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Clare has always known the risk of being married to a rich, handsome younger man like Marc. But when she gives birth to twins, she discovers motherhood isn't quite as easy as expected. Desperate to escape back to her chic chain of boutique flower shops, she hires nanny Jenna, who is desperate to escape a bad relationship. But things don't go quite to plan.
Did you know? Tess Stimson, who has written several novels on infidelity such as The Adultery Club and The Infidelity Chain, has a self-help book due out in June called Beat the Bitch: How to Stop the Other Woman Stealing Your Man.
Texan schoolteacher Misa Ramirez's debut novel Living the Vida Lola - book one in the Lola Cruz mystery series - sees private investigator Dolores "Lola" Cruz finally assigned her first big case - she has to track down a missing person. But when the woman turns up dead, Lola finds her own life may be in danger. Plus her high school crush Jack, now a reporter, reappears on the scene.
The Big Dirt Nap is the second in Rosemary Harris' Dirty Business Mystery series. Paula Holliday, a former New York media exec who makes the switch to landscaper in Connecticut, is back, this time taking an all-expenses paid weekend at an upstate hotel with her oldest friend, Lucy. The hotel is playing host to a rare corpse flower which is just about to bloom. But when Lucy doesn't show up but a dead guy does, Paula has her hands full trying to find her friend.
Mayhem in High Heels is the fifth and final book in Gemma Halliday's series. Maddie Springer is finally walking down the aisle with the man of her dreams. But her wedding planner winds up dead - murdered in buttercream icing. Suddenly Maddie's hope of a dream wedding and honeymoon is looking shaky, especially when her groom-to-be is assigned the detective in charge of the case. Maddie vows to find the killer before her big day. Is it the powerful ex-husband, the hot toyboy, a secret lover from the past or a billionaire bridezilla on the warpath?
Did you know? Gemma Halliday has a new series - Hollywood Headlines - starting up at the end of 2009. The first book, Scandal Sheet, is about The LA Informer's gossip columnist Tina Bender who receives a death threat.
In Elizabeth Fenton's The Edge of The Water, Molly is about to turn 40 when she is contacted by Electra, the daughter she gave up for adoption. So she sets out across the country to meet her on Ridgeport Island, a small island in Maine. When Molly arrives on the island, she discovers that Electra's "cottage" is in fact an elegant estate located in an exclusive summer resort. Intimidated by Electra's apparent wealth and worried that she will not compare to the birth father, a famous rock star, Molly is unable to summon up the nerve to meet her daughter. Nearly out of money and hope, Molly by chance meets Nathan, who helps her find a job on the island.
Irish author Sarah Webb has a new novel out at the start of 2009 called Anything for Love, about a single mum called Alice who takes on a fundraising job at a maternity hospital. Even her love life may be looking up when she meets her new boss, Jack. What she hadn't bargained for was also acting as general dogsbody to the terrifying fundraising committee chairwoman Maud Hamilton-O'Connor and her side-kick, Koo. Webb is also releasing the first in a teen series in early 2009 - Boy Trouble about teen agony queen Amy Green.
Nadine Haobsh uses her inside knowledge of the beauty industry for her first novel Confessions of a Beauty Addict. Beauty columnist Bella Hunter loses her job at a chic magazine when she reveals industry secrets to a newspaper reporter. She is reduced to taking a position at Womanly World, a magazine more suited to her mother's crowd, where she has to take orders from a dowdy beauty director. Armed with her Marc Jacobs, three meddling best friends, and her flighty supermodel boyfriend, Bella is out to wage war on the beauty world one bad makeover at a time. She soon finds herself also at war with her stuffy but gorgeous male publisher. Haobsh, known as beauty blogger Jolie in NYC, had previously written a beauty manual, Beauty Confidential. Confessions of a Beauty Addict is out in January.
So what's in store for chick lit lovers in 2009? It may well be a big year, as according to experts, people are more likely to turn to escapist fiction, movies and TV series when the economy is in a downturn.
Some of the big-name authors will be back with new releases, including Sophie Kinsella, with her as-yet unpublicised Twenties Girl, due out mid-year to capitalise on the arrival of her Shopaholic on the big screen. Jane Green is heading to Dune Road (although there is some international debate about an alternative title of Girl Friday). The book is about a single mother who works for a famous but reclusive novelist in an exclusive Connecticut beach town. Jennifer Weiner's Best Friends Forever is about two former friends who reunite in drastic circumstances on the night of their 15-year school reunion. Jill Mansell's Rumour Has It is about London girl Tilly who heads to a small town. Cathy Kelly's Once in a Lifetime centres on characters linked to an Irish department store. Secrets from the past are the theme of Catherine Alliott's The Secret Life of Evie Hamilton and Lisa Jewell's The Truth About Melody Browne. Alexandra Potter asks Who's That Girl? as her character meets her 21-year-old self.
