June
June Recent Reviews
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AUTHOR NEWS
Caprice Crane has released details of her next book, Joint Custody. It's about a woman who's so close to her husband's family that when he unexpectedly files for divorce she files a counter-suit for joint custody of her in-laws. Crane is currently working as a staff writer on the new-generation 90210 TV show.
NEW RELEASES
The Beach House - Jane Green (2008)
As a fan of Jane Green's books, I was worried that this one wouldn't interest me because it centres around a 65-year-old widow. But I am happy to report that Green ensures Nan - the free-spirited woman who lives in a ramshackle house atop a bluff in Nantucket - shares the storyline with a number of other characters. When Nan finds her savings are running out, she decides to rent out rooms for the summer. Her guests include Daniel, who has finally worked up the courage to leave his wife Bee; and Daff, a divorced mother who's finding it hard to handle her attention-seeking teenage daughter Jess. Even Nan's son Michael, a jeweller, comes home to escape a risky love affair. But as they settle in, there is one more visitor to come who will really shake up the happy household.
7/10
BOOK NEWS
Schooled, by Anisha Lakhani, gives an insider’s view into a world where affluent families hire tutors to do their children’s homework. Ivy League graduate Anna Taggart lands a job at an elite private school in Manhattan but soon realises that the papers she marks are not the work of her seventh graders, but of their college–educated tutors. Realising she can make the same hourly rate as a lawyer, Anna secretly works as a tutor by night and starts splashing out on designer items. It’s out in August.
MAKING HER DEBUT
In Kimberly Huff’s Tall Skinny Cappuccino, Emma Mosley has an apartment in Boston’s trendiest neighborhood, a glamorous job as an entertainment writer, and a wardrobe that would make even Sarah Jessica Parker jealous. So what’s the problem? For starters, she wants to write about things that matter, not about whether velour jumpsuits will make a comeback. And she’s met the love of her life but he belongs to someone else — the leggy bombshell who not only stole her promotion but became her boss.
NEW RELEASES
A Summer Affair - Elin Hilderbrand (2008)
Claire Danner Crispin hasn't been back at work in her glassblowing studio since she collapsed from dehydration and prematurely gave birth to her youngest son, Zack. At her husband Jason's behest, she has given up her craft and instead devoted herself to their four children. But then she is asked by millionaire Lock Dixon to co-chair the annual Nantucket Children's charity gala. Her role is to secure her high school sweetheart, rock star Max West, as the performer and make a piece of art to auction. But as she fights her guilt about taking time away from her family and being responsible for Lock's unhappy home life, she is drawn into an affair. An intriguing story that keeps you turning the pages - will the secret relationship, her obsession with creating the perfect chandelier and the pressures of organising a high-society event leave her life in shatters?
7/10
MAKING HER DEBUT
Ready for a racy rural romp? Country Pursuits is reportedly the first in a series from debut novelist and London journalist Jo Carnegie. The women of Churchminster know exactly what they want - a constant flow of champagne on tap at the local pub and the love of a good man. But faced with the likes of beer-guzzling farmer Angus, foul-tempered Lord Fraser and self-centred banker Sebastian, their attentions are increasingly drawn to more attractive possibilities. But when their village comes under threat from a property developer, the community is united by a different kind of passion. Carnegie is deputy editor of Heat magazine.
Did you know? Cecelia Ahern has packaged together a 224-page hardback book called The Gift for the Christmas market. It has an “enchanting story which ends on Christmas Day”. It's in stores from October.
CHICK LIT MEMOIR
Journalist Lisa Gee's six-year-old daughter, Dora, goes along to a West End audition as a bit of a lark. After all she's never been to stage school and Gee is certainly no pushy stage mother. But Dora does get cast as one of the von Trapp children in Andrew Lloyd Webber's production of The Sound of Music. Stage Mum delves into the mother and daughter's initiation into the industry - from the open auditions and anxious parents to rehearsals and late-night performances and the fear about how her daughter would emerge from the experience.
NEW RELEASES
More Than This - Margo Candela (2008)
Evelyn Morgan Reed-Sinclair and Alexander Velazquez first lock eyes through a train window. He's a lawyer from a working-class background, while she's from a prestigious family trying to make it on her own. Evelyn has fled Paris and her life as an art student after being confronted by her married lover's wife. Back in San Francisco, she is loath to live the pampered life of her socialite sister, Tannin, so she takes on an assistant's job at the web company where her friend, James, works. Alexander is back in town after losing his job and breaking up with his girlfriend. As the son of a union activist, he reluctantly takes on the case of a wealthy widow being sued by her underpaid staff. Evelyn and Alexander watch each other through their office windows and their paths nearly cross several times as events play out over a 10-day period. If you love will-they-or-won't-they-meet books (and I do), then you'll find this is more than bliss.
7/10
AUSTRALIAN MADE
In My First Divorce, by Sheryn George, Caitlin Cooper is a red-hot television producer who's about to launch her latest reality show, Date Squad. But her world is turned upside down when she discovers the two people she trusts more than anyone else in the world - her husband and assistant - have betrayed her. Now her biggest struggle is deciding whether to get revenge - or crawl under the doona. But she has a New-Age best friend, a very loud mother and two daughters with attitude, all intent on dragging her back into the world. So there's no time for tears and Cait discovers she might just be able to get through anything - even her first divorce. George is a Sydney-based journalist and author of Miss Lonelyhearts. My First Divorce is out in September.
