Dominique ('Domino') lives a charmed existence as wife to one of Ireland's most successful businesssmen, Brendan Delahaye - until the day Brendan disappears, leaving his company in disarray and Domino and their daughter alone to face the music. STAND BY ME is the story of Domino's recovery and her journey from obliging and dependent wife to a stronger and happier woman, with a new man ready to step into the gap left by her deserting husband. And that's when Brendan comes home, handsome and charismatic as ever, expecting life to carry on just as it was before...

I’m writing about what I know here – at least, in a way! Britt, my heroine, is a writer. She had a successful career as a divorce lawyer before writing a book as therapy to get over her own divorce. Her assistant saw the manuscript and (unknown to Britt) sent it to a friend who found a publisher for it. The book, The Perfect Man, was an instant romantic bestseller and is now being made into a star-studded movie. But Britt never wanted to be a writer and she can’t deal with people thinking that she must be a romantic person herself, especially as she has no time for men. However her agent has booked her to be the guest speaker on a major cruise ship’s Valentine Cruise which is Britt’s idea of hell on earth.

The issue I wanted to look at in this book was our own perceptions of ourselves versus those of other people. Britt’s sister, single parent Mia, accompanies her on the cruise and both of them see each other very differently. And they both have their own opinions on their fellow travellers too…

Taken from Sheila's website:

As many of my readers already know I like writing about families. Someone Special is about an extended family and how all the various members of it get on (or don’t get on) with each other.

Someone Special’s main character is Romy, who is forced to come home from her job as a forensic archaeologist in Australia when her mother, Veronica goes into hospital for a back operation.

Romy is Veronica’s youngest daughter, from her second marriage to Declan. Veronica also has a son, Darragh, and daughter, Kathryn, from her first marriage to Tom, and she’s recently divorced for the third time (although no children from that one!). Romy and Veronica are very different people. Romy isn’t into glamour and fashion though Veronica loves it – and so does Darragh’s wife, Giselle. Kathryn, Romy’s half-sister, is part of a power-couple and lives and works in New York. She’s very smart and sassy but has problems of her own. Darragh is the managing director of the family company and likes to see himself as a mover and shaker although the company is starting to lose clients.

Romy finds herself caught up in their problems as well as trying to accept her father’s second wife, Larissa and their daughter, Erin, too. Meanwhile she’s missing Australia, her work and her friends, particularly Keith, her best friend, who’s suddenly not as easy to know as he was before!

Kristy Dunwoody, a now jobless ex-banking high flier, is moving from her expensive uptown apartment in New York to a fourth-floor walk-up studio on the wrong side of town and she's vowing not to tell her family of her reduced circumstances when she returns home for her mother's surprise 70th birthday. Olivia Morgan, harassed wife and mother of three, put upon daughter and sister-in-law, is trying to organize her mother's party, do her Christmas shopping and clear out the guest room for Kristy's homecoming. Esther Dunwoody is dreading her birthday. She hopes there won't be a fuss. She'd much rather get on with making the Christmas puddings and look forward to decorating the tree with her precious grandchildren. Little does she know there's a big celebration in store ...and there will certainly be surprises.

What happens when ex husbands start to fancy their first wives again? Can first wives forgive and forget when their husband has done the dirty on them? Connie Adams has to make choices. The lead up to her daughter's wedding has been utterly fraught. Debbie is absolutely adamant that she does not want her father, Barry, his glamorous second wife, Aimee or her stepsister, Melissa to attend. Barry is equally adamant that they will. But as Connie and Barry join forces to get things sorted sparks begin to fly...Few weddings go as planned especially when there is tension between families and the events that occur at this particular wedding will have far reaching repercussions that will leave their mark for years to come.

When the honeymoon is over real life begins...

Newly married Debbie, worried about mounting debts and with wedding bills still to pay, is at her wits' end with coke-sniffing, champagne-swilling hubby, Bryan. But he has no desire to give up the high life and become a-stay-at-home husband. Ambitious and driven, a career woman to her fingertips, Aimee is horrified to discover she's pregnant. She doesn't want the baby, but her husband, Barry does. Is their marriage going to last? Connie, Barry's ex, has seen their daughter Debbie safely up the aisle and, with an interesting new man on her horizon, is all set to make a life of her own. But Barry and Debbie need her more than ever to sort out their problems. Can she walk away and leave them all to get on with it, and finally make a fresh start? Will anyone be happy ever after?

This Charming Man‘Everybody remembers where they were the day they heard that Paddy de Courcy was getting married’ But for four women in particular, the big news about the charismatic politician is especially momentous … Stylist Lola has every reason to be interested in who Paddy’s marrying – because although she’s his girlfriend, she definitely isn’t the bride-to-be. Heartbroken, she flees the city for a cottage by the sea. But will Lola’s retreat prove as idyllic as she hopes? … Not if journalist Grace has anything to do with it. She wants the inside story on the de Courcy engagement and thinks Lola holds the key. Grace’s sister, Marnie, might be able to help but she’s too busy holding her perfect life – perfect husband, perfect children, perfect house – together. And what of the soon to be Mrs de Courcy … Alicia will has waited a long time for this and is determined to be the perfect politician’s wife. But does she know the real Paddy de Courcy? Four very different women. One awfully charming man. And the dark secret that binds them all …

When Ellie Kendall loses her husband Jamie in an accident she feels her world has come to an end. But life has to go on and eventually she’s ready for a new start – at work, that is. She definitely doesn’t need a new man, not while she has a certain secret visitor to keep her company...

