Archive for February 26th, 2011

I was such a huge fan of the last Mary Kay Andrews novel I read, The Fixer Upper, that when I discovered she has a new novel coming out I got extremely excited! Due to be released June 7th and with a title of Summer Rental, it’s sure to make it into my beach bag for the summer! I’m still wavering on the cover, but the synopsis sounds like exactly the type of read I enjoy while relaxing in the sun! Take a look…

Sometimes, when you need a change in your life, the tide just happens to pull you in the right direction….Ellis, Julia, and Dorie. Best friends since Catholic grade school, they now find themselves, in their mid-thirties, at the crossroads of life and love. Ellis, recently fired from a job she gave everything to, is rudderless and now beginning to question the choices she’s made over the past decade of her life. Julia—whose caustic wit covers up her wounds—has a man who loves her and is offering her the world, but she can’t hide from how deeply insecure she feels about her looks, her brains, her life. And Dorie has just been shockingly betrayed by the man she loved and trusted the most in the world…though this is just the tip of the iceberg of her problems and secrets. A month in North Carolina’s Outer Banks is just what each of them needs.
Ty Bazemore is their landlord, though he’s hanging on to the rambling old beach house by a thin thread. After an inauspicious first meeting with Ellis, the two find themselves disturbingly attracted to one another, even as Ty is about to lose everything he’s ever cared about.
Maryn Shackleford is a stranger, and a woman on the run. Maryn needs just a few things in life: no questions, a good hiding place, and a new identity. Ellis, Julia, and Dorie can provide what Maryn wants; can they also provide what she needs?
Five people questioning everything they ever thought they knew about life. Five people on a journey that will uncover their secrets and point them on the path to forgiveness. Five people who each need a sea change, and one month that might just give it to them.

Publishing with her given name, Madeleine Wickham, the author most of us refer to as Sophie Kinsella has another book being released here in the US. For now, it’s title here in the US is 40 Love: A Novel, but as far as I can tell it’s the basic premise as the title published in the UK called The Tennis Match. I hate to say this, but I’m wondering if they are changing the title because the reviews based off of the original weren’t very good (on Goodreads at least). Also, there is quite a bit of a page difference from 336 pages on the UK edition to 288 pages for the US edition. So, it’s possible it’s been edited or reformatted for printing here in the US. Either way I’m still really interested in reading 40 Love, which is due out August 30th, as I quite enjoyed reading A Desirable Residence not too long ago.

Here’s the summary and cover for the original, The Tennis Party…

Everyone wins this game of literary tennis, a comedy of manners about envy in which Wickham skewers the nouveau riche. At their country estate, Patrick Chance and his wife host a weekend tennis party. As four couples gather on the sunny terrace, it seems obvious who among them is succeeding, and who is falling behind. But by the end of the party, nothing will be quite as certain. While the couples’ children amuse themselves with pony rides and rehearsals for a play, the adults suffer a series of personal revelations and crises. Wickham’s nonstop action reveals at every turn that matters may not be as they seem, and in the end one thing is crystal clear: the weekend is about anything but tennis.

What do you think? Have you read The Tennis Party? What did you think?