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[[Category:New Reviews|Women's Fiction]]==Women's Fiction==__NOTOC__{{newreview|author=Gabrielle Donnelly|title=The Little Women Letters|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=I read the back cover blurb with delight and couldn't help but applaud Donnelly for her ingenuity. I loved the book ''Little Women'' when I read it many years ago and television adaptations keep it fresh for new generations. So, before I'd even turned to chapter one, I was loving this book. But will it live up to my lofty expectations?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718156587</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jennifer Weiner1471180158|title=Fly Away Home|rating=3.5|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=Sylvie Serfer married Richard Woodruff and from that day on made herself the perfect politician's wife. The senator came first in everything, even before their children. That's not to say that the girls were neglected – it's just that they never came first. The senator's image, his convenience, his schedule and his clothing were of paramount importance to Sylvie. There's a problem though – the senator has been having an affair and as with all such matrimonial earthquakes in political circles it broke on the national news rather than in the privacy of the matrimonial home. What's Sylvie to do?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847390250</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewMaybe Tomorrow|author=Sue Moorcroft|title=Love and Freedom|rating=4.5|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=Honor Sontag left her home in the States and came to the UK. Her career had hit a sticky patch but she was determined to take a four-month break in Brighton to think things over and get herself back together again. She needed a job that would help to supplement the money she had - and she definitely didn't want anything 'heavy'. The other thing that she didn't want was any sort of romantic entanglement. She's not even that tempted by the brother of her landlady, who's good looking, but his sister can't stop commenting about how irregularly he works although someone else mentions that he's on the buses. Not much of a starter there then.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906931666</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Julia Stagg|title=L'Auberge|rating=3.5|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=L'Auberge des Deux Vallees was sadly neglected but it had been bought, not as everyone expected, by a relative of the mayor, but by an English couple who, by all accounts, had little French and not a lot of experience in running a restaurant. Obviously, such a travesty cannot be allowed to continue, and within hours of hearing the news, mayor Serge Papon has called an emergency council meeting to ensure that the newcomers are forced out as quickly as possible. Unfortunately he hadn't reckoned on Christian Dupuy, whose politics are guided by his conscience rather than his wallet. When it comes down to it are quite a few other people in Fogas who don't see what's happening in quite the same way as the mayor.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444708236</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Kate Johnson|title=The Untied KingdomPenny Parkes

|summary=Barrister Ophelia Dormandy had been working hard – wellJamie Matson works in an upper-class grocery store, overworking – for a man who's a control freak with all the last six months and on the eve subtlety of her thirty-ninth birthday she decided that she would go home early and cook a decent meal for her husband and herselfhalf brick. She even decided that she would wear the red dress which Patrick liked. But when she got home Patrick and their Jamie's son, AlexBo, were eating ice creams'has his problems'. He didn't seem in s asthmatic and the more you read, the least interested in dinner and then admitted more you'll suspect that he was having an affair's on the autistic spectrum. Ophelia threw him out – Sometimes Jamie needs to take time off at short notice - she's a frequent flier in the local A&E and then began sometimes Bo's not fit enough to go to school. Missed shifts or the long haul of trying need to be a decent single parent 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 job where the hours were long and the money uncertainhead.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907595147</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Emily GiffinLauren Bravo|title=Something BorrowedPreloved

|summary=Rachel Miller and Darcy Rhone had been friends forever. Rachel was the older by just Gwen is pressing her middle-aged bosom on a big number that starts with a four months, but it was Darcy who sailed through life getting everything that she wanted. Rachel might have reached her teens first, got her driving licence first and then gone on to become ends with an attorney, but on the eve on Racheloh-my-God-I's thirtieth birthday Darcy is m-nearly-forty. Having been made unexpectedly redundant - any HR officer worth their salt would argue the one who is toss - Gwen finds herself having a whale bit of a time, with her glamorous PR job and ''very'' presentable fiancémid-life crisis. Rachel Catharsis is very obviously still single – key and then an ill-considered birthday fling puts everything in jeopardy and – Gwen has decided now is the time to cap it all - she begins to realise that take back her friendship with Darcy might not have been all she thought.life'|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099557746</amazonuk>1398510629

