April & May
April & May Recent Reviews
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SCREEN SCENE
Can't get enough of the Sex and the City movie? The ending still left you gagging for more? Then you may be tripping over your Manolos in a rush to get Amy Sohn's Sex and the City: The Movie hardback book. With more than 300 colour photos and a storybook-style telling of the film, the book also has behind-the-scenes stories from the four stars; a guide to the multi-million-dollar fashion wardrobe, and an insider's tour of the film locations.
AUTHOR NEWS
Cathy Lamb's latest novel, The Last Time I Was Me, sees Jeanne have a very public nervous breakdown in front of a crowd of advertising execs - caused partly by her mother's death, working long hours and discovering that her boyfriend has been unfaithful. Facing criminal and civil charges because of the “creative” way she retaliated to the cheating, she packs up and lands in a picturesque Oregon town. She enrols in court-ordered anger management classes and bumps into a potential new love while running naked along a river.
HEADING TO SPLITSVILLE
Heading for a bad break-up? Want to share in someone else's pain or perhaps learn a thing or two about starting over. Try some of these new releases all about divorce and infidelity.
Los Angeles journalist Janelle Brown's debut novel All We Ever Wanted Was Everything is about a family whose lives go into freefall just as they make their fortune. Janice Miller can't believe her husband Paul is divorcing her just as his pharmaceutical company goes public, making him millions. Their oldest daughter Margaret returns home after being dumped by her newly famous actor boyfriend and is up to her ears in debt. And teenager Lizzie should be on top of the world after having lost a lot of weight. But she is quickly gaining the wrong type of reputation.
In The Divorce Party, by New York-based author Laura Dave, Gwyn Huntington is throwing a party on her 35th wedding anniversary. But instead of celebrating their love, Gwyn and Thomas are toasting their divorce. Perhaps not the perfect time for their son Nate's fiancée to meet the parents. As Gwyn adjusts to the end of her marriage, Maggie finds out just how little she knows about the man she's about to marry.
Outtakes From a Marriage is written by Ann Leary, the wife of actor Denis Leary. After many lean years Julia and Joe Ferraro are living the good life thanks to his hit TV show. When Julia hears a message on Joe's phone from a woman who clearly isn't just a friend, she begins to tail him. Realising she has let herself go in her bid to help Joe make something of himself, the mother of two starts remaking herself in time for the Golden Globes.
NEW RELEASES
The Sisterhood - Emily Barr (2008)
Twenty-year-old Helen has always felt like something was missing in her life. She lives a pampered life in a French chateau but has a distant relationship with her parents. So when she discovers that her mother had abandoned another baby years before, she starts looking for her sister. She finds Elizabeth in England through the internet and so leaves France for the first time in her life to meet her. But she doesn't tell Liz who she is - instead she ingratiates herself into Liz's life with the plan to take her back home to reunite her with her long-lost mother. Liz, whose boyfriend has just left her for someone else, eventually begins to have her suspicions about the clinging French woman. A real page-turner - there will be at least one or two twists that you won't have seen coming.
8/10
SNEAK PEEK
All You Need is Love - Carole Matthews
Single mum Sally Freeman finds herself the object of two men's affections. Johnny is a penniless artist, while Spencer drives a Porsche and lives in a penthouse. Sally wants to improve the dreary Liverpool estate where she lives and she enlists the help of the locals to plant a garden and build a community centre. But will she choose the right man?
INTERVIEWS
Shari Low, author of My Best Friend's Life, tells which actors she would cast as the main characters in a movie adaptation of the novel.
CHICKLIT MEMOIR
Stephanie Klein, of Straight Up and Dirty fame, has a new coming-of-age memoir about to hit shelves - Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp. Nicknamed Moose by the kids at school for being an overweight teenager, Stephanie was enrolled at fat camps over the summer holidays. Determined to shed the weight and the nickname and return to school popular, she embarked on a journey that would shape more than just her body.
MAKING HER DEBUT
From Lucy Beresford comes a book looking at the hot-button topic of women choosing not to have children. In Something I'm Not, Amber works as a successful headhunter, is happily married to Matt and has a wide circle of friends. But many believe she can't be truly happy because she hasn't had a baby. As more friends fall pregnant, and her best friend Dylan announces he wants to adopt a baby with his gay lover, Amber is forced to examine why she doesn't want children. Beresford is a psychotherapist and media commentator.
AUSTRALIAN MADE
The Household Guide to Dying, by Debra Adelaide, charts the attempts of Delia to prepare her family for life after her death. A writer of household hint books, Delia discovers at nearly 40 that she's not going to beat cancer. So she decides her final job will be writing a household guide for the dying. But along the way she must confront the ghosts of her past. Adelaide is a book reviewer and university lecturer from Sydney. This, her third novel, was launched at last week's Sydney Writers' Festival.
