Changes

[[Category:New Reviews|Women's Fiction]]==Women's Fiction==__NOTOC__{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Nia Pritchard1471180158|title=More Than Just A Hairdresser|rating=2.5|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=It's a brand new year, and Liverpudlian hairdresser Shirley is looking forward to the months ahead following one hell of a new year's eve party. What's more, she's going to chronicle her adventures in her brand spanking new diary which she will write in diligently, even when she's feeling a bit 'morning after the night before'.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1870206851</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewMaybe Tomorrow|author=Anthony Quinn|title=The Rescue ManPenny Parkes

|summary=This love affair tale Jamie Matson works in an upper-class grocery store, for a man who's a control freak with all the city subtlety of Liverpool is mostly told through the eyes of architect Tom Bainesa half brick. Jamie's son, Bo, 'has his problems'. With He's asthmatic and the Second World War loomingmore you read, Baines is desperately working the more you'll suspect that he's on the autistic spectrum. Sometimes Jamie needs to take time off at short notice - she's a book frequent flier in the local A&E and sometimes Bo's not fit enough to go to capture school. Missed shifts or the memory of buildings that need to be away on time to pick Bo up from school are at risk, occasions when Jamie can be controlled and appears a man more put in love with the past and solid, cold structures than mankindwrong. It was going to come to a head.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099531933</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Lorraine JenkinLauren Bravo|title=Chocolate Mousse and Two SpoonsPreloved|rating=4.5

|summary=From the first sentence: 'With one hell of Gwen is pressing her middle-aged bosom on a crash, Lettie Howell’s dinner service hit the wall…', I knew big number that starts with a four and ends with an oh-my-God-I was going to enjoy this tale'm-nearly-forty. An opening thus full Having been made unexpectedly redundant - any HR officer worth their salt would argue the toss - Gwen finds herself having a bit of expletive a mid-life crisis. Catharsis is key and resounding Welsh Voice immediately makes it clear who’s Gwen has decided now is the boss and I can relax, knowing I’m in competent hands. Welcome, Lorraine Jenkin, time to my handful of favourite chick-lit authors.take back her life'|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1870206959</amazonuk>1398510629

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Ru Freeman0008506337|title=A Disobedient GirlThe Garnett Girls|author=Georgina Moore

|summary=The love affair between Margo Garnett and poet Richard O'Leary was all-consuming, apparently on both sides. Margo was just sixteen when they fell in love. Richard was twenty-one and described by Margo'A Disobedient Girls mother as 'an older man' follows two women struggling to retain control of their lives in the face of servitude. Latha is a servant girl to the affluent Vithanage family, whose daughter, Thara, is Latha Her parents worried that Richard's ageinfluence would take her away from what they felt she could achieve - going to Oxford and having a glittering career. As children In the event, they eloped and Richard took her away from the girls are the best Isle of friends, but they are destined Wight. Margo did go to Oxford and went on to be separated by class, which is made painfully obvious when boys come into the picturebecome a well-respected journalist. Meanwhile The couple had three children: Rachel, Biso serves a cruel Imogen and drunken husband who beats her Sasha. Life was lived in London and terrorises her childrenholidays were spent at Sandcove, one the family home on the Isle of whom is another manWight. Even then the doubts about Richard's love child. Bisodrinking were never far from Margo's husband murdered her lover in a hateful rage when he uncovered her affair and mind: ''she realises that she must escape his house if she and her children are would never be able to live. Latha too seeks escape, but she finds it leave him in the arms of Tharacharge''s boyfriend and this sets off a chain of events that will echo far into her future.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0670917958</amazonuk>Then Richard left them.

