Category: General Fiction

Promises, Promises by Erica James

My Rating: 4/5

Erica James books have always been a source of enjoyment for me. Yes she produces Chick Lit romance books but she always manages to integrate a dose of realism without it becoming too depressing.

In this book Erica’s writing style is as ever so easy to get along with. You are swept away with the characters as they are introduced to you and you find yourself feeling like you want to be a part of what is going on.

In this case it is meeting the three main characters and their husbands’ wives or children. Maggie is the first we meet and I instantly loved here character. She is a woman that cleans houses for a living and is constantly being put down by her mother in law, or being bossed around by her slob of a husband. Next comes Ella and initially I wasn’t sure about Ella, but as time goes on you really warm to her and can see that she is suffering to get through the feeling that she has wasted many years on a man who cannot commit to her for all the wrong reasons. Lastly we meet Ethan who although selfish, I couldn’t help but really like.

The story is told from all of their perspectives which makes it easy to follow each thread. Ethan’s wife was despicable and a great bit of character writing from Erica James. This latest book was a pretty hefty offering at 448 pages but no sooner had I started it I was turning pages incredibly quickly.

The story itself was told really well because although it’s essentially a romance book, it’s what I like to call reality romance. We see the realities that maybe we know happen in real life. We see women that stay with the wrong man, women that marry for the wrong reasons and men that have affairs because they are unhappy. It is told with sympathy but a good old dose of reality.

By the halfway mark I decided to give up on the idea of finishing my much overdue ironing and devoured the second half in one foul swoop. I finished the book feeling happy that the ending was as I thought, yes a tad predictable but still it was the ending that I had hoped for. Once again Erica James has created a very good Chick Lit books that her fans should love, I know I did!

More Than Love Letters by Rosy Thornton

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My Rating: 4/5

I only recently discovered Rosy Thornton with her release of her book Tapestry of Love which I really enjoyed. What I didn’t expect was a book like this. I opened the page and was immediately worried. What faced me was a series of letters and emails. Not only was this the beginning of the book, it seemed that the whole book was made up this way. I would be lying if I said it didn’t bother me. How on earth was I supposed to get a feel for the story and characters through letters? I am pleased to say I was completely wrong!

The letters and various emails we see going back and forth are between the main characters of the book, and what characters they were. We see Richard Slater emailing his friend Michael Carrington who works in the Home Office. We also meet Margaret who frequently writes to her Gran and regularly emails her friend Bec’s. In addition to this we see the minutes to the WITCH meetings (Women of Ipswich together combating homelessness).

By around the 30 page mark I began to realise that this was not only cleverly written but was warm and funny. There is nothing better that getting a feel for people by reading the written word.

Margaret’s emails to her friend Bec’s were hilarious as we see them spouting off about their own lives. In addition to this there is a theme running through all of their emails where they try to integrate some of the lesser known words into their conversation and in turn award each other points for the use of the word. Never before in my life have I read a book and then actually gone to a dictionary and looked up a word. (By the way I can now tell you all that facinorous is another word for atrocious!).

I loved Cora, who was the woman who Margaret lived with and we see her take on things as she writes lovingly to her husband. In addition we see Margaret’s Gran writing back to her granddaughter to update her on her life and how things are going. I was very shocked and quite saddened at the realisation of Cora and her letters at the end but it was written so well that it all made sense!

All in all, I never imagined that I could enjoy this as much as I did due to the fact that it was all letters and emails. Rosy Thornton has done a grand job in writing a clever, warm and funny book by merely meshing together people’s thoughts and feelings. As much as this wasn’t the normal sort of book that I would pick up if I was in a shop, it just goes to show that Rosy Thornton can clearly produce a great book by doing things differently.

Desire by Louise Bagshawe

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My Rating: 4/5

I have never read a Louise Bagshawe book and only picked this up because I read and loved Scandalous written by her sister Tilly Bagshawe. I must say the first thing that surprised me was the content of the story itself. The cover is a glamorous hot pink colour with a woman at the edge of an infinity pool which screams Chick Lit at you.

However, when you read the book you soon realise that this book is a Chick Lit book with a bit of thriller thrown in for good measure. What a great job Louise Bagshawe does of it too! The first few chapters are filled with tension and pace as we see Lisa wake to a persons’ worst nightmare. A she flees the scene and tries to get out of the country we also see Sam start to be dragged in as he is the wedding journalist who happens to be there at the wedding and seeing it all first hand.