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Farahad Zama0008506337|title=The Wedding Wallah|rating=4.5|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=Finishing 'The Wedding Wallah' is like leaving India at the end of a short holiday with myriad impressions of foreignness. I'll remember the crowds of Mumbai, the smells of cooking in small rooms, the colours and textures of saris, the dangerous forest. This may not be the greatest literature published this year – not even the finest romantic fiction – but the sheer novelty of the Indian world portrayed makes it five stars for enjoyment in my book. I imagined Farahad Zama as a female writer beavering away in rural India. Turns out I was wrong: the author is a male investment banker in London with two books previously published in this series. Oops.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0349122687</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewGarnett Girls|author=Cathy Glass|title=Run, Mummy, RunGeorgina Moore|rating=45

|summary=Aisha is a youngThe love affair between Margo Garnett and poet Richard O'Leary was all-consuming, beautiful apparently on both sides. Margo was just sixteen when they fell in love. Richard was twenty-one and successful woman who has worked hard to get where she isdescribed by Margo's mother as 'an older man'. But there is one thing missing in Her parents worried that Richard's influence would take her life: away from what they felt she could achieve - going to Oxford and having a manglittering career. Still living with In the event, they eloped and Richard took her parents at away from the age Isle of thirty Wight. Margo did go to Oxford and inexperienced when it comes went on to menbecome a well-respected journalist. The couple had three children: Rachel, Aisha wonders if she will ever find a husbandImogen and Sasha. But then she spots an ad Life was lived in the paper London and plucking up all her courage and determinationholidays 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 decides would never be able to reply. This could be her only chance at love and she doesnleave him in charge''t want to waste it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007299281</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Sam Baker|title=To My Best Friends|rating=4|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=Nicci Morrison had always been the first of the four friends to do everything: fall in love, marry, have children (and twins at that) and develop a successful business. Then, at thirty six, she was the first to die – of cancer. Nicci was an organiser and she couldn't let the opportunity pass to dress her friends for her funeral and to bequeath into their care her most treasured possessions. You're probably thinking in terms of jewellery, or something similar, but Nicci Richard left her friends her garden, her three-year-old daughters and her husbandthem. I mean – just how much more difficult than that can you get?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007305540</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Susan WiggsHadeer Elsbai|title=Summer at Willow LakeThe Daughters of Izdihar

|genre=Women's FictionFantasy|summary=Olivia Bellamy does not seem to have a lot Drawing inspiration from Egypt, ''The Daughters of luck with men. When we meet her sheIzdihar''s just about to put her third broken engagement under her belt and head explores the lives of into two women who could not be more different, yet find themselves fighting for the wilderness rights of the Catskills women and weavers – those with Freddy. Don't get excited – he really is just magical abilities - in a friendsociety pitted against them. They're going Nehal, born into the upper class, wishes to revamp attend the family's old summer camp in readiness for Weaving Academy to learn to control her grandparents' fiftieth wedding anniversary celebrations abilities and right now it seems like then join the best way to forget about her love lifemilitary, but instead she is forced into an arranged marriage with Nico. Things turn from bad to worse though when she finds herself Giorgina on the other hand did not only stuck up have a flagpole but having privileged upbringing like Nehal and feels great pressure to be rescued by provide for her family and maintain their reputation, whilst secretly attending meetings of the man who was her first boyfriend some nine years before.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0778304760</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Julian Ruck|title=Ragged Cliffs|rating=3|genre=WomenDaughters of Izdihar – a group campaigning for women's Fiction|summary=Lise Jacobson was half Danish and half Welshrights. She lived Giorgina also happens to be in love with her parents in Denmark but during the Second World War indulged in Nico. What follows is a story of an innocent friendship unjust society, filled 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 hypocrisy and Lise's soncruelty, born as from which blossoms a result group of the rape, back to Swansea admirable women fighting for their rights and there they did overcoming 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 permanentlypersonal obstacles.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1904323189</amazonuk>0356520471

