Steve Roud was Local Studies Librarian for the London Borough of Croydon and served as Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society for over fifteen years. He has been researching British folklore for over thirty years and is the joint author of the Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore, plus other books on traditional drama and folk song, and the Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland, which won the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award in 2004. His publications include London Lore (2008) and The Lore of the Playground (2010). He also compiles the Folk Song Index and the Broadside Index, two internationally acclaimed computer databases of traditional folk and popular song. He lives in Sussex.

Steve Roud

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Kate Eberle

She thought she was in a romance. Fate threw her into a thriller. Will happily-ever-after still be on the cards when fiction and reality blur for Roxie? 
When Roxie makes a tongue-in-cheek wish to live out the plot of her favourite author’s next novel, she has romance in mind — namely, the sweet, safe, swoon-worthy storylines Anna Matthews is known for. It should be a dream come true when her wish is granted by a mysterious busker. Except for one little hiccup: that dashing stranger tries to take her breath away. Literally. With a knife. The thing is, Roxie may be the new Anna Matthews protagonist — but this time, Anna is writing a crime thriller.Thrown into a perilous genre she’s never read, Roxie is desperate for help. So, when her escape from a potential murderer takes her straight into the path of Grant Hoffman — an anxious English professor with a convenient love of crime novels — she decides a little light kidnapping is a small price to pay for survival.Together, Roxie and Grant team up to navigate a madcap story where the lines between fiction and reality blur and find out if they have what it takes to make it to The End — or maybe even Happily Ever After.

If Books Could Kill

Kimberly Lynn Hanson

She is the Skratti – the monster in the woods. 
 
She does not know where she came from, or why she lurks in these shadows. 
 
She knows only that she hungers. For flesh, for blood – for the human hearts the nearby villagers offer up to her. 
 
But when their latest sacrifice, a petty thief named Rorik, enters the Skratti’s lair, a long-forgotten memory is sparked of a sister she once had. 
 
As the Skratti and Rorik piece together her buried past, a dangerous close grows. Soon she will be forced to choose: devour his heart, or give him her own?

I Am The Devouring Dark

Emma Straub

Annie is: 
<ul><li>On a cruise with her one-time favourite boyband and a thousand female super-fans</li><li>Still reeling from her divorce</li><li>Being replaced at work by her intern</li></ul> 
Keith is: 
<ul><li>Fifty years old and in a band that performs dance routines with hip thrusts</li><li>Suffering from sea sickness</li><li>Certain his wife doesn’t love him anymore</li></ul> 
When a meet-and-greet throws them together, Annie develops a crush on Keith, and Keith starts to wonder if life might have a few surprises in store for him. 
 
But are Keith and Annie just living a fantasy? And what happens when they get back to shore?

American Fantasy

Jane Fallon

Georgia and Lydia are so close they're practically sisters. 
 
So when Lydia starts an online business that struggles, Georgia wants to help her - but she also understands Lydia's not the kind to accept a handout. 
 
Setting up a fake Twitter account, Georgia hopes to give her friend some anonymous moral support by posing as a potential customer. 
 
But then Lydia starts confiding in her new internet buddy and Georgia discovers she doesn't know her quite as well as she thought. 
 
Especially when Lydia reveals a secret that could tear Georgia's marriage apart . . .

Worst Idea Ever

What’s a little white lie between best friends?

Rainbow Rowell

Cherry and Tom had built a quiet, contented life together in Omaha, until Tom’s semi-autobiographical webcomic went viral and turned their marriage into public property. 
 
Now the world knows Baby, the character based on Cherry, better than Cherry knows herself – and Tom and Cherry have been separated for months. 
 
That’s when Russ Sutton shows up. Floppy-haired, blue-eyed Russ Sutton, who Cherry had a crush on in college, and who now seems to have a crush on her. 
 
All that’s left is for Cherry to rewrite her own story. Because if she isn’t Baby, and she isn’t Tom’s wife, then who can she be?

Cherry Baby

Jodie Chapman

Frank and Chrissy meet a couple of days into 1970. Frank O’Hara, with his Elvis T-shirt and slicked-back hair, has escaped England for adventure out west. As soon as someone tells him about a house in the desert two hours east of LA where the walls are curved and the glass shimmers, a house where Elvis and Priscilla Presley honeymooned only a few years before, Frank tells himself: I have to see this place. 
 