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Debby HoltHadeer Elsbai|title=Recipe For ScandalThe Daughters of Izdihar

|genre=Women's FictionFantasy|summary=ThereDrawing inspiration from Egypt, ''The Daughters of Izdihar''s evidently a market explores the lives of two women who could not be more different, yet find themselves fighting for scandalous tales, or else many the rights of women and weavers – those with magical abilities - in a women's weekly would have gone out of business by nowsociety pitted against them. Nehal, but this bookborn into the upper class, though full of scandalwishes to attend the Weaving Academy to learn to control her abilities and then join the military, but instead she is slightly differentforced into an arranged marriage with Nico. This isn't council estate scandal or even trashy celebrity scandalGiorgina on the other hand did not have a privileged upbringing like Nehal and feels great pressure to provide for her family and maintain their reputation, itwhilst secretly attending meetings of the Daughters of Izdihar – a group campaigning for women's juicyrights. Giorgina also happens to be in love with Nico. What follows is a story of an unjust society, filled with hypocrisy and cruelty, firmly middle class scandal from which blossoms a group of the type [[:Category:Zoe Heller|Zoë Heller]] might write about, admirable women fighting for their rights and it's wickedly captivatingovercoming their personal obstacles.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847396542</amazonuk>0356520471

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jules StanbridgeB0B575J99N|title=A Date in Your Diary|rating=4.5|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=Harry knows that a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle, but she also knows there's a difference between what we need and what we want – and she wants a bloke. More specifically, she wants a date for Beneath the latest in a string of friend-and-family weddings, a wedding where, thanks to a 'tricky' seating plan, she will be sitting on the same table as her most recent ex...and his new girlfriend. With no prospects in sight, Harry comes to the conclusion that internet dating might be the way to go. At best, she'll find a guy who ticks all her boxes and will joyfully accompany her to the wedding before they live happily ever after, and at worst, well, she might get a story out of it, never a bad thing for a magazine journo.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755347137</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewPorticoes|author=Sharon Owens|title=The Seven Secrets of HappinessBrooke Adams

|summary=It Elizabeth Miller was hard to think that life wasn't perfect for Ruby O'Neill. She and Jonathan had an idyllic marriage thirty-four and a beautiful home. There was teacher at a job prestigious girl's school in a dress shop which she enjoyed and although she might not be close to her parents she had good friendsYork. It was Christmas Eve and the tree had just been delivered by a lovely man on behalf of the garden centre when her world fell apart. Jonathan had been killed ''comfortable'' but she longed for something more in a car crashlife.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141028564</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Sarah Duncan|title=A Single to Rome|rating=3|genre=Women She'd 's Fiction|summary=Natalie is in love with Michael. They've been together for three years, but Michael wants some space. He hasn’t said he doesn’t love her, so there is still a chance he could come back… Then he goes not found the right vocation nor met the right man'' and finds himself now was the time to make a new girlfriendchange. Devastated, Natalie consoles herself with the help of her friends, who persuade her to go speed dating She needed challenges. There was a little trepidation when she meets Guy, applied for the professoressa job in Bologna. After a friendly mantelephone interview, who like her is trying to get over someone – his new ex-wife Vanessa. But Guy is one of she was offered the nice ones, position and it wasn't long before she knows it, he has been invited to her friend’s wedding as Natalie’s datewas exploring the beautiful city. At least she won’t be going alone and Michael will be there. But There were some natural doubts before her love life isn’t her only worryfirst class but it went surprisingly well. Past actions have come to light that have put her career in danger. At a loss, Natalie turns to Guy for help, who offers her the use of his flat in Rome. A place to escape? Or a place to dwell? |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755345932</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Lesley Pearse0241542405|title=Stolen|rating=3.5|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=The story of ''Stolen'' is an interesting one. David Mitchell is walking along a beach in Selsey, Sussex in May 2003, when he comes across a young woman – beautiful, half-drowned and barely alive. She is taken to hospital and her photo is featured in the newspapers, as the police hope to discover who she is. Meanwhile, Dale, a female hairdresser, sees the photo and believes the girl to be Lotte, who she befriended on a cruise they were working on. Along with Dale's colleague Scott – who also knew Lotte – they visit the girl, but she has amnesia and seems to have forgotten almost everything.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718152859</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewMeredith Alone|author=Julie Highmore|title=The MessageClaire Alexander

