Showing results by narrator "Avita Jay" in All Categories

On moving to Brighton, Georgie finds throwing herself into the city's delights fun and exciting, but before she knows it, she's sliding into all kinds of trouble. Charlotte is in the city for a new start, hoping to keep her head down. A terrible revelation sent Rosa running from London, but could her passion for food lead her to more interesting places? As the three tenants find each other, it's as if a whole new chapter of their lives has begun....

Strange as it may appear, Draupadi, the most accomplished heroine of the Mahabharata, happens to be the most suffering, most sacrificing, and yet most misunderstood character from the epic. Though counted among the five supremely virtuous women, honoured as pancha sati in mythology, the name Draupadi still bears stigma and is often contemptuously uttered by people in society as the woman who brought about the greatest war of all time. Pratibha Ray makes a determined effort to present a balanced portrayal of the epic character.

Is it a break? Or is it a blip? Liv and Adam are in love. Liv and Adam are supposed to be getting engaged. Until Adam accidently suggests they take a break. And Liv starts thinking.... Friends, family and bystanders all have opinions, and one complication leads to another as Adam and Liv try to muddle through in this hilarious, heartwarming comedy. Are they split up - or are they on a break? What exactly are they allowed to get away with? And, most importantly, what do Liv and Adam really want?

The lower classes must give 10 years in service to Britain’s powerfully gifted rulers. With one uprising crushed by the glittering elite, commoners and aristocrats alike now take sides for a final confrontation. At the center of it all are two ordinary siblings: Abi Hadley and her brother, Luke. Each has reason to hate the ruling Jardine family. Abi, who was once their servant, now seeks revenge for a terrible wrong. Luke was imprisoned on their whim - but his only hope may be an alliance with the youngest and most powerful of the clan, the cold and inscrutable Silyen Jardine.

In a darkly fantastical debut set in modern-day Britain, magic users control everything: wealth, politics, power - and you. If you’re not one of the ultimate one-percenters - the magical elite - you owe them 10 years of service. This is the darkly decadent world of Gilded Cage. In its glittering milieu move the all-powerful Jardines and the everyday Hadleys. The families have only one thing in common: Each has three children. But their destinies entwine when one family enters the service of the other. They will all discover whether any magic is more powerful than the human spirit.

Fatima, Farah, Bubblee and Mae, the four sisters of the Amir family, are sometimes tired of being the only Muslim young women in a rural British village, not helped by their eccentric neighbours, including the hippie nudists next door. Oldest sister Fatima - or, as her family have always nicknamed her, Fatti (which, she worryingly suspects, has just as much to do with her inability to lose weight and guilty-pleasure love of Primula squeezy cheese as it does her birth name) - is having a particularly hard time finding her place in the world.

In a small town, three mothers wave goodbye to their children at the school gates. Naomi has lived in Exton Cross since she was born, and she knows everything there is to know about everyone. Aleema hates it here. It’s been three years and she’s yet to make a single friend. And she’s sure the other mums whisper about her behind her back. Kelly is an outsider. New to the town, she arrives with nothing but her son—and a dark secret. By the end of the school day, one of their children will be missing. And rumours will swirl that one of them knows why.

Everyday Kindness is a charity anthology of short fictional stories of kindness, edited by LJ Ross. These uplifting tales of hope and of small everyday kindnesses are intended to support wider positive mental-health goals and foster wellbeing through the act of listening to tales of goodwill inspired by others. Featuring authors across the spectrum of literature, some international best-selling and award-winning writers amongst them, this is a unique collection of words.

Naia dreams of becoming a Jaihar Blademaster, but after assaulting a teacher, her future seems ruined. The timely intervention of a powerful stranger suddenly elevates her into elite Upper Grounds training. She has no idea that the stranger is Dal Gassan, head of the Daljeer Circle. Seventeen years ago he witnessed the massacre of Challimar’s court and rescued its sole survivor, a baby girl. Gassan plans to thrust a blade into the machinations of imperial succession: Naia. Disguised as the legendary Princess Xarimet of Challimar, Naia must challenge the imperial family and win.

