Isabella May

Kate Clothier is leading a double life: a successful jet-setting businesswoman to the outside world, but behind closed doors, life with Daniel and his volcanic temper is anything but rosy. Some days – heck, make that EVERY day – cake is her only salvation. Slowly but surely, the cities she visits – and the men she meets – help her to realise there IS a better future. And the ley lines of Glastonbury are certainly doing their best to impart their mystical wisdom… But will she escape before it’s too late?

Willow has opened a custard tart cafe at the end of a popular English seaside pier. Her unique and magical spin on the Portuguese pastel de nata has customers queuing outside the door to taste them. Tiago’s grandparents are purveyors of The Real Deal: authentic custard tarts made in the Algarve region of Portugal, where his family have been lovingly baking them for centuries. When he moves to England for a new job and chances upon Willow’s wondrous wares, he is out for war. At least that’s his intention. But when serendipity brings Willow and Tiago back together at the departures desk in Bristol airport - destination Faro - outrage isn’t the only spark that’s about to fly... Weston-super-Mare and Portugal are about to collide!

River and Alice miss Somerset. Christmas isn’t Christmas without family and friends, even when you live in quaint Cornwall. When River’s Aunt Sheba dies unexpectedly, leaving him her ancient VW campervan, nostalgia nudges him and Alice back to Glastonbury - and the surrounding villages - to rediscover their roots whilst serving the most decadent hot chocolate and delectable gingerbread from their renovated ‘bar on wheels’. A bar on wheels complete with a fold-up stage to host local talent competitions rivalling anything Simon Cowell could dream up, even if he’d gorged on a truckle of Cheddar cheese! As the villagers sip their cocoa and ice their gingerbread houses amidst the festive backdrop of song, dance, and slightly more unconventional talents, River and Alice find themselves in an unexpected race against time: Zara, their chocolate supplier is leaving Glastonbury on the twelfth day of Christmas, keen to put a string of disastrous relationships behind her to make a fresh start. Bruno, their gregarious and gorgeous baking supplier is secretly smitten with Zara - ticking every box on her New Year’s wish list. If only they can get them together for one experimental kiss under the mistletoe... They’ve even enlisted their customers’ help in their mission to wrap this budding romance up in all the jingle bells and whistles. How hard can it be? So, ho, ho VERY tricky, as it turns out...

"Nigella in a novel." - HEIDI CATHERINE 1960's Somerset is no fun for cousins Polly and Annabelle Williams. Mourning their non-existent love lives, and the mundanity of village life, their only pleasure is baking - until a chance encounter has them magically transported to the bright lights of London... in 2019! Promised a chance of love, first they must teach the people of the future about the simpler pleasures of life by becoming Cake Fairies. Over the course of a year they set off on a delectable tour of the UK, dropping off cakes in the most unexpected of places and replacing the lure of technology with much sweeter temptations. But will their philanthropical endeavours lead them to everlasting love? Or will they discover you can't have your cake and eat it? The Cake Fairies is the fifth novel by fantastical foodie author, Isabella May.

Ellie Sanchez wants revenge. Spurned during her school days at prestigious Monty’s academy when she was plain Eleanor Finch, and played second fiddle to her idol, Barnaby Westwood, and his show-off sister, Clementine, Ellie will stop at nothing to turn the tables now she’s all grown up. The siblings and their snubbing have been the catalyst for everything that’s gone wrong in her life, from parental neglect to her divorce. When the Westwood travel merchandise company advertises for a new HR manager, Ellie decides her unique combo of karma and Law of Attraction has finally come good. And she’ll be bagging herself a cherry-on-the-cake, second, and richer, husband in the process - once Barnaby sees how much she’s changed, anyway. Fast forward six months and he STILL doesn’t recognise her! Fast forward six months and the company is in a financial mess. Last Chance Saloon-style, Ellie coerces the siblings and their older sister, Brooke (the perpetual spanner in her works) to a rustic gîte in Normandy for a spot of team-building… over a very ‘special’ box of artisan chocolates. Cue ALL the fireworks in the cocoa bean version of Jumanji...

When Ali, Blake, Charlotte, and Grant sign contracts to star in a Back to School reality TV show, LOVE is the very last thing on their minds: Ali flies to the UK from New Zealand, intrigued by the golden opportunity to advance her amateur social media influencer career. Blake carpe diems the moment with both hands after a constant flurry of bad luck. Charlotte jumps at the chance to relive her sporting glories of the past - and take a hiatus from her humdrum marriage. And Grant is just relieved to get away from his failing second-hand music shop. But once the advances hit their bank accounts, it soon becomes apparent that producer Jock’s Pied Piper-style offer to change their lives is distinctly lacking in sherbet fizz! In fact, the only sweet thing about this gig for the former students and the rest of their Bubblegum and Blazers competitors, may just be the packet of candy in their pockets. Re-enacting their past is a rollercoaster of revelations, retaliation, and unlikely romance in a gold-fish bowl of mayhem where Raphael (Agony Uncle of the school sweet shop) and his rhubarb and custards reign supreme...

