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| MELISSA NATHAN | CLARE NAYLOR | KAREN NECHES |
| FIONA NEILL | WENDY NELSON TOKUNAGA | BENEDICTE NEWLAND and PASCALE SMETS |
| LEE NICHOLS | ALYSON NOEL | FREYA NORTH |
| SHEILA NORTON | ANITA NOTARO |
MELISSA NATHAN
The Learning Curve (2006)
Teacher Nicky Hobbs and her former boyfriend Rob Pattison (he ended it with her years before when she said she wanted to get married and start a family) have both been made Deputy Head. Then Headmistress Miss James announces she's retiring and encourages both to apply for her post. Meanwhile, Nicky is worried about one of her students, Oscar Samuels, whose father is the only one not coming to parents' evening. He's a workaholic single dad, who thinks she's an interfering busybody.
6/10
Also by author:
The Waitress; The Nanny; Persuading Annie; Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field
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CLARE NAYLOR
The Goddess Rules (2005)
Artist Kate Disney is commissioned by legendary French actress Mirrabelle Moncur to paint a portrait of her pet cub. Mirri takes the opportunity to teach Kate some life lessons - such as how to dress properly, that there is no hope for her no-hoper boyfriend Jake, and that life is for flirting and adventure.
4/10
The Second Assistant (2004)
Lizzie Miller gets a job as a second assistant at talent management company The Agency. Her first task is sorting out the white thumbtacks, her boss Scott is a drug-taking wonderkid, her supposed mentor Victoria just plies her with errands and scripts, while the first assistant Lara is busy writing a novel. Then Lizzie immediately breaks one of the first rules - not getting involved with anyone from the industry when she meets hot-shot producer Jake after a not-so hot-shot with a hockey puck.
7/10
Love: A User's Guide (1997)
Vogue fashion assistant Amy often gets caught up in daydreams about the romantic heroes of literature. Then she meets film star Orlando Rock, who has played lots of these heroes on stage and screen. While she swoons, he decides she's just the non-celebrity kind of girl he's after. But Amy soon begins to get seduced by fame. Will stepping into the limelight, and into the pages of Hello, lose Amy her dream man?
5/10
Also by author:
The First Assistant; Dog Handling; Catching Alice;
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KAREN NECHES
Also writes under the name Karin Gillespie.
Earthly Pleasures (2008)
Skye Sebring is a hospitality greeter in Heaven - a place where you use a Wishberry to order chocolate or a room makeover and you can watch what's happening on Earth via TV channel Earthly Pleasures. She is far from angelic though - I mean who else would pipe Highway to Hell through the sound system to scare the newly dead? But she is obviously good at her job, as she shows the ropes to thirteen-year-old Chelsea who has died in a skateboarding accident. When Ryan Blaine, a son of a former US president and favourite with Earthly Pleasures viewers, turns up briefly before being revived, she feels drawn to him. His marriage is in trouble because his wife Susan just hasn't been the same since she had a devastating car accident. Even though Skye is one of the few new souls with no wish to live on Earth, she wins the honour and has to attend a class on life's important lessons revealed through the lyrics of five Beatles songs. What will happen when she arrives in her new destination and will she ever see Ryan again? Read this for the heavenly description of life in the hereafter, the mystery surrounding Ryan's wife and a coma victim, and to discover which Beatles songs are the secrets to a happy life. A true pleasure to read - it's a book with real soul and heart-warming spirit.
8/10
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FIONA NEILL
The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy (2007)
For former TV news producer Lucy Sweeney, being a mother to her three sons is not easy - it has been years since her washing pile was less than a metre high, months since she had sex with her architect husband and only a week since she did the school run in pyjamas. She also has to contend with the attentions of Sexy Domesticated Dad and the criticisms of Alpha Mum as she tries to uncover her inner domestic goddess.
6/10
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WENDY NELSON TOKUNAGA
Midori by Moonlight (2007)
Thirty-year-old Midori Saito feels she has never fitted into Japanese life so when the opportunity comes to head to San Francisco to marry Kevin, she jumps at the chance. But at their engagement party, he dumps her for his blonde ex, Kimberley. With her smattering of English supplemented by watching daytime soaps, a dwindling savings account and a visa about to expire, Midori turns to Kevin's Japanese-born friend, Shinji, for help. He lets her move in with him, while the aspiring pastry chef works out how she's going to stay in America. You'll laugh at Midori's mixed idioms as she finds herself “up the creek without a saddle” and root for her as Midori and her soap-inspired alter-ego searches for her American Dream - and the perfect dessert.
