Difference between revisions of "Newest Women's Fiction Reviews"

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[[Category:Women's Fiction|*]]
 
[[Category:Women's Fiction|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|Women's Fiction]]
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[[Category:New Reviews|Women's Fiction]]__NOTOC__
==Women's Fiction==
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{{Frontpage
__NOTOC__
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|isbn=1471180158
{{newreview
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|title=Maybe Tomorrow
|author=Susan Wiggs
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|author=Penny Parkes
|title=Summer at Willow Lake
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|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=General Fiction
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|summary=Jamie Matson works in an upper-class grocery store, for a man who's a control freak with all the subtlety of a half brick.  Jamie's son, Bo, 'has his problems'.  He's asthmatic and the more you read, 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 frequent flier in the local A&E and sometimes Bo's not fit enough to go to school.  Missed shifts or the need to be away on time to pick Bo up from school are occasions when Jamie can be controlled and put in the wrong.  It was going to come to a head.
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Lauren Bravo
 +
|title=Preloved
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Olivia Bellamy does not seem to have a lot of luck with menWhen we meet her she's just about to put her third broken engagement under her belt and head of into the wilderness of the Catskills with FreddyDon't get excited – he really is just a friend.  They're going to revamp the family's old summer camp in readiness for her grandparents' fiftieth wedding anniversary celebrations and right now it seems like the best way to forget about her love life.  Things turn from bad to worse though when she finds herself not only stuck up a flagpole but having to be rescued by the man who was her first boyfriend some nine years before.
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|summary= Gwen is pressing her middle-aged bosom on a big number that starts with a four and ends with an oh-my-God-I'm-nearly-fortyHaving been made unexpectedly redundant - any HR officer worth their salt would argue the toss - Gwen finds herself having a bit of a mid-life crisisCatharsis is key and Gwen has decided now is the time to take back her life'
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0778304760</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1398510629
 
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=0008506337
 +
|title=The Garnett Girls
 +
|author=Georgina Moore
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|rating=5
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|genre=General Fiction
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|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's mother as 'an older man'.  Her parents worried that Richard's influence would take her away from what they felt she could achieve - going to Oxford and having a glittering career.  In the event,  they eloped and Richard took her away from the Isle of Wight.  Margo did go to Oxford and went on to become a well-respected journalist.  The couple had three children: Rachel, Imogen and Sasha.  Life was lived in London and holidays were spent at Sandcove, the family home on the Isle of Wight.  Even then the doubts about Richard's drinking were never far from Margo's mind: ''she would never be able to leave him in charge''.
  
{{newreview
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Then Richard left them.
|author=Julian Ruck
 
