Book News: July Releases: 2nd - 3rd 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.
AMY HUBERMAN - HELLO HEARTBREAK - 2ND JULY
You’d think twenty-seven years would be enough time to wise up to the rules of love and loss, especially Rule Number 1: Do not, at any time, let him see how much he has hurt you. But no, Izzy Keegan was probably off doing sambuca shots when that lesson was taught. So, starting with public humiliation (that infamous blow-up with her Ex and his new woman … huge mistake), and taking in temporary insanity, rebound sex, and a night in a police cell along the way, Izzy has to make up her own rules for coping with heartbreak.
Luckily she has friends who are there for her through thick and thin (even if ‘doing an Izzy’ is their new shorthand for completely losing it). And she’s got her foot in the door of the film business (though dogsbody wasn’t exactly the job she dreamt of doing). Now, all she has to do is put the dirty cheating love-rat behind her. You’d think twenty-seven years would be enough time to wise up to the rules of love and loss. Make that twenty-seven and a bit …
DAN BEGLEY - MS. TAKEN IDENTITY - 2ND JULY
Student Mitch Samuel’s life isn’t going to plan: his girlfriend has just walked out on him (to be fair, he did forget to pick her up from the airport); his estranged father has landed in the hospital and his literary ambitions are dashed once and for all after his umpteenth rejection letter. However, when he meets Katharine Longwell, the queen of women’s fiction and she seems to like him, he senses an opportunity for literary riches, if not reputation. He tells her that his female cousin is an aspiring chick-lit author and secures a promise that she’ll help said cousin get published. The only problem is, he needs to come up with a manuscript – fast. He buys every woman’s magazine and watches Oprah endlessly on DVD but he still can’t quite get inside a woman’s head. Then his roommate suggests that Mitch sign up for sister’s dance class. Mitch attends the first class as an alter ego, “Jason.” Problem is, after a class or two, Mitch/Jason is hooked – both on dancing and the charming Marie, who has no idea that he knows her brother or the real reason he’s come to the class. Suddenly, his novel-writing project is becoming a lot more than he bargained for …
FARAHAD ZAMA - THE MANY CONDITIONS OF LOVE - 2ND JULY
Can true love triumph in the face of fierce family opposition? Mr Ali’s marriage bureau is flourishing but trouble isn’t far away once son Rehman begins secretly to woo TV journalist Usha in the small cafes and on the beautiful beaches of South Indian Vizag in an ill-advised romance.
Meanwhile the lovely Aruna has a problem or two all her own. She enjoys being Mr Ali’s right-hand woman at the marriage bureau, having a wonderful husband Ram, and living in a mansion a far cry from her parents’ cramped one-room house; but how long can Aruna remain happy once her spiteful sister-in-law Mani comes home to stay?
When Usha’s father finds out about Rehman, a Muslim, the fat is in the fire. And what will Mr and Mrs Ali have to say when they discover too their son has been dating a non-Muslim?
OLIVIA RYAN - TALES FROM A HONEYMOON HOTEL - 2ND JULY
Korcula Town, Croatia – Stay at the friendly and romantic ‘Hotel Angelo’. Perfect for honeymooners, this hotel overlooks the beautiful little harbour, and has enchantingly romantic views …” Childhood sweethearts, Gemma and Andy Collins, are madly in love and have come to Korcula for the perfect honeymoon after their perfect wedding.
Chosen because its recommendation in a wedding magazine, they soon find they are not the only honeymooners at the hotel when they meet the young and strangely matched Jo and Mark Weston, and older couple, Ruby and Harold Dimmock.
However, soon each couple’s relationship is laid bare when their marriages are threatened. They all realise that an immediate post-wedding happy-ever-after is not always guaranteed, but also that true love is worth fighting for ..
SARAH STROHMEYER - THE PENNY-PINCHERS CLUB - 2ND JULY
Living in New Jersey – the state that boasts the most malls per capita – Kat’s favorite recreational activity is a no-brainer: shopping. But when she discovers that her husband, Griff, has been hiding a secret bank account, her joyful consumerism suddenly loses its appeal. Are their fights about money more serious than she understood? Is he, as her friends suggest, preparing for a divorce? Just in case, Kat decides it’s time to start saving.
Drastic times call for drastic measures: Kat starts by canceling cable and kicking her $240-a-month Starbucks habit. But what starts out as a simple effort to cut costs becomes an over-the-top obsession when Kat joins an eclectic but lovable group of savers called the Penny Pinchers Club. Soon she is pumping her gas at dawn (when it is thicker) and serving dinner made from food she retrieved at the grocery store dumpster. Kat is saving money, to be sure, but what she’s really saving is time – time she spends with Griff, their two kids . . . and an old flame who resurfaces at precisely the wrong moment, offering Kat a life where money is no object.
MAGGIE ALDERSON - HOW TO BREAK YOUR OWN HEART - 2ND JULY
Do you always sleep in separate beds?’
A question from her outspoken friend Kiki shocks Amelia Bradlow into taking stock of her ‘perfect’ life. She might have the adoring husband, the flat in Mayfair and the weekend cottage, but what about the things that really matter? Like the unmentionable matter of the baby they haven’t had . . .
Just when she is most confused, up pops gorgeous Joseph Renwick – the first boy she ever kissed – back in town and dangerously single.
Struggling to put thoughts of him aside, Amelia makes some big changes. A reinvigorated career and a style makeover turn her into a new woman – but husband Ed preferred the old one.
So with her internal clock ticking ever louder, Amelia has to decide whether to stay in her nearly happy marriage, or take a gamble on going solo. Is it better to break your own heart than to settle for second best?
LAUREN LIPTON - MATING RITUALS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN WASP - 2ND JULY
After arguing with her boyfriend about his inability to commit, Peggy Adams flies to a friend’s party in Las Vegas where, thanks to a night of drinking, she wakes up next to a man she can’t remember. They’re both fully dressed, but Peggy is horrified. She’s never drunk this much in her life and has never even come close to having a one-night stand. She sneaks out of the hotel room and returns to New York, where she and her business partner are desperately trying to figure out how they can afford to keep their shop once their landlord raises the rent. Peggy’s boyfriend apologises for the fight and gives her a Tiffany box holding a pre-engagement ring.
Though it isn’t what she was hoping for, she sees the gift as a sign that marriage is in her future. And she’s right, because the next day Peggy gets a phone call from a stranger claiming she’s already married - to him! He faxes her the licence as proof: Peggy wed Luke Sunday in Las Vegas. Luke wants an immediate annulment and Peggy is only too happy to agree - until she arrives in Connecticut where Luke cares for his aging Great Aunt Abigail, and the eccentric old woman makes Peggy an offer she can’t refuse.
AMANDA BRUNKER - CHAMPAGNE BABES - 3RD JULY
Eva Valentine is back! Following on from “Champagne Kisses”, the spoilt diva finds that Trouble is still her middle name. After a near-death experience which left her in a deep coma, Eva survives against all odds and quickly marries the man who nursed her back to health. Boozing her way through her wedding and three-week honeymoon in Mauritius, Eva is shocked to learn that she is already three months pregnant. She doesn’t want a baby yet – and neither does her husband, Michael. And when Daisy is born, life is far from perfect. Weight issues and guilt about her daughter ensue as she struggles to keep alive a marriage to a man she hardly knows. Thankfully, her hilarious best friends regularly drag her away for naughty weekends of fun and lust, which see a return of the old Eva the Diva. With all the forbidden sex on offer, she no longer feels like a desperate housewife, but it’s anyone’s guess whose bed she’ll end up in.
