Archive for July, 2011

Craving Perfect by Liz Fichera
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: 25th July 2011 (ebook)
Rating: 4/5
Source: Received from NetGalley for review
Amazon Summary:

Grace Mills craves being perfect almost as much as she craves raspberry scones. In fact, her life would be perfect if only she could lose ten more pounds, if only the pastry café she co-owns with her sister would turn a profit, if only the hottest guy at the gym would look her way… And then “if only” comes true. Grace is suddenly straddling two lives: an alternate reality where she’s a size two, weathergirl celebrity and being chased by the hot guy. Only Mr. Gorgeous isn’t very nice. In her other life, she’s starting to realize her sister is less than happy running the family café, and hunky Carlos, the gym’s janitor, seems to have a secret crush on her. Maybe there’s more to him than meets the eye… Grace is living two lives and it’s beginning to cost her. Is there a way to pick one…that’s perfect?

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I’m sorry to keep posting about British imports coming out in America, but yet another British author Lucy Dillon has made her way across the pond and it would be remiss of me to not tell you about this book because, believe me, it’s a wonderful novel! Walking Back To Happiness is the second of Lucy’s novels to be published in the USA and with it coming out on 6th December 2011, it’s just in time for Christmas!

A delightful new novel from the author of Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts. Juliet’s hiding from her feelings about the recent loss of Ben, the love of her life. If it weren’t for having to walk Ben’s loyal dog, Minton, she’d never leave their half-finished house. Then her mother asks her to take her elderly lab, Coco, along. One dog leads to another, and soon Juliet’s the unofficial town pet-sitter. And when she takes on a lonely spaniel, and gets to know its attractive owner, she realizes that her emotions aren’t as easy to handle as her canine charges…

Isn’t that cover just SO cute? I mean, seriously. The doggie with its lead, waiting to go for a walk! I think it represents the novel perfectly, and I hope it does well with you guys in America because Lucy is a brilliant author!

Another month and another huge list of brand new Chick Lit and Women’s Fiction novels to choose from. It’s all I can do to keep up with them all and I’m almost certain I will have forgotten one or two, maybe more, in this overwhelming list. So, without further hesitation on my part here are July’s new US releases!
(To learn more simply click on the cover to be taken to Goodreads for a synopsis!)

And now, because the US publishing market does quite a few re-releases in paperback here are the titles that will now be available in paperback for the first time this month.

Make sure to look out for quite a few of these reviews coming up from both Leah and I! It’s bound to be a fantastic month. Again, if there’s a book you’re dying to know more about let me know and I’ll see about posting a review!

Remember, these are new releases in the US exclusively. They may have been released elsewhere around the globe previously, or perhaps not yet at all. Make sure to check with your local bookseller or online to see if you can purchase a copy where ever you may live in the world! And, as I said, enjoy!

Hidden In Paris by Corine Gantz
Publisher: Carpenter Hill Publishing
Release Date: 19th April 2011
Rating: 2/5
Source: Bought
Amazon Summary:

In a tale of friendship, self-discovery and love, three women running away from their lives become unlikely friends in a beautiful house in the heart of Paris. Lost in France, a country she mistrusts, among French people she hardly understands, Annie has trouble venturing away from home since the death of her husband. And since home happens to be a small jewel of a house nestled in the heart of Paris, why would she ever want to? But when bankruptcy threatens her beloved house, her one anchor in life, Annie has no choice but to find renters, and quick. Leave it to someone socially phobic to phrase a want ad in all the wrong ways. With shimmering promises of ‘Starting over in Paris’ –– a concept she has no intention of applying to her own life––Annie attracts tenants with the kind of baggage that doesn’t fit in suitcases. A long-legged, cool-headed ex model (everything Annie is not) on the run from her abusive husband, a frail young woman harboring a possible death wish, a mysterious French artist, and an infuriating blue-blooded French man soon threaten Annie’s way of life in ways she never anticipated. But when Annie finds herself reluctantly yet actively engaged in the rescue of her tenants, she discovers that she might just save herself in the process. 