When Chrissy, all blonde hair and oversized sunglasses, picks him up hitchhiking on the side of the road, it’s love at first sight. Weeks later they elope, setting out to build Mirage, an exact replica of Elvis and Priscilla’s mid-century honeymoon fantasy in a muddy English field. For the next forty years, Mirage will be home to three generations of the O’Hara family. But when your life is a sunny Californian dream raised in Britain, you start to wonder: where exactly do I belong?

California Gold

Annie Summerlee

An elite vampire university in Scotland has opened it's doors to humans for the first time. But there is one pupil very different from the rest. . . Rebecca Charity. Vampire hunter. She is searching for the Book of Blood and Roses, a compendium of ways to kill vampires. 
 
But when Rebecca arrives, she finds someone unexpected. 
 
The beautiful vampire, Aliz Astra who is everything Rebecca has always hated, and wanted. 
 
When Aliz rescues her from a vampire attack, she accidentally makes Rebecca her familiar. And they must work together to break the curse. Growing closer by the day. 
 
But what happens when a vampire hunter falls in love with a vampire?

The Book of Blood and Roses

Laura Dickerman

This isn't the office romance you expected... Perfect for fans of You've Got Mail, Attachments and Good Material 
'Hilarious, heartbreaking, satirical, cutting and FUN' Laura Jane Williams 
'For anyone who loves Curtis Sittenfeld, Nora Ephron, Alison Espach' Joanna Rackoff 
'Super smart and assured . . . Fans of Tom Lake and The Flatshare will love it' Sarra Manning 
'Rollicking and entertaining' People Magazine 
'Captures all the thrills and aches of setting out in the world' Morgan Dick 
 
 1982Jane Kinloch arrives at the legendary townhouse offices of the East River Review as a wide-eyed intern with big dreams. When she strikes up a friendship with glamorous fellow intern Rose, the two soon become inseparable. But Rose’s attraction to their married boss, literary titan Edward David Adams, threatens to drive a wedge between them. 
2022Once upon a time in publishing, editors had their own offices. But now, to her great chagrin, Rebecca Blume of Avenue Publishing must share custody of a ‘hot desk’ with Ben Heath, editor at rival imprint Hawk Mills. What starts as a battle of passive-aggressive Post-it notes about an unwatered cactus notes escalates after the death of renowned writer Edward David Adams. He has left behind an unpublished manuscript, and Ben and Rebecca are soon vying for the career-making opportunity to publish it. 
But when Rebecca discovers that the manuscript contains a decades-old secret about her mother, Jane, she is determined to stop it from seeing the light of day. 
Can she persuade her infuriating (and annoyingly handsome) rival deskmate to let it go? 
A funny, sexy, unexpectedly moving novel that weaves a contemporary workplace romance with a gripping historical narrative set in the 1980s New York publishing industry.

Hot Desk

Giovanna Fletcher

When you feel like life's beating you down, it's time to fight back. 
 
Carly needs a break. Between her three kids, husband, mother-in-law and working on hotel reception she is being pulled in multiple directions. The reliable 'yes' person for everyone, Carly's always running at 200mph. 
 
It's time to say no. Carly is ready to take back some control and start remembering the things she used to love. As she begins to step back from doing everything for everyone else, she's excited to discover new challenges for herself. But what happens when this newfound sense of freedom has repercussions she never saw coming? 
 
As Carly moves through her journey of discovering the power of no, she also realises the importance of saying yes. 
 
 
From the Sunday Times bestseller comes a new uplifting and emotional story full of love, laughter and romance.

Untitled Giovanna Fletcher

Philippa Rice

Evnie Treedle makes magical things and for the last few years has been working at the magical knickknack shop, The Magpie Nest.But everything changes when Evnie’s crafting abilities catch theattention of the nearby Reignclowd Palace. She is soon whisked away to become the Palace’s spellsmith and is put to work making and mending magical objects.But disaster strikes when a dragon threatens the Kingdom’s princess and it is up to Evnie to put her crafting talents to the test to save the girl, and the Kingdom, from this mysterious beast.

