AustLit

'Shelley and her mom have been menaced long enough. Excused from high school where a trio of bullies nearly killed her, and still reeling from her parents’ humiliating divorce, Shelley has retreated with her mother to the quiet of Honeysuckle Cottage in the countryside. Thinking their troubles are over, they revel in their cozy, secure life of gardening and books, hot chocolate and Brahms by the fire. But on the eve of Shelley’s sixteenth birthday, an unwelcome guest disturbs their peace and something inside Shelley snaps. What happens next will shatter all their certainties—about their safety, their moral convictions, the limits of what they are willing to accept, and what they’re capable of.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Returning to Scotland tp organise her wedding, Catriona is overcome with the jitters. She decides to tie up loose ends by seeking out her ex-boyfriends. Trouble is they are all dead and she is getting the blame!

Source: Publisher's Blurb

'It all starts when Bronny and her backpacker friends decide to break into a vacant townhouse in London. During the day they work as cleaners, pool attendants and bartenders; at night they take lots of drugs and have sex. The house becomes the centre of their world, and, for a while, Bronny is happier than she ever thought possible. Then the banging noises begin... And what Bronny doesn't realise is that the basement isn't empty.' (From the publisher's website.)

'A chef, a portraitist and a barber are taken hostage in a coup to overthrow their boss, the president of a nameless country. They are held captive in a palatial retreat in the mountains high above the capital city. Meanwhile, the chef's daughter, the portraitist's pregnant wife and the barber's lover watch their men from the shadows – for in such precarious times, intimate relationships are as dangerous as political ones. As the old order falls, so does the veil that hides the truth about the secret passions of these men and women.

'Drawing her readers masterfully towards the novel's devastating climax, Ceridwen Dovey reveals how humanity's most atavistic impulses – vanity, vengeance and greed – seethe, relentlessly, just beneath the surface of everyday life. '

'Krissie Donald has no desire to 'settle down'. Committed men are hers for the taking, but she prefers explosive liaisons to any sort of full-blown relationship. Krissie's best friend, Sarah, couldn't be more different. Married to a good-catch-doctor in her early twenties, it isn't long before Sarah's dying to start a family.

'Krissie and Sarah's relationship starts to go awry when Krissie becomes pregnant after a holiday dalliance in Tenerife. For Sarah, who's been trying to conceive for what seems like forever, Krissie's pregnancy can't help but seem a little unfair.

'Things between Krissie and Sarah go from bad to worse during a holiday in the Scottish Highlands with Sarah's husband, Kyle. What starts out as an enjoyable and much-needed break soon becomes a nightmarish combination of sexual tension, murder and mayhem. Fast-paced and brilliantly told, with wickedly observed characters and a spectacular denouement, Dead Lovely is a compulsive read from start to finish.'  (Publisher's blurb)