Tag Archives: chick lit

March 14, 2013 · 2:59 pm

Diary of a Mall Girl by Luisa Plaja.

Long time readers of my blog will know that I’ve been a huge fan of the interactive digital books being put out by Fiction Express. They started out by publishing YA novels, I reviewed them as the chapters went live – you can see my thoughts here. Since then they’ve gone on to publish books aimed at schools, and are continuing to tell wonderful stories interactively.

New publisher Curious Fox will be publishing four of the YA novels as complete books, they started last month with Sharon Gosling’s The Diamond Thief (previously Rémy Brunel and the Ocean of Light) and still to come are Soul Shadows by Alex Woolf in April, and The Soterion Mission by Stewart Ross in May.

Today however, the focus is entirely on Luisa Plaja’s brilliant Diary of a Mall Girl as it is published today.

DOAMG

From the back of the book:
The mall is the heart of the fifteen-year-old Molly’s suburban town. Most teens hang around with friends there, get their first job there, and experience their first kiss there. And Molly? She actually lives there, in the complex’s residential wing.

But living in a massive shopping centre isn’t as much fun as it sounds. That is, until mysterious twins Jewel and Jasper move into the flat upstairs. Suddenly life is a lot more exciting – and complicated. Will Molly get what she wants, or will it all come crashing down?

Find out the whole truth in Molly’s private diary!

I really enjoyed returning to Molly’s story, and spending time in the mall again with her. This book is so much fun, I found myself laughing lots as I read. There are also some truly brilliant cringey moments, the kind that make you remember your own similar experiences as a teen. One of the things I really love about Luisa’s books are the characters she creates, they’re wonderfully vivid – you really get the feeling that you’ve spent time with them. If you’re looking for a fun YA contemporary read then I’d say you would be fully satisfied by Diary of a Mall Girl.

To celebrate the publication of Diary of a Mall Girl there are a number of exciting things happening, you can see all of the details on Luisa’s website here.

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December 15, 2011 · 3:25 pm

Book Review : Breakfast at Darcy’s by Ali McNamara.

When Darcy McCall loses her beloved Aunt Molly, she doesn’t expect any sort of inheritance – let alone a small island. Located off the west coast of Ireland, Tara hasn’t been lived on for years, but according to Molly’s will Darcy must stay there for twelve months in order to fully inherit, and she needs to persuade a village full of people to settle there, too. Darcy has to leave behind her independent city life and swap stylish heels for muddy wellies. Between sorting everything from the plumbing to the pub, Darcy meets confident Conor and ever-grumpy Dermot – but who will make her feel really at home?

I had heard lots of great things about Ali McNamara’s debut novel From Notting Hill with Love… Actually so when I was offered the chance to read her new novel I was pleased to be able to give it a go.

For me the book started pretty slowly, I wasn’t particularly grabbed by the plot – Darcy is introduced as your typical city dwelling chick lit protagonist, image obsessed and career focused. When she discovers that she has inherited an island providing she builds a community on it for a year she of course is pushed into accepting the challenge and sets about it. It was once the “casting” of the islanders and the move had taken place that I started to enjoy the plot more. I particularly liked seeing how they built the community, and the involvement of Eamon – the island’s only established resident, though I would have liked to get to know some of the new islanders more.

I initially found Darcy to be a very hard to like character, as the plot developed and her character did too I did find myself warming to her more. I found the same with Dermot, one of the two men who have their eye on Darcy. When we first meet him he’s not very likeable at all, I actually found that he bothered me so much that in my dreams the night I started reading the book he was there being all disapproving. Again though he became more likeable over the course of the book and eventually I did find myself rooting for him.

The island, Tara, is almost a character in herself. I loved the idea of this little island, and I loved the hints of folklore that were sprinkled throughout the book though for me these could have been expanded on more – there were a couple that I kept expecting to see become integral parts of the plot but this did not happen.

Overall I found Breakfast at Darcy’s to be a fairly enjoyable read that started off slowly but left me feeling content by the end. It sadly did not live up to my expectations based on the hype around From Notting Hill with Love… Actually but I’m certainly glad I kept going with it.

Breakfast at Darcy’s is published in paperback by Sphere in the UK priced £6.99. Whilst I was provided with a review copy of the book all of the opinions expressed are my own.

