Come and meet Issy Randall, proud owner of The Cupcake Café.Issy Randall can bake. No, more than that - Issy can create stunning, mouth-wateringly divine cakes. After a childhood spent in her beloved Grampa Joe's bakery, she has undoubtedly inherited his talent.When she's made redundant from her safe but dull City job, Issy decides to seize the moment. Armed with recipes from Grampa, and with her best friends and local bank manager fighting her corner, The Cupcake Café opens its doors. But Issy has absolutely no idea what she's let herself in for. It will take all her courage - and confectionery - to avert disaster . . .
How does an It Girl survive when she loses everything?Sophie Chesterton is a girl about town - she knows all the right people, goes to all the right parties, and wears all the right clothes. But deep down she suspects that her superficial friends and lifestyle don't amount to very much. Her father is desperate for her to make her own way in the world, and when after one shocking evening her life is turned upside down, she suddenly has no choice.Scraping a living as a 'glamour' photographer's assistant, living in a hovel on the Old Kent Road with four smelly boys, eating baked beans from the can, Sophie is desperate to get her life back. But does a girl really need diamonds to be happy?
Now, you would obviously never, ever look up your exes on Facebook. Nooo. And even if you did, you most certainly wouldn't run off trying to track them down, risking your job, family and happiness in the process. Posy Fairweather, on the other hand . . . Posy is delighted when Matt proposes - on top of a mountain, in a gale, in full-on romantic mode. But a few days later disaster strikes: he backs out of the engagement. Crushed and humiliated, Posy starts thinking. Why has her love life always ended in total disaster? Determined to discover how she got to this point, Posy resolves to get online and track down her exes. Can she learn from past mistakes? And what if she has let Mr Right slip through her fingers on the way?*Features the wonderful winning short story from the Jenny Colgan/National Express short story competition: One Hundred Miles by Eilidh Mackay*
Contains mouth-watering recipes!Issy Randall, proud owner of the Cupcake Cafe, is in love and couldn't be happier. Her new business is thriving and she is surrounded by close friends, even if her cupcake colleagues Pearl and Caroline aren't quite as upbeat about the upcoming season of snow and merriment. But when her boyfriend Austin is scouted for a possible move to New York, Issy is forced to face up to the prospect of a long-distance romance. And when the Christmas rush at the cafe - with its increased demand for her delectable creations - begins to take its toll, Issy has to decide what she holds most dear.This December, Issy will have to rely on all her reserves of courage, good nature and cinnamon, to make sure everyone has a merry Christmas, one way or another . . .
Were you a sherbet lemon or chocolate lime fan? Penny chews or hard boiled sweeties (you do get more for your money that way)? The jangle of your pocket money . . . the rustle of the pink and green striped paper bag . . . Rosie Hopkins thinks leaving her busy London life, and her boyfriend Gerard, to sort out her elderly Aunt Lilian's sweetshop in a small country village is going to be dull. Boy, is she wrong. Lilian Hopkins has spent her life running Lipton's sweetshop, through wartime and family feuds. As she struggles with the idea that it might finally be time to settle up, she also wrestles with the secret history hidden behind the jars of beautifully coloured sweets.Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop of Dreams - a novel - with recipes.*Winner of the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year Award 2013*
Evie is desperate for a holiday - a good one. Not only because she's been working all hours as a receptionist for two high-powered plastic surgeons, but also because every holiday she's ever been on has involved sunburn, arguments and projectile vomiting - sometimes all three at once. Why can't she have a normal holiday like everyone else: peaceful beaches, glorious sunshine and (fingers crossed) some much-needed sex?So when Evie's employers invite her to attend a conference with them in the beautiful South of France, she can't believe her luck. At last, the chance to hob nob with the rich and glamorous, to party under the stars, to live life as she'd always dreamt of it. It's the holiday of a lifetime - but things don't happen in quite the way Evie imagines . . .
