September is a ridiculously busy month, so I’ll keep the small talk small and get on with the books!

Carol Coffey – Winter Flowers – September 2011

When her dishevelled, eight-year-old nephew Luke comes knocking on her door in the middle of the night,
Iris Fay knows her sister Hazel is in trouble again. This time, it is a house fire started by her drunken boyfriend Pete Doyle. As Iris is drawn back into Hazel’s dysfunctional lifestyle, she is haunted by her own past and also by the childhood memories she has kept secret from her sister. When Pete becomes an even greater threat to the family and her sons are placed in danger, Hazel realises she must turn her life around or else lose them. But then she stumbles on a pile of letters in her mother’s attic and their contents spiral her into an even darker place. Meanwhile Iris, too, is confronted by her past when her former husband Mark suddenly comes back into her life, looking for answers. Can the sisters face up to their memories and find the future they long for? Or will the secrets of their childhood continue to destroy them and those they hold dear?

A O’Connor – Talk Show – September 2011

The Joshua Green Show has stormed up the television ratings over the past five years, providing him and his beautiful wife Soraya with an enviable ‘Hello magazine lifestyle. Joshua and the show’s producer Kim Davenport have no guilt about exploiting their guests’ emotions on their confessional Talk Show, the more tawdry the better. Now as a new director of programs, Guy O’Doherty, takes over at the television studio, Kim aims to bring Joshua and herself to the next level and secure them Ireland’s flagship late night ‘serious talk show. Soraya is blissfully happy with her husband Joshua, two toddler children and her teenage step-son Lee in their beautiful home. She can put up with her well-heeled parents disapproval of her husband and living with Lee and Joshua’s troubled relationship. She sees herself as the glue holding it all together. However when a whispering campaign starts about Joshua’s show it starts to unnerve them. There are accusations about guests on the show and how they are handled. The campaign gathers pace and suddenly details of Joshua’s life that Soraya never knew come in to the public domain. And it dawns on Joshua that the leaks are coming from someone much close to home. Louise Keane considers herself a moral person, so she doesn’t understand herself why she is having an affair with Joshua. When the new director of programs takes an interest in her, she is flattered but confused as to why. But then Guy O’Doherty seems to be taking an interest in every aspect of Joshua’s life.

Nina Bell – The Empty Nesters – 1st September 2011

Clover Jones and Laura Dangerfield have been best friends since their children were born. Along with Clover’s stylish, powerful friend, Alice, they share holidays, sleepovers, school runs and childcare.

They’re like one big family. But all families have their secrets. When the children leave home, Clover and Laura’s lives and marriages change forever, and the old rules on love and loyalty no longer apply.

And when Alice decides she wants what they’ve got, Clover and Laura have to find out who they really are. Without the children, can their marriages - and friendship - survive?

Tara Hyland – Fallen Angels – 1st September 2011

From the poverty of post-war England and Ireland to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood’s golden age, a beautiful, sweeping family drama that illustrates that the bonds between a mother and daughter can never be broken. An unwanted child: San Francisco, 1958. On a dark December night, a baby girl is left at the Sisters of Charity Orphanage on Telegraph Hill. A mysterious suicide: One year later, movie star Frances Fitzgerald takes her own life. Her husband, wealthy businessman Maximilian Stanhope, is rumoured to know more about her death than he’s letting on, but nothing is ever proved. A terrible secret: What is the connection between these two events? That’s what Frances’s daughter, Cara, wants to find out. Abandoned by her mother when she is just seven years old, her childhood is filled with hardship and loss. As a young woman she finds professional success as a journalist, but on a personal level, she still struggles to trust those around her. Soon Cara becomes convinced that uncovering the secret behind her mother’s death is the only way to lay her demons to rest, but learning the truth may end up tearing her apart.

Jane Lovering – Starstruck – 1st September 2011

Our memories define us don’t they? And Skye Threppel lost most of hers in a car crash that stole the lives of her best friend and fiancé. It’s left scars, inside and out, which have destroyed her career and her confidence. Skye hopes a trip to the wide dusty landscapes of Nevada and a TV convention offering the chance to meet the actor she idolises will help her heal. But she bumps into mysterious Sci-fi writer Jack Whitaker first. He’s a handsome contradiction cool and intense, with a wild past. Jack has enough problems already. He isn t looking for a woman with self-esteem issues and a crush on one of his leading actors. Yet he’s drawn to Skye. An instant rapport soon becomes intense attraction, but Jack fears they can t have a future if Skye ever finds out about his past … Will their memories tear them apart, or can they build new ones together?