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Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity of sharing my review of Ellen Sussman’s recent release, French Lessons, which I absolutely adored. Today, thanks to the publisher Random House Publishing Group in conjunction with TLC Book Tours I am able to offer one Chick Lit Reviews reader the chance to win their very own copy! Thank you! Again, I thoroughly enjoy this quick and thoroughly enjoyable read. The giveaway will close on Sunday the 14th of August and is open to US/Canadian residents only with only one entry per household allowed. Good luck!

A single day in Paris changes the lives of three Americans as they each set off to explore the city with a French tutor, learning about language, love, and loss as their lives intersect in surprising ways.

Josie, Riley, and Jeremy have come to the City of Light for different reasons: Josie, a young high school teacher, arrives in hopes of healing a broken heart. Riley, a spirited but lonely expat housewife, struggles to feel connected to her husband and her new country. And Jeremy, the reserved husband of a renowned actress, is accompanying his wife on a film shoot, yet he feels distant from her world.

As they meet with their tutors—Josie with Nico, a sensitive poet; Riley with Phillippe, a shameless flirt; and Jeremy with the consummately beautiful Chantal—each succumbs to unexpected passion and unpredictable adventures. Yet as they traverse Paris’s grand boulevards and intimate, winding streets, they uncover surprising secrets about one another—and come to understand long-buried truths about themselves.

The first novel of Victoria Connelly’s Jane Austen trilogy was released in the US just this past month and the second will be following it out pretty speedily, when it comes out on 1st January 2012 (New Year’s Day!). It keeps the original title of Dreaming of Mr Darcy (doesn’t that make you dreamy?) (in the UK it was released as The Perfect Hero). I love the cover, the old-fashionedness of it works really well.

Fledgling illustrator and Darcy fanatic Kay Ashton settles in the seaside town of Lyme to finish her book, The Illustrated Mr. Darcy, when a film company arrives to make a new adaptation of Persuasion. Kay is soon falling for the handsome bad boy actor playing Captain Wentworth, but it’s the quiet screenwriter Adam Craig who has more in common with her beloved Mr. Darcy. Though still healing from a broken heart, Adam finds himself unexpectedly in love with Kay, but it will take more than good intentions to convince her that her real happy ending is with him.

Will you be buying the novel? Do you guys like Jane Austen inspired novels?

French Lessons by Ellen Sussman
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Release Date: July 5, 2025
Rating: 5/5
Source: Publisher via TLC Book Tours, thank you!
Publishers Summary:

A single day in Paris changes the lives of three Americans as they each set off to explore the city with a French tutor, learning about language, love, and loss as their lives intersect in surprising ways.

Josie, Riley, and Jeremy have come to the City of Light for different reasons: Josie, a young high school teacher, arrives in hopes of healing a broken heart. Riley, a spirited but lonely expat housewife, struggles to feel connected to her husband and her new country. And Jeremy, the reserved husband of a renowned actress, is accompanying his wife on a film shoot, yet he feels distant from her world.

As they meet with their tutors—Josie with Nico, a sensitive poet; Riley with Phillippe, a shameless flirt; and Jeremy with the consummately beautiful Chantal—each succumbs to unexpected passion and unpredictable adventures. Yet as they traverse Paris’s grand boulevards and intimate, winding streets, they uncover surprising secrets about one another—and come to understand long-buried truths about themselves.

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Alicia Bessette’s debut novel Simply From Scratch was released in hardback in August last year and strangely enough, for it’s paperback release on October 25th 2011, not only has the novel been given a new cover, but it also has a new title and will now be called A Pinch of Love! I was surprised, actually because I LOVED the previous cover (and title!). I’m still looking forward to reading it though. Have any of you read it, is it a good novel?

With a little bit of flour and a pinch of love, anything is possible… Rose-Ellen “Zell” Carmichael Roy doesn’t cook, but she wears her late husband Nick’s camouflage apron every day. That’s her widow style. It’s been more than a year since Nick’s tragic death during a post- Katrina relief mission in New Orleans, but Zell can’t bring herself to move on. Then, a postman’s error spurs her to enter a baking contest in the hopes of donating the grand prize to the hurricane survivors in Nick’s memory. After Zell’s first attempt at baking goes embarrassingly awry, she meets Ingrid Knox-her motherless nine-year-old neighbor-and the two forge an unlikely friendship that will alter both their lives forever.