Entrepreneur Zack McLaren seems to have it all, but the girl he can’t stop thinking about won’t give him a second glance. Why can’t she pay him the kind of attention she lavishes on Elmo, his time-share dog?

Having moved to an exclusive flat in North London, Ellie becomes friendly with neighbour Roo who’s harbouring a secret of her own. Between them, can both girls sort out their lives? Guilt is a powerful emotion.

But a lot can happen in a year in Primrose Hill...

All through school tomboy Jen, snobby Georgina, hippy Meg and gentle Rowan were inseparable. But when a childish prank turned bad their friendship was torn apart.

Twelve years later Rowan organized a reunion dinner and all did not go well. Rowan never appeared; Georgina’s shocking secret was revealed; Meg behaved outrageously; and Jen finally decided it was time to move on. And that’s just what she did for the following ten years…Until now, when in the midst of her divorce Jen receives a desperate call from Meg. On a personal mission to track down Rowan, Meg manages to convince Georgina and Jen to put aside their differences and help her. But none of them even begin to imagine the extent to which their loyalties will be tested as their past finally catches up with them.

Scarlett loves the moives – they're just so much more exciting and romantic than her own mundane life mending popcorn machines and living with her DIY obsessed fiancé - David. So when everyone keeps telling her she needs to stop day-dreaming her life away in Johnny Depp & Brad Pitt’s arms, and settle down and get on with real life, Scarlett decides to prove them all wrong.

When she’s given the chance to house-sit in Notting Hill for a month, Scarlett thinks this will be her ideal opportunity to prove her family wrong about the movies. But she quickly finds the real Notting Hill is nothing like the celluloid version, and after she meets her new neighbour - the cool, confident, but movie-hating Sean, Scarlett starts to realise this challenge might be trickier than she first thought.

Every day Scarlett tries - usually unsuccessfully - to place herself in as many movie scenes as she can. But it's when she's least expecting it that she finds a link to one of her favourites...and it’s then that she discovers so much more than the fairytale ending she’s always dreamed of.

Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction ...

Eve knows exactly what she wants. After nine good years and two lovely kids together, it's about time Liam made an honest woman of her. After all, they're as good as married anyway, aren't they?

Eve's older sister Sam knows more than she should.
She's always thought Eve was way too good for Liam. And she doesn't like the way his work takes him to Australia, and away from his adoring family all too often.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Brooke knows nothing. Until one day, a mysterious delivery arrives for her and promises to change her life forever.

It seems someone doesn't want Brooke to be the last to know ...

What makes a house a home?

For Eve Gallagher, home is miles away in England since she and her husband relocated to an apartment building on New York's Upper East Side. And life isn't coming up roses.

What makes a neighbor a friend?

Violet has lived in the building for decades, but she's always kept herself apart, until Eve's loneliness touches her heart.

What makes a wife a lover?

Jason Kramer in apartment 6A is no longer sure he loves his wife, but he's head over heels for Rachel Schulman in 6B.

What makes the girl next door the woman of your dreams?

Meeting Emily Mikanowski from 3A turns Trip Grayling's world upside down. It's love at first sight, but he needs help from Charlotte, the shy romance novel addict in 2A, if he's going to get his girl.

What they all have in common is an address, but it is also a home where their lives and secrets intertwine. Come in and enjoy this bittersweet story of friendship and love.

Jordan Landau is having a bad life. At twenty-five, she is attractive, smart, funny and talented. But all that doesn’t keep her mother from calling her fat, her boss from stealing her ideas, and her boyfriend from cheating on her. Day in and day out, she sits back and watches as everyone walks all over her. Then one day while riding her bike home from a particularly awful day, Jordan collides with a car door and is knocked clear off her bicycle. Coming to in the hospital, Jordan realizes she has a perfect excuse for a “do-over”; she vows to fake amnesia and reinvent herself. And it works. Finally, Jordan is able to get the credit she deserves at work, and she stands up to her family and her jerk boyfriend. She’s living the life she always dreamed of–until the unthinkable happens. Suddenly Jordan must start over for real, and figure out what really makes her happy–and how to live a truly memorable life.

A man with a faded, well-worn notebook open in his lap. A woman experiencing a morning ritual she doesn't understand. Until he begins to read to her. The Notebook is an achingly tender story about the enduring power of love, a story of miracles that will stay with you forever.

Set amid the austere beauty of coastal North Carolina in 1946, The Notebook begins with the story of Noah Calhoun, a rural Southerner returned home from World War II. Noah, thirty-one, is restoring a plantation home to its former glory, and he is haunted by images of the beautiful girl he met fourteen years earlier, a girl he loved like no other. Unable to find her, yet unwilling to forget the summer they spent together, Noah is content to live with only memories...until she unexpectedly returns to his town to see him once again.

Allie Nelson, twenty-nine, is now engaged to another man, but realizes that the original passion she felt for Noah has not dimmed with the passage of time. Still, the obstacles that once ended their previous relationship remain, and the gulf between their worlds is too vast to ignore. With her impending marriage only weeks away, Allie is forced to confront her hopes and dreams for the future, a future that only she can shape.

Like a puzzle within a puzzle, the story of Noah and Allie is just the beginning. As it unfolds, their tale miraculously becomes something different, with much higher stakes. The result is a deeply moving portrait of love itself, the tender moments and the fundamental changes that affect us all. Shining with a beauty that is rarely found in current literature, The Notebook establishes Nicholas Sparks as a classic storyteller with a unique insight into the only emotion that really matters.

"I am nothing special, of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough."

And so begins one of the most poignant and compelling love stories you will ever read...The Notebook