Ulrika Jonsson – The Importance of Being Myrtle – 1st September 2011

Is a death in the family the chance for a new start? When Myrtle’s husband, Austin, dies on the bus one morning, everything seems to freeze. But in reality Myrtle has been frozen for nearly forty years, locked into an emotionless marriage. So if the barriers have been lifted, why does she still feel trapped? Her daughters are a mystery to her - one prickly and defensive, the other with a closely guarded secret. And thanks to Austin’s cold presence, friends are a rarity. How is a widow supposed to find herself when she’s alone and unconfident of her place in the world? But hope might rest with Gianni, the kind stranger in whose arms Austin died. And when nosy neighbour Dorothy discovers Myrtle’s sad news, she also refuses to let her wallow. But Myrtle will never move on until she’s dealt with her past and the reason for her devotion to Austin. The truth must out, even though the consequences might prove devastating for Myrtle and her daughters …

Sue Watson – Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes – 8th September 2011

Can you really make a living from indulging in your dreams? TV Producer Stella Weston is over worked, over weight and under fire. Having battled uphill for years to balance her career with her family life, she is repaid by being put out to pasture on a religious gardening programme complete with a nervous vicar, his nymphomaniac wife, and 22 stone Britney wannabe gardener, Gerald. In the past, comfort has always been found at the bottom of her mixing bowl but when even the most delicious lemon sponge with zesty frosting cannot save the day, Stella decides enough is enough. However, finding the courage to quit is sometimes the easy part. Can you really turn a passion into a profession? Does more time at home actually give you a happier family life? Are men truly from Mars or another universe altogether? Stella has to roll up her sleeves and find out - when the going gets tough, the tough get baking….

Lucy Anne Holmes – Unlike A Virgin – 15th September 2011

Is Gracie in love for the very first time? You know that bit in The X Factor, when the singer tells everyone about the rocky road they travelled to pursue their dream? Well, that’s Gracie Flowers’ story. Gracie is very focused for a woman of almost twenty-six. Her favourite book is ‘The 5-Year Plan: Making the Most of Your Life’. And her five-year plan is going very well. That is, until she is usurped from her big promotion by a handsome, posh idiot; she is dumped by her boyfriend; and discovers her loopy mother is facing bankruptcy. Hormones awry and ice cream over-ordered, a dream Gracie thought she’d buried ten years ago starts to resurface. A dream that reminds her of the girl she used to be and everything she wanted to become.

Emily Barr – The First Wife – 15th September 2011

What if the man you love isn’t the man you think he is? Lily, a young woman left alone in the world on the death of her grandparents, finds purpose when she befriends Harry Summers, a grieving widower, whose wife Sarah recently took her own life in Barcelona. The pair fall in love and Lily finally finds the security she has never had. But Lily’s life takes a darker turn when she realises there may be more to Sarah’s death than meets the eye. Anxious to find the truth before she marries her beloved Harry, Lily sets off to Barcelona in search of answers. What she discovers is more shocking than she could ever have imagined…

Georgie Carter – The Perfect Christmas – 15th September 2011

All I want for Christmas is you! If you’re a wedding planner it’s best not to have affairs with married men. This is one cardinal rule that Robyn always abides by. But then she meets Jonathan… After a delicious dalliance in the dance studio, Robyn and Jonathan fall truly, madly, deeply in love. Jonathan justifies his actions because his wife is a workaholic, while Robyn finds the glamour – free from any mundane concerns – thrilling. But then the pressure mounts up: the guilt; the lies; the strain of it all. With the festive season approaching, can Robyn make this the best holiday ever or will it be the nightmare before Christmas? This is the perfect winter read for fans of Milly Johnson and Kate Harrison.

Juliet Archer – Persuade Me – 15th September 2011

The second in Juliet Archer’s Darcy & Friends series. When do you let your heart rule your head? As far as men are concerned, Anna Elliot is stuck in the past. No one can compare to Rick Wentworth, the man she was persuaded to give up ten years ago.

Meanwhile, Rick’s moved on - and up. He’s got a successful career and a carefully controlled love life where his heart doesn’t get a look in. The words ‘forgive and forget’ aren’t in Rick’s vocabulary. The word ‘regret’ is definitely in Anna’s.

When they meet again, can she persuade him that their lost love is worth a second chance?

Rachel Hore – The Gathering Storm – 15th September 2011

Photographer Lucy Cardwell has recently lost her troubled father, Tom. While sifting through his papers, she finds he’d been researching an uncle she never knew he’d had. Intrigued, she visits her father’s childhood home, the once beautiful Carlyon Manor. She meets an old woman named Beatrice who has an extraordinary story to tell …Growing up in the 1930s, Beatrice plays with the children of Carlyon Manor - especially pretty, blonde Angelina Wincanton, Lucy’s grandmother. Then, one summer at the age of fifteen, she falls in love with a young visitor to the town: Rafe Ashton, whom she rescues from a storm-tossed sea. But the dark clouds of war are gathering, and Beatrice, Rafe, and the Wincantons will all be swept up in the cataclysm of events that follow. Beatrice’s story is a powerful tale of courage and betrayal, spanning from Cornwall to London, and Occupied France, in which friendship and love are tested, and the ramifications reach down the generations. And, as Lucy listens to the tales of the past, she learns a secret that will change everything she has ever known…

Isabel Wolff – The Very Picture of You – 15th September 2011

A forbidden love, a life-long secret, and one chance to make the right decision. Ella has always been an artist, jotting down pictures from a young age, and now in her thirties she has made it her profession. Commissioned to capture memories, fading beauty and family moments, her sitters often reveal more about themselves than merely their outward appearance. When Ella’s younger sister Chloe asks her to paint a portrait of her new fiancé Nate, Ella is reluctant. He is a brash American who Ella thinks has proposed far too fast, so the thought of spending many hours alone with him fills her with dread. But before long Ella realises there is more to Nate than meets the eye. Beautifully inter-weaving the stories of Ella’s sitters – from the old lady with a wartime secret, to the handsome politician who has a confession to make – with Ella’s own hunt for her real father and slow realization that she is falling in love with the wrong man, Isabel Wolff delivers a mesmerizing story that delivers a powerful emotional punch. A truly unforgettable portrait of the many aspects of love.

