Newest Women's Fiction Reviews
Step Back In Time by Ali McNamara
Career girl Jo-Jo gets hit by a car, but the accident leaves her not in hospital, but transported back to 1963. Another such accident leaves her in the 70s, a third in the 80s, and a fourth in the 90s. With a different life each time, and fashion and music being very different from what she's used to, can she find her way home? Full review...
The Flavours of Love by Dorothy Koomson
Saffron's husband, Joel, was stabbed in the street eighteen months ago and no one has ever been arrested for his murder. It's hard for Saffron and her two children, Pheobe and Zane, to live with what happened but somehow they have to find a way of getting on with their lives; lives that no longer have Joel in them. It's hardly surprising that they struggle on a daily basis and it all culminates when Saffron is called into school to discuss fourteen year old Pheobe. Saffron doesn't know how to deal with the situation especially as her daughter won't talk to her. On top of all that, Joel's killer is still out there somewhere and that makes her scared for all her family's safety. Full review...
Mr Perfect by Joanna Davies
This book made me feel old. Old, and a bit boring. From the blurb I'd expected a light-hearted chick-lit style story of finding the perfect man, or perhaps realising that the perfect man doesn't exist and finding, instead, the man you love has been living right under your nose all along! It is, in part, that sort of story. But it's also the story of two people who spend an awful lot of their lives having sex with entirely the wrong people and occasionally running into each other (literally at one point!) but missing the fact that they like each other for many, many years. Full review...
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy by Helen Fielding
Bridget, as you might have heard, is back. Some things have changed (she’s now a mother! And in her, ahem, 50s) and some things haven’t (she still has dating disasters and drinks wine as if it were water) but the most important thing of all is that she’s still Bridget, and she’s still journaling her life for our amusement. Full review...
Amelia Grey's Fireside Dream by Abby Clements
Amelia and Jack live in a cramped flat in Hackney where they hardly have room to swing a cat. They can't afford to upgrade in London but maybe a small cottage away from the city could be affordable. When Amelia is overlooked for a promotion at the school she teaches in it feels that the time is right for a change. After their dream cottage is sold to another buyer, they discover Brambledown Cottage. It looks to be just what they are after; however, do they really know just how much work they are taking on? Full review...
A Heart Bent Out of Shape by Emylia Hall
Hadley Dunn is quite a fancy name for a girl like her. She has lived quite a nondescript life up until now, and even her university years look like they’ll be quite uneventful since she’s decided to live at home rather than move away. Then, out of the blue, an opportunity arises, and Hadley finds herself spending a year abroad in Switzerland. Away from the responsibilities of home, and surrounded by exciting new friends, Hadley becomes a much more appealing character. She is especially close to Danish student Kristina who is also there for a year in Lausanne, and the two soon grow close, even if each has secrets they keep to themselves and cannot share with even their closest of friends. Full review...
The Manny by Holly Peterson
Jamie Whitfield is married to Phillip and has three children - although, if truth be told, she has four children, but shares a bed with one of them, who also happens to have a highly paid job. Well, most people would think that he has a highly-paid job, but Phillip is resentful that he's not one of the super-rich. Just nicely getting into seven figures is simply not enough. Living in New York's Grid is not enough - he wants one of the massive apartments. Jamie works too, but she's only a part-time television news producer, so obviously her needs - and rights - are going to be secondary. Full review...
My Husband Next Door by Catherine Alliott
Ella's marriage to the artist Sebastian Monclair has gone downhill just as quickly as Sebastian's once-stellar career did. With him living in an outhouse and her seeking comfort with charming gardener Ludo, who she's not quite ready to have an affair with, their children are caught in the fallout. When Ella's parents go through their own marital problems and her overbearing mum moves in with her, will it give Ella the push she needs to take action? Full review...
Woman on Top by Deborah Schwartz
Kate and Jake had one of those brilliant marriages that looks set to last forever along with two wonderful children. But Fate is always hiding around the corner with its foot stuck out, waiting to trip you up and Jake was diagnosed with cancer. They both fought to do everything that they could to find a cure but within two years Kate was a widow. For nearly a decade she dedicated herself to the children and to making a career as a healthcare lawyer so that she could support the family. When she was ready to look for another relationship she met Len. It wasn't his looks that attracted her or his stature (she'd hastily searched out her flat shoes), but he did seem to have something about him. Full review...
