Isabel and Friends Series by Maggie McIntyre

Do opposites attract? Well, perhaps not always Dynamic and driven, charity director Bel Bridgford planned to write a ground-breaking book on Climate Change until a ten ton truck smashed into her little car and destroyed it, almost killing her in the process. She retreats with her broken bones to a remote cottage in Wales and is forced to hire a personal caregiver for a long summer of recovery and rehabilitation... moreDo opposites attract? Well, perhaps not always Dynamic and driven, charity director Bel Bridgford planned to write a ground-breaking book on Climate Change until a ten ton truck smashed into her little car and destroyed it, almost killing her in the process. She retreats with her broken bones to a remote cottage in Wales and is forced to hire a personal caregiver for a long summer of recovery and rehabilitation. The young woman who answers the advert is Bryony Morris, a final year medical student from London, clever, cautious, and used to hiding her feelings. Thrown together and alone for most of the time, the two women move on from initial dislike to explore their complicated relationship as they work together on the book. But Bel is still heart-broken after the murder of her fiancée two years before, and Bryony is focused on how to split up from her boyfriend without losing his friendship. As the sparks fly and then turn into an ever more fiercely burning fire of sexual attraction, can either of them survive the summer without breaking the other’s heart? This is a contemporary, passionate story about real women exploring what it truly means to fall in love. less

Olivia Massie, an uptight editor who hates to be touched, envies her friend Bel Bridgford, who has no problem showing her love for women, and especially for her young wife Bryony. After Bel and Bryony move to the Cotswolds, Olivia ventures out of London to visit them, as she works to publish Bel’s latest book on climate change. But then Olivia falls for Niamh Fitzgerald, a wild young woman from the west of Ireland hoping to get Olivia’s help to publish her late mother’s novel... moreOlivia Massie, an uptight editor who hates to be touched, envies her friend Bel Bridgford, who has no problem showing her love for women, and especially for her young wife Bryony. After Bel and Bryony move to the Cotswolds, Olivia ventures out of London to visit them, as she works to publish Bel’s latest book on climate change. But then Olivia falls for Niamh Fitzgerald, a wild young woman from the west of Ireland hoping to get Olivia’s help to publish her late mother’s novel. Niamh leads a reclusive life caring for her grandmother in a dilapidated castle on Ireland’s Atlantic coast, and her mother’s novel, “Crossing the Bar”, centers on Grace O’Malley a distant ancestor and pirate queen, the scourge of 16th century Ireland’s northwest communities and the English lords.Olivia finds her life will never be the same once Niamh bursts into it. Add a trip they take to Cheltenham’s famous Literary Festival, an impetuous journey to Ireland where Olivia learns to gallop horses along the pure white beaches, and a rumbustious family of five youngsters into the mix, and her world is turned upside down. But why choose someone like Niamh, for her first-ever love affair? Olivia’s brilliant professional skills and ice-queen reputation for success in the world of books have never been tested in matters of love. Maybe the only result will be heartache.So will Olivia and Niamh navigate the stormy waters, and manage to ‘cross the bar’ to a happy ending on their own, or will Bel need to step in to steer them safely back towards a happy ending? Read and find out.This is the fifth novel in Maggie McIntyre’s award-winning series, “Isabel and Friends, but can equally be enjoyed as a standalone story. less