Valentine’s Day 2023

It’s the most loving time of the year so let’s start celebrating romance. Although, love isn’t always easy so we’ve made room for that as well.

Our Valentine’s Day list this year is filled with rom-com stories where things seem to work out in the end, stories of complicated love and turbulent emotions, and we haven’t forgotten about those who like it spicy.

• Over 1,300 ratings and 289 reviews on Goodreads – ‘Love at First Sight Fight’ by Mary Jayne Baker 

• With 1000+ ratings and a 4.4 out of 5-star rating on Amazon – ‘Sing Me a Secret’ by Julie Houston 

• A rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars on Audible, and with 1,641 ratings 364 reviews on Goodreads. – ‘The Scottish Boy’ by Alex de Campi  

• A cracking debut, perfect for fans of Beth O’Leary, Dolly Alderton and Lorriane Brown. – ‘Puzzle Girl’ by Rachael Featherstone

Download the full title list below.

Rom-Coms

At last, it’s the day of the interview, and Sara absolutely must get the job. It’s been two years since she graduated, and she’s not had much luck in her personal or professional life.

Much to her dismay, she is desperately late, teetering on her heels, soaking wet and out of breath by the time she arrives at the offices of ´Inside Look´ magazine.

Things are going from bad to worse and when the receptionist tells her the job has already been given to someone else, Sara tries to slip away without being noticed. But she finds herself stuck in the lift with none other than the dazzling model Daniel Gant.

After being thrown together by chance, Sara can’t believe it when Daniel wants to see her again. Is her luck beginning to change?

The four Sutherland sisters have all had very different paths in life, but one secret and a slightly tense production of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ are about to bring them all back together again…

When the news that pop-superstar Lexia Sutherland is returning to Westenbury, not everyone is thrilled by the news – including Lexia. There are too many memories she doesn’t need to face – or need re-surfacing.

Meanwhile, Juno Sutherland just wants a little peace and quiet. As the local village doctor, she’s got her priorities in order; kids, job, husband, tenacious pony, a role in the village musical… So when the sexy new locum turns up – and steals her office – the last thing she needed was to be hit with rising temperatures and an over-active imagination.

Tinder, Hinge, Bumble – thirty-something journalist Saffie has tried them all but now she’s wondering whether it’s time to throw in the towel and give up on love for good – and she’s not alone…

Saffie’s boss Tamara has been single since her divorce four years ago, but at forty-five, running her own magazine and with three kids at home, she doesn’t feel she has the time, energy or confidence to go through the dating mill again.

Meanwhile, Saffie’s best friend Milo has just been dumped – again. A hopeless romantic with terrible taste in men, this is his fourth break-up in six months. There must be a secret to finding Mr Right, surely – but what?

Step forward The 24-hour Dating Agency, a matchmaking service with a difference. Instead of wasting months on casual dates, they promise to send you on an intense twenty-four-hour date with your perfect match – like speed-dating but in reverse. And even better, the agency offers a soulmate guarantee: meet The One or your money back.

Figuring they have nothing to lose, the three friends sign up. But when their matches turn out to be not what they were expecting, it seems like even the soulmate guarantee can’t find them what they’re looking for. Or can it?

Jason is the best wedding planner around, known as the Fairy Godfather to the couples whose special days he plans. But coming up against workplace prejudice is taking a toll on his love for his job.

His mother-in-law, Mel, has just discovered her husband has been cheating on her with a younger woman. Nearing fifty, jobless and struggling, she needs to work out who she is aside from a mum and a wife, and get her life back on track.

Meanwhile, up-tight wedding planner Harriet is struggling to find her own true love – if such a thing exists. Between liars, married men, and disastrous dates, she thinks she may never find the one. And her outdated attitude toward LGBT marriages makes her even more bitter.

When Jason starts Extra Weddings – helping people marry whoever they like, in whatever way they want – he, Mel and Harriet find themselves coming together to help couples make memories to last a lifetime. But can they bridge their gaps, and be a unit when others need them most?