|genre=Women's General Fiction|summary=When we first meet Meredith Maggs it's Wednesday 14 November 2018 and she's not left her home for 1,214 days. She'd ''The Messagelike'' is very much a twenty first century tale as it all hinges on a voicemail message made from a mobile phoneto: in fact, she so nearly does. It is also based Her outdoor clothes are on the fact that it is very easy and she's even considered which shoes to send a message wear if she's going to one person when it is actually meant for someone elsecatch her train. Then, she can't. This is what happens She simply can't force herself to Jen when leave the safety of her home. She's fortunate that she receives has a message from good friend, Sadie, who visits regularly with her husband Roberttwo children, James and Matilda. There is nothing particularly special about this message; that is until Jen realises that she is not the intended recipient Sadie's a cardiac nurse and then full of sound common sense. In fact it has was Sadie who gave Meredith her cat, Fred. Groceries are online deliveries and there's also an internet-based support group where you'll find Meredith as JIGSAWGIRL, so you can guess what she does in her spare time. Then Tom McDermott arrives. He's from Holding Hands, a shattering effect on her marriagecharity which supports people with problems such as Meredith's.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755343018</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Ann Pearlman0008441618|title=The Cookie ClubOther Parents|author=Sarah Stovell

|summary=Chocolate bonbons with an almond glaze. Peanut butter cookies double dipped Jo Fairburn knew that she was under intense pressure as the new head of West Burntridge First School: if she didn't live up to her retired predecessor there could well be a house price slump in chocolatethat part of the town. Coffee The school had an active Parent Teacher Association and raisin hermit biscuitsthe funds which they raised were a considerable benefit to the school. Crisp vanilla fingers There was one difficulty, though - they were ''devastatingly shockable'', with toasted almondstwo members, in particular, causing problems for the head. Thin crunchy crisps flavoured with molasses Laura Spence and ginger.  If youKate Monroe objected to Jo're even s restrictions on the slightest bit peckish after toys children could bring in on Toy Day but that, I guarantee you'll be starving by the time you finish this wonderful book full of festive flavourwas just a warm-up act for their real gripe: LGBTQ education.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847376843</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Eloisa JamesGiovanna Fletcher|title=When the Duke ReturnsWalking on Sunshine

|summary=If you like novels in which little happens as the story strolls towards its happy ending, then Nia PritchardMike's sequel to wife, Pia, who he was with for seventeen years, has died. And whilst he is dealing with his grief, so are their best friends, Vicky and Zaza. But Pia left them all some 'More Than Just a Hairdresserrules' may suit youto follow, knowing that she was dying and that they would need help to carry on living. If Whilst some of the Liverpudlian vernacular rules are around practicalities such as clearing out her wardrobe, another one that Mike discovers one day encourages him to take one of their trips away, and setting pushes your buttonsVicky and Zaza, then maybe you'll enjoy its light-hearted picture of Scouse struggling with their grief and their own life. My mother-troubles, decide to drop everything in-law will probably love it. I'm sorry to say that it wasn't my cup of tea at alltheir own lives, and go along with him.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1906784124</amazonuk>140593560X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jessica Porter B09FS89KX9|title=Sicilian SunsetFall On Me|author=Penelope Potts|rating=3.5

|summary=Sarah Livingstone's jewellery business Life should have been good for Hollie: She was struggling but she just going into the final year of her veterinary degree and - three years later - was still annoyed when working at BB's diner. Bob - the owner - regarded her father called James Ross for helpfondly: he was a good boss. Sarah and James Hollie had had a relationship some ten years earlier and Sarah really didn't want to work moved in with himher boyfriend, particularly after Marcus: her marriagemother thought he was great and he was doing well in his career. Most people thought that her husbandHollie wasn's death in a plane crash had been the cruel end t quite so certain though: Marcus wanted to a good marriage. Only a few knew that control her and most of all he had been about wanted her to leave her to live with another womanjob at the diner. It's left Sarah very reluctant Then there was the fact that he would be violent, both to her and to get involved with any manother people.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709089430</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Margaret Thornton0008421714|title=Until We Meet Again|rating=4|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=In the fateful summer of 1914 Tilly Moon is settled in the midst of the Moon family in Scarborough. It's an extensive clan with the usual close relationships, unusual situations and slight distances between people for no apparent reason. Tilly's an accomplished pianist and she longs to take her music studies further, but there's someone who's coming to mean more to her than her music. Her twin's best friend, Dominic Fraser is the apple of her eye and he feels the same way about her. There are war clouds on the horizon though and when Britain declares war on Germany Tommy and Dominic are quick to enlist as were many of the men in and around the Moon family.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749007486</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewMrs March|author=Liza Palmer|title=A Field Guide to Burying Your ParentsVirginia Feito