Emily Barr is set to entice with The Life You Want - the sequel to Backpack - about a mother who leaves everything behind her to head to India; Louise Candlish is sure to set the tearducts working overtime with Before We Say Goodbye about a dying mother who inspires her daughter to find the boy she loved all those years ago.
And what would a year be without a release from Wendy Holden (Beautiful People); Chris Manby (Crazy in Love); Katie Fforde (Love Letters), Sheila O'Flanagan (The Perfect Man) and Carole Matthews (A Difference a Day Makes).
Prolific writer Zoe Barnes is back with Return to Sender about a woman's search for her birth parents; Fiona Neill is writing about Friends, Lovers and Other Indiscretions with six friends, two decades of tangled fortunes and an explosive secret from the past. Annie Sanders is showing how an agency helps scorned women by Getting Mad, Getting Even. Polly Williams has moved on from yummy mummies and bad brides to The World's Worst Wife where Sadie tries to turn herself into the ideal partner to keep her man. Bernadette Strachan is looking at How to Lose a Husband and Gain a Life while Sarah Strohmeyer's characters are delaying divorce after facing harsh economic realities in The Penny Pitchers Club.
For some glitzy reads, try the Bagshawe sisters with Passion (Louise) and Flawless (Tilly) or Tasmina Perry with Original Sin. And if it makes it past its legal problems, Tatiana Boncompagni's Hedge Fund Wives will give an insight into life behind the Wall Street facade.
In the sequels department, Lucy Cavendish continues the tale of desperate housewife Samantha Smythe with Lost and Found. Jane Beaton returns to the classrooms of Downey House with Rules, her follow-up to Class. Rowan Coleman sends her The Accidental Mother character Sophie to be with the man she loves in Cornwall in The Accidental Family. Holly McQueen is signed on for the next instalment in The Fabulously Fashionable Life of Isabel Bookbinder. Alison Penton Harper continues her series about Helen and her boss with Housewife in Love. And Jane Porter tells the tale of TV anchor Tiana (first introduced in Odd Mom Out) who is beginning to feel her age in Easy on the Eyes.
Best debut of 2008 author Lucy Dawson looks at how female friendships can go wrong in What My Best Friend Did; while Linda Green gives us 10 Reasons Not to Fall in Love. Clare Dowling's Just the Three of Us is about a romantic triangle between Debs, her married lover and his wife. And Sarah Dunn returns after a five-year absence with Secrets to Happiness, where recently separated Holly acts a lot like Jane Austen's Emma.
Also tipped for a 2009 release is Bridie Clark's I Think She's Got It, whose film rights have already been picked up. And Fiona Walker's Love Hunt will finally be released.
From Australia, look out for journalist Wendy Squires expose of network TV in The Boys' Club and Cate Kendall's Versace Sisters. Ilsa Evans' The Family Tree is all about the hardships facing a writer.
Stay tuned to the Chicklit Club throughout 2009 for the latest news and reviews. See our Release Dates section for more expected titles.
When she was a child, Melody Browne's house burned down, destroying all her possessions. But the fire also took with it all her memories - Melody can't remember anything before her ninth birthday. Now in her 30s, Melody lives in a London council flat with her teenage son and has nothing to do with her parents. On a date at a hypnotist show she faints - and when she comes round she starts to remember the real story of her childhood. But with every mystery she solves, another one materialises. And Melody begins to wonder if she'll ever know the truth about her past.
Did you know? A decade after the release of her successful debut novel Ralph's Party, Lisa Jewell is working on its sequel. It's expected to be out in 2010.
The cover for Irish author Cathy Kelly's 11th novel Once in a Lifetime has just been released. The story is set around a department store in the Irish town of Ardagh and focuses on a number of characters connected to the store as the threat of closure looms, including the owner's wife, Ingrid; her daughter's flatmate Natalie; and staff member Charlie. Once in a Lifetime is out in March.
