Showing results by narrator "Susan Duerden" in All Categories

The first book in Eloisa James's dazzling new series set in the Georgian period glows with her trademark wit and charm. Things are about to get Wilde.... Lord Alaric Wilde, son of the Duke of Lindow, is the most celebrated man in England, revered for his dangerous adventures and rakish good looks. Arriving home from years abroad, he has no idea of his own celebrity until his boat is met by mobs of screaming ladies. Alaric escapes to his father's castle, but just as he grasps that he's not only famous but notorious, he encounters the very private, very witty Miss Willa Ffynche.

On some level deep inside, Laura Bateman knows something is wrong. That her relationship with her son is not what it should be. That it is based on lies. But bad things have happened to Laura. Things that change a person. Forever.

Fashion is many things. It is self-expression, big business, trend-setting, a lifestyle choice. But however you see fashion, it relies on one simple characteristic: the incredible speed with which clothes make their journey from the drawing board to the High Street hanger. Fashion is fast. Fast fashion influences the types of garments we have in our wardrobes.

Christmas is approaching on the island of Jersey, but Libby is feeling far from festive. Her police work and duties as vicar's wife weigh heavily on her, she's anxious about her troubled children, and now her best friend, Stella, has suddenly turned against her, citing a mysterious family grudge. Libby is devastated by Stella's unexpected coldness. But then her father shows her a diary written by her great-aunt Queenie, which sheds light on a long-hidden secret - one rooted in love, loyalty and betrayal.

Eloisa James's dazzling new Georgian-set series continues with the Wildest hero them of all.... The handsome, rakish heir to a dukedom, Lord Roland Northbridge Wilde - known to his friends as North - left England two years ago, after being jilted by Miss Diana Belgrave. He returns from war to find that he's notorious: polite society has ruled him 'too wild to wed'. Diana never meant to tarnish North's reputation, or his heart, but in her rush to save a helpless child, there was no time to consider the consequences of working as a governess in Lindow Castle.

The Jacobs family has lived at Orley Court for generations. But when Vanessa Jacobs is widowed and left to manage the property, she finds costs spiralling out of control. In order to stay in their beloved home, she and her daughters will have to sell part of it off - a decision that drives a wedge between Vanessa and her mother-in-law. The new owners of the north wing are Laurence Sturridge and his father, Marcus. Both of them long for an escape: Laurence from the monotony of his City career; Marcus from the grief of losing his wife.

Logan Ambrose has endured a tortured existence. After learning how to fend for himself at a young age, he eventually amassed power and wealth. His fortune came at an extreme cost, as rising from poverty often does. Branded, he wears his sins on his marred flesh. Each scar represents a past he doesn't wish to remember, the ruthless man he holds at bay, the tortured soul who would do anything to survive.

Lady Sarah Hampton would rather sew up a wound than tend to her own heart. Or matrimonial prospects. When the small hospital she's been volunteering at faces financial peril, she seeks to save them the best way she knows how—one dare, one wager, and one foolish rake at a time. No matter the risk to herself. If her friend's irritatingly handsome and brutish brother doesn't stand in her way.

During their annual Christmas pilgrimage to Scotland to visit their aged uncle in his decrepit castle, the Comte de Rocheforte and his cousin, the Earl of Oakley, are presented with unique gifts: their uncle has raided an English lord's Christmas party and kidnapped four lovely would-be brides for his heirs to choose from...as well as one very angry duke, Lord Bretton. As snow isolates the castle, and as hours grow into days, the most honourable intentions give away to temptations as surprising as they are irresistible.

When Captain Theodore Dunworthy goes on a dangerous assignment for the Crown, the last person he expects to meet is the women he loved and lost. But seeing her again reminds him of how desperately he loved her, and still does. Olivia Matthews has a secret Theo can never discover, the son he doesn't know she had. Even though her heart longs for him, she knows she can't trust that he won't leave her again. With this second chance at happiness, will choosing love mean betraying their country?

