Trashionista

BOOK REVIEW: The Wrong Sort of Wife by Elise Chidley

Reviewed by Helen Redfern

Lizzie’s life starts to unravel when she unburdens herself in an email to Jane her sister. Starting with "Janie, do you ever feel you need a mini-break from being married – or is it just me?" She goes on to talk about the main thing she wants to do is sleep, she hates picking her husband’s soggy underpants up off the floor and basically she’d rather eat a box of chocolate digestives to "candles and music" with her husband any day. Unfortunately instead of sending it to Jane, she forgets to check the address and it automatically goes to James, her husband. Oops.

She doesn’t hear from him all day, then he comes home from work, goes upstairs, refuses to speak to her, then packs his bag and leaves. Un-be-lieve-able. Just from one email. Can I point out here that Lizzie is the mother of three year old twins. She hasn’t had a proper night's sleep since they were born and has no help from her husband as he works long hours and away from home. It’s pretty obvious from the email that Lizzie has lost her zest for life and needs help from her husband not the cold shoulder. Even my own husband could see that. I guess what I’m saying in terms of plot, this isn’t realistic. If it is then I’d say she’s better off without him.

However. Lizzie decides to move from their house to a completely different county where her best friend Tessa lives, rent a cottage and sort herself out, believing her husband will come to his senses and beg her and the children to return home. Whilst I have issues with the email - and the spineless husband who’d rather go to the divorce courts than talk to his wife - which is basically the whole premise of the book, I lowered my eyebrows and closed my mouth to read on. Then I really enjoyed it. I loved the character of Lizzie and the way she decided to tackle her new life. She begins to run and get fit, starts to write again and looks for a job, all the while looking after her twins. The book is well written and has that page turning factor.

We have tiny flashbacks to when she met her husband and he seems to be a nice, caring chap. Someone who adores her. So this leaving her over an email doesn’t fit in. Sorry to harp on about it but it did spoil the book for me.

Then we get to the end. I’m not going to give it away, but I’m reminded again of this email and how the whole of Lizzie’s new life is built from it. So whilst I enjoyed the middle of this book, and I really did, I’m marking it down because of this.

Rating: 3/5

Like this? Try Hens Dancing by Raphaella Barker

BOOK REVIEW: Fifteen Minutes of Shame by Lisa Daily

Lisa Daily is a relationships expert and columnist and Fifteen Minutes of Shame is her first novel. I was strangely put off by her day job since I assumed - incorrectly as it turned out - that Daily would simply transmit her nonfiction knowledge to a novel. In fact, Fifteen Minutes of Shame is fun, funny, gripping and moving.

Darby Vaughn - "America's favourite TV dating expert" - is happily married to Will, the love of her life and father to the other loves of her life - his two children from a previous marriage, Lilly and Aidan. Of  course, when I say Darby is happily married, what I mean is that she thought she was happily married but, as the book begins, we learn that Will is not so happy. In fact, Darby suspects that he's cheating and learns that she was right ... on national TV.

Humiliated, heartbroken and at risk of losing everything - not just her husband, but her kids, her house and her career - Darby retreats to stay with a friend and employs a divorce lawyer. A gorgeous divorce lawyer named, Holt. Yes, Holt.

Glossing over the name (Holt?), I loved Fifteen Minutes of Shame. I felt for Darby every second - her shock at Will's betrayal, her attempts to rebuild her life and career, and the pain of being separated from the children she loved, was raising and had come to think of as her own.

(The book raised a serious, and heartbreaking, point I'd never even thought of before - that of step-parents' rights. They don't have any, so you could feasibly spend years raising and loving children, split from their "natural" parent and not even have any right of visitation, let alone hope of any kind of custody.)

Some bits of the book didn't ring entirely true - I could have done without Darby's foray into reality show dating - but that was more than made up for by the character of Darby, who I felt like I knew. And then there's Holt - name aside, the man's a fox.

Rating: 4/5

Like this? Try Marshmallows for Breakfast by Dorothy Koomson

BOOK REVIEW: Tell No Lies by Julie Compton

Julie Compton was a trial attorney for the US Department of Justice. Now she's a writer and stay-at-home mother. Tell No Lies is her first novel and it employs her legal background to great effect. 

Jack Hilliard is a 35-year-old assistant DA who loves his wife, Claire, and enjoys his job. He gets on well with his boss and is never asked to trial cases which compromise his moral integrity.

Jack comes across as a stand-up guy, and it takes a skillful author to make the reader believe in his fall from grace. Luckily, Julie Compton is just such a writer.

Earl (Jack's boss) decides to leave and he asks Jack to run for office (to take his place as the DA). On the same day, a flirtation with his lawyer friend, Jenny, gets rather more serious.

