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Pants on Fire Past Secrets Piece of Work
Playing with Boys Plan B Playing Away
Polly PS I Love You Pushing 30

Pants on Fire - Maggie Alderson (2000)

Magazine editor Georgia Abbott arrives in Sydney from London to work on Glow magazine, leaving behind a philandering ex-fiance. She is introduced around town in a whirlwind of A-list parties. But her dreams of being whisked away by a Akubra-hatted man are dashed when all the blokes she meets are either gay, married, unfaithful or just plain unworthy. Or are they?

6/10

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Past Secrets - Cathy Kelly (2006)

The thing about secrets is they have a tendency to come out when you least expect them. Faye, a single mother to teenager Amber, dresses conservatively, holds down a respectable job in a recruitment office but she's hiding a secret about Amber's father. Amber is studying for her final exams and everyone is expecting her to go to art college. But she has other plans in mind. Maggie discovers her boyfriend has been cheating so she moves in to look after her injured mother and learns how to make a stand. Even Christie, the friend they turn to for advice, is hiding a secret - an affair with an artist.

6/10

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Piece of Work - Laura Zigman (2006)

Julia Einstein may have to answer to a demanding, insatiably needy person, but her three-year-old son is still the best boss she's ever had. But when her husband Peter is laid off, she has to return to the world of celebrity PR - and this time she only manages to get work at a B-grade agency, which specialises in has-been comebacks. With Peter fitting into her role at home so much better than she did, Julia knows that she has to make the perfume launch of former screen diva Mary Ford a success, even though the perfume - and the client - stink.

6/10

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Playing with Boys - Alisa Valdes Rodriguez (2004)

Alexis is a talent agent in LA trying to take Mexican music into the mainstream. She's always looking out for new talent, so when she bumps into Latina soap star Marcella she thinks she's found the next big movie star. Then she meets Olivia, a shy stay-at-home mum who's written a dynamite script about how her mother survived after her husband was gunned down in El Salvador. The three band together to try to get the movie made.

5/10

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Plan B - Emily Barr (2005)

Emma reluctantly sells up her Brighton home after her partner Matt persuades her to buy a farmhouse in the south of France. She arrives to discover it's raining day and night, the roof is leaking and the heat's been shut off. As Matt continues to commute to London, she looks after their daughter Alice and oversees building work on the house. After all, it's all going to be worth it - Matt has promised to move permanently to France and marry her soon. But he is leading a double life and has another family back in England.

7/10

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Playing Away - Adele Parks (2000)

When happily married Connie meets John Harding at a work conference, she can't help flirting. He's just so confident, alluring and unscrupulous - so unlike her gentle husband Luke. This tells the tale of what happens when you've found Mr Right but can't help throwing caution to the wind with another man. The 2007 novel Young Wives' Tales is its sequel.

7/10

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Polly - Freya North (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

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PS I Love You - Cecelia Ahern (2004)

Holly's husband, Gerry, dies from a brain tumour, just as she is about to turn 30. Her parents pass on a parcel from him, which has 10 envelopes in it - each one listing a monthly mission for her to get her life back on track. With some help from her friends and family, Holly finds she can still laugh, sing and be brave - as the love of her life helps her learn that life goes on.

6/10

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Pushing 30 - Whitney Gaskell (2003)

As Ellie approaches 30, she breaks up with yet another boyfriend, despises her job as a litigation attorney, and is the last of her high school friends to still be on the shelf. Then Ellie meets Ted Langston, a cable news anchorman nearly twice her age, and sparks fly, even though he commits the ultimate sin - thinking she looks older than she is. Is this the new start Ellie has been dreaming of? And why does no one want them to get together?

6/10


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