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And Then It Happened by Linda Green
Publisher: Headline Review
Release Date: 13th October 2011 (PB)
Rating: 5/5
Source: Received from the publisher for review.
Amazon Summary:

How would you feel if the only man you’d ever loved was taken away from you? And imagine how he’d feel if he hadn’t really been taken away at all - but couldn’t find a way to let you know… Mel Taylor was thirteen years old when she found her Mr Right. Twenty years on they are blissfully in love. She has the man she adores, a gorgeous daughter, a great job and a dream home. But Mel’s happiness is spoilt by a dark secret and a niggling fear that her good fortune can’t last for ever. Despite her husband Adam’s efforts to reassure her that nothing bad is going to happen, Mel can’t shake the feeling that someone is about to call time on their happiness. And then it happens…

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Winter Flowers by Carol Coffey
Publisher: Poolbeg Press
Release Date: 30th August 2011
Rating: 5/5
Source: Received from the publishers
Amazon Summary:

When her dishevelled, eight-year-old nephew Luke comes knocking on her door in the middle of the night, Iris Fay knows her sister Hazel is in trouble again. This time, it is a house fire started by her drunken boyfriend Pete Doyle. As Iris is drawn back into Hazel’s dysfunctional lifestyle, she is haunted by her own past and also by the childhood memories she has kept secret from her sister. When Pete becomes an even greater threat to the family and her sons are placed in danger, Hazel realises she must turn her life around or else lose them. But then she stumbles on a pile of letters in her mother’s attic and their contents spiral her into an even darker place. Meanwhile Iris, too, is confronted by her past when her former husband Mark suddenly comes back into her life, looking for answers. Can the sisters face up to their memories and find the future they long for? Or will the secrets of their childhood continue to destroy them and those they hold dear?

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Debrett’s: A Modern Royal Marriage
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Release Date: 29th September 2011
Rating: 5/5
Source: Received from the publisher for review.
Amazon Summary:

Debrett’s: A Modern Royal Marriage offers an exclusive perspective on the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton. This beautiful book celebrates and commemorates their relationship, from their first dates right up to the marriage ceremony and honeymoon, and is sumptuously illustrated with gorgeous photographs and filled with quirky facts about the royal couple. The Debrett’s experts also provide an insight into the royals themselves, with a biography of both William and Kate, the Royal Family tree and the genealogy of the Middleton family. There is a section devoted entirely to the wedding ceremony, with details of The Dress, bridesmaids, flowers, music and Westminster Abbey, and the role the iconic building has played in Royal Weddings through the ages. Debrett’s: A Modern Royal Marriage is a unique book and the perfect Royal Wedding companion.

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Velva Jean Learns to Fly: A Novel by Jennifer Niven
Publisher: Plume
Release Date: 30th August 2011
Rating: 5/5
Source: Publisher via NetGalley, thank you!
Publishers Summary:

After Pearl Harbor, Velva Jean signs up for service and gets her wings, risking her life-and her heart.

Velva Jean Hart, the fiercely independent heroine of Jennifer Niven’s spectacular debut novel, Velva Jean Learns to Drive, returns in a captivating adventure that literally sends her soaring. Bristling at the limitations faced by a woman in rural Appalachia and fuelled by the memory of her late Mama telling her to “live out there,” Velva Jean hits the road to pursue her dream of singing at the Grand Ole Opry. But after a string of auditions, she begins to lose hope- until her brother pays her a surprise visit and treats Velva Jean to a flying lesson that ignites a brand-new dream: to become a female pilot. Funny, poignant, and utterly unforgettable, Velva Jean Learns to Fly will have fans cheering all over again.

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Missed Connections: Love, Lost & Found by Sophie Blackall
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company, Inc
Release Date: 22nd September 2011
Rating: 5/5
Source: Purchased, and I’m so glad I did!
Publishers Summary:

Like a message in a bottle, a “missed connection” classified (usually posted on a website) is an attempt however far-fetched, by one stranger to reach another on the strength of a remembered glance, smile, or blue hat. The anonymous messages are hopeful and hopeless, funny and sad. Ms. Blackall, award-winning illustrator of Ruby’s Wish and Big Red Lollipop, has turned some of the most evocative (or hilarious) of them into exquisite paintings.

Missed Connections is a collection of illustrated love stories. There’s “We Shared a Bear Suit.” “If Not for Your Noisy Tambourine.” “Hairy Bearded Swimmer.” Each is told in the shorthand of a “missed connection,” and then illustrated in Chinese ink and watercolor. The paintings are extraordinary: delicate yet full of feeling, each springing from one little detail of the post into a fully imagined world. Each brings the voyeuristic pleasure of watching love at first sight, and the pleasure of watching an artist discover a fresh new way to tell a story. And not all the connections are missed. Hidden in the book are three pieces that conjure up the magic of love found.

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Lessons in Laughing Out Loud by Rowan Coleman
Publisher: Arrow
Release Date: 21st July 2011
Rating: 5/5
Source: Received from the publisher for review.
Amazon Summary:

Willow and Holly are identical twins. They are everything to each other. Holly calls Willow her rock, her soul mate, her other half. And Willow feels the same about Holly. They are alike in every respect except one – Willow is afraid on the inside. And all because of a secret – one that binds the sisters closely together and yet has meant their adult lives have taken two very different paths.

Willow often feels there are large parts of her missing, qualities she only knows she’s lacking because she sees them in her sister. For a very long time Willow has felt separated from Holly by one terrible moment in time – a moment that meant Willow’s life was never the same again. And when the past catches up with her, Willow realises it’s finally time for her to face her fears, and – with Holly’s help – learn to laugh out loud once more…

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Don’t Let Me Go by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Publisher: Transworld
Release Date: 29th September 2011
Rating: 5/5
Source: Received from the publisher for review.
Amazon Summary:

Sometimes a child knows better…
GRACE

Ten-year-old Grace knows that her mum loves her, but her mum loves drugs too. And there’s only so long Grace can fend off the ‘woman from the county’ who is threatening to put her into care. Her only hope is…

BILLY

Grown-man Billy Shine hasn’t been out of his apartment for years. People scare him, and the outside world scares him even more. Day in, day out, he lives a perfectly orchestrated silent life within his four walls. Until now. . .

THE PLAN

Grace bursts into Billy’s life with a loud voice and a brave plan to get her mum clean. And it won’t be easy, because they will have to confiscate the one thing her mum holds most dear . . . they will have to kidnap Grace.

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The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release Date: 23rd August 2011
Rating: 5/5
Source: Received from the publisher, thank you!
Publishers Summary:

The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, aster for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating grief, mistrust, and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings.

Now eighteen and emancipated from the system, Victoria has nowhere to go and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. Soon a local florist discovers her talents, and Victoria realizes that she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But a mysterious vendor at the flower market inspires her to question what’s been missing in her life. And when she’s forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.

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