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| MELANIE LA'BROOY | KATE LACE | JEN LANCASTER |
| LINDA FRANCIS LEE | SOPHIE LEE | STEPHANIE LESSING |
| GIGI LEVANGIE | NANCY LIEBERMAN | COURTNEY LITZ |
| CAREN LISSNER | JOSIE LLOYD | CARA LOCKWOOD | KATE LONG | SHARI LOW |
MELANIE LA'BROOY
Serendipity (2007)
When Australian magazine sub-editor Hero Hathway meets Oscar Martin bar-tending on her last night in New York, she is masquerading as trapeze artist Lola. Sparks fly but the next day when Hero panics and runs away, it's the end of the affair. Two years later, they bump into each other in Sydney and he is determined to show her that they are in love with one another - except Hero is about to get engaged to another man.
7/10
The Wish List (2005)
Also known as Romantic Fiction
Scatty Lucy is a hopeless romantic who drives her friends Meg and Chloe crazy as she tries time and again to keep her relationship with Tom just platonic. This time their on-off relationship may be definitely off as she's met the man of her dreams in Latin lover Byron. But she's still got to deal with hunting for a flat with decent curtains, avoiding a lovelorn stalker and watching a bitchy neighbour sink her claws into Tom. When Byron and Tom are challenged to a duel to win her heart, who will emerge as victor?
7/10
Also by author:
Love Struck
To come:
The Babymoon
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KATE LACE
The Chalet Girl (2007)
Millie Braythorpe is working the ski season as a chalet girl by day and a singer at night. Estranged from her family, she falls for one of the guests, Luke, but their path to love doesn't run smoothly after she believes he has betrayed her.
5/10
Also by author:
The Movie Girl
To come:
The Trophy Girl
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JEN LANCASTER
Bitter is the New Black (2006)
Former sorority girl Jen gets laid off as a company VP during the dotcom bust and has to move out of her flash apartment. This is a bitter pill for Jen to swallow, as she is designer labels all the way. In fact the subtitle says it all: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smart-Ass, or Why You Should Never Carry a Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office. This memoir adapted from Jen's blog charts her search for a new job and a cheaper apartment. Should she marry depressed boyfriend Fletch to score all the gifts; will she ever escape the temp job market? Jen is so self-absorbed, obnoxious and snotty (you're glad to hear she has a weight problem), that you'd probably hate to have her as a friend but her over-the-top personality makes this story an engrossing read.
6/10
Also by author:
Bright Lights, Big Ass
To come:
Such a Pretty Fat
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LINDA FRANCIS LEE
The Ex-Debutante - Linda Francis Lee (2008)
aka Tantrums and Tiaras
Lawyer Carlisle Wainwright Cushing has returned to her Texan hometown to deal with her socialite mother's latest divorce. Leaving behind her secret fiancé in Boston - he also doesn't know she's from an old-moneyed family - Carlisle is pressed into organising her family's 100th debutante ball. But with all the usual families snubbing the event, Carlisle (who still hasn't lived down the embarrassment of falling flat on her face during her own debut) has to recruit and train a band of unlikely candidates. And face her former crush, Jack Blair, across the negotiating table. Watch out for some mentions of the Willow Creek notables, from Lee's earlier novel The Devil in the Junior League.
7/10
Ladies Who Lunch (2006)
Also known as The Devil in the Junior League
There's a rebel in the ranks of the twinsets and pearls of the Willow Creek Junior League. This elite Texas organisation only accepts new recruits who are nominated by six members who have been known them for five years. When Junior League stalwart Fredericka Hildebrand Ware's husband goes on the run, with all her money and a mistress, she turns to the socially inferior lawyer next door for help. But he'll only help if she gets his trashy wife Nikki into the Junior League.
7/10
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SOPHIE LEE
Sophie Lee is an Australian actress, who has starred in several successful movies, including The Castle and Muriel's Wedding.
Alice in La La Land (2007)
Australian actress Alice Evans flees to Hollywood to escape a broken relationship and a big debt. But it doesn't prove to be her city of dreams - she lives in a cat-infested apartment and spends her days navigating the city in a Daewoo rental, lurching from one audition to another. After a promising start to her first audition, Alice finds she can't win a role and as her past in Australia is slowly revealed, it becomes apparent why she needs to make it so badly. Then she meets an Irishman called Nick, who opens her eyes to new possibilities.
7/10
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STEPHANIE LESSING
She's Got Issues (2005)
Despite stepping off on the wrong floor and walking into the wrong interview, Chloe Rose lands a job on Issues magazine. Although she is only an assistant to the assistant in the promotions department, clueless Chloe dreams of one day rising to be shoe editor (not that the magazine has such a position). Even though she falls foul of the editors, who write a bitchy column about an overly ambitious, manipulative assistant, life is still good because she's got access to the shoe closet. Then she meets Stan, who might just be able to help her put her right foot forward.
6/10
Also by author:
Miss Understanding (sequel)
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GIGI LEVANGIE
The Starter Wife (2005)
Gracie Pollock is dumped by her movie studio executive husband just before their 10th wedding anniversary (“I've been Cruised,” she says) and finds herself living the Hollywood nightmare of being a starter wife. As a social pariah, she and her three-year-old daughter, Jaden, move into a friend's beachside Malibu home where she befriends a different set of characters, including the hunky but homeless Sam who saves her from drowning and her ex-husband's boss.