|genre=Women's Literary Fiction|summary=Grace is reluctantly participating in a 5k race when she receives The problem began just after the news: publication of George March's most successful novel to date. Everyone but Mrs March (we know her estranged sister is calling first name only on the last page) seemed to tell her their estranged father has either be reading it or had a strokealready done so. That's two lots of estrangement in just two generations of family Every day Mrs March went to the local patisserie to buy olive bread but on that particular morning, but a summons is a summonsPatricia asked, and Grace soon finds herself dragged back into the heart of as she was wrapping the family she desertedbread, working with ''but isn't this the others to discover the many hidden secrets of the father who deserted them all. Itfirst time he's based a tough jump from her happy life of a good jobcharacter on you?'' She mentioned that Johanna, a new boyfriend and a home of the principal character had 'her own to return to the family life she left behind a long time agomannerisms''. Perhaps this would not have mattered, and Grace has to decide whether she can ignore except for the pull of her biological siblings once more or whether fact that Johanna is the time has come to let bygones be bygones. After all, while there are lots whore of four letter words she would associate with her family, Nantes - ''lovea weak, plain, detestable, pathetic, unloved, unloveable wretch.'' is not one of them.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340962151</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Julia Williams1473685745|title=Last Christmas|rating=4.5|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=With Christmas fast approaching, what better way of getting in the spirit of things than by reading this excellent book that captures the joys and stresses of the festive season so well? The reader follows four different people – Catherine Tinsall and her husband Noel, Marianne Moore and Gabriel North. Each of these characters have their own reasons for not really looking forward to Christmas (mainly because of the experience of last Christmas) and these reasons slowly become apparent to the reader as the story progresses.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847560865</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewUnbreak Your Heart|author=Camilla Noli|title=The Mother's TaleKatie Marsh

|summary=''It is early evening. I am suckling my infant son… We are picture perfect. Madonna When Beth Carlyle and Simon Withers first met they were on opposite ends of an angry exchange - well, Simon was angry and childBeth was doing her best to apologise for having knocked Simon''.  No doubt about it: a new mother totally smitten with her s son. Zach is adorable. Quiet. Undemanding. A happy, generally relaxedJake, childoff his bike. Gorgeous.  But Zach isnHe wasn't her firsthurt but Jake has history. He has HLHS -bornthat's Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome for those of you who are not ''au fait'' with your medical acronyms. First there When he was Cassie. A child who entered born, the world screaming left side of his heart hadn't developed properly and has since learned exactly what power she can wring with such lungshe needed open-heart surgery when he was a few days old. Not yet two years oldSo, Cassie adores her father, but even him she manipulates. Her mother she terrorisesSimon has every right to be over-protective particularly when someone isn't looking where they're driving.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409101584</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sue MoorcroftC J Carey|title=Starting OverWidowland