The streets of London are the perfect place to discover your dreams . . .They may be twin sisters, but Lizzie and Penny Berry are complete opposites - Penny is blonde, thin and outrageous; Lizzie is quiet, thoughtful and, well, definitely not thin. But they both share a desperate desire to DO something with their lives. When, out of the blue, they learn they have a grandmother living in Chelsea, who asks them to flat-sit her King's Road pad while she is in hospital, the girls' ambitions finally seem to be falling into place. But, as they soon discover, it's not easy to become an It Girl, and west end boys aren't at all like Hugh Grant . . .
Mouth-watering recipes inside!
As dawn breaks over the Pont Neuf, and the cobbled alleyways of Paris come to life, Anna Trent is already awake and at work; mixing and stirring the finest, smoothest, richest chocolate; made entirely by hand, it is sold to the grandes dames of Paris.It's a huge shift from the chocolate factory she worked in at home in the north of England. But when an accident changed everything, Anna was thrown back in touch with her French teacher, Claire, who offered her the chance of a lifetime - to work in Paris with her former sweetheart, Thierry, a master chocolatier.With old wounds about to be uncovered and healed, Anna is set to discover more about real chocolate - and herself - than she ever dreamed.
Includes mouth-watering recipes!Curl up with Rosie, her friends and her family as they prepare for a very special Christmas . . .Rosie Hopkins is looking forward to Christmas in the little Derbyshire village of Lipton, buried under a thick blanket of snow. Her sweetshop is festooned with striped candy canes, large tempting piles of Turkish Delight, crinkling selection boxes and happy, sticky children. She's going to be spending it with her boyfriend, Stephen, and her family, flying in from Australia. She can't wait.But when a tragedy strikes at the heart of their little community, all of Rosie's plans for the future seem to be blown apart. Can she build a life in Lipton? And is what's best for the sweetshop also what's best for Rosie? Treat yourself and your sweet-toothed friends to Jenny Colgan's heart-warming new novel. The irresistibly delicious recipes are guaranteed to get you into the festive spirit and will warm up your Christmas celebrations.
This digital sampler will give readers a taste of two Jenny Colgan novels in one exclusive package. Featuring the first chapter from MEET ME AT THE CUPCAKE CAFE (April 2011), it also contains an exclusive extract from WELCOME TO ROSIE HOPKINS' SWEETSHOP OF DREAMS, the forthcoming novel from Jenny Colgan, which Sphere will publish in April 2012. Add to that some personal notes from Jenny herself and a few mouth-watering recipes, and you have the perfect e-sampler for anyone who likes to indulge their sweet tooth.
Polly Waterford is recovering from a toxic relationship. Unable to afford their flat, she has to move miles away from everyone, to a sleepy little seaside resort in Cornwall, where she lives alone above an abandoned shop.And so Polly takes out her frustrations on her favourite hobby: making bread. But what was previously a weekend diversion suddenly becomes far more important as she pours her emotions into kneading and pounding the dough, and each loaf becomes better and better. With nuts and seeds, olives and chorizo, with local honey (courtesy of local bee keeper, Huckle), and with reserves of determination and creativity Polly never knew she had, she bakes and bakes and bakes . . . And people start to hear about it. Sometimes, bread really is life . . . And Polly is about to reclaim hers.
Includes mouth-watering recipesRosie Hopkins, newly engaged, is looking forward to an exciting year in the little sweetshop she owns and runs. But when fate strikes Rosie and her boyfriend, Stephen, a terrible blow, threatening everything they hold dear, it's going to take all their strength and the support of their families and their Lipton friends to hold them together. After all, don't they say it takes a village to raise a child?
Voted Best Feel Good Read by Women & Home Readers!Summer has arrived in the Cornish town of Mount Polbearne and Polly Waterford couldn't be happier. Because Polly is in love: she's in love with the beautiful seaside town she calls home, she's in love with running the bakery on Beach Street, and she's in love with her boyfriend, Huckle. And yet there's something unsettling about the gentle summer breeze that's floating through town. Selina, recently widowed, hopes that moving to Mount Polbearne will ease her grief, but Polly has a secret that could destroy her friend's fragile recovery. Responsibilities that Huckle thought he'd left behind are back and Polly finds it hard to cope with his increasingly long periods of absence. Polly sifts flour, kneads dough and bakes bread, but nothing can calm the storm she knows is coming: is Polly about to lose everything she loves?
