When Julia decides to break off her engagement to the safe - but very boring - Oscar, she changes her life completely. After giving up her job, Julia signs up as a cook on a narrow boat hotel, but she can't seem to get away from her past.

This novel tells the story of Perdita Dylan. One day when she delivers vegetables to one of her regular clients she finds out that her ex-husband has become the chef. She is horrified even more when she learns he is to become the latest celebrity chef.

Thea, fed up with being mum to a houseful of students, accepts her friend's offer of an art appreciation holiday in Provence. While there, Thea meets Rory, an artist who's as attracted to her as she is to him, in spite of him being younger.

Jenny Porter spends her life sorting out other people's problems. But when one of her clients asks her to go to Scotland to do some hands-on investigation into a woollen mill, it doesn't turn out to be the working holiday she hoped for.

Nel's world is under threat, but can she trust those around her including sensible boyfriend Simon, or Jake, an infuriating and attractive stranger who kissed her once under the mistletoe?

Ellie Summers' life is unravelling. Finding herself pregnant - and her sexy but idle boyfriend Rick less than enthusiastic about parenthood - she needs a plan. Fast. Grace Soudley's life is also coming apart at the seams - her only security is the beautiful yet crumbling old house she was left by her godmother. But unless she can find a fortune, Luckenham House will disintegrate around her. When Ellie and Grace meet, the two very different women find they can help each other out. Ellie needs a place to stay; Grace needs a lodger. Both of them need a friend. But then the disconcertingly...

Polly Cameron is happy being thirty-five and celibate, thank you, living in a small Gloucestershire town with a possessive cat for company. A relationship would only complicate her busy life. There's her job in the Whole Nut Cafe and the "Save Our High Street" campaign, plus her fledgling pottery career -- not to mention dodging everyone's efforts to find her a husband

May, Sally and Harriet are reduced to working for Quality Cleaners when each of them needs money, badly. But when they discover that they are being taken to the cleaners, they set up an independent team and things really begin to take off.

Mother to three strong-minded children, Althea is saddled with too-large a house (albeit, in a beautiful Cotswold village) and worrisome mortgage payments. Her passion for gardening provides her with the opportunity to design a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show where she meets architect Patrick Donahugh. Is Althea's life about to blossom?

Hetty Longden's mother thinks that looking after Great Uncle Samuel's crumbling stately country home will be just the thing for Hetty's broken heart. But if Hetty expected to be miserable in private, she is in for a rude awakening in a village that revolves around the Big House, and Hetty finds herself with very little time to wallow.