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ANNIE SANDERS
Annie Ashworth and Meg Sanders write under this name.
The Xmas Factor (2006)
Meet two women with very different approaches to the festive season. Academic Beth starts planning for Christmas months ahead, hoping to put on the perfect day for her new husband and his grown-up children. For Carol, who's just been made editor of ailing magazine Women's Weekly, she's so busy trying to turn it around that she doesn't even notice December is fast approaching. But she did manage to book her son and herself into a cottage in a quiet village, which is where the two women's lives converge.6/10
Warnings of Gales (2005)
Control freak Imogen rents a beachside cottage in Cornwall, which she shares with the families of easy-going friend Sophie and last-minute rope-in, single mother Jo. Amid rainy weather, tensions rise in the house until an incident forces them to club together.6/10
Goodbye Jimmy Choo (2004)
Bohemian copy editor Isabel Stock meets designer-clad interior designer Maddy Hoare at a ladies' lunch. Both are fish out of water, having moved to the countryside for their husbands' careers. Then when Maddie finds herself widowed, she uncovers her great-grandmother's book of French recipes for cosmetics and the women form a natural cosmetic company.7/10
Also by author:
Busy Woman Seeks Wife
To come:
The Gap Year for Grown-ups
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AMY SCHEIBE
What Do You Do All Day? (2005)
Jennifer Bradley used to work at an auction house but is now a stay-at-home mum who is wondering if this is her lot in life. When her husband, Thom, announces he's off to Singapore on business for three months, things get even more difficult for her.4/10
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LESLIE SCHNUR
Late Night Talking (2007)
Jeannie Sterling is a late-night New York radio show host, whose show Sterling Behavior targets everyday rude behaviour. She is trying to make the world a better place, one annoying person at a time. Everything from iPods at full volume, litterers, cutting in line or poor gym etiquette gets her talking turkey. In fact, she even calls a guy in a Hummer a “turkey” when he splashes water on her while she's waiting for a cab. After she disses him on air, the Hummer driver, mogul Nicholas Moss, takes over her radio station. Pushed to increase ratings, Jeannie starts acting in ways that take her ranting much too far. With a best friend keeping a secret, a boyfriend keeping library books and a misbehaving dog keeping her panties, Jeannie looks like losing everything that's important to her.6/10
Also by author:
The Dog Walker
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LYNN SCHNURNBERGER AND JANICE KAPLAN
The Botox Diaries (2004)
In a world where cosmetic surgery is a must for women of a certain age, single mother and charity fundraiser Jessica Taylor is just hoping she'll age gracefully past 40. Her glamorous best friend, TV producer Lucy Baldor, though is trying everything to make sure she doesn't look any older - including taking on a famous lover. Amid returning exes, unrequited love, reality dating shows and flirtations with a boss, the women rely on their friendship more than ever to weather their mid-life crises.7/10
Also by author:
The Men I Didn't Marry; Mine are Spectacular
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DEBORAH SCHOENEMAN
Deborah Schoeneman has covered gossip, real estate and society for the New York Observer, the New York Post, and New York magazine. She's also the editor-in-chief of Hampton Style magazine.
4% Famous (2006)
Kate Simon gets a job as the “new legs” covering the New York scene on the Examiner's gossip column. She befriends two other gossip columnists, Blake Bradley who has to protect his wealthy father after he's implicated in a tax scandal, and Tim Mack, from Column A, a heavy drinking guy whose affair with a mattress (model/actress) sees her falling pregnant. Kate is told that the secret, when it comes to being a boldfaced name, is to be only 4% famous where you get invites and perks, without the invasive media and public attention. And she's also warned to never date a source, which becomes tricky when she falls for the latest celebrity chef Marco Mancini. He loves courting the media but has a past he's desperate to keep out of the gossip columns.6/10
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KIRSTY SCOTT
Between You & Me (2007)
Cate Wishart and Margie Holland were childhood best friends but now two decades later they live at opposite ends of the country and don't keep in touch. Cate is married to a doctor and mother to three daughters. But she's wanting more attention from her husband Dan and to just find the time to finish her interior design course. Margie is a senior news producer who's single (apart from occasional nights spent with the star correspondent) and happily child-free. When the two women get an invite to their high school reunion, they hook up again and help each other in ways that only a best friend can.7/10
Mother's Day (2006)