RELEASE DATES
Want to be the first to know which chick lit books are coming next year? Then check out our 2009 list.
NAME CHANGE
Linda Francis Lee's latest release The Ex-Debutante has a different cover and title for the paperback market - Tantrums & Tiaras. It's about lawyer Carlisle Wainright Cushing who is dragged back to Texas to deal with her society mother's next divorce and is talked into organising Willow Creek's annual debutante ball. With only three months to transform a motley crew of teenage rebels into elegant young ladies, Carlisle's ball looks set to be a night to remember.
HOLIDAY READ
My Best Friend Has Issues - Laura Marney
Alison, a sweet 22-year-old Scottish lass, heads to Barcelona where she meets Chloe, a not-so-innocent American heiress. Chloe introduces her to a multitude of sins, as well as teaching her about revenge and her philosophy “never apologise, never explain”. But amid sending spiteful postcards home, Alison soon realises that there is a high price to pay for their decadent lifestyle.
MAKING HER DEBUT
In Emma Burstall's Gym and Slimline, four women bond over push-ups and Pilates at a swanky London gym. Percy likes sorting out other people's problems but she is fighting a terrible secret addiction. Patrice wants another baby but her husband isn't interested in sex. Carmen is living dangerously, determined to get pregnant by her treacherous boyfriend. And Suzanne adores her sexy second husband but is she neglecting him and her teenage daughter for her job? It's due out from August.
AUSTRALIAN MADE
The Nearly Happy Family - Catherine McKinnon (2008)
Who needs enemies when you have family? Jackie Delaney and her eldest daughter Claire, 15, are still dealing with the fallout after the sudden death of Claire's father, Vince. Claire particularly doesn't want her mother moving on with her younger boyfriend, Ben. And while Jackie certainly isn't the best role model - she drinks too much, smokes, works only occasionally as a stand-up comedian and still lives in her father T.J.'s house - she's finding it hard to handle the rebellious teenager. When their family feud takes a turn for the worse, Claire moves out and becomes an apprentice in Italian chef Nino's restaurant. Told in alternating chapters from both mother and daughter's viewpoints, the book tells the tale of how a dysfunctional family makes family life work for them.
6/10
Read our interview with the author and find out what inspired this mother-daughter story.
BOOK NEWS
Free Style, by Linda Nieves-Powell, is centred on two 30-something Latina mothers - Idalis, who is newly separated from her husband, Manny, and Selenis, who is struggling with three children, an aging mother and a distant husband. The friends escape their to-do lists to revisit their past at Club 90, a nightclub they frequented last decade. There they meet up with old friends and lost loves and dance their troubles away. But when one faces a serious crisis, they must decide whether to stay in the past or move on. Nieves-Powell runs Latino Flavored Productions, which produces Latino-themed, English-language productions.
TAKE TWO
The follow-up to Eirin Thompson's 2007 release Notes for the Next Time is out now. In The Undercover Mother, the unnamed mother-of-three has taken a part-time job as an undercover store detective. Used to not being noticed at home, she feels she has the perfect credentials. As the “invisible eye” at the shopping centre, things soon become more complicated than the job first promised. There's the mystery of the posh schoolgirl and why security is turning a blind eye. There's the question of dubious vote-casting in the bonny baby competition. And there's the case of the radio star's missing brother. Thompson is a mother of three and former newspaper journalist.
NEW SECTION
Want to see which books won over the Chicklit Club? Then check out our new High Raters section with lists of books rating 8/10 and above.
MAKING THEIR DEBUT
Sibling rivalry is the theme of Ellie Campbell's How to Survive Your Sisters. A family wedding brings the MacLeod sisters - Natalie, Milly, Avril and Hazel - together for the first time in years and it's not long before they slip back into their squabbling. As the synopsis says: “When tragedy strikes and all plans have to be put aside, it's surprising who's there to lean on. But all the more surprising are the skeletons that are about to come out of the rather crowded MacLeod closet.” Ellie Campbell is the pseudonym of Scottish-born sister writing duo Pam Burks and Lorraine Campbell. Burks lives in England while her big sister lives in the US.
TEEN LIT
Best friends Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman (Wolves in Chic Clothing, The Right Address) have joined forces again for another young adult novel. Jet Set is about an American army daughter, Lucy, who moves to a prestigious Swiss boarding school. She's there for the academic and tennis programs but soon gets into some serious trouble and develops a crush on a fellow student who just happens to be a prince. It's out in August.
AUTHOR NEWS
With many countries caught up in the Dancing with the Stars and Strictly Dancing craze, author Julia Williams is following up Pastures New with a book about ballroom dancing. In Strictly Love, lawyer Emily promised her late father that she'd devote her life to good causes. So how comes she spends her days defending Z-listers, desperate to prolong their 15 minutes of fame? Katie is obsessed with being the perfect wife and mother. So why is husband Charlie always AWOL these days? Dentist Mark’s wife has walked out on him. Can he cope with being single again - on top of a devastating legal case against him? And happy-go-lucky Rob is hiding a secret tragedy. Isabella's ballroom dance classes give the four the perfect opportunity to forget their troubles and let their feet do the talking. You can check out the author’s blog about learning to dance while she researched the book.
