Showing results by narrator "Katie Villa" in All Categories

"Are you my mummy?" Tessa Markham returns home to find a child in her kitchen. He thinks she’s his mother. But Tessa doesn’t have any children. Not anymore. She doesn’t know who the little boy is or how he got there. After contacting the police, Tessa is suspected of taking the mystery child. Her whole life is turned upside down. And then her husband reveals a secret of his own. Tessa isn’t sure what to believe or who to trust. Because someone is lying. To find out who, she must confront her painful past. But is the truth more dangerous than Tessa realises?

Willow McAllister is desperate to start over. Quiet town. Blank slate. No attachments. When she meets her friendly new neighbour, Priya, it feels like a lifeline: the start of something good. And then there’s Gabe: charming, funny, easy to talk to. Maybe she’s allowed a little happiness. Maybe she can trust again. But Willow’s instincts have been wrong before. And when she discovers that Gabe and Priya share a past, the cracks start to show. Willow can’t help wondering if Priya’s arrival next door really was by chance. Because coincidences like this? They don’t feel like coincidences at all.

Gemma Ballantine is getting ready for work one morning when her eldest child comes running down the stairs saying the words every mother dreads. The front door is open. And her six-year-old daughter has disappeared. Frantic with fear, Gemma starts a nail-biting search for her little girl. After what feels like forever, her mother-in-law, Diane, finds Katie wandering lost a few streets away. Relieved to have her youngest child back in her arms, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair, Gemma thinks the nightmare is over. But then her perfect family starts to fall apart....

Two-and-a-half-year-old Holly is playing happily in a pink, plastic playhouse, while her mother Rachel sips coffee and chats with a friend nearby. It should be an ordinary day for all of them. But, in the blink of an eye, it turns into every family’s worst nightmare. Holly is taken by a stranger and never found. Nine years later, Rachel is living a quiet life in Dorset. She’s tried to keep things together since the traumatic day when she lost her eldest daughter.

It was supposed to be the happiest day of her life. Zoe was sitting in her hotel room, in her perfect white dress, looking forward to the moment when she would make kind, handsome Toby her husband. Then, there was a blank. They said she must have fainted, overcome with emotion. But nothing felt quite right afterward. Did something happen in that missing time?

In this chilling story from the bestselling author of The Secret Mother, it’s the wedding day of Alice’s dreams. Until it becomes a nightmare… Alice and Seth are a perfect love story: the handsome doctor and his beautiful fiancée. They’re wealthy, well liked and made for each...

The white-washed Italian villa is perfect. I thought it might feel odd, living in a stranger’s house for the summer, but as my husband and children swim in the infinity pool, I start to relax. And then, in the back of a wardrobe, I find something that shatters everything.... Sparkling green eyes, square jaw, lopsided smile. A young man with his arm around a beautiful woman. The picture is old and faded, but I’d recognize him anywhere. The man is my husband.

Never trust anyone. Never trust yourself. Rachel has made poor decisions in the past, but she has always tried her best for her daughter. When Vivian needed a fresh start, Rachel didn't hesitate to move them far from London. She just wishes she could shake the nagging doubt that Vivian is hiding...

On a dark night, on a mountain road, a young couple, Matthew and Stacey, are on their way home from a night out. Their car breaks down, and Matthew leaves to look for help. By the next morning, Stacey is found murdered in the car and Matthew is missing, presumed guilty of her murder. Called to the scene, Detective Alex King and her team soon see some terrifying links - to another local young man who is missing and to the discovery of a body from 30 years ago.

Faye Townsend has planned the perfect summer trip for her family. But returning to the small seaside town her husband grew up in does not go to plan - the rain pours, and the long days become stifling. And then the unthinkable happens...Her husband, Jake, and her six-year-old son, Dylan, go for an early morning walk along the beautiful, windswept clifftops. They don’t come back.

Our new home was supposed to be a chance to leave our past behind. But was moving here the worst mistake of our lives? All our friends and family were gathered, glasses raised to toast our fresh start. It should have been a night for happiness and celebration. Zac and I had worked so hard for this: our first home together, just minutes from the sea. But the dream quickly turned into a nightmare.

Lucy has a kind and adoring husband, a job she loves as a teacher, and a house on Mulberry Avenue with floaty curtains and the softest bed linen. After her troubled childhood, she knows life will never be perfect, but it’s pretty close. She’s also got Amber, right next door. They never run out of things to talk about. Even if Amber’s life - with her high-profile job and handsome, wealthy boyfriend - is more glamorous than Lucy’s, they share a down-to-earth sense of humor. But then Amber starts to hint that her life isn’t all it seems....

Kirstie Rawlings is jolted awake by a child crying. Racing upstairs to check on her newborn, she is plunged into every parents’ worst nightmare. She hears an unknown voice in the baby monitor, saying: "Let’s take the child - and go." Is someone trying to steal her little girl? In the bedroom, her daughter is safe asleep in her cot. Is the voice coming from a nearby house? But there aren’t any other children living on her quiet country road....

Never trust anyone. Never trust yourself. Rachel has made poor decisions in the past, but she has always tried her best for her daughter. When Vivian needed a fresh start, Rachel didn't hesitate to move them far from London. She just wishes she could shake the nagging doubt that Vivian is hiding...

Her sister stole her future. Now she’s coming to take it back. Twins, separated at birth. One privileged, one forgotten. Only one knows the truth—and only one will survive. Bella has it all: the dream house, the successful business, the perfect boyfriend. But while she builds her charmed...

Jay and I have only known each other a short while, but whenever I gaze into his gorgeous brown eyes I know he’s the one. His little house by the deep forest’s edge is perfect for the two of us—no internet, no phone signal, and no neighbors. I’m about as far from my past as I could be. Warm in Jay’s arms, I can persuade myself it’s ok that he disappears for hours when he thinks I’m asleep at night, returning the next morning, glittery eyed and tense. I won’t question him, I can’t challenge him. I need our relationship to work. Because I have secrets too.

1897. Rosamund bows her head and steps slowly down the aisle. The satin of her gown whispers against the stone floor and a single tear falls into the bunch of yellow roses twisted in her trembling hands. Despite rumours of his cruelty, Rosamund has no choice but to become this man’s second wife.

As I sit in her dimly lit bedroom, surrounded by flickering candles, I feel the crushing weight of my daughter’s absence. It's been two years since Layla was murdered. The police have searched tirelessly for her killer, but they've found nothing – it's like whoever did it vanished into thin air. My once-perfect marriage is falling apart, we can hardly look at each other anymore. Our ten-year-old son Gale is struggling. He’s changed since she died. He’s more secretive and also…

Jake and I were childhood sweethearts. Strong, dependable, and with a smile that melts my heart, he is the perfect husband and father to our beautiful little daughter. We have our money troubles–but getting a lodger, Kara, calms the panic I feel about our bills. Jake is reluctant but what choice do we have?

Charlie's marriage is over - but that does not mean that her life is. It is just down to her besty Mercedes to convince her of that! Mercedes draws up the perfect bucket list and begins a one-woman mission to lift Charlie's spirits. Before long, Charlie is belly-dancing, bungee-jumping and much more...including rekindling her love life with handsome journalist Jake. But she is having so much fun as the bucket list grows - and has questions about Jake.