Novel Kicks

About Novel Kicks/Laura... Novel Kicks was founded in 2009 and is run by Laura who is currently living in Hampshire, and lives with husband, Chris and her cat, Buddy. She would love to be a writer. She’s trying to write the novel she thinks so much about. She’s loved reading and writing since ‘Creative Writing’ classes in primary school. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything she can get her hands on, she loves reading, dancing like a loon, and watching Project Runway and Ugly Betty (her two TV guilty pleasures.) She also has an obsession with chocolate and Jammie Dodgers.

Review: The Curvy Girls Club by Michele Gorman

Published January 20, 2015 | By Novel Kicks

Katie, Ellie, Pixie and Jane have all struggled with their weight. They all belong to Slimming Zone and are the best of friends. When they get a little fed up with defining their lives by their waistline, they decide to form a club where size doesn’t matter and they can all be themselves – The Curvy Girls Club.

Very soon, the club becomes very popular as more people sign up and it becomes more successful than all the girls could imagine. However, things aren’t as good outside of the club as each girl struggles with the ups and downs of life.

As someone who has always struggled with her weight there was a lot in this book I could relate to and I thought I was going to find it a little hard going to read because of that. This book handles the subject matter well and there is a lot of humour, fun and four great, strong, female characters. Each woman has their own personal stories and all are going through slightly different things.

Katie is in love with a guy at work and makes some bad decisions for herself (not realising that she has to practise what she preaches,) Pixie is a strong woman but needs to find the courage to leave a bad relationship and start over (her behaviour toward Katie wasn’t always good,) Jane who has forgotten how fabulous she is and Ellie who needs to tame the Continue reading →

Events: An Audience with David Nicholls

Published January 20, 2015 | By Novel Kicks

Picture credit: Hal Shinnie

If you’re a fan of One Day and Us, there are still tickets available for An Audience with David Nicholls.

In association with Eastleigh Library 25th Anniversary events, David Nicholls will be at The Point on Saturday 24th January 2015.

He will be talking about screenwriting and his novels, including One Day and his latest bestseller and Booker shortlisted novel, Us. David will also be available for a book signing after his talk which will then be followed by a screening of One Day (12A.)

The event starts at 3pm and tickets are still available for £8. One Day will be shown at 4.30pm.

For more information or to book tickets, visit The Point’s website: http://thepointeastleigh.co.uk

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January Book Club: The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom

Published January 2, 2015 | By Novel Kicks

Book Corner is our monthly online book club.

How it works…

We love books and we love chatting about them even more. Every month, we pick a new book for discussion. We will post a question to kick things off and then you can talk about any of your thoughts about the book in the comments box below. The best thing about our book club is that EVERYONE CAN TAKE PART. It’s open to all. You can read the book at any point in the month or if you’ve already read it, tell us what you think.

This month, our pick is The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom

About the book:

Banished for centuries, as punishment for trying to measure time, the inventor of the world’s first clock is finally granted his freedom, along with a mission: a chance to redeem himself by teaching two people the true meaning of time.

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Spotlight: Our Favourites Reads of 2014.

Published January 2, 2015 | By Novel Kicks

Happy New Year. As we say hello to 2015, it’s time to say farewell to 2014 but before we do, we wanted to have a quick look at the books we enjoyed reading in 2014.

Firstly Bella, our Bella’s Scribblings columnist talks about her favourite book of 2014:

My favourite book of 2014 was Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding. I was more than a little concerned before I started reading this as I had heard the spoilers and I totally loved the first two books. I had no need to worry. The writing was as superb as ever and so was Bridget. She is still an amazing character who is now coping as a single parent and trying to date again with expected hilarious results. The characters were all vividly drawn and I was quickly immersed in Bridget’s world. A terrific story and a top holiday read. Loved it!

About Mad About The Boy (Jonathan Cape, 2013.)

What do you do when a girlfriend’s 60th birthday party is the same day as your boyfriend’s 30th? Is it wrong to lie about your age when online dating? Is it morally wrong to have a blow-dry when one of your children has head lice? Does the Dalai Lama actually tweet or is it his assistant? Is technology now the fifth element? Or is that wood? Is sleeping with someone after 2 dates and 6 weeks of texting the same as getting married after 2 meetings and 6 months of letter writing in Jane Austen’s day? Pondering these, and other modern dilemmas, Bridget Jones stumbles through the challenges of single-motherhood, tweeting, texting and rediscovering her sexuality in what SOME people rudely and outdatedly call ‘middle age’.

Click here to read Bella’s Scribblings.

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Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: Resolutions

Published January 2, 2015 | By Novel Kicks

Friday 2nd January 2015: Resolutions

Fiction Friday is our weekly prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.

Today’s prompt: New Year Resolutions. Have your character make a new year resolution list. Include things that ordinarily they would avoid. Then pick one or two and write about it. How does it go? What happens? Do they make a anti resolution list instead?

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