Return to The title list
Page 1 2
The Opposite of Love - Julie Buxbaum (2008)
Manhattan lawyer Emily Haxby is confused about her life. Just as her boyfriend Andrew is on the verge of proposing, she breaks up with him with that famous line: “It's not you. It's me.” Working on a multi-million-dollar lawsuit that she morally disagrees with and trying to avoid a lecherous boss, Emily also wonders if her professional life needs a shake-up. But it's not long before she is wondering if she's made the mistake of her life. With her mother dead and her father emotionally distant, her closest ties are with her fast fading Grandpa Jack and Ruth, a former judge who lives in the same retirement home. This book has received high praise from many readers and is finely written with believable characters and emotional depth. However I'd lost interest by the second half. But maybe it's a case of “It's not The Opposite of Love. It's me.” So the best advice would be to try it out for yourself - you may just love it.
6/10
back to titles list
The Other Side of the Story - Marian Keyes (2004)
There are sometimes three sides to every story. The men in events organiser Gemma Hogan's life are proving a problem - actually it's the men disappearing from her life that she has trouble with. First there's former boyfriend Anton, who is now living in London with Gemma's ex-best friend Lily Wright. Then there's Gemma's father, who's just left her mother after 35 years of marriage and Gemma has to move in to pick up the pieces. Lily has a bestseller, Mimi's Remedies, under her belt but is still waiting for karma to catch up with her for what she did to Gemma. Maybe it's what's causing her inability to write the next book despite the fact the advance has already been spent. High-flying literary agent JoJo, who's involved with her married boss, is always on the lookout for the next big thing, and thinks it's unlikely to come from her debut star, Lily. But she may have found it when she gets her hands on some of Gemma's emails to her friends.
8/10
back to titles list
The Other Woman - Jane Green (2004)
“There were three of us in the marriage.” Ellie can't seem to push Princess Diana's words out of her mind but in her case it's not a mistress but a family matriarch. Ellie's mother died when she was young and she has a distant father so her marriage to Dan Cooper is her opportunity to forge new family ties. Dan's mother, Linda, starts out as the perfect mother but her meddling soon turns her into the mother-in-law from hell. And the arrival of baby Tom only escalates the tensions.
7/10
back to titles list
The Other Woman's Shoes - Adele Parks (2003)
Also known as Lust for Life
Martha has strived hard to create the perfect home with husband Michael and their two children, while sister Eliza lives with musician boyfriend Greg and enjoys a carefree life. When Michael announces that he's leaving after 10 years because he's not having any fun, Martha is shattered. Then Eliza leaves Greg, because she wants to settle down with a responsible man. Will each woman embrace their chance to walk in each other's shoes?
6/10
back to titles list
The Party Season - Sarah Mason (2003)
Party planner Isabel Serranti is booked to do a charity ball at Pantiles, the Monkwell estate where her family lived when she was a child. Isabel is just hoping to keep far away from Simon Monkwell, now a successful entrepreneur, who had bullied her when they were in their teens. Press coverage suggests he hasn't changed a bit, but Isabel soon finds that things aren't quite as she remembers.
6/10
back to titles list
The Pink Ghetto - Liz Ireland (2006)
When famous-for-knowing-famous-people Sylvie Arnaud moves into assisted living, her assistant Rebecca Abbot has to find another job. She scores a position at romance publisher Candlelight Books, just as her flatmate (and ex) Fleishman, a writer, develops an interest in the romance genre. There may even be romance in store for Rebecca, who is captivated by a cute lawyer who often shares her elevator. But a backstabbing co-worker and a conference from hell leave her wondering if she'll make it in the romance business, after all.
7/10
back to titles list
The Rise and Fall of a Yummy Mummy - Polly Williams (2006)
Six months after the birth of her daughter Evie, Amy Crane is still schlupping around in maternity clothes. Then she meets Alice, who introduces her to the yummy mummy brigade. Following her new friend's advice, Amy is caught up in a whirlwind of designer shoes, Botox injections and yoga classes. These new interests, including yummy yoga instructor Josh, put further pressure on her relationship with boyfriend Joe, who she suspects cheated on her during her pregnancy.
7/10
back to titles list
The School for Husbands - Wendy Holden (2006)
Magazine sub-editor Sophie leaves her husband Mark after he forgets her birthday then doesn't come home after a work do. With Sophie thinking he's having an affair, Mark enrols in the School for Husbands, which helps teach hopeless spouses how to mend their ways. But has he left it too late - Sophie's former boyfriend who is in need of a wife is on the prowl.