Australian journalist Wendy Squires has written an insider's story of the blokey culture of network television. The Boys' Club sees Rosie, a recently divorced new mum, granted a rare interview with the most powerful man in Australian television. When he instead offers her a job as the network's publicity director, she finds the dream break soon turns into a job from hell where she cops abuse on a daily basis. Something has got to change . . . Squires, who is associate editor at The Australian Women's Weekly, spent a year as a publicity director for Channel 9. The Boys' Club is out in March.
Cruise ship excursions organiser Selena is about to disembark for a two-month break. She's particularly looking forward to a break from the attentions of over-amorous officer Alekos. But she finds Jules, the best friend she was going to stay with, has deserted her to elope to Mauritius. On her flight to London she takes pity on Alekos who is nursing an injured hand. He convinces her to join him on the Greek island of Crete to help run his brother's watersports business. Selena is not only captivated by Greece and its mythology, but the sun and surf has her slowly thawing to her admirer.
From Jill Marshall (children's author of the Jane Blonde series) comes her second adult novel, As It Is On Telly. Its synopsis reads: "Bunty McKenna's husband is having an affair. All the signs are there - the weight loss, the improved wardrobe, the working late at the office. Even though she'd known they were growing apart, the realisation throws her into a panic. The only thing she's ever done with any degree of success is be a wife, and bone up on a whole lot of daytime TV. So Bunty decides she needs to find herself a new husband, a rich one, and enrols with a high-class dating agency. Through the Croesus Club she meets several prospective partners, including one who ticks all the right boxes. When he disappears back to his native New Zealand, it makes absolute sense that she should follow him. Daughter and friend in tow, she boards the plane. But life is not like it is on telly, and neither are the people. On her journey through the drainage system of her garden, the stalking of her husband, and the dating disasters of the Croesus Club, Bunty discovers a whole lot of information: about men, about herself, and about the guy she's come to think of as Shrek." It's out in February.
It's time for Diane to move on - she's packing up her family home after breaking up with her gambling husband, Steve. Her home is bought by icy divorce lawyer Annette, who was married to a gay artist. Homecoming queen Bonnie went the white picket fence route when she married her high school sweetheart and football star Buck. Now in her early 20s and with two young kids, he's become an unbearable bully. The women are all brought together at a furniture shop where Lana works. She is a former actress who disappeared from the spotlight when she left her leading man Lucas after his on-set affair. The four women are all members of the divorce club - ready to face life happier ever after.
In The Agency, by Ally O'Brien, entertainment agent Tess Drake has worked hard to make a name for herself in the cut-throat celebrity industry. She's trying to go out on our own and reel in one of the biggest clients. But the death of the agency's senior partner sees her arch rival Cosima take over - a woman who would do anything to wreck Tess' career. Ally O'Brien is the pseudonym for a writing duo made up of an international bestselling author of suspense novels and a media agent. The Agency is out in February.
Laurie Graff's characters are still seeking their Mr Right. In her latest novel The Shiksa Syndrome, Manhattan publicist Aimee Albert is dumped by her stand-up comedian boyfriend - on Christmas. So Jewish Aimee decides to seek out a member of her own tribe. There's only one problem: they are all being snapped up by the shiksas (non-Jewish women). So Aimee undergoes a makeover. And when the cute Josh she meets at a kosher wine tasting mistakes her for a shiksa, that's what she can pretend to be. Graff is the author of You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs and Looking for Mr. Goodfrog.
Chicklit Club Awards:
It's that time of the year when the Chicklit Club likes to recognise the year's best chick lit novels. The coveted Pink Thong award for Book of the Year for 2008 goes to Emily Barr's The Sisterhood. Melanie La'Brooy won the Book of the Year (Australian) category for The Babymoon. Click here for our full list of winners from Best Debut to Editor's Choice.
Jasmine is a glamour model who's become engaged to a footballer but will her past return to haunt her? Lila is an actress who has married a big Hollywood star but may well have also sold her soul. Maxine is still looking for love after three divorces. And Grace is a journalist looking for a break. And she just might have found it when she swaps London for Marbella - where glamour girls rub shoulders with Hollywood royalty.
Young, Loaded and Fabulous, the first novel in a series by Kate Kingsley, is being touted as Gossip Girls for across the Atlantic. Alice and Tally are the queen bees at their exclusive London boarding school, St Cecilia's. But trouble is brewing for the 16-year-old socialites when Alice starts to fall for friend Tristan and his summer fling, an American called Dylan, arrives at the school. And Tally has her eye on the hot new English teacher.
