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Gus Simpson's Cooking Channel TV show is losing its spark, so she is paired with an ambitious, younger co-host - former Miss Spain, Carmen Vega - for a live cooking show. Their tension leads to on-air chaos as Gus' adult daughters, reclusive neighbour and others join the Eat, Drink and Be team. This has all the right ingredients for a nourishing read as Gus deals with getting older, sharing the limelight, letting go of her daughters and recovering from loss.
7/10
A club develops at Georgia Walker's yarn shop, as some of her regulars gather on Friday nights to knit and chat. They include Anita, who helps Georgia run the shop and look after her daughter Dakota; Peri, a pre-law student turned handbag designer; Darwin, a grad student in women's studies; and Lucie, a soon-to-be single mother who begins filming a video on knitting and the club. Georgia's world is rocked when first Dakota's father James returns into their lives, wanting to get to know his teen daughter; and then her former best friend Cat (now a rich but unhappy Park Avenue wife) hires her to make some clothes. But as it turns out, it is at this time of her life that Georgia needs her friends the most.
7/10
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It's been several years since Dan and Sally, and their friend Chloe, survived the Boxing Day tsunami. Dan and Sally now have a little boy, Marcus, conceived in the disaster's aftermath - Dan is a stay-at-home dad while Sally is rarely home as she spends long hours working as a divorce lawyer. Chloe, who followed her father's footsteps into his medical practice, is single - after her long-term boyfriend dumped her when they returned from their life-changing experience in Phuket. When she meets Seth, everyone including Chloe is hoping he may be The One. But there's something Seth hasn't been upfront about. And Sally is going to get caught up in an act of deception.
7/10
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In this sequel to Scot on the Rocks, Brooke is back, and newly engaged to fellow attorney Jack. If planning their wedding wasn't enough, Brooke also gets to lead her first court case, representing her wedding dress designer - and the opposing lawyer is none other than her fiancé. And the experienced litigator certainly isn't planning on going easy on her. Read it to experience the nightmare of keeping the two sets of parents happy (hers a kosher butcher and Jewish housewife and his a judge and vegetarian socialite). As much as I realised how much I'd missed Brooke once I started reading (oh please, you know you did too), this needed more of a twist to make it better than the original.
7/10
Manhattan attorney Brooke Miller has no qualms about attending her ex-boyfriend's wedding to a Hollywood actress. After all she'll be with her Scottish boyfriend Douglas, who'll probably have put a ring on her own finger by then. But when Douglas breaks up with her, she desperately needs someone else to fill his kilt on the day. With best friend Vanessa and colleague Jack in tow, Brooke heads off to LA, determined to survive the wedding with her dignity ever-- intact. After all, they've crammed up on Scottish facts, her bikini line is waxed and she's got a shiny (but fake) sparkler on her ring finger. But will lost luggage, a high school nemesis and a rogue Australian accent be her undoing? Brooke is an engaging character who'll keep you smiling as she lurches from mishap to mishap.
8/10
When Lois is only a little girl, her dad Kevin finds out he is dying and begins writing her a manual. His sister gives it to Lois when she is 12 - on the day her mother is getting remarried. The manual has advice about everything from handling high school, dating, job interviews, moving out of home and turning 30. As Lois grows up and throws herself into her work, she finds it difficult to sustain relationships with men, her mother and stepfather, even her new baby sister. And despite her feelings for the boy next door, it seems no one else measures up to her father, the only man she's ever loved. A coming-of-age story well worth your time.
7/10
When waitress/artist Lettie finally leaves her abusive boyfriend, she is encouraged to cast her net beyond Lyme Regis and place a personal ad in the newspaper. Her most promising response comes from Welsh forester Dougie and soon she's off to his village. This sweet romantic story is flavoured with an unexpectedly strong cast of characters including the obese Eve who dotes on drunkard Peter; a charming couple known as the Worm Gatherers and perpetual student Rizzo who has his eye on the luscious Lisa. It was a case of expecting light, fluffy chocolate mousse and getting so much more.
7/10
When Melody was nine, she was rescued from a burning house. But along with her possessions, the fire also wiped out her memories. Now decades later, the single mum is out on her first date in years. After fainting while taking part in a hypnotist show, she finds that many locked-away memories of her childhood are coming back to her in flashes. Melody slowly pieces together her past, realising her childhood was nothing like she thought it was. A real page-turner from a great storyteller - you'll want to finish it in one go.
8/10
Vince and Joy meet at a caravan park during their late teens but had to part abruptly. Over the ensuing years their paths nearly cross several times as each settles for the wrong people. Is their destiny so strong that it will pull them back together again - despite numerous missteps? This reminds me a lot of Cecelia Ahern's Where Rainbows End but the unique element is that these two romantic leads are hardly together throughout the book.