Polly Courtney – It’s A Man’s World – 15th September 2011

This is women’s fiction with bite! Join Alexa as she battles her way through the chauvinistic lads mag’s industry and makes real progress - it might be a man’s world, but it takes a woman to run it. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em… Alexa Harris loves a challenge. So when she’s asked to head up lads’ mag, Banter, she doesn’t need much persuasion. But life on the all-male editorial team proves harder than Alexa had imagined – and not just because of her ambitious targets. As Alexa battles with a testosterone-fuelled office, she decides to play the boys at their own game. As success hits, she’s forced to look at who she has become. Has she forfeited her principles in return for praise from the lads? And what price will there be to pay? An addictive page turner with a hard-hitting meaning.

Nancy the Cat – Sex and the Kitty – 22nd September 2011

‘I knew if anyone could help me get to where I wanted to be, it was Mr Kit-e-Licious, the cat of my dreams.’ Even as a kitten, Nancy knew she was different. Unlike her peers who were content to hunt mice and sunbathe all day, Nancy was born with a thirst for adventure. She tastes local fame after hitching rides in strangers’ cars, and soon Nancy starts a blog, becomes a Facebook sensation, and dips her paws in the world of show business. She dreams of meeting Mr. Kit-e-Licious, the country’s number-one cat star - they could be the Brad and Angelina of the cat world. When she is signed by a celebrity agent it seems like her dream is about to come true. But will Nancy find the glamour-puss life is all that she thought it would be?

Milly Johnson – An Autumn Crush – 29th September 2011

After a bruising divorce, headstrong Juliet Miller invests in a flat and advertises for a flatmate, little believing that in her mid-thirties she’ll find anyone suitable. But along comes self-employed copywriter Floz, raw from her own relationship split, and the two woman hit it off. When Juliet’s twin brother Guy meets Floz, he is overcome with a massive crush. But being a shy, gentle giant, he communicates so clumsily with her as to give her the opposite impression. Guy’s best friend Steve has always had a secret, unrequited crush on Juliet. After a night of too much wine, Steve and Juliet end up in bed, after moaning about the lack of sex in their lives. Convinced that Juliet doesn’t feel the same way, Steve agrees to a ‘just-sex’ relationship, until they can both hook their dream partners. Just when Guy has finally plucked up the courage to tell Floz how he feels, he finds she has rekindled an old romance. Floz has never had much love in her life and is obviously thirsty for affection. She loves the whole Miller family, from Juliet and Guy’s warm, loving parents, to their ancient one-eyed black cat. But can Guy turn Floz’s affection for his family into something more - into love for him? Then Juliet makes a series of discoveries which will turn the lives of all four friends upside-down and turns that Autumn into a season where love can be harvested.

Catherine Ryan Hyde – Don’t Let Me Go – 29th September 2011

Sometimes a child knows better… GRACE Ten-year-old Grace knows that her mum loves her, but her mum loves drugs too. And there’s only so long Grace can fend off the ‘woman from the county’ who is threatening to put her into care. Her only hope is… BILLY Grown-man Billy Shine hasn’t been out of his apartment for years. People scare him, and the outside world scares him even more. Day in, day out, he lives a perfectly orchestrated silent life within his four walls. Until now. . . THE PLAN Grace bursts into Billy’s life with a loud voice and a brave plan to get her mum clean. And it won’t be easy, because they will have to confiscate the one thing her mum holds most dear . . . they will have to kidnap Grace.

Jane Fallon – The Ugly Sister – 29th September 2011

When it comes to genes life’s a lottery . . . As Abi would the first to know. She has spent her life in the shadow of her stunningly beautiful, glamorous older sister Cleo. Headhunted as model when she was sixteen, Cleo has been all but lost to Abi for the last twenty years, with only a fleeting visit or brief email to connect them. So when Abi is invited to spend the summer in Cleo’s large London home with her sister’s perfect family, she can’t bring herself to say no. Despite serious misgivings. Maybe Cleo is finally as keen as Abi to regain the closeness they shared in their youth? But Abi is in for a shock. Soon she is left caring for her two young, bored and very spoilt nieces and handsome, unhappy brother-in-law - while Cleo plainly has other things on her mind. As Abi moves into her sister’s life, a cuckoo in the nest, she wrestles with uncomfortable feelings. Could having beauty, wealth and fame lead to more unhappiness than not having them? Who in the family really is the ugly sister?

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