Giada Borghi has always known exactly what she wants.

Graduating with honours? Check. An internship at a prestigious consulting company in Milan? Check! Ariberto Castelli, with his pretty face and unironically monogrammed shirts? Definitely not.

Sure, they may have shared a kiss in a nightclub once upon a time – that doesn’t change anything!

Boys like Ariberto and girls like Giada just don’t belong together. But working so closely with a handsome Italian is bound to turn any girl’s head, especially as she realises there’s more to Ariberto than meets the eye.

The summer days are long and hot… can Giada make it through with her head – and heart – intact?

Spice it up

1333. Edward III is at war with Scotland. Nineteen-year-old Sir Harry de Lyon yearns to prove himself and jumps at the chance when a powerful English baron, William Montagu, invites him on a secret mission with a dozen elite knights.

They ride north, to a crumbling Scottish keep, capturing a feral, half-starved boy within and putting the other inhabitants to the sword.

But nobody knows why the flower of English knighthood snuck over the border to capture a savage, dirty teenage boy. Montagu gives the boy to Harry as his squire, with only two rules: don’t let him escape, and convert him to the English cause.

At first, it’s hopeless. The Scottish boy is surly and violent and eats anything that isn’t nailed down. Then Harry begins to notice things: that, as well as Gaelic, the boy speaks flawless French, with an accent much different from Harry’s Norman one. That he can read Latin too. And when Harry finally convinces the boy – Iain mac Maíl Coluim – to cut his filthy curtain of hair, the face revealed is the most beautiful thing Harry has ever seen.

With Iain as his squire, Harry wins tournament after tournament and becomes a favourite of the King. But underneath the pageantry smoulder twin secrets: Harry and Iain’s growing passion for each other, and Iain’s mysterious heritage. As England hurtles towards war once again, these secrets will destroy everything Harry holds dear.

Rose Wickes-Barnes has a plan to establish herself as an independent woman of good standing – Move away from Gold Sky. Join one of New York City’s most prestigious theater companies. Establish herself in society as an up-and-coming costumer with said theater company.
Thusly, she aims to enjoy the fruits of her labor just as any woman should. What she never anticipates is a scandal, paparazzi storm, and subsequent whirlwind marriage.

Rose and her new husband, the gentle, soft-spoken and earnest Samuel Walker, who selflessly put himself in harm’s way to keep her safe one fateful, rainy day, are forced to flee the city and marry to keep their reputations intact. All the while, Rose suspects there is far more to her new husband than the man she’s coming dangerously close to falling in love with.

People on the streets of New York give him a wide berth, and they call him ‘Wicked Walker’. Rose has never known him to be anything but a gentleman and her protector, but she can’t help but admit she is curious to see what exactly it is that makes Walker so wicked.

Victoria experiences a time slip that conjures William into her dreams. Fellow time traveller, Ruth, advises her to return the marble to Jude’s home, which she does, but the pair fall out over the ongoing land dispute. What Victoria knows for sure is that she needs to learn more about William and Molly and she wastes no time in travelling through the mirror to the Victorian era, to discover more truths.

Back in the present-day, Victoria visits a Scottish castle with George but again she gets more than she bargained for, as pleasure and bondage lead to an intense climax; but Victoria is left feeling unsure. When artist, Otis, lands in London, Victoria becomes aware of their physical proximity, but then there’s George and Jude on her mind too. She doesn’t have much time to consider her personal dilemmas with the art exhibition to focus on, but on the night itself, business meets displeasure as Jude and George clash.

In the aftermath of the drama, Marielle takes Victoria on a mini-break to 900s Spain, where they meet the caliph and entertain him with a steamy sexual encounter. Victoria returns home and Otis offers some friendly advice to make a fresh start, perhaps in New York.

A time-travelling trip to Russia during the revolution, plus some gossip from a New York socialite ends Victoria and George’s relationship once and for all. Is Victoria’s mirror now calling her to New York?