NEW RELEASES
Thanks for the Memories - Cecelia Ahern (2008)
Joyce Conway is given a blood transfusion after falling down some stairs and losing her unborn child. Justin Hitchcock is in Dublin to give an art lecture when he is persuaded to give blood. When Joyce finds she now knows all about architecture, can speak several languages and has memories that aren't her own, she begins to wonder about the person who helped save her life. Will they ever meet? There's no big twists but it's an enjoyable read. And Joyce's dad, Henry, is such a character (just loved the airport scenes) you'll be wanting to get along to his Monday Club.
7/10
SNEAK PEEK
Lessons in Love - Kate Lawson
Jane Mills has a broken heart, no job and a house she can't afford. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Jayne (with a Y) Mills can afford anything she wants but at what cost to herself? In her late 20s, Jane's up for a challenge. Fast approaching 50, Jayne's had more than enough of them. Meeting Jane after a mail mix-up gives her the chance to assess her choices and the opportunity to remake the one that she most regrets. Lawson also writes as Sue Welfare and Gemma Fox.
HOLIDAY READ
Head off to the south of France with Two Days in Biarritz, by debut author Michelle Jackson. Best friends Kate and Annabel set off to a chic resort in Biarritz to celebrate their 40th birthdays. Kate is an artist and lives in France, while Annabel's only ambition is to be a yummy mummy in Dublin. But Annabel has been keeping a shocking secret from Kate for years. Can their friendship survive the betrayal and other little surprises that unfold after two days in Biarritz? The Dublin-based author's next novel is called Three Nights in New York.
NEW RELEASES
Divorcing Dwayne - J.L. Miles (2008)
Would anyone think Francine Harper deserves to be locked up for shooting at her husband Dwayne and his stripper ex when she caught them in her marital bed? Especially since she missed - three times. Well, apparently the politically ambitious district attorney Warren Wilson does. When Francine is bailed on home detention, she discovers that their joint bank account is $30,000 richer and is worried that Dwayne has got mixed up in a shady mob deal. And she certainly isn't about to let the ankle monitor stop her from finding out the truth. But when Dwayne goes missing, presumed dead, Francine - the town's newly crowned celebrity - becomes the No. 1 suspect. You don't need to live on the right side of the Mason-Dixie line to enjoy the side-splitting humour. Full of crazy characters such as Nanny Lou who believes her husband isn't dead but just run off with the floozy from across the street. The sequels Dear Dwayne and Dating Dwayne are coming soon.
6/10
INSPIRATIONAL LIT
Love Starts with Elle - the second in Rachel Hauck's Low Country series - sees Elle's footballer-turned-pastor boyfriend, Jeremiah, pop the question. He takes on a large Dallas pastorate, while she stays behind in South Carolina to plan the wedding and sell her beloved art gallery. As she begins having doubts about her future with Jeremiah, she meets New York lawyer Heath who has moved to town to start over again.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Whoever thought we'd hear the words vampire and Jane Austen in the same sentence?! Well Michael Thomas Ford has signed a three-book deal with Random House's Ballantine imprint for a series of novels featuring Jane Austen as a vampire. It is believed he will publish Jane Bites Back possibly under a pseudonym in 2009. It reportedly features an undead Jane Austen, frustrated by nearly 200 years of writer's block and angry that everyone else seems to be making money from her works. Will we be reading “I vant to suck your blood, Mr Darcy”? American Ford is best known for his My Queer Life series and his dollaraword website.
TOP 10
Want to ensure you keep up with all this year’s must-have chick lit reads? Then check out our 2008 Must-Reads from big-name authors. And watch this space for our Top 10s from emerging and debut authors, coming soon.
CHICK LIT MEMOIR
At 37, Cathy Alter had a life full of junk food, unpaid bills, questionable friends and highly inappropriate men. What she wanted instead was exactly what the cover lines of magazines offer - healthy diets and bank balances, toned bodies, loving relationships and an immaculate home . . . So Cathy gave over her life to nine glossies for a year, resolving to follow their advice on monthly issues. The result? You'll have to read Up for Renewal, by the Washington-based freelance writer, to find out how the social experiment turned out.
BOOK NEWS
You've heard it all before - a mother swears she's found “The One” for her daughter but they end up on the blind date from hell. In Have I Got a Guy For You, edited by Alix Strauss, you'll read a collection of true stories from 26 women of the failed fix-ups that result from their mother's well-meaning meddling. The dates included an underperforming lawyer, an over-zealous actor and too many hours at a Dungeon and Dragons convention.
NEW RELEASES
Choosing Sophie - Leslie Carroll (2008)
Former burlesque dancer Venus de Marley (aka Olivia) finds out only by reading the New York Times obituaries that her estranged father has died. Leaving her fiancé in Colorado, she heads home for the funeral and discovers the eccentric millionaire has left her his beloved baseball team, the Bronx Cheers, as long as she “closes the circle”. Also attending the funeral is 20-year-old Sophie Ashe, who Olivia adopted out as a baby - she thinks that their bonding is what he meant by closing the circle. As Sophie moves in, Olivia fights a legal challenge, puts the players in a raspberry-coloured uniform and drafts some new talent. There's lots of baseball jargon but it helps pull you into the drama of a game. But it was a bit disconcerting to see that famous team sometimes referred to as Red Sock. Also suggest you skip the conclusion offered in the Extra Innings part of the book.