The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks
An elderly man set off on a car journey when the weather was so bad that he really shouldn't have taken the risk. He couldn't quite remember what caused him to skid off the road, but he was trapped in the car which had slithered down a steep embankment. The weather was worsening and he wasn't optimistic about the chances of being found. For ninety-one-year-old Ira Levinson his only comfort and hope was the presence of his adored wife, Ruth, who'd been dead for nine years. Some way away Sophia Danko's life was complicated. She'd been dating Brian for two years but finished the relationship when he cheated on her for the second time - only Brian couldn't accept that it was over. That was how Sophia met Luke - he stepped in when Brian's attentions became just a little too pressing. Full review...
Tempting Fate by Jane Green
Sometimes people make mistakes. It only takes a moment to do something wrong and if you’re lucky, it only takes a moment to put it right. Or it can take months or years. Some mistakes you just have to live with, forever. Gabby has made one of those mistakes. The sort you can never really come back from. Full review...
The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
Cecelia, Tess and Rachel are three women spread across the generations, and spread across Australia. At first glance they have little in common, but as this book progresses, their lives move closer and staggering links appear between the threesome. Full review...
A Private View by Crystalle Valentino
Jemma is a model who thinks nothing of photographers taking an interest in her. In fact, she rather likes it. After all, that’s the sort of thing that leads to more work. But when the renowned Dominic Vane comes after her, the works he has in mind is something a little different. As an erotic romance, you can imagine what he wants her body for. Hint: it’s not just as a clothes horse. And so, thanks to a helpfully understanding boyfriend with whom she’s in an open relationship, Jemma decides to welcome Dominic into her life… and her bed. Except for some reason, he’s playing hard to get. The more he eludes her, the more she wants him, and their initial relationship turns on its head as she becomes the one now pursuing him. Full review...
Not What It Seems by Pamela Fudge
Owen was a widower with two young children and Evie was recently divorced with three children of about the same age. Friends introduced them - in the way of doing a little matchmaking - but although they liked each other and the kids all got on well there was no spark between them. They both needed help though and they made a business arrangement. Until the children were old enough to leave home they would share a house and the parenting of the children but they would not be involved in a sexual relationship. Friends and acquaintances found this difficult to accept and Evie grew tired of explaining that the setup was Not What It Seems. When we meet Owen and Evie the last child has just left home and as the arrangement has come to an end they're both moving into their own houses. Full review...
Best Laid Plans by Patricia Fawcett
The Fletcher family have a removal business but it's been hit - as have so many other businesses - by the recession. Frank Fletcher has been lucky in having the support of his wife Christine, who has money of her own which she's been willing to inject into the business, but he counts himself less lucky in his son Mike. Mike works for his father for what he describes as 'a pittance' and suffers being publicly humiliated by him rather too often. Frank would like to sack Mike, but doesn't feel able to take such a drastic step. To add to the problem, Christine is very fond of Mike's wife, Monique - to the detriment of her own daughter, Amy who works in retail - much to her father's chagrin. He'd love to have her in the business rather than Mike. It's very complicated. Full review...
Familiar by J Robert Lennon
Is there a greater change in the life of a middle-aged woman than the death of her teenage son? Elisa might have thought not, having been forced to bury fifteen year old Silas, and try and move on with her husband Derek and the year-older son, Sam. But a greater change occurs on the way back from her annual, solo pilgrimage to his grave – something very weird happens to the universe. She pops from one car to another, from under a cloudless sky to a slightly greyer one – and from her self as Elisa to a world where people call her Lisa, where she is plumper, in a different job, stiil married to Derek in the same home – but still the mother of two young men… Full review...
Walk Me Home by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Carly and Jen’s mother is dead and they have no other living relative. Scared that they will be placed in care in separate homes, the sisters decide that they have to find their mother’s former boyfriend, Teddy, one of the only people to have shown them any care and affection in their short lives. The only problem is that they are not sure where he is now, other than in California, and have no money or means of getting there. They decide to walk but how long will it take and what will they find waiting for them when they finally reach their destination? Full review...