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Linda GillardB0B575J99N|title=House of Silence|rating=4.5|genre=Women's Fiction|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 Beneath the gardener who said little but was a very good listener.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B004USSPN2</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewPorticoes|author=Freya North|title=ChancesBrooke Adams

|summary=Sharing Elizabeth Miller was thirty-four and a business with ex-lover, Tim, is teacher at a disaster prestigious girl's school in York. It was ''comfortable'' but she longed for Vitasomething more in life. How can she possibly move on when he She'd ''s popping into their souvenir shop every day? Though she shed still not found the right vocation nor met 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 isnright man''t a likely option and escaping into her precious classic fiction is sometimes now was the only way time to make a change. She needed challenges. There was a little trepidation when she can ignore her troubled thoughtsapplied for the professoressa job in Bologna. She cannot afford to buy his share of After a telephone interview, she was offered the business position and she isnit wasn't prepared to risk losing 'That Shop' with its delightful trinkets and resident shoplifter!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007326661</amazonuk>long before she was exploring the beautiful city. There were some natural doubts before her first class but it went surprisingly well.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jo Verity0241542405|title=Not Funny Not CleverMeredith Alone|author=Claire Alexander

|genre=Women's General Fiction|summary=Elizabeth was rather looking forward 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 trip to Cardifftrain. Then, she can't. She and Diane hadnsimply can'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 force herself to leave the ideal opportunity to take advantage safety of Dianeher home. She's invitationfortunate that she has a good friend, Sadie, who visits regularly with her two children, James and Matilda. She had visions Sadie's a cardiac nurse and full of girly chats – if you can still have girly chats at nearly fiftysound common sense. But In fact it was Sadie who gave Meredith her plans were going to be disruptedcat, Fred. Her son blessed her with his partnerGroceries are online deliveries and there's teenage son 'for a few days in also an emergencyinternet-based support group where you' and ll find Meredith as JIGSAWGIRL, so you can guess what she had no option but to take Jordan does in – and then to take him to Cardiff her spare time. Then Tom McDermott arrives. He's from Holding Hands, a charity which supports people with herproblems such as Meredith's.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906784248</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mary Malone0008441618|title=Love is the ReasonOther Parents|author=Sarah Stovell|rating=45

|summary=Lucy Ardle Jo Fairburn knew that she was driving home, wondering what sort under intense pressure as the new head of a mood West Burntridge First School: if she didn't live up to her husband would retired predecessor there could well be a house price slump inthat part of the town. When she'd left earlier, words The school had been spokenan active Parent Teacher Association and the funds which they raised were a considerable benefit to the school. She There was nearly home when she was overtaken by one difficulty, though - they were ''devastatingly shockable'', with two members, in particular, causing problems for the fire engine: the house was in flames head. Laura Spence and it was touch and go as Kate Monroe objected to whether or not Danny would make it. Thankfully LucyJo's friend, Carol Black had seen restrictions on the flames and called the fire brigade or the outcome would have been much worsetoys 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>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Clodagh MurphyGiovanna Fletcher|title=Girl in a SpinWalking on Sunshine

|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 thatMike's what she's never had. So when she begins a relationship wife, Pia, who he was with Richard Allam she dares to hope that the dreams might be coming truefor seventeen years, has died. Richard And whilst he is youngdealing with his grief, good-looking so are their best friends, Vicky and leader of Her MajestyZaza. But Pia left them all some 'rules's oppositionto follow, knowing that she was dying and that they would need help to carry on living. He has high hopes Whilst some 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 rules are around practicalities such as Richard has only recently separated from his wife Jenny is going clearing out her wardrobe, another one that Mike discovers one day encourages him to take some selling one of their trips away, and Vicky and Zaza, struggling with their grief and their own life troubles, decide to the country. Enter publicist Dev Tennant whose job is to make the country fall drop everything in love their own lives, and go along with Jennyhim.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1444705148</amazonuk>140593560X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Fern BrittonB09FS89KX9|title=New BeginningsFall On Me|author=Penelope Potts

