Book News: July Releases: 6th - 16th July
As there are so many books out in July – 23! – we’re doing them in different posts. To see the other July posts, click which you’d like to see: 2nd – 3rd July | 6th – 16th July | 23rd – 30th July.
PAIGE TOON - CHASING DAISY - 6TH JULY - Read The Review
Daisy has been dumped, unceremoniously jilted. Not by any ordinary guy, no…Daisy has a secret in her past that she won’t even tell her best friend, Holly. She’s given up on men – and on her own family. But life still has to be lived and where better to recover than as far away from home as possible.
Grabbing a chance to see the world, Daisy packs her bags and joins the team catering to the world’s highest-paid, supercharged racing drivers on the Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit. From Brazil to Italy, from Melbourne to Monte Carlo, life passes in a dizzying whirlwind.
But nothing – and no one – can stop Daisy from falling again…this time for a man who is prepared to risk his life, and his heart, for the sake of speed, danger and ultimate success.
KAREN QUINN - THE SISTER DIARIES - 6TH JULY
Although they couldn’t be more different, Amanda, Serena and Laura Moon have always been there for one another. Amanda sizzles in the high stakes arena of New York City real estate – but drags herself home each night to a cold, empty bed. From top executive at Prada, Serena is now an over-the-top stay-at-home Mum, plunging her marriage into crisis and her four-year-old into therapy. Laura spent the last six years caring for their dying mother. Now she is trying to breathe new life into her abandoned music career. Emotions explode when the sisters learn that their mother left everything – the multi-million dollar family home and a priceless painting – to Serena. But why? In an effort to make sense of the bequest, the girls journey to glamorous East Hampton to unravel the mystery behind their mother’s past, setting off a chain of events that threatens the very core of their sisterhood.
BETH HARBISON - HOPE IN A JAR - 7TH JULY
Twenty years ago, Allie Denty was the pretty one and her best friend Olivia Pelham was the smart one. Throughout high school, they were inseparable…until a vicious rumor about Olivia— a rumor too close to the truth—ended their friendship.
Now, on the eve of their twentieth high school reunion, Allie, a temp worker, finds herself suddenly single, a little chubby, and feeling old. Olivia, a cool and successful magazine beauty editor in New York, realizes she’s lonely, and is finally ready to face her demons.
Sometimes hope lives in the future; sometimes it comes from the past; and sometimes, when every stupid thing goes wrong, it comes from a prettily packaged jar filled with scented cream and promises.
JULIE HIGHMORE - THE MESSAGE - 9TH JULY
Jen has no idea that her neat life is about to unravel. With one misplaced voicemail, she discovers that her marriage is a sham. Numb with shock, she’s hiding from the future when she’s stunned by a face from the past. Kit was Jen’s first love, the one she hoped would never leave. On their airbase in Germany, he was out of her league – a senior officer’s son – but even Kit’s glamorous and disapproving mother couldn’t keep them apart. What began as a glorious summer, though, could not last for ever. Now, years later, Jen and Kit meet again, both troubled, and forced to confront what happened. Together, can they make sense of it all?
JESSICA RUSTON - LUXURY - 9TH JULY
Sexy, smart New Yorker Logan Barnes knew how to take what he wanted to get where he wanted to be. But you can’t win the girl, make the money and live the high life without picking up enemies along the way…
There’s only one enemy who matters, and that’s the friend Logan betrayed years ago – Nicolo Flores. He got mad, but better still he got even, waiting in the wings to pull the plug on Logan and see his fortunes come crashing down.
Now Logan’s back, in London with a perfect wife, perfect family, and the perfect jewel to crown his rebuilt hotel empire: a stunning island getaway for the truly über-rich. Nicolo’s crazy to find a way to crush him again – but with gambling, addiction, sex and scandal all knocking on the Barnes’ family door, maybe they’ll destroy themselves before he even has a chance to…
JENNIFER WEINER - BEST FRIENDS FOREVER - 14TH JULY
Addie Downs and Valerie Adler will be best friends forever. That’s what Addie believes after Valerie moves across the street when they’re both nine years old. But in the wake of betrayal during their teenage years, Val is swept into the popular crowd, while mousy, sullen Addie becomes her school’s scapegoat.
Flash-forward fifteen years. Valerie Adler has found a measure of fame and fortune working as the weathergirl at the local TV station. Addie Downs lives alone in her parents’ house in their small hometown of Pleasant Ridge, Illinois, caring for a troubled brother and trying to meet Prince Charming on the Internet. She’s just returned from Bad Date #6 when she opens her door to find her long-gone best friend standing there, a terrified look on her face and blood on the sleeve of her coat. “Something horrible has happened,” Val tells Addie, “and you’re the only one who can help.“
SOPHIE KINSELLA - TWENTIES GIRL - 16TH JULY - Read The Review
Lara has always had an over – active imagination. Now she wonders if she is losing her mind. Normal twenty-something girls just don’t get visited by ghosts! But inexplicably, the spirit of Lara’s great aunt Sadie – in the form of a bold, demanding Charleston-dancing girl – has appeared to make one last request: Lara must track down a missing necklace Sadie simply can’t rest without. Lara’s got enough problems of her own.
Her startup company is floundering, her best friend and business partner has run off to Goa, and she’s just been dumped by the love of her life. But as Lara spends time with Sadie , life becomes more glamorous, she dresses in beautiful vintage frocks and their treasure hunt turns into something intriguing and romantic. Could Sadie’s ghost be the answer to Lara’s problems and can two girls from different times end up learning something special from each other?
Settling down for a 24-hour flight to Australia, Lucy finds a text message on her phone - not from her boyfriend James, as she fondly hopes, but from a woman claiming to have slept with him four times in the past month. Trapped on the plane, she questions everything about her relationship with James. 
When I first thought of doing author interviews Paige Toon was one of the first authors I wanted to email to interview. Thankfully she said yes and it meant I could ask her the one question I’ve been wanting to ask her since I read Johnny Be Good: did you purposefully leave the ending ambiguous? You’ll be glad to know Paige answered that question and more.
Originally slated for an April release (like Lucy in the Sky & Johnny Be Good), Chasing Daisy was pushed back and will now be released on 6th July 2009 . It is Paige’s third book and if it is as good as the first two then I’ll be happy. Also, how gorgeous is the cover? Paige has my favourite covers of all books, I think.
If your boss was the hottest rock star on the planet, would you mix business with pleasure? 
