Josie Lloyd

Josie Lloyd's fearless novel is a tribute to the power of the human spirit in the face of hardship, based on the author's own experience with cancer and community. In the vein of Mary Ellen Taylor's Honeysuckle Season this "amazing, breathtaking, and inspiring" (Jenny Colgan) novel is full of hope and heart. When Keira first receives her breast cancer diagnosis, she never expects to end up joining a running group with three women she's only just met. Totally blind-sided, all she can think about is how she doesn't want to tell her family or step back from work. Nor does she want to be part of a group of fellow cancer patients. Cancer is not her club. And yet it's running - hot, sweaty, lycra-clad running in the company of brilliant, funny women all going through treatment - that unexpectedly gives Keira the hope she so urgently needs. Because Keira will not be defined by the C-word. And now, with the Cancer Ladies' Running Club cheering her on, she is going to reclaim everything: her family, her identity, and her life. One step at a time. Moving, uplifting and full of hope, this is a beautifully crafted novel about love, family and the power of finding your tribe.

A Novel of Breast Cancer, Best Friends, and Jogging for Your Life

The Bright Side Running Club

Emlyn Rees

Told from both sides of the gender gap in alternating chapters, a tale of modern romance follows a young woman into the London singles scene in search of true love. Reprint.

Come Together

"Come Together was the first romantic comedy told in two voices. Now, in "Come Again, Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees put friendship under the spotlight as four very different characters are thrust together for the wedding of their mutual friends. Friends. You can't live with them - you can't live without them. Or so MATT is discovering. His best friend is getting married, leaving him high and dry. No flat-mate - and no girlfriend. Then he remembers HELEN (H to her friends). H has no life outside her brilliant career - and all her best friend, Amy wants to talk about is her wedding. Which suits STRINGER, because catering the wedding is his first real chance to prove himself. The last thing he needs is to fall for one of the bride's friends, SUSIE, particularly because she's sworn off men while she sorts out her life-- Friendship, commitment, work, lust and loyalty all come under the spotlight as Matt, H, Stringer and Susie relate - in their own voices - events in the run-up to the big day.

Come Again

Fifteen years after childhood sweethearts Fred and Mickey are torn apart, they are reunited--Mickey as a single mother and owner of a small flower shop, and Fred, now a successful businessman on the verge of getting married--and rediscover what true love really is. Original.

The Boy Next Door

'Amazing, heartbreaking and inspiring' Jenny Colgan ∗∗∗ Sometimes we find friendship in the most unexpected of places... When Keira receives her breast cancer diagnosis she doesn't want to have to tell her children or her husband Tom, and she doesn't want to step back from work. She doesn't want to sit in a hospital and stare mortality in the face, nor be part of a group of fellow cancer patients. Cancer is not her club. But, as she is forced to accept everything must change and her health becomes something she can't rely on, Keira finds herself embracing running. Hot, sweaty running in the company of a group of brilliant, funny women each going through treatment. One step at a time Keira is going to reclaim something. Her family, her business, her life. Moving and uplifting, this is a novel about love, family and the power of finding your tribe.

The Cancer Ladies Running Club

Lost Soul's Point is the tourist trail name for the highest part of the wild and windswept cliffs overlooking the south coast seaside resort of Shoresby. It's here that the hopes and fears of 4 very different people converge. This book tells their story, about love, growing up, overcoming tragedy, and learning to love life and live it full.

Love Lives

Alice Beeton never meant to wind up single and childless on the wrong side of fifty. Like her distant relative Mrs Beeton – yes, that Mrs Beeton – she had hoped to have her own spic-and-span household by now. In reality, she lives in an immaculate but dingy basement flat in a rather shabby block in Kensington with Agatha, her fiercely intelligent, if rather over-territorial, corgi-Jack Russell cross.

Now Alice runs the Good Household Management Agency, providing discreet domestic staff to extravagant townhouses and sprawling country piles. So when Camille Messant calls in urgent need of a new housekeeper, Miss Beeton sends out new hire Enya. She’s rather forward but she does come with impeccable references and is fluent en français.

