I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella. 

(Bantam Press, 16th February 2012.)

A couple of glasses of champagne at a charity event means Poppy loses the one thing she wasn’t meant to lose – an antique engagement ring that’s been in Magnus’s family for three generations. Also, in the panic that followed, Poppy also loses her mobile phone.

Disconnected from everyone who may find her ring, Poppy feels as if her life is about to go into meltdown. That is, until she finds an abandoned mobile phone in a bin. Finders Keepers right? The owner, businessman Sam Roxton doesn’t’ think so and he doesn’t appreciate Poppy’s suggestion to share the phone and her prying into his personal affairs.

As Poppy tries to juggle her wedding plans, Sam’s e-mails and hiding her hand from Magnus and her future in-laws, she wonders if life could get any more complicated. Continue reading →

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All To Play For by Heather Peace.

 (Legend Press, October 2011.)

Rhiannon has dreams of working at the world’s largest broadcaster: the BBC. This is the story of Rhiannon and four other ambitious people who are all keen to make it in the world of Television – set in the background of Television Centre. Continue reading →

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Villa Pacifica by Kapka Kassabova.

Alma Books, 2011.

Review by Laura Parish.

When Ute (a travel writer) and her husband Jerry arrive in a remote area of South America, they visit Villa Pacifica (a recently established Eco-retreat.)
The resort is run by a group of interesting and mysterious people and is the home to animals that have been rescued from traffickers.
It’s a place where nothing is as it seems and when a storm arrives in the region, travellers and locals are left to fend for themselves. It’s not long before madness descends and everyone begins to question their own sanity. Continue reading →

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Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller.
Penguin (2004)

Review by Laura Parish.

From the first day that the beguiling Sheba Hart joins the staff of St George’s, history teacher Barbara Covett is convinced that she’s found a kindred spirit.
Barbara’s loyalty to her new friend is passionate and unstinting and when Sheba is discovered to be having an illicit affair with one of her young pupils, Barbara quickly elects herself as Sheba’s chief defender. But all is not as it first seems in this dark story and, as Sheba will soon discover, a friend can be as treacherous as any lover. Continue reading →

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Love Lies and Promises by Joanna Lambert.

(Authors online, 2010.)

Review by Laura Parish.

Love Lies and Promises follows on from where When Tomorrow Comes concludes.
When her romance with Matt Benedict doesn’t go as planned, Ella and Matt aren’t reunited until 1969. Things seem to be going well until Ella finds out he’s to marry someone else. Trying to put the heartache Matt causes behind her, Ella marries rich bad boy, Andy Macayne. Thinking she has it all, it’s not long before Ella’s past comes crashing back. Continue reading →

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Grace Williams Says it Loud by Emma Henderson. 

(Sceptre, March 2011.)

Review by Laura Parish.

Grace Williams Says It Loud tells the story of Grace, who, when the doctors tell her parents that nothing else can be done for her, is sent to The Briar Mental Institute. Seen by the doctors as nothing more than an object, on her first day, at aged eleven, Grace meets Daniel who is a fellow patient. Daniel befriends Grace. He sees beyond the disabilities. He sees someone to be friends with, to share secrets with and someone to love.

Continue reading →

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Meet Me At The Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan.

Sphere, April 2011.

Review by Laura Parish.

Izzy can bake. When she loses her job and her boyfriend, she decides to pursue her dream and open a bakery. With her best friend and bank manager behind her she whole heartedly jumps into her new venture but not without facing challenges along the way.  Continue reading →

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Lessons in Laughing Out Loud by Rowan Coleman.

(Arrow, July 2011.)

Review by Laura Parish.

Willow and Holly are identical twins and are everything to each other. They are alike in every way but one. Willow harbours a secret, one that makes her very afraid. It’s a secret that binds the sisters together but has meant that their adult lives have taken very different paths.
Willow feels that large parts of herself are missing – qualities she knows exist because she sees them in Holly.
One event, one moment in time has separated Willow and Holly and when it’s time to face her past, can Willow learn how to laugh out loud once more. Continue reading →

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Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult.

Hodder and Stoughton, April 2011.

Review by Laura Parish.