5/10
AUTHOR NEWS
Lyndsay Russell takes on the weight-obsessed world in Fat Chance. Size 18 Sharon Plunkett has tried every fad, diet and cream, but those rolls of fat just won't budge. The man of her dreams isn't interested, and her skinny friend, Debbee, only uses her to look good. But then Sharon magically finds herself in a reversed world where it's in to be fat. Adored for her curvaceous body, she goes from supermodel to Hollywood icon . . . until it all starts to go wrong. Russell is co-author with her daughter of the children's picture book The Rainbow Weaver.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Lisa Jewell's 31 Dream Street (aka Roommates Wanted) has won the 2008 Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance. Some of the shortlisted books were recognised as category winners at this week's ceremony in London. Fiona Neill's The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy took out Most Loveable Heroine for Lucy; Christina Jones' Heaven Sent had Helen as the Best Bitch; and Best Bastard went to Victoria Clayton's character Sebastian in A Girl's Guide to Kissing Frogs. Other books to win a gong included Louise Harwood's Hippy Chick for Best First Kiss and Carole Matthews' The Chocolate Lovers' Diet for Best Happy Ever After. The awards are held in memory of author Melissa Nathan who died in 2006.
AUSTRALIAN MADE
In Christine Darcas' Dancing Backwards in High Heels, mother of two Madeleine Hutchinson is adjusting to life after moving from Chicago to Melbourne. Thinking she needs to find herself again, she takes up Latin American dancing. When sparks fly with dance partner Hugh, she is forced to work out what she really wants from life. American-born Darcas now lives in Melbourne where she is a freelance writer and Latin American dancing enthusiast.
AUTHOR NEWS
Louise Candlish promises some scandalous revelations in her latest novel, The Second Husband. Kate Easton has spent the years since her marriage break-up promising herself that she won't get involved again. But when the charming Davis Calder moves in next door, and helps her keep the peace with her 17-year-old daughter Roxy, Kate is totally unprepared for her feelings. Then Kate makes a discovery that blows her family apart.
HEN LIT
From the author of The Red Hat Club, Haywood Smith, comes the third book in the series about best friends Georgia, Linda, Diane, Teeny and Pru. In Wedding Belles, Georgia's daughter, Callie, suddenly gets engaged to the most inappropriate groom – her father's friend, Wild Man Wade. When Callie refuses to delay the wedding, the Red Hat Club swings into action to help Georgia get through the nuptials, including planning a surprise reluctant-mother-of-the-bride shower and a geriatric stripper at the lingerie shower.
BOOK NEWS
Pull on those cowboy boots and get striding down to the shops for these new releases . . .
LuAnn McLane's latest release, A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action, centres on hairdresser Macy, who never thought she stood a chance with her town's former football hero Luke Carter. Just as he starts showing some interest, a country singing star's hair emergency turns into a big break for Macy and she ends up in Nashville. Will she and Luke ever be able to get it together?
Don't Make Me Choose Between You and My Shoes, by Dixie Cash (the name used by a sister writing team from Texas), sees the Domestic Equalizers, Debbie Sue Overstreet and Edwina Perkins-Martin, offered a trip to the National Association of Private Investigators convention in New York. And Edwina has one goal there: to get her feet into a pair of designer shoes not found back home in Texas. Meeting up with robbery victim Celina and working girl Cher, the duo head end up in the midst of a murder investigation.
AUTHOR NEWS
Anne Marie Forrest's newest book, Love Potions, is about three friends - science graduate Rosie, psychology student Dana and marketing whiz-kid Caroline - who set up shop selling love potions. Can three such different characters remain friends through the trials of setting up and running their venture? And how will it impact on their own love lives? The Irish author's previous books include The Love Detective and Dancing Days.
SNEAK PEEK
Blue Remembered Heels - Nell Dixon
When con woman Abbey Gifford was struck by lightning, she was told there might be some bizarre side effects. Now it seems she can never tell lies again. And truthfulness is a big drawback for a con woman, especially when she can't stop blurting out secrets to detective Mike Flynn.
NEW RELEASES
Celebutantes - Ruthanna Hopper and Amanda Goldberg (2008)
Probably my favourite Hollywood insiders' book so far. Lola was born into Hollywood royalty on Oscar night - her father is an award-winning director. But she has two main problems - she's an Actorholic getting over a devastating break with actor SMITH (Sexiest Man in the Hemisphere) and she's got Career Deficit Disorder - or no idea what to do with her life - a disorder very common with Adult Children Of in Hollywood. Meanwhile her best friend Kate, a very ambitious agent, is still trying to leap up the ladder while her best actress friend Cricket is still striving for her big break. Then upcoming fashion designer Julian, Lola's BGF (Best Gay Forever), appoints her as his Hollywood ambassador to get someone into his gowns for the Oscar red carpet. But her rival Adrienne Hunt is out to destroy her career and she has to deal with self-centred actresses like Olivia. With lots of celebrity bad behaviour and name-dropping.
7/10
CHICK LIT MEMOIR
After 20 years as a foreign correspondent in some lawless parts of the world, such as Rwanda and Chechnya, Judith Matloff longed to go home. In her memoir Home Girl, she returns to New York to look for the perfect home. Drawn in by West Harlem's cultural diversity and affordability, she buys a stately fixer-upper brownstone. But Judith and husband John soon discover they are back in pretty lawless territory. Their crumbling house was once a crack den and they have their work cut out winning over the neighbours, including squatter Salami, homeless man MacKenzie and various drug addicts and dealers.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Congratulations to Monica McInerney for winning the General Fiction Book of the Year in the 2008 Australian Book Industry Awards for her novel, Those Faraway Girls.