AUTHOR NEWS
Fans of Trisha Ashley have three reasons to rejoice this year - the British author is releasing three novels. Sowing Secrets, a re-release of the 2005 book The Generous Gardener, sees a face from the past turn Fran's world upside, as her teenage daughter Rosie - the result of a one-night stand - starts asking questions about her unknown father. Happy Endings, out in August, is about author and literary consultant Tina who aspires to write a bestseller and find her own happy ending. A Winter's Tale, out in November, tells the story of Sophy Winter who inherits a crumbling country mansion on the same day that she is evicted from her home.
NEW RELEASES
Lessons in Heartbreak - Cathy Kelly (2008)
Three generations of an Irish family are affected by infidelity in different ways. Izzie Silver, who works for a modelling agency in New York, meets wealthy businessman Joe at a charity lunch. He tells her his marriage is over but he's still living in his family home for his children's sake. Back in her Irish hometown Tamarin, Izzie's aunt Anneliese discovers that her husband is moving in with her best friend. But before she is able to break the news to the family matriarch Lily, the elderly woman has a stroke and slips into a coma. It is Lily's slowly revealed story, about life as a nurse in London during World War II and a secret love affair, that makes up the most interesting chapters.
7/10
MAKING HER DEBUT
English author Clare Shaw looks at the heartwrenching topic of anorexia in her first novel, The Mother and Daughter Diaries. Lizzie's busy being a single mum, hating her ex-husband's new wife and trying to get her teenage daughter Jo to communicate with her. Then Jo is diagnosed with anorexia, and their lives spin out of control. Written in alternating chapters from mother and daughter points of view.
BLOG TO BOOK
Another writer making the transition from blog to book is Judith O'Reilly. Wife in the North, based on her blog of the same name, is being published in July. Journalist O'Reilly signed a book deal within weeks of starting her blog in November 2006 about a former career woman who moves from London to rural Northumberland with three children in tow. Swapping her cafe lattes for pease pudding, high heels for muddy wellies and lifelong friends for farmers' wives, she details her loneliness as she tries to readjust to life in the country. As O'Reilly wrote on her blog when she heard about her book deal, “Blogging is a strange and wonderful thing. I reached out into cyberspace because I needed to - not in any expectation of a book deal . . . Better than a book deal, any book deal, have been the kindly comments, e-mails and messages from strangers who aren't strangers any more who said: 'I read you and you made me laugh' and 'I read you and you made me cry'. . . Blogging is a force to be reckoned with.”
TAKE TWO
There's a healthy batch of sequels cooking and ready for consumption over the next few months. Here are two more . . .
From Gil McNeil comes the sequel to Divas Don't Knit. Needles and Pearls continues Jo Mackenzie's story a year after her husband's death. She's finally starting to get the hang of being a single parent - the boys are thriving in their new seaside home and the wool shop is starting to do well. But boys, babies and best friends certainly make life a lot more interesting. Can Jo cope as things start to unravel?
Niamh Greene continues her Demented Housewife series, with Confessions of a Demented Housewife: The Celebrity Year. Mother of two Susie is back, attempting to spice up the daily drudgery of housework and child-rearing. This time she's busy forging a friendship with celebrity mum Angelica Law and ends up landing a TV job.
SNEAK PEEK
The Model Wife - Julia Llewellyn
An accidental pregnancy leaves former model Poppy with a much older news anchorman as a husband. With Luke going through a midlife crisis and his ex-wife trashing her each week in a newspaper column called My Husband, The Bimbo and Me, it's time for Poppy to show the world that she's more than just a pretty face.
NEW RELEASES
My Best Friend's Life - Shari Low (2008)
Roxy is glam, adventurous and works as a receptionist in a swanky London brothel. Librarian Ginny is drab, sensible and is still living in her teenage bedroom with a Westlife doona. But despite being so different they've been best friends for years. When Roxy complains that she's had enough of city living and men, Ginny sees a way out of her rut, including 12 years with boyfriend Darren. She suggests that they swap lives for a month. Roxy will come back to their sleepy hometown Farnham Hills to work in the library and stay with her mum; Ginny will try on Roxy's glamorous job and lifestyle, living with her handsome flatmate and wearing her designer stiletto boots. Get ready for a romp with lots of sex.
7/10
Watch out for our interview with Shari Low and find out who she'd love to swap lives with.
SCREEN SCENE
Emily Giffin fans, you'd better sit down. Her Something Borrowed & Something Blue books have been optioned by Edward Burns' Wild Ocean Films production company. It says it plans to shoot the stories about best friends Rachel and Darcy as two separate films.
TAKE TWO
In this sequel to Brenda Janowitz's Scot on the Rocks, things go awry for Manhattan lawyer Brooke Miller when she has to face her litigator fiancé Jack across the courtroom during a big case. And on the homefront her family isn't getting along with his family. Jack with a Twist is out in June.
Catch up with Brenda Janowitz in our updated interview to coincide with her own wedding ahead of the new book release.
