Posted on April 22nd, 2010 by Leah
Chick Lit Classics is a new feature on Chick Lit Reviews where we highlight the books we feel are classics of the chick lit genre. Feel free to discuss our choices in the comments section!
This week’s Chick Lit Classic probably isn’t a book many people have read and could probably be called a Hidden Chick Lit Classic! I don’t know where I managed to pick up Sarah Mason’s debut novel Playing James but I hugely enjoyed it and have now read it twice. It manages to make me laugh and I thought it was just an incredibly quick read. Shockingly you can’t even buy it on Amazon, unless it’s second hand and it’s a shame as it’s a fab fab book! It also has a sequel of sorts in High Society, which is about Holly’s sister Clemmie. They’re both fab books and come highly recommended!
Holly Colshannon is a young journalist who thinks her career is about to take a terminal nosedive when she is moved from covering ‘pet deaths’ for her local Bristol paper and made Crime Correspondent - a poisoned chalice if ever there was one. However, a brilliant idea from the new police PR officer sees Holly shadowing a detective and writing a diary column about his working life. Detective James Sabine is bit of a sour puss - although he does have very nice green eyes - and he’s furious that he has been landed with magnificently accident-prone Holly especially since her arrival comes six weeks before his wedding to faultless Fleur. Holly, however, has a career to think about and this infuriating man is not going to stand in her way. Meanwhile, her bosses at the newspaper realise that the column is proving extremely popular with the readers who are waiting for something romantic to happen between the handsome detective and the nice young reporter. With only days to go to the wedding Holly realises she’s been waiting for the same thing…
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Posted on April 22nd, 2010 by Leah
The lovely Zoe Miller emailed us last night asking us if we would mind posting about her new book which is due out soon and, of course, we obliged! Sinful Deceptions, Zoe’s second book, is due out on 6th May 2010 in Ireland (and Amazon) before being released to the UK on 4th November 2010. It sounds incredibly interesting and I rather adore the cover. Here’s the synopsis:
Alix Berkeley, the glamorous, Paris based make-up artist, is about to step onto the international stage with the launch of her signature brand of cosmetics. Successful beyond her dreams, it seems that nothing can stop her stellar rise to the top. Until a mistake from her past returns to haunt her. Her sister Emma Colgan lives in an affluent Dublin suburb and appears to have it all. But after years of playing the role of devoted wife and mother, she longs for her old self and a sense of excitement. Then, one night, she does something that will shake her family to its very core. As Alix’s glitzy launch night in Paris draws near, secrets the two sisters fought to hide begin to emerge and both are about to discover just how much their reckless mistakes have cost them.
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Posted on April 22nd, 2010 by Chloe
Dorothy Koomson has got together some of her author friends and put together a fabulous project to help with the continuing rescue effort in Haiti which was devastated by the earthquake in January 2010. Dorothy has put together an e-book containing short stories from herself, and also Alexander McCall Smith, Nina Bell, William Peter Blatty, Nick Brownlee, Louise Candlish, Stella Duffy, Kate Furnivall, Alex Gray, Clare Jay, Shari Low, Martina Reilly and Bernadette Strachan too. These are joyful, uplifting stories, written to raise funds to help Haitian children affected by the earthquake. Just as importantly, these are stories written to raise the spirits – they are stories of hope. The e-book is called No Man and Other Stories to Help Haiti and is released today on Waterstones.com for the fantastic price of £5. Even better than this is the fact that every penny of your £5 goes to Unicef’s relief efforts in Haiti.
Head over to Waterstones.com today to get your own copy, it’s sure to be a great read and you’re helping a charity too!
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Posted on April 21st, 2010 by Leah
Maz Harwood has had enough of London life for a while so when her friend Emma suggests she takes over Otter House Vets for six month while Emma goes on holiday with her husband Ben, Maz jumps at the chance.
Country life is nothing like City life and soon Maz finds herself not only knee-deep in sick animals but she also in the middle of a feud with the other vets in Talyton, Talyton Manor Vets. Maz also discovers that Otter House is in serious trouble and she feels she has to not only mend that but also her broken heart. Good job there’s a man on the scene helping to distract Maz. It’s just a shame he’s the competition’s son.
