Starnberg Series: Book 3 – Give Me Time

In Starnberg Series: Book 3 - Give Me Time, the story unfolds around Leonie Brandt, a nineteen-year-old aspiring artist and theatre designer, daughter of the Cooper-Nyman’s housekeeper. Her life takes an intriguing turn when she meets the accomplished young director, Pia Hartmann. Despite an undeniable attraction, Pia hesitates, finding Leonie too youthful for romance.

As Leonie starts her career, their paths cross intermittently, sparking a tumultuous mix of longing and frustration. Leonie’s journey into romantic relationships between women begins under the mentorship of an older companion, leading her into a passionate affair with the enchanting opera singer, Thea Doukas. Meanwhile, Pia, trapped in a lackluster relationship, yearns for the bond she once shared with Leonie.

As Leonie matures and becomes entrenched in the world of theatre and opera, both women navigate the complexities of their desires and careers. Pia finds herself struggling to break free from her unsatisfactory relationship in hopes of rekindling what she and Leonie once had. With emotions running high and ambitions at stake, the question remains: Have they missed their moment, or is a shared future still within reach?

This third installment of The Starnberg Series delves deep into the emotional whirlpool of sex, love, and ambition, capturing the essence of youthful aspiration and the trials of the heart.

St Petersburg

Thalia Marguerite Titania Bobrov travels with her mother from their quiet home in Smolensk to the Capital of Russia, St Petersburg, to stay with her maternal grandmother who is the youngest sister of the Dowager Empress of Russia and mother to the Tsar. Thalia is to be presented at court and launched into the glittering society of Russian Aristocracy.

During her new life, Thalia meets and falls in love with Prince Nicholas Ivanov, cousin to the Tsar and her mother’s cousin. Set between the glittering society of the aristocracy and the harsh realities and cruelty leading to war and the Russian Revolution. 

Thalia learns new strengths as she passes between the rich and the poor. She trains with the Tsarina and two oldest daughters to become a nurse at Tsarskoye Selo which has partly been converted to a hospital for the injured Russian victims of war.

In her new life Thalia meets all the Royal family which she is related to, the famed Peter Karl Faberge, known for the famous Faberge Eggs, known worldwide, and the lecherous Father Gregory Rasputin, whose unwanted attentions Thalia has caught.

When the Tsar is forced to abdicate, and the royal family are kept under house arrest, Thalia and her family are forced to flee for their lives and make a home thousands of miles from their beloved homeland of Russia.

Sparkles and Fireworks on Pebble Bank Bay

Millie works the night shift at her local hospital’s switchboard, feeling undervalued and unappreciated. She harbours regrets about not pursuing her dreams and her passion for music, particularly singing. However, her small Cumbrian town poses a challenge; with many pubs closed and those remaining already featuring regular bands and singers, opportunities seem scarce.This dynamic is set to change thanks to Pippa, the surrogate mother of Millie’s best friend, who presents a golden opportunity. For Millie, relocating to the South could be the break she needs. But this new chapter is complicated when Sam, the one man she’s never forgotten, unexpectedly reappears in her life.Meanwhile, Millie’s cousin Harry is secretly in love with Amber, Millie’s best friend. Although Harry confessed his feelings to Amber before she moved South, the outcome was unresolved. Millie encourages Harry to fight for Amber, believing they are meant to be together. Yet, unbeknownst to Amber, Harry harbours a significant secret, known only to Millie.As the story unfolds, the question remains: can Sam and Millie overcome their past differences and open up to each other? Will Millie let her guard down? There’s hope that the charm of Pebble Bank Bay will work its magic on these two couples.

Son of a Dish

As a widowed, loving mother, Donna is still telling her grown-up son Aaron who to go out with. In return, Aaron tells Donna that he’ll do that – IF she agrees to go out with suitors he finds for her. That break of Jewish tradition shocks everyone.
What follows is a disruptive romance, filled with admirers who love Aaron, and men who fall madly in love with Donna. 

Smooth Like Whiskey

Bellamy is trying to get over her mental illness and accept her body for the way it is, stretch marks and all.

She never knew how one holiday could change everything, forever.

She’s clumsy, she’s curvy, she swears too much and drinks too much.

Then he comes along and makes her believe in love.

The most important kind of love, self-love.

He is escaping from his past, so travelling to Portugal for a month sounded like the perfect plan. Little did he know he’d meet the woman who will change him forever.

Six months after they part, fate has other plans for them.

Can you meet the right person at the wrong time? But more importantly what happens when you meet the right person again at the wrong time?

Sign Character Card Book

This book is ideal for parents who would like to expand their child’s mental capacity and raise them on a bilingual household. This book would be great when spending one-on-one time with your child or on those long car-journeys. This book will keep your children occupied.