But in the early hours of New Year’s Day, Alice is rudely awakened with the news that Enya has been found dead. As the intriguing, if somewhat scruffy, Detective Rigby struggles to drum up an adequate investigation and the wealthy family and their party guests close rank, Miss Beeton takes it upon herself to solve the crime…

Miss Beeton's Murder Agency #1

Miss Beeton's Murder Agency

In the dead of night, a fully dressed man lay snoring across his bed ... A parody of the famous children's book, The Very Hungover Caterpillar tells the story of a man's attempts to shake off his hangover ...

a parody

The very hungover caterpillar

As the 1980s dawn in the sleepy English village of Rushton, Mickey and Fred are next-door neighbours and best friends, in and out of scrapes from the day they're born. They're convinced that nothing will ever keep them apart. But they're wrong.Fifteen years later, Mickey is beginning a new phase other life, with a small flower shop in London. Meanwhile, Fred's life is also changing: he's set to marry his girlfriend in just a few short weeks. Then he bumps into Mickey for the first time since their worlds fell apart.As they pick up the threads of their friendship, Fred and Mickey relive their glory days growing up in Rushton. But can they ever really overcome the devastating events that once tore them apart?

But the teenager didn't take just one Pringle. He took a selfie of himself pouring a whole tube of them into his mouth, before sending it to his best mate, along with the letters LOL! The bestselling authors of We're Going on a Bar Hunt and The Very Hungover Caterpillar bring you another hilarious parody of a much-loved children's book, this time turning the spotlight not only on modern teens, but firmly on their parents too. When the doorbell rings, just as Sophie and her Dad are sitting down for their tea, they're half-expecting a visit from a tiger, but what slouches in through their doorway is even more curious than that... a teenager. A perfect read for anyone who remembers the original, or has ever been a teenager or is the parent of a teenager today.

The Teenager Who Came to Tea

How do you keep passion alive in a marriage, when temptation comes calling ... It's seven years since Jack and Amy got married. Now approaching their mid-thirties, they are happily settled in London with two small children, Molly and Fin. Jack's still on the make - jack of all trades master of none. He earns just about enough to pay the mortgage on their tiny, cramped flat, whilst hankering after the next big thing that's going to make him rich. Amy is a bit more realistic, even if she does spy on the people in the big houses near the park. Still as ditsy as ever, she mostly has her husband sussed, only occasionally tripping herself up. But essentially everything is perfect. They're still in love ... except maybe, if they're both being honest, the romance has faded a bit and the grass does look a little greener on the other side... Written with warmth, humour and honesty, The Seven Year Itch reveals the naked truth about the pressures of modern life and marriage - in all its many guises.

The Seven Year Itch

El chico del al lado

From the creators of the bestselling parodies We're Going on a Bar Hunt, The Very Hungover Caterpillar and The Teenager Who Came to Tea. Shabby - because there is no word for Hygge in English. We all know Shabby when we see it. It's that welcoming pair of pants drying on the radiator. That half-moldy, but perfectly gin-and-tonic-worthy lemon on display in the fruit bowl. That tin of plum tomatoes in the cupboard with a sell-by date of 1983. It's never dusting higher than your tallest friend's line of sight. But Shabby is more than just an attitude; it's a quintessentially British way of life, tried and tested for generations, and founded on the Four Central Pillars of Shabbism, Messiness, Dilapidation, Clutter and Bodged Works. Being Shabby is about spending less time fussing and clearing up and getting stressed out about stuff that doesn't really matter anyway. And more time hanging out with your family and friends. It's a celebration of a life that is neither tidy nor empty, but rather one that is splendidly cluttered and full. Shabby - because life's just too bloody short to waste time striving for perfection, or caring too much about what other people think about you and yours. Instead of worrying about what could be, it's time to start celebrating what actually is. Praise for The Very Hungover Caterpillar 'Hilarious and painfully accurate, The Very Hungover Caterpillar is liable to be one of those parodies that becomes more famous than the original' Independent Praise for We're Going on a Bar Hunt '. . . a parody that will draw a smile from any parent' Guardian Praise for The Teenager Who Came to Tea 'A hilarious parody of a much-loved children's book and a perfect read for anyone who remembers the original, or has ever been a teenager or is the parent / grandparent of a teenager today' gransnet.com

The Jolly Good British Guide to Stress-free Living

Shabby

On Christmas Eve, the remote village where the Thorpe family have gathered together gets cut off by severe winter storms. In a communication black hole where mobile phones don't work, there's no way out till the thaw sets in. Originally published: London: William Heinemann, 2005.