Reignclowd Palace

Jamie D'Amato

It's only natural Brennan's life would be upended by turning into a vampire. But if there's one thing Brennan can do, it's pretend everything's fine. 
But his new bloodthirsty existence gets way more complicated when Cole, the super cute librarian, stumbles on Brennan sucking down a stolen blood bag. Luckily, Cole is happy to keep Brennan's secret, and something starts to grow between them . . . 
But when rumours of a missing student and strange 'animal attacks' near campus start to circulate, Brennan must uncover the truth before he becomes suspect number one and stands to lose everything

The Good Vampire's Guide To Blood And Boyfriends

Olivia Ford

In their sixty years together, Jennifer Quinn has only kept two secrets from her husband. One is that her love of baking has just won her a spot as a contestant on primetime TV show Britain Bakes. The other she hopes will stay hidden forever . . . 
 
Whisked into an unfamiliar world of cameras, timed challenges and celebrity judges, Jenny finds herself in with a chance of being crowned the best baker in Britain. 
 
But as her star begins to rise, the past collides with the present, and Jenny struggles to conceal that long held secret which could shatter the very foundations of her decades long marriage . . .

Mrs Quinn’s Rise to Fame

Elizabeth Enfield

On a beautiful late-summer's morning, Cate Challoner's daughter, Beth, heads to the beach with her best friend. The girls will spend the day flirting with boys and enjoying the thrill of being young. Beth is eighteen and soon leaving home for college. Her mother is already missing her. 
 
That afternoon, the doorbell rings. Cate immediately knows something is wrong. CPR. Resuscitation. What do these words have to do with two teenagers enjoying an afternoon at the beach? 
 
Cate's daughter is her everything. Beth's presence at home is inescapable. How can a child stop existing? How can a mother survive such loss? Can a shattered world be put back together?

After Beth

India-Rose Bower

Britian, two years after they came . . . 
Most people have been devoured by the eldritch creatures. 
Sara and her family have been fighting for survival. 
And the only thing that works against these monsters - these Witches - is their knowledge of folklore and pagan rituals. 
When a girl named Parsley suddenly appears in the garden of their current camp, she cannot remember where she came from or why she's there. 
As Sara and Parsley begin to develop feelings for each other, disaster strikes, and Sara's younger brother Noah is snatched by the Witches. 
They must find him and set out across desolate moors full of merciless terror, to hunt the very creatures they've been hiding from. 
Can they succeed in saving Noah? Will Parsley and Sara's burgeoning love survive these bloodthirsty Witches? and, who can Sara trust in a world void of humanity?

We Call Them Witches

Carley Fortune

Frankie and George have one week in paradise to fix their friendship or fall apart... 
 
They’ve been best friends for as long as they can remember. Too much alike – passionate, impulsive, and headstrong – they’ve always clashed . . . and come back together. Until their last tumultuous fight. 
 
When George walks in on the eve of her wedding, Frankie has everything she’s ever wanted. Until the next morning, when Frankie’s fiancé dumps her, without explanation. 
 
Heartbroken, Frankie wants to wallow, but George has a different idea: he wants Frankie to go on her honeymoon. With him. For one week, to the lush rainforest and misty beaches of Tofino. 
 
Frankie sees this for what it really is: one last chance to repair their friendship even if it means unearthing secrets neither knows how to handle. Even if it means coming together, or falling apart, for good.

Our Perfect Storm

Julie Johnson

Something changed for Rhya Fleetwood in the battle of Fyremas. Her untrained power feels both heavy with grief and volatile. Caeldera lies in ruins. Her friends are dead or wounded. And Pendefyre, their newly crowned king, is shutting her out. When a twist of fate leads Rhya to the last place she expected—the Water Court—the novice wind weaver is forced to confront the limitations of her power as well as her increasingly complicated relationships. The more insight their enigmatic King offers into the maegic that binds them together, the more confused Rhya feels—about her future as a Remnant, about her deepest desires, and about her role in the coming war.

The Sea Spinner

Sophie Kim

Grumpy Taissa Cho lives alone in an obscure corner of Scotland for a reason. Once, she was the UKHC’s (United Kingdom’s Hidden Cities) most promising carriwitchet player. 
 