MAKING HER DEBUT
Another American lawyer-turned-novelist Kerry Reichs has seen her first novel, The Best Day of Someone Else's Life, released just in time to coincide with wedding season in the northern hemisphere. Kevin Connelly, who goes by the name Vi after being cursed with a boy's name, is facing 11 weddings in 18 months - none of them her own. Ever since she was a young flowergirl, she had dreamed of being a bride. But now at 27, with a closetful of bridesmaid dresses she'll never wear again, she discovers that the illusion of matrimony as the “Answer to Everything” begins to fray. And just as love finally seems to be within reach, matters take an unexpected turn. Reichs reportedly has been a maid of honour five times, a bridesmaid five times and has never been married. She is currently working on a book about Vi's sister Maeve.
INSPIRATIONAL LIT
The latest book from Melody Carlson, A Mile in My Flip-Flops, is out in June. Recovering from a broken heart, Gretchen Hanover is inspired by home improvement shows to buy a fixer-upper and make some money. But the house turns out to be in worse shape than she thought and her contractor father needs help from his carpenter friend Noah.
AUTHOR NEWS
From Erin Kaye comes her latest novel, My Husband's Lover. When Chris' old school friend Bernie arrives from Australia, she welcomes her with open arms. That is until Bernie steals her husband, Paul. Paul thinks he's found the love of his life in Bernie. Until he discovers the secret she's been hiding from him. For Chris' sister Karen, her world falls apart when she suspects husband Tony of having an affair. Tony, oblivious to his wife's paranoia, has never looked at another woman since meeting Karen. That is until Shona appears on the scene and painful wounds from the past are reopened.
LUCK OF THE IRISH
Here's a few upcoming releases from some much-loved Irish authors . . .
Sinead Moriarty's latest novel about a mixed-race relationship will hit bookshelves in July. Whose Life Is It Anyway? is about Niamh O'Flaherty, whose family expect her to settle down with a nice Irish lad. But she falls for older man Pierre, who couldn't be less Irish if he tried. And his parents aren't impressed that he is involved with a girl who writes a lightweight newspaper column.
Do You Want to Know a Secret?, from actress and popular author Claudia Carroll, tells the story of single woman Vicky Harper. It's been a long time since she's had a date with that elusive species - the decent single man - so she decides to put the laws of attraction into action. Expect it around August.
In Someone Special, by Sheila O'Flanagan, Romy Kilkenny loves her life in Australia - especially since she couldn't be further from her family. But when her brother rings to say she's needed back in Ireland, Romy heads home, still not ready to forgive her mother for her disgraceful behaviour a few years earlier. Romy is also worried that the accidental half-kiss with best mate Keith at the airport may have brought their easy friendship to an end. It's out in August.
NEW RELEASES
This Charming Man - Marian Keyes (2008)
When it is announced that charismatic Irish politician Paddy de Courcy is getting married, three women are particularly interested in the news. Lola is devastated, because she has been Paddy's girlfriend for 16 months and now he's marrying someone else. Heartbroken and unable to concentrate on her work as a stylist, Lola flees Dublin to a friend's country cottage. Journalist Grace is intrigued, as she's had dealings with Paddy and the bride-to-be, Alicia, before and is certainly not a fan. For one, Paddy was the first love of her twin sister, Marnie, who is now having trouble keeping her life together. With a serious underlying theme, slowly revealed secrets and characters who will draw you into their pain, could it be Keyes' best yet?
9/10
MAKING HER DEBUT
Former Liverpool newspaper editor Jane Wolstenholme has published a novel, Bridesmaids, under the name Jane Costello - and it's about four weddings and a gorgeous man. It centres on commitment-phobe journalist and eternal bridesmaid Evie, who is about to help her best friend walk down the aisle. The only promising thing about a season of weddings is that she keeps running into the gorgeous Jack. Costello's next book is all about British nannies working in the US.
BOOK NEWS
In the vein of Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl comes Confessions of a Lapdancer, written by an anonymous writer. Geri Carson is fed up with life at an investment bank in London. Despite being forced to act as one of the boys in order to climb the ladder, it seems she's constantly sidelined. Struggling to keep up with her lavish lifestyle, Geri gets deeper into debt. So when a company night out leads Geri to a lapdancing club, she is soon presented with an offer she can't refuse. A chance to earn a fortune performing on stage. At first petrified, once the lights go up, Gerry finds she's a natural. Then she becomes involved with a millionaire client and discovers a seedier side to life as a lapdancer. The book is out in June.
AUSTRALIAN MADE
Anonymous has been busy! This time a network insider who according to publisher Penguin “continues to forge a successful small screen career” has penned a novel about TV current affairs presenter Kate Corish whose future on screen looks shaky as she approaches her 40th birthday. We've reported on this Boned book before but here's the first look at the cover. With rumours flying that management intends to “bone” Kate (this term for sacking become well-known in Australia when former Channel 9 chief Eddie McGuire axed presenter Jessica Rowe), she knows that her boss Mike Ripley is behind the campaign to get rid of her. Will she accept her fate or play him at his own game?
