Set in the 1980s, this is an enjoyable story and a great idea. It begins with Julie and Richard sharing a romantic dinner. All is well until his mother turns up and the bottle of wine they were about to share remains untouched. The bottle gets passed on to different characters in each chapter and on its journey, we visit the lives of these people - all connected in some way - and see their stories played out.

Worse for wear at a New Year party, Lisa and Andy make a couple of rash promises. Lisa will find the man of her dreams and Andy will become famous. Lisa, discovering on a social network site that she's the last of her old schoolmates who is still single, begins to create an ideal life for herself. Things get tricky when one of school friends invites her and her `husband' to a wedding. Very funny writing.

The story is told from several character viewpoints: Nancy's widowed husband, Frank, her ex daughter-in-law, Nina, and her teenage grandson, Jonathan. Nancy has influenced each of them and each remembers her in their own way.

Nina takes her two children on an impromptu camping holiday to France much to the displeasure of her ex husband and his father. Their disapproval isn't totally unfounded when she manages to lose her baby son.

Well-drawn characters and a touching story.

Lena Markham is newly released from prison having served a sentence for embezzlement. It's almost Christmas and she's beginning a new life in a small town where she's been promised a job in Harrington's department store.

However, the only job available is that of playing Mrs Santa. She takes it on but soon her past catches up with her and she's in danger of losing not only her job but the respect of her new-found friends.

Lena makes a decision - she'll fight. After telling the true story of what happened eight years previously, she hopes to clear her name at whatever cost.

A really heart-warming tale with some very likeable characters.

Loosely based on Dickens' A Christmas Carol, the story follows Marlee and her husband Jacob one Christmas Eve as they head off to see their divorce lawyer. When a road accident happens and Marlee wakes to find her husband gone, she struggles through the snowstorm to a nearby house where she's welcomed by an old man called Jay.

During the evening, and with a touch of magic, Jay shows her the highs of her marriage and she reflects on how things might be if the couple go ahead with the parting. A warm story with a Christian message.

Thirty-something Alice Evans is looking for her dream man and finds him in her pottery teacher, James. Does he feel the same about her? He's certainly acting very friendly. But Alice has sort of promised she'll marry the steady, if boring, Eamon and meanwhile is trying to avoid the young man who's moved in next door.

This book has a few laugh out loud moments featuring her elderly neighbour's budgies and some tender moments too.

Agatha Raisin has an idea - she'll invite, and play host to, some of the elderly folk of her Cotswold village. The motley crew arrive and things aren't going too badly until one of their number, an octogenarian letch, decides to get a bit over-familiar with our heroine and she attacks him with her homemade pud. Death by plum duff wasn't part of her plan.

As a fan of Agatha Raisin, I admit to feeling a bit disappointed as initially I was expecting a book rather than a longish short story. But it was fun while it lasted.

An unknown man, almost naked and covered in blood, is captured by police and taken to hospital. He has no idea who he is but appears to have knowledge of specialist weaponry. When the guards outside his room are murdered, and he's suspected of killing them, he takes flight, kidnapping his psychiatric doctor.

We're left wondering whether the man is innocent or guilty of a number of murders while police and the SAS are hunting him and his captive down. A very good , tightly written, with a clever ending.

Song for a Butterfly is set in the Potteries during the 1950s. Megan Cresswell, a paintress, has had a strict upbringing but now finds herself alone after the death of her mother. Setting out to net a husband as the only way she can see of making ends meets, she encounters several potential candidates, though only one captures her heart. Unfortunately for her, Nathan is just visiting from America and it seems unlikely their paths will ever cross again.

However, Megan's life begins to change for the better when she takes an extra job with a wealthy widow. A very enjoyable story with some wonderful characters.

The heroine of this story is the engaging Verity Long, a researcher for a top whodunit author, Kathleen Davenport. When house hunting, Verity stumbles upon a body. The body happens to be Jaynee Johnson, one of the star presenters of the popular TV programme, Star Steps and so Verity begins her own investigation into the death. Lots of twists and a subplot concerning two missing girls. But still plenty of humour.