The rain in Spain doesn't mainly fall on the plain… Brits abroad Belinda, Julia, Laura and Georgina need more than the sweetness of churros with chocolate dipping sauce to save them from their unsavoury states of affairs. Cue Carmen Maria Abril de la Fuente Ferrera, the town's flamboyant flamenco teacher! But can she really be the answer to their prayers? One thing's for sure: the Costa del Sol will never be the same again.

One steamy summer in Spain. One accidentally double-booked eight-tier wedding cake that needs to put in a same day appearance at a rustic countryside finca AND a beachside villa. Two brides. Two grooms. Hundreds of hungry guests. FREYA ASHCROFT, owner and culinary whizz at Marbella’s five star bakery (and general queen of dating disasters), is going to need a miracle to save this date. If only that was her sole dilemma. She's also fallen head over heels in love with super hot fitness instructor, TIM NUTKINS... and his rippling abs. Which would be fine, if he wasn't one of her aforementioned male clients. A forced proximity rollercoaster of a forbidden love romance with a sweet happy-ever-after.

When TAYLOR’s husband commits his third crime against marriage, days into their honeymoon, cruelly laughing at her anaphylactic shock during a tasting session at Heavenly Devonly Honey Farm, she files for immediate divorce. It shouldn’t take a stranger to call an ambulance! Even if he is the swoonworthy Devonshire TV chef, ZACH KNIGHT. Weeks later, sworn off men for eternity, travel journo Taylor reluctantly finds herself back in the West Country to work on a UK holiday hotspot assignment: destination Woolacombe. At least it’s north of the county, kind of far away from the bittersweet memories of her last visit to these parts. But when Zach just happens to embark on a coastal tour to promote his latest cookbook, Taylor has her work cut out in more ways than one. He’s the last person she expects to raise her antennae when she checks into her hotel room to find that it's been double booked between the two of them... and there is nowhere else to stay in town. The harder Taylor tries to bee-hive as their agendas outside the bedroom mysteriously fuse, the more Zach is bee-witched. But can she give into temptation without getting stung? A steamy and tasty meet-cute romance with a peanut sensitive protagonist and a golden retriever of a leading male.

When career burnout brings EVIE and JOE together in Glastonbury, random acts of festive kindness are the last thing on their minds. One year ago to the day, Joe mysteriously disappeared on Evie at their mutual friend’s Yuletide bierkeller bash in London, just as they were getting very well acquainted… an act that has sworn her off men for life. Both fellow city-dwellers are determined to spend their December sabbatical in the quirky town alone, and as planned, focusing on their make-or-break New Year’s resolutions… whilst one of them is stubbornly ignoring the fact they fancy the Christmas jumpers off one another. But nobody walks through the twinkly-lit doors of the mistletoe-decked Keanu Kindness Café without the selfless magic of the Hollywood star rubbing off on them! Especially when calamity strikes on Christmas Eve, ensuring Evie and Joe lock their reindeer antlers at last… A steamy will-they-won't-they forced proximity holiday romance.

Can a Spin the Bottle kiss stand the test of time? CELESTE thought she had long forgotten the sweet, citrusy smooch she shared with TRAVIS one hot summer... Splitting her time between her accounts office in super Instagrammable Notting Hill, and her tiny apartment in quirky Exmouth Market, modern-day London life is simply too busy for men. Besides, whenever she tries to find The One, it always ends in disaster. From Tinder tragedies to tea for two tribulations, Celeste is beginning to think that she's cursed. When Travis starts to pop up wherever she goes, Celeste knows with stomach-sinking clarity that fate has finally caught up with them both. Inspired by the idea of fake dating, she's convinced the only way out of this mess is to call the jinx's bluff. But will Travis agree? And how can she manage not to fall in love? Pour yourself a lemonade and escape with this gorgeous will-they-won't-they rom-com set between London and Gibraltar!

Ex-ballerina and cupcake connoisseur, SUMMER SIMPSON is four years into running her controversial but successful cupcake emporium in Montmartre, Paris. All of which has created enough drama, but then there are the grumpy but hot handball star, FABIEN ROBERT and his snooty, overbearing aunt.When Fabien isn’t turning the heating off in their apartment block to annoy Summer, his beloved family member is circulating new streams of gossip in a bid to make her scurry back to the UK ‘where she belongs’.But Summer is as tough as her sugarspun Eiffel Tower cupcake toppers… even in the snow flurries of a French winter. Until disaster strikes and a corporate Christmas delivery for the biggest business in the neighbourhood has the power to make or break the emporium, forcing even Fabien to defrost - and the sparks to fly.Can the prickly Parisian really turn into the role model golden retriever boyfriend? Festive dates on the outdoor ice skating rink are well and good (and a fabulous excuse to dust down Summer’s pirouettes) but her business comes first and there’s no way she will share her heart with a man whose meddling family cannot be trusted.A slow-burn - but steamy - enemies-to-lovers romcom dusted with lashings of icing sugar!