Archive for August 26th, 2010

Chick Lit Classics is a regular 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!

I have to say I did struggle to pick a classic this week, so I went off upstairs and had a look at my bookshelves to see if there was a book that would jump out at me. One did, and although it’s only a 2007 release, I think The Yorkshire Pudding Club by Milly Johnson is a must-read for anyone who loves brilliantly written heart-warming books. My nan actually lent me this one and told me I’d love it, and she was right. Milly’s easy to read writing style and characters that you’ll care about ensure you won’t be able to put this down, and for a debut novel, it’s just superb. I love the look of the cover though, and they are redesigning it which I wish they wouldn’t because I think it’s so different! Anyway, if you haven’t read any of Milly’s book before, pick up a copy of The Yorkshire Pudding Club. You won’t regret it.

You can read my review of The Yorkshire Pudding Club here.

“Three South Yorkshire friends, all on the cusp of 40, fall pregnant at the same time following a visit to an ancient fertility symbol. For Helen, it’s a dream come true, although her husband is not as thrilled about it as she had hoped. Not only wrestling with painful ghosts of the past, Helen has to deal with the fact that her outwardly perfect marriage is crumbling before her eyes. For Janey, it is an unmitigated disaster as she has just been offered the career break of a life-time. And she has no idea either how it could possibly have happened, seeing as she and her ecstatic husband George were always so careful over contraception. For Elizabeth, it is mind-numbing, because she knows people like her shouldn’t have children. Damaged by her dysfunctional childhood and emotionally lost, she not only has to contend with carrying a child she doubts she can ever love, but she also has to deal with the return to her life of a man whose love she must deny herself.”

After reading and review Jo Rees’ latest book Forbidden Pleasures, Jo offered to write us an author article based on her experiences of seeing people reading her books, and it makes for fun reading! Here it is, enjoy!

Beach Reading by Jo Rees

Every summer, we decamp – my husband and writing partner, Emlyn Rees, me and our three daughters – to our tumble down finca here in Mallorca. It’s seriously rustic - ‘camping with brick’ we call it - and totally different from our UK life, but we all love it.

In theory, the days should float by having long lunches under the trees and reading by the pool. In reality, I do lots of cleaning and trips to the supermarket and when we don’t have guests, Emlyn and I are always embarking on some new DIY odyssey. This year we’ve drained and painted the pool and started the huge task of sanding the shutters.

Occasionally though, the kids remind us that they’re on holiday and we jump in the car to take them to the beach.

I always marvel at how many families go for beach holidays here in Mallorca and seem to love the whole thing, because personally, I find beach trips really stressful. From the second we arrive, it’s carnage. Clothes are flung everywhere as the kids wrestle into their bikinis and I trot around after them squirting sun-cream and muttering about hats and sunglasses and armbands as they slither out of my grasp into the water.

Within seconds they’re back with a barrage of questions: Can I have my flippers/goggles/bucket/spade/towel? Can I have an ice-cream/drink/fishing net? Can we get a banana boat ride/slide-pedalo/sun-lounger? Will you look after my crab/shells/OMG what is that?

I settle each demand and think about how I might get comfy and finally open my book, but guess what? The towel-draggers are hungry and they want the picnic I’ve bought in the cool box. And thus begins the hell of making sandwiches. Thus called because I turn into a witch and everything I produce is full of sand.

But being hot and sweaty and covered in sticky melon juice is nothing compared to the private ego bashing that the beach trip involves at this time of year. Because everywhere you look, people are reading books and I can’t help but pathetically hope that one of them is reading my book.

But yesterday on the beach, I’m pleased to report that I had my first Forbidden Pleasures spot of the summer.

‘Six o’clock, six o’clock,’ I stage-whispered. ‘Don’t turn round.’ But of course, the whole family did.

‘High five, Mum,’ my eldest said, spotting my book jacket, but I can’t high five her, because I’m mid ham sandwich.

‘If you say anything, we’re leaving,’ warns Emlyn.

‘I won’t,’ I say, blushing.

I once asked a woman on the beach who was reading ‘We Are Family’ – one of the books Emlyn and I wrote together - whether she was enjoying it, and Emlyn was so embarrassed, he spent the rest of the day in the sea.

‘She looks like she’s enjoying it, though,’ I say.

‘She’s topless,’ the middle one says, peering closely at the girl.

‘So that rules out you taking a photo and putting it on Facebook,’ Emlyn says.

He knows me so well.

‘I could just say hello,’ I say.

‘You could,’ says the eldest. ‘But most authors don’t have blue feet.’

I look down. My feet are indeed covered in pool paint.

‘Don’t ruin the magic, eh love,’ Emlyn says, laughing, as the mayonnaise drops off the knife into my lap.

With over twenty novels to her name, many of which are bestsellers, Maeve Binchy is quite an accomplished writer. Her newest novel Minding Frankie is due out 30th September 2010 in hardback and February 2011 in paperback. The story sounds intriguing and I’m sure it’s going to be a huge hit. Here’s the synopsis:

Baby Frankie is born into an unusual family. Her mother is desperate to find someone to take care of her child and she doesn’t have much time.

Noel doesn’t seem to be the most promising of fathers but despite everything, he could well be Frankie’s best hope.
As for Lisa, she is prepared to give up everything for the man she loves; surely he’s going to love her back?

And Moira is having none of it. She knows what’s right, and has the power to change the course of Frankie’s life . . . but Moira is hiding secrets of her own.
MINDING FRANKIE is a story about unconventional families, relationships which aren’t quite what they seem, and the child at the heart of everyone’s lives . . .