Recently divorced Claudia is looking to start again in a small town, in Colorado. Problem is she’s still hooked on a mysterious crush she’s found on a dating app, in New York City. “Jamie S” is gorgeous, accomplished, a former NFL football player, now a tech guru millionaire. He’s also twelve years younger than her.

Determined that she doesn’t have time for steamy New York fling, Claudia heads to Colorado, only to find someone waiting on her new doorstep…

Can she trust the instant connection between them, or is it doomed from the start? Especially when the reason he’s there is not quite what it seems…

Rockstar and member of Vixen’s Wail, musician Jordan finds herself falling for a fellow bandmate. To distract herself, she decides to pursue handsome stranger Étienne instead.

When Étienne rejects Jordan’s no strings proposal however, it appears it may be harder than she thought to distract herself – and when Étienne joins the band as a guest vocalist Jordan must grapple with her vow never to fall for another musician, despite their growing desire for each other.

The second novella in the Vixens Rock series by romance author Marie Lipscomb.

Love is complicated

Tom has always been a hopeless romantic: but now he’s just hopeless. After lockdown in particular made the millennial a reclusive introvert, it was finally time to get back ‘out there’ – at least according to his best friends Adam, Allison and sister Sarah.

As the group sets up 10 dates to rejuvenate Tom’s love life, he soon realises how difficult the dating scene has become, along with juggling his Shakespearean-themed cafe and a hobby of romantic mixtape making.

As some of the dates turn into disasters, an old flame keeps reappearing in Tom’s sight – along with bitter-sweet memories. Fearing it may be too little too late, Tom must decide whether he can date his way to happiness, or find his true match was under his nose the whole time…”

An uplifting rom-com about heartache and finding love again, ‘The Spring of Second Chances’ follows Phoebe who has spent the past year living under a cloud. She is determined to make a change in her life now and wants to fall in love for a second time after she lost the man she loved in a tragic accident.
She has found her dream job, but there are a magnitude of stresses which have come with it. When single-dad Jack walks into her life, is she ready to fall in love again or is it too soon for her to get over her heartbreak?

A story about second chances, this is a feel good read that will leave you grinning from ear to ear. For fans of Jenny Colgan, Lucy Diamond and Josie Silver

She got her happily ever after. What came next?

If she tries very hard, Ami can remember when she used to have a dynamic and exciting career and a husband who she loved more than life itself, and who was equally smitten with her…

Now she has two children, a terrifyingly large mortgage, and no idea who she has become – or why she and her husband can’t even be in the same room anymore.

With life as she knew it in tatters around her, Ami is heartbroken, and in no way pulling off ‘consciously uncoupling’ like a celeb. But as she begins the exhausting task of balancing work, motherhood and singledom, she starts to wonder. Might she just come out the other side and be… happier?

Love is a riddle waiting to be solved…

Twenty-six-year-old Cassy Brookes thinks she has everything under control until one fateful morning changes everything.

Stuck in a doctor’s office, Cassy scribbles a message in a puzzle book, and when she returns for a check-up, she sees someone has replied. She soon finds herself torn between searching for love and outwitting her work rival, Martin.

Will finding the mystery puzzle man be the cure to all her problems or will the truth turn out to be a bitter pill to swallow?

As old enemies reunite, sparks fly – in ways Bridie could never have seen coming…

Bridie Morgan is giving love one last chance – she’s going on twenty dates in twenty days. If this ‘love’ thing really is a numbers game, then surely she’ll find The One. And if not? Well, at least the memory will be enough to put her off for life.

But being love’s biggest sceptic is a challenge in the face of best friend Hattie’s upcoming nuptials. And as maid of honour, she really has to give it a chance.

Then Bridie’s lifelong nemesis Ben Kemp returns home to join the wedding party. Ben, who triggered the sorry state of affairs that has been Bridie’s love life since high school. Ben, the best man to her maid of honour.

For more information about these titles, or our full English catalogue contact Nadia on – nadia.lamond@sagaegmont.com or simply book a meeting.