Book Review: 50 Ways to Find A Lover by Lucy-Anne Holmes

Sarah Sargeant has been single for a while, and its beginning to worry everyone, even her mum and dad. So Sarah decides to embarke on a challenge to find 50 Ways to Find A Lover.

With the help of her best friend Julia and flatmate Simon, she goes speed dating, blind dating and various other disastrous ways to find a man, all with no luck. Sarah feels she is destined to spend her life alone, but is that about to change with the arrival of suave Paul?

But as well as finding herself a man, Sarah's obssesed with updating her blog about her dating escapades, but is her online life becoming more important than her day-to-day one?

Book Review: The Model Wife by Julia Llewellyn

Poppy Norton is a bit of a cliché, even she admits it. She was unlucky in love until she met News Presenter, father of 3 Luke Norton. The two begin a relationship on the sly, and accidentally Poppy falls pregnant.

Luke decides to leave his wife Hannah to set up home with Poppy but soon finds out life with a young model and their newborn daughter doesn't quite match up to his twenty-year marriage. Fast forward 2 years, and Poppy's fed up of being ignored and left at home with daughter Clara so looks for a job herself.

Things are not rosy in the Norton garden, but are they going to get better or worse?

Book Review: The Love of My Life by Louise Douglas

Olivia Felicone has just been made a widow after her husband Luca died in a car accident.

Luca was the love of Olivia's life, and she's not sure how she can go on without him. She isn't close to the Felicone family, but begins an affair with Luca's twin brother Marc behind everyone's backs, as it makes them both feel closer to Luca.

But is it really the best thing for both of them?

When I read the plot of the book, I thought it sounded very interesting, and I was intrigued to see how the author was going to tackle the issue of a widow having a relationship with her brother-in-law, and also in trying not to make the lead character of Olivia hateable because of it. Amazingly, Douglas has succeeded in making the story believable and yet allowing you to still like Olivia, and understand why she is continuing in her actions. Olivia is a very likeable character, and because of the way the story is written, you do feel very sorry for her, and almost develop feelings of hatred towards the Felicone family for their treatment of Olivia.

Book Review: Crazy In Love by Chris Manby

Birdie Sederburg lives in LA, and is certainly enjoying her lifestyle. She's the heiress to a global franchise of golf resorts owned by her grandfather Julian, and loves nothing more than spending her vast inheritance on hideous clothes and jewellery.

When soap actor Dean Stevenson catches her eye, Birdie decides she has to have him. Dean, on the other hand, couldn't be less interested. So Birdie decides she must do something drastic to get Dean's attention. She decides to get herself kidnapped.

Is Dean going to realise Birdie really was the woman of his dreams, or has it been a big waste of time for Birdie?

Having not read a Chris Manby novel before (and not really knowing why I haven't), I was looking forward to enjoying a new author's style and story. After reading the blurb, the story seemed a tad daft but I do occasionally like the odd easy read, and this book definitely seemed to fall into that category. The cover screamed out chick lit, with a model-looking woman clutching a cocktail, a dog, and glittery silver letters with the title, which I think sadly might put off some potential readers, as this book is better than its cover leads you to believe.

Firstly, I couldn't believe that the author had named her lead character Birdie when she is a golf resort heiress. It wasn't just a clever play on words but as you get reading, you can see that the name suits the character and the over-the-top style of the book perfectly. Birdie seems to be a parody of those young American girls who have lots of money, not much fashion sense and want a famous hunk to get pictured with. I could imagine several 'celebrities' in my head as I was reading this, and I think this is clever of Chris Manby, because I was wondering who she had modelled Birdie on throughout the book, especially her disastrous and out-there outfits!

The book follows Birdie's life, her infatuation with the soap star Dean, who I grew to sympathise with and actually like by the end of the book because of his unfortunate situation, her nice but dim best friend Chipper (her parents made their fortune in wood) and mid sex-change assistant Clemency. The whole story is totally outrageous and seems like something a kooky 'celeb' would do for attention, but that is what made it so readable and funny! Birdie was just a disaster from start to finish, but you just had to keep reading to see where she was going to go wrong next. Despite her selfishness and self-obsession, I actually really liked Birdie, and it was mainly her character that kept me reading.