|title=Ragged Cliffs
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=Lise Jacobson was half Danish and half Welsh. She lived with her parents in Denmark but during the Second World War indulged in an innocent friendship with one of the occupying German soldiers.  In retribution she had her hair shorn off and was raped by two masked men.  After her father's death Lise's mother brought Lise and Lise's son, born as a result of the rape, back to Swansea and there they did their best to make a living for themselves.  It was whilst Lise was working as a chambermaid that she met William Treharne, who would change her life permanently.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904323189</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Linda Gillard
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|author=Hadeer Elsbai
|title=House of Silence
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|title=The Daughters of Izdihar
|rating=4.5
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|rating=4
|genre=Women's Fiction
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|genre=Fantasy
|summary=Gwen Rowland was a sensible, cautious kind of girl, but then the only family she'd ever known were all dead from a surfeit of unprotected sex, drink and the sort of drugs that don't come in a child-proof bottle. So – her relationship with an actor was a little out of the ordinary, but they seemed to be friends before they were lovers. The crunch came at Christmas when Alfie said that he was spending it with his family – which would have left Gwen on her own.  She did ''slightly'' twist his arm to take her with him and he was obviously reluctant to comply. When they arrived at Creake Hall, home of author Rae Holbrook and her daughters, Gwen sensed a change in Alfie, a lack of warmth towards his family.  Then there was the family photo which didn't fit the known facts and the complication of the gardener who said little but was a very good listener.
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|summary= Drawing inspiration from Egypt, ''The Daughters of Izdihar'' explores the lives of two women who could not be more different, yet find themselves fighting for the rights of women and weavers – those with magical abilities - in a society pitted against them. Nehal, born into the upper class, wishes to attend the Weaving Academy to learn to control her abilities and then join the military, but instead she is forced into an arranged marriage with Nico. Giorgina 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, whilst secretly attending meetings of the Daughters of Izdihar – a group campaigning for women's rights. Giorgina also happens to be in love with Nico. What follows is a story of an unjust society, filled with hypocrisy and cruelty, from which blossoms a group of admirable women fighting for their rights and overcoming their personal obstacles.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B004USSPN2</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0356520471
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=B0B575J99N
|author=Freya North
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|title=Beneath the Porticoes
|title=Chances
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|author=Brooke Adams
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Sharing a business with ex-lover, Tim, is a disaster for Vita. How can she possibly move on when he's popping into their souvenir shop every day? Though she shed the two-timing love rat from her bed over 12 months before, his presence casts dark shadows on her days. But ridding him from her life isn't a likely option and escaping into her precious classic fiction is sometimes the only way she can ignore her troubled thoughts. She cannot afford to buy his share of the business and she isn't prepared to risk losing 'That Shop' with its delightful trinkets and resident shoplifter!
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|summary=Elizabeth Miller was thirty-four and a teacher at a prestigious girl's school in York.  It was ''comfortable'' but she longed for something more in life. She'd ''still not found the right vocation nor met the right man'' and now was the time to make a change.  She needed challenges.  There was a little trepidation when she applied for the professoressa job in Bologna. After a telephone interview, she was offered the position and it wasn't long before she was exploring the beautiful city.  There were some natural doubts before her first class but it went surprisingly well.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007326661</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=0241542405
|author=Jo Verity
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|title=Meredith Alone
|title=Not Funny Not Clever
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|author=Claire Alexander
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Women's Fiction
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Elizabeth was rather looking forward to her trip to Cardiff.  She and Diane hadn't got together for a really good chat for a long time and with Laurence being away on a cookery course in France it seemed like the ideal opportunity to take advantage of Diane's invitationShe had visions of girly chats – if you can still have girly chats at nearly fiftyBut her plans were going to be disruptedHer son blessed her with his partner's teenage son 'for a few days in an emergency' and she had no option but to take Jordan in – and then to take him to Cardiff with her.
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|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 ''like'' to: in fact, she so nearly does.  Her outdoor clothes are on and she's even considered which shoes to wear if she's going to catch her train.  Then, she can't.  She simply can't force herself to leave the safety of her home.  She's fortunate that she has a good friend, Sadie, who visits regularly with her two children, James and MatildaSadie's a cardiac nurse and full of sound common senseIn fact it was Sadie who gave Meredith her cat, FredGroceries 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 charity which supports people with problems such as Meredith's.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906784248</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=0008441618
|author=Mary Malone
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|title=Other Parents
|title=Love is the Reason
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|author=Sarah Stovell
|rating=4
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|rating=5
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Lucy Ardle was driving home, wondering what sort of a mood her husband would be in. When she'd left earlier, words had been spokenShe was nearly home when she was overtaken by the fire engine: the house was in flames and it was touch and go as to whether or not Danny would make it.  Thankfully Lucy's friend, Carol Black had seen the flames and called the fire brigade or the outcome would have been much worse.
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|summary=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 that part of the town. The school had an active Parent Teacher Association and the funds which they raised were a considerable benefit to the schoolThere was one difficulty, though - they were ''devastatingly shockable'', with two members, in particular, causing problems for the head.  Laura Spence and Kate Monroe objected to Jo's restrictions on the toys children could bring in on Toy Day but that was just a warm-up act for their real gripe: LGBTQ education.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1842234161</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Giovanna Fletcher
|author=Clodagh Murphy
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|title=Walking on Sunshine
|title=Girl in a Spin
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Jenny Hannigan might look like the original good-time party girl but all she really wants out of life is a settled home and family – mainly because that's what she's never had. So when she begins a relationship with Richard Allam she dares to hope that the dreams might be coming true. Richard is young, good-looking and leader of Her Majesty's opposition. He has high hopes of becoming Prime Minister after the next election.  Jenny isn't exactly the ideal mate for someone who expects to be the next Prime Minister and as Richard has only recently separated from his wife Jenny is going to take some selling to the country.  Enter publicist Dev Tennant whose job is to make the country fall in love with Jenny.
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|summary=Mike's 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 'rules' to follow, knowing that she was dying and that they would need help to carry on living. Whilst some of the 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 Vicky and Zaza, struggling with their grief and their own life troubles, decide to drop everything in their own lives, and go along with him.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444705148</amazonuk>
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|isbn=140593560X
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=B09FS89KX9
|author=Fern Britton
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|title=Fall On Me
|title=New Beginnings
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|author=Penelope Potts
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Christie Lynch is a widowed mother with a couple of children and she's been keeping the proverbial wolf from the door by doing some journalism – but then she gets the lucky break of an appearance on daytime television. She's spotted by Julia Keen, ''the'' most successful agent and it seems that the sky's the limitIt's not long before Christie has a high-profile presenting jobThe public loves her.  The camera loves her.  What's not to like?
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|summary=Life should have been good for Hollie: She was just going into the final year of her veterinary degree and - three years later - was still working at BB's dinerBob - the owner - regarded her fondly: he was a good bossHollie had moved in with her boyfriend, Marcus: her mother thought he was great and he was doing well in his careerHollie wasn't quite so certain though: Marcus wanted to control her and most of all he wanted her to leave her job at the dinerThen there was the fact that he would be violent, both to her and to other people.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007362692</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=0008421714
|author=Amanda Brookfield
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|title=Mrs March
|title=Before I Knew You
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|author=Virginia Feito
|rating=4
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|rating=4.5
|genre=Women's Fiction
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|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Two couples agree to swap homes for the summer, urged on by a mutual friendSophie and Andrew are teachers who live in London, rather jaded with life and each other, but hoping for a breakTheir two teenage daughters are on a music tour, but hope to join them for the last week. 
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|summary=The problem began just after the publication of George March's most successful novel to dateEveryone but Mrs March (we know her first name only on the last page) seemed to either be reading it or had already done soEvery day Mrs March went to the local patisserie to buy olive bread but on that particular morning, Patricia asked, as she was wrapping the bread, ''but isn't this the first time he's based a character on you?''  She mentioned that Johanna, the principal character had 'her mannerisms''.  Perhaps this would not have mattered, except for the fact that Johanna is the whore of Nantes - ''a weak, plain, detestable, pathetic, unloved, unloveable wretch.''
 
 
William and Beth are a newly married couple, who live in a gorgeous home in Connecticut in the USA. William is rather older than Beth; he's a Brit who has three teenage sons living with their mother in London, not far from Sophie and Andrew's homeWilliam wants to spend time with his sons in the summer, and Beth hopes to get to know them better.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141039949</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1473685745
|author=Fanny Blake
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|title=Unbreak Your Heart
|title=What Women Want
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|author=Katie Marsh
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=I'll be honest: I had my doubts about this book.  Fanny Blake is a well-known journalist and she's also written for programmes such as ''Location, Location, Location'' and ''A Place in the Sun''.  I wasn't entirely certain how this would fit with a book about the lives of three middle-aged women who are dealing with change in their lives – and they're not moving house. I sat down to have a quick look to see if it was going to be worth reviewing…
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|summary=When Beth Carlyle and Simon Withers first met they were on opposite ends of an angry exchange - well, Simon was angry and Beth was doing her best to apologise for having knocked Simon's son, Jake, off his bike.  He wasn't hurt but Jake has history.  He has HLHS - that's Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome for those of you who are not ''au fait'' with your medical acronymsWhen he was born, the left side of his heart hadn't developed properly and he needed open-heart surgery when he was a few days old.  So, Simon has every right to be over-protective particularly when someone isn't looking where they're driving.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007359098</amazonuk>
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}}  
}}
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{{Frontpage
 