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November 18, 2011 · 10:00 am

Guest Post : Breakfast with Ali.

I’m very happy today to be welcoming author Ali McNamara to my blog as part of her blog tour for her new novel Breakfast at Darcy’s.

Over to Ali…

I think one of the most commonly asked questions of novelists is “Where do you get your ideas from?’

And it’s one of the hardest to answer, because usually they spring out of nowhere. What sometimes seems like a great idea when you first think of it, might never actually lead anywhere. Sometimes you don’t even know you’ve had an idea until it keeps banging away in your mind as if it’s trying to tell you it needs to escape and become something else. And sometimes an idea hits you so hard in the face you feel like you’ve been hit by a clown throwing ‘idea’ shaped custard pies.

‘Breakfast at Darcy’s’ was the latter of three. One year I was on holiday with my husband, in a momentary fit of insanity I’d agreed it would be a good idea to take a touring holiday around Ireland in a motorhome, I have no idea why now to this day. The luxury motorhome I hired with my husband was not quite the home-from-home we were promised over the Internet, I actually christened it the ‘dustbin on wheels’ it was so bad. But however as we trundled about Ireland, with fellow motor home enthusiasts giving us the caravaner’s wave as we passed each other on the roads, (and me hiding under the dashboard in acute embarrassment every time they did) one night when we parked up amongst spectacular scenery in County Kerry, directly opposite the island of Great Blasket, a casual chat about the beauty and remoteness of the island led to one of those random conversations about how you might go about trying to live on an island as isolated as that, and the seed of an idea was immediately planted in my brain for a new novel based around such an island.

So you could say the idea for ‘Breakfast at Darcy’s’ pretty much came from a wheelie bin…

You can find all the details of the other stops on Ali’s tour here. Ali has also been challenged to eat 30 different breakfasts in the 30 days leading up to the publication date for Breakfast at Darcy’s, you can check out the different breakfasts she’s tried over on her blog.

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September 27, 2011 · 8:45 am

Book Review : Nothing But Trouble by Rachel Gibson.

Chelsea Ross knows she’s a great actress. Which is lucky, as she’s just got the toughest role of her life!

Washed up from Hollywood and in serious need of cash, Chelsea jumps at the $10,000 opportunity to act as a ‘carer’ to famous hockey player Mark Bressler, injured after a car crash. After all, how hard can it be to play nice and pick up after an incredibly hot invalid in need of her tender loving care? Just three months of playing nurse and the cash is hers.

But Mark Bressler doesn’t need help. The moody hockey player’s glory days may be over, but he has no intention of letting anyone aid his recovery, least of all the maddeningly cheerful Chelsea. He’s determined to get her to quit – and Mark isn’t the type to give in. But then, neither is Chelsea…

I loved the sound of this book, and the gorgeous purple cover, so it was a very easy pick to make it one of my books for the Transworld Book Group challenge. A book that had a sports slant to it really appealed to me, I’m a huge sports fan but don’t tend to read many books that feature them. When the book arrived I realised that this was the fifth book in the Chinooks series, I started to read hoping that it wouldn’t matter that I hadn’t read the previous books.

It didn’t, the book definitely works as a stand alone, nothing happened in the story that made me feel like I’d missed some important fact. The plot does feel pretty familiar, neither Chelsea or Mark likes each other, but it’s clear there is something between them and they end up in a will they won’t they struggle. I think if the book hadn’t had the ice hockey back drop I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much as I did, this was the part that kept my interest rather than the love story.

Mark begins the book as a pretty obnoxious character, though it is understandable considering his recent accident and the abrupt end of his glittering sports career. Chelsea’s determination and focus proves a good foil to his attempts to get rid of her, and I thought her motivation for doing so is quite interesting. I liked some of the other hockey players we get to see fairly briefly, I can see me being tempted to read the other books in this series to get to see some more of them.

I definitely enjoyed this book, though I think this was mainly to do with the setting and the way it’s written. I would have liked the plot to be a bit more adventurous, but for a fluffy read this did do the job.

Nothing But Trouble is published in paperback by Corgi in the UK priced £5.99. Whilst I was provided with a review copy of the book all of the opinions expressed are my own.