Chris Manby's writing style is very easy to read, and I found this book was great to pick up and put down for whenever I had five minutes. I didn't have to concentrate too hard on the story which is good if you want something light-hearted and quite fun. She wrote this story in the third person, which allows for easy switching between the characters during the novel. For example, during Birdie's 'kidnap', we see the story from several perspectives and this works well to create more of the story and keep the reader wanting to read more. Manby has written a lot of books and she's definitely doing something right for the market she's aimed at, and with fun and enjoyable books like this, I can see why she's popular.

This book is most definitely an easy and fun read, and that's why I liked it. It didn't try to be a serious novel, or anything too hard-going, and its ridiculous story was so laughable it was brilliant. The thought in the back of my mind that Manby is definitely modelling Birdie on someone real made it all the more funnier for me, and I have my own ideas on who Birdie is like! If you love light-hearted and funny chick-lit, then I'd definitely recommend this book to you. There's a moral in there too, but somehow it works and doesn't seem out of place. A fun read and recommended.

Rating: 4/5

This review has also appeared on www.thebookbag.co.uk

Book Review: How to Survive Your Sisters by Ellie Campbell

** Read our exclusive interview with Ellie Campbell here **

The MacLeod sisters are all incredibly different, and boy don't they know it. Eldest sister Avril is a successful Hollywood agent, choosing to live life mainly away from her family with the high-flying lead actors and actresses of the film industry. Milly, a mum of 3 is constantly putting on a happy front to her sisters but is desperate to lose weight and get rid of her maternity jogging bottoms for good.

Bride-to-be Natalie is determined to be welcomed into the Potterton-Smythe's family and that her wedding is going to be absolutely perfect, and baby sister Hazel can't seem to settle anywhere, instead choosing to backpack around the world although she feels at 30 she should be starting to put down roots.

But the MacLeod's are about to get a big wake up call, throwing all the sisters closer together than they've been in years. But are family squabbles and hidden secrets just going to break the bonds of sisterhood even further?

Book Review: Crossed Wires by Rosy Thornton

Mina and Peter don't know each other, but they're about to strike up an unusual friendship. Mina works in a call centre for a car insurance company and happens to take Peter's call when he calls to report an accident.

Mina is struck by Peter, and he by her, so when he has to call the centre again and asks for Mina, she starts to think more about Cambridge Don Peter. The pair strike up a telephone friendship, finding out they have more in common than they originally thought and getting closer with each conversation.

But their distance, lives and other things get in the way of something more... can Mina and Peter put themselves first for once or will they forever be just Crossed Wires?

Rating: 5/5

I made sure not to seek out any reviews on this book or the author so that I wouldn't have any preconceptions about whether it'd be any good. I wanted to go into it with an open mind and I'm glad I did because I absolutely adored this book. I started it one evening and within around 10 minutes, I was completely hooked. My other half kept talking to me but I kept shushing him as I was desperate to read on and find out how things were going to unfold! I must say Thornton has a real talent for throwing her readers right into the crux of the story and absorbing them immediately rather than a long winded introduction. This definitely worked for me, because I just couldn't put it down, although I obviously had to because I needed sleep!

I don't know exactly what it is that had me so absorbed into it, perhaps it was a mix of factors that just made the book irresistible reading for me. The idea of the story sounds a bit like a fairytale to be honest, with single mum Mina in a call centre meeting, by chance (albeit on the phone!) a Cambridge Don who happens to be a single dad. However, that is what I felt really added to its charm, it was a real escapist book and you can really sit back, relax and just let the charming narrative, lovely and likeable characters wash over you with a strong and interesting plot unfolding as well. The ways things happened didn't seem unrealistic, and Thornton really delves in the lives of single parents and their struggles in this book, featuring any parents worst nightmares as well as the magical moments too. Emotion is present throughout and is a big part of the story

In order for me to really get into a book, I have to genuinely like the characters and want to find out whats going to happen with them. This was never a worry with this book for me because I instantly liked both Peter and Mina, and my like for them just grew as the pages were turning! The book is written in the third person which allows the reader to see plenty of both Peter and Mina, indeed more than they get to see of each other which I think makes for much more interesting reading. For example, Peter makes an assumption about Mina which he is surprised to see he has gotten wrong, and despite the fact we knew he had it wrong from the beginning, it was great reading and I loved how these things were subtly done throughout the book, a great addition to the story and kept my attention.