|summary=Christie Lynch is a widowed mother with a couple of children and she's Life should have 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. good for Hollie: She's spotted by Julia Keen, ''was just going into the'' most successful agent final year of her veterinary degree and it seems that the sky- three years later - was still working at BB's the limitdiner. It's not long before Christie has Bob - the owner - regarded her fondly: he was a high-profile presenting jobgood boss. The public loves Hollie had moved in with her boyfriend, Marcus: hermother thought he was great and he was doing well in his career. The camera loves Hollie wasn't quite so certain though: Marcus wanted to control herand most of all he wanted her to leave her job at the diner. What's not Then there was the fact that he would be violent, both to her and to like?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007362692</amazonuk>other people.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Amanda Brookfield0008421714|title=Before I Knew YouMrs March|author=Virginia Feito|rating=4.5|genre=Women's Literary Fiction|summary=Two couples agree The problem began just after the publication of George March's most successful novel to swap homes for the summer, urged on by a mutual frienddate. Sophie and Andrew are teachers who live in London, rather jaded with life and each other, Everyone but hoping for a breakMrs March (we know her first name only on the last page) seemed to either be reading it or had already done so. Their two teenage daughters are Every day Mrs March went to the local patisserie to buy olive bread but on a music tourthat particular morning, Patricia asked, but hope to join them for as she was wrapping the last week.  William and Beth are a newly married couplebread, who live in a gorgeous home in Connecticut in ''but isn't this the USA. William is rather older than Beth; first time he's based a Brit who has three teenage sons living with their mother in Londoncharacter on you?'' She mentioned that Johanna, not far from Sophie and Andrewthe principal character had 'her mannerisms''s home. William wants to spend time with his sons in Perhaps this would not have mattered, except for the fact that Johanna is the summerwhore of Nantes - ''a weak, plain, detestable, pathetic, and Beth hopes to get to know them betterunloved, unloveable wretch.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141039949</amazonuk>''

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Fanny Blake1473685745|title=What Women WantUnbreak Your Heart|author=Katie Marsh

|summary=I'll be honest: I had my doubts about this book. Fanny Blake is a When Beth Carlyle and Simon Withers first met they were on opposite ends of an angry exchange - well-known journalist , Simon was angry and sheBeth was doing her best to apologise for having knocked Simon's also written for programmes such as ''Locationson, LocationJake, Locationoff his bike. He wasn't hurt but Jake has history. He has HLHS - that' and s Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome for those of you who are not ''A Place in the Sunau fait''with your medical acronyms. I wasnWhen he was born, the left side of his heart hadn't entirely certain how this would fit with developed properly and he needed open-heart surgery when he was a book about the lives of three middlefew days old. So, Simon has every right to be over-aged women who are dealing with change in their lives – and protective particularly when someone isn't looking where they're not moving housedriving. I sat down to have a quick look to see if it was going to be worth reviewing…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007359098</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sophie PageC J Carey|title=To Marry A PrinceWidowland

|genre=Women's General Fiction|summary=Bella Greenwood has just been away on 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 tropical island doing an eco-job for a man she though she rather fancied. She returned home when she realised that she was being taken for a mug bit, and when it came down watching over the sanctioned return to it she didn't really fancy the man that much eitherthrone of Edward VIII with his wife, Queen Wallis. Getting back into For yes, Britain caved in the swing of things is a little difficult though – he mother and steplead-father have a full house and canup to the World War Two that certainly didn't take her in. Her father is up happen as we know it, and we are now a mountain somewhere and she's just thankful that her friend Lottie is prepared to take her in at short notice protectorate – and to take her to a posh party.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099560453</amazonuk>}} {{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 well, we share enough of the Travelling Matchmaker' same blood as the subheading has it Germanic peoples on ''the frontispiece: the beginning of a new series obviouslymainland''.  If like me you have come to Beaton by way of Hamish Macbeth But this might seem like something of is most certainly a diversion. A little research shows you that in fact Marion Chesneydifferent Britain, for Nazi-styled phrenology, who writes under a number and ideas of pseudonyms (including Beaton) female purpose, has put all of that gender into a prolific workcaste system, ranging from high-rate. Having produced upwards of 130 books since starting writing full time in brow office bigwigs to the 1980sdrudges, focussing on crime and historical romancebeyond those, there can be few avenues right on down which she has yet to wanderthe childless, the husbandless and the widows.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849014795</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Sylvia Broady|title=The Yearning Heart|rating=3|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=It Female literacy is 1941 so when an unmarried Frances Bewholme becomes pregnant she actively discouraged. And in this puritanical existence, our heroine, Rose Ransom, is shunned by her family and sent employed with the task of bowdlerising classical literature to an isolated farm to live take all encouragement for female emancipation out of it – after all, not every book can be banned, and work. To add to her shame not every story excised immediately from British civilisation, and disgrace Fran's unborn baby is not so they just any manget a hefty tweak towards the party line before they's; it re stamped ready for reprint. That is her brother-in-law's. Victor Rentonjob, at least, home on leave from until the war takes advantage first emerging signs of Fran one night when she comes homefemale protest come to light, upset and heartbrokenwith their potential to spoil Hitler's visit.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0709092113</amazonuk>152941198X