|genre=Women's General Fiction|summary=The story opens when Tess bumps her old reliable car into a breakdown truck. ThatIt's rather convenientApril 1953, since she isnand Adolf Hitler't hurts schedule includes going to Moscow to attend the state funeral of Joseph Stalin then within weeks coming to London, parading around a bit, and watching over the guy driving it is able sanctioned return to tow her the throne of Edward VIII with his wife, Queen Wallis. For yes, Britain caved in the lead-up to his garagethe World War Two that certainly didn't happen as we know it, and then give her we are now a lift to her new homeprotectorate – well, we share enough of the same blood as the Germanic peoples on ''the mainland''. Naturally, since But this is most certainly a different Britain, for Nazi-styled phrenology, and ideas of female purpose, has put all of that gender into a caste system, ranging from high-brow office bigwigs to the 'chick-lit' genredrudges, and beyond those, right on down to the childless, Tess the husbandless and the truck-driverwidows. Female literacy is actively discouraged. And in this puritanical existence, our heroine, Rose Ransom, who goes by is employed with the unlikely name task of Ratty (an abbreviation of his surname) feel mutual antipathy bowdlerising classical literature to take all encouragement for female emancipation out of it – after all, not every book can be banned, and not every story excised immediately from British civilisation, and so they just get a hefty tweak towards the sort thatparty line before they's clearly going re stamped ready for reprint. That is her job, at least, until the first emerging signs of female protest come to lead, sooner or laterlight, with their potential to strong attractionspoil Hitler's visit.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1906931224</amazonuk>152941198X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Stella WhitelawRuth Hogan|title=Midsummer MadnessMadame Burova|rating=4.5|genre=Women's General Fiction|summary=You'll like Sophie GreshamThis book lets us discover several people in different stages of life in the early 1970s, all vaguely connected. She wanted So we have a bullied half-cast boy (as he would have been called then), a girl in a humdrum job wanting to be an actress but suffers from paralysing stage fright become a singer, and when chiefly, Imelda, the side effects became too much for third generation of Madame Burova, ''Tarot-Reader, Palmist and Clairvoyant'', to use her she worked behind the scenesfamily's sea-front booth. SheThe singer, the scryer and the sufferer's mother will all become staff at a very good prompt despite revamped holiday camp, but just before then we see Imelda fly solo for the fact that you need to wrap up very warmly to survive first time in the prompt corner she loves family stall. We also see her on her job and most last day, fifty years later, in possession of the cast in the theatre company. It's a bit pair of letters that will change everything for a shock though when woman called Billie. Just who is she realises that the guest producer from New York is Joe Harrison, and who delivered the man she helped out when he had nothing secrets about her to eat Imelda, and nowhere why did it have to sleep. Sophie was remain a little softer in those days – in the meantime she's had to develop a protective shell.secret all this time?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0709089147</amazonuk>152937331X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jennifer BohnetSaint |title=Follow Your StarAriadne |rating=34.5|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=It's three years since Nanette Weston left Monaco. She'd been engaged to a Formula 1 racing driver This re-telling of the myth of Ariadne and had lived the life of Minotaur is interesting and unusual. Jennifer Saint presents the wealthy story in a way that is sympathetic to its origins but also appealing to a serious car accident had ended all thatmodern audience. The accident could have killed her fiancé and she lost her driving licence because of the alcohol sheSaint'd consumed. Her slow recovery was hindered by s narrative is told predominantly through the end viewpoint of Ariadne, spanning from her engagement but she's found some contentment in being a nanny childhood to two young children. When her friend and employerdeath, Vanessa, remarries and takes an extended honeymoon in allowing the Amazon Nanette is asked reader to take really connect with Ariadne as a character in her own right rather than just a prop in the children back to Monaco where their father livesheroics of Theseus.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0709089090</amazonuk>1472273869

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Miss ReadLucy Holland|title=Christmas at Thrush GreenSistersong|rating=45|genre=Women's Literary Fiction|summary=Set in Sistersong is part of a genre I particularly enjoy, the rural village modern retelling of folk and fairy tales. These stories, for most of Thrush Greenus, this book is the latest in are a cornerstone of childhood and I relish seeing them retold with fresh eyes and a series surrounding familiar fresh perspective. If handled well these retellings give new life and new meaning to stories that are now becoming increasingly narrow and outdated, fleshing out characters, examining relationships and re-evaluating the role of women. There Sistersong is a perfect example of a modern retelling done well, the feisty Ella Bembridge, who plot is finally having to admit that old age is creeping up as her eyesight fails. Friends such as Dimity and Charles Henstock are concerned about herhandled with care, keeping its archaic historical feel but she refuses allowing the characters to accept any help. Albert Piggott has decided it's time come to retire now that his wife, Nellylife, is a successful cafe owner and can afford to take care of him! And relative newcomer Phil Hurst feel real and her husband are arranging the local nativity playhuman, despite most importantly they feel relatable in a number of setmodern world whilst still feeling appropriate for the pre-backsSaxon age they live in. Will everything be in place for Christmas? And will independent Ella make This is a decision about her future?masterpiece of storytelling and I was captivated from beginning to end.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1409101592</amazonuk>1529039037