NAME CHANGE
Spotted on the bookstore shelf this week is a new title from Karen Joy Fowler - The Case of the Imaginary Detective. Also known as Wit's End, it tells the story of Rima who as the sole survivor of her family has come to California to stay with her godmother Addison, better known as the successful crime writer A.B. Early. Her house is full of dollhouses, each featuring a murder scene from her novels about fictional detective Maxwell Lane. Rima is on a mission to unravel the reason behind the estranged relationship between her father and Addison. Karen Joy Fowler is best known for her bestselling novel The Jane Austen Book Club.
SNEAK PEEK
Just Say Yes - Phillipa Ashley
When Lucy Gibson's boyfriend Nick, winner of reality TV show Hot Shot, proposes to her on air she just can't say yes. She's not ready for that kind of commitment. With the press hounding her for breaking Nick's heart, Lucy escapes London to seek refuge in an isolated Cornwall cottage. But life there is far from uncomplicated.
NEW RELEASES
An Offer You Can't Refuse - Jill Mansell (2008)
Ten years ago, 17-year-old Lola was offered 10,000 pounds by her boyfriend's snobby mother to break up with him. At first she refused as Dougie was the love of her life. But after finding out her stepfather had serious gambling debts, she accepts and takes off to Majorca, leaving behind only a break-up letter for Dougie. A decade later, a Good Samaritan act by Lola, now a bookshop manager, brings her ex back into her life. But although Lola still has strong feelings for him, he finally discovers that she was paid off to dump him. Read it for the great characters, including the feisty heroine and her neighbours Sally - an immaculately dressed but sloppy flatmate who is also Doug's sister - and Gabe, possibly the world's most useless (but kind-hearted) paparazzo. The ending doesn't surprise but if you get an offer to read this book, don't refuse it.
7/10
BOOK NEWS
Originally self-published in 2006, Maryann McFadden's The Richest Season is being released by Hyperion in June. It focuses on lonely corporate wife Joanna who flees her husband Paul and New Jersey life and heads to vacation spot Pawleys Island in South Carolina. There she meets widow Grace who has come to the island to live out her days alone. In three parallel journeys, Joanna, Paul and Grace walk away from lives they always thought they wanted, only to rediscover a part of themselves they'd all but forgotten. For McFadden's take on how a self-published book landed a major book deal (“winning the literary lottery'), head to her website.
TEEN LIT
Coming soon is the third book of Lisa Samson's four-part Hollywood Nobody series. Romancing Hollywood Nobody continues the story of teenager Scotty Dawn, who documents her life on the road, travelling to movie sets with her mother Charley, in her blog Hollywood Nobody. This time as more family secrets unravel, there may be some romance on the cards.
NEW RELEASES
All Eyes on Her - Poonam Sharma (2008)
Monica, a junior associate at a Los Angeles divorce and mediation firm, is hoping her handling of superstar clients Cameron and Lydia Johnson - aka Camydia - as they discuss a trial separation will score her a promotion. But she has her work cut out for her with rival colleague Stefanie giving her the evil eye and trying to undermine her on the job. To further complicate her life, her fiancé is away in London, her former boyfriend is back in her life as a client and her drama queen mum is returning to town. A tale of female rivalry, celebrity shenanigans and being true to yourself.
6/10
Catch up with Poonam Sharma in our Interviews section and find out why she wrote a book about rivalry between female co-workers.
MAKING HER DEBUT
Out this month from Amanda Hearty is Are You Ready?, a tale of four friends facing their 30s. Is Ali ready to become a wife? Has Molly made a big mistake by changing jobs? Isn't it time for Ben to move out of home? And will Sarah ever find someone to love? Dublin-based Hearty is the daughter of best-selling author Marita Conlon-McKenna.
CHICK MEMOIR
Trish Ryan was a successful 30-something lawyer who became fed up with “men who cheated, who left her, who made her a lesser version of herself”. After years of trying everything out there to make love work - new age philosophy, feminist empowerment, self-help programs - she finally decided to turn to God in her search for the right guy. Her memoir about this soul-searching journey, He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, is out now.
BOOK NEWS
What happens when you discover that your dream man is not playing with a full deck of cards? In Elaine Szewczyk's I'm With Stupid, Kas meets hunky park ranger William while on safari in South Africa. After their fling, Kas returns home to New York wondering if she'll hear from him again. So when he finally sends an email, she's delighted. But it soon heralds William's arrival on her doorstep as he's under the impression that Kas has offered him a place to stay while he makes his fortune in Manhattan. New York-based Szewczyk is fiction editor at Kirkus Reviews.
COVER STORY
From Jane Fallon, the author of one of our favourite books of 2007, Getting Rid of Matthew, comes her follow-up novel, Got You Back, which has the tag line “Hell hath no fury like two women scorned . . .” When Stephanie discovers that husband James is having an affair with Katie, she decides to track the mistress down and together they hatch the perfect plan. But is revenge really sweet? And can your husband's mistress ever be your friend? Here's a preview of the cover. Got You Back is out in August.
