The Sweet Second Life of Darrell Kincaid

No one knows 'happy endings' like romance novelist Darrell Kincaid. She's delivered eight of them to her readers with pleasure. But it's not to be with book number nine. In the act of adding the final full stop, Darrell has a revelation: it's not the ending that really matters but what comes next. Darrell now sees that when her husband Tom died (twenty-one months and three days ago, but who's counting?) she lost more than the man she loved. She lost her own 'happy ever after'. The life she expected to live has gone, vanished forever in a puff of fickle, unfair smoke. Darrell knows she has a choice. She can stay in New Zealand and live a half-life, or she can leave in search of something - perhaps someone - else. So Darrell decides upon London, the least romantic capital she knows (why set yourself up for disappointment?). Armed with Nancy Mitford's Love In A Cold Climate as her guide to proper Englishness and the ideal romantic hero, she sets out to live the sweet second life she deserves.

The Not So Perfect Life of Mo Lawrence

Michelle Lawrence's perfect life has been just as she's designed it. But then her husband, Chad, ruins everything by taking a job in San Francisco, about as far from their comfortable family home as it's possible to get without actually emigrating. Up until now, Chad's primary focus has been keeping her happy, and Michelle can see no good reason why this should change. But change it has, and Michelle now has to deal with Chad's increasing detachment, while building a new life with her two small children in a place filled with cat-eating coyotes. On top of that, Michelle's oldest friend is turning against marriage while her newest is a little too obsessed with clean taps. And down the redwood-lined street, there's Aishe Herne, a woman who could pick a fight with a silent order of nuns. Aishe has designed her own kind of perfect life, in which there's room for her, her teenage son and no one else. But when cousin Patrick lands in town like a Cockney nemesis, both Aishe and Michelle must begin determined campaigns to regain their grip on the steering wheel of their lives.

The Misplaced Affections of Charlotte Fforbes

When Charlotte Fforbes inadvertently falls in love with her boss, her usually cool self-control is tested to its limit. Thus far, Charlotte has carefully avoided love's emotional tar pit, but suddenly she is in it up to her neck. Her first strategy is to ignore it - for one thing, boss Patrick is a husband and father. Then Charlotte is given a clue that Patrick's marriage may not be as stable as believed, and that is enough to fan a spark of hope into an infatuation-fuelled inferno. Transformed from efficient PA into a woman whose reason has been muffled with duct-tape and locked in a cellar, she'll now do anything to find a way into Patrick's heart.Anything includes arranging to be nanny-for-a-month to the small children of Patrick and his wife and two other families at a Lake Como villa. Charlotte's complete lack of child-minding experience daunts her the least. If she's to win Patrick, she must also prevent his cousin's wife being seduced by her charming, feckless ex, while fending off dogs, Gypsy gatecrashers and a large, vengeful ghost from Patrick's past. But Charlotte's biggest test will come when she is forced to question whether her affections have been entirely misplaced - and, if so, was this her last ever chance to feel love like this again?

The Hiding Places

Rich in myth, mystery, warmth and wit — a touching novel about what it means to be alive.

When April Turner’s small son is killed by a car, she decides she is no longer entitled to anything but the barest existence. Five years on, she has shed everything and everyone she loves, and expects to be this way for ever. Then a letter arrives from an English solicitor, informing April that she is the last surviving heir to Empyrean, a long-abandoned country house.

At first, April resists. But with the letter comes a map full of tiny mysteries, and she is drawn all the way from New Zealand to the English countryside, and into a small but intriguing circle of people: musician Oran, who remains loyal to his faithless wife; Jack, who lives wild in the woods with a dog; and Sunny, Lady Day, approaching ninety but more vital than others half her age.

Sunny knew Empyrean in its prime, and her stories bring the past to life. But will April be prepared to give up her principles and start coming alive again herself?

• Published: 2 April 2015
• ISBN: 9781775536437
• Imprint: Random House New Zealand

Gabriel's Bay

Warm, witty and wicked, this is the perfect escapist read!

A heart-warming, thoroughly entertaining novel about a whole community.Kerry Macfarlane has run away from his wedding-that-wasn’t. He lands in coastal Gabriel’s Bay, billed as ‘a well-appointed small town’ on its website (last updated two decades ago). Here Kerry hopes to prove he’s not a complete failure. Or, at least, to give his most convincing impression.

But Gabriel’s Bay has its own problems – low employment, no tourists, and a daunting hill road between it and civilisation. And Kerry must also run the gauntlet of its inhabitants: Sidney, single mother deserted by a feckless ex; Mac, the straight-shooting doctor’s receptionist; a team of unruly nine-year-olds; a giant restaurateur; and the local progressive association, who’ll debate apostrophe placement until the crack of doom.

Can Kerry win their respect, and perhaps even love? Will his brilliant plan to transform the town’s fortunes earn him a lasting welcome in Gabriel’s Bay?

• Published: 2 January 2018
• ISBN: 9780143771463
• Imprint: Random House New Zealand

What You Wish For

A funny and poignant Gabriel’s Bay story from the bestselling Catherine Robertson.

Dr Ashwin Ghadavi, the newly imported GP, is trying hard to fit into Gabriel’s Bay. His challenges include the immoveable force of his office manager, Mac, the ambiguities of the Kiwi idiom, and his unrequited attraction to Mac’s daughter, Emma.

Having returned home, Emma is determined to help her old friend, Devon, whether he wants it or not. She’s also on a mission to right eco wrongs, and her targets include local farmer Vic Halsworth, who’s already neck deep in the proverbial and, to make matters worse, seems to be having visions of moose.

Add in a former jailbird, a Norwegian recluse, and a woman struggling to foster a child, and you have the usual endearing and down-to-earth mix that can only occur in Gabriel’s Bay.

• Published: 8 January 2019
• ISBN: 9780143772828
• Imprint: Random House New Zealand

Spellbound

The delightful third novel in the bestselling Gabriel’s Bay series.

Big trouble is brewing, secrets are coming out, threatening reputations and even lives. Outsiders are in town with questionable motives. Power and privilege are casting a seductive but ominous spell. And the Love Bus is completely munted.

All your favourite characters are back: Mac, down-to-earth as ever; Sidney, eight months pregnant and feeling it; Dr Ghadavi, anxious to do right; Patricia, quietly determined; Bernard, who must face his nemesis; and young Barrett, unable to face the truth.

It’s crunch time for Gabriel’s Bay, and nothing less than magic might be needed to protect this close-knit community and its future.

• Published: 30 March 2021
• ISBN: 9780143775744
• Imprint: RHNZ Black Swan