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July 28, 2011 · 2:23 pm

Book Review : The Summer Season by Julia Williams.

As summertime flourishes, it’s time for new beginnings…

Heartsease House is in desperate need of renovation. Its owner, widower Joel, is struggling to come to terms with life as a single dad. His plans to refurbish the house and garden suddenly seem like one burden too many.

Mum to twin girls, Lauren’s life is a constant juggling act. When her ex Troy turns up she’s determined to keep her distance while he gets to know his daughters. But it’s a lot harder than she imagined …

Then erstwhile guerrilla gardener Kezzie bursts into their lives with her infectious enthusiasm to restore the gardens of Heartsease. But who is Kezzie? And what is she running away from?

As the warm days of summer draw closer, Heartsease House and its beautiful love-knot garden are transformed. But will Joel, Kezzie and Lauren be able to restore their own hearts?

I was sent this book as part of my preparation for the Ladies Who Love day at Bromley Literary Festival, I knew of Julia Williams but I’d never read any of her books so I was curious to see what I made of The Summer Season. The book opens with a map of the village that the book is set in and then a family tree, my interest was definitely piqued and I turned the page eager to start the story.

The plot twists around three main characters, Lauren, Joel and Kezzie. They’ve all got problems in their past that they’re trying to overcome, and in doing this their paths become increasingly intertwined. I liked the way that their stories all overlapped, but they each got a decent storyline of their own – there was no scrimping on story.

Within the main plots there was the story of Joel’s garden, including a knot garden. This had been created by his ancestors and their story was uncovered by the characters, and we got to read it too. I liked the description of the garden and I really enjoyed the flashbacks to Joel’s great-great-grandparents, they fitted seamlessly into the story and added real depth to it.

One of the great things for me about this book was that I enjoyed all three of the main characters. I expected that as there were three there would probably be one I liked less, but that wasn’t the case. I really liked the character of Lauren though at times I did want to shout at her! I definitely felt like she was the kind of person I could become good friends with. I thought Joel was an interesting character, I can’t remember reading a book with a young widower whereas I can think of a number where a wife has lost her husband. I think the fact that all of the characters had their flaws meant that they were all more likeable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was a lovely warm-hearted read that left me feeling hugely content when I finished it. It may be the first book I’ve read by Julia Willams but it definitely won’t be the last.

The Summer Season is published in paperback by Avon in the UK priced £6.99. Whilst I was provided with a review copy of the book all of the opinions expressed are my own.

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July 26, 2011 · 1:51 pm

Book Review : Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn.

Honoria Smythe-Smith, the youngest daughter of the eldest son of the Earl of Winstead, plays the violin in the annual musicale performed by the Smythe-Smith quartet. She’s well aware that they are dreadful. In fact, she freely admits (to her cousins) that she is probably the worst of the bunch. But she’s the sort who figures that nothing good will come of being mortified, so she puts on a good show and laughs about it.

Marcus Holroyd is the best friend of Honoria’s brother Daniel, who lives in exile out of the country. He’s promised to watch out for Honoria and takes his responsibility very seriously. But he has his work cut out for him when Honoria sets off for Cambridge determined to marry by the end of the season. She’s got her eye on the only unmarried Bridgerton, who’s a bit wet behind the ears. When her advances are spurned, can Marcus swoop in and steal her heart in time for the musicale?

Having only ventured into the world of historical fiction recently I was really interested to read this book and see whether I got on as well with it.

The book is a light and frothy read, I read it with a huge smile on my face. The plot follows Honoria Smythe-Smith (even the name made me smile) as she is preparing to play in the annual musicale put on by members of her family and at the same time looking for a husband. Her disgraced and exiled brother has left his best friend Marcus to keep an eye on her, he’s trying his hardest to make sure she doesn’t fall for a wrong ‘un.

It’s clear to the reader from a very early stage that they should be together, it’s great fun reading to see whether they realise it too or not. Along the way there are plenty of funny moments, I read the book in public and got a few odd looks when I kept laughing out loud! In a break from the laughs there is one medical scene that didn’t bother me, but I can think of a few friends who are more squeamish than I am and would probably have to flick through the pages quickly.