AUSTRALIAN MADE
In Elise Bradfield's The Fabulous Life of Mundane Jane, Jane Medcalf is leaving the comforts of the family business to begin her life as a corporate high flyer. She embarks on a life makeover that provides her with a whole new outlook and wardrobe to match. Trying to maintain a balance between her new job, existing friendships, demanding parents and prospective new love interest, Jane finds her life becomes a bit of a juggling act. The Sydney-based Bradfield says: “The book is about finding who the real you is in life. It is about laughing your way through the ride and embracing that little voice inside your head - after all, it may be the best friend you will ever have.” She is currently finishing her second novel, Roadtrip to Happily Ever After.
TAKE TWO
Maggie Marr, former Hollywood agent, now writer and producer, gives an insider's view of how four women survive - and succeed - in the tough movie-making industry in this two-part series. Best suited to those who already know from authors like Jackie Collins that Tinseltown is tarnished - and won't be disappointed with these pretty unendearing characters who get thrust into some elaborate scenarios.
Hollywood Girls Club (2007)
Celeste Solange is a movie star whose film producer husband has not only taken off with a teenage actress - he's also given her the part that was meant to herald Celeste's comeback. Her powerful agent Jessica Caulfield recommends that she takes the starring role in the low-budget film being produced by their friend Lydia Albright. But although Seven Minutes Past Midnight has new writer Mary Anne Myers turning it into a killer script, the male star is in jail, the director Zymar is too busy getting high in Bali and the new studio boss is desperate for Lydia to fail.
6/10
Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club (2008)
The girls of the Hollywood Girls Club are back. Celeste is thinking it's time for a facelift while a sex tape - the one she thought was destroyed at the time of her divorce - seems to be making the rounds. And she's desperate to keep both secrets from her new husband, Worldwide Pictures boss Ted Robinoff. Mary Anne has started seeing hot leading man Holden Humphrey - a fact that infuriates his co-star Vieve. Jessica, now happily married with a baby son, is still promoting her list of clients. And Lydia is running the studio and receiving mysterious notes threatening to expose a big secret. Meanwhile publicist Kiki seems to know everyone's secrets - and is willing to use them to her own advantage.
6/10
NEW RELEASES
Filthy Rich - Wendy Holden (2008)
Allsop's allotment project is one way for the villagers to come together - to forge community ties as they tend their vegetables and summer annuals. But eco-nazi Morag intends to run the allotment under her strict rules. Mary, who lives in a crumbling manor house, thinks the allotment will help keep her occupied while her aristocratic husband Monty is off exploring the North Pole. American yuppie Beth has finished decking out her country cottage in English florals and needs a new pursuit. The fame-seeking Alexandra, whose footballer boyfriend is getting transferred, has a huge new mansion with underground parking planned for the village - and is just happy to get her hands on more land. And headmistress Catherine and solicitor Philip are just plain lonely. But when the villagers dig up more than just carrots on the allotment, the dirt really starts flying. Has received mixed reviews but the good-for-a-laugh characters clinched it for me.
7/10
CELEBRITY READ
Supermodel Carol Alt, most recently seen on TV screens as part of Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice, writes about what she knows best - a model's life - in her upcoming novel This Year's Model. Waitress Melody Ann Croft had a lot of plans for her life but being a model was not one of them. Discovered by a customer, a fashion photographer, she is whisked off to New York and rechristened Mac. She soon learns that modelling is far from easy and it's all about who you can and can't trust.
PARANORMAL CHICK LIT
If Wishing Made It So - Lucy Finn
With her 10-year school reunion looming and her life in a rut, Hildy Caldwell rents a summer home on Long Beach Island, hoping the wind might blow a handsome man her way. Instead, she finds an abandoned bottle with a genie inside. What will happen when Hildy wishes to be with her high school sweetheart - the guy no one else has ever measured up to? Finn's 2007 release, Careful What You Wish For, tells the story of a single mum and her hunky genie.
MAKING HER DEBUT
Face Value, by Kathleen Baird-Murray, is about English reporter Kate Miller who scores a job as a New York magazine beauty editor despite her lack of make-up know-how, hand-me-down wardrobe and dated hairstyle. This is her chance to encourage its readers to think carefully about their beauty-obsessed culture. But she soon gets sweep up in her fashionable new world. And she's got to put a positive spin on plastic surgery for the big yearly supplement or she'll lose everything - including the plastic surgeon-to-the-stars who thinks Kate's beauty is way more than skin deep. The London-based writer is a former beauty editor who has written beauty manuals. Face Value is her first novel.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Coming from Red Dress Ink later this year include new books from Lauren Baratz-Logsted, Lee Nichols, Mindy Klasky and Erica Orloff.