6/10
Also by author:
No Kidding
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BENEDICTE NEWLAND and PASCALE SMETS
And God Created the Au Pair (2005)
Nell and Charlotte would be perfect mothers, if it wasn't for the children. With Charlotte in London and Nell recently moved to Canada, the sisters keep in touch about their mutual household chaos through a series of letters and emails.
6/10
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LEE NICHOLS
Hand-Me-Down (2006)
Anne Olsen has an intense phobia about anything that is second-hand. As the third sister behind beautiful Charlotte (a famous swimsuit model) and brainy Emily (an acclaimed feminist writer), Anne had enough of hand-me-downs during her childhood. Growing up in her sisters' shadows, she admits to being an underachiever who has drifted from job to job (she says like the Bronte sisters, the authors the girls were named after, she is Anne the unknown one). Then Charlotte's ex high school boyfriend, Ian Dunne - now an antiques shop owner - comes back on the scene, and despite having a boyfriend, Anne discovers she still has a big crush on him. Could she ever end up with a hand-me-down man?
7/10
Tales of a Drama Queen (2004)
Life would be perfect for Elle Medina and her attorney fiancé Louis, if he hadn't married someone else on a business trip to Iowa. So Elle moves to Santa Barbara to be with her best friend Maya and her boyfriend, Perfect Brad, to start again. She just needs to find a job, an apartment and a new boyfriend - and avoid a credit card collection agent. But this proves rather challenging as she finds it hard to hold down a job and the only man she meets has awful red hair.
8/10
Also by author:
Wednesday Night Witches; True Lies of a Drama Queen
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ALYSON NOEL
Alyson Noel is a former flight attendant who has written several young adult books.
Fly Me to the Moon (2006)
When American flight attendant Hailey Lane's trip is cancelled, she heads home early to spend her birthday with her pilot boyfriend Michael, thinking tonight will be the night he'll propose. But instead she's confronted with him getting some personal attention from a male flight attendant. With the help of her friend Kat's penthouse, the companionship of her gay best friend Clay and lots of free flights around the world (including Puerto Rico, France and Greece), Hailey begins to get her life off the ground again. But when her airline threatens layoffs and the manuscript she's been working hard on keeps getting rejected, it seems there's more turbulence ahead. Especially when the cute guy who returned her lost manuscript keeps turning up on every corner.
7/10
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FREYA NORTH
Polly (1998)
Things get pretty tangled when English Lit teacher Polly Fenton heads off on an exchange to Vermont in the US. Despite boyfriend Max proposing at the airport, Polly gets a crush on phys ed teacher Chip. His girlfriend, Jen, is Polly's replacement in England - and maybe in Max's life.
4/10
Also by author:
Pillow Talk; Home Truths; Love Rules; Pip; Fen; Cat; Chloe; Sally
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SHEILA NORTON
The Travel Bug (2005)
Now that Maddy Goodchild's daughter, Sophie, has taken off to see the world, Maddy is feeling bored with her life. Still only in her late 30s, she has a lottery win with friend Rachel, so she throws in her office job and they hit Europe together. Rachel, a teacher and proponent of healthy living, starts drinking and sleeping around, while Maddy, a self-proclaimed bad girl, busies herself with snorkelling and sightseeing. It seems the travel bug has bitten her - and Australia is her next destination.
6/10
Also by author:
Sweet Nothings; Will She or Won't She? Would I Lie to You; Body and Soul; Other People's Lives; The Trouble with Ally
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ANITA NOTARO
The WWW Club (2005)
With every diet failing them to this point, childcare worker Ellie Simpson starts a dieting club with her friends - divorced mother-of-two Pam, Maggie who has fallen into a routine relationship, and Toni, a stylish nurse. As the women face the ups and downs of their love lives, careers and waistlines, Ellie begins to fall for her new employer, Jack Bryant, a book writer who has been left to bring up his daughters alone. But then Toni wins the bet to lose the first half a stone, and gets a date with Jack.
4/10
Back After the Break (2003)
Lindsay Davidson is heartbroken when her fiancé Paul dumps her. But she is offered the chance to go after her dream job working in television. She becomes a trainee at Channel 6 where she meets presenter Chris Keating when she accidentally walks into his on-air studio. But their budding romance is affected by her gossip-ridden friendship with one of Ireland's top actors and Paul making a play for her again.
5/10
Also by author:
Take A Look at Me Now; Behind the Scenes