6/10
Bee Bearhorn had a number one hit single in 1985 - and was destined to become Britain's answer to Madonna. But instead she becomes a one-hit wonder. When she dies alone in a London flat 15 years later, it's up to her timid, gangly half-sister Ana to collect her belongings. Leaving their agoraphobic mother in Devon, Ana tracks down Bee's closest friends (and the only ones at the funeral) - the exotic singer Lol and long-time driver Flint - and they set out to uncover what happened to Bee. Why did she have a secret country cottage, who is Zander and where is her missing cat? Ana's journey of self-discovery as she finds out how Bee's glamorous life fell apart is told by the interweaving of past and present events. Well worth a read.
7/10
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Mother-of-two Helen's life is sent into a spin when a friend tells her she saw her husband, Matt, looking too cosy at a lunch with The Girl with Purple Hair. Rather than confront Matt directly, Helen starts checking their phone accounts, rifling through his drawers and employing a private detective.
6/10
Romance writer Stevie Honeywell is counting down to her wedding, when fiancé Matthew goes away on a business trip. Then Adam MacLean, a big, loud, red-haired Scot, turns up on her doorstep, with evidence that his love Jo and Matthew have actually gone away together to Majorca. Stevie, who's heard all about Adam's abuse from Jo, can now see why her friend could no longer stay with this psycho, while Adam takes one look at the flour-splattered wreck of a woman and can understand why any man would leave her for his lovely Jo. But together they team up to wage some psychological warfare on the new couple. Single mum Stevie decides to let Matthew go without a fuss and she pretends to date Adam to drive them both wild with jealousy. So like the Scottish jig The Birds and the Bees, they all swap partners. And it's a dance where all four will discover that love can either sting you or be oh so sweet.
7/10
When three Yorkshire friends picnic on top of an ancient fertility symbol, who would have imagined that within months all three would be pregnant. For Helen, the pregnancy is a dream come true, if only her marriage with controlling Simon wasn't crumbling before her eyes. For career-minded Janey who's up for a promotion, it's a nightmare as she never wanted kids but husband George is ecstatic. And then there's Elizabeth, who loses her job after letting her hormones take over and telling the boss to stick his job. Amid the determined return of a man she once pushed away, she fears that she will never love the child she is carrying.
7/10
Mimi and Clare live on the communal garden in Notting Hill where it is very much a case of the haves and have-yachts. While Mimi's interest is piqued by the neighbourhood's new billionaire, Clare is keeping an eye of some illicit going-ons, of the adultery and construction kind. Each is striving to be the best Notting Hill mummy - Mimi just needs the six-figure income; Clare the baby.
6/10
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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.
6/10
This is the story of four British friends and a fiancee who head to California to meet up with another friend. Lara, who has to confess that she's selling up her mother's beloved B&B, is finding it hard hiding her feelings for long-time friend Elliot. Especially since he has just got engaged to the annoying and smug Elise, who's also along for the trip. Wannabe actress Zoe has stars in her eyes and thinks heading to LA could be her big break while Sasha is adrift in the world after giving up modelling. In the US, they discover that their highly organised friend, Helen, has become a much more chilled-out surfer chick with a boyfriend and she reveals it was the California Club that changed her life. The others decide to see what the mysterious club can do for them, and have to spend a week living out their wishes. A humorous and uplifting story, perfect for your own holiday.
7/10
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Things start going amiss in Bagley-cum-Russet when beauty therapist Sukie Ambrose finds a naked man in her bed and discovers her aromatherapy oils are jetting off on someone else's honeymoon. So she ignores the warnings of a village old-timer and uses the plants in her cottage garden to supply her massage oils. Suddenly her clients start falling in love with the most unlikely characters. But should Sukie use the potions in her own love spell or should she leave her flatmate's boyfriend well alone?
5/10
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Pen-name of Maria Beaumont
Beauty therapist Dayna is in hospital, about to give birth. Her best friend Emily is there with her candles and whale song CDs but the father is conspicuous by his absence. And so the book journeys into Dayna's boyfriends past to determine who the father is. First up is Simon, her first love who can't stop at one woman. Then there's Chris, a serious university student who wants to be a rock star, and rough-and-tumble Archie with his own particular views of the world. Mark seems the perfect boyfriend - but there has to be a catch and then there's her boss' son Cristian, who wants to settle down. With the author's trademark humour and loads of hilarious cultural references, this is the polar opposite of rubbish. Oh - and one of the truths about one of the boyfriends turns out to rate among the funniest passages I've ever read. Sequel please.
8/10
Manhattan lawyer Brenda Janowitz's debut book Scot on the Rocks (How I Survived My Ex-Boyfriend's Wedding with my Dignity Ever-So-Slightly Intact) was among the Chicklit Club's award winners for 2007. The sequel, Jack with a Twist, is out in June. She also teaches creative writing courses at Mediabistro.
Lorraine Jenkin's debut novel Chocolate Mousse and Two Spoons was released earlier this year. She lives in Wales with her partner and two daughters and is currently working on her second novel.
Milly Johnson is the author behind last year's The Yorkshire Pudding Club - which won her a Chicklit Club award for most promising author. The mother of two sons lives in Yorkshire where she is researching a book on local Barnsley wrestlers - part of that research is undergoing a WWE-like training regime. Her latest novel, The Birds & the Bees, is out this month.