The story picks up even more pace as we see Sam get closer to Lisa and the lengths that she is prepared to go to for her own safety. The speed of writing and the chase itself doesn’t relent until the very last page which I absolutely loved. There are many people in other reviews I have seen say that this book is similar to another she has written. With this one being my first I can only judge it on this story alone and I absolutely loved it.

In my eyes it is the perfect combination of Chick Lit and Thriller all rolled into one. Yes the hardcore Crime and Thriller fans may not like it but this had the balance just right in my eyes. I will certainly be continuing to read her books and only hope that I enjoy them all as much as I did this one. I can’t really find too many negatives with the book although it did have a certain inevitability to it which was maybe the only thing I could criticise.

The writing style was really easy and the chapters the right length too. There was an easiness to reading this which I have missed in some of the more recent books I have read and I love that feeling. It is an absolute pleasure to pick a book up and immerse yourself in their world without too much cramming of information or facts going on in the background.

It looks like the Bagshawe sisters will be earning money from me in the future because they are both very talented women and I look forward to reading more of both Louise and Tilly’s work in the future.

Mini-Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

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My Rating: 2/5

Well my opinion is really divided. I have read all of the books in the Shopaholic series and have enjoyed them all. I thing the biggest winner in the series is the character Becky. She is so loveable yet clueless and she manages to get herself in all sorts of bother.

The other side of the coin for me is when I sat on a plane and decided to watch the film that had been made from the book Confessions of a Shopaholic. The film, albeit not the worst I have seen, wasn’t great either for me. As usual the character I had built in my head was a major disappointment as I saw Isla Fisher trying (and failing) to play the part of Becky Bloomwood. Maybe this has been what lingered in my head the longest as I picked up the latest instalment in the Shopaholic series. Overall I have rated this book lower than I expected to but I suppose every series has its limits.

When we are re-introduced to Becky we see her back to her usual tricks of shopping for ridiculous things that she doesn’t need. We also meet her daughter Minnie who was written reasonably well and had taken on all of her mother’s traits, including screaming mine at regular intervals. We also see Luke her husband busy with his business Brandon Communications. As an ever patient person he tends to ignore a lot of Becky’s strange stories as this is part and parcel of who she is.

I still love the character Becky and think she is incredibly funny and her one-liners that she uses to get herself out of trouble are funny. However, this particular instalment of the series only had that to fall back on, Becky herself. The storyline was the weakest I have seen in a long time, with seemingly no structure at all. The whole plot is centred on Becky planning a surprise party, which considering the title is not what I expected. Yes we do see Minnie and her tantrums along with the addition of Nanny Sue who is a childcare expert. But that is it, literally!

I found myself dragging my heels and wondering when something was going to happen. Sophie Kinsella definitely has the skills as a writer but I am beginning to wonder whether this series has now had its day. I think the film production was what ruined it for me and from looking at other opinions it seems I am not the only one that feels that way. There were some redeeming qualities and that was things we have seen in previous books such as the relationship between Becky and her parents as well as her friendship with Suze and Tarquin.

It only took me a day and a half to read this book but ended up feeling quite disappointed, and felt that I had only finished it out of obligation. I can only hope that Sophie Kinsella either creates a new series or continues with her stand alone novels.

Homecoming by Cathy Kelly

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My Rating: 4/5

Hooray, Cathy Kelly is back. I have read every book she has written and loved the vast majority of them. However, her last two books didn’t rate that highly for me and I was beginning to wonder what had happened to this wonderful writer. Thankfully she has returned with an absolute corker of a book.

We meet the four wonderful women who are living in Golden Square. Eleanor is the first person we meet and you soon realise that Eleanor is not the normal character you would expect to find in a Chick Lit novel. Thankfully, she is the glue that holds this story together beautifully.

Eleanor is a wonderful and wise character, a woman in her eighties that has wisdom and knowledge on her side. From the very beginning we see extracts from her mother’s handwritten cookery book. Only the cooker book is no ordinary book. It seems to teach valuable lessons to Eleanor who then in turn will share with the other three characters we meet.

Megan is very glamorous and having realised following her disastrous love affair had gone wrong she retreats to her Aunt Nora’s home. Megan is a young and very glamorous woman who we see struggle with her grief at her loss of the man in her life she loved. Rae is the mother hen of the bunch who everybody adores and Cathy Kelly has painted a wonderful picture of her. I even got to the point where I could imagine this being made into a film. Connie is also a great character who has an air of humour about her. She struggles with her lack of sense when it comes to men and spends more time helping out others.