A gorgeous, warm and joyful story from bestselling author Jenny Colgan, author of LITTLE BEACH STREET BAKERY, WELCOME TO ROSIE HOPKINS' SWEETSHOP OF DREAMS and MEET ME AT THE CUPCAKE CAFENina is a librarian who spends her days happily matchmaking books and people - she always knows what someone should read next. But when her beloved library closes and she's suddenly out of a job, Nina has no idea what to do next. Then an advert catches her eye: she could be the owner of a tiny little bookshop bus, driving around the Scottish highlands.Using up all her courage, and her savings, Nina makes a new start in the beautiful Scottish highlands. But real life is a bit trickier than the stories she loves - especially when she keeps having to be rescued by the grumpy-but-gorgeous farmer next door...
***Jenny Colgan's next bestseller, The Endless Beach, is available for pre-order now***Welcome back to Mount Polbearne! The new book from Top Ten bestseller Jenny Colgan is full of festive joy, warmth and the best hot chocolate you can imagine...It's Christmas in the Cornish coastal village of Mount Polbearne - a time for family, friends and feasting. Polly Waterford loves running the Little Beach Street Bakery. She's at her happiest when she's creating delicious treats and the festive season always inspires her to bake and knead something extra special for the village residents. In fact, the only thing she loves more than her bakery is curling up with her gorgeous boyfriend, Huckle. She's determined that this Christmas is going to be their best one yet, but life doesn't always work out as planned...When Polly's best friend Kerensa turns up with a secret that threatens the life Polly and Huckle have built together, the future begins to look uncertain. And then a face from Polly's past reappears and things become even more complicated. Polly can usually find solace in baking but she has a feeling that's not going to be enough this time. Can she get things back on track so that everyone has a merry Christmas?
***WINNER OF THE RNA ROMANTIC COMEDY NOVEL AWARD 2018*** 'A heartwarming, charming and atmospheric story that made me long to escape to Mure. Total joy' - Sophie KinsellaA deliciously warm and funny slice of life from Jenny Colgan, Sunday Times top ten bestselling author of Summer at the Little Beach Street Bakery and The Little Shop of Happy-Ever-After.
Flora is definitely, absolutely sure that escaping from the quiet Scottish island where she grew up to the noise and hustle of the big city was the right choice. What was there for her on Mure? It's a place where everyone has known her all her life, and no one will let her forget the past. In the city, she can be anonymous, ambitious and indulge herself in her hopeless crush on her gorgeous boss, Joel. When a new client demands Flora's presence back on Mure, she's suddenly swept back into life with her brothers (all strapping, loud and seemingly incapable of basic housework) and her father. As Flora indulges her new-found love of cooking and breathes life into the dusty little pink-fronted shop on the harbour, she's also going to have to come to terms with past mistakes - and work out exactly where her future lies...Let Jenny Colgan make your dreams come true!
Run away to a beautiful Scottish island and let the unmissable new novel from Sunday Times bestseller Jenny Colgan warm up your spring!
Dreams start here...
'Charming, made me long to escape to Mure. Total joy.' - Sophie KinsellaOn the quayside next to the Endless Beach sits the Summer Seaside Kitchen. It's a haven for tourists and locals alike, who all come to eat the freshest local produce on the island and catch up with the gossip. Flora, who runs the cafe, feels safe and content - unless she thinks too hard about her relationship with Joel, her gorgeous but emotionally (and physically) distant boyfriend. While Flora is in turmoil about her relationship. her best friend Lorna is pining after the local doctor. Saif came to the island as a refugee, having lost all of his family. But he's about to get some shocking news which will change everything for him. As cold winter nights shift to long summer days, can Flora find her happy-ever-after with Joel?