Book Review: To Marry A Prince by Sophie Page

Bella Greenwood is just a normal girl returning from her travels when she is hauled along with her best friend Charlotte to a rather well-to-do party. She manages to get herself into a somewhat embarrassing situation, but is rescued by a tall, dark and handsome stranger. All is fine, until Bella realises that her knight in shining armour is none other than Prince Richard, son of the King and Queen and heir to the throne of Britain. Bella is mortified but can't stop her feelings towards him. Soon the pair are madly in love, and Bella begins to think a Royal Wedding might be on the cards. But is she right in thinking that a Prince can fall in love with her, and do fairytales romances ever have a happy ending?

Sophie Page is the pen-name of RNA author Jenny Haddon, and it is the first book she has published under this name. To be honest, when I first saw the cover of this book, I wasn't instantly enamoured with it,  I thought it looked a bit old-fashioned and not something that would interest me, but luckily the plot totally sold it to me more than anything else. It is obviously based on the upcoming Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, and is the second such book based on it to be released recently! I was really excited to give it a go, and so eagerly began to read.

Book Review: A Surprise Party by Sue Welfare

Liz and Suzie really wanted their parents 40th Wedding Anniversary Party to be something that Rose and Jack would never forget, and boy did it turn out to be that. Liz, TV Golden's Girl after hosting hit show "Starmaker" has left all the hard graft to her sister, much to Suzie's resentment. She's fine with the fact she's stumped up the money and has therefore done her bit but Suzie is fed up of doing everything herself, with the help of husband Sam. Their daughters Megan and Hannah seem to be going a bit awry as well, so that just adds to Suzie's worry. As the party kicks off, huge secrets are suddenly revealed which threaten to thrown Liz and Suzie's very existence into question, and makes them worry about the foundation of everything they have ever known. Will the family ever be able to get past this, and was the surprise party the worst idea ever... will there be a family left to speak of as the champagne stops flowing?

I have to be honest and say that initially I was not attracted to picking up this book at all, and it would happily have sat on my shelf had I not picked it up and flicked through the first few pages and really enjoyed them. The cover is a tad bland for my liking and I think it certainly makes the book like it is aimed at an older audience than me (early 20's) which is a shame because the story within can appeal across the generations but perhaps might be held up by its cover. I have never read anything by Sue Welfare, who also writes under the names Kate Lawson and Gemma Fox, so I was curious to see what her book would be like and hoped for the best!

Book Review: An Ideal Wife by Gemma Townley

Jessica Wild-Wainwright is happy at last. She seems settled, married to her gorgeous husband Max who seems to love her more than ever and has a great job in Advertising that she actually enjoys and is good at. However, Jessica is still hiding a secret from Max about her money and her ex-friend Hugh, and she's determined to make sure Max never finds out about it, so sets about becoming the Ideal Wife. She sets herself targets to complete from learning to cook to volunteering at the homeless shelter once a week, but as with Jess, nothing is ever easy. Not to mention the odd trunk that Ivanka is wanting her to urgently hide, and the annoying audit at work which seems to come at the worst time for Jessica and Max. Will she be able to become the Ideal Wife or are her secrets going to get in the way of her secret mission?!

This is Gemma Townley's third novel in her Jessica Wild series, and having loved the first two novels, I was really excited to read this one. I love that the covers all match, all follow suit with their blank faced characters and bold use of colour, and certainly look good together on a shelf. This one is styled in blue, and at just over 250 pages, isn't a long book at all, but that didn't bother me too much as I find long books can drag on and bore me a bit.  It has been a while since the release of the last book, but I was sure it wouldn't matter too much and that I would be able to slip back in with these characters fairly easily as I seem to with other series' that I read in the genre.

Author Interview: Claire Irvin

Debut author Claire Irvin, author of the brilliant new novel Cougars, has kindly agreed to an author interview with us, and we were really excited to ask Claire lots of our burning questions about her and her new book, so with thanks to Claire and Hannah at Little, Brown, enjoy the interview with the lovely Claire Irvin!

Q1. Tell us about your book "Cougars" in one sentence!

Cougars is the sexy, sassy and sophisticated story of one woman’s journey of self-discovery – a glamorous, zeitgeisty tale that will resonate with every reader’s life, whoever she is and whatever she does…

Q2. The subject of cougars seems to be quite popular these days, even creating aTV show starring Courtney Cox. How much notice did you take of shows such as this, and other celebrity news about cougars when writing the book?

As Editor of SHE it’s my job to channel the zeitgeist and pick up on social trends, and celebrities’ lives – even though they are so much more extreme than my life or the lives of my friends – are often a good way to spot them. With cougars, it wasn’t so much that women weren’t already dating younger men, but that society was about to accept it as normal rather than something a little out of the ordinary. So when Demi, Madonna and Sam started proudly showing off their younger beaus it was a sure sign that the women I know were about to start doing the same. And yes, I do watch Cougar Town – I love the self-deprecating humour and the way Courtney Cox’s character, like so many women, is at the hub of her own busy, crazy, kooky world – but I watch it for enjoyment only!