Allison Rushby is releasing her 2006 novel The Dairy Queen (aka Mad about Moo) under a new title and under her pen-name Alli Kincaid. Wrong Way, Go Back sees Dicey Dye hit rock bottom after losing her multi-million-dollar pyjama empire, her husband Jean-Luc - and then her lover. She heads back to her childhood town of Moo with her sister Titch, best friend Sally and an Irish wolfhound. For a while, the cow-obsessed town, with its bizarre locals and black-and-white theme, manages to distract all three girls from their problems. But then Dicey reconnects with her childhood sweetheart and Jean-Luc turns up with his new girlfriend.
For those baby boomers contemplating scaling the ladder of learning next year, you might want to check out Zoe Simpson's debut release, A Matter of Degree. The novel focuses on a 50-something empty-nester called Nessie who decides to pursue a master's degree in exercise science. Her two children are away travelling and husband Paul is getting underfoot doing DIY projects after having been made redundant. Her life as a mature-aged student sees her living on a canal boat while trying to get fit, master modern technology and pass the course. The author has recently gained her own master's degree.
The girls of Bloomberg Place are back in this seasonal offering, Let Them Eat Fruitcake. In the second book in Melody Carlson's series following I Heart Bloomberg, all of the 20-something roommates aren't exactly in festive spirits at Christmas time. Megan's got problems at work while Lelani can't afford to fly home to Hawaii. Anna's ex has sailed back into her life, just when she's met a nice guy. And Kendall's got her eye on a married actor.
The Romantic Novelists' Association has announced its longlist for the Romantic Novel of the Year. The finalists include Thanks for the Memories by Cecelia Ahern; Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella; The Love of Her Life by Harriet Evans; The Birds & The Bees by Milly Johnson; and Out of the Blue by Belinda Jones. The winner will be announced on February 10. The 2008 winner was Pillow Talk by Freya North.
Did you know? The team behind the popular Annie Sanders name has another novel out next year called Getting Mad, Getting Even. It's about two women who run an agency that helps busy women. But their latest client wants more than her dog walked or a party arranged - she wants them to exact revenge on her cheating husband.
Co-written with Fabulous, the pseudonym of an ex-WAG, this follows Louise, whose boyfriend Adam is signed up to premiership team Leeds City. She hooks up with some fellow WAGS, including the captain's wife Tara and Jodie, who is in a tumultuous relationship with bad boy Gary. Louise soon learns how to shop, deal with the paparazzi and party like a WAG. Problem is the footballers are forever going out on bonding nights together and the girls are rarely invited. Plus Adam is becoming increasingly moody and self-centred. Louise starts to wonder whether all the glamour of being a WAG is worth it. An entertaining read that will make you feel sorry for this glammed-up species.
Some of your favourite chick lit authors have contributed to a sizzling collection of raunchy short stories for the new book In Bed With. The writers include Jessica Adams, Maggie Alderson, Kathy Lette, Chris Manby, Jane Moore and Adele Parks. But as each write under their X-rated pseudonym (a combination of the name of their first pet and first street), you'll have fun working out who wrote what.
Elizabeth Fournier's memoir, All Men Are Cremated Equal: My 77 Blind Dates, chronicles the 30-something mortician's attempts to resurrect her dating life after a broken engagement. Desperate to meet "The One", she gets people to set her up for the blind meet and greet with a variety of men - 77 times in a year. And something obviously worked because she wrote the memoir just after she got married.
Amelia is married to wealthy, eccentric wine buyer Ed. He's very set in his ways and has always made it clear he's not interested in being a parent. Trouble is now Amelia finds herself wanting a baby and thinks the matter should be reopened for discussion. As her over-the-top friend Kiki sets her up with a new career as clutter-clearer to the rich and disorganised, Amelia needs to decide whether she is going to stay in her marriage or take the chance on meeting someone else. Because it's a Maggie Alderson book, of course there's a gay friend and a glamorous social scene. Plus throw in a wise old neighbour, a gorgeous gardener, an intimidating father and the return of the first boy Amelia ever kissed - and it all adds up to her best book yet.
A jilted bride takes off on a road trip in Phillipa Ashley's latest release It Should Have Been Me. Not only does Carrie's fiance Huw suddenly call off their wedding, he is also intending to marry someone else. Desperate to get away, Carrie arranges to head off in a camper van with her best friend Rowena. But at the last minute Rowena has to pull out, and Carrie ends up going with her ex's uni friend Matt, a very desirable doctor. It's out in March.
A. As far as I'm aware, Mimi's Remedies is a fictional title written by a character in Marian Keyes' novel The Other Side of the Story. The character, Lily Wright, wrote the bestselling fantasy book after she took off with her friend's boyfriend, marrying him and having a child together.