Compton takes us through Jack's dilemma - he wants the promotion, but will never get it if he is publically honest about his views on the death penalty. He is against it - under any circumstances.

Jenny, with whom he is increasingly obsessed, convinces him to misprepresent his position to secure the top job. Then, just over half-way through the book, when I was beginning to think 'okay, how is this going to get spun out for another 200 pages?', Jenny is accused of murder.

This is an excellent psychological thriller and an extremely polished debut. I will watch Julie Compton's new career with interest...

Rating: 4/5

Like this? Try: Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

BOOK REVIEW: Bloom by Elizabeth Scott

I've raved about the gorgeous cover of Elizabeth Scott's Bloom before, but just look at it! So pretty! So pretty, in fact, that it made me almost giddy with anticipation to read the contents. Fortunately, the I loved the inside just as much as the outside.

17-year-old Lauren has a perfect boyfriend in Dave, everyone thinks so. But perfect isn't necessarily exciting and Lauren's not sure they're right for each other. Except that Dave is popular and before she was with Dave, Lauren was anonymous, now she's Dave's girlfriend. And she's fine with it. Until Evan Kirkland turns up in one of her classes.

Evan isn't cool or popular, but he is charismatic, sexy and mysterious and Lauren finds she can't stop thinking about him.

While Lauren's trying to understand her feelings for Evan (and lack of feeling for Dave), she's also struggling to cope with her relationship with her father. He works all the time and they barely talk anymore. Plus Lauren's mother walked out when Lauren was six and hasn't been heard from since. And then there's her best friend Katie who has family problems of her own.

I loved everything about this book. Everything. Lauren is sweet, Evan is gorgeous, and the family problems suffered by practically every character were heartbreaking. It's not a sad book, though, in fact it's sweet and rather thrilling (mostly because I developed a huge crush on Evan, despite the fact that I'm 36 and he's 17 ... and fictional).

I can't wait to read Elizabeth Scott's next book.

Rating: 5/5

Like this? Try Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

BOOK REVIEW: I Did A Bad Thing by Linda Green

I Did a Bad Thing is Linda Green's debut. Linda is a freelance journalist. She also spent ten years working in regional newspapers in London and the Midlands.

Her heroine, Sarah Roberts, is a reporter on a local newspaper. She lives with her saintly, eco-warrier boyfriend Jonathan, and tries to do the right thing.

Then, her old love walks into the office and Sarah's past comes flooding back...

Linda Green's writing is fun, with lots of great dialogue, and all the details of small newspaper life, unsurprisingly perhaps, ring true. I liked and sympathised with Sarah, and found myself racing through the book, wanting to find out about her past.

Green structures the book with chapters from both the present and the past. Unfortunately, and this may just be me, but I found the swapping between the two quite disorientating. It threw me out of the story the first few times, and after a while, I found it a little annoying.

I think this is because the present portions are written in first person past tense, while the past bits are written in first person present tense. With me?

Also, the 'very bad thing', when it is revealed, just doesn't seem quite bad enough...

However, I do like Green's style and will be keen to read her next one. Also, if we had such a thing, I would've given this book three and a half stars, not just three.

Rating: 3/5

Like this? Try: Playing James by Sarah Mason

BOOK REVIEW: The Infinite Wisdom of Harriet Rose by Diana Janney

The Infinite Wisdom of Harriet Rose is a funny book. Not so much funny ha ha (although it is), but more funny peculiar. Written by supermodel-turned-philosopher (surely the *only* supermodel-turned-philosopher) Diana Janney, it's (apparently) an adult book that looks and sounds more like a young adult book.

Harriet Rose is a schoolgirl philosopher. Intelligent and precocious she takes herself - and the "Meditations" she writes - extremely seriously. When she tells her mother and Nana she doesn't want anything for her fourteenth birthday (requesting that they donate to charity instead) they present her with a published copy of her collected meditations and a plan to promote and publicise the book (of which they've had 1000 copies printed).

Before long, due both to her own, strangely fascinating, nature, and the efforts of her mother and Nana, Harriet's appearing in newspapers, magazines and on TV. Her schoolmates, not too enamoured with her at the best of times, are less than impressed. But Harriet doesn't care. Until she meets the wise and handsome (and French) Jean Claude and finds that, although he's interested in her, he also seems to be attracted to her petite, airhead schoolmate, Charlotte.

Harriet doesn't exactly try to win Jean Claude from Charlotte - instead she believes that if he's interested in a twerp like Charlotte, he can't be worthy of her ... but she's still fourteen after all...

...except she rarely sounds fourteen. The back of this book claims it's in the tradition of Adrian Mole or The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. It reminded me a lot of