Book Review: That Gallagher Girl by Kate Thompson

Cat Gallagher is about to liven up the town of Lissamore. She's a bit of a free spirit - she doesn't get along with her famous artist father who is rather partial to a lot of drink, and hates her wicked stepmother with a passion. She finds herself homeless and starts squatting in various empty homes. One of those empty homes happens to belong to some dear to Lissamore resident Rio Kinsella's heart - her son Finn's Hollywood heart-throb father Shane. Rio finds herself in a shocking personal situation when a dear friend  becomes ill, and does something born out of a desperation to keep them happy, despite the knock on effect it has on everyone around her, including her son Finn and his new friend Cat Gallagher. Will Rio and Cat be able to sort out of the messes that are their lives, and finally settle down to be happy once and for all?

This book is the third book in Kate Thompson's Lissamore series, following The Kinsella Sisters and The O'Hara Affair and I have read the whole series so far, so I was very much looking forward to reading this. I loved the cover the moment I saw it, it looks very fresh and summery, and certainly suits the book quite well. It is a large paperback style, which isn't my preferred type of book as I find them a bit big for my little hands, but either way I sat down one evening and got ready to give it a read.

Book Review: New Beginnings by Fern Britton

Christie Lynch hasn't had it easy. Her husband Nick suddenly died, and Christie has been left bringing up their two children on her own, as well as the debts her husband left her with and the big house that needs a lot of work doing to it. So when Christie is offered the chance to appear on hit TV show "Tart Talk", she takes it and quickly becomes a huge success. She then finds herself given the job of replacing the queen of Daytime TV Gilly when she goes on maternity leave, although not without a fight. Christie soon finds herself struggling with the confines of fame, especially with her children Libby and Fred finding it hard too, never mind the fact Christie is finding herself becoming attracted to single neighbour Richard. Will Christie be able to juggle her responsibilities at work and at home, as well as find out what her agent Julia Keen is up to AND make everyone happy all at the same time? Will it a new beginning or a bad ending for Christie?

Fern Britton is of course best known as a TV presenter on shows such as This Morning, but now she has turned her hand to writing books as well as her TV career. Reception to celebrity written books has been quite mixed from the awful (Penny Smith) to the pretty good (Coleen Nolan, Sharon Osbourne) so I wasn't sure exactly which camp Fern's book was going to slot into. I do like Fern on telly, she is quite easy to relate to so I hoped that would come across in her book, and be an easy read for anyone who picks it up. I wasn't overly inspired by the cover, it looks quite generic and doesn't stand out as anything new at all which was a shame, as I felt they could have done something quite different with this.

Book Review: Getting Away With It by Julie Cohen

"Liza Haven couldn't wait to escape the small village where she grew up with her perfect identical twin sister, Lee. Her life in LA as a stunt woman is reckless, fast and free - and that's just the way she likes it. But when a near-fatal mistake drives her home, she finds Lee gone and everyone in the village mistaking her for her twin sister. Liza has to deal with her ailing mother, the family ice cream business, and Lee's dangerously attractive boyfriend. Liza's always been the bad twin, but as she struggles to keep up the masquerade and puzzle out where her sister has gone, she realises it's not so simple. She's spent her whole life getting away with it - is it finally time to face up to who she really is and where she really belongs?"

Rating: 5/5


The book focuses of Liza Haven as our main character, and her twin sister Lee as the more minor character, but none the less she is still very much involved in the book. Liza has a pretty free life, doing daredevil stunts for money in the Hollywood film industry, whilst phoning her sister for updates once a month if she remembers. Liza isn't close to her family, and feels better off miles away where they can't bother her. However, when she has a shocking acciddent, Liza wants to be closer with her sister and so returns home to Stoneguard much to Lee's delight. She doesn't expect though for her sister to abandon her without a word on the eve of a special party leaving Liza to pick up the pieces and this is where the fun begins.

Liza becomes Lee... she answers to her name, takes on her lifestyle, even the care of the mother she hasn't spoken to for 10 years. I really thought Liza would be caught out early on, I have friends who are identical twins and can tell them apart in an instant yet the town of Stoneguard was fooled by Liza's deception, and I was constantly on edge wondering when someone would twig. Liza's main problem comes in the way of Lee's on/off boyfriend Will Naughton, a rather posh "Lord of the Manor" type who Liza can't stand... it causes a few funny moments when she reacts as Liza when she should be Lee! The other characters in the town, from Doris at the Haven's ice-cream shop to Ma Gamble, the town busybody were all perfectly written, and I'm sure we all know a "Ma Gamble" in our own town!

Perhaps the most touching thing about this book is the storyline between Liza and her mother. She has terminal Alzheimer's disease and refuses to take treatment for it, preferring to stay at home alone with just a carer for company until "Lee" can come and see her. Cohen has tackled this issue of this awful and destroying disease very well, showing it not just affects the sufferer but those around them too, and how important it is to have your friends and family around you. Liza's character struggled with it at first, and it was very moving to read how she came to create a relationship with her mother despite the fact she didn't always know who she was, and by the end it was very emotional and touching to read. I like how this more serious plot was easily mixed in with the twin-switch storyline, and it was very well done indeed.

Overall, I thought this was a superb book and I am so glad that I picked it up to read it. From the gorgeous cover to the excellent story within, there isn't anything to dislike about this book and I felt quite sad when it was over. However, I fully expect that Cohen will continue to write stand alone novels, because there is certainly room in the market for fabulous chick lit like this. I loved every page, every character, and Liza was the perfect lead character - she was funny, kind and natural all the way through, there was nothing to hate about her, even though she was deceiving everyone. I can't recommend this book highly enough, it's just brilliant!