Baby Needs a New Pair of Choos, by Lauren Baratz-Logsted, is about an obsessive-compulsive window washer who resorts to her father's trade - playing blackjack - when her new obsession with Jimmy Choo shoes spins out of control. In Reconstructing Brigid, by Lee Nichols, accident reconstruction expert Brigid Ashbury develops a phobia after an accident of her own. After being out of work for a year, she is asked to look into an accident that killed the daughter of a politically connected chief executive. From Mindy Klasky, author of the Girl's Guide to Witchcraft and Sorcery and the Single Girl, comes the third book in her witch series. Magic and the Modern Girl continues librarian-turned-witch Jane Madison's story. Erica Orloff's next RDI offering is the paranormal Freudian Slip - about a woman who hears the voice of a dead DJ in her apartment.
BOOK NEWS
What happens when a journalist (Claire Challis) meets the former WAG of an English footballer? They write a book together while the ex-WAG keeps her anonymity by calling herself “Fabulous”. The Beautiful Game: A Wag's Tale focuses on the world of WAGs Louise, Tara, Jodie and Pattii - a world where only the fittest survive. Where your best friend's nanny does a kiss'n'tell; where you confide in a friend only to find your secret splashed across the front page the next day.
SCREEN SCENE
Meg Cabot's Queen of Babble series may be set for the big screen. The yet untitled movie produced by New York-based Sharp Independent (Boys Don't Cry, Evening) will follow Lizzie Nichols, a fashion-obsessed American girl who heads to London to be with her British boyfriend. But when he proves to be a jerk, she falls for someone new in France. The producers have a book-to-film partnership with HarperCollins and announced their option at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Hilary Duff's name is being bandied around to star.
AUTHOR NEWS
Allison Winn Scotch's next book, Time of My Life, is about Jillian Westfield, a 30-something married mother of one, who gets a chance to go back in time to eliminate her doubts about what might have happened had she not settled down. What if she hadn't married her investment banker husband Henry? What if she hadn't quit her job when she fell pregnant? What if she answered the letter from her runaway mother? After a therapeutic massage, Jillian discover she's been whisked back seven years, back to the time she made decisions that charted her future course. And this time, armed with hindsight, she can choose a different path. The film rights of the book, out in October, have been snapped up by the Weinstein company. Winn Scotch's debut novel was The Department of Lost and Found.
BOOK NEWS
The Heartbreak Pill, by Anjanette Delgado, looks at the idea of turning love on and off with a pill. When Erika Luna's husband falls for another woman, the Miami research scientist looks for a cure for her heartbreak. Using herself as a guinea pig, she begins testing different potions. Identifying the chemicals associated with romantic feelings, she creates a pill to regulate them. Will she find the secret to love? Delgado is a screenwriter and TV producer.
MAKING HER DEBUT
Lynn Kiele Bonasia drew on her own experiences of living on Cape Cod for her first novel, Some Assembly Required. The story centres on Rose, who on finding out her boyfriend has cheated on her, tosses in her instruction manual writing job and heads to Cape Cod. Working as a reporter on the local newspaper helps her forge ties with the eccentric locals and brings recovering alcoholic Simon into her life.
TOP 10
Who are our favourite all-time authors, who keep producing great book after great book? Check out our Top 10 authors to see how many of yours have made the list.
ONE FROM THE BOYS
The boys from The Ex-Boyfriend's Handbook are back in Matt Dunn's latest novel, Ex-Girlfriends United, out in October. Soapie star Dan Davis can't understand why he's suddenly failing to score with the ladies. Then Dan and his friend Ed stumble across a website - slateyourdate.com - where it seems all his ex-girlfriends are rating him a 1 out of 10. He sets off on a quest to track down his many exes in order to put things right.
After the spate of high-class call girl memoirs, Gigolo, by Golden, looks at the business from the male escort's perspective. By day he's a jazz pianist, at night Golden's at the beck and call of rich and glamorous women. But while he mostly loves this lifestyle, he also wonders whether he'll ever find Miss Right.
And here's another male escort's tell-all. Essex lad Dean Saunders first got into the gigolo lifestyle in Spain when propositioned by an older woman in a Marbella bar. In his memoir Nice Work If You Can Get It, Saunders tells of his steamy encounters. As the synopsis says: “Sometimes they wanted sex, sometimes they wanted company - sometimes they wanted both. And sometimes their husbands wanted a word with Dean.” He's now in London pursuing a songwriting career.
In Tony Parsons' My Favourite Wife, lawyer Bill Holden and wife Becca move with their young daughter to the booming city of Shanghai. His law firm houses the family in a luxury apartment block full of second wives; beautiful young women like their neighbour JinJin Li. After Becca and their daughter return temporarily to London, Bill and JinJin are thrown together. Can a man love two women honourably?
Matt Beaumont's Small World interweaves the stories of a group of people in London, who are connected through love, work, friendship or simply by proximity. The focus is on three couples and the characters they meet, including a stressed-out working mother, a stalker, a shoplifting sales assistant, a washed-up comedian and a self-loathing policeman.
INTERVIEWS
We talk to Melissa Senate about her latest novel Questions to Ask Before Marrying and get her views on road trips, chick lit and more . . .
SNEAK PEEK
Goodnight, Beautiful - Dorothy Koomson
Nova agreed to be the surrogate mother for her closest friend Mal and his wife, Stephanie. But during the pregnancy Stephanie realises how dangerously close the pair are, and demands her husband cut all ties with his friend and his child. Nova is left to raise their son Leo alone. Eight years later, with Leo critically ill, Nova wants Mal to have the chance to know him before it's too late. Will it take a tragedy to remind the former friends how much they mean to each other?