Gwen, Alison and Katherine meet at a morning tea for class mothers at Farquhar's. Gwen's husband, Rob, is made redundant as another baby is on its way so he heads off to work in England while she stays at home with their other three children. Alison, a journalist with one daughter, is writing a series about attacks on prostitutes but her husband, Darren, is making her feel guilty about all the overtime and her reluctance to extend their family. Katherine, a trophy wife whose two children are reared by a nanny, finds her husband has moved on to one of his mistresses.8/10
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ANDREA SEMPLE
The Man From Perfect (2005)
Teacher Ella Holt ends her relationship with Rob the Slob after he forgets her birthday. So best friend Maddie sends off a magazine questionnaire about Ella's perfect man and she is selected to be matched by Dr Lara Stein's Perfect Agency. It seems that the agency has scored a perfect match with handsome James Masters. Or has it?6/10
The Make-Up Girl (2004)
Faith Wishart's family think she has a great job for a top PR company and the perfect boyfriend, Adam. Actually Faith is a make-up girl at Keats Cosmetics and is without a man. But when her sister returns from Australia engaged, Faith desperately needs to find an “Adam” to show off to her family at the wedding. And as luck would have it a handsome man named Adam walks right up to her make-up counter.5/10
Also by author:
The Ex-Factor
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MELISSA SENATE
Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? (2004)
Eloise Manfred is offered a $100,000 wedding in exchange for featuring in a bridal magazine. With her mother dead and her father's whereabouts unknown, she accepts the offer to be the Modern Bride. But when faced with a Bird Bird gown, a vegan menu and a Leap Year wedding date, Eloise soon learns there's no such thing as a free wedding.5/10
Did you know? Whose Wedding Is It Anyway is a spin-off of See Jane Date. Eloise was one of Jane's colleagues who lived in the apartment below.
See Jane Date (2001)
Assistant editor Jane Gregg thinks her life will be perfect once she gets a promotion and finds a man. And she enlists her friends' help in setting her up with blind dates. But first she has to make it through her cousin Dana's wedding as a bridesmaid in peach; and edit her childhood nemesis Natasha Nutley's memoirs about her affair with a famous actor.7/10
Also by author:
Theodora Twist; The Breakup Club; The Solomon Sisters Wise Up
To come: Questions to Ask Before Marrying
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LAURIE GWEN SHAPIRO
The Matzo Ball Heiress (2004)
Documentary producer Heather Greenblotz, the heiress to the world's greatest matzo company, doesn't actually celebrate Passover. Her mother is usually on some adventure holiday and her gay father was last heard of heading for Australia. But when The Food Channel decides it wants to film the family seder, her cousin - company boss Jake - decides they need the publicity and they start enlisting people to act as family members. But are a postman, a German called Amy Hitler and an Egyptian diplomat going to be able to pull it off?6/10
Also by author:
Brand X: The Boyfriend Account; The Anglophile; The Unexpected Salami
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POONAM SHARMA
All Eyes on Her (2008)
Monica, a junior associate at a Los Angeles divorce and mediation firm, is hoping her handling of superstar clients Cameron and Lydia Johnson - aka Camydia - as they discuss a trial separation will score her a promotion. But she has her work cut out for her with rival colleague Stefanie giving her the evil eye and trying to undermine her on the job. To further complicate her life, her fiancé is away in London, her former boyfriend is back in her life as a client and her drama queen mum is returning to town. A tale of female rivalry, celebrity shenanigans and being true to yourself.6/10
Also by author:
Girl Most Likely To
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JANE SIGALOFF
Lost & Found (2003)
High-flying lawyer Sam Washington is on a flight back to London when she realises she's left her diary in a New York hotel room. As she fends off the unwanted advances of her firm's senior partner, she worries that not only could someone read her inner thoughts but there's a secret in there about her best friend EJ that the tabloids would love. When TV producer Ben Fisher turns up on her doorstep with her diary, she's suspicious that he's read it - after all he seems to know a lot about her. Does he want to get close to her because he's become smitten or does he want to reveal her embarrassing secrets?7/10
Also by author:
The Romancipation of Maggie Hunter; Technical Hitch; Like Mother, Like Daughter; Name and Address Withheld
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PASCALE SMETS and BENEDICTE NEWLAND
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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JILL SMOLINSKI
The Next Thing on My List (2007)