I found Honoria easy to like, she is sweet and has a very endearing sensibility to her. Within a few pages of meeting the adult Marcus (we first meet him as a child) I’d fallen for him completely, my liking of him only grew throughout the book. Honoria’s cousins who also play in the Smythe-Smith quartet are fabulous characters, I loved the scenes between them – they provided a lot of the laughs. I also loved Lady Danbury who doesn’t appear until later in the book but is a character I could read a lot more of.

I must mention one slight issue that I had with the book, there is a romantic scene towards the end that I didn’t feel entirely comfortable with. It is written very well but for the time period it jarred a little for me.

I loved this book, it was such a fun and enjoyable read. I was thrilled to discover it is the first in a series about the Smythe-Smith Quartert, I can’t wait for the next book!

Just Like Heaven is published in paperback by Piatkus in the UK priced £7.99. Whilst I was provided with a review copy of the book all of the opinions expressed are my own.

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July 25, 2011 · 2:40 pm

Book Review : Hollywood Sinners by Victoria Fox.

POWER Marriage to Hollywood heartthrob Cole Steel secured Lana Falcon a glittering place on the red carpet. But running from a wicked past she has trapped herself in a gilded cage the price of freedom…her soul?

REVENGE Kate diLaurentis’s career is fading as quickly as her looks… What could be worse than discovering her husband’s latest mistress is Hollywood s hottest starlet? Her only option the most shocking revenge.

LUST Chloe French’s innocent beauty has captured a million hearts, but no one s warned her of the dangerous, dark temptation of rock star Nate – will lust destroy her?

GREED Las Vegas King, Robert St Louis s fairytale wedding to Sin City s richest heiress is tabloid gold… But scandal circles like a vulture – dirty secrets are about to be exposed!

I had read brilliant reviews of Hollywood Sinners so I was really excited when I got my hands on a copy of it to read before the Ladies Who Love Day at Bromley Literary Festival. With a fabulous and glitzy cover I was sure that the inside would live up to the outside.

The plot offered everything I look for a good bonkbuster – glamorous women, hunky blokes, and fantastic locations. I was really excited when I started reading and discovered plenty of it is set in Las Vegas, after a holiday there a couple of years ago I’ve got the Vegas bug and had great fun working out where things were happening. It made me feel like I was back walking along the Strip which made me both happy and yearny for a return trip in equal measure.

There were so many interesting storylines within Hollywood Sinners, the move between them had me turning the pages as quickly as I could, eager to discover what was going to happen next. I loved Lana’s story, whilst parts of it were quite standard bonkbuster fare there were parts that were completely new and fresh, things I’d never read about before. I also loved Chloe’s story, it was interesting watching someone totally new to the scene navigate her way through the many pitfalls a glitzy career seem to bring.

The book opens with a prologue and then jumps back a year. It’s not clear who the prologue is featuring, as I made my way through the book I thought I’d worked out who it was, then I changed my mind as was sure I’d got it sussed. When I got to the reveal I was completely wrong all over again!

I absolutely loved this book and couldn’t read it fast enough. I can’t wait to read whatever it is that Victoria Fox writes next.

Hollywood Sinners is published in paperback by Mira in the UK priced £7.99. Whilst I was provided with a review copy of the book all of the opinions expressed are my own.

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July 21, 2011 · 11:24 am

Book Review : The Sweetest Thing by Cathy Woodman.

If only everything in life was as simple as baking a cake…

Jennie Copeland thought she knew the recipe for a happy life: marriage to her university sweetheart, a nice house in the suburbs and three beautiful children. But when her husband leaves her, she is forced to find a different recipe. And she thinks she’s found just what she needs: a ramshackle house on the outskirts of the beautiful Talyton St George, a new cake-baking business, a dog, a horse, chickens…

But life in the country is not quite as idyllic as she’d hoped, and Jennie can’t help wondering whether neighbouring farmer Guy Barnes was right when he told her she wouldn’t last the year.

Or perhaps the problem is that she’s missing one vital ingredient to make her new life a success. Could Guy be the person to provide it?

I loved the sound of this book, as a country girl with a love of baked goods it sounded right up my street. I’d previously read and enjoyed Cathy Woodman’s first novel, Under The Bonnet so I was keen to get reading.

