable. We must accept it; there is no other choice. But coming to terms with our mortality can profoundly influence how we live—and how we die. Having been a hospice nurse for decades, Penny Hawkins Smith is an expert on death and dying. As a recovering alcoholic and former drug addict, she knows what it means to change course and become a meaningful contributor to society. Through her work with death, Penny found her purpose in life. In Influencing Death, Penny brings transparency and levity to the grim topic of death.

Isla Rosewood is creating a new life for herself and her nephew, Elliot. Living in Sandcastle Bay was never the plan, but after her brother Matthew’s tragic accident, her whole world changed as she unexpectedly became a mother to the little boy she adores so much. Leo Jackson was always known as Matthew’s fun-loving and wild best friend. But now Matthew is gone, his role as Elliot’s godfather is the most important thing to him.

Three siblings arrive at Maggie's door after being taken into care. Teachers of eight-year-old Bobby spotted bruises while he was getting changed for PE and his dad, Lee, and stepmother, Brianna, have been uncooperative and hostile to Social Services. While they investigate, Bobby, as well as Brianna's daughters, Melodie and Poppy, are all placed in Maggie's care. But as the children settle in, a thought won't let Maggie go. While Melodie and Poppy are clean, well-fed and immaculately dressed, Bobby is pale, severely underweight and crawling with lice.

Barbara Pym is one of the 20th-century's wittiest, and most underrated, novelists. Her perceptive comedies of manners, centred around the domestic lives and loves of unassuming middle-class Englishwomen, won her many devoted readers and saw her hailed as a modern-day Jane Austen. Yet she spent 15 years out of print in the 1960s and '70s, until Philip Larkin championed her work in the Times Literary Supplement. Her seventh novel was subsequently shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and writers from Jilly Cooper to Alexander McCall Smith continue to laud her talent today.

Three women, connected by one man: Daniel is father to Seren, husband to Nesta and lover to Frankie. When he leaves Nesta and their beautiful home in the middle of the party to celebrate their fortieth wedding anniversary Seren's world begins to crumble. Only the continuation of the family ideal can make things right. But Nesta isn't so sure. And for Frankie, Daniel offers hope of a safe and secure future. But all three women are carrying secrets that they've kept hidden even from those closest to them.