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Posted on April 21st, 2010 by Chloe
Lucy Dillon is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors, so I was excited to see her third novel is already listen on Amazon. It doesn’t have a title yet or cover yet, but as soon as it does we’ll post it. It’s not out until December 2nd of this year, so we have a bit of a wait, but there is a synopsis to whet your appetite, and it sounds great! Here it is:
“Juliet had just moved into her dream home when things started going wrong. First with then house itself, then – putting everything else into perspective – her husband Evan’s diagnosis. And now he’s gone, leaving Juliet with just a big cold house and only a rescued terrier for company.
In a bid to keep her mind off her loss, she agrees to dogsit for her mother. Then for her best friend. And then for her neighbour. And before she knows it, she’s the town’s unofficial petsitter, and is privy to the secrets and lives of everyone whose homes she’s going into.
But, as her first Christmas alone approaches, will she be ready to face up to her own secrets? And start rebuilding her own life? And maybe – just maybe – to start to fall in love again…”
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Posted on April 21st, 2010 by Leah
I am a huge fan of Annie Sanders’s books and have read the majority of them so I was pleased when I came across their next title Famous Last Words. It’s due out 19th August 2010 and I have what appears to be the cover. I really quite like the cover, and I think it will look even better in reality. Here’s the synopsis:
Lucy spends her days beavering away at her sewing machine, making divine, flamboyant clothes that express all the passion and flair that she cannot, and at night she sits alone with her latest creations, fretting over her struggling business. Her life is one of unfulfilled ambitions and missed opportunities. Then one evening Lucy meets the beautiful, fey and enigmatic Micah, who has an uncanny knack for foretelling fortunes, and manages to convince even the cynical Lucy. So when Micah tells her that her future isn’t looking too rosy - in fact she doesn’t have one - Lucy embarks on a spree of ‘what the hell and why not’. She faces her demons, confronts those that have annoyed her, and takes risks for the first time in her life, convinced that the accident he predicts will befall her. When the day of her prophesied demise comes - and goes - Lucy storms round to challenge Micah, who sheepishly admits he must have got it wrong this time. The appalled and angry Lucy has a hell of a mess to put right now, and demands that Micah help her do some damage control. So begins an edge-of-the-seat, race-against-time to repair Lucy’s reckless actions. But halfway through Lucy asks herself if everything is worth mending? Has she inadvertently improved her life just as she thought it was about to end? And why is Micah so reluctant to help her untangle her biggest gaffe of all?
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Posted on April 20th, 2010 by Leah
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!
This week’s pick is the rather fab 27 Dresses which was released in 2008 and stars Katherine Heigl and James Marsden. I watched this about six months ago and I fell in love with it. I thought it was sweet, and funny and had an rather interesting plot. My favourite scene of the entire movie was when Katherine’s character Jane tries on all 27 of her bridesmaid dresses, it was a fantastic scene with some good, bad AND ugly dresses! It’s a definite much watch for chick flick lovers.
Jane is career-oriented and secretly in love with her employer, George. She spends much of her time as a bridesmaid, and has 27 dresses as evidence. Then her structured and ordered life comes unhinged when her younger sister, Tess, re-enters her life, and a reporter, Kevin, is attracted to her. Kevin decides to publish Jane’s secret and her overwhelming wardrobe. Things get even more complicated when Jane finds out she may end up losing George to none other than her very own sister.
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Posted on April 20th, 2010 by Leah
I absolutely loved Allie Spencer’s debut Little Black Dress novel Tug of Love. It seems the Romantic Novelists’ Association also loved it as Allie won the 2009 RNA New Writer’s Award! I loved Tug of Love so much that I pre-ordered her second LBD adventure The Not-So-Secret Diary of a City Girl and I received it earlier this week and I loved that, too, and you can read my review here! Allie agreed to do an interview with us, and here are her answers!
1. Tell us about your latest novel The Not-So-Secret Diary of a City Girl.
It’s another romantic comedy, this time set in a fictitious bank in the City of London: there are hedge fund traders, financial fraud, some rather nasty loan-sharks, a feckless sister, an especially gorgeous and persistent hero – and a very feisty heroine. It’s a story of stocks, shares and sex in the City.
2. Are you working on a third book? Can you tell us anything about it?
I am working on another book, but I get a bit superstitious talking about them before they’re finished! What I will say, though, is that it the setting is completely different from either ‘Tug of Love’ or ‘City Girl’ – and the hero is my favourite one yet.
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