BOOKS

MOONSHINE

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For Cleo Moon, some things just never go according to plan Newly single and unemployed, Cleo Moon ups sticks and moves to the gloriously rustic hamlet of Lovers Knot. With its host of mad but delightful neighbours, she very soon feels at home, especially when she finds The Most Beautiful Boy in the World slumped on her doorstep - the drop-dead-gorgeous and achingly-upper-class Dylan Maguire. But when she is given the taxing task of organising the annual Harvest shindig, things become a little more complicated for Cleo. Dusting off an old book on winemaking she decides to concoct a new harvest tipple, and by the time shes uncorked the first bottle, nothing in Lovers Knot will ever be the same again

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

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On midsummers day, Phoebe Bowler - star-sign demon - should have returned home an ecstatically happy new bride. Instead, shes been jilted at the altar. In need of sympathy, perhaps she could turn to her neighbour, the dishy Rocky Lancaster? But with problems of his own hes turned into Mr Grumpy and wants to be left alone. That is until Essie Rivers arrives on the scene, and then Phoebe and Rockys paths seem destined to collide with a very big bump. Essie knows far more about astrology, personolgy, numerology - any ology you care to mention - than Phoebe has ever heard of. But it is the secret magic of birthday-ology that catches Phoebes eye. Can she really use a birthday to find a perfect match or to set her and Rocky back on the path to happiness? Phoebe thinks so, but thats when things start to go really wrong.

HEAVEN SENT

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HEAVEN SENT is the fourth in my magical romantic comedy series, published by Piatkus, and set in a cluster of Berkshire villages. There are several familiar characters in this book including several from my earlier novels GOING THE DISTANCE, JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS and TICKLED PINK as well as a lot of new ones. I had a great time researching HEAVEN SENT because I just love fireworks, and I loved writing it too. I really hope you enjoy reading it Clemmie Coddle has a problem shes had almost as many jobs as shes had birthdays and her love life is on the critical list. Shes determined to transform herself from unemployed singleton to loved-up success. Trouble is, Clemmies dream job would be working for local entrepreneur Guy Devlin, owner of the famous pyrotechnics company, The Gunpowder Plot. Hed also be high on her list of candidates for Significant Other too. But Guy comes with a veritable cargo-hold of baggage, including an avaricious ex-wife and a host of monster ex-step children. Hes not even looking for an assistant. And if he were, a quirky amateur firework maker with a penchant for cream cakes and big earrings certainly wouldnt be high on his list But when a heaven-sent opportunity to join The Gunpowder Plot comes Clemmies way, shes determined to make the most of it. However, the closer Clemmie gets to Guy, the more unattainable he becomes. Her only hope seems to lie in solving an ancient formula for a magical firework of unimaginable beauty a firework that can make dreams come true

LOVE POTIONS

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LOVE POTIONS, another trademark feel-good bucolic frolic with a touch of practical magic, is my third book in a series for Piatkus, my lovely publishers. It is a sort of follow-up to HUBBLE BUBBLE and SEEING STARS in as much as various characters from the previous books make guest appearances, although LOVE POTIONS also stands very much alone. LOVE POTIONS is set in the village of Bagley-cum-Russet but makes occasional mad dashes into the neighbouring villages of Fiddlesticks, Hazy Hassocks and Winterbrook as well. Sukie Ambrose shares her cottage in the strangely time-warped and maybe-magical Berkshire village of Bagley-cum-Russet with glamorous city-slicker Milla; works as an aromatherapist at Jennifer Blessings beauty salon in Hazy Hassocks; enjoys her single social life with her best mate Chelsea; and spends her leisure time kicking and screaming with the Bagley-cum-Russet can-can troupe. This happy, if humdrum, lifestyle falls spectacularly apart when Sukie discovers the gorgeous Derry Kavanagh naked in her bed; finds her entire expensive aromatherapy stocks are on their way to the Maldives; and that using extracts from her cottage garden plants for massaging the frankly odd Bagley residents causes the most unsuitable couplings. Suddenly solely responsible for turning a small Berkshire village into Sodom and Gomorra overnight, Sukies attempts to right wrongs simply results in further mayhem. Can she possibly risk using earth magic to sort out Millas love triangle? Reunite the unhappy Joss Benson with her husband? Find Chelseas runaway childhood sweetheart? Unravel the geriatric love-tangles at the local pub? And what about her own love-life? Should she even contemplate using a home-made love potion on Derry Kavanagh? No, of course she shouldnt...

