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| Name Dropping | Never Say Never | News Blues |
| No Strings Attached | Not Meeting Mr Right | Notting Hell |
| Not What You Think |
Name Dropping - Jane Heller (2000)
Preschool teacher Nancy Stern discovers another woman with the same name has moved into her apartment. The other Nancy is a glamorous journalist who writes about celebrities. Nancy would love to live her life and in fact begins to, opening her mail, answering her phone calls and going out with a man who calls for a blind date. But then the other woman is found murdered and Nancy begins to wonder if maybe she was the target. I liked the concept of two very different women sharing the same name but found the mystery was solved too early and there needed to be more of a twist for this book to score higher.
4/10
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Never Say Never - Melissa Hill (2005)
A group of Irish university friends arrange to meet five years on. The book then skips to seven years later when it is clear that life has not gone according to plan . . . There's Olivia, who was married to college sweetheart Peter and has a daughter, Ellie, who he never knew. Can she ever get over her grief and find a new man? Accountant Robin lives in the US and is determined never to return home. But her publisher wants her in Ireland to publicise her book series for kids with allergies. Leah is unhappily heading towards the big 3-0, despite a successful business partnership with fellow graduate Andrew, a star rugby player who is married to the jealous Amanda. The unexpected twist (it actually made me gasp) really makes this a fantastic read.
8/10
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News Blues - Marianne Mancusi (2008)
When Maddy Madison is offered an investigative producer spot on a new News 9 San Diego show, she is hoping it will take her one step closer to her dream job on Newsline - and away from puff pieces about Killer Cosmetics and Pudgy Pets. But first she has to become accustomed to working directly with anchor Terrance Toller who can't get enough of his face on screen and needs three hours notice of a shoot to prepare his hair and make-up. Things are also looking up when she is partnered with a cute new cameraman, Jamie, but she is disappointed to learn he comes with a fiancée. During a handbag shopping spree over the border in Tijuana, Mexico, a stallholder tells her about a drug tunnel into the US and Maddy thinks she's on to the scoop of her life. But she doesn't realise how close the story will come to her own family - and what she'll have to risk to get it broadcast.
6/10
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No Strings Attached - Clare Dowling (2007)
Judy's fiancé Barry goes AWOL the night before their wedding and his best man Lenny has to break the news of his disappearance. Then to add insult to injury, activity on their credit card suggests Barry is living it up in France. Lenny, king of the short-term relationship, stays on as Judy deals with the humiliation. Maybe a fling with no strings attached is just what she needs.
7/10
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Not Meeting Mr Right - Anita Heiss (2007)
Alice Aigner is a confirmed single but at her 10-year high school reunion she has a change of heart, deciding she does want it all - the successful career as head of history at a Catholic school, plus marriage and kids. So she sets a goal to find the perfect man and marry him before her 30th birthday. With her best friends' help, she draws up a 10-point selection criteria such as: No.2 Must think I am the most gorgeous woman on the planet; No. 6 Must be punctual (although I am allowed to be on Koori time) and No. 8 Must love his job (don't want him whingeing every night about his day). Alice tries blind dates, dating friends' relatives, holiday romances, internet dating - but can she find Mr Right in time?
5/10
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Notting Hell - Rachel Johnson (2006)
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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Not What You Think - Melissa Hill (2004)
Chloe Fallon is planning the wedding of the year. But little does she realise how a mix-up over invitations will cause trouble for herself, her fiancé Dan Hunt and a group of three friends. Laura Fanning is about to marry Neil, who is very supportive of her decision to quit her job and start her own jewellery company - even if her own family is horrified. When she is given Chloe's invitations by mistake, she realises that the groom is her friend Nicola Peters' ex. Nicola is now dating Ken, the manager of the gym where she works and the last thing she needs is having Dan come back into her life. Meanwhile, the third friend Helen Jackson has a great career but has never bonded with her young daughter Kerry. The father left her and no man has wanted to stick around since. But maybe she's about to take her friends for granted once too often. When Chloe starts delving into why Dan and Nicola broke up, all sorts of secrets start coming to the surface - and of course there's a big twist or two.
7/10