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Maxine BarryB08NF79QXT|title=River DeepCherry Blossom Boutique|author=Brooke Adams|rating=3.5

|summary=Two young women both have a love of Thirty-one-year old Liberty Rossini has had her shop, the Cherry Blossom Boutique, for just six months when she's nominated for - and wins - the ThamesRetail Best Newcomer Award. Melisande RayShe's beloved hotel, the Ray of Sunshine is on delighted and the river bank. Ittwo people she's here that guests come who want brought with her to the event couldn't be pampered more pleased. Sonja, her mother, is an ex-model and looked after in the way that only the best hotels Brazilian: you can do well, but when Wendell James checks in to the hotel itsee where Liberty got her looks from. Jessica's not pampering hethirty-four and Liberty's looking for. Hebest friend: they's buying a piece of land not far from the Ray of Sunshine ve known each other since university and heLiberty adores Jessica's sussing out the competitionhusband, Charles and their four-year-old daughter, Ava. There's something personal in there too – if his new hotel means that the Ray of Sunshine goes under then that Life would be an added bonus. Thereperfect for Liberty if it wasn's just t for one thing: she misses having a slight doubt man in his mind when a red-haired maid catches his eyeher life.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709088930</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Leah FlemingB08GFSK2WZ|title=Remembrance DayThe Karma Trap|author=Lisette Boyd

|summary=In George Jackson is thirty-three years old, absolutely gorgeous to look at - and single. She's not had sex for eight months and she's stuck in the year 2000 karma trap: an old lady in awful lot of bad luck is being visited on her and she has a wheelchair watches real talent for attracting drama. Her life's chaotic: she dealt with the leak from the unveiling shower by putting something down at the bottom of the new war memorial stairs to absorb the water - then the shower fell through the roof whilst she was in it and left her, stark naked, staring at the village squarepervy postman. ThereShe only has to take her mother's pride in what has been achieved, in the family dog out for a walk for her to end up with dog poo spattered across her face - and a photo being taken by someone who are gathered shares it around her and there are memories too. Some are good but many are notthe office.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847561039</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Abby McDonaldB08CHJLNBS|title=The Popularity Rules|rating=4.5|genre=Teens|summary=This book is labelled as Abby McDonald's first adult novel, but a brief browse at the juvenile title, cover and formatted content bowls it straight down the teen read alley. The Americanised language, music scene setting and media heroine are aspirational stuff when you're stuck in the pre-scene years. So, despite its label, I've given it four and a half stars based on its appeal as a girlie book. That said, I'm well over eighteen, read the story avidly, and enjoyed the irony. So well done, Abby McDonald, for an entertaining story, cleverly told. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099533898</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewCapturing Emilia|author=Anne Baker|title=Through Rose-Coloured Glasses|rating=4|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=Dinah Radcliffe lived in one of the poorer parts of Liverpool and whilst there might not have been a lot of money to spare she was happy in her job as an apprentice milliner and spent her free time nursing her mother, Sarah. Her father had been killed in the Great War, but it was the nineteen thirties and the Radcliffes were making the best of things. The son of their next door neighbour was a jockey and it was his free tickets which took Dinah and her friend to a race meeting at Aintree. It was there that she met Richard Haldane, a widowed businessman who swept Dinah off her feet and introduced her to a life of wealth and privilege beyond her wildest dreams. Within weeks they were married - and within hours Dinah discovered that her husband was not the man she thought he was.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755356640</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Carole Matthews |title=That Loving FeelingBrooke Adams|rating=3.5|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=Have you ever wondered what successful authors write about? Since they no longer partake of the everyday world of work, how do they 'write about what they know' while still sounding fresh and up to the minute? And how do they think up all those unique plots? Well, Carole Matthews has solved the problem in 'That Loving Feeling' by setting the book in a Public Library, cleverly utilising the hours she must have spent promoting her previous romantic comedies at Libraries up and down the country. To be cruising towards twenty published novels suggests plenty of interest from library readers and it's a rather nice touch, isn't it, to set a book amongst your loyal fan base.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755354168</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Sharon Griffiths |title=The Lost Guide to Life and Love|rating=4.5|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=Tilly Flint is a food journalist living in London and hankering for a more glamorous life than the one she has. She has a taste of this when her boyfriend Jake takes her to an upmarket nightclub frequented by top footballers and models. Little does she know at the time but some of the people she only glimpses that night are about to become very important to her. Just after, she agrees to go on a working holiday with Jake and they book an isolated cottage in the Pennines. However, an almighty row leads to Jake storming out and Tilly being left on her own. Surprisingly though, it is relief rather than fear that she experiences, particularly when she realises that where she is staying has very strong links with her family's history and that everyone knows of her Great Granny Allen who's sayings Tilly's mother is so fond of quoting.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847560911</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Freda Lightfoot |title=House of Angels|rating=4.5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=The novel focuses on the Angel family who live in the Lake District in the late 1900s. Josiah Angel is the head of the family and appears to be a respectable business man, bringing up his three daughters after the death of his wife. The family live in a beautiful house and – to outsiders – the daughters seem to have everything – comfort, money, beauty and an easy life, in great contrast to the poverty around them. Not far from Josiah's department store are the workhouse with its brutality and the blocks of slum flats infested with rats.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749007125</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Amy Silver |title=Confessions of a Reluctant Recessionista|rating=4.5