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|author=C J Carey
{{newreview
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|title=Widowland
|author=Sophie Page
 
|title=To Marry A Prince
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Women's Fiction
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Bella Greenwood has just been away on a tropical island doing an eco-job for a man she though she rather fanciedShe returned home when she realised that she was being taken for a mug and when it came down to it she didn't really fancy the man that much either.  Getting back into the swing of things is a little difficult though – he mother and step-father have a full house and can't take her inHer father is up a mountain somewhere and she's just thankful that her friend Lottie is prepared to take her in at short notice – and to take her to a posh party.
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|summary=It's April 1953, and Adolf Hitler's 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 sanctioned return to the throne of Edward VIII with his wife, Queen WallisFor yes, Britain caved in the lead-up to the World War Two that certainly didn't happen as we know it, and we are now a protectorate – well, we share enough of the same blood as the Germanic peoples on ''the mainland''.  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 drudges, and beyond those, right on down to the childless, the husbandless and the widows. Female literacy is actively discouragedAnd in this puritanical existence, our heroine, Rose Ransom, is employed with the task of 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 party line before they're stamped ready for reprintThat is her job, at least, until the first emerging signs of female protest come to light, with their potential to spoil Hitler's visit.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099560453</amazonuk>
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|isbn=152941198X
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=M C Beaton
 
|title=The Travelling Matchmaker: Emily Goes to Exeter
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Emily Goes to Exeter is by way of 'Being the First Volume of the Travelling Matchmaker' as the subheading has it on the frontispiece: the beginning of a new series obviously.  
 
 
 
If like me you have come to Beaton by way of Hamish Macbeth this might seem like something of a diversionA little research shows you that in fact Marion Chesney, who writes under a number of pseudonyms (including Beaton) has a prolific work-rateHaving produced upwards of 130 books since starting writing full time in the 1980s, focussing on crime and historical romance, there can be few avenues down which she has yet to wander.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849014795</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Ruth Hogan
|author=Sylvia Broady
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|title=Madame Burova
|title=The Yearning Heart
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=It is 1941 so when an unmarried Frances Bewholme becomes pregnant she is shunned by her family and sent to an isolated farm to live and work. To add to her shame and disgrace Fran's unborn baby is not just any man's; it is her brother-in-law's. Victor Renton, home on leave from the war takes advantage of Fran one night when she comes home, upset and heartbroken.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709092113</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Claire Peate
 
|title=Guerrillas in Our Midst
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=The book opens in south-east London.  It's a rather gritty urban place but friends Edda and Beth love it.  And we soon get the low-down on a hush-hush project by some of the locals.  They call themselves, rather grandly I thought, a guerrilla gardening society - but what the devil does it all mean?  Edda and Beth stumble into the situation simply by listening to their gut instinct and doing what they feel is right for their neighbourhood.  Basically, an eyesore of a skip (full, smelly) has been abandoned near Edda's house.  No one wants to deal with it and take it away so the two girls come up with the idea of 'beautifying' it, if you like.  Tipping in a whacking great load of topsoil and then planting it up with flowers etc.  But all of this is done under cover of darkness.  And Peate (what an appropriate name) gives us all the silly, giggly, half-drunken details of the girls' adventure.  They've had plenty of adventurous times in the past (which we hear about later) and this lark is just another one to add to the list.  They manage to keep it a secret.  Difficult, they manage it - just.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906784256</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Katie Fforde
 