MAKING HER DEBUT
Get set to join the Dublin jet set with Amanda Brunker's Champagne Kisses, out in June. It explores the lives of celebrity reporter Eva Valentine, model Maddie Lord and their gay pal Parker. Eva is stubborn, sexy and sassy, but underneath her hard-nosed facade she's just a regular girl who craves a love to call her own. After close-circuit camera images of her in a clinch with her married boss make news headlines, her world begins to crumble. Brunker is a former Miss Ireland and newspaper columnist.
HOLIDAY READ
School's Out - Sarah Tucker
For once, Amanda has a fail-safe plan to survive the summer holidays with her three kids. She is joining fellow mum Suzanne on a holiday to Cornwall where their one-time playground comrade Skyler has opened a B&B. But their holiday spirit is quickly dampened when the friends find themselves crammed into a two-bedroom cottage with Skyler's business in dire need of a helping hand. This latest schoolyard offering from British TV presenter Tucker is out in July.
SNEAK PEEK
The Beach House - Jane Green
Widow Nan is quite happy living alone in her beach house in Nantucket. But, when she discovers that her money is running out, she rents out rooms for the summer. Her guests include a recently divorced father, Daniel, and single mother Daff. As the house comes to life again, Nan's son comes home for the summer and an unexpected visitor turns up, turning all their lives upside down.
AUTHOR NEWS
Canadian author Robyn Harding's new book, Chronicles of a Mid-life Crisis, examines the disintegration of a 16-marriage. After building the perfect life together, Lucy is blindsided when Trent tells her he's leaving. But she holds it together for her teenage daughter Samantha, and throws herself into her career. Then a shocking rebellion from Sam causes Trent and Lucy to reunite as parents and forces them to examine what they want for their own futures. It's out in May.
HOLIDAY READ
Holly Would Dream - Karen Quinn
Fashion historian Holly Ross is obsessed with Audrey Hepburn and often wishes she lived in a simpler time, when the clothes were glamorous, the men debonair and the endings happy. But with both a wedding and a big promotion coming up, her own happy ending seems assured. So then how does it all go wrong in a day? She is left jobless, penniless and single, cruising the Mediterranean in pursuit of real estate tycoon Denis King. Can she track down a suitcase of stolen Audrey Hepburn gowns before Interpol tracks her down? With the Mediterranean and Rome as the backdrops, Holly's adventures begin to resemble one of the 1950s Hollywood movies she so adores.
PS Watch out for more than 125 hidden references to Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant movies.
AUTHOR NEWS
Sweet Love is the latest release from Sarah Strohmeyer. TV reporter Julie Mueller has been fired for the sin of being 40. Broke and struggling to raise a teenage daughter alone, she receives the gift of some dessert classes that spark not only a new burst of culinary creativity but a burning passion for fellow student Michael Slayton, a true love she once let slip away.
SNEAK PEEK
Life Begins - Amanda Brookfield
Charlotte Turner is freed at last from an unhappy marriage and looking towards a better future. But if life begins at 40, then she's not off to the best of starts. Her house won't sell, her son gets into trouble at school and the husband of her closest friend is showing a bit too much interest in her. Besieged by complications, Charlotte realises that she can no longer blame a floundering marriage for her woes.
AUTHOR NEWS
Kathy Lette, the Australian-born author, former Savoy Hotel writer-in-residence and lady of the killer quip, will be serving up another novel in September, To Love, Honour and Betray (Till Divorce Us Do Part). Lucy's husband Jasper has left her for her best friend, the chic interior decorator Renee. And Lucy's teenage daughter Tally blames her mum for driving her dad away by letting herself go. Lucy's quest to win back her husband sees her learning to be a surf life saver, lose weight and get a job. She also falls in lust, torn between an older and a younger man. But then Lucy discovers that her toy boy is also dating her daughter!
BOOK NEWS
Palm Beach author Patrice Wilton's new release Replacing Barnie tells the story of divorce lawyer Lydia O'Reilley, who doesn't believe in love. While out celebrating her birthday, she meets Jed who she thinks makes a more-than-satisfactory replacement for her broken sex toy Barnie. But then she discovers that not only is Jed her new client's soon-to-be ex-husband, but that she's also pregnant. It's out in June.
NEW RELEASES
You Had Me at Good-bye - Tracey Bateman (2008)
Book two in the Drama Queens series focuses on Dancy Ames, who lives with Laini and Tabby and works as a book editor at Lane Publishing. Her brother's best friend Jack Quinn not only took her dream job at the firm, but ends up having to fire her because of a change of company direction. Meanwhile, Dancy helps out her friend Nick at his coffee shop and works on her own novel, called Fifth Avenue Princess, whose main character is torn between two men - one sounding remarkably like Jack. Dancy also is dealing with a teenage half-brother who has just arrived on the scene and jealousy that her engaged brother is getting the family condo. Not sure if I read a different book to what the blurb and advance reviews promised - what happened to the storyline about Dancy being dared to send Jack a book, under an assumed name, about a romance between a mean editor and a coffee barista?