7/10
back to titles list
The Second Assistant - Clare Naylor (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
back to titles list
The Second Wives Club - Jane Moore (2006)
When Alison's wedding is gatecrashed by her groom's ex-wive, she is introduced to the Second Wives Club, where they get together to vent about what happens when you marry someone else's husband. The other members include Susan who is living in the shadow of a dead wife, Fiona, who is battling with a teenage stepson, and Julia, the trophy wife of a merchant banker who remains too close to his former wife.
6/10
back to titles list
The Secret Desires of a Soccer Mom - Robyn Harding (2006)
Also known as Secrets and Wives
Paige Atwell is a bit dissatisfied with her lot - a busy husband, an increasingly hostile daughter and a son obsessed with bodily functions. As Paige tries to spice up her marriage, Aberdeen Mists is rocked by the death of her neighbour Karen, who is found in a pool of blood in her garage. With everyone else assuming it was an accident, Paige suspects foul play, as Karen had just revealed to her that she was having an affair with a Latin lover. Using sleuthing tactics from her favourite TV crime shows, Paige attempts to uncover the truth.
5/10
back to titles list
The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella (2000)
Also known as Confessions of a Shopaholic
As a financial journalist for Successful Saving magazine, Rebecca Bloomwood spends her working life telling people how to manage their money. In her private life she is a shopaholic who is unable to face her mounting debts. She dreams of lottery wins, marriage to rich heirs and a range of harebrained schemes to save her from financial disaster. But has she met her dream man in Luke Brandon, head of a financial PR company, who is more than willing to lend her £20 to buy her ailing aunt a present.
8/10
back to titles list
The Secrets of Married Women - Carol Mason (2007)
Jill can handle not having children. What she can't handle is how her husband Rob has withdrawn from her when he finds out it's his sperm count that's the problem. With one friend confessing to a passionate affair and another living the perfect marriage with the perfect guy, Jill feels like she's missing out. Then she meets a gorgeous lifeguard who's had his eye on her for a while. Will Jill let her fantasies become reality or discover the secrets her best friends are keeping? A tale of infertility and infidelity, with some clever twists to keep you turning the pages.
7/10
back to titles list
The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy - Fiona Neill (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
back to titles list
The Secret Lives of Fortunate Wives - Sarah Strohmeyer (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
back to titles list
The Secret Lives of Husbands - Kirsty Crawford (2007)
Nurse Ruth Blackiston gets engaged to Ned Haskell after only three months - and without even meeting his parents. Now she has to deal with her mother-in-law Jackie's erratic moods and fit in with his close-knit group of friends. When she discovers Ned's old diaries, she realises her future with her husband won't be happily ever after unless she can untangle themselves from his past.
7/10
back to titles list
The Self-Preservation Society - Kate Harrison (2007)
Jo Morgan is a self-confessed scaredy-cat who as a schoolgirl used to stockpile canned food in case of a nuclear holocaust. Now she works for a council's accident prevention department, trying to protect the population from food poisoning, DIY mishaps and killer tea cosies. Fortunately her boyfriend Dennis shares her ultra-safe outlook on life. But when Jo emerges from a coma after a hit-and-run accident, she realises this scaredy-cat may have used up most of her nine lives and needs to live life differently. But first she needs to unlearn a lifetime of fears. With the help of fellow headcase patient, former World War II fighter pilot “Frisky”, and his grandson Luke, Jo tries to embrace spontaneity. She also has to work out why she's having flashbacks when she sniffs a smell from her past.
8/10
back to titles list
The Sisterhood - Emily Barr (2008)
Twenty-year-old Helen has always felt like something was missing in her life. She lives a pampered life in a French chateau but has a distant relationship with her parents. So when she discovers that her mother had abandoned another baby years before, she starts looking for her sister. She finds Elizabeth in England through the internet and so leaves France for the first time in her life to meet her. But she doesn't tell Liz who she is - instead she ingratiates herself into Liz's life with the plan to take her back home to reunite her with her long-lost mother. Liz, whose boyfriend has just left her for someone else, eventually begins to have her suspicions about the clinging French woman. A real page-turner - there will be at least one or two twists that you won't have seen coming.
8/10
back to titles list
The Sleeping Beauty Proposal - Sarah Strohmeyer (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
back to titles list
The Starter Marriage - Kate Harrison (2005)
Tess Leonard is a perfectionist whose life is in a shambles. When husband Barney leaves her for his pregnant girlfriend, Tess joins the Divorce Survival Class - a boot camp for the broken-hearted. Will the course help Tess move on?