She Knew

It was the last straw. Sally couldn’t take this anymore, live with the consequences of her husband’s addiction, so she turned on her heels and walked away. Jenny smelt the betrayal on him as she greeted him at the door. This time she drew back, looked him straight in the eye and left. She was no longer prepared to put up with his unfaithfulness. Kate curled up on the settee and thought about David, her husband, her one true love who she had walked out on hoping to shock him into saving their marriage by stopping gambling. It had worked, he had stopped but David had found other arms to comfort him. These three girls form a lasting friendship, brought together by their charity shop work, a lasting intuitive friendship giving each other the support they needed. The shop and its customers and the community it inspired helped each of them in turn. “Alice? Who is Alice?” warbled Smokie on the piped music in the shop. Who indeed, you might ask. She is their favourite volunteer. She’s the lovable perfect grandma everyone wishes they had. But things are not quite as they seem…

Sempre: Finding Home

When an old man dies in a London park, a family heirloom slips from his finger, and is found by a young woman who is instrumental in reuniting the past with the present as old and new love stories are told.

Through these interweaving stories we witness destiny’s hand in both historic and contemporary Portugal and Britain, and the drama comes not from villains in black cloaks, but from situations which are out of the characters’ control. It is due to the trials of these ordinary people, and a happy ending that ties in so many of the plot’s strings, that this is one of those stories you will want to read a second time in order to fully appreciate how the characters’ lives overlap, and the hand fate plays.

This story owes a great amount to four songs: ‘Ordinary Girl’ by Alison Moyet; the author wanted to know why the protagonist of the ‘story’ thought she had to leave the way she did. ‘Take a Drunk Girl Home’; a country song about a man who takes a drunk girl home and doesn’t take advantage of the situation. ‘Symphony’ by Sarah Brightman; about the end of a love affair that leaves one half of the couple uncertain of what went wrong. The fourth song is, ‘If You Could Read My Mind’ by Gordon Lightfoot; it mentions ‘a ghost in a wishing-well’ and was a spur for writing about the mystery which the author feels has a place in all our lives…

Sacrifice

Hairdresser Phoebe Roberts has had a rough start in life after her parents were brutally murdered at a young age. Phoebe’s life went from bad to worse in a matter of days, her life shattering into a million pieces, however, her best friend Spring put her back together again. Living in London had its perks but the best perk of all was meeting the green-eyed sex god Lincoln Maguire, owner of Maguire Securities. A typical tall, dark and handsome feral male. Things progress fast, wrapped up in lust and love, electrifying the air around them until Phoebe bumps into the past that she thought she had left behind when she was a young girl.

Romeo and Juliet & The Merchant of Venice

Shylock speaks: "This man abused me, so many times, laughed at my loses… my gains Scorned my people, thwarted my deals… causing such heartfelt pains He's heated my foes, cooled off my friends, why does he do such things? I'm not of his race or religion… from that… his enmity springs. "Have I not eyes? Have I not hands, organs, passion and heart? Do I not eat, fall ill, get healed? If slapped, do I not smart? If I am pricked, do I not bleed? If tickled, do I not squirm? If I am poisoned, would I not die, like him, lie feeding the worms? "If we are wronged, should we not fight, as you have taught us to do? That which you taught us, we will improve, it will, go harder for you!"

Romeo & Julio & Friends

25-year-old Julio Clifford, a successful gay black British and South African designer returns to London, Britain, from abroad after seven years. He reunites with childhood friends and through them meets the charming, handsome and disconcertingly confident Romeo Moses. Romeo is a 29-year-old white British and Italian Architect/Model. Julio is the opposite of Romeo, he is gentle, sensible and warm-hearted.

Everything is perfect and sparks are flying but there is a problem. Romeo has a girlfriend, Julio’s older sister’s childhood friend, Poppy, who is also one of Julio’s oldest and dearest friends. Will Romeo act out his yearning for Julio? Will Julio betray his old friend in the name of love falling for Romeo’s charms?

Romeo likes how smart, independent and confident Julio is. He likes the soul within Julio. Julio likes Romeo’s charisma, assertiveness, strength, and how he cares for others.

But then, Julio’s emotionally abusive ex-husband, Hassan, arrives in town and begins to stalk him. Will it tear Julio and Romeo apart?

A story about love and friendship with many twists and turns showing Romeo and Julio’s lives unfold while they, with their friends, deal with the stress of living and working in 21^st century City of London. Romeo & Julio & Friends shows the people of multicultural Britain and their queer lives unfolding in the high-pressure modern-day world.

Return to Hunterville and the Mānuka Honey Shop

Vulnerability, emotion, passion, lust, kindness, caring, tenderness, commitment, respect and the incredible power of a smile – this is William and Aoife’s love story. William is a quiet and reflective man from Hunterville in New Zealand, escaping rural loneliness. Aoife is a beautiful and trusting woman from Galway in Ireland, escaping an abusive partner.
They fortuitously cross paths for the first time at Nonna Russo’s cooking class in Naples, Italy. Their relationship starts very slowly, but in just 10 short days, total strangers quickly become inseparable lovers as they are intoxicated by ‘la bella vita’ of Naples. William and Aoife embrace the Napoli café culture, go to an opera for the first time, go horse riding on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, experience aperitivo, visit jaw-dropping museums and churches, and swim down at the waterfront. They give kindness, respect and a friendly smile wherever they go. They are gifted the same by the people of Naples.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Seven weeks after a painful and emotionally charged farewell in Naples, Aoife is reunited with William on his farm in New Zealand. William proposes, Aoife is pregnant, there is a wedding and a funeral. As William walks from the Hunterville Cemetery, an old lady beckons him over. What she says has unimaginable consequences for William and Aoife’s journey ahead.