Archive for September 20th, 2010

Lily and Laurence Lamont-Jones are used to having it all: flash holidays in exotic locations, the perfect family home in Buckinghamshire and two children who attend the best school in the UK. However, after they return home from a holiday, they find out that not only has Laurence lost his job, but the Lamont-Joneses have lost everything after it’s all repossessed by the bank.

The entire family ends up in Netherslade Bridge, one of the roughest estates in Milton Keynes with nothing but the clothes on their backs. As Lily tries to make do with her lot, she can’t help wondering if it might be possible to get back her plush life, but the Lamont-Joneses soon learn that money doesn’t buy happiness, and their fall from grace could teach them about what really matters in life.

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‘Not Exactly Chick Lit But…’ is a new feature on Chick Lit Reviews highlighting some books that are not exactly Chick Lit (hence the title) but that our Chick Lit readers will probably enjoy! Let me know if there’s a book you would suggest for my new feature!

The first book I’ve chosen to feature for ‘Not Exactly Chick Lit But…’ is the fantastic-sounding Mrs Fry’s Diary by Mrs Stephen Fry. It’s due out 15th October and it sounds hilarious. It sounds exactly like my kind of book and one I know a lot of you would probably enjoy! Here’s what it’s about:

Stephen Fry’s secret wife speaks out at last…

Enjoyed a nice cuppa this morning with a HobNob and Jeremy Kyle. There was a woman on there who’d been married 16 years without realising her husband was gay. Extraordinary! Which reminds me, it’s our 16th anniversary in a few weeks. What a coincidence.

Stephen Fry - actor, writer, raconteur and wit. Cerebral and sophisticated, a true Renaissance man.

Or is he?

Finally, his secret double life - the womanizing, the window-cleaning, the kebabs, the karaoke - is exclusively revealed by Edna, his devoted wife and mother of his five, six or possibly seven children. These diaries take us through a year in the life of an unwitting celebrity wife, and are rumoured to include:

- scandalous nocturnal shenanigans
- advice on childcare
- 101 things to do with a tin of Spam.

‘A good diary should be like a good husband - a constant companion, a source of inspiration and, ideally, bound in leather.’ - Edna Fry

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!

Things He Never Knew by Sarah Haynes

Reading a book by an unsigned author is always a bit of a gamble because you know they haven’t gone through the usual agent and publishers process that other authors have been through in the past. However, Sarah Haynes’ debut novel Things He Never Knew is a fantastic read, and certainly one that I should expect that should be picked up by a big name publisher. It’s about Steph Hammond, and a secret she’s been hiding from her husband Theo for 10 years. It’s soon clear to the reader what Steph’s secret is, but the drama comes from us waiting for everything to fall apart from Steph, and the ramifications when it does. The characters are all very real and while I sympathised with Steph, you can’t help but really feel for poor old Theo. Yes, it’s a story that has been done before within chick lit but I loved the writing, the tension made it so that I couldn’t put it down and it was just a very well crafted read overall. I hope Sarah Haynes continues to write because she is definitely an author I want to read more from based on this brilliant book. (Chloe)