It was Taissa’s coach who had etched the illegal rune onto her, turning the odds in her favour despite Taissa’s protestations. And it was Kion, the annoying, handsome star player of her rival team, who caught her out. Her career was completely, and utterly, over. No team would take her. 
 
Until Kion asked her to come and play for the Stymphs. 
 
To garner publicity and keep Taissa as the Stymphs' secret weapon, she and Kion are forced into a fake relationship. 
 
Can they save their team from ruin, even when sabotage seems afoot?

The Winged Game

Bea Fitzgerald

Nadine Heywood is determined to be the best actress in the world.Getting into London’s top drama school is just the first step. But there, Nadine comes head-to-head with Harper Moore. Beautiful, brilliant, effortlessly charming, she is everything Nadine isn’t. And immediately Nadine sees her as more than just her competition.As their worlds collide against the glitz of Hollywood, they can no longer keep their rivalry private. Splashed over the tabloids, Harper and Nadine are the public’s favourite celebrity feud. 
 
But as the stakes get higher, they start to realise there is more to their passionate hate than meets the eye…

Better Than Revenge

Raven Kennedy

It’s time to pay the Piper. 
 
Our world cracked open, unleashing nine monstrous Banes ready to destroy everything. The powerful Core fae destroyed them, but each Bane left a Plague to punish us. 
 
But that’s not the only thing they left behind. 
 
I’m half Bane, half fae, and wholly hated. Survival means enduring every vicious glare and cursed outbreak. Until one day, a Plague descends upon my city that means certain death. 
 
Then he comes. The Pied Piper. 
 
He rids my city of the Plague, but it comes at a cost. One hundred and thirty people. Including me. 
 
I have to get home. My family’s lives depend on it. But the Piper won’t let me go, and something wicked stirs between us. 
 
I have to escape before it’s too late. Because if I don’t, it’s not just my heart at risk. . . 
 
But the entire world.

The Sweetest Fiend

Josh Winning

Bastian may be a vampire, but he doesn’t bite—anymore. He’s just trying to live his best undead life: sightseeing through Italy with his magical talking cat, Whitby, and maybe flirting with a cute boy or two. 
 
Then a body turns up on the beach, seemingly drained by a vampire. It wasn’t Bastian. He swears—on his own grave. But the local police chief isn’t convinced and assigns the infuriatingly handsome detective Nico De Luca to watch him until his trial. 
 
With the Vampire Council on their way and more victims appearing, Bastian, Whitby, and Nico must unmask the real killer before the whole town is gone—fangs, flirting, and all.

Be Still My Unbeating Heart

Betty Hawk

When Elliott Summers arrives in Kings Crossing, she wants only to find the truth about her family, and why they abandoned her. She isn’t expecting a hook-up with a guy much too charming for his own good—or to find a body in the woods. 
 
When Elliott learns she comes from a long line of werewolf hunters, and her handsome hookup, Garrett is from the town's resident pack, he's instantly off-limits to her, and she to him. 
 
But even as the mysterious attacks in the town mount up, Elliott’s heart is growing more entangled with Garett. 
 
Will she choose the hunters or the hunted—and which group is which...?

Wolfheart

Emma Noyes

Charlie Hudson now knows the truth: her twin sister is a Valkyrie, and they're both daughters of Loki, the trickster god. After saving her best friend from Elias and Loki's clutches, Charlie is summoned to appear before the god of gods, Odin, who tasks her with a mission. The Seal that protects humanity from Asgard's magic is starting to break down, and only a human can stop it. To do so, Charlie must convince her old enemy , Elias, to bring her to the underworld. As she and Elias journey to the land of the undead, undeniable attraction burns between them once again. And when they arrive, Charlie finds that Loki is not who she thought he was-and that she may be on the wrong side of this war.

Heart of Mischief

Shadow of Souls Book 2

Robinne Lee

Relocating from Paris to LA for her husband’s work, two children in tow, wasn’t Cecilia’s choice. But she finds there’s more at stake than her husband’s career when she collides with Anouk Ferrand. 
 