HOLIDAY READS
How the Other Half Hamptons - Jasmin Rosemberg
The Hamptons are where the rich and well-connected spend their summers. Excited about the prospect of all the glamorous parties, sunbaking and wealthy bachelors ahead, Rachel and her two best friends, Jamie and Allison, break the bank to buy their shares in a Hamptons sharehouse. Instead they find they will be sharing their new weekend home with about 40 strangers. And they must contend with drunken escapades, explosive arguments, public nudity and jockeying for bathroom time. Before writing the novel, Rosemberg had a New York Post column chronicling her Hamptons sharehouse experience.
CLUB CHALLENGES
Read all about the romantic - and often chaotic - occupation of wedding planners this month.
BOOK NEWS
In Isabel Sharpe's As Good As It Got, three women end up at Camp Kinsonu, a Maine retreat for suddenly single women. Ann wants to get her life back on track after the death of her husband but feels she doesn't belong in this estrogen Eden, where you sit around a campfire singing “I Am Woman” with a bunch of makeup-boycotting women. Cindy is there because of her cheating husband and Martha has found out a mistress has no rights. As the synopsis says: “The three strangers are about to bond on an adventure they didn't ask for - and discover that lives they thought were as good as it got could suddenly get a lot better.”
NEW RELEASES
Fifteen Minutes of Shame - Lisa Daily (2008)
Dating expert Darcy Vaughn may have had her suspicions about her husband, Will. But she hardly expected that her appearance on the Today show to promote her latest book would turn into her most humiliating experience to date. Questioned about Will's reconciliation with his celebrity ex-wife, Gigi, Darcy is so shocked she responds by throwing up into the nearest floral display. How will her blossoming empire based on relationship advice survive her being dumped by a cheater? Dating tips are interspersed with the story of how Darcy resurrects her career - and her love life.
7/10
BOOK NEWS
British TV presenter Penny Smith is about to release her debut novel, Coming Up Next. It's about 30-something Katie Fisher who returns from holiday to discover she's lost her job as anchor of Hello Britain! to a younger woman. After retreating to her parents' home, she soon has to face the world again, including the lecherous producers, her ambitious replacement and her former co-host.
MAKING HER DEBUT
Freelance features writer Sharon Griffiths' first novel The Accidental Time Traveller is out in July. Reporter Rosie Harford is having an odd day. After a big row with boyfriend Will, she reluctantly sets off on her latest assignment - interviewing a resident of a local council estate which is about to become the set for reality TV show The 1950s House. Finding herself drawn into a 1950s world, Rosie initially thinks she's been tricked into becoming a contestant. But the truth slowly dawns on her that this is reality, not reality TV. And Will (aka Billy) is there too but he's married to Rosie's best friend and has three kids. As Rosie falls in love with him all over again, she realises he's out of bounds . . . unless she can get back to 2008.
AUTHOR NEWS
From Linda Kelsey, the former magazine editor and author of Fifty is Not a Four-Letter Word, comes new release The Secret Lives of Sisters. Hannah has always felt in the shadow of her flamboyant older sister, Cat. Hannah is so quiet that her parents often joke, 'Has Cat got your tongue?' Now Hannah's daughter is getting married. On the day of the wedding, Cat's caustic tongue is once again let loose with devastating consequences. It's out in August.
TAKE TWO
Katie Price, aka Jordan, has brought her glamour model Angel back to life in the pages of her latest book, Angel Uncovered. The book, out in July, continues Angel's story after she marries professional footballer Cal and has a baby daughter. But with Cal transferred to AC Milan, Angel is feeling isolated away from her family and friends. When an old flame of Cal's comes back on the scene, Angel is fighting to save her marriage, and herself.
Can't get enough of the inner workings of the glamour model world? The keep an eye out for Kerry Katona's Glamour Girl novel later this year.
HOLIDAY READS
From J.J. Salem comes this year's latest bonkbuster, Tan Lines. Join three women during one unforgettable season at a Hamptons' summer share. Liza Pike is known as the millennium's new Gloria Steinem, who's falling into all the old traps she cautions other women to avoid. Kellyanne Downey's been holding out for her big break as an actress while playing mistress to a rich developer. Billie Shelton is the indie-rock chick with an appetite for self-destruction. Three incidents will change their lives forever: a risky encounter, a scandalous breakdown and a brutal murder.
BOOK NEWS
What do you get when you combine the cool Malibu beach scene with the trendy craft of knitting? Christie Ridgway's How to Knit a Wild Bikini. It's the first book in a trilogy set around the beachside knitting shop Malibu & Ewe, run by Cassandra Riley. One of the social knitters, Nikki Carmichael, has just arrived in Malibu to work as the personal chef to magazine editor Jay. But she doesn't realise he's also hired her to pretend to be his girlfriend.
Did you know? Carrie Adams, author of The Godmother and The Stepmother, is actually crime writer Gay Longworth.
SNEAK PEEK
The Bright Side - Alex Coleman
All is not well in Jackie's world. Her relationships with her kids have deteriorated. She's lost her parents to a drunk driver and become estranged from her only sister. Thank God for husband Gerry. Then Jackie catches Gerry with their blonde neighbour. After fleeing the house, Jackie wonders whether she can use this crisis to her advantage.