|summary=Cassie may be He'just' a PA and living and working in one of the most expensive cities on the planet, but thanks to a flair for fashions Charles Devereaux, thirty-eight and a generous banker boyfriend you'd never know it from looking partner at her. ButWickham Jones, in the fickle world of fashionMayfair letting agents. She's Emilia, friendships and fattwenty-cat bonusesnine, things can change librarian and archivist in an instantthe heritage library next door. Let go Emilia has read [[The Secret by Rhonda Byrne|The Secret]] but she's moved on from her jobnew age books like that, which leave you dependent on someone else's philosophies, and from her relationship to something a little deeper. Charles is more of a [[Personal by her rhymes-with-banker now exLee Child|Jack Reacher]] man himself, but, above all, he's shocked that Emilia reads ''The Guardian''. They're obviously not at all compatible, she is forced so why can Charles not get this woman out of his mind? She's not his usual type at all: it's obvious to fend for herself and make some cut backs (*shudder*)his friends. Forget the Louboutins and the fancy And given that Emilia regularly feels repulsed by Charles's superficiality, on-fashion belts, the only buckling why does shefeel drawn to him? The relationship'll be doing any time soon is the buckling down to get s obviously a new jobnon-starter, reduce her outgoings, and maintain the smidge of self-respect she has left.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099543559</amazonuk>isn't it?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Emily BarrHelly Acton|title=The Life You WantShelf|rating=4.5|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=Many good writers have a signature style and for meWhen we meet Amy, Emily Barrshe's has always been the utterly authentic travel details all her books have been peppered in a relationship with, whether Jamie. You can't really call it be the lazy life in a lush French farmhousepartnership, or the excitement of backpacking across Asiabecause things tend to get done on his terms, but she's sticking around because she hopes she can change him. Her new title is no exceptionAh, yes. Haven't we all been there? Things are looking up when he tells her to pack for a surprise trip. Could this be it? Is he ''finally'' going to get down on one knee? Was the work (and this time the destination is India.wait) worth it?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0755335600</amazonuk>1838770879

{{newreview|author=Tatiana Boncompagni|title=Hedge Fund Wives|rating=4|genre=WomenWhen Mike Parker's Fiction|summary=Chick lit is about finding girlfriend comes into school with a man in order black eye, claiming he gave it to live happily ever after: not just any manher, of course, but Mr Right himselfher whole world is tipped upside down. Her relationship has just ended and now she''Hedge Fund Wives'' is as pink cotton-wooly as any self-respecting chick lit novel in search s the talk of a hero. But... it also flies in the face of this conventionschool. In Mike was the storymost popular boy in school who was always so in love with her, marrying money does not secure the fairy tale ending. Iteveryone knew that, so why did he do what he did? Some people believe her and some don't, but one thing is for sure, this isn's really amazing that Tatiana Boncompagni has managed t going to deliver a rags-to-riches happy ending for her heroine while roundly denouncing the riches along the wayblow over any time soon.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>184756187X</amazonuk>0349003297

