Freya North

Everybody’s talking - but what’s really going on? Rumour has it that Stella Hutton landed her new job in a small
Hertfordshire town thanks to family connections. She’s guarded about her past and strictly private about her new life. Xander
Fletcher always has rumours circulating about him as the area’s eligible bachelor, but he shrugs them off and pours his heart into
his running. Then a rumour starts that crumbling stately home Longbridge Hall is up for sale. Home to eccentric Lady Lydia Fortescue,
it has dominated local life for centuries – and still provides jobs and homes.

Stella is summoned to sell the estate. Xander can think of nothing worse. He grew up there and his secrets and memories are not for sale. He’ll do anything to stand in Stella’s way – anything but fall in love…

Vita’s gift shop would do better if she ran it as a business, not as somewhere to daydream. But she's not one to tell herself
off--she leaves that to Tim, her ex, who still co-owns the shop. He cheated on Vita and broke her heart. Could she ever give him
another chance?

Oliver, an experienced and successful tree surgeon, runs his home as calmly as his business. However, his heart is still with the mother of his child, even though it’s been three years now. He won’t take a chance on love again.

Then a pear tree brings Oliver to Vita, and as spring turns into summer they are given choices and chances. Will they grab them or walk away?

They drive each other crazy. And they both have something to hide. But we all have our secrets. It's just some are bigger than others! Joe has a beautiful house, a great job, no commitments -- and he likes it like that. All he needs is a quiet house-sitter for his rambling old place by the sea. When Tess turns up on his doorstep, he's not sure she's right for the job. Where has she come from in such a hurry? Her past is a blank and she's something of an enigma. But there's something about her -- even though sparks fly every time they meet. And it looks as though she's here to stay!

What keeps you up all night?

They were high-school sweethearts who hadn't seen each other for seventeen years. And suddenly they're in front of each other - in a tiny sweet shop in the middle of nowhere. Neither can quite believe it. These days, Petra works in London as a jeweller while Arlo has left his rock-and-roll lifestyle for the wilds of North Yorkshire. Out of the blue, their paths have just crossed. But for first love to have a second chance both must put their pasts to bed. However, there are skeletons in Arlo's closet which keep him up at night. And just what is it that causes Petra to sleepwalk?

Should happy families be such hard work? When their uncle Django's 75th birthday is interrupted by a mysterious visitor with a shocking revelation, sisters Fen, Pip and Cat find that the man who was like a father to them is now a stranger.

Their mother ran off with a cowboy from Denver when they were young leaving the three sisters to be raised by their devoted, eccentric uncle Django. No matter what problems they've encountered - relationships, work, starting families, bringing up babies and step-kids - they've always had each other to depend on.Until now. Family matters…doesn't it?

Is love ever enough?

Thea - sensible and cautious - has always believed in old-fashioned romance. Her best friend Alice is more of a 'fun first, think later' kind of girl. But just recently they've both been behaving out of character. When Thea Luckmore falls head over heels for a man she meets on Primrose Hill and Alice Heggarty marries her best friend Mark, both women are blissfully happy - for a while. But it's not long before Alice admits to herself she likes the thrill of the chase more than the easy pace of married life. And then Thea makes a shocking discovery - one which forces her to rewrite her rules for everlasting love …

Pip McCabe, 30, likes to say she doesn't need a man and she doesn't need money. However, her friends and sisters think she would probably benefit from a little more of each. But stripy tights, starched pigtails, a bright red nose and an ability to juggle whilst doing the splits only just about pay the bills and seldom lead to romance or romps. Pip, though, takes her clowning very seriously, whether at spoilt kids' parties or on the wards of children's hospitals. She simply doesn't have time for a man, she claims. And her bank balance hovers just above the red, so that's OK. At 34, Zac Holmes has a successful, high-powered career, a fabulous flat and an adored 6-year-old son from a previous relationship. Popular, charming and affluent, Zac feels that no-strings flings suit his lifestyle as much as the pleasing bonuses he earns at work. When Zac and Pip first meet, it is far from love or lust at first sight. What can a clown and an accountant possibly have in common? Against a lively backdrop of parties and parks, hospitals and hotels, they attempt to find out ...