The four Amir Sisters - Fatima, Farah, Bubblee and Mae - are as close as sisters can be, but sometimes even those bonds can be pushed to their limits.... Becoming a mother has always been Farah's dream, so when older sister Fatima struggles with a tough pregnancy whilst Farah has trouble conceiving, she can't help but be jealous - until a plan to break a huge cultural taboo in her family and use a surrogate gives her renewed hope. But nothing is ever that easy in this warm, witty look at a modern British family.

Justice Laxmi Narayan Thakur and his wife, Mamta, spend their days watching anxiously over their five beautiful (but troublesome) alphabetically named daughters. Anjini, married but an incorrigible flirt; Binodini, very worried about her children's hissa in the family property; Chandrakanta, who eloped with a foreigner on the eve of her wedding; Eshwari, who is just a little too popular at Modern School, Barakhamba Road; and the judge's favourite (though fathers shouldn t have favourites): the quietly fiery Debjani.

At 25, West-End dancer Ellie Wakefield should be having the time of her life. The only problem is, since waking up in a 300-year-old vampire’s leaky cellar, Ellie’s been very much dead. William James Austen has fallen hard. He’s spent the last year loving Ellie from afar and now he’s finally able to be truthful about who and what he is. But this time, Will might just have bitten off more than he can chew.

The late Binodini Thakur had been very clear that she would never agree to sell her hissa in her Bauji's big old house on Hailey Road. And her daughter, Bonu, is determined to honor her mothers wishes. But what to do about her four pushy aunts who are insisting she sell?

We Are All Made of Stars is an unforgettable story about second chances, the power of words, and the resilience of the heart.

John Venton's drunken fall from a cliff leaves his family with an embarrassing ghost. His twin children, Morwenna and Corwin, flee in separate directions as their mother, enraged by years of unhappy marriage, embraces merry widowhood. Only their grandfather finds solace in the crumbling house, endlessly painting their story onto a large canvas map. As the twins are drawn back to the house, they discover that their father's absence is part of the map's mysterious pull.

Dr Rea Dharmasena is devastated when she loses out on her dream research job to her med-school rival, Dr Julia Stone. When it comes to light that Julia got the job using Rea's own cutting-edge research, Rea just can't let it go. Until finally, just after a life-changing medical discovery, Julia is found dead. Now Rea has the dream job she's always wanted. A job she would kill for.

Soma is a shy young woman adrift in a strange new country. After moving from Sri Lanka to Yorkshire to become a nanny to baby Louis, Soma tries to settle into life in the UK, even if every day presents her with a new challenge, from trying new food or getting to grips with the language. But the one thing Soma never counted on was falling in love....

At their wedding Mia and Roy Kapoor promised to love and cherish each other. Whilst not perfect, their marriage is sacred and their commitment absolute. But a knock at the door changes everything when Roy is questioned over the disappearance of a young woman. As Roy and Mia’s life unravels, they must question everything they know about each other if their marriage is to survive. But what if the real truth is not what they, or you, think?

A missing daughter. A desperate father. A journey to save them both. Sofia Mounir’s world is not her own. Her mother is sick, her father broken, the London they live in is dying of greed and self-obsession. So she flees, to Raqqa: heart of the caliphate, foundation stone of a just world that she will help to build. From violence and sacrifice will grow something beautiful, and she will be part of it. Her faith will be equal to everything asked of her. Until it isn’t. Until it becomes clear that not all her new brothers’ and sisters’ intentions are as pure as her own. Until even her faith becomes a liability.

All that Pearl knows can be encapsulated in one word: seed. It is the isolated community that she was born into. It is the land that she sows and reaps. It is the center of her family and everything that means home. And it is all kept under the watchful eye of Papa S.