Showing results by narrator "Melanie Crawley" in All Categories

Standing in my bathroom, the luxurious marble tiles cool under my feet, I stare at the test in my trembling hand. The second line is unmistakable: I’m pregnant. This is all my husband Theo and I have ever wanted, but I didn’t think it was possible. I should be excited, but all I can think about is telling my stepdaughter. Because Ellie’s always hated me, ever since she realised it was no longer just her and Theo. Now she’s seventeen, beautiful and smart–smart enough to see through me. And if Ellie decided to uncover my secrets, it wouldn’t be just my marriage at stake… it would be my life.

After my beautiful daughter Annabelle died in a tragic accident, I thought I would never recover. With my world in pieces, my husband Matthew did what he could to support me and our son, Noah. He hired a young woman, Reka, to help us at home, to be the mother for Noah that I couldn’t be. She cares for him like he’s her own.

Named after the lager that christened her at birth, Stella's life is characterised instability and neglect. Her teenage mother abandons her in the first few weeks of her life, and left in the 'care' of her father, she ends up lying deserted in a house with no food, no water, no clothes and no warmth. She eventually lands in the care of foster carer Louise, who is determined to change her life for the better.

Emma is so happy to have moved from the city to her husband’s small hometown. James was strangely reluctant at first – but she convinced him their little cottage is the perfect place to settle down. The perfect place to give their six-year-old son a new life. But then a woman at the school gates asks Emma if she is really married to ‘that man’. ‘Which man?’ Emma asks. The woman replies…

Take a trip to a terrifying carnival and uncover the secrets within, solve a mysterious puzzle box and await your reward, join a travelling circus and witness the strangest ventriloquist act you've ever seen. In this follow-up to the bestselling Cursed: An Anthology, you'll unearth curses old and new. From a very different take on Snow White, to a new interpretation of The Red Shoes, the best in fantasy spin straw into gold, and invite you into the labyrinth.

Abby's Story is the second book in the Thrown Away Children series by author and foster mum Louise Allen. She doesn't want this baby. She can't look after this baby. She will never be able to love this baby. Little Abby's life begins badly, then just gets worse. Now foster mum Louise and her family must help her deal with the truth of her past to give her the chance of a future.

As a teenager, Penny Collins was brutally attacked as she lay in her bed. The assault, from a man she knew all too well, traumatised Penny. Worse still, after her family refused to believe her initial fears about being watched, Penny told nobody, afraid her family would be convinced she was making the whole thing up...Penny swore that day that she would have her revenge. That he would pay for his crimes...

Louise has trouble on her hands from the first moment that 5-year-old Billy Blackthorn comes to stay. He is one of more than 20 children taken into care from a single family, and erupts into the Allen household with a volatility that is frightening and disturbing in equal measure. It is only as Louise begins to uncover the secrets of Billy's dark past that she begins to understand what made his family 'untouchable'.

Newly arrived on the sun-drenched shores of Croatia, Claire Thomson’s life is about to change forever when she starts working at a local bookshop. With her cousin Vedran, employee Luna and Karmela, a professor, they form an unlikely book club. But when their first book club pick – an engrossing cosy crime – inspires them to embark upon an investigation that is close to the group’s heart, they quickly learn the value of keeping their new-found friends close as lives and stories begin to entwine.

Nothing could be more out of character, but after fifty-nine years of marriage, as her husband Bernard’s health declines, and her friends' lives become focused on their grandchildren—which Jenny never had—Jenny decides she wants a little something for herself. So she secretly applies to be a contestant on the prime-time TV show Britain Bakes. Whisked into an unfamiliar world of cameras and timed challenges, Jenny delights in a new-found independence. But that independence, and the stress of the competition, starts to unearth memories buried decades ago.

The next book in Louise Allen's Thrown Away Children series.

When chef Claire is introduced to her elusive employer, she gets the shock of her life. The powerful royal that Claire has been working for is Raif, the man whose touch is seared into her memory—and father to the baby Claire’s just discovered she’s carrying! Raif will never let his child feel unwanted, like he had felt. He’ll rewrite the royal rule book to ensure his heir’s happiness! But, when Claire must become his wife, will he rewrite the rules of their convenient agreement to ensure her happiness too?

It’s almost midnight when Jennifer sees her son’s name flash up on her phone. Away at university, she’s normally so happy when he calls. But something is terribly wrong… Jennifer is devastated for poor Ella’s family–losing their precious girl, so young. She knows her sweet son, just twenty years old, would never, ever harm anyone. But the police are looking for him. And if Dan is innocent, why has he run?

When 30-year-old Kate’s childhood sweetheart dumps her without a goodbye, she almost hits rock bottom. But she’s determined to have a fresh start and goes to Italy’s stunning capital city in search of healing. Hot sun, fresh coffee and white marble piazzas; here, Kate might be able to put herself back together. But when a glass (or three) more wine than is strictly necessary leads to questioning by a concerned policeman – a tall, Italian policeman, with wavy, black hair and cheekbones to die for – she knows she’s in trouble.

Growing up, Joanne suffered at the hands of a violent boyfriend and controlling relatives, as her mother lapsed into a downward spiral following the break-up of her marriage. But the consequences of her mother's lifestyle turned out to be worse than Joanne could ever have imagined. She already knew about the baby buried in a shallow makeshift grave next to the family plot. But when Joanne came across a red plastic bin in her mother's wardrobe in 2009, she realised that the family home held an even more sinister secret.

Enjoy three captivating romance stories from USA TODAY bestselling author Lynne Graham!

They say I’m lucky to be alive. But the only thing I can remember are the faces of my husband and baby. The husband and baby they insist don’t exist … I can hear a door slamming, and the low hum of distant traffic. I struggle to open my eyes, and the panic sets in. I have no memory of who I am, why I’m here, where all this pain is coming from …

Sevastiano Cantarelli can barely believe Amy Taylor is real. After the lifetime of betrayal he’s experienced, her surprising sweetness is the ultimate threat to his cynical worldview! Unwrapping her innocence was a gift he couldn’t forget...but one he knows it wouldn’t be fair to repeat. Their encounter left Amy exhilarated - and wanted for the first time. She knows that walking away from the commanding Italian is the safest way to keep her heart intact. Yet it’s the one thing she can’t do...because she’s pregnant with Sevastiano’s twins!

Ashley is a young single mum raising her daughter, Eden, and working hard to do the very best job she can - until one night she can't find a babysitter and makes the decision to leave Eden home alone for a couple of hours, asleep inside a wardrobe. It is an action that begins a terrible downward spiral for both of them. When Eden arrives at experienced foster carer Louise Allen's home, she has entered the care system because her mother is in prison. Eden is five years old and will not speak to any human.

Parents Angelina and Ben exist in enviable luxury: not just wealth, success and a gorgeous home, but a loving relationship and beautiful twin babies to complete the perfect family. But having it all means that you have the most to lose. And when cracks begin to appear things fall apart at a shocking pace; and it's twins Max and Mia who suffer the most. Money isn't enough to paper over the problems in this extraordinary and heartbreaking story. It is a foster-caring experience like no other, and one which tests Louise's emotional strength to the core.