 {{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>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Katie FfordeRuth Hogan|title=Summer of LoveMadame Burova

|genre=Women's 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 This book lets us discover several people in different stages of life away from in the hustle and bustle of Londonearly 1970s, all vaguely connected. Although she is happy on her own So we have a bullied half-cast boy (as he would have been called then), she knows that her good friend Richard is looking for something more and would love a girl in a humdrum job wanting to marry her and to provide become a home for herself singer, and Rory. Howeverchiefly, Imelda, the third generation of Madame Burova, ''Tarot-Reader, although she recognises that he is a good dependable manPalmist and Clairvoyant'', he does not excite to use her, unlike Roryfamily's father who she had only a brief fling with many years beforesea-front booth. Should she settle for security The singer, the scryer and a quiet life or should she hold out for something more exciting? That is the dilemma that Sian struggles with throughout this story.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846056500</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Audrey Willsher|title=The House of Hope|rating=3.5|genre=Womensufferer's Fiction|summary=It was November 1946 when Marianne made her way to Hope Grange. She was taking the job of mother will all become staff at a maid in the house owned by Hugo Laceyrevamped holiday camp, but she hadn't even arrived just before she wondered if she'd made a mistakethen we see Imelda fly solo for the first time in the family stall. The villagers were unwelcoming and finding he house wasn't easy We also see her on her last day, fifty years later, particularly as she didn't like to ask the German Prisoner in possession of War she met – he was one a pair of the ones who had been responsible letters that will change everything for the death of her beloved Nan two years before in a V2 attackwoman called Billie. When Just who is she did find the house she encountered a difficult child, his very difficult grandmother and who delivered the realisation that they secrets about her to Imelda, and the house were on their uppers.why did it have to remain a secret all this time?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0709092016</amazonuk>152937331X

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=M C BeatonJennifer Saint |title=Travelling Matchmaker: Belinda Goes to BathAriadne |rating=34.5|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=Miss Hannah Pym was a housekeeper until recently but has now received a legacy which lifts her out This re-telling of the myth of Ariadne and the servant classes Minotaur is interesting and enables her unusual. Jennifer Saint presents the story in a way that is sympathetic to fulfil her long-held wish its origins but also appealing to travela modern audience. It might be winter but Miss Pym Saint's narrative is taking told predominantly through the stagecoach viewpoint of Ariadne, spanning from her childhood 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 companiondeath, is being sent in disgrace allowing the reader to stay really connect with Ariadne as a character in her auntown right rather than just a prop in the heroics of Theseus.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1849014809</amazonuk>1472273869