The plot is pretty standard chick lit fare, the kind you start reading and it all feels comfortable and familiar. The book starts with the Copeland family’s arrival at their new home, within the first chapter Jennie has crossed paths with potential love interest Guy (though of course we only guess who he is until the second chapter). They do the typical dance between disliking each other and liking each other with plenty of misunderstandings to keep them going. Beneath the expected love story however there is a subplot focussing on Jennie’s relationship with her children and how they handle the move to the country. I liked this a lot, though for me it did feel like it got wrapped up a bit too easily and cleanly. I would probably have liked there to be a bit more of this plot within the book.

I liked the character of Jennie though at times I didn’t agree with how she responded to things and thought that she walked herself into problems. I did find myself falling for Guy, exactly as you want to with any romantic love interest. There are plenty of laughs provided by Jennie’s children, the younger two in particular are still at that age where they say exactly what their mum wouldn’t want them to say, and Woodman uses this to great effect. The characters who already live in Talyton St George (there are two earlier books set there) are well created and jump off the page.

Each of the chapters has a type of cake as the title and Jennie makes this cake within the chapter. This led to what was probably my biggest quibble with the book. This isn’t the first book I’ve read that has a baking theme but in the others either recipes or a link to a website with recipes has been included. When I got to the end of this book I didn’t find any information about the recipes Jennie baked which was a real shame as there were a few that I would have been keen to have a go at. This didn’t reduce my enjoyment of the book, but I do think that it is possibly a missed opportunity.

I enjoyed The Sweetest Thing, it was a gentle and fairly entertaining read. I’m not sure that I’d rush out to buy the other Talyton St George books but I’d probably pick them up at the library.

The Sweetest Thing is published in paperback by Arrow in the UK priced £6.99. Whilst I was provided with a review copy of the book all of the opinions expressed are my own.

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April 21, 2011 · 3:25 pm

Some Novelicious News.

A few weeks ago Kirsty and the team at the brilliant Novelicious put out an advert looking for new reviewers and a newsletter editor. As soon as I read the role description for the newsletter editor it sounded like something I’d like to do so I applied and am thrilled to have got the position.

I’m really excited to be joining such a fabulous team, Novelicious has been one of my favourite sites for a long time. I’m really looking forward to getting to work!

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April 5, 2011 · 9:55 am

Book Review : Kiss and Tell by Fiona Walker.

With tight breeches and loose morals, the horse trials circuit is a hell-for-leather chase across the magnificent parkland of England’s finest country estates. Flirtation is compulsory sport; love is a professional hazard.

Silver-tongued charmer Rory Midwinter is quite at home in this hedge-jumping, bed-hopping world of competitive weekend house parties. Having been born into the saddle, and with a rock star owner as patron, he has no intention of settling down. Only his long-term groom Faith has other ideas.

Tash and Hugo Beauchamp are the undisputed golden couple of British three-day eventing, but their mettle is put to the test by the arrival of The Devil on Horseback, brooding Kiwi rider, Lough Strachan. Lough holds the key to Hugo’s darkest secret, and he intends to use it to access his greatest rival’s beautiful wife.

Kiss and Tell is set in the world of three day eventing and follows the fortunes of a number of riders, grooms and sundry family members. It’s very much set in the present with mentions of people emailing from the Blackberries, a fame hungry wannabe who rates her success by how many pages she is in front of Jordan, Posh and Kerry Katona, and people tracking events abroad by streaming them online alongside Twitter. The plot itself also feels very modern with scandal, infidelity and unrequited feelings strewn throughout it.

There are a lot of characters in Kiss and Tell, the book contains a three page cast list. I’m normally not a fan of cast lists but this one was essential, I found that I still needed to check who people were when I was more than three-quarters of the way through the book. There were ex-partners, infrequently mention siblings and offspring all over the place, I did find it hard to keep track of who meant what to who. I liked a lot of the main characters, I particularly found Lough intriguing and would have happily read a book all about him.

I enjoyed reading Kiss and Tell but it didn’t completely captivate me. When I saw how big it was I looked forward to getting completely lost in it, the reality was that at times I found it a little hard to keep going with. I never once thought about giving up on it, as I say I did enjoy it, I just didn’t love it.

Kiss and Tell is published in paperback by Sphere in the UK priced £7.99. Whilst I was provided with a review copy of the book all of the opinions expressed are my own.

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