Archive for January, 2011

Tamara Goodwin has always got everything she’s ever wanted. Born into a family of wealth, she grew up in a mansion with its own private beach, a wardrobe full of designer clothes and all that a girl could ever wish for. She’s always lived in the here and now, never giving a second thought to tomorrow. But then suddenly her dad is gone and life for Tamara and her mother changes forever. Left with a mountain of debt, they have no choice but to sell everything they own and move to the country. Nestled next to Kilsaney Castle, their gatehouse is a world away from Tamara’s childhood. With her mother shut away with grief, and her aunt busy tending to her, Tamara is lonely and bored and longs to return to Dublin.When a travelling library passes through Kilsaney Demesne, Tamara is intrigued. Her eyes rest on a mysterious large leather bound tome locked with a gold clasp and padlock. What she discovers within the pages takes her breath away and shakes her world to its core.

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Leah, Chloe and I are extremely excited to announce the expansion of our very popular “American Saturdays” feature! With more and more readers expressing interest in Chick Lit in the US as well as a steadily increasing supply of Chick Lit authors here in the US we thought this would be the perfect time to change things up. So, from Friday through Sunday you can expect the following and more…

• Book Reviews
• Author Interviews
• Book News
• New Release Information
• Cover Wars
• Book Trailers
• Guest Posts
• And More…

We hope you will continue to enjoy the fantastic reviews and news coming from British Chick Lit (and others around the world) during the week, but will also fall in love with what is happening in the US as well. Please feel free to let us know if you have any favorite American Chick Lit authors you’d love seeing featured and we’ll see what we can do to get them on Chick Lit Reviews!

Again, thank you so much for your continued support, comments and love! It is all so very much appreciated!

When Edward Bull says yes to directing an amateur play Death By Dying, he has no idea just how much his life and the lives of the actors involved will change over the course of the 6 weeks it takes to get the play up to scratch. First there’s sisters Ellen and Marie, one still stung with grief over the death of her boyfriend while the other stays in her loveless marriage because she doesn’t know how to leave. Then there’s Judith, whose all alone since her son headed to Greece months earlier.

Robert thinks he has the life he always wanted, until something come along to threaten everything he’s made. Harry is lonely, with only his ailing ma with him, and is shy to boot. And finally there’s Theo, happy in her relationship but struggling to come to terms with being a step-mother. As the curtain call draws closer, can these 7 people sort out their real life difficulties and manage to put on the performance of their lives in Death By Dying?

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Avon has signed a spate of new year deals with an additional four-book deal for Trisha Ashley, two new novels from Claudia Carroll, and two debut authors’ first offerings.

Commissioning editor Kate Bradley secured a further four-book deal with Ashley, acquiring world English rights through Judith Murdoch. Bradley said: “We are delighted to be continuing our successful partnership with Trisha who has just spent the six weeks up to Christmas embedded in the Sunday Times Top Ten. Trisha has the knack of creating clever and witty romantic comedies that tick all of the right boxes but don’t fall into lazy cliches—her legion of ever growing and evangelical fans are testament to this.”

In another deal, editorial director Claire Bord has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to two novels by bestselling author Claudia Carroll through agent Marianne Gunn O’Connor. Bord said: “Carroll writes with lashings of humour and charm and is a unique voice within the genre of women’s fiction.” The first of the two-book deal will be published as paperback in summer 2012.

Bord has also bought UK, Commonwealth and translation rights to two novels by debut author Stella Newman through Cathryn Summerhayes at WME. The first book, Pear-Shaped, follows the story of Sophie Klein as she falls in love with the too-good-to-be-true James Stephens. Bord said: “I fell in love with Pear-Shaped as soon as I read the first page . . . She is a real talent.” Avon will publish in January 2012.

Taken from TheBookseller

I’m thrilled with this news! I love Trisha Ashley’s novels and adored Claudia Carroll’s latest book so I’m looking forward to more from her! I’m not entirely sure if Stella Newman’s novel is Chick Lit but it sounds intriguing and it’s definitely one I’ll be keeping an eye out for!