INTERVIEWS
British author Polly Williams delved into her magazine world experience for her latest novel A Good Girl Comes Undone. Annie Rafferty is a successful magazine journalist whose boyfriend Nick takes voluntary redundancy in order to find himself. As her planned life unravels, Annie is pulled in a new direction - including towards the new alpha exec at work.
Catch up with Polly Williams in our latest interview.
NEW RELEASES
Unpredictable - Eileen Cook (2008)
Sophie Kintock wants her boyfriend Doug back. When she overhears the new girlfriend, Melanie, aka Melon Tits, talk about how she visits psychics, Sophie decides she can get rid of her rival by convincing her that Doug is not her destiny. So she becomes psychic Emma Lulak, and uses sceptic Nick to help her learn all the tricks of the fortune-telling trade. When Emma's predictions help prevent a tragedy, she is offered a regular radio spot. Can she use her newfound powers to get Doug back - or does her future belong to another guy? With lots of laugh-out-loud moments from chick lit's latest loveable goofball, Unpredictable is a very promising debut. Just wish the ending was a bit less rushed and a bit more unpredictable.
7/10
MAKING HER DEBUT
In Jessica Brody's The Fidelity Files, Jennifer Hunter leads a double life. Her family and friends think she is an LA investment banker who's too busy to date. In fact at night she goes undercover as fidelity inspector Ashlyn, hired by suspicious women to check if their men would be unfaithful. Her secret identity is under threat when an email is sent out warning men about her real motives and her best friend Sophie plans to hire Ashlyn for a fidelity inspection of her own. So when Jen falls for Jamie, she wonders whether it's time to retire Ashlyn. Brody is already working on the sequel.
CHICK LIT MEMOIR
British journalist Charlotte Ward always believed that she would eventually find the right guy to settle down with. But by the end of her 20s, after a series of serious relationships and some unsuitable encounters, she realised that every boyfriend she'd whipped into shape has then gone straight on to settle down with someone else. Will she eventually meet “The One”? Her memoir, Why Am I Always The One Before The One?, is out now.
TEEN LIT
Fashionistas author Lynn Messina has written her first young adult novel, Savvy Girl. It's about Chrissy Gibbons who lands a summer internship at Savvy magazine. She's befriended by a fashion editor who takes her to all the best parties. But as the summer winds down, Chrissy realises that amid the social whirlwind, she's been neglecting her goal to win the right to become Savvy's teen columnist.
AUSTRALIAN MADE
One book creating a lot of buzz ahead of its release is the debut from former Cosmopolitan and Harper's Bazaar beauty editor Zoe Foster. Air Kisses' synopsis goes like this: “Hanna Atkins - the girl most likely to be sporting an unblended foundation, orange wrists or a wobbly trail of eyeliner - has bluffed her way into a position of beauty editor at Gloss magazine. Just as she's carving a path into the shiny world of guerilla air kisses, achingly hip PR campaigns and goodie-bag overload, she reads about her boyfriend and another girl in the gossip pages of the local rag. Then she gets dumped. By text. Vowing to claw back some dignity and maker her ex regret what he's done, Hannah adopts a manifesto of hardcore rules. Don't become best friends with the scary girls at work. Don't drink 14 glasses of Moët & Chandon at PR launches. Don't go home with inappropriate men. And certainly don't get all besotted with your best friend's brother. As her rules start to slip away, Hannah finds herself having to decide on more important things than just the perfect shade of lip gloss.” Air Kisses is out at the end of the month. Foster is also involved in the soon-to-be-launched beauty website primped.com.au.
MAKING HER DEBUT
Former columnist and actress Rose Heiney's first novel is a dark comedy called The Days of Judy B. Judy Bishop is a newspaper columnist who documents the exciting social life of a fashionable young professional. But in reality, the 23-year-old is a friendless depressive who lives alone in Bethnal Green and has a passion for musical theatre. So she gives herself 15 weeks to overhaul her life by ditching the column, losing her virginity and becoming a star of musical theatre. Heiney is the daughter of British broadcasters Paul Heiney and Libby Purves.
NEW RELEASES
The Flirt - Kathleen Tessaro (2008)
Olivia Bourgalt du Coudray and Leticia Vane are both disillusioned with love. Olivia is the second wife of playboy Arnaud who fills her days with meaningless social events. Leticia has remade herself from a plain Emily Ann into an elegant lingerie shop owner who eats only once a day and smokes the rest of the time. And she's very determined to keep any men in her life at a distance. This includes her latest lover, Hughie Armstrong Venables-Smythe, a struggling actor of aristocratic stock. Hughie answers an ad in Stage that asks for “an attractive, well-mannered, morally flexible young man”. He becomes a professional flirt hired to charm women who feel neglected, unloved or unattractive. But things get out of hand when he employs his carefully honed skills on both Olivia and Leticia. It's the sort of story where you have to suspend belief in the characters and plot, but it may appeal to those who love classic old-fashioned romantic comedies.
6/10
BOOK NEWS
It's time to follow the yellow brick road with Dorothy on the Rocks, by Barbara Suter. In Maggie Barlow's world, reality is overrated. So what if her singing career has hit a sour note or that she drinks and smokes too much or talks to her fairy god-queen. As an actress, she can always take on the role of someone she likes better than her sorry self. That role is currently Dorothy in a theatre company's production of The Wizard of Oz. When she wakes up with a strange, handsome man in her bed, she finds herself starring in an improbable love story.
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