|title=Summer of Love
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Women's Fiction
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Sian Bishop is a single mum who makes her living by restoring and painting furniture. She hopes that by moving to the country she will be able to provide her five year old son Rory with a good life away from the hustle and bustle of London. Although she is happy on her own, she knows that her good friend Richard is looking for something more and would love to marry her and to provide a home for herself and Rory. However, although she recognises that he is a good dependable man, he does not excite her, unlike Rory's father who she had only a brief fling with many years before. Should she settle for security and a quiet life or should she hold out for something more exciting? That is the dilemma that Sian struggles with throughout this story.
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|summary=This book lets us discover several people in different stages of life in the early 1970s, all vaguely connected.  So we have a bullied half-cast boy (as he would have been called then), a girl in a humdrum job wanting to become a singer, and chiefly, Imelda, the third generation of Madame Burova, ''Tarot-Reader, Palmist and Clairvoyant'', to use her family's sea-front booth.  The singer, the scryer and the sufferer's mother will all become staff at a revamped holiday camp, but just before then we see Imelda fly solo for the first time in the family stall. We also see her on her last day, fifty years later, in possession of a pair of letters that will change everything for a woman called Billie. Just who is she, and who delivered the secrets about her to Imelda, and why did it have to remain a secret all this time?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846056500</amazonuk>
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|isbn=152937331X
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author= Jennifer Saint
|author=Audrey Willsher
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|title= Ariadne
|title=The House of Hope
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|rating= 4.5  
|rating=3.5
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|genre= Women's Fiction  
|genre=Women's Fiction
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|summary= This re-telling of the myth of Ariadne and the Minotaur is interesting and unusual. Jennifer Saint presents the story in a way that is sympathetic to its origins but also appealing to a modern audience. Saint's narrative is told predominantly through the viewpoint of Ariadne, spanning from her childhood to her death, allowing the reader to really connect with Ariadne as a character in her own right rather than just a prop in the heroics of Theseus.  
|summary=It was November 1946 when Marianne made her way to Hope Grange. She was taking the job of a maid in the house owned by Hugo Lacey, but she hadn't even arrived before she wondered if she'd made a mistake. The villagers were unwelcoming and finding he house wasn't easy, particularly as she didn't like to ask the German Prisoner of War she met – he was one of the ones who had been responsible for the death of her beloved Nan two years before in a V2 attack.  When she did find the house she encountered a difficult child, his very difficult grandmother and the realisation that they and the house were on their uppers.
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|isbn=1472273869
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709092016</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Lucy Holland
|author=M C Beaton
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|title=Sistersong
|title=Travelling Matchmaker: Belinda Goes to Bath
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|rating=5
|rating=3.5
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|genre=Literary Fiction
|genre=Women's Fiction
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|summary=Sistersong is part of a genre I particularly enjoy, the modern retelling of folk and fairy tales. These stories, for most of us, are a cornerstone of childhood and I relish seeing them retold with fresh eyes and a 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. Sistersong is a perfect example of a modern retelling done well, the plot is handled with care, keeping its archaic historical feel but allowing the characters to come to life, to feel real and human, most importantly they feel relatable in a modern world whilst still feeling appropriate for the pre-Saxon age they live in. This is a masterpiece of storytelling and I was captivated from beginning to end.
|summary=Miss Hannah Pym was a housekeeper until recently but has now received a legacy which lifts her out of the servant classes and enables her to fulfil her long-held wish to travel. It might be winter but Miss Pym is taking the stagecoach to The Bath (as the upper classes call the city) just for the adventure. The company in the stage is joined by an obviously well-bred young woman, Miss Belinda  Earle who, accompanied by her companion, is being sent in disgrace to stay with her aunt.
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|isbn=1529039037
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849014809</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=B08NF79QXT
|author=Jane Moore
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|title=Cherry Blossom Boutique
|title=Love is on the Air
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|author=Brooke Adams
|rating=4
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|rating=3
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary='Love is on the Air' is all about trying to find the perfect relationship. Cam knows that things are not right with her boyfriend Dean but after six years together, she is afraid to do anything about it. They are behaving like an old married couple and they are not even married. Therefore, when she goes on holiday with friends Saira and Ella, she is somewhat vulnerable and so it is no surprise that she is attracted to fun loving single dad Tom. After a few drinks one thing leads to another but the next day Cam is racked with guilt. She resolves to forget about Tom and to make more effort in her relationship with Dean.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099505533</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Janet Mullany
 
|title=Mr Bishop and the Actress
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=Strait-laced Harry Bishop has just started his new job as steward in Lord Shad's ramshackle household when he is sent off to London to sort out Shad's errant relation Charlie and his debts.  Here he meets actress Sophie Wallace, Charlie's mistress, who now finds herself set adrift from her protector with only a few dresses and a rather ostentatious bed to her name.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755347811</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Felicity Everett
 
|title=The Story of Us
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=Back in 1982 there were five girls sharing a house in Brighton.  Their course works takes second place to demos, parties and no-strings sex for Stella, Bridget, Vinnie, Maxine and Nell but it's against the background of Greenham Common and the miners' strike that the girls realise that life is not quite as straight forward as they imagined.  They will forge friendships in Albacore Street which might occasionally be stretched to the limit, but they'll never be completely forgotten.  Having met them back in the eighties we meet them again two decades later when they're struggling to cope with all that life throws at them.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099553694</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Jessica Ruston
 
|title=To Touch the Stars
 
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Cavalley's creates the most luxurious hats in the world along with a host of other items without which the rich cannot surviveAt the company's head is Violet Cavalley, now celebrating her sixtieth birthday with her family about herShe looks as though she could go on forever, but Violet and one or two others know differently. There are a few other people who know that Violet isn't who she says she is and that he background wouldn't stand a lot of close examination.  From the villa in Capri, to the London homes of the family and the private jet, it's all good living, but there are plenty of secrets which are going to be aired.
+
|summary=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 Retail Best Newcomer AwardShe's delighted and the two people she's brought with her to the event couldn't be more pleasedSonja, her mother, is an ex-model and Brazilian: you can see where Liberty got her looks from. Jessica's thirty-four and Liberty's best friend: they've known each other since university and Liberty adores Jessica's husband, Charles and their four-year-old daughter, Ava.  Life would be perfect for Liberty if it wasn't for one thing: she misses having a man in her life.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755370325</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=B08GFSK2WZ
|author=Jane Lovering
+
|title=The Karma Trap
|title=Please Don't Stop the Music
+
|author=Lisette Boyd
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Jemima Hutton makes jewelled belt buckles and she's determined to make a success of the business – and to keep a dark secret which she's shared with no one.  She's camping out in her friend's spare room and another friend is allowing her workshop spaceIt is ''just'' working until the woman she supplies exclusively decides that she's not going to stock her any more.  Jemima is down to walking the streets of York looking for someone who will stock her buckles.  She's all but given up when she meets Ben who says that he'll stock the buckles in his guitar shop.  But Ben has secrets too – and he's determined that, come what may, he's not going to share them.
+
|summary=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 karma trap: an awful lot of bad luck is being visited on her and she has a real talent for attracting dramaHer life's chaotic: she dealt with the leak from the shower by putting something down at the bottom of the 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 pervy postman.  She only has to take her mother's 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 shares it around the office.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906931275</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=B08CHJLNBS
|author=Jennifer Bohnet
+
|title=Capturing Emilia
|title=Rendezvous in Cannes
+
|author=Brooke Adams
 
