Archive for May 22nd, 2009

Susy McPhee’s second novel, The Runaway Wife, is due out on the 17th of September and the synopsis reads:

Marion Bishop’s life has fallen apart. Her daughter Hope was killed in a hit-and-run accident six months ago, and now Sam, her beloved husband, has walked out. Left alone with her grief, Marion has begun to contemplate the unthinkable.

However, even her suicide plans go awry. Firstly, she’s all out of pills, and then she’s mugged when she goes out to get more. In fact, it’s the mugging that wakes her up to the fact that she’s perhaps not quite so ready to die as she’d thought: an awkward realisation when you have a knife at your throat.

When her mugger’s girlfriend intervenes in the attack, an unlikely friendship blossoms between the two women and Marion begins to contemplate a future. And what of Sam? He may have given up on their marriage but he hasn’t given up on Marion entirely.

It sounds a really interesting read. I’ll post the cover as soon as it’s made public.

Katie Fforde’s 15th - yes, 15th - novel, Love Letters, is due out next month on June 4th and the synopsis reads:

With the bookshop where she works about to close, Laura Horsley, in a moment of uncharacteristic recklessness, finds herself agreeing to help organize a literary festival deep in the heart of the English countryside. But her initial excitement is rapidly followed by a mounting sense of panic when reality sinks in and she realizes just how much work is involved - especially when an innocent mistake leads the festival committee to mistakenly believe that Laura is a personal friend of the author at the top of their wish-list.

Laura might have been secretly infatuated with the infamous Dermot Flynn ever since she studied him at university, but traveling to Ireland to persuade the notorious recluse to come out of hiding is another matter. Determined to rise to the challenge she sets off to meet her literary hero. But all too soon she’s confronted with more than she bargained for - Dermot the man is maddening, temperamental and up to his ears in a nasty case of writer’s block. But he’s also infuriatingly attractive - and, apparently, out to add Laura to his list of conquests…

I love the sound of it and I love Katie Fforde’s books. I have almost all of her novels bar Living Dangerously and Flora’s Lot and have Wild Designs and Wedding Season to-read. Once I get the chance I’ll re-read Katie’s books and review them. Check back soon for an interview with Katie.

Being a sequel to previous best seller ‘The Ex-Boyfriends Handbook’, the book picks up again with main character Dan Davis and Ed Middleton and their escapades with the women of Brighton.

Ed is still happy with personal trainer girlfriend Sam, but Dan is suffering a bit of a woman drought. He quickly finds out that all of his ex-girlfriends have been rating him on website SlateYourDate.com. Dan’s determined to rectify these poor ratings, and Ed decides to help him change his caddish ways.

But just as Ed is finally settling down, a blast from the past makes their way back into Ed’s life to disrupt everything…

(more…)

Edward is shocked to come home from work one day to find his girlfriend of ten years, Jane, has done a runner, taking everything of hers from their flat in the process. She’s left Edward a note saying it’s his fault, and that she’ll be back in 3 months but he has to change.

Edward’s not really aware of his faults until best friend and TV Antiques Show presenter Dan Davis is more than willing to show Edward exactly where he is going wrong. So, Edward sets out to fix everything that’s wrong with him in order to win Jane back, with more than a little help from Dan along the way.

But is it just Edward’s image that is going to change?

(more…)