6/10
back to titles list
The Starter Wife - Gigi Levangie (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
back to titles list
The Stepmother - Carrie Adams (2007)
Bea has managed to keep her divorce amicable so Jimmy can maintain a good relationship with their three daughters. Then he announces that he's seeing someone - Tessa King - and it's serious. This news sends Bea into a freefall - to the outside world she's looking good but that's only because she's swapped binge eating for drinking. Tessa, meanwhile, has to win over the girls, particularly the oldest daughter Amber. Told from both women's viewpoints, this sequel is better than the original tale about Tessa as the godmother.
7/10
back to titles list
The Summer Psychic - Jessica Adams (2007)
The book opens with a bang, with psychic Luke Gabriel gazing into a bucket of sea water and hearing a voice as he predicts a number of events destined to happen in 2006. It is a test to figure out which event each rambling refers to - and some of them will definitely stump international readers. (But that may be why Adams also wrote a version for the British market with Brighton journalist Katie Pickard and Australian psychic Jim Gabriel.) Coffs Harbour newspaper journalist Jo Delaney is sent to interview the English psychic and ends up with a shocking prediction of her own - he foresees that he's going to marry her by winter. Then Luke's other predictions start coming true - a scorching New Year's Day, Italy winning the World Cup, cyclones Monica and Larry hitting Queensland, and stingrays and blood in the water signalling the death of Croc Hunter Steve Irwin. Meanwhile, Jo is still coming to terms with the death of her depressed boyfriend Andrew in a car crash; has a crush on ageing rocker Gram Nixon (who Luke predicts will have a No. 1 hit) and is facing the possible closure of her newspaper Coffs and Coast Courier. Throw in hundreds of missing cats and a witches' coven and you start to wonder if the psychic will ever get it wrong. Adams' career as an astrologer no doubt helped make the psychic aspects of the book believable.
6/10
back to titles list
The Thing About Jane Spring - Sharon Krum (2005)
A family military background has made Jane Spring an efficient, aggressive and blunt lawyer. But it doesn't seem to help her find a man. So after watching a Doris Day marathon on TV during a snowstorm, she decides to reinvent herself to become what men what along the lines of the actress. She starts wearing pastel suits with pencil skirts, frosted pink lipstick and cuts her blonde hair into a cute bob. But with her colleagues thinking she's putting on an act to win a case, will the more feminine Jane also win her man?
6/10
back to titles list
The Thin Pink Line - Lauren Baratz-Logsted (2003)
Jane Taylor, a 29-year-old assistant editor at a publishing firm, thinks she is pregnant. But when she gets her period, she is disappointed, especially when she realises how much attention pregnant women get. So expecting to fall pregnant any day to boyfriend Trevor, she fakes a pregnancy test by drawing on a pink line. Soon she's invented a tilted uterus, appointed a tarot-card-reading midwife and even tried to buy ultrasound pictures off expectant mothers. Then a publisher hears of her story, and convinces her to continue the charade so she can write about her experiences of what to expect when you're not really expecting.
6/10
back to titles list
The Three Day Rule - Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees (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
back to titles list
The Travel Bug - Sheila Norton (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
back to titles list
The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters - Elisabeth Robinson (2004)
Hollywood film producer Olivia Hunt was working on the fourth draft of her suicide note (she'd been fired, dumped by her boyfriend and had discovered evidence of a moustache) when she got a phone call that her younger sister Maddie has leukaemia. Through a series of letters, the book follows her time spent at her sister's bedside as she attempts to get Don Quixote made into a film.
4/10
back to titles list
The Truth About Diamonds - Nicole Richie (2005)
Chloe Parker had lead a wild childhood running with the young A-list crowd after being adopted by a music producer. She disappears for a week when she has a fight with a friend at a nightclub. On her return best friend Simone, who makes everyone's private phone numbers public when she leaves her mobile in a rest room, announces that she and Chloe are going to be spokespeople for Magdalena cosmetics and they will shoot a reality TV ad. It doesn't seem as if Richie has strayed too far from her own experiences to act as the story's narrator. She's the adopted daughter of singer Lionel Richie and she starred in reality TV show The Simple Life with her then best friend Paris Hilton (and Paris did once lose her phone).
6/10
back to titles list
The Truth About Ruby Valentine - Alison Bond (2006)
On the day that Hollywood star Ruby Valentine dies, Kelly Coltrane's father reveals that she is Ruby's daughter. So Kelly heads to Hollywood to attend the funeral and uncover the truth about her mother's mysterious suicide. As Kelly finds that it is never too late for a comeback, Ruby's path to fame is revealed in a series of flashbacks. I guessed the ending far too early but still an enjoying read.