5/10
SNEAK PEEK
What's Love Got to Do With It? - Lucy Broadbent
Running away from her awful childhood, all Isabella is interested in is getting to LA, working for the super-rich, then marrying one of them. And it's all going to plan, with a rich husband, richer father-in-law and a bottomless bank account. But then it all comes crashing down around her and it's time for her to learn that it's who you love - not what you love - that gets you through life.
BOOK NEWS
Valerie Frankel, author of The Accidental Virgin and Hex and the Single Girl, is releasing a weight loss memoir in September. Thin is the New Happy is about the quest to fit into the size of her dreams.
TAKE TWO
It's time to catch up with Tracey of Wendy Markham's Slightly Single, Slightly Settled, Slightly Engaged and Slightly Married series. In Slightly Suburban, Tracey has had enough of life in New York so she quits her job at the advertising agency and moves with Jack to the suburb of Westchester. But they quickly discover they're in way over their heads. Their fixer-upper is unfixable, the stay-at-home mums are a bore and Tracey even misses work. So which life does she really want?
Expect another release from Wendy Markham in July. That's Amore is about a reluctant groom, two psychic sisters and true love. It's part of a series that includes Bride Needs Groom and The Nine Month Plan.
BOOK NEWS
The Overnight Fame of Steffi McBride by AJ Crofts is the story of a young soap star who has to face the consequences that fame brings. When Steffi lands a part in Britain's most popular soap opera, the whole country falls in love with her, including the pop star she had a crush on as a teenager. Her star is rising fast, including having the coveted No. 1 Christmas single. But someone knows a secret about Steffi's past and heartless media revelations blow apart everything she ever believed to be true about her family and about herself. The book is out in September.
AUTHOR NEWS
Texan author Sarah Bird's new book, How Perfect is That, tells the story of Blythe Young, whose divorce and failing catering business sees her kicked out of Austin's high society. Blythe has made lots of dubious moral choices and is now facing bankruptcy, public humiliation and a drug habit. In disgrace, she returns to the boarding house she lived in during college and has to find a way to make amends. How Perfect is That is out in June.
HOLIDAY READ
The Gap Year for Grown-Ups - Annie Sanders
After 20 years of marriage, and with twin daughters finally off to university, Sarah Lewis realises she needs an adventure - like a gap year for grown-ups. With husband David happy with the status quo, Sarah takes off for France alone where she finds a renewed passion for life - and a gorgeous French man. But then a catastrophe threatens to de-rail much more than Sarah's little adventure.
INSPIRATIONAL LIT
Oh Baby! - Judy Baer
From the author of The Baby Chronicles comes this new novel about a birthing coach. Obstetrician Clay Reynolds has no respect for Molly MacKenna or her profession. How can Molly change Clay's attitude towards doulas in general - and her in particular?
Daring Chloe - Laura Jensen Walker
When Chloe Adams' fiance dumps her the night before their wedding, two friends convince her to live the adventures from her book group's latest selections. Hiking. Sailing. River rafting. Travelling to new places and eating exotic food. Say goodbye to the play-it-safe Chloe.
The Prince Charming List - Kathryn Springer
Heather Lowell moves into town to take over a beauty salon and - hopefully - to discern God's plan for her. She creates “The List,” outlining the criteria for the perfect man. But it doesn't seem to help when Jared Ward and Ian Dexter both come into her life.
Blue Heart Blessed - Susan Meissner
After being jilted just before her wedding day, Daisy Murien opens a secondhand bridal boutique, Something Blue. She finds a friend in the retired Episcopal priest who blesses the tiny, blue satin heart she sews into each dress. But when Father Laurent has a heart attack, his son arrives with plans to take his ailing father away and a contest of wills begins.
AROUND THE WORLD France
From French author Agnes Desarthe comes Chez Moi (or Mangez-moi in French), a tale of a woman who turns her love of cooking into becoming a Parisian café owner. Myriam has cut herself off from her past life as a wife and mother. When she opens Chez Moi, she has no idea how to run a business. Barely able to pay the rent, Myriam sleeps in the dining room and bathes in the kitchen sink. But soon enough her cuisine attracts some customers, and Myriam finds that she may get a second chance at life and love.
AUTHOR NEWS
From former Rolling Stone journalist and VJ Jancee Dunn comes this story of a woman's past and present colliding when she moves back in with her parents (where her Duran Duran posters still hang on the wall) and confronts her 80s nostalgia and all the people she thought she'd left behind - including her high school boyfriend. Don't You Forget About Me is out in July. Dunn has also written a memoir about her life as a celebrity interviewer, But Enough About Me.
