Archive for April 22nd, 2010

Chick Lit Classics is a new feature on Chick Lit Reviews where we highlight the books we feel are classics of the chick lit genre. Feel free to discuss our choices in the comments section!

This week’s Chick Lit Classic probably isn’t a book many people have read and could probably be called a Hidden Chick Lit Classic! I don’t know where I managed to pick up Sarah Mason’s debut novel Playing James but I hugely enjoyed it and have now read it twice. It manages to make me laugh and I thought it was just an incredibly quick read. Shockingly you can’t even buy it on Amazon, unless it’s second hand and it’s a shame as it’s a fab fab book! It also has a sequel of sorts in High Society, which is about Holly’s sister Clemmie. They’re both fab books and come highly recommended!

Holly Colshannon is a young journalist who thinks her career is about to take a terminal nosedive when she is moved from covering ‘pet deaths’ for her local Bristol paper and made Crime Correspondent - a poisoned chalice if ever there was one. However, a brilliant idea from the new police PR officer sees Holly shadowing a detective and writing a diary column about his working life. Detective James Sabine is bit of a sour puss - although he does have very nice green eyes - and he’s furious that he has been landed with magnificently accident-prone Holly especially since her arrival comes six weeks before his wedding to faultless Fleur. Holly, however, has a career to think about and this infuriating man is not going to stand in her way. Meanwhile, her bosses at the newspaper realise that the column is proving extremely popular with the readers who are waiting for something romantic to happen between the handsome detective and the nice young reporter. With only days to go to the wedding Holly realises she’s been waiting for the same thing…

The lovely Zoe Miller emailed us last night asking us if we would mind posting about her new book which is due out soon and, of course, we obliged! Sinful Deceptions, Zoe’s second book, is due out on 6th May 2010 in Ireland (and Amazon) before being released to the UK on 4th November 2010. It sounds incredibly interesting and I rather adore the cover. Here’s the synopsis:

Alix Berkeley, the glamorous, Paris based make-up artist, is about to step onto the international stage with the launch of her signature brand of cosmetics. Successful beyond her dreams, it seems that nothing can stop her stellar rise to the top. Until a mistake from her past returns to haunt her. Her sister Emma Colgan lives in an affluent Dublin suburb and appears to have it all. But after years of playing the role of devoted wife and mother, she longs for her old self and a sense of excitement. Then, one night, she does something that will shake her family to its very core. As Alix’s glitzy launch night in Paris draws near, secrets the two sisters fought to hide begin to emerge and both are about to discover just how much their reckless mistakes have cost them.

Dorothy Koomson has got together some of her author friends and put together a fabulous project to help with the continuing rescue effort in Haiti which was devastated by the earthquake in January 2010. Dorothy has put together an e-book containing short stories from herself, and also Alexander McCall Smith, Nina Bell, William Peter Blatty, Nick Brownlee, Louise Candlish, Stella Duffy, Kate Furnivall, Alex Gray, Clare Jay, Shari Low, Martina Reilly and Bernadette Strachan too. These are joyful, uplifting stories, written to raise funds to help Haitian children affected by the earthquake. Just as importantly, these are stories written to raise the spirits – they are stories of hope. The e-book is called No Man and Other Stories to Help Haiti and is released today on Waterstones.com for the fantastic price of £5. Even better than this is the fact that every penny of your £5 goes to Unicef’s relief efforts in Haiti.

Head over to Waterstones.com today to get your own copy, it’s sure to be a great read and you’re helping a charity too!