Abbie faces up to a wife's worst nightmare when she learns her husband has died of a heart attack - in another woman's bed. And she hears this devastating news just before she's served with divorce papers. In Sharon K. Souza's Lying on Sunday, Abbie decides to lie to protect her daughters from their father's betrayal. And in the meantime she needs to rebuild her life and reassert herself after years of following her husband's rules. Souza is the author of a number of Christian fiction titles, including Every Good and Perfect Gift about infertility.
Very Valentine is the first novel in a trilogy by New York writer Adriana Trigiani. A family-owned company which makes custom-made wedding shoes in Greenwich Village is on the verge of collapse and it's up to 30-something Valentine to bring the family's old-world craftsmanship into the 21st century. While juggling a budding romance with chef Roman, she returns to Italy with her 80-year-old grandmother Teodora in the hope of finding inspiration for a design competition for the prestigious Bergdorf department store. It's out in February.
Did you know? Emily Barr's next novel The Life You Want is about a mother of two who thinks she's having a nervous breakdown so she leaves her life behind and escapes to India.
For those who like their mystery with some Christmas spirit, Elaine Viets' Murder with All The Trimmings is the fourth book in the series about mystery shopper Josie Marcus. This time she is sent to rate three year-round Christmas shops in the same neighbourhood, including one owned by her boyfriend Mike's ex. And it seems that shoppers are finding a strange - even deadly - secret ingredient in their festive goodies. Plus on the homefront, Josie's jailed ex, Nate, turns up on her doorstop, demanding to see his daughter, Amelia.
The story of Quinn, a British lawyer living in New York, continues after baby Samuel arrives. Wondering how she's ever going to slip back into the fast-paced world of being a lawyer, Q instead decides to slip out of the city and stay at a friend's holiday home in Connecticut. She hopes this will give her and husband Tom the space to consider their future options. If only Samuel would stop crying! Also arriving on the scene is Q's younger sister Jeanie, who has just finished her social work degree and now needs to join the real world. Even though this is a sequel to Bed Rest, you don't need to read that title first. In fact, this one, with its alternating viewpoints from the two sisters, is actually better.
Read our interview with Sarah Bilston to see how you could get your own free copy of Sleepless Nights.
Spoilt Californian heiress Birdie Sederburg`s life revolves around how visible she is on the latest celebrity blog until she falls for hot new actor Dean Stevenson. After weeks of stalking, she bumps into him and his agent persuades him that being seen with Birdie would be good for his profile. The course of true love, however, does not run smooth, and Birdie is forced to have herself kidnapped in order to convince Dean he really does love her.
CLUB CHALLENGES: Read all about these rocky marriages, trial separations and divorce proceedings in this month's Club Challenges.
Monica McInerney has released a book of short stories called All Together Now. The collection includes tales about a group of friends on an unconventional diet and a grieving young mother who embarks on a healing journey. It also includes her novella Odd One Out and two previously unpublished stories.
It's time to catch up with Helen in the fourth instalment of Alison Penton Harper's Housewife series. Housewife in Love, out in February, sees Helen and her boss, Rick, prepare to walk down the aisle. Meanwhile her sister Julia prepares for first-time motherhood at age 43, which prompts friend Leoni to warn her that parenthood isn't all it's cracked up to be. Then Rick's teenage daughter, Lola, turns up to prove just how awful a kid can be.
Several chick lit titles have made it on to Amazon's top 100 bestseller list for 2008. Emily Giffin's Love the One You're With came in the highest at No. 37. Also on the list were Jane Green's The Beach House (46), Sophie Kinsella's Remember Me? (68), Lauren Weisberger's Chasing Harry Winston (77) and Jennifer Weiner's Certain Girls (80). Stephenie Meyer's Breaking Dawn was No. 1. The only chick lit title in the Top 100 Editors' Picks was Curtis Sittenfeld's American Wife at No. 88.
Get ready for the screening of the TV adaptation of Jane Porter's novel Flirting with Forty, which is based on her own romance with her surfer boyfriend. Jackie (Heather Locklear, who is actually closer to flirting with 50) is a divorced mother of two on the brink of her 40th birthday. When her kids go to stay with her ex for the holidays, Jackie heads to Hawaii where she falls for a much younger man, Kyle (the 20-something Robert Buckley from Lipstick Jungle). Flirting with Forty premieres on the US' Lifetime channel on December 6.