SEEING STARS

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SEEING STARS is my second book in a series for Piatkus, my lovely publishers. It is a sort of sequel to HUBBLE BUBBLE in as much as several of the Hubble Bubble characters make guest appearances, although it also stands very much alone. SEEING STARS is set in the village of Fiddlesticks [which was going to be the title until everyone else thought SEEING STARS was better] and future books in this series will also visit Fiddlesticks and the neighbouring villages of Hazy Hassocks, Winterbrook and Bagley-cum-Russett. The characters will pop in and out of all the books and yes, later on, I intend to catch up on whats happening in Milton St John etc too. I wrote SEEING STARS as another trademark feel-good bucolic frolic with a touch of practical magic, but its also very romantic... When city-girl Amber arrives to spend the summer in the village of Fiddlesticks, the only stars she recognises are the ones she reads about in her glossy celeb magazines. So she is stunned to find herself surrounded by a collection of nice-but-barking retro village eccentrics who organise their entire lives around constellation customs and the astral calendar. Moon myths abound, and the stars are regarded as harbingers of both good and bad fortune. In Fiddlesticks, every wax and wane of the moon seems to be an excuse for a village knees-up, each appearance of Cassiopeia or Pegasus in the summer skies results in someone throwing a party and making bizarre wishes. More scarily, Amber finds that the villagers actually believe that the stars and moon can work magic. However, when Amber starts working for Mitzi Blessings Hubble Bubble country cooking outlet as a waitress, Mitzi gently explains that theres a place for many kinds of magic even in the 21st century - and that her own recipes all have a touch of herbal witchery about them. Convinced that shes stumbled into Berkshire's answer to Salem, Amber remains loudly sceptical, but as shes grown very fond of her new friends - especially the gorgeously enigmatic Lewis - and assuming that its all a bit of harmless fun, she hurls herself into the star-ceremonies and moon-myths on the grounds that if you can't beat em, join em and any excuse for a party. But when, as result of one of Ambers half-hearted celestial incantations, something totally inexplicable happens, she begins to wonder if maybe, just maybe, theres more to Fiddlesticks astral-magic than meets the eye...

HUBBLE BUBBLE

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The delay between books has been because Ive changed publishers. Im now with wonderful, wonderful Piatkus - and Hubble Bubble is the first of a new series of books Im writing for them. These will cover the villages of Hazy Hassocks, Winterbrook, Fiddlesticks and Bagley-cum-Russett. The characters will pop in and out of all the books but each story will stand alone. And yes, well eventually also be catching up on whats happening in Milton St John etc too. Hubble Bubble was inspired by my Nan who used to cook some very dubious herbal concoctions using natural ingredients. These had the most amazing effects on the unwary. Not for nothing was she known as the herbal poisoner of Wessex Road. Katie Fforde kindly says Hubble Bubble is H.E. Bates for the 21st Century - wow! I wrote it as another feel-good bucolic frolic, but there are three romances in there too. Mitzi Blessing has a happily ordered life in Hazy Hassocks with her ex-husband Lance, her two daughters Lulu and Doll, and her cats Richard and Judy. Then suddenly she finds herself on the scrap-heap and is determined not to fade into greyness. Her decision to not only revitalise her life but also that of the village leads to all number of confusing and manic situations. She manages, with the recipes from Granny Westwards herbal cookery book, to create mayhem throughout Hazy Hassocks, several star-crossed lovers, and a lot of nudity in the village hall. I had a lot of fun writing it - and hope youll enjoy reading it and meeting these new characters too. Please let me know.

TICKLED PINK

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In Tickled Pink, there is a slight shift away from romance, (but only "slight" I hasten to add. In fact I think chapter 31 is one of the most romantic chapters I've ever written in any of my books! Let me know what you think...) and more emphasis on the Comic Novel, Bucolic Frolic, Rural Community in Permanent Mayhem element of my writing. It's been described as "Miss Read With Attitude" and "Christina Jones is the feisty fictional love-child of Miss Read and H.E. Bates". Love it! Tickled Pink is not only humorous but also about unusual friendships. Especially the friendship between very young Posy and not-so-very-young Lola. In fact it's about friendships full-stop. It's about friendships which cross generations and class and gender. And it's dedicated to my best friend forever, Pat Powell. Pat and I met on New Year's Eve 1967 (I gate-crashed a party at her parents' house as I fancied her brother). We were 16. For 34 years we enjoyed a mutually-exclusive, unbelievably close friendship - working together, taking holidays together, socialising together, and just being there for one another - all the time. If we didn't meet up, we spoke on the phone daily. We were amazingly alike in some ways - sharing the same likes and dislikes, hopes and fears, and the same sense of humour; and wildly different in others. She was Miss Neat and Tidy. Miss Elegant. Miss Organised. Miss Shop-til-You-Drop. I wasn't. She was also fiercely loyal, always supportive, nothing was too much trouble, she made me very, very happy. Pat never stopped laughing. Pat died suddenly on 30 June 2001. Her death changed my life. I had never contemplated a life without her in it. I still can't. I wrote Tickled Pink while grieving for her, and the grief is still painfully raw and my life pitifully empty. I hope that in some way Tickled Pink shows how much I loved her.