Fen McCabe, just 28, has only ever been in love with one man. To her sisters' exasperation, he's a 19th-century sculptor called Julius Fetherstone. And as Fen starts a new job, dreaming of her hero and his missing masterpiece, her flatmates and family harbour a secret hope that she might just meet a living, breathing man instead. Matt Holden, turning 30, edits Art Matters magazine. Newly single, and determined to avoid commitment, he nevertheless finds himself rather attracted to Fen. James Caulfield, not quite 50, is forever fending off the advances of the women he gardens for in Derbyshire and forever fending off his bank manager. To improve his finances, he must sell his two small Fetherstones. And who better to advise than Fen McCabe? Is it possible to fall in love with two very different men at the same time?

Catriona McCabe, 28, only ever known at Cat, is trying to improve her career as a sports journalist and get over a failed relationship. What better way to do both than to spend the summer following the Tour de France? Plunged into a male press corps, Cat has to fight for space and for stories. From Provence to Paris, up the Pyranees and over the Alps, Cat and her entourage of podium girls, anxious wives, autocratic team directors and seasoned hacks pursue the boys on bikes. With sex, drugs, large bulges and larger egos, the soap opera that is the Tour de France unfolds, with Cat's life frequently mirroring the peaks and perils of the race. Take a ride on the wild side... Catriona McCabe, 28, only ever known as Cat, is trying to improve her career as a sports journalist and move on from a failed relationship. What better way to do both than follow the Tour de France one Summer? From Provence to Paris, up the Pyrenees and over the Alps, Cat and an entourage of podium girls, anxious wives, autocratic team directors and seasoned hacks pursue the ruthless riders. With sex, drugs, lashings of lycra, glistening thighs,large bulges and larger egos, the soap opera that is the Tour de France unfolds with Cat's life frequently mirroring the peaks, perils and pace of the race.

When Polly heads off to Vermont leaving her flat in Belsize Park, her fat cat Buster and her yummy boyfriend Max in the hands of Jen Carter, her long-legged teacher's exchange partner for the year, you just know that things are going to go wrong.

But clever old North manages to keep the suspense building alongside the lust, as Polly's life and beliefs are unravelled before your very eyes, and by using the very smart and sneaky technique of turning the reader into the narrator, the questions that are on the tip of everyone's tongue (as opposed to Chip Jonson, the school athletic trainer, who spends quite a lot of time on the tip of Polly's tongue) are fully dealt with.

Chloe Cadwaller is in a quandary. Her beloved godmother has just died and left Chloe a letter instructing her to give up her job (lousy) and her boyfriend (never good enough for you) to travel the four countries of the United Kingdom during the four seasons of the year. Heavens. How can Chloe deny a godmother's last wish? Off she goes, with a tremor of doubt and a letter marked Wales, with her friends Mr and Mrs Andrews and an uncertain future, to a farm deep in the Brecons where she finds a selection of animals in deteriorating states of health and the best-looking man she's ever laid eyes on.

As subsequent seasons unfold, so too does Jocelyn's mission to teach her goddaughter to stand on her own two feet, celebrate the beauty of Britain and discover love, lust, life (and a man for each season).

Meet Sally. A primary school teacher from Highgate, Sally's decided to re-invent herself as a femme fatale and all-around sex-goddess. Goodbye Laura Ashley; au revoir M & S undies; hello Erica Jong. Meet Richard. Thirty-five-year-old architect from Notting Hill, confirmed bachelor and the unknowing target of Sally's masterplan. She's determined to be the one great erotic heroine of his life. He's going to be her dream affair – no strings, no scone-baking, just sex and sensuality. Until, that is, a New Year masked ball unmasks more than was intended... From London Zoo to the Pompidou, from tiramasu to I love you, join Sally and Richard on their roller-coaster ride of self-discovery, self-denial, seduction and spots (proving Sally can't change hers)