The story itself was wonderfully told and I adored the setting of Golden Square. The characters all had great strength without being too much, but at the same time they all had their secrets, neurosis and funny quirks. The book is a really good read and is the perfect length. I loved the way their lives all interact and there is a dose of old fashioned faith with the addition of Eleanor’s mother’s cookbook. This was a joy to read and I was as pleased as punch that Cathy Kelly has gone back to her (IMO) former glory. There is nothing I can criticise about this book and it was a thoroughly enjoyable read that I would highly recommend.

The Only Way is Up by Carole Matthews

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My Rating: 4/5

Kat’s Review: This book is on the money. Right at this moment in time it seems that many people are struggling with money and the economy is not exactly at its peak at the moment. This is why I feel a story like this at a time like this is perfect.

It doesn’t take long, no more than a few pages, to get into the story with the Lamont-Jones’. The story is written as usual in an easy style which really gets the reader connecting with the characters. Lily and Laurence is a seemingly perfect couple that have it all. However Lily finds that Laurence has lost his job and on their return from their holiday they are left with nothing. Although Laurence has made many mistakes you can’t help but like the guy. His story is one that is not that far from reality as I recall reading about other people that had been in that situation and tried to sweep it under the carpet.

Following their swift departure into the world of the poor and penniless we see the family relocated to a rough estate where their world goes from bad to worse. Once they are situated in the house, they have to literally build their life up from scratch and they manage to do it with the most unlikely of people.

In addition to loving Laurence, I also fell in love with Lily, who although slightly spoiled as a stay at home mum when Laurence was working, is actually a funny and warm person who I loved from the very beginning. We also meet Tracey the Lamont-Jones new next door neighbour who is brilliantly written and I could almost picture this book as a film.

Although this particular book isn’t the first type with this kind of story, Carole Matthews brings it to life with great humour and wonderful characters. Her writing style is easy to read and the pages practically turned themselves. There are some very funny events in this book too which had me laughing out loud which is always a plus for me. On top of all that the ending was perfect.

I must say that since the release of Carole Matthews Chocolate Lovers series, I have never found anything I liked as much, until this. This book was the perfect combination of a great story, brilliant characters and a brilliant setting. All in all this was a wonderful read and one that I would highly recommend.

Stand By Me by Sheila O’Flanagan

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My Rating: 4/5

Dominique Delahaye is married to successful businessman Brendan. However, when Brendan disappears, leaving Dominique and their daughter to cope alone, things look very bleak for them. However, will Brendan ever return or is it too little too late in Dominique’s eyes?

This is a pretty hefty book at a little over 500 pages long. However, normally I would settle straight into an O’Flanagan book but this one took me a little longer than usual. What I absolutely loved was the fact that this story is told from beginning to end. Although the start of the book sees Dominique in the current day, you are swiftly transported back to when she was just a young girl and met Brendan for the very first time.

Dominique is a very young girl and her parents are devout religious people who try to mould Dominique to be more like her brother who wants to be a priest. Dominique has other ideas and becomes very independent even from a young age. Sheila O’Flanagan does a fine job of creating the typical religious Irish upbringing that Dominique has and you almost feel yourself rooting for her to create her own life away from her parents.

Dominique’s husband Brendan is introduced to the story very early on and we get to see how their relationship progresses and their family as well as Brendan’s business grows. Before long you find yourself slap bang in the middle of Dominique’s seemingly perfect life.

When Brendan disappears and leaves Domino (his pet name for Dominique) and their daughter Kelly to fend for themselves I found myself beginning to loathe the character. The story itself is wonderful in the sense that you get a real perspective of how their loves have become what they are and the reasons behind it.

The story is all consuming and I love the introduction of Brendan’s brother Greg and his wife, who also happened to be a school friend of Dominique’s. It makes for an interesting dynamic of the story and by the last quarter of the book I was so conflicted with how I felt about the different characters I almost got annoyed. The fact that I could get worked up over a story tells me the author has hit the nail on the head as far as the story goes.

The ending was wrapped up with what I felt was a good conclusion but it would have been nice to see an epilogue maybe a year on. Sheila O’Flanagan has produced another great book which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Forgotten by Susan Lewis

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My Rating: 3/5

It is very hard to write your opinion on this book without majorly spoiling the main plot but I will try my hardest. I have always been a fan of Susan Lewis and find her books often have a very real and harrowing storyline and this one is no different.

The book is a little bit of a slow starter as we are introduced to all the main characters such as Lisa, David and David’s daughter Rosalind. Although slow to begin with once you have a real feel for the characters the story progresses with hints as to the major problem they will both be facing. The issues that the book covers, and the reality of it for the characters, are written with real feeling and are very descriptive. From this perspective I think Susan Lewis shone and although the book is not the typical `feel-good’ you may expect it is written with incredible sensitivity.