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jane MooreLucy Holland|title=Love is on the AirSistersong|rating=45|genre=Women's Literary Fiction|summary='Love Sistersong is on part of a genre I particularly enjoy, the Air' is all about trying to find the perfect relationshipmodern retelling of folk and fairy tales. Cam knows that things These stories, for most of us, are not right a cornerstone of childhood and I relish seeing them retold with her boyfriend Dean but after six years together, she is afraid fresh eyes and a fresh perspective. If handled well these retellings give new life and new meaning to do anything about it. They stories that are behaving like an old married couple now becoming increasingly narrow and they are not even married. Thereforeoutdated, when she goes on holiday with friends Saira and Ellafleshing out characters, she is somewhat vulnerable examining relationships and so it re-evaluating the role of women. Sistersong is no surprise that she a perfect example of a modern retelling done well, the plot is attracted handled with care, keeping its archaic historical feel but allowing the characters to come to life, to fun loving single dad Tom. After feel real and human, most importantly they feel relatable in a few drinks one thing leads to another but modern world whilst still feeling appropriate for the next day Cam pre-Saxon age they live in. This is racked with guilt. She resolves to forget about Tom a masterpiece of storytelling and I was captivated from beginning to make more effort in her relationship with Deanend.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099505533</amazonuk>1529039037

 {{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>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Felicity EverettB08NF79QXT|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>}} {{newreviewCherry Blossom Boutique|author=Jessica Ruston|title=To Touch the StarsBrooke Adams|rating=43

|summary=CavalleyThirty-one-year old Liberty Rossini has had her shop, the Cherry Blossom Boutique, for just six months when she's creates the most luxurious hats in the world along with a host of other items without which nominated for - and wins - the rich cannot surviveRetail Best Newcomer Award. At She's delighted and the companytwo people she's head is Violet Cavalley, now celebrating her sixtieth birthday brought with her family about herto the event couldn't be more pleased. She looks as though she could go on foreverSonja, her mother, but Violet is an ex-model and one or two others know differentlyBrazilian: you can see where Liberty got her looks from. There are a few Jessica's thirty-four and Liberty's best friend: they've known each other people who know that Violet isn't who she says she is since university and that he background wouldnLiberty adores Jessica't stand a lot of close examination. From the villa in Capris husband, to the London homes of the family Charles and the private jettheir four-year-old daughter, Ava. Life would be perfect for Liberty if itwasn's all good living, but there are plenty of secrets which are going to be airedt for one thing: she misses having a man in her life.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755370325</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jane LoveringB08GFSK2WZ|title=Please Don't Stop the MusicThe Karma Trap|author=Lisette Boyd

|summary=Jemima Hutton makes jewelled belt buckles and she's determined George Jackson is thirty-three years old, absolutely gorgeous to make a success of the business – look at - and to keep a dark secret which she's shared with no onesingle. She's camping out in her friendnot had sex for eight months and she's spare room and another friend stuck in the karma trap: an awful lot of bad luck is allowing being visited on her workshop spaceand she has a real talent for attracting drama. It is Her life''just'' working until s chaotic: she dealt with the leak from the woman she supplies exclusively decides that she's not going to stock her any more. Jemima is shower by putting something down at the bottom of the stairs to walking absorb the water - then the shower fell through the streets of York looking for someone who will stock roof whilst she was in it and left her buckles, stark naked, staring at the pervy postman. Sheonly has to take her mother's all but given dog out for a walk for her to end up when she meets Ben with dog poo spattered across her face - and a photo being taken by someone who says that he'll stock shares it around 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 themoffice.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906931275</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jennifer BohnetB08CHJLNBS|title=Rendezvous in CannesCapturing Emilia|author=Brooke Adams

|summary=ItHe's Charles Devereaux, thirty-eight and a partner at Wickham Jones, the beginning of the Cannes Film Festival Mayfair letting agents. She's Emilia, twenty-nine, librarian and for two women life is going to change completely archivist in the coming weeksheritage library next door. Anna Carson Emilia has found the love read [[The Secret by Rhonda Byrne|The Secret]] but she's moved on from new age books like that she thought would always elude her and can, which leave you dependent on someone else't quite believe her happiness. Daisys philosophies, here to cover the Festival as something a journalist little deeper. Charles is coming 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 terms with being singlehis friends. ItAnd given that Emilia regularly feels repulsed by Charles's time for her to make some decisionssuperficiality, but what will why does she decidefeel drawn to him? The hurlyrelationship's obviously a non-burly of the Festival is not the most peaceful time to make big decisions.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709091400</amazonuk>starter, isn't it?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Marian KeyesHelly Acton|title=The Brightest Star in the SkyShelf|rating=3.54|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=Marian Keyes When we meet Amy, she's in a relationship with Jamie. You can usually be relied upon for 't really call it a funnypartnership, because things tend to get done on his terms, moving story full of life-likebut she's sticking around because she hopes she can change him. Ah, likeable charactersyes. I was eager to read Haven't we all been there? Things are looking up when he tells 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 pack for a variety of different characterssurprise trip. An unknown, magical narrator takes us through Could this be it? Is he ''finally'' going to get down on one knee? Was the house as we meet each tenant work (and discover what's happening in their lives.the wait) worth it?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>014102867X</amazonuk>1838770879

