Former musician and twenty-something Phoebe Vermont hasn't played piano for years. Once a rising teenage star, in her "older years" she prefers to lead a performance-free, low-key existence, without theatrics. She plays things so safe that she's practically wrapped her life, and her heart, in cotton wool. She lives in her sister's London flat. She works as a barista, slinging coffee. She's had the same steady boyfriend, Ben, for almost a decade. But when Phoebe's job at the café disappears in a puff of smoke, she has no choice but to find a new job - and fast. Forced to make use of her qualifications from the Royal College of Music, she finally secures a position as a musician's assistant. As her life is thrown into upheaval, on the plus side, at least her new boss, Otto Arnold, is a famous pianist and gorgeous. But on the downside, after breaking his hand he's becoming increasingly difficult. He even insists Phoebe do the one thing she tries to avoid at all costs - play the piano. Phoebe's Performance is a heart-warming story of rediscovering the carefree inner child within, of learning to take a chance in love, and letting go.

Kayla Morrison, single mother of twins, knows the answers to three questions: It's been two years since she's shared someone's bed, fourteen months since her last date, and her most recent kiss was on New Year's Eve, so it doesn't even count. When she gets the chance to win a ticket to a country-rock concert, complete with a limo ride and a meet & greet after the show, she doesn't hesitate. But in order to get the ticket, she has to win a Battle of the Sexes trivia game on the radio. Will she be up to the challenge? [This is a long short story broken up into a few chapters.]

Addison Knight is my name, playing nice is not my game. Well, that's not completely true. It's only with the Daniels' that I'm not civil. They're annoying, bothersome, jerks who are practically my brothers. We grew up together so we're always on each others nerves. On my seventeenth birthday - the year my parents agreed to take me on a road trip - my life turns into a disaster. Call me over dramatic if you want, but when your cozy little trip across the country suddenly turns into a massive, chaotic circus, you're not going to be the happiest goldfish in the box. *** © This story, "The Road Trip," is protected under copyright laws. Any infringement of this copyright is punishable by law. © Posted 5/20/12 Completed 7/30/12

Natalie Willis and Devon Taylor have a history that extends way back. A history that Natalie would do anything to forget. They may have once been closer than anything but now they couldn't be anymore different. He's everything she's not, or everything she's trying not to be. So when their parents push them together to go on a trip up north, Natalie is sure it'll end up disastrous. But after a journey of rain, hail and the worst luck possible could these polar opposites fall in love, all over again?

Stories for several comps/collabs, amalgamated into one collection. Two of them actually placed in their respective sections (yay!): -Mysterious Ways - 1st place, @PsychologicalNovel's "Wake Up In the Morning" comp (June 2020) -The Listeners - 1st place, Last Summer 2020 collab in the @WarriorGoddess section (July/August 2020) * -'The Flower Hunter'. Loosely based on the folklore of seductive water sprites, particularly the Vila (a Central European version of Rusalka). Written for @AfterDark's "Mirror, Mirror" contest (Mar 2020) -'Mysterious Ways'. A young woman wakes in the wrong version of her bedroom. Or is it so wrong after all? ('You wake in a strange place, possibly as someone else.') -'The Listeners'. Morial and her fellow Spirit Listeners work hard to maintain the balance between nature and mortals; until, one Summer, Morial is accused of upsetting that balance herself. ("I know what you did last summer". The prompt features as paragraph nine in my story.) -'Between the (Spread)Sheets'. An accountant and a trader play cat-and-mouse in a City firm. (@Crime's 'Deceptive Detective' Aug 2020: one criminal goes undercover to expose or be exposed by another.) -'The Unexpected Message'. A missed phone call proves momentous for a young art historian. (@AmbassadorsUK/@Fanatsy/@WattpadFairytales's 'Underground Tales' contest Nov 2020: pick a Tube station - King's Cross/Angel/Seven Sisters/Knightsbridge - and imagine what lies below which is connected with the name. I chose Angel.) The only real thing in this story is the Museum of London (which has an excellent Roman gallery, btw); any coincidence with real heritage experts - or indeed the unrealistic probability of such a find - is my fault. -'Cyclopean Arches'. In the year 3542, an advance exploration party finds some interesting ruins. (Nov 2020. 'Underground Tales' (again): King's Cross.)

A story about a colour (and colour in general), and hopefully about how colour can be sensual, can resonate, can have meaning in unusual and personal ways. Written in response to a @RaeKitano prompt, to write a story about a colour. The original story is Part One. Part Two is a continuation, which picks up in the space before the last paragraph of Pt1, if that makes sense. Written July 2013.

Lockdown obliges two office workers to ask: where or what is home, when you have to stay there? * The setting is a fictional version of the UK's East Midlands region. * I know that many people are having a really shit time at the moment, so I hope this is a way of acknowledging the current situation without being too heavy-handed, and maybe even cheers someone up. Although there is a potentially quite serious situation described, I hope the light way it's treated doesn't offend anyone, or imply that I'm not taking it seriously. I've tried to stay very conscious of the public health advice, as it was in the UK at the period covered. This basically came down to: Stay At Home (if you possibly can). Written May/June 2020

Introducing Fools Castle, a forgotten village about to be remembered. Nothing much happens around here, but that suits Antoinette Ellis perfectly. She wants the cocoon the village provides. Fate has taken too many of her loved ones, and all she has left is her brother, and their late sister’s daughter, Tabitha. Antoinette gave up her future to look after her young niece, but her sacrifice hasn’t gone unnoticed. When a stranger called Rufus moves into the grim, grey house opposite her cottage, odd things start to happen in Fools Castle. He admits he’s not the person he appears to be, but he won’t reveal who he really is. And what secrets lie within that little old book of his, which no one is allowed to look inside? A miracle is long overdue, but the season for miracles is just around the corner. From the #1 bestselling author of ONCE UPON A WINTER (Fairy Tales, Amazon UK), THE LITTLE BOOK OF LOST HEARTS is a standalone, contemporary novella of 24,000 words perfect for fans of Cecelia Ahern and Sarah Addison Allen.

**A Wattpad Featured Read** ... Seventeen-year-old Pandora doesn't believe in curses. Her older, married sister Iris thinks otherwise. So what really happened when Pandora defied instructions not to open the music box? And how can a trip to the Islas Canarias provide a resolution, as well as the potential for romance? 8,000 words approx, serialized in 9 parts. (First published in full, in the second 'Sunlounger 'anthology, 2014.)

After selling his ancestral estate, Archibald Colston decides to exchange the pastoral serenity of country society for a chance to make a new life for the Colston family in the wealthy elite of New York City. Upon their arrival, Archibald and his sister, Olivia, who is less than thrilled to be separated from the familiarity of English society, are thrown into the unbridled opulence of the New York winter season - but not without help. Millionaires might be made every day in the land of opportunity, but the old money is not so eager to welcome new money "Swells" into their exclusive circles. The Swells are ready for a showdown... and the opera is their chosen venue. Archibald and Olivia both find themselves with a vested interest in the successful opening of the Civic Opera House. With a show set to premiere on Christmas Eve, the future of the opera house, and a secure spot in society on the line, the pressure is high. Sparks will fly as the Colstons team up with a pair of eccentric producers, a spit-fire stage manager, a debutante with a golden voice, and a sensational corsetier to put on a show New York City won't soon forget.