Zoe and Max have been trying to have a baby for ten years and, just as it looks as if their dream will come true, tragedy strikes. After heartbreak and divorce, Zoe meets Vanessa when working as a Music Therapist. When a business relationship between Zoe and Vanessa turns into something more, Zoe eventually lets herself begin to think about children and remembers that there are still frozen embryos that she and Max never used.
However, after finding solace in alcohol and then redemption in a church, Max has other ideas and Zoe isn’t going to find it so easy to get Max’s permission to take his unborn child. Continue reading →

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The Making of Us by Lisa Jewell.

Century, 2011.

Review by Laura Parish.

The Making Of Us is a wonderful, heartwarming story that had a original plot and likeable characters.

Maggie sits at the bedside of her friend Daniel, a dying man with a secret he’s kept most of his life.
Lydia is a self made woman but not before she escaped the small town she grew up in and the bad memories within.
Dean’s life falls apart in just one night. He’s lost and he doesn’t know what to do next.
Robyn has the life she has always wanted but when her mother hands her a file on her eighteenth birthday, something in her life shifts and she then has to search to find what’s missing.
Dean, Lydia and Robyn don’t know each other but they are all facing different challenges in their lives. When they find each other, everything starts to change and secrets are revealed. Continue reading →

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Chocolate Wishes by Trisha Ashley
Avon HarperCollins, 2010.

Review by Laura Parish.

Life is sweet for chocolate maker Chloe Lyon! In the picture-perfect Lancashire village of Sticklepond, Confectioner Chloe dispenses inspirational sweet treats containing a prediction for each customer. If only her own life was as easy to forecast – perhaps Chloe could have foreseen being jilted at the altar! But when a new Vicar arrives in the village, the rumour mill goes into overdrive. Not only is Raffy Sinclair the charismatic ex-front man of rock band ‘Mortal Ruin’, he’s also the Chloe’s first love and the man who broke her heart. Try as she might, Chloe can’t ignore this blast from her past. Could now be the time for her to make a wish – and dare to believe it can come true? Continue reading →

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Getting Away With It by Julie Cohen.

Headline Review, 2011.

Review by Laura Parish.

Wherever there’s trouble there’s Liza Haven….
That’s what the villagers of Stoneguard used to say. But when your identical twin sister’s the local golden girl, sometimes it’s more fun to be the bad twin.
Now working in LA as a stuntwoman, Liza can be as wild as she wants. But when she loses her job, and almost her life, she’s forced to return home.
Only, things have changed in Stoneguard and her sister Lee has gone, deserting their difficult mother, a flagging family business and a dangerously attractive boyfriend. What’s more, the whole village thinks Liza is Lee.
Can Liza get away with pretending to be the good twin? Or is it finally time to discover who she really is? Continue reading →

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Secrets of the Tudor Court by Darcey Bonnette. 

(Avon, 2011.)

A bit about the book:

When young Mary Howard arrives at the grand court of King Henry VIII to attend his mistress, Anne Boleyn, she is overjoyed. Mary is certain Anne will one day become Queen. But Mary has witnessed the kings fickle nature before and knows how quickly he can turn on those he claims to love.

Despite all of Mary’s efforts to please him, she soon becomes a victim of the King’s wrath. Not until she becomes betrothed to Henry Fitzroy, the Duke of Richmond and illegitimate son to the King, does Mary find the love and approval she’s been seeking.

 But when Mary believes she is finally free, the tides turn. She has uncovered an intricate web of secrets within the palace walls, secrets that she must guard with her life…

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The Hell Of It All by Charlie Brooker.
(Faber & Faber, Oct 2012, Paperback Edition.)

Review by Rebecca Welch.

I’m a big, massive fan of Charlie Brooker and have been for a few years. I used to read the free papers in college and he occasionally writes for The Guardian. Nowadays he has two of his own flagship shows (Screenwipe and Newswipe) and a quizcom show (You Have Been Watching).

For Christmas, I got his book, ‘The Hell of it All’ – third in a series of compilation books comprising Guardian columns, random blogs and ideas for columns that never were. Continue reading →

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The Bird Room – Chris Killen.

(Cannongate, 2010)

Review by Laura Parish.