I am huge fan of Jane Costello’s books, so I’m really looking to her new book Girl On The Run! It’s due out on 14th April, and has already gone through a name change, initially being titled Chasing Mr. Right. I’m not keen on the white cover but the purple writing and cartoon drawings I like a lot! Here is the synopsis:

“Four white-chocolate Magnums. Three hot men. Two dress sizes. And one great big charity race…Abby Rogers has been on health kicks before - they involve eating one blueberry muffin for breakfast instead of two. Since starting her own business after one too many episodes of The Apprentice, the 28-year-old’s waistline has taken even more of a back seat than her long-neglected love life. But when she’s encouraged to join her fitness-fanatic best friend’s running club - by none other than its gorgeous new captain - she finds a mysterious compulsion to exercise. Sadly, her first session doesn’t go to plan. Between the leggings that resemble strawberry-flavoured condoms and the fact that her lungs feel as though they’ve been set on fire, she vows never to return. Then her colleague Heidi turns up at work and makes a devastating announcement, one that will change her life - and Abby’s - forever.”

Sara B. is losing her cool. Not just in the momentary-meltdown kind of way - though there’s that, too. At the helm of must-read Snap magazine, veteran style guru Sara B. has had the job - and joy - for the past fifteen years of eviscerating the city’s fashion victims in her legendary Dos and Don’ts photo spread. But now on the un-hip edge of forty, with ambitious hipster kids reinventing the style world, Sara’s being spit out like an old Polaroid picture: blurry, undeveloped and obsolete.

Fueled by alcohol, nicotine and self-loathing, Sara launches into a cringeworthy but often comic series of blowups - personal, professional and private - that culminate in an epiphany. That she, the arbiter of taste, has made her living by cutting people down…and somehow she’s got to make amends.

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A while back Danielle, during American Saturday, posted about Aimee Bender’s new novel The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. I thought it sounded absolutely amazing so I was thrilled to see that it will be released in the UK on 3rd February 2011 and it’s one I would really love to read. Here’s the synopsis:

On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein, a girl at the periphery of schoolyard games and her distracted parents’ attention, bites into her mother’s homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother’s emotions in the slice. She discovers this gift to her horror, for her mother – her cheerful, can-do mother – tastes of despair and desperation. Suddenly, and for the rest of her life, food becomes perilous. Anything can be revealed at any meal.

Rose’s gift forces her to confront the secret knowledge all families keep hidden – truths about her mother’s life outside the home, her father’s strange detachment and her brother’s clash with the world. Yet as Rose grows up, she realises there are some secrets that even her taste buds cannot discern.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is a luminous tale about the heartbreak of loving those whom you know too much about. It is profound and funny, wise and sad, and Aimee Bender’s dazzling prose illuminates the strangeness of everyday life.

Chick Flick Tuesday highlights the best chick flicks in the movie world as well as bringing you news on upcoming chick flick releases as well as letting you all know about which chick lit books are being made into chick flick movies!

A classic Chick Flick, Say Anything, starring John Cusak and Ione Skye, is a favorite from my youth. I still can recall my sisters and I singing over and over again the song “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel, that was played outside Diane’s window by Lloyd. The tragic story of the boy in love with the girl who’s just too good for him with a dad that feels strongly that they should stay away from each other. In the end it’s Lloyd who rescues Diane from her father and his criminal behavior, proving that love does conquer all. This is the perfect chick flick, especially if you love 80′s music, or movie’s with great soundtracks.

“In this charming critically-acclaimed tale of first love, Lloyd (John Cusack), an eternal optimist, seeks to capture the heart of Diane, an unattainable high school beauty and straight-A student (Ione Skye). He surprises just about everyone-including himself-when she returns the sentiment. But Diane’s over-possessive, divorced Dad (John Mahoney) doesn’t approve and it’s going to take more than just the power of love to conquer all.”