The story itself is very believable and will be an eye opener for people that know nothing about the subject matter. Although I wouldn’t go as far as to say this is her best work it’s certainly not awful. I think the fact that it was quite slow was one downside. The only other real negative I found was the abrupt turnaround in the character Rosalind towards the end of the book.

All in all the story and characters were good but the story itself a little sad. I felt that the ending was okay although maybe it could have ended very differently had the author wanted to follow that path. I certainly hope that Susan Lewis will produce a much better book next time as some of my favourite books have been hers such as `Missing’. This book wasn’t bad but is certainly not a reflection on the sort of books she can produce.

Kiss Heaven Goodbye by Tasmina Perry

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My Rating: 5/5

As usual when I receive a Tasmina Perry book I prepare myself for the sheer weight of it as all four of her previous novels have been hefty. This current one was no different and I was eager to get started.

We meet four very different characters in this story that will sway your perception of them very early on. Miles and Grace Ashford are brother and sister and could not be more different. They are spending their summer on their parent’s private island and have both come to enjoy the summer. Miles has brought his friend Alex Doyle along who is almost like the class geek, but they have somehow become firm friends. Along with Alex is Sasha Sinclair who is currently dating Miles and has her eye on becoming the future Mrs Ashford.

The book is written in stages and we see the story from that first summer in 1990 where all four of them become part of a dark secret that they will all carry with them. Each of them goes their separate ways and the book progresses with each of them over the next twenty years bring us to the finale set in 2010.

As usual Tasmina Perry has surpassed my expectations and produced a first class book which is everything you want from a great Chick Lit novel. The story itself was so well written with the progressing years for each character. We see snippets of each of their lives and how their successes are affecting each of them. Their lives cross many times over the years and that dark secret is the cause of pain and suffering for all of them in one sense or another.

The characters are written with such insight and I found myself loving Alex and Grace almost as much as I disliked Miles and Sasha. The story was a great pace and each little nugget of information relating to the past kept me curious about the original incident until the very end of the book.

Although the story is considered Chick Lit, I loved the fact that there was a very dark side to both the story and characters. There was also a very surprising twist at the end which was very discreetly hidden and made perfect sense once the story was complete.

Although this book was hefty I devoured it over a day and a half. All the key ingredients for a great chick lit book were in here, glamour, tragedy, success, power and sex. Yet again Tasmina Perry has produced an absolutely brilliant book and right now I cannot think of many authors that write as well as her consistently. Each of her 4 previous books has rated no less than 4 stars on Amazon and in my opinion that rating is well and truly deserved. If you have never heard of her and like this genre of book I cannot recommend her highly enough.

A Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton

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My Rating: 4/5

Okay, firstly I have to say that I am usually of the `trashier the better’ kind of attitude. If I am reading Chick Lit, I love the sleaze and glamour of it all. On the other side of the fence, I love a good crime thriller where we see the regular cop heroes turn up at every given opportunity. However, this book certainly doesn’t fit into the Chick Lit genre and I would be at a loss as to where to place it. It is a `real’ book, that’s the best way I can describe it. There is no gush, no fairytale typical storylines, and certainly no murders!

Rosy Thornton has managed to produce a book that doesn’t just tell you a story; it parks your butt on a plane and actually takes you there. Her style of writing is unusual in comparison to what I am used to but it is brilliant all the same. I could almost imagine myself sitting in the corner of Catherin Parkstone’s kitchen in the Cevennes Mountains and actually watching her life unfold. The characters are written really well and there is such an element of realism that you find yourself swept along with the tale. The scenery is so well described that it has left a vivid picture in my imagination of what everything and everybody should look like.

The story itself was great too and we meet Catherine’s local neighbours, who are at first very `French’, making Catherine have to work a lot harder to become part of the community. Catherine’s sister Bryony makes an appearance in Cevennes after making a radical decision to take a sabbatical from work. This complicates Catherine’s life more than she cares to admit. She struggles to get her priorities in her head the right way round. Although both her children are grown up she finds herself constantly worrying about whether they will be okay and whether moving to this remote part of France was a good idea after all.

The book is structured so that we see her time at her home progress over a number of months which makes it so much easier to imagine the different times of year in this area. It also gives the reader the element of how far she has come and what the future will hold.

All in all this was a fantastic book. I will admit that I would never have chosen this from a bookstore as it doesn’t look trashy enough for me, but boy am I glad I read this. A wonderful book with a real touch of realism that is perfect for curling up with. I would highly recommend this book and Rosy Thornton will definitely be added to my list of authors to pre-order from.