Archive for September 13th, 2010

Katherine Roberts is officially off men and the only men she’s even willing to give head-space to is the fictional ones she reads about in her much-loved Jane Austen books as well as the regency romances of Lorna Warwick, with whom she has also struck up a friendship with and is hoping to meet at a Jane Austen conference.

Despite her name, Robyn Love isn’t really feeling the love for boyfriend Jace any more and when she happens across the chance to head to a Jane Austen conference she jumps at the chance to clear her head of her romantic entanglement, until Jace decides to go with her.

As Katherine and Robyn head off to the Jane Austen conference, Katherine is looking forward to finally meeting Lorna Warwick after so much letter-writing whereas Robyn is just thrilled to be going full stop. But nothing goes according to plan and despite Katherine being off men and Robyn having a boyfriend, true love could be in the air for the pair of them.

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Nicole Richie’s second novel, Priceless, is out on October 28th and the cover has finally been revealed. I love the sound of the book but the cover doesn’t really inspire me, generally because I remember seeing a similar picture which features Nicole herself and to put yourself (or someone else in a similar pose to yourself) the fiction part kind of goes out the window, don’t you think? Here’s the synopsis:

A wonderfully entertaining riches-to-rags story with the glitz of a celebrity mag exposé, mixed with an old-fashioned tale of comeuppance and self discovery. Meet Charlotte Williams… Rich, gorgeous, blonde and a talented singer, she has everything going for her. Spoiled and indulged, her life has always revolved around fashion, gossip, partying and men. When Charlotte’s father – her only family since her mother’s tragic death years ago – is arrested on fraud charges, her glittering world shatters around her. Alone and penniless, she must make her own way for the very first time. Harassed by paparazzi and the outraged victims of her father’s crimes, Charlotte flees to New Orleans to escape the scandal. But what happens when a Park Avenue Princess is forced to fend for herself? How will she adapt to the Big Easy’s bohemian lifestyle? And in the face of anonymous death threats, can she keep herself out of danger? From the stylish avenues of Manhattan and dark clubs of the French Quarter to the bright lights of Los Angeles, Nicole Richie’s scintillating tale shows that the very life you run from is the one that won’t let you hide.

Week In Review is a new, weekly feature on Chick Lit Reviews where we write mini reviews on the books we’ve read over the past seven days.With so many books to read it gives us the chance to let authors know our thoughts on books, with short, magazine-style reviews. Do leave a comment, or write your own blog post (crediting chicklitreviews.com for the idea), and let us know what you’ve read this week! Enjoy!

Single in the City by Michele Gorman

Hannah Cummings has moved from the US to London on a bit of a whim and is looking forward to life in a brand new country. Hannah is soon regretting her rash move when she finds herself jobless, friendless and unable to understand any of the British people she meets. However eventually everything falls into place for Hannah: she gets herself a job at a party planners, makes a fantastic new best friend and even ends up falling for a man. There’s one problem, though, he’s married, so Hannah still finds herself searching for Mr Right. But is there such a thing? I was really looking forward to reading Michele Gorman’s debut novel Single In The City but it just lacked that magical spark as far as I was concerned. Instead of focusing on Hannah’s move to London, the book mainly revolved around Hannah’s many failed relationships as she jumped from man to man. The footnotes at the bottom of some pages added insult to injury as they explained Americanisms to us Brits despite the fact we already know what the NFL is and what dust bunnies are. Overall I thought the book was just really poor. The footnotes made me feel as if I’m stupid, the plot was too man-heavy and I just didn’t like Hannah. (Leah)

Homecoming by Cathy Kelly

Cathy Kelly’s previous 2 novels haven’t overly inspired me if I am honest, but luckily, Homecoming is a return to Kelly’s best and is certainly a great read. It tells the story of 4 women; Rae, Eleanor, Connie and Megan, all of whom are struggling with life in different circumstances, but all come together to help one another in times of need, and in the spirit of the community. I really loved the setting of a small Irish town, it adds a sense of intimacy and allows for the reader to get really involved in the lives of these characters completely, which makes a real change from Kelly’s previous 2 novels. It covers a couple of big issues, and these are very well handled in the book, very emotional but true to life and I enjoyed this part of the book very much. It kept me reading until the end, I wanted everything to work out for these 4 women, and the length of the story was just right. I really enjoyed this book and it makes me want to look out for more of Cathy Kelly’s books in future… a return to form! (Chloe)