AUTHOR NEWS
Get ready for a real heart-wrenching story from Jane Moore in her latest book, Perfect Match. Its synopsis says: “Could you choose between your marriage and your child? Just when Karin and Joe Eastman thought they had it all - the perfect marriage and the perfect family - they learn that their young son, Ben, has a terminal illness. The only cure is for them to have a “designer baby” to provide him with a perfect match bone-marrow transplant. But in the process, a devastating family secret is revealed that not only jeopardises the one hope of their son having a future but also threatens to destroy their marriage.” Perfect Match is out in June.
SNEAK PEEK
How To Be Single - Liz Tuccillo
Julie Jenson is a 37-year-old book publicist in New York. When her friend Georgia's husband leaves her for a samba teacher, Julie gathers her closest single friends for a girls night out. There's Alice, who, after a five-year failed relationship, quits her job as a lawyer so she can start dating. Serena finds she doesn't have time to date in between her new-age workshops and African dance classes while Ruby's too busy mourning the death of her cat. The night leaves Julie disillusioned with the New York single scene, so she quits her job and sets off around the world in search of the elusive secret of romantic happiness.Tuccillo was the co-author of dating tome He's Just Not That Into You.
TEEN LIT
For those looking for a smart, feisty new heroine for teenage girls, a new release by The Boyfriend List author E. Lockhart may be just the ticket. In The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, high school student Frankie uncovers the existence of a boys-only secret society at her elite private school, whose members include her senior boyfriend Matthew and his friends. She infiltrates their Loyal Order of the Bassett Hounds by email through which she directs them into performing various pranks.
TAKE TWO
Late Night Shopping, by Carmen Reid, is the sequel to 2007's The Personal Shopper and sees Annie Valentine jet off to Italy. The mother of two and personal shopper at a London store wants to set up her own shoe and handbag empire. But she puts her relationship with Ed on the line when she risks their house. And he's not convinced that a family holiday to Italy is the answer - especially when a dashing Italian businessman promises to fulfill Annie's every dream.
Carmen Reid has her first YA title out in September - Secrets at St Jude's: New Girl.
AUSTRALIAN MADE
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Australian actress and broadcaster Elly Varrenti has written a memoir, This Is Not My Beautiful Life, which shows you can live life at full tilt, even if it's a life unlike anything that you've dreamt of. Varrenti details how her childhood dreams gave way to ill-fated careers, desperate loves, complex co-parenting arrangements and crazy family lunches. |
AUTHOR NEWS
Harriet Evans is back with The Love of Her Life, being touted as the new When Harry Met Sally. Out in June, it's about Kate Miller who has transformed herself from a geeky teenager into a career woman planning her wedding. Then on one catastrophic day, it all falls apart and she takes off to New York for a lowly job at a literary agency. But when her father falls ill, Kate returns to London and has to face the friends she left behind, including Mac - the man she thought was the love of her life.
BOOK NEWS
Want to read about women who go the extra mile to achieve perfection in their lives - and not feel guilty that you are nothing like Martha Stewart. Then The Woman Who Is Always Tan And Has a Flat Stomach: And Other Annoying People, by Lauren Allison and Lisa Perry, may be the book for you. Based on a series of “non-motivational” seminars for women, this book has a collection of stories about various over-achievers. There's fitness fanatics, obsessive scrapbookers, nutrition nazis, grating couples, soccer and stage mums, competitive hostesses and hypochondriac husbands.
NEW RELEASES
The Opposite of Love - Julie Buxbaum (2008)
Manhattan lawyer Emily Haxby is confused about her life. Just as her boyfriend Andrew is on the verge of proposing, she breaks up with him with that famous line: “It's not you. It's me.” Working on a multi-million-dollar lawsuit that she morally disagrees with and trying to avoid a lecherous boss, Emily also wonders if her professional life needs a shake-up. But it's not long before she is wondering if she's made the mistake of her life. With her mother dead and her father emotionally distant, her closest ties are with her fast fading Grandpa Jack and Ruth, a former judge who lives in the same retirement home. This book has received high praise from many readers and is finely written with believable characters and emotional depth. However I'd lost interest by the second half. But maybe it's a case of “It's not The Opposite of Love. It's me.” So the best advice would be to try it out for yourself - you may just love it.
6/10
TAKE TWO
Maggie Marr's Hollywood Girls Club girls are back. In Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club, out this month, actress Carrie, agent Jessica, producer Lydia, screenwriter Mary Ann and publicist Kiki are set to collaborate on another film and help each other weather some scandals, including a sex tape, a stalker and a blackmailer. Los Angeles-based Marr is a writer and producer who also once worked as a Hollywood agent.
WEDDING BELLES
The Importance of Being Married - Gemma Townley
Workaholic Jessica Wild is resolutely single. But she tells Grace, who lives at her grandmother's nursing home, that she has a fiancé called Anthony Milton (the name of her real boss). When Grace dies, leaving her a huge inheritance in the name of Jessica Milton, she has to get her boss to fall in love and marry her - all within 50 days.
Questions to Ask Before Marrying - Melissa Senate
Stella, a professional muse and face reader, thinks her twin Ruby is making a big mistake by marrying her buttoned-up fiance. The sisters take off on a long and bumpy road trip to Las Vegas, where a wedding may or may not happen in an Elvis wedding chapel.