Pack Up Your Troubles by Pam Weaver
This book opens on VE Day. Connie - who has been doing war work - and some friends are on their way to Trafalgar Square to celebrate. Connie had hoped her boyfriend would be with her, but he’s stood her up... however she’s determined to enjoy herself anyway. She meets some other girls, and gets chatting to Eva. They find themselves parted from the rest of their group, but have fun anyway, including playing in a fountain with some soldiers... and are caught on camera doing so. Full review...
Midsummer Magic by Julia Williams
After a whirlwind romance, Josie and Harry are engaged to be married and she is putting every waking hour into planning the wedding down to the finest detail. This includes taking Harry, bridesmaid Diana and best man Ant down to her parents’ home in Cornwall for the weekend as that is where the wedding is going to be taking place. It should be a weekend of excited planning and preparations but, unfortunately, things don’t turn out entirely as Josie hopes. She turns into the 'bride from Hell' driving all her friends crazy with boredom as she talks non-stop about the wedding plans in the minutest of details. In order to liven things up, Harry and Ant persuade the girls to take part in a hypnosis experiment which will make them plight their troths to their true loves at midnight on Midsummer Night’s Eve. As you might imagine, all sorts of mayhem occurs as well as a few home truths shared. Full review...
As the Cards Fall by Christina Green
At the end of the nineteenth century Bella Reed was working as a companion to a lady in Exeter and she had a gentleman friend, Jack Courtney. Jack was a solicitor and their friendship seemed to grow steadily - the the extent that Bella suspected he might be about to propose. The letter from her cousin rather upset the applecart, not least because she had no idea that she had a cousin. Since the deaths of her parents she'd thought of herself as an orphan without any relatives - but Lizzie asked that she visit the family home on Dartmoor as her Uncle William was ill and wanted to see her. A weekend trip didn't seem unreasonable and Jack escorted her to the station and said that he would meet her on Monday when she returned. Full review...
The Curiosity by Stephen P Kiernan
Microbiologist Kate Philo is a member of an Arctic expedition sent to locate life forms frozen in ice flows. Striking it lucky, she and the team find a human whom they reanimate once they get him back to their American lab. However new life brings new challenges. The man died over a century earlier and much has changed. The press is now omnipotent, his 'resurrection' offends religious fundamentalists and scientific ethics never saw this problem coming. To Kate, though, he's not a problem. He's Jeremiah, afraid, bewildered and in need of an ally. Full review...
Sweet Salt Air by Barbara Delinsky
It's ten years since Charlotte and Nicole were close. Since then Nicole has married Julian, an eminent surgeon and Charlotte has made her way as a writer. She has a base in New York, but it's little bigger than a cupboard and is only a place to stay between foreign assignments. Nicole lives in Philadelphia but still spends her summers at her family's property off the coast of Maine. This year is going to be the last time though. Her father died suddenly and her mother can't bear to go back to Quinniepeague, so Nicole is returning to the island to clear the house for sale. And she's going to write a cookbook. Full review...
Wonder Women by Rosie Fiore
Jo Hockley has always wanted to run her business but real life has got in the way. Married to Lee and mother to two small children, she has enough on her plate looking after all of them. However, when she dreams about an innovative kids’ clothing store with play facilities, she cannot let the idea go. She is sure that all mums would welcome the opportunity to shop while their children are able to play boisterously supervised by friendly staff. Encouraged by Lee, she investigates the idea further and before she knows what is happening, she is renting premises, planning interiors and hiring staff. Holly and Mel come on board and together, all three women work hard to make Jo’s dream become a reality. Full review...
By My Side by Alice Peterson
Cass is a medical student - she loves her work, and she also loves her boyfriend Sean. Tired, hung over and rather distracted, she walks into the street without noticing a fast-moving lorry coming her way... and her life is forever changed. Full review...
Things We Need by Jennifer Close
Claire Coffey used to live in New York with a successful job and a great fiancé; her sister Martha used to be a nurse; and her brother Max should have been looking forward to finishing his final year at college before embarking on an exciting and interesting career. However, things don’t always turn out the way that one expects which is why all three siblings end up back at the family home needing the support of their parents. Full review...