4/10
Also by author:
Rescue Me, Maneater
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NANCY LIEBERMAN
Admissions (2004)
The Tuesday after Labor Day marks the start of Manhattan's private school admissions when wealthy families try to call in every favour to get their child into their school of choice. For Helen Drager, mother of Zoe, it shouldn't be such an ordeal getting her into high school because she's president of The School's parents' association and her best friend Sara is its admissions officer. But with competition fierce and with little help from an increasingly absent headmistress, Helen turns to her television producer husband to sweet-talk some of the prospective school heads - offering one a shot at her own cooking show and becoming a sporting buddy with another. Will it be enough?
7/10
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COURTNEY LITZ
Live From New York, It's Lena Sharpe (2004)
Lena, a television producer in Manhattan, dreams about being famous. But the closest she gets to fame is working on Face-to-Face, a show about celebrities. Every guy she meets could be a potential co-star in her personal drama so she rewrites her life story to fit in with them. When she is assigned to a segment about handsome writer Colin Bates, she is drawn into his world so much that she dumps her own circle, including her best friend and ladies man Jake.
5/10
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CAREN LISSNER
Carrie Pilby (2003)
As the book blurb says: “Carrie Pilby needs to find 10 things she loves. And do five things she fears . . . But first she has to leave her apartment.” Carrie doesn't fit in - she skipped three grades through school so had finished Harvard by age 19 - and prefers lying in bed in her apartment. It doesn't help that Carrie looks down on everyone with a lower IQ (which includes almost everyone in New York). The only person she sees regularly is her therapist, who comes up with a plan to get her interacting socially, including joining an organisation and going on a date. But Carrie goes about her mission in her own quirky way, picking a church to join so she can expose it as a cult, and turning to the personal ads for a date, picking Matt who is wanting to cheat on his fiancée.
6/10
Also by author:
Starting from Square Two
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JOSIE LLOYD
Many of her books are co-written with her husband Emlyn Rees.
The Three Day Rule (2005)
The Thorne family head to a small island off the Cornish coast for a three-day Christmas break. As Elliot's mistress Kellie stays behind on a different island, he's getting ready to tell his wife Isabelle that he's leaving her after New Year. But Isabelle has a secret of her own and their daughter Taylor just can't seem to stay out of trouble. Then there's his sister, Stephanie, who's having a hard time dealing with the fallout of a family tragedy. Kellie jumps on a boat with the charming Ben to take a look at the island - just as snow begins to fall. It seems fate will ensure that this family will be forced to stay together longer than the three-day rule. But will it tear them apart forever?
7/10
Also by author:
The Seven Year Itch; We are Family; Love Lives; The Boy Next Door; Come Again; It Could Be You; Come Together
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CARA LOCKWOOD
I Do (But I Don't) - (2003)
Lauren Crandell's qualities as a neat freak and organisational guru makes her the perfect wedding planner (even though she has uncontrollable curly hair and is divorced). When two weddings go haywire on the same day - a parachuting groom gets stuck in a tree and a bride faints after spotting a stalker ex-girlfriend dressed as a bridesmaid - hunky firefighter Nick Corona comes to the rescue. With sparks flying between them, Lauren is put on to a new client who knows Nick - the beautiful but Psycho Bride Darla. Although the cases of mistaken identity were as obvious as a bride wearing a big meringue dress, it's an entertaining read with a delightful heroine. The story was turned into a 2004 TV movie starring Denise Richards as Lauren and Dean Cain as Nick. The sequel about Lauren's sister, Lily, is called I Did (But I Wouldn't Now).
7/10
Also by author:
I Did (But I Wouldn't Now); Dixieland Sushi ; Pink Slip Party
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KATE LONG
Queen Mum (2006)
Ally always plays life safe unlike her beautiful, self-assured neighbour Juno, who signs up for Queen Mum, a reality TV show where two mums swap homes. It's only when the program airs that it becomes apparent that things in Juno's household are not as Ally believes, and that she and Juno are more alike than she ever imagined.
5/10
Also by author:
The Daughter Game; The Bad Mother's Handbook; Swallowing Grandma
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SHARI LOW
My Best Friend's Life (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
Double Trouble (2003)
IT sales manager Clark Dunhill thinks of himself as the Shagmeister. Good looking, well-groomed, with designer clothes - what woman could resist him? When he has a bet with his mates that he can walk into the pub with two girls on his arms - one with brains, the other with beauty - he has no idea of the double trouble he's about to get himself into. Cassandra Haven, the brains, is the financial director of Systems Solutions, the company where Clark works. She has focused on her career, spending most hours tied to her desk, and has now decided it's time to have a baby - she just needs a sperm donor without any attachments. When she spots Clark at a business conference she decides he's the perfect man for the job. Polly Kent, the beauty, also works for the company as a marketing assistant but she's really waiting for a husband and family. From a rich hotel family, she meets Clark at the pub where her best friend, the acidic Fiz, works and they start dating. Clark seems like the perfect partner, so when her pregnancy test is positive, she's sure he'll be thrilled.
7/10
Also by author:
The Motherhood Walk of Shame; Why Not?; What If?