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Waking Beauty - Elyse Friedman (2004)
Allison Penny is an unattractive and overlooked office cleaner, who has to deal with a flatmate from hell, an alcoholic mother and an absent father. So what happens when one day she wakes up as a gorgeous blonde? Do blondes have more fun and is life better when you're beautiful?
5/10
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Warnings of Gales - Annie Sanders (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
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Watermelon - Marian Keyes (1996)
Claire Walsh's husband, James, tells her he's leaving for another woman moments after she's given birth to their daughter, Kate. Claire returns to her family home in Dublin and takes to her room. At first she sinks into a depression, then a rage before she emerges ready to look after herself and Kate. Then James reappears, saying he made a mistake.
8/10
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Wedded Blitz - Tina Reilly (2005)
A tale of warring spouses, embarrassing parents and the battle of the hairdressing salons. When hairdresser Jane discovers another salon is opening up down the road, she enters a hairdressing competition to help woo customers. On the home front, her husband, Jim, has moved out so her mother moves in. Then an accident makes Jane and Jim relive a past tragic event and forces them to confront what drove them apart in the first place.
5/10
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Wedding Belles - Zoe Barnes (2006)
Green Goddess shop assistant Belle Craine is planning her wedding to local journalist Kieran when Australian model Mona - her father's unknown daughter - turns up on the doorstep. In disgrace, her father and mother have to move out of the vicarage and into a new parish in a very undesirable area. Then Kieran starts spending too much time with Mona and Belle starts thinking the worst.
6/10
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Welcome to the Real World - Carole Matthews (2006)
Fern Kendal is a struggling bar singer who desperately needs a break. She takes on an extra job as personal assistant to opera star Evan David, but finds she can't let him know about her singing dream. So Fern throws away her chances on TV talent show Fame Game when she discovers Evan is one of the judges. Evan's every whim is catered for by his agent, trainer, chauffeur, chef and a cast of thousands, but memories of a childhood tragedy keep him from truly enjoying all he's achieved. Though Fern can't seem to master her assistant duties, she brings a rare smile to Evan's face so when she goes on the run, he finds he can't forget her.
6/10
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What Do You Do All Day? - Amy Scheibe (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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When the Boys are Away - Sarah Webb (2007)
Meg Miller has returned to Dublin with her two children, Dan and Lily, after becoming fed up with trailing around the globe after her partner Simon, a professional sailor. But life is far from smooth sailing at home, what with the home renovations, annoying in-laws and her own infuriating family. So Meg teams up with her neighbour Tina, whose banker husband works in London all week, and finds that sometimes life is easier without the men around. But as a secret from Simon's past is revealed, will Meg jump overboard?
7/10
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Where Rainbows End - Cecelia Ahern (2004)
Also known as Rosie Dunne
Rosie Dunne and Alex Stewart have been friends since childhood. Just as they are reaching their final year at school, they are separated when Alex's family moves from Dublin to America. Rosie finds she's lost without him and applies to go to college in Boston so they can be reunited. Except on the eve of her departure, something happens that changes her life forever. Through marriages, divorces and work trials, Rosie and Alex are there for each other. But are they meant to be more than just good friends? One of my all-time favourite books.
9/10
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Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? - Melissa Senate (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
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Wife in the Fast Lane - Karen Quinn (2006)
Former Olympic runner Christy Hayes has built up her Baby G sports shoe label into a multi-million-dollar company. But her business partner, Katherine, leaks some negative stories about Christy and the company to the media and forces the board into making her CEO. So Christy decides to throw herself into being a wife and mother, with the new motto “Marriage, children, career - pick two.” She falls for successful businessman Michael Drummond, who comes with a ready-made daughter, Ali. And so Christy enters the cruel competitive world of the yummy mummy mafia at Colby Girls' School.
7/10
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Wife Living Dangerously - Debra Kent (2006)
Despite working for a sex research institute, Julia Flanagan has always played by the rules and put her family first, so her best friends dare her to live a little dangerously. But did they ever expect her to take up with Evan, a university poetry tutor; try to uncover whether husband Michael is having an affair with his band's singer; and worse yet - lie to her family that their pet rat is actually a dwarf Norwegian flat-coated guinea pig?
5/10
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Wish You Were Here - Phillipa Ashley (2007)
When Beth Allen applies for a job with specialist travel company Big Outdoors, she's unaware she's about to face its new CEO, Jack Thornfield - a man she'd had a holiday romance with eight years earlier. He'd proposed but then disappeared. Although she doesn't want to spend time with the man who broke her heart, Beth takes the job, relieved she is able to help out her injured father and aspiring drama student sister Louise. She heads to London, leaving behind boyfriend Marcus. Will she find out what made Jack disappear and could they finally be in the right place at the right time? With the dialogue in this book so forced and the plot lacking any surprises, it was really a case of “wish I'd never heard of this book”. But if you can't get enough of lines like: 'Why? Is the boss a prick?' 'Lou!' exclaimed Beth. She swore herself, but couldn't really complain. It was the thought of Jack and that part of his anatomy together that had shocked her . . . then throw this in your suitcase for a holiday read.
3/10
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Wolves in Chic Clothing - Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman (2005)
When Pelham jewellery store salesgirl Julia Pearce delivers a necklace to Lell, the store's heiress, on her wedding day, it gives her a pass into a different world. Lell and her friends, bitchy Polly and sweet Hope, adopt natural beauty Julia like modern day Henry Higgins. Lell gives the aspiring jewellery maker a job as her assistant and introduces her into Park Avenue society. But then Lell's new husband Will lets his roving eye land on Julia and the pack turn on her.
6/10
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Woman to Woman - Cathy Kelly (1997)
Best friends Aisling Moran and Jo Ryan think they have it all. Then Aisling discovers a lingerie receipt in her husband's pocket and Jo watches a blue line appear on a pregnancy test.
6/10
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Would You? - Deanna Kizis (2006)
Also known as Finishing Touches
When Jesse's best friend dies after a car accident, she finds the only person who understands her pain is Cecile's widower, Zach. Is their friendship turning to romance, and if it does, will Jesse lose all her other friends in the process?
5/10