The women last met in Mexico, 1996. Cecilia was a photographer’s assistant; Anouk an unknown model. This was shoot that made her name. 
 
Cecilia doesn’t know if Anouk remembers those wild days on the coast. But Cecilia has never forgotten. 
 
Now, she must choose who to listen to – the mother and wife in the mirror, or the woman inside her who’s whispering: this may be everything you crave.

Crash Into Me

Isha Raya

When struggling actress Dimple Kapoor pushes her Hollywood rival to her death, it’s not the first time she’s killed. Or the second... 
 
But this third time was an accident. It just so happens to be a very convenient accident that's created the perfect opportunity to land her dream role. 
 
It’s too bad another partygoer witnessed it. With everything she’s ever wanted within reach, Dimple will do anything to keep it in her grasp. 
 
Unfortunately for Dimple, top private investigator Saffi Iyer is catching onto her deadly schemes. 
 
But when the two women meet, sparks fly. 
 
Has Dimple finally met her match?

Triple Threat

Tom Fletcher

The Fletchers have weaved in an apocalyptic nightmare, a daring escape and a passionate love story - Sunday Times 
 
The heart-pounding final book in the Eve of Man trilogy that sees Bram and Eve rise up to save their world

Eve of Man: Book 3

Danai Christopoulou

Lady Macbeth turns to the three witches for advice. 
She’s given a brew that transports her to a strange realm. 
Desperately lost, she opens a door to a woman drenched in blood. 
 
Klytemnestra is exacting bloody vengeance on her husband. 
Yet an otherworldly door appears and a strange woman steps in. 
 
Thrown into unknown territory, the pair are forced to form an alliance or perish. 
Yet the realm’s goddess, The Mistress of the House of Books, claims to hold the key to saving them. But can they trust her? 
 
As every threat brings our vile lady villains closer into fiery attraction, they have a choice: remain within the confines of their original tales … 
Or burn down the world to pen a new story together . . .

Vile Lady Villains

Stacia Stark

In exchange for her brother’s life, Arvelle must enter the Sundering –– a deadly competition where the winners are chosen for the Imperius –– the emperor’s elite guard. 
 
It’s a dangerous task made even worse when she attracts the attention of the same ruthless vampire who shattered her heart six years ago. 
 
With elite gladians targeting her in the lethal arena, and an assassin picking the competitors off one-by-one, Arvella has no choice but to ally with the man who once betrayed her. The man who has since become even more implacable, colder and merciless.

We Who Will Die

Alexandra Christo-Cheung

THALIA MARROW has only ever known the life of a Scion, guarding the Library of Curses. But when the Library is ransacked and her brother taken by demons, she becomes the last remaining Scion. Desperate to find her only family, Thalia follows the bloody trail to the mysterious SOREN. A ruthless Fae Prince who was banished from his kingdom. Now, Soren is out for vengeance. Soon the Fae Prince and the warrior librarian must work together to uncover what happened at the library, and the identity of the mysterious Lighteater who is unleashing curses on the realm.

Cursekeeper

Shannon Mayer

Still reeling from the betrayal that shattered her at Neverthorn, Harlow Daygon is in hiding. Again. Magically disguised and barely holding it together, she and the rest of House Phoenix are masquerading as students at Heathermoor, Neverthorn’s mysterious Scottish sister school. But for the first time in a long time… Harlow feels almost at home. Too bad peace never lasts in the Dwimmerworld. The Grym Dunaris is still lost. The Kraken gold has vanished. And Typhon has found her and her friends. And soon they'll see, he's not the only danger hot on their heels.

Heathermoor

J. Elle

With the future of the Order clouded in uncertainty, and the evil within its ranks coming to the surface, everyone Quell cares about is gone and she still can’t escape the powerful legacy that wants to destroy her. 
 
Meanwhile, a darkness festers inside Dragunheart Jordan Wexton. 
 
His path to survival means becoming the monster he was bred to hate, if he can overcome the power rotting within himself. 
 
In a world where the line between proper and forbidden magic blurs, Quell and Jordan, along with two unlikely allies, must navigate a treacherous path where freedom hangs by a thread. 
 
Will rivalries and deadly betrayals shatter their hearts and destroy the world they once knew?

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