{{newreview|author=Allison Pearson|title=I Think I Love You|rating=3.5|genre=WomenWhen Mike Parker's Fiction|summary=Itgirlfriend 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 70s, and 13 year old Petra is talk of the school. Mike was the most popular boy in school who was always so in lovewith her, everyone knew that, so why did he do what he did? Some people believe her and not with a silly boy at schoolsome don't, but with a man. He's not from Wales like she one thing isfor sure, or even from Britain. He's much more mysterious and alluring. He comes from across the pond and his name is David Cassidy. ''The'this isn' David Cassidyt going to blow over any time soon.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>009946859X</amazonuk>0349003297

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Lesley PearseKatie Fforde|title=BelleA Springtime Affair|rating=4|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=BelleI's story begins in London in 1910. She is fifteen years old ve wanted to read author Katie Fforde for ages and lives an innocent life in her mother's brothelthis was pretty much exactly what I was expecting - a warm, with no understanding of what really takes place there. Her mother has encouraged her to cosy read and writefocused on romance, wanting her kept away from the harsh realities of the brothel family and the rough streets of London that surround herfriendships. But Belle's innocence is shattered when she witnesses This provided two romances for the murder price 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>}} {{newreview|author=Jan Jones|title=The Kydd Inheritance|rating=3.5|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=Nell's Kydd's father died in a hunting accident and her brother, Kit but it was uncontactable, seemingly lost, on his way back from India. This left her uncle, Jasper Kydd in charge of actually the family estate and he appeared element as opposed to be doing all in his power to wreck Kydd Court and make Nell's life a misery. Her 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 the romance that she has to take action and that's when the very unsettling Captain Hugo Derringer arrivesI really enjoyed. He's an old friend of Kitt's, but what exactly is he doing in the area and can Nell trust him?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0709091710</amazonuk>1780897561

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Allegra GoodmanB07W4MNBSG|title=The Cookbook CollectorBe Careful Who You Marry|author=Lizzy Mumfrey

|summary=''The Cookbook Collector'' is all about emotions. Concentrating on two, young, American women who are vastly different It was coming up to Halloween in many areas 1987 and a group of their lives and also on their outlook on life, Goodman digs deeper to find out what makes them tick sixth- form schoolgirls wondered what makes them get up in the morningthey would be doing when they were fifty.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848875398</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Lulu Taylor|title=Beautiful Creatures|rating=4|genre=Women When you's Fiction|summary=Everyone has heard of the Beaufort twins Octavia and Florare only seventeen that seems positively ancient, but few have ever seen them, Liz was convinced that ''your entire life depends on who you marry''. The only eligible boys were the Young Farmers and on the night idea of their twenty-first birthday party the girls are finally launched into society amongst living in a farmhouse and having a crowd anxious couple of children called Will and Olly appealed to see the two girls Charlotte, or perhaps William and Oliver if you were Elizabeth who are about was determined to inherit a vast fortunemarry the rather superior Patrick Shepley-Botham. Octavia and Flora have been kept out of The place to start their search was obviously the public eye for their entire young lives by their aunt Frances after their father died and their mother seemingly abandoned themYoung Farmers' Halloween disco that weekend. Now that the girls have come of age Frances has no choice but to hand over There was just one problem - there were too many Elizabeths in the girls' vast inheritance from their father and take a step back from running their livesclass.|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 Move 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[[Features|summary=Ginnie Holmes is a child-psychologist, working to help children and young people damaged by what they have experienced or what they have seen. She 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>}}latest features]]