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Janette Jenkins Katie Fforde|title=Angel of BrooklynA Springtime Affair|rating=4|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=On the eve of the Great War, Jonathan Crane arrives home I've wanted to the unyielding grey of his home town of Anglezarkeread author Katie Fforde for ages and this was pretty much exactly what I was expecting - a warm, Lancashire with a beautiful new bride cosy read focused on his armromance, family and friendships. Beatrice is not immediately warmly received into This provided two romances for the embrace price of one, but it was actually the women of this alien place - her beauty is captivating and family element as opposed to the stories about where she grew up, enchanting; Jonathan Crane's new foreign wife is not ordinary among these folk and they are suspicious of her and as sometimes only gritty, British women know how, they are openly and unashamedly hostile toward herromance that I really enjoyed. Who is this stunning creature that is trying to infiltrate their lives?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099516551</amazonuk>1780897561

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Santa MontefioreB07W4MNBSG|title=The Italian MatchmakerBe Careful Who You Marry|author=Lizzy Mumfrey

|genre=Women's General Fiction|summary=Luca, It was coming up to Halloween in 1987 and a halfgroup of sixth-Italianform schoolgirls wondered what they would be doing when they were fifty. When you're only seventeen that seems positively ancient, rich banker has been through a painful divorce and has decided to take stock of his but Liz was convinced that ''your entire lifedepends on who you marry''. He decides to leave The only eligible boys were the City behind Young Farmers and, at the suggestion idea of living in a farmhouse and having a friend (couple of children called Will andOlly appealed to Charlotte, inevitably, ex-lover) he decides or perhaps William and Oliver if you were Elizabeth who was determined to take off for marry the summer rather superior Patrick Shepley-Botham. The place to visit his parents who have, fortuitously, recently renovated an old palazzo in (start their search was obviously the sadly fictitious) Incantellaria on the Amalfi coastYoung Farmers' Halloween disco that weekend. Here, his parents live with a rich assortment of eccentric friends There was just one problem - there were too many Elizabeths in residence, including a pet pigthe class.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340840544</amazonuk>

{{newreview|author=Kate Harrison |title=The Secret Shopper Unwrapped|rating=4|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=Glamourous Grazia, sassy Sandie and enthusiastic Emily first got together in Harrison's earlier title, 'The Secret Shopper's Revenge'. Now they're back but this time there are many more hassles to deal with than just a bit of simple, secret shopping. Think toy boys and sugar daddies and the odd A-lister, a choice between aging gracefully or disgracefully, reformed criminals and criminal exes, long lost mothers and potential new mothers in law (in the same room! At the same time!) and the delight or dread that comes from finding yourself unexpectedly in the family way. Combine all these factors with the run up to Christmas and you have three good friends run off their feet in every direction but, because friendship is really all that matters, resolutely there for each other in a pinch.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409107302</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Sarra Manning |title=Unsticky|rating=4.5|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=Low paid but with big dreams, talented fashionista Grace is in the process of being dumped by a boy whom she was too good for anyway. If that's not bad enough, he's doing it on her birthday, and if even ''that's'' not bad enough, he's doing it in Liberty's. Right by the new season Marc Jacobs bags. It's just wrong. And yet, as one door closes, another opens right next to it. And this one is bigger, older and a lot more expensive. The mysterious Vaughn rescues Grace as the tears begin to fall, whisking her off to dry her eyes over four types of chocolate cake. There are worse things I can think of, that's for sure.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755347374</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Sheila O'Flanagan|title=The Perfect Man|rating=4.5|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=I've read many of Sheila O'Flanagan's books and have always found them light enjoyable reads with interesting storylines and likeable characters. This is what I was expecting from ''The Perfect Man'', and I wasn't at all disappointed.  Unlike most of O'Flanagan's books, this one is not set in Dublin but mainly takes place on a romantic cruise ship in the Caribbean. Britt McDonagh, the successful author of a novel also entitled ''The Perfect Man'', has been invited Move on board to present a series of talks and workshops about successful romantic writing.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755343794</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Meg Wolitzer |title=The Position|rating=5|genre=Women's Fiction[[Features|summary=Paul Mellow loves his wife, Roz, seemingly like no other man has ever loved a woman – his idolatry is boundless, bordering on theatrical and yet out of this worship, Paul has the germ of an idea. Who would not want to know the ways in which it is possible to pleasure a wife as beautiful and perfect as his? How could everyone not want to see, to ''share'' the artistic renderings of this act of love?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099485052</amazonuk>}}latest features]]