7/10
back to titles list
The Twins of Tribeca - Rachel Pine (2005)
Movie publicist Rachel Pine's tell-all novel is based on her time at Miramax Films and has very thinly veiled references to real-life movie stars. Anyone can't guess who Frederick “Fly” Faccione, who rose to fame and fortune through his portrayal of an underdog boxer and Vietnam vet, or Ronald Ululater, a European bodybuilder who became an action hero, are based on? Former CNN researcher Karen Jacobs gets a job as publicity assistant at Glorious Pictures, run by twins Phil and Tony Waxman. From announcing VIP guests at the studio's Oscars party, to dodging a mysterious washed-up journalist writing a tell-all Waxman biography, flirting with a Page Six columnist and covering for her missing boss Allegra, Karen finds out that work at the studio isn't all that glorious.
5/10
back to titles list
The Two Mrs Robinsons - Donna Hay (2007)
Anna lives with restaurateur Oliver Robinson and their young son Charlie. But he still hasn't divorced his wife Eve, mother of his two teenage children, and she still continually hovers in their lives. For Eve still hasn't gotten over the love of her life. Then Oliver dies suddenly and the women are left to sort out his affairs. But they can't seem to agree on anything - Eve takes over the restaurant while Anna thinks they should sell it. Then they discover Oliver was heavily in debt and there's a lot more at stake. Can they forge a truce or be driven even further apart?
7/10
back to titles list
The Undomestic Goddess - Sophie Kinsella (2005)
As workaholic lawyer Samantha Sweeting is going for partnership, she realises that she forgot to register a loan and a company is set to lose $50 million. So she just walks out and gets on a train bound for the middle of nowhere. When she asks for directions at a big house, she is mistaken as a housekeeper looking for work and is hired by nouveau riche couple Eddie and Trisha. But Samantha struggles to do the most basic chores until hunky gardener Nathaniel lends a hand. But will her old life catch up with her . . . and will she want it back?
6/10
back to titles list
The Village Bride of Beverly Hills - Kavita Daswani (2004)
Priya moves from New Delhi to Los Angeles after an arranged marriage to Sanjay. She moves into her in-laws' home, where she is expected to be the domestic help and hold down a job until she falls pregnant. But the job she lands isn't the sort of work her in-laws had in mind for a traditional Indian wife. Can she keep her media job and her Western clothes a secret and will Sanjay's loyalties lie with his family or his new bride?
6/10
back to titles list
The Wish List - Melanie La'Brooy (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
back to titles list
The Wives of Bath - Wendy Holden (2005)
The tale of four people and an antenatal class. Lawyer Alice and recycling crusader Jake plan to have their baby at home in a birthing pool. Style writer Amanda decides to have a baby - in a private hospital, naturally - after she loses her job when the magazine's lawyer (coincidentally Alice) can't get her out of a legal mess for making up quotes. But husband Hugo is left holding the baby when the unmaternal Amanda escapes back to work. And Jake is driving Alice away when his green zeal turns into fanaticism.
6/10
back to titles list
The Wonder Spot - Melissa Bank (2005)
This book is a series of interconnected stories that follow middle child Sophie Applebaum from her school days when she used to wag Jewish school, through college to her first job and her terrible typing skills, to her disappointing dating life.
4/10
back to titles list
The WWW Club - Anita Notaro (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 to titles list
The Xmas Factor - Annie Sanders (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
back to titles list
The Year Nick McGowan Came to Stay - Rebecca Sparrow (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
back to titles list
The Yorkshire Pudding Club - Milly Johnson (2007)
When three Yorkshire friends picnic on top of an ancient fertility symbol, who would have imagined that within months all three would be pregnant. For Helen, the pregnancy is a dream come true, if only her marriage with controlling Simon wasn't crumbling before her eyes. For career-minded Janey who's up for a promotion, it's a nightmare as she never wanted kids but husband George is ecstatic. And then there's Elizabeth, who loses her job after letting her hormones take over and telling the boss to stick his job. Amid the determined return of a man she once pushed away, she fears that she will never love the child she is carrying.
7/10
back to titles list
The Zygote Chronicles - Suzanne Finnamore (2002)
This is a journal of a first-time mother to her unborn child, from conception to delivery room. It's got some humorous anedotes about life for pregnant women, and even some moments of sadness and drama, but I found it just didn't deliver a story anyone outside the family would be interested in reading.
3/10