When Will meets Alice, he can’t believe his luck. She’s smart, sexy and, much to Will’s surprise, in love with him. Alice brings meaning to his urban existence. But true love never came easy and soon devotion leads Will to something darker. Continue reading →

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I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You by Ally Carter.

(Orchard Books, 2010.)

Review by Laura Parish.

Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses – but it’s really a school for spies. Cammie Morgan is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways. But the one thing the Gallagher Academy hasn’t prepared her for is what to do when she falls for an ordinary boy who thinks she’s an ordinary girl.

Sure she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, and track him through a mall without him ever being the wiser, but can she have a normal relationship with a boy who can never know the truth about her? Continue reading →

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The Importance of Being a Bachelor by Mike Gayle.

(Hodder & Stoughton, 2011.)

A bit about the book…..

Adam, Luke and Russell Bachelor are three brothers who, as their surname suggests are anything but settled…

Adam is addicted to The Wrong Kind of Girls; Luke bears the scars of a savage divorce; and Russell’s love life contains nothing but heartache. 

When, months shy of his 40th wedding anniversary, their dad announces that he’s leaving their mum to try his hand at the single life the boys are thrown into turmoil. Now as well as sorting out their own complicated love lives, the Bachelors have got to sort out their parents’ too…or face losing the one thing they always count on.

Continue reading →

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A Tiny Bit Marvellous by Dawn French

Michael Joseph, 2010

Mo is about to hit the big 50. She doesn’t understand either of her teenage kids, which as a child psychologist, is fairly embarrassing. She has become entirely grey. Inside, and out. Her face has surrendered and is frightening children. Dora is about to hit the big 18 . . . and about to hit anyone who annoys her, especially her precocious younger brother Peter who has a chronic Oscar Wilde fixation. Then there’s Dad . . . who’s just, well, dad. A TINY BIT MARVELLOUS is the story of a modern family all living in their own separate bubbles lurching towards meltdown. It is for anyone who has ever shared a home with that weird group of strangers we call relations. Oh and there’s a dog called Poo. Continue reading →

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Twelve Days of Christmas by Trisha Ashley. 

(Avon, 2010.)

Review by Laura Parish.

Christmas is not a happy time for widower Holly Brown. When she gets the chance to look after a remote house on the Lancashire Moors, she jumps at the chance to escape the festivities and be alone. However, as the family of the owner descends, the blizzards set in and the owner himself returns, Holly finds that the escape she planned is not going to go to plan. Continue reading →

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From Notting Hill with Love…Actually. 

Ali McNamara

(Sphere, Nov 2010.)

I loved this…actually.

From Notting Hill with Love… Actually follows Scarlett and her adventures whilst she house sits in Notting Hill. Scarlett loves movies, which causes her trouble with family and friends. Being a fan of movies myself (i’m a self confessed IMDB obsessive), I could fully understand why Scarlett loves films so much. I rooted for Scarlett all the way though as she tries to find the answers to the questions in her life and work out which path she should take. Continue reading →

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Heart of the Matter  – Emily Giffin. 

(Orion, 2010) 

Review by Laura Parish.

Tessa Russo can’t help but contemplate how fragile life can be. She has witnessed her husband Nick’s sombre mood when he returns from a call-out, knowing that another child has been hurt. She looks at her two perfect children and thinks that she is one of the lucky ones.

Valerie Anderson’s world collapses when she takes a phone call. As a single mother, she’s always been protective of her son Charlie and will always regret how one decision leads to a terrible accident. It’s only when she meets Nick Russo, Charlie’s surgeon that she finds hope.

As the lives of these two women intersect, they are forced to question everything they hold dear – and face a future that neither one had ever envisaged. Continue reading →

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Circle of Fire by Riva Shaw.

(YouWriteon.com, 2010.)

Review by Laura Parish.

A great beginning to a promising trilogy.

Part One of the Circle of Fire trilogy.

