Archive for January 20th, 2011

Last year Sarra Manning moved from Headline to Transworld and her second adult novel, You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me is out on 3rd February 2011. And in a stroke of genius from the publisher there are two different covers for the book (one for supermarkets - the one with petals and one for everywhere else - the lips). I adore both covers but if I had to choose one to pick, it would be the one with the lips.

Sweet, bookish Neve Slater always plays by the rules. And the number one rule is that good-natured fat girls like her don’t get guys like gorgeous, handsome William, heir to Neve’s heart since university. But William’s been in LA for three years, and Neve’s been slimming down and re-inventing herself so that when he returns, he’ll fall head over heels in love with the new, improved her. So she’s not that interested in other men. Until her sister Celia points out that if Neve wants William to think she’s an experienced love-goddess and not the fumbling, awkward girl he left behind, then she’d better get some, well, experience.

What Neve needs is someone to show her the ropes, someone like Celia’s colleague Max. Wicked, shallow, sexy Max. And since he’s such a man-slut, and so not Neve’s type, she certainly won’t fall for him. Because William is the man for her… right? Somewhere between losing weight and losing her inhibitions, Neve’s lost her heart – but to who?

I am a big Clare Dowling fan, and always look forward to her new releases every year. Her new book, Too Close for Comfort is out on 3rd February 2011, and sounds like an excellent read as ever. Dowling always tackles real issues with a lot of emotion, and I really love that about her books. Here’s the synopsis:

“There’s nobody like your sister when things go wrong. At least that’s what Ali hopes as she flees America and a broken marriage. Emma will surely take her and her two kids in, and it’ll be just like old times, right? But the last thing Emma needs right now is her sister descending upon of her. Not when she’s recovering from some earth-shattering news of her own. How can she tell Ali her secret, when she can’t even get her head around it herself? Ali and Emma want to pick up where they left off – but it’s not going to be easy.”