Lady Betsy Wilde's first season was triumphant by any measure, and a duke has proposed - but before marriage, she longs for one last adventure. No gentleman would agree to her scandalous plan - but Lord Jeremy Roden is no gentleman. He offers a wager. If she wins a billiards game, he'll provide the breeches. If he wins...she is his, for one wild night. But what happens after Jeremy realises that one night will never be enough? He'll have to convince Betsy to say no to the duke.

After the woman he loves rejects his marriage proposal, Edmund Crenshaw, Viscount Escher, has sworn off women. If he can't marry Mrs. Katherine Brighton, he'll marry no one. When he discovers a daring debutante in his coach, intent on seduction, he'll do anything to protect his bachelorhood. He must remain uncompromised or doom himself and the lady to a loveless marriage. Because his heart always has, and always will, belong to only one woman—his Kat.

When Major Jack Washburn receives a letter telling him that the wife he thought was dead is still alive, he moves heaven and earth to find her. But the woman he finds has drastically changed from the woman he loved and lost. Annalise Washburn has gone through hell since she was kidnapped and left for dead. Now she must choose between a whole new life and the life of addiction she's not sure she can give up. If she can only convince herself that she's worth being loved by the man who possesses her heart.

Griffin Lockhart holds the key to his family's fate. Since his brother Liam failed to reclaim the priceless heirloom that could save their ancestral Scottish estate, it's now up to Grif to find it—among the lords and ladies of fashionable London society. Disguised as a Scottish earl, Grif attends the most glittering balls, hunting for the woman who is rumored to possess his family's treasure. Along the way he catches the eye of Anna Addison, a highborn young woman whose sharp tongue and even sharper wits have limited her marital prospects but enable her to detect Grif's deception.

Johanna is a servant girl to Dame Margery Kempe, a renowned medieval holy woman. Dame Margery feels the suffering the Virgin Mary felt for her son but cares little for the misery she sees every day. When she announces that Johanna will accompany her on a pilgrimage to Rome, the suffering truly begins. After walking all day, Johanna must fetch water, wash clothes, and cook for the entire party of pilgrims. Then arguing breaks out between Dame Margery and the other travelers, and Johanna is caught in the middle. As the fighting escalates, Dame Margery turns her back on the whole group.

This novel take on the history of wine reveals that, whether by adding toxic sweeteners or passing off counterfeit bottles, wine fraud is abundant—and as old as wine itself. Vintage Crime will intrigue even the most sated of wine drinkers with its juicy tales of deception, raising interesting questions along the way: what counts as wine, why do we drink it, and what makes a wine truly authentic?

When spoiled Lady Alicia Alston, privileged daughter of a duke, is accidentally tossed into a ravine after a wild gallop with Ian MacClain, Earl of Cairnyllan, she expects a proposal as soon as is convenient. The stubborn Scot has other ideas. It takes a headlong journey to prevent an elopement to give Alicia and Ian a chance to clear up misunderstandings and figure out what they find so damnably passion-inducing about one another....

Big business is booming and state institutions are thriving thanks to advances in genetic engineering, which have produced a compliant population free from addictions. Violent crime is now a rarity. Mayhew McCline, a major corporation that analyzes global trends, has hired a genius: Jayna. A brilliant mathematical modeler, she has the ability to produce accurate predictions that are both good for the world and good for the bottom line. Her latest coup: finding a link between northeasterly winds and violent crime.

July 1964. Chartwell House, Kent: Winston Churchill wakes at dawn. There’s a dark, mute “presence” in the room that focuses on him with rapt concentration. It’s Mr. Chartwell. Soon after, in London, Esther Hammerhans, a librarian at the House of Commons, goes to answer the door to her new lodger.

In a near-future London, Millie Dack places her hand on her belly to feel her baby kick, resolute in her decision to be a single parent. Across town, her closest friend - a hungover Toni Munroe - steps into the shower and places her hand on a medic console. The diagnosis is devastating. In this stunning, bittersweet family saga, Millie and Toni experience the aftershocks of human progress as their children and grandchildren embrace new ways of making babies.