CHILDREN · FICTION
Lucy Daniels
Lucy Daniels is a nobody. She doesn't exist. She is a brand, not a person. The Lucy Daniels story begins with two men: Ben Baglio, an American children's book packager, and Rod Ritchie, managing director of Hodder prior to its merger with Headline. Baglio moved to the UK in the early 90s and had moderate successes with Mystery Club, a kid's crime series, and Mystery Kids, a Grange Hill-type series, both of which have since been dumped by Hodder. But with Lucy Daniels he struck gold. The list of Animal Ark authors reads like a Who's Who of children's fiction. Sue Welford, a Whitbread prize nominee, Jenny Oldfield and Helen Magee, all of whom are names in their own right, have done a turn as Lucy Daniels. In Jenny Oldfield's case, she has done dozens of turns, and the reason is simple: money. A three-to-four-week spell spent writing a 25,000-word Animal Ark manuscript can net the author over £20,000 in royalties and foreign rights. The name Lucy Daniels was chosen extremely carefully. In addition to Animal Ark, there are now Animal Ark Pets, the stories of some of the original animals when they were small, Animal Ark Hauntings, ghost stories with positive messages, Little Animal Ark, for younger readers, Perfect Ponies and Nine Lives. The possibilities are literally endless because for every new idea there will always be an author out there somewhere. Enid Blyton tends to be sneered at by almost everyone these days, but in more honest moments every publisher would sell his or her soul to have a non-stop production line of best-selling titles. The only difference between Daniels and Blyton is that one is real and one is not. Source
The little Welsh pony nibbled gently at Mandy's fingers as she fed him the last of the carrots she had brought for him.
— from Pony on the Porch
Most acclaimed
The sacrifice
A Lord is to marry after he graduates from Barrington University, an elite college for the rich. A Lady’s job is to help him fit into a world unaware of his secret society. The Lord does not get to choose who he spends the rest of his life with. But there is always an exception to the rule. And I just so happen to be his. I VOW. YOU VOW. WE VOW. I was to wed a Lord of my parents’ choosing. Wealth can’t buy you everything, or I would have had freedom years ago. Instead, my strict parents made sure I lived a dull life in a mansion resembling a prison. But on my wedding day, I was handed over to another man—an even more ruthless Lord that my family hated. Tyson Riley Crawford only wanted me for his revenge. I’m nothing more than a debt to be paid. I didn’t have a say in the matter. So when I said my vows before the congregation, I knew I’d break them. Consequences be damned. Too bad I underestimated my husband and didn’t realize he was more determined to punish me than I was to succeed at escaping. He’ll make me choke on those words I used to bind myself to him. Yet even he couldn’t have seen what our future held. Ultimately, we’re all just pawns in a game that none of us can win unless you’re willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice … and even that may not be enough.
Hunted
Caroline Wallace is one of New Orleans PD's top hostage negotiators, and she's never failed to get every hostage out alive. But this time, it's different. This time, the hostages include her boss, the chief of police, and the mayor. And this time, she's trying to negotiate with Reed Ware, a former co-worker who left the force disgraced, under investigation by Internal Affairs, and worst of all, considered to be volatile and extremely dangerous. When the chief of police and the mayor of New Orleans are taken hostage by disgraced former co-worker Reed Ware, top hostage negotiator Caroline Wallace allows herself to be taken captive by the handsome Reed only to learn that he is being targeted for his discovery of high-level government corruption. "Twas the night before Christmas, and dozens of rich, influential hostages are trapped inside a sprawling lakefront mansion in New Orleans. The perp? Detective Reed Ware, model cop turned outlaw. After receiving a panicked call from Hollis "Holly" Bayard, a teenage street tough with a penchant for amateur sleuthing who stumbles upon the scene of a drug-deal-turned- murder, Ware finds his and his friend's lives in dire danger. The crime Holly witnessed could be the biggest police cover-up this side of New Orleans -- and no one's talking. Driven to desperate measures to uncover the truth, Ware stages a coup at a Christmas party for the New Orleans elite, including the mayor, the council chairman, the sheriff, and the superintendent of police, who just happens to be hostage negotiator Caroline Wallace's estranged father. Cool, calm, controlled. That's Caroline's reputation. But when she's brought in to talk Ware off the proverbial ledge, she realizes no amount of false promises is going to placate this man, who looks even hotter than he did years ago when seventeen-year-old Caroline tried to seduce him. It was his duty to protect her family then. Now it's her turn. if she can think fast enough over the pounding of her heart. When Caroline becomes wrapped up in the drama, it's clear the sizzling tension she shared with Ware never let up. And the harder she tries to defuse the situation, the more she begins to wonder whose side she's really on"--
Pony on the Porch
When Mandy meets stuck-up Susan Collins she quickly decides that the only good thing about her is her pony Prince. But then Mandy relizes that Susan's determination to at show jumping threatens the life of the beautiful pony. Can she convince Susan before its to late?