In the kingdom of Subia, Nick Trayer became the youngest ever Warrior of the Circle of Fire it was widely predicted that a great future lay ahead of him. Now, years later, he is content to live as a farmer, working side by side with this tenants, trying in vain to forget the tragedy which caused him to turn his back on glory. On the day that Nick is due to marry Catherine, his childhood sweetheart, the King of Subia is killed in a hunting accident. His fourteen year old son, Rowan inherits the throne and Nick is once more called to his King’s service. Nick must confront his past and fight a new battle between love and duty. Continue reading →

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A Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton.
(Headline Review, 2010.)
A wonderful story, written like a beautiful painting.

Review by Laura Parish.

A rural idyll: that’s what Catherine is seeking when she sells her house in England and moves to a tiny hamlet in the Cévennes mountains. With her divorce in the past and her children grown, she is free to make a new start, and her dream is to set up in business as a seamstress. But this is a harsh and lonely place when you’re no longer just here on holiday. There is French bureaucracy to contend with, not to mention the mountain weather, and the reserve of her neighbours, including the intriguing Patrick Castagnol. And that’s before the arrival of Catherine’s sister, Bryony… Continue reading →

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When Tomorrow Comes (Authors Online, 2009)…

Review by Laura Parish.

‘1967: When eighteen year old Ella Kendrick moves to the Somerset town of Abbotsbridge to live with her mother Melissa and stepfather Liam, she is looking forward to getting to know someone who has been absent from her life for eleven years. However, living in the Carpenter household doesn’t turn out to be the idyllic experience Mel promised her daughter. 

After Ella also loses her boyfriend to her best friend and career aspirations have been trimmed to a college course, ambitious Mel puts her main plan into action – finding her daughter a wealthy boyfriend. But Mel’s plans stall when, on a cold January evening, Ella meets Matt.’  Continue reading →

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‘The solar system is an exciting place – full of planets, moons, asteroids, comets and many other remarkable characters. But have you ever wondered what they get up to when we’re not looking?’

Review by Laura Parish. Continue reading →

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Desire by Louise Bagshawe. 

(Headline Review, 2010.)

Review by Laura Parish.

‘Lisa Costello has all the expensive clothes and exotic vacations that come with dating a rich man. But her relationship with Josh Steen is a sham. Yet nothing could have prepared Lisa for the morning after their decadent wedding in Thailand. Josh is dead – and it looks like Lisa killed him.’  Continue reading →

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Mini Shopaholic – a great addition to the series.

2nd September 2010, Bantam Press.

Review by Laura Parish.

The latest book in the ‘Shopaholic’ series was released this month and we’re very excited about it…

Cue havoc in the toy department at Harrods and a spectacular performance at her own christening, a near disaster when Minnie starts bidding on eBay and the discovery that her penchant for Balenciaga handbags might be just as bad as her mother’s. Continue reading →

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The Happy Home for Broken Hearts by Rowan Coleman.

Arrow, 2010.

Review by Laura Parish.

Ellie Woods spends her days immersed in the escapist pages of the romantic novels she lovingly edits. But her reality is somewhat less rose-tinted. Once upon a time, Ellie had her ‘happily ever after’ moment when she married her beloved Nick, but fifteen years later her husband’s tragic death leaves her alone with their soon-to-become-a-teenager son, faced with a mountain of debt, and on the verge of losing the family home. On the brink of bankruptcy, Ellie finally succumbs to her sister’s well-meant bullying and decides to rent out some rooms. And all too soon the indomitable Allegra with her love for all things lavender, Sabine on secondment from Berlin and estranged from her two-timing husband, and unreconstructed lads’ mag aficionado Matt enter her ordered but fragile existence – each with their own messy life in tow. And Ellie finds herself forced to step out of the pages of the romantic novels she hides behind, and learn to live – and love – again. Maybe a new chapter is about to begin for them all… Continue reading →

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I Heart Paris – by Lindsey Kelk

Harper, July 2010

Review by Laura Parish.

Angela is in the city of love – but romance is taking a nose-dive…
When Angela Clark’s boyfriend Alex suggests a trip to Paris at the same time as hip fashion mag Belle asks her to write a piece, she jumps at the chance. But even as she’s falling for the joie de vivre of Paris, someone’s conspiring to sabotage her big break. And when she spots Alex having a tete-a-tete with his ex at a local bar, Angela’s dreams of Parisian passion all start crashing around her. With London and her old life only a train journey away, Angela can’t decide if she should stay and face the music or run away home…. Continue reading →

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A Perfect Proposal by Katie Fforde.
Century, June 2010.