Make this book the next one on your list - it has one of the freshest plot concepts of the year and a heroine worth rooting for. June Parker works for a LA carpooling agency. On the way home from a Weight Watchers meeting, she offers a lift to a woman who has just lost over 100 pounds, taking pity on her walking for the bus in stiletto shoes. As Marissa unbuckles her seatbelt to reach into the backseat to pull out a taco soup recipe from her bag, June swerves to avoid a dresser falling off the back of a truck. Marissa is flung through the windscreen and dies. June finds a list that Marissa has written - 20 Things to Do Before my 25th Birthday. Six months later, she runs into Marissa's brother, Troy, at the cemetery and still feeling guilt-ridden is compelled to finish off the list. The tasks range from running a 5km race, going on a blind date and changing someone's life. As she races through the list to beat the birthday deadline, it looks like it might be her own life that she's set the change.8/10
Also by author:
Flip-Flopped
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REBECCA SPARROW
The Year Nick McGowan Came to Stay (2006)
Seventeen-year-old Rachel Hills is in Year 12 (it's 1989) and she has a big crush on Nick, who was shipped off to boarding school after his mother died. But now he's back at her school, after rumouredly trying to kill himself, and Rachel's parents have decided to let him move in with them. It's going to be a year Rachel will never forget.5/10
Also by author:
The Girl Most Likely
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TESS STIMSON
The Adultery Club (2007)
Divorce lawyer Nicholas Lyon is married to Mal, a cookery writer, and together they have an enviable life with three daughters. He knows he'd never cheat on his wife. Young lawyer Sara Kaplan joins his firm - she's never understood why a woman would go for a married man - she's watched her best friend Amy waste four years on Terry. But something sparks between Nicholas and Sara and when a terrorist attack on London forces them together, their affair starts. Meanwhile, Mal's old boyfriend Trace is back on the scene. Told from the viewpoint of the married man, his wife and his mistress. Whose side will you be on?7/10
Also by author:
The Infidelity Chain
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SARAH STROHMEYER
She is also the author of the highly popular series about sleuth Bubbles Yablonsky.
The Sleeping Beauty Proposal (2007)
Genie Michaels is in for a shock when boyfriend Hugh proposes on national television - not to her but to a mystery woman. He then continues on his tour of England, promoting his bestselling novel, and asks Genie, a college admissions advisor, to let everyone know that she wasn't the woman he proposed to, instead that they've split up. Although best friend Patty tells Genie she can't be like Sleeping Beauty just waiting for her prince to come, she also advises her to pretend she's engaged - to reap the benefits of being a bride-to-be, such as registry gifts and parental approval. So with everyone thinking she’s planning a wedding, Genie buys a (fake) diamond ring, which helps give her the confidence to move ahead with her life - with or without a man. Although Nick, a carpenter working on the house she wants to buy, would certainly make life that bit sweeter.7/10
The Cinderella Pact (2006)
Nola Devlin and her friends make a pact to lose weight and transform themselves after they are refused a window seat at a restaurant. They intend to follow the weight-loss tips offered by Sass magazine's advice columnist Belinda Apple. But Nola, an editor on the magazine, knows the tips are not the answer - because she has a secret identity as the trendy and thin British advice columnist and made them up herself. Now Belinda is taking over her life, with her sister making the agony aunt her maid of honour and eligible bachelors wanting to date her.8/10
The Secret Lives of Fortunate Wives (2005)
Foreign correspondent Claire Stark moves into the privileged neighbourhood of Hunting Hills when she marries eligible bachelor John Harding. Wives here live by 10 rules, including be busy even if you aren't and remember that the more you buy, the more your husband values you. But perhaps the women of the neighbourhood need another rule - don't trust one another. Marti Denton, who only communicates with her husband Denton by post-it notes, has had her eye on John and desperately wants to break up the new marriage. Meanwhile Marti's best friend, Lisa, who downs amphetamines to keep up the pace, has been having an affair.6/10
To come:Sweet Love
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PLUM SYKES
The Debutante Divorcee (2006)
Sylvia Mortimer is on her honeymoon in Careyes, Mexico, (unfortunately her husband Hunter had to return to work) when she meets Lauren Blount, who is celebrating her divorce. The two become fast friends and join in a whirlwind of parties and trips, including heading to Moscow to buy jewellery for the rich but unGoogleable Giles Monterey. With rumours swirling that Hunter is having an affair, Sylvia has to decide whether to subscribe to Lauren's 'Who needs a husband anyway?' philosophy - or stand and fight for her man.5/10
Bergdorf Blondes (2004)
Bergdorf Blondes are Park Avenue Princesses (PAPs) who are on the prowl for the must-have accessory, a rich fiancé. English Lit major Moi, who works as a freelance magazine writer, is friends with the perfect example, department store heiress Julie Bergdorf, who gets her blonde locks touched up every 13 days. Will Moi find her Prospective Husband (PH) in her European travels or has he been under her nose all this time?4/10