I hope you can tell from my review that I really loved this book and that I would thoroughly recommend it to everyone who loves either the chick lit genre or indeed just a really good story! The way Thorton writes draws you straight into the characters, their lives and the unfolding story and you can't help but be fully absorbed by it. The writing style is very easy to read, and the third person narrative makes following the two main characters lives easy to follow and enjoy. I am really eager to look out for Thornton's previous 2 books now as I hope they are as good as this which is her latest release but if you haven't read her before like me, I'd really recommend you start with this fantasic book. A wonderful fairytale of a story, and a joy to read.

Book Review: Got You Back by Jane Fallon

Stephanie and James are happily married and living with their son in London.

Or at least that's what Stephanie was led to believe until she saw a text message on James' phone which leads her to believe he's having an affair. Stephanie decides to confront his mistress Katie, and they are both shocked at the lies and deceit of their lover, and decide to get revenge.

But one of the women doesn't know when to stop... how far will she go to bring down the man who betrayed her? And will the other woman be able to stop her before it goes too far?

Rating: 5/5

Once again, Fallon has tackled the issue of extra-marital affairs as she did in her debut, but this time with a very different line of attack which I found most enjoyable. Rather than the affair being a secret through the whole book as is usually the case in books, this affair is exposed right at the beginning of the book, and the book is really about revenge of the wives/mistresses. This take on affairs was really interesting and I wondered how well Fallon would tackle the issue from this standpoint.

The main characters are of course the cheated women Stephanie and Katie. Both are as different as night and day, which is a little bit of a cliche, but for this book it works. Although it is written in the third person, the book mainly focusses on Stephanie and her emotions about finding out about her husbands lies. She was an instantly likeable woman and I liked her approach towards Katie, and the odd bits about her job as a celebrity stylist just made her a bit more interesting. On the other hand I found Katie a bit dull at first, but it didn't take Fallon long to warm her up as well and together the two women made excellent lead characters and were wonderfully unpredicatable throughout.

It was interesting to see how Fallon had written the women and the start and how they turned out at the end of the story. Although I had sort of predicted how things would turn out at the end, and which way it'd go for which character, I still found the book to be highly enjoyable. There were several areas of the book that totally surprised me, and left me thinking "surely she didn't" but of course she did! The theme of revenge was well tackled, starting off as something small and inconsequential, but quickly spiralling into something bigger. Fallon really thought out the revenge scenarios well, and I do wonder if she's been hurt in her life to think up such plotlines!

To be honest, the weakest link in the whole book has to be the character of James. What a sap. Honestly, it beggars belief how 1 woman, let alone 2 could have found such a plonker attractive, and this is a bit of a shame. There was nothing nice at all about him, which was a huge contrast to Katie and Stephanie who were both nice people. So at no point did I feel sorry for him but as the story is mainly abot revenge against him, my dislike for him wasn't too terrible. I did enjoy some of the minor characters though who I really hoped would give James his comeuppance such as Sally the receptionist and several of his friends, and they added a good extra element to a great story.

As was in her debut, the writing throughout the book is sharp and witty, which kept me really interested and enjoying the book all the way through. I thought I would be able to guess how the things were going to go, but Fallon kept giving the reader great twists and turns, and I just couldn't put the bloomin' thing down! I had to keep reading to see the next twist even if it meant staying up way too late! I'd thoroughly recommend this to people who loved her debut novel, but also to those who haven't read Fallon's work before, it is great chick-lit, and one of my reads of the year so far! Most definitely recommended, and certainly deserving of the 5 stars I have given it!