Review by Laura Parish.

Sophie Apperly’s family has never taken her seriously. Fiercely academic, they see her more practical skills as frivolous whilst constantly taking advantage of her. So when her best friend Milly invites her over to New York, she jumps at the chance. It’ll do her ungrateful family good to do without her for a while. What s more, she’s on a quest America holds the key to solving her family’s financial woes, even if they don’t deserve her help. Continue reading →

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The Good, the Bad and the Dumped by Jenny Colgan.

Sphere, May 2010.

Review by Laura Parish.

Now, you obviously, would never, ever look up your exes on Facebook. Nooo. And even if you did, you most certainly wouldn’t run off trying to track them down, risking your job, family and happiness in the process. Posy Fairweather, on the other hand…Posy is delighted when Matt proposes – on top of a mountain, in a gale, in full-on romantic mode. But a few days later disaster strikes: he backs out of the engagement. Crushed and humiliated, Posy starts thinking. Why has her love life always ended in total disaster? Determined to discover how she got to this point, Posy resolves to get online and track down her exes. Can she learn from past mistakes? And what if she has let Mr Right slip through her fingers on the way? Continue reading →

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The Lighthouse’ by P.D James.

Read by Michael Jayston.

BBC AUDIOBOOKS LTD.

Review by Laura Parish.

I must admit that Audio Books aren’t my favourite medium for reading fiction. I love holding books in my hand as I read. Therefore, it took me a while to settle into ‘The Lighthouse,’ – not through the story’s fault, but my attention to something I can’t hold as I read. When I discovered that an Audio Book is a perfect driving partner, I was away and then couldn’t stop listening. Continue reading →

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Nanny Returns

Nicola Kraus & Emma Mclaughlin

Simon & Schuster (April 2010)

Review by Laura Parish.

Ten years after the fateful night when Nan was fired, she returns to New York with her husband, HH. Finally settling in to build a permanent home and get her consulting business off the ground, Nan’s plans are derailed by HH’s sudden desire to start a family – and her surpisingly strong resistance to the idea. Matters are further complicated by a late-night, drunken visit from a now fifteen-year-old Grayer, who’s stumbled upon the nanny-cam tape Nan made on her last night in his mother’s employment – and wants some answers. Racked with guilt and struggling to find a way to help Grayer and his seven-year-old brother, Stilton, through their parents’ vicious divorce, Nan finds herself getting sucked into the Upper East Side world of wealth, power and dysfunction all over again. Continue reading →

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Spotlight – Ilana Fox

Orion Books – 29th April 2010.

Review by Laura Parish.

‘A fallen star. A runaway bride. They’re about to be pitted against each other by a very powerful man. Madison Miller has everything – beautiful, talented and just a little bit naive; she’s the small-town girl who swept to victory on America’s hottest talent show to become the nation’s sweetheart. She’s also head-over-heels in love with the man who’s masterminded her career – the head-spinningly powerful, lethally attractive Beau Silverman. But there’s trouble in paradise… Jess has bolted from her approaching wedding and a dead-end job in London to chase dreams of being a fashion designer in New York. But she’s finding life in the Big Apple tough, until she meets a man who makes her an offer she can’t refuse. It means a taste of a life she’s never had – glamorous parties, paparazzi, haute couture – but at what price? Sweeping from the hotspots of LA to the coolest bars of New York, SPOTLIGHT cuts a gloriously fun swathe through the world of celebrity and glamour, with a page-turning story at its heart.’ Continue reading →

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Is There A Book In You by Alison Baverstock

A & C Black Publishers – 2006

Review by Laura Parish.

‘For many, the desire to write is very strong. Yet how do you know whether there is a book in you? And do you have what it takes to see it through.’

Having wanting to be a writer for a while, I’ve brought book after book claiming that it can teach me the tools I need to write (I have a stack of self help writing books next to my desk to prove this.) I am very happy to have come across ‘Is There A Book in You’ by Alison Baverstock. This book, asks what is probably the most important question every new writer needs to ask themselves, ‘Is There a Book in You.’ Continue reading →

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