Archive for June 24th, 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 I’ve chosen a “modern classic” from chick lit author Sophie King. Sophie has written 5 books, all of which I’ve read and enjoyed but this one sticks in my mind as being a particularly good read. Mums@Home is based on a load of mums and dads coming together in an online community to chat about their problems and woes, and it makes for fascinating reading.

What I loved about this book is that we know the secrets that the characters are hiding, but they are slowly revealed through the forum which is displayed in the book, and I was so eager to get to the end and find out if everyone works out who everyone is! If you haven’t read any of Sophie King’s books, I’d definitely recommend Mums@Home but any of Sophie’s read are all brilliant!

“Calling all mums!

Caroline, Mark, Susan and Lisa are as different as the parenting problems they face and each has their own reasons for logging on to the Mums@Home website for the very first time. At first they are cynical about the site – how can faceless people possibly help or understand what they are going through? But as the weeks pass and their family problems escalate, each of them begins to realise that Mums@Home has become a lifeline – somewhere to go for advice, to be heard, to escape, or to belong…”

Pauline Lawless’s second book If The Shoe Fits is out in three days on 26th June 2010 and sounds like an interesting read. I quite like the cover, too. Here’s what it’s all about:

‘Calling All Shoe Addicts’, said the advertisement that triggered a response in four very different women, each at a difficult time of her life. Niamh, at 23, the mother of a five-year-old and twin girls aged four, is desperate to have a home of her own. She longs to escape the house of her vicious mother-in-law but her charming, irresponsible husband and the mountain of debts they have makes this seem ever more unlikely. Amber, former air stewardess whose husband Dermot left her for a younger woman, has lost all her confidence and is drowning her sorrows with alcohol. Tessa, beautiful former model, paid the price for living life in the fast lane when she almost died from a heart attack. Her reliable friend, George, persuaded her to come and live with him in Ireland. She now realises that she’s made a dreadful mistake. Rosie, recently widowed, can’t come to terms with the loss of the man she loved so much. Life without him doesn’t seem worth living. All of them, needing a way out, find it with the Italian designer shoe company, ‘If The Shoes Fit’. This leads them to a new career, great friendships and a life-changing experience.

Polly Williams may have only had a book out this March, but she’s due another release in November this year which is great news for people like me who love her books! A Woman Like Me is out on November 11th and is one I’ll definitely be picking up!

“Nell Stockdale is in a pretty good place, managing to combine a full-on career with single motherhood, a lovely flat, great girlfriends, and a sexy younger man on the scene. But her mother is very ill. Will she return to the family’s large, damp Cornish farmhouse to care for her? Normally Nell keeps her family at arm’s length. Her sister is engaged to Nell’s ex big love, and she has never got on with her eccentric, distant mother. But something powerful is pulling her back to Cornwall… Meanwhile, in Banbury, April James has finally found the courage to leave safe married domesticity and head south on a mission too, convinced that the Stockdales once played a part in her life. One handsome man will enchant both Nell and April. And as the women’s paths cross, dark family secrets, hidden for a generation, change all their lives forever…”