|rating=3
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=It's the beginning of the Cannes Film Festival and for two women life is going to change completely in the coming weeksAnna Carson has found the love that she thought would always elude her and can't quite believe her happiness.  Daisy, here to cover the Festival as a journalist is coming to terms with being singleIt's time for her to make some decisions, but what will she decide?  The hurly-burly of the Festival is not the most peaceful time to make big decisions.
+
|summary=He's Charles Devereaux, thirty-eight and a partner at Wickham Jones, the Mayfair letting agents.  She's Emilia, twenty-nine, librarian and archivist in the heritage library next doorEmilia has read [[The Secret by Rhonda Byrne|The Secret]] but she's moved on from new age books like that, which leave you dependent on someone else's philosophies, to something a little deeper.  Charles is more of a [[Personal by Lee Child|Jack Reacher]] man himself, but, above all, he's shocked that Emilia reads ''The Guardian''.  They're obviously not at all compatible, so why can Charles not get this woman out of his mind?  She's not his usual type at all: it's obvious to his friendsAnd given that Emilia regularly feels repulsed by Charles's superficiality, why does she feel drawn to him?  The relationship's obviously a non-starter, isn't it?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709091400</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author= Helly Acton
|author=Marian Keyes
+
|title= The Shelf
|title=The Brightest Star in the Sky
+
|rating= 4
|rating=3.5
+
|genre= Women's Fiction
|genre=Women's Fiction
+
|summary= When we meet Amy, she's in a relationship with Jamie. You can't really call it a partnership, because things tend to get done on his terms, but she's sticking around because she hopes she can change him. Ah, 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 the wait) worth it?
|summary=Marian Keyes can usually be relied upon for a funny, moving story full of life-like, likeable characters.  I was eager to read her latest novel, although somewhat daunted by the 600 odd pages!  Here she takes us to an old, multi-storey house in Dublin that is the home of a variety of different characters.  An unknown, magical narrator takes us through the house as we meet each tenant and discover what's happening in their lives.
+
|isbn=1838770879
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>014102867X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Allison Pearson
 
|title=I Think I Love You
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=It's the 70s, and 13 year old Petra is in love, and not with a silly boy at school, but with a man. He's not from Wales like she is, or even from Britain. He's much more mysterious and alluring. He comes from across the pond and his name is David Cassidy. ''The'' David Cassidy.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009946859X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author= Alyssa Sheinmel
 +
|title= What Kind of Girl
 +
|rating= 4
 +
|genre= Women's Fiction
 +
|summary= '' Doing something when you're scared is braver than doing something when you're not''
  
{{newreview
+
When Mike Parker's girlfriend comes into school with a black eye, claiming he gave it to her, her whole world is tipped upside down. Her relationship has just ended and now she's the talk of the school. Mike was the most popular boy in school who was always so in love with her, everyone 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't going to blow over any time soon.
|author=Lesley Pearse
+
|isbn=0349003297
|title=Belle
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=Belle's story begins in London in 1910.  She is fifteen years old and lives an innocent life in her mother's brothel, with no understanding of what really takes place there. Her mother has encouraged her to read and write, wanting her kept away from the harsh realities of the brothel and the rough streets of London that surround her. But Belle's innocence is shattered when she witnesses the murder of one of the brothel's most popular girls, and is subsequently grabbed from the street and trafficked to Paris as a prostitute.  
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718157028</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author= Katie Fforde
|author=Jan Jones
+
|title= A Springtime Affair
|title=The Kydd Inheritance
+
|rating= 4
|rating=3.5
+
|genre= Women's Fiction
|genre=Women's Fiction
+
|summary= I've wanted to read author Katie Fforde for ages and this was pretty much exactly what I was expecting - a warm, cosy read focused on romance, family and friendshipsThis provided two romances for the price of one, but it was actually the family element as opposed to the romance that I really enjoyed.  
|summary=Nell's Kydd's father died in a hunting accident and her brother, Kit was uncontactable, seemingly lost, on his way back from India.  This left her uncle, Jasper Kydd in charge of the family estate and he appeared to be doing all in his power to wreck Kydd Court and make Nell's life a miseryHer mother coped with it all by retreating into her own world, where she couldn't be reached either.  When an unwelcome offer of marriage is forced upon her, Nell knows that she has to take action and that's when the very unsettling Captain Hugo Derringer arrives. He's an old friend of Kitt's, but what exactly is he doing in the area and can Nell trust him?
+
|isbn=1780897561
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709091710</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=B07W4MNBSG
|author=Allegra Goodman
+
|title=Be Careful Who You Marry
|title=The Cookbook Collector
+
|author=Lizzy Mumfrey
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=''The Cookbook Collector'' is all about emotions.  Concentrating on two, young, American women who are vastly different in many areas of their lives and also on their outlook on life, Goodman digs deeper to find out what makes them tick - what makes them get up in the morning.
+
|summary=It was coming up to Halloween in 1987 and a group of sixth-form schoolgirls wondered what they would be doing when they were fiftyWhen you're only seventeen that seems positively ancient, but Liz was convinced that ''your entire life depends on who you marry''.  The only eligible boys were the Young Farmers and the idea of living in a farmhouse and having a couple of children called Will and Olly appealed to Charlotte, or perhaps William and Oliver if you were Elizabeth who was determined to marry the rather superior Patrick Shepley-Botham.  The place to start their search was obviously the Young Farmers' Halloween disco that weekendThere was just one problem - there were too many Elizabeths in the class.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848875398</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Lulu Taylor
 
|title=Beautiful Creatures
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=Everyone has heard of the Beaufort twins Octavia and Flora, but few have ever seen them, and on the night of their twenty-first birthday party the girls are finally launched into society amongst a crowd anxious to see the two girls who are about to inherit a vast fortune.  Octavia and Flora have been kept out of the public eye for their entire young lives by their aunt Frances after their father died and their mother seemingly abandoned them.  Now that the girls have come of age Frances has no choice but to hand over the girls' vast inheritance from their father and take a step back from running their lives.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099550458</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Rekha Waheed
 
|title=My Bollywood Wedding
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=Maya Malik set her heart on a big, glamorous wedding to Jhanghir Khan but organising it was difficult as the groom-to-be was working as a doctor in New York and Maya was arranging the wedding in London.  Maya's family are rich, but Jhanghir's family are – seriously so – and this is only part of the tensions which looked to be on track to derail the wedding.  There's a sister-in-law who's determined to take over all the arrangements – without disguising her dislike of Maya – and a George-Clooney-lookalike cousin whom Maya finds far too attractive for her own good.  And Jhanghir?  Well, he's a man.  He's busy and he's not that good at communicating.  Is there any wonder that Maya begins to wonder if she's doing the right thing?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755356144</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Margaret Leroy
 
|title=The River House
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=Ginnie Holmes is a child-psychologist, working to help children and young people damaged by what they have experienced or what they have seenShe is also the mother of two typical, happy teenage daughters – one just about to leave for university the other, trying hard not to work for her GCSE's. Her life is outwardly as near perfect as it gets.  Her husband is a successful academic.  She has a solid circle of friends old and new.  The cottage by the river might be whimsical rather than elegant but it suits her and in the right light and the right company it is charming.
 