Killing Bridezilla - Laura Levine
When freelance writer Jaine Austen agrees to write Romeo and Juliet-inspired vows for the ultimate Bridezilla, her high school nemesis Patti Devane, the “I do's” soon become “I wish I hadn't's”. And with the bride racking up a long list of enemies - from the mother-in-law to the ex-wife of her groom - it's hardly surprising when sabotage sees Patti plunge to her death during the balcony scene.
Remember to check out Club Challenges next month for our theme of wedding planners.
HOLIDAY READ
Summer Blowout - Claire Cook
Bella Shaughnessy works at Salon de Paolo, her Italian family-run beauty salon, along with her four half-brothers and sisters. When her marriage disintegrates when her half-sister runs off with her husband, Bella makes a vow: no more men. But then she meets a cute entrepreneur, who gives her a great business idea: a make-up kit for everyone. When the whole clan heads to Atlanta for a big wedding, sparks fly - in a summer blowout no one will ever forget. And as you'd expect from the Must Love Dogs author, there's a cute dog. Summer Blowout is out in June.
AUTHOR NEWS
The female half of the successful Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees writing partnership has a new book out in May - this time under the name of Jo Rees. Platinum is about a prostitute, a maid and a socialite who unite in their hatred of one man. LA's most influential madam Peaches Gold, South African yacht stewardess Frankie Willis and English socialite Lady Emma Harvey have every reason to distrust and despise each other, but their hatred for Yuri Khordinsky will unite them. He is typical of the newcomers to the ranks of the world's super-rich - a rich, handsome and ruthless Russian with a murky past, desperate for acceptance in society. Platinum is out in May.
AUSTRALIAN MADE
When Australian journalist Holly Hill (not her real name) found herself jobless and penniless after the end of her relationship with a wealthy boyfriend, she advertised for a sugar daddy - and the 2007 book Sugarbabe was the result. In the sequel, Toyboy, out in June, she decides to turn the tables and advertises to pay a younger male companion. The 40-year-old was after an accomplished cook, confidante and lover. “Whilst not essential; humour, looks and intelligence will be well-regarded,” her ad said. But not only did she have a lot less applicants for the position of toyboy than she'd had for a sugar daddy but a lot of them lied about their age and relationship status. Oh, and their height, weight and physical attractiveness. Just as her cause seemed hopeless, though, a chance encounter sends Holly down a road she had never considered travelling.
TAKE TWO
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Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez's sequel to The Dirty Girls Social Club is coming this year. Dirty Girls on Top continues the story of the six Latina women - Usnavys, Lauren, Rebecca, Sara, Cuicatl and Elizabeth - five years down the track when the women are 33 years old. It's out in July. A Dirty Girls movie is currently in development. |
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NEW RELEASES
It's A Kind of Magic - Carole Matthews
When Emma's irresponsible but loveable boyfriend Leo turns up to her 30th birthday dinner very late and awfully drunk, she can't help wishing that he was different. And after realising she'll never change him, she tells him that the magic is gone and so begins the next phase of her life without him. That night Leo runs into the mysterious Isobel and falls under her spell. As this fairy girlfriend waves her wand and sprinkles her fairy dust around, Leo starts becoming more like the man Emma wished he was. Even if you don't like books with magical themes, read it for the hilarious cardboard box scene.
6/10
MAKING HER DEBUT
Kent-based author Miriam Morrison's first novel, Recipe for Disaster, is about local newspaper reporter Kate whose one hope of salvaging her career is to do a tell-all feature about the seedy underbelly of the restaurant business. Jake Goldman and Harry Hunter, rivals since culinary school, have opened their first restaurants in the same small town. When one of Jake's waitresses deserts him to join Harry's team, Kate applies for the job, hoping to do an undercover investigation. Little does she know, when she follows the alluring smells into Jake's kitchen, that she is in for a major surprise. Morrison has worked as a journalist and also ran a country inn in the Lake District.
INDUSTRY NEWS
The shortlist has been announced for the 2008 Melissa Nathan Awards for Comedy Romance. The books are Merde Happens, by Stephen Clarke; A Girl's Guide to Kissing Frogs, by Victoria Clayton; 31 Dream Street, by Lisa Jewell; Heaven Sent, by Christina Jones; Mrs Zhivago of Queen's Park, by Olivia Lichtenstein; and The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy, by Fiona Neill. The winner will be announced at a London ceremony on June 18.
SNEAK PEEK
Going it Alone - Clare Dowling
As Millie's 40th birthday approaches, her biological clock starts ticking loudly. And after months of fruitless trying for a baby, her husband Andrew is feeling like a walking sperm bank and their marriage is in crisis. Matters come to a head when Andrew's job relocates to London and Millie decides that if he won't stick around to get her pregnant, then she'll do it without him. Setting her sights on Spain, Millie embarks on a voyage of discovery.
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