The Three Day Rule

‘Heart-warming and life-affirming, full of humour and compassion’ ADELE PARKS, PLATINUM ‘A beautifully warm-hearted tale of friendship and hope’ MY WEEKLY ‘I loved this incredibly touching book...[it’s] a life-belt that will help any reader through a tough patch’ VERONICA HENRY ***

Lifesaving for Beginners

Everyone has socks. In fact, most people love socks. That said, it's not a subject we discuss openly other than with our friends; we just take it for granted that everyone has lots of socks and has their own socksual preferences. Most of us would admit to having enjoyed a wide variety of socks. We have our favourite socks, of course, but also socks for all sorts of occasions: novelty socks, casual socks, outdoor socks, socks that are a bit racy, socks we admit to and socks that are just downright dirty. Some people are fastidious when it comes to socks, never entertaining the thought of odd socks, while others are definitely on the fifty shades of socks spectrum. Whatever kind of socks you're in to, we hope you find that this guide stimulates your imagination and reassures you that it's OK to love all socks.

A Parody

The Joy of Socks: A Gourmet Guide to Sockmating

From the creators of the bestselling parodies We're Going on a Bar Hunt, The Very Hungover Caterpillar and The Teenager Who Came to Tea. 'Tis the season to be jolly. But as any modern family knows, 'tis also the season to be micro-managed by your in-laws, guzzle too many sherries, fight over the TV remote, and panic about your internet shopping not arriving on time. But if you think that's bad, just wait until you meet the Jones family. Instead of this being their best Christmas ever, this might just be their last - especially if they don't all pull together to help their surprise guest in his hour of need. An uproariously funny update of the traditional Christmas Eve classic - that all the family can enjoy. Praise for The Very Hungover Caterpillar 'Hilarious and painfully accurate, The Very Hungover Caterpillar is liable to be one of those parodies that becomes more famous than the original' Independent Praise for We're Going on a Bar Hunt '. . . a parody that will draw a smile from any parent' Guardian Praise for The Teenager Who Came to Tea 'A hilarious parody of a much-loved children's book and a perfect read for anyone who remembers the original, or has ever been a teenager or is the parent / grandparent of a teenager today' gransnet.com

Twas the Fight Before Christmas

No phone. No electricity. Snowed in with your family. Welcome to one hell of a Christmas. When the Thorne family gather for the annual Christmas festivities - the arguments, jealousies and long-held enmities that make every family Christmas so special - they think they've only got to endure each other for three days, and then they can return to normality. But then the snows come, along with the ninety-mile-an-hour winds and the plunging temperatures, and the Thornes get cut of with only each other for support, or to blame. It promises to be a Christmas like no other ... Get to know the family you're never going to forget.

Two men. Two women. And every emotion you've ever felt... In 1871 Appleforth House was burned to the ground. Now, over a hundred years later, the house is being rebuilt - and so the lives of four very different people converge. Ned, a successful architect, is obsessed with restoring the house to its former glory. Focussed and determined - and bruised by a past relationship - he's not looking for distractions. But then Ellen, a documentary-maker, arrives to make a film about one of the local landmarks, leaving her boyfriend and some tough decisions temporarily behind her. But as pieces of the past start to fall into place, the restoration also brings together Jimmy and Verity, two local teenagers: one falling in love for the first time, the other an incurable romantic, determined to find her fairy-tale hero. And as their hopes and fears come together they all learn some surprising lessons about finding love in the most unlikely places ...

Friends. You can't live with them - and you can't live without them. Or so Matt is discovering. His best mate is getting married, leaving him high and dry. No flat-mate - and no girlfriend. Then he remembers Helen (H to her friends). H has no life outside her brilliant career - and all her best friend Amy wants to talk about his her wedding. Which suits Stringer, because catering the wedding is his first real chance to prove himself. The last thing he needs is to fall for one of the bride's friends, Susie, particularly because she's sworn off men while she sorts out her life ... Friendship, commitment, work, lust and loyalty all come under the spotlight as Matt, H, Stringer and Susie hurtle towards the big day.

Ilsa Gonzalez

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