 
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0778304094</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Julie Highmore
 
|title=The Birthday
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=4 November 2008: That's the date of the US presidential election, and Fran's 60th birthday. Fran is nervous about her milestone birthday – she doesn't feel that old. She is worried about her husband, Duncan, who has become rather down and forgetful. As it turns out though, her planned party will be less a celebration than the catalyst for the revelation of a lifetime of secrets.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755343042</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Kate Lace
 
|title=A Class Act
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=Tilly de Liege (that's pronounced 'de Lee', by the way) met Ainsley Driver quite by accident and they just seemed to get on with each other really well.  Both were about to do A levels and were hoping to go on to university, but there was a snag.  Tilly was from the wrong side of the tracks.  She wasn't in the least bit worried about the fact that Ainsley lived in a council house on quite the worst estate in town but when he found out that she lived in the local manor house and went to a private school something snapped.  It didn't seem to be about money – as the de Lieges really didn't have any - more about the fact that she hadn't said.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755347943</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Sarah Monk
 
|title=Taking the Lead
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=Theodora English had left her home in London to move to a tiny Cornish village with her boyfriend Michael, only for him to dump her soon afterwardsYou'd expect her to head straight back to London, but you'd be wrong.  She buys the cottage next door, moves in and starts getting to know the locals.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755345142</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Christina Courtenay
 
|title=Trade Winds
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=It is 1731 and Killian Kinross, disgraced heir to the estate is making his way as best he can through the gambling dens of Edinburgh, trading on his skill, ability to hold his drink and the smiling fickle fortunes of lady luck.  The Lady is smiling at the moment, although she hasn't always done so.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906931232</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Ali McNamara
 
|title=From Notting Hill with Love... Actually
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=Scarlett loves the movies; in fact that you could easily say that she is obsessed with them, much to the exasperation of her father, her fiancé David and her friends. She can't help dreaming and wishing that her life was more like the films that she loves. So, when the opportunity arises to house sit for a month in Notting Hill (the setting of her favourite film), she grabs it. It's a chance to prove to all those sceptics that life can be like the movies and also for her to examine her feelings about her forthcoming marriage to David.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751544957</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Lucinda Riley
 
|title=Hothouse Flower
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=In the London Season of 1939 Olivia met the Honourable Harry Crawford, heir to the Wharton country estate in Norfolk and he seemed like the perfect catch.  It looked even better when his mother invited her to spend the summer at the estate and before long they were married.  There were problems even before Harry went to fight in the Far East, but Olivia was determined that the marriage would work.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141049375</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Lucy Dawson
 
|title=The One That Got Away
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=Lucy Dawson's latest novel is a cut above run-of-the-mill chick-lit pap.  Molly Greene is happily married to Dan, and they live a normal twenty-first century life in a small town.  She is a successful salesperson for a medical supplier.  The couple struggle with the bills and hope to buy their own place.  She spends time with two old girlfriends whose situations are different from hers, but who know our heroine inside out and will always be there for her for long, boozy heart-to-hearts.  So far, so predictable.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751542520</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Christine Stovell
 
|title=Turning the Tide
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=We're in the seaside location of Spitmarsh.  It's seen better days, frankly.  And that's putting it mildlyIt has ' ... a local economy so depressed it was almost suicidal'.  Ms Harry Watling loves her town in spite of the negative vibes.  She wouldn't change a thing.  You can tell that she's an optimist because even although she's having difficulty keeping her business afloat, she's still happy with her lot.  She's not afraid of hard work and seems to work almost round the clock and in all weathers to carry out her boat-building and repairs business.  But it's a constant battle.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906931259</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Bernadette Strachan
 
|title=Why DO We Have to Live with Men?
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=Cat and her friends often meet up for a drink and a chat, and regularly fantasise about giving up on men, sharing a house and looking after each other. Then one night Germaine calls their bluff – she’s found a house, and wants to know who is going to join her in it. Initially, the answer is no one. Shortly afterwards, though, Cat’s life as she has known it falls apart, as her landlord gives her notice to leave her flat and she loses her job. There is nothing now to keep her in London and moving into Germaine’s commune doesn’t seem like such a mad option.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751542296</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
+
Move on to [[Features|the latest features]]
|author=Sarah Dunn
 
|title=Secrets to Happiness
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=Holly Frick is 35, single and living in New York City.  She still thinks she's in love with her ex husband, her career as a TV writer is on a steady downward spiral and she's had limited success as a novelist.  She may be having amazing no strings sex with toy boy Lucas, but Holly is unfulfilled and unhappy.  Plus, she's surrounded by equally dysfunctional friends, including best friend Amanda, who has no qualms embarking on an extramarital affair, and writing partner Leonard, who is more than happy to self-medicate and find his thrills through the Internet.  Plus Spence, the ex before the ex husband has resurfaced in Holly's life and thanks to his new girlfriend Cathleen, Holly finds herself reliving their relationship as Cathleen interrogates her on Spence's past.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751538302</amazonuk>
 
}}
 

Latest revision as of 11:49, 13 November 2023

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Review of

Maybe Tomorrow by Penny Parkes

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

Jamie Matson works in an upper-class grocery store, for a man who's a control freak with all the subtlety of a half brick. Jamie's son, Bo, 'has his problems'. He's asthmatic and the more you read, 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 frequent flier in the local A&E and sometimes Bo's not fit enough to go to school. Missed shifts or the need to be away on time to pick Bo up from school are occasions when Jamie can be controlled and put in the wrong. It was going to come to a head. Full Review

1398510629.jpg

Review of

Preloved by Lauren Bravo

4star.jpg Women's Fiction

Gwen is pressing her middle-aged bosom on a big number that starts with a four and ends with an oh-my-God-I'm-nearly-forty. Having been made unexpectedly redundant - any HR officer worth their salt would argue the toss - Gwen finds herself having a bit of a mid-life crisis. Catharsis is key and Gwen has decided now is the time to take back her life' Full Review

0008506337.jpg

Review of

The Garnett Girls by Georgina Moore

5star.jpg General Fiction

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's mother as 'an older man'. Her parents worried that Richard's influence would take her away from what they felt she could achieve - going to Oxford and having a glittering career. In the event, they eloped and Richard took her away from the Isle of Wight. Margo did go to Oxford and went on to become a well-respected journalist. The couple had three children: Rachel, Imogen and Sasha. Life was lived in London and holidays were spent at Sandcove, the family home on the Isle of Wight. Even then the doubts about Richard's drinking were never far from Margo's mind: she would never be able to leave him in charge.

Then Richard left them. Full Review

0356520471.jpg

Review of

The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai

4star.jpg Fantasy

Drawing inspiration from Egypt, The Daughters of Izdihar explores the lives of two women who could not be more different, yet find themselves fighting for the rights of women and weavers – those with magical abilities - in a society pitted against them. Nehal, born into the upper class, wishes to attend the Weaving Academy to learn to control her abilities and then join the military, but instead she is forced into an arranged marriage with Nico. Giorgina 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, whilst secretly attending meetings of the Daughters of Izdihar – a group campaigning for women's rights. Giorgina also happens to be in love with Nico. What follows is a story of an unjust society, filled with hypocrisy and cruelty, from which blossoms a group of admirable women fighting for their rights and overcoming their personal obstacles. Full Review

B0B575J99N.jpg

Review of

Beneath the Porticoes by Brooke Adams

4star.jpg Women's Fiction

Elizabeth Miller was thirty-four and a teacher at a prestigious girl's school in York. It was comfortable but she longed for something more in life. She'd still not found the right vocation nor met the right man and now was the time to make a change. She needed challenges. There was a little trepidation when she applied for the professoressa job in Bologna. After a telephone interview, she was offered the position and it wasn't long before she was exploring the beautiful city. There were some natural doubts before her first class but it went surprisingly well. Full Review

0241542405.jpg

Review of

Meredith Alone by Claire Alexander

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

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 like to: in fact, she so nearly does. Her outdoor clothes are on and she's even considered which shoes to wear if she's going to catch her train. Then, she can't. She simply can't force herself to leave the safety of her home. She's fortunate that she has a good friend, Sadie, who visits regularly with her two children, James and Matilda. Sadie's a cardiac nurse and full of sound common sense. In fact it 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 charity which supports people with problems such as Meredith's. Full Review

0008441618.jpg

Review of

Other Parents by Sarah Stovell

5star.jpg Women's Fiction

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 that part of the town. The school had an active Parent Teacher Association and the funds which they raised were a considerable benefit to the school. There was one difficulty, though - they were devastatingly shockable, with two members, in particular, causing problems for the head. Laura Spence and Kate Monroe objected to Jo's restrictions on the toys children could bring in on Toy Day but that was just a warm-up act for their real gripe: LGBTQ education. Full Review

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Review of

Walking on Sunshine by Giovanna Fletcher

4star.jpg Women's Fiction

Mike's 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 'rules' to follow, knowing that she was dying and that they would need help to carry on living. Whilst some of the 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 Vicky and Zaza, struggling with their grief and their own life troubles, decide to drop everything in their own lives, and go along with him. Full Review

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Review of

Fall On Me by Penelope Potts

3.5star.jpg Women's Fiction

Life should have been good for Hollie: She was just going into the final year of her veterinary degree and - three years later - was still working at BB's diner. Bob - the owner - regarded her fondly: he was a good boss. Hollie had moved in with her boyfriend, Marcus: her mother thought he was great and he was doing well in his career. Hollie wasn't quite so certain though: Marcus wanted to control her and most of all he wanted her to leave her job at the diner. Then there was the fact that he would be violent, both to her and to other people. Full Review

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Review of

Mrs March by Virginia Feito

4.5star.jpg Literary Fiction

The problem began just after the publication of George March's most successful novel to date. Everyone but Mrs March (we know her first name only on the last page) seemed to either be reading it or had already done so. Every day Mrs March went to the local patisserie to buy olive bread but on that particular morning, Patricia asked, as she was wrapping the bread, but isn't this the first time he's based a character on you? She mentioned that Johanna, the principal character had 'her mannerisms. Perhaps this would not have mattered, except for the fact that Johanna is the whore of Nantes - a weak, plain, detestable, pathetic, unloved, unloveable wretch. Full Review

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Review of

Unbreak Your Heart by Katie Marsh

4star.jpg Women's Fiction

When Beth Carlyle and Simon Withers first met they were on opposite ends of an angry exchange - well, Simon was angry and Beth was doing her best to apologise for having knocked Simon's son, Jake, off his bike. He wasn't hurt but Jake has history. He has HLHS - that's Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome for those of you who are not au fait with your medical acronyms. When he was born, the left side of his heart hadn't developed properly and he needed open-heart surgery when he was a few days old. So, Simon has every right to be over-protective particularly when someone isn't looking where they're driving. Full Review

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Review of

Widowland by C J Carey

4star.jpg General Fiction

It's April 1953, and Adolf Hitler's 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 sanctioned return to the throne of Edward VIII with his wife, Queen Wallis. For yes, Britain caved in the lead-up to the World War Two that certainly didn't happen as we know it, and we are now a protectorate – well, we share enough of the same blood as the Germanic peoples on the mainland. 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 drudges, and beyond those, right on down to the childless, the husbandless and the widows. Female literacy is actively discouraged. And in this puritanical existence, our heroine, Rose Ransom, is employed with the task of 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 party line before they're stamped ready for reprint. That is her job, at least, until the first emerging signs of female protest come to light, with their potential to spoil Hitler's visit. Full Review

152937331X.jpg

Review of

Madame Burova by Ruth Hogan

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

This book lets us discover several people in different stages of life in the early 1970s, all vaguely connected. So we have a bullied half-cast boy (as he would have been called then), a girl in a humdrum job wanting to become a singer, and chiefly, Imelda, the third generation of Madame Burova, Tarot-Reader, Palmist and Clairvoyant, to use her family's sea-front booth. The singer, the scryer and the sufferer's mother will all become staff at a revamped holiday camp, but just before then we see Imelda fly solo for the first time in the family stall. We also see her on her last day, fifty years later, in possession of a pair of letters that will change everything for a woman called Billie. Just who is she, and who delivered the secrets about her to Imelda, and why did it have to remain a secret all this time? Full Review

1472273869.jpg

Review of

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

4.5star.jpg Women's Fiction

This re-telling of the myth of Ariadne and the Minotaur is interesting and unusual. Jennifer Saint presents the story in a way that is sympathetic to its origins but also appealing to a modern audience. Saint's narrative is told predominantly through the viewpoint of Ariadne, spanning from her childhood to her death, allowing the reader to really connect with Ariadne as a character in her own right rather than just a prop in the heroics of Theseus. Full Review

1529039037.jpg

Review of

Sistersong by Lucy Holland

5star.jpg Literary Fiction

Sistersong is part of a genre I particularly enjoy, the modern retelling of folk and fairy tales. These stories, for most of us, are a cornerstone of childhood and I relish seeing them retold with fresh eyes and a 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. Sistersong is a perfect example of a modern retelling done well, the plot is handled with care, keeping its archaic historical feel but allowing the characters to come to life, to feel real and human, most importantly they feel relatable in a modern world whilst still feeling appropriate for the pre-Saxon age they live in. This is a masterpiece of storytelling and I was captivated from beginning to end. Full Review

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Review of

Cherry Blossom Boutique by Brooke Adams

3star.jpg Women's Fiction

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 Retail Best Newcomer Award. She's delighted and the two people she's brought with her to the event couldn't be more pleased. Sonja, her mother, is an ex-model and Brazilian: you can see where Liberty got her looks from. Jessica's thirty-four and Liberty's best friend: they've known each other since university and Liberty adores Jessica's husband, Charles and their four-year-old daughter, Ava. Life would be perfect for Liberty if it wasn't for one thing: she misses having a man in her life. Full Review

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Review of

The Karma Trap by Lisette Boyd

4star.jpg Women's Fiction

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 karma trap: an awful lot of bad luck is being visited on her and she has a real talent for attracting drama. Her life's chaotic: she dealt with the leak from the shower by putting something down at the bottom of the 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 pervy postman. She only has to take her mother's 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 shares it around the office. Full Review

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Review of

Capturing Emilia by Brooke Adams

3star.jpg Women's Fiction

He's Charles Devereaux, thirty-eight and a partner at Wickham Jones, the Mayfair letting agents. She's Emilia, twenty-nine, librarian and archivist in the heritage library next door. Emilia has read The Secret but she's moved on from new age books like that, which leave you dependent on someone else's philosophies, to something a little deeper. Charles is more of a Jack Reacher man himself, but, above all, he's shocked that Emilia reads The Guardian. They're obviously not at all compatible, so why can Charles not get this woman out of his mind? She's not his usual type at all: it's obvious to his friends. And given that Emilia regularly feels repulsed by Charles's superficiality, why does she feel drawn to him? The relationship's obviously a non-starter, isn't it? Full Review

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Review of

The Shelf by Helly Acton

4star.jpg Women's Fiction

When we meet Amy, she's in a relationship with Jamie. You can't really call it a partnership, because things tend to get done on his terms, but she's sticking around because she hopes she can change him. Ah, 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 the wait) worth it? Full Review

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Review of

What Kind of Girl by Alyssa Sheinmel

4star.jpg Women's Fiction

Doing something when you're scared is braver than doing something when you're not

When Mike Parker's girlfriend comes into school with a black eye, claiming he gave it to her, her whole world is tipped upside down. Her relationship has just ended and now she's the talk of the school. Mike was the most popular boy in school who was always so in love with her, everyone 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't going to blow over any time soon. Full Review

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Review of

A Springtime Affair by Katie Fforde

4star.jpg Women's Fiction

I've wanted to read author Katie Fforde for ages and this was pretty much exactly what I was expecting - a warm, cosy read focused on romance, family and friendships. This provided two romances for the price of one, but it was actually the family element as opposed to the romance that I really enjoyed. Full Review

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Review of

Be Careful Who You Marry by Lizzy Mumfrey

4star.jpg General Fiction

It was coming up to Halloween in 1987 and a group of sixth-form schoolgirls wondered what they would be doing when they were fifty. When you're only seventeen that seems positively ancient, but Liz was convinced that your entire life depends on who you marry. The only eligible boys were the Young Farmers and the idea of living in a farmhouse and having a couple of children called Will and Olly appealed to Charlotte, or perhaps William and Oliver if you were Elizabeth who was determined to marry the rather superior Patrick Shepley-Botham. The place to start their search was obviously the Young Farmers' Halloween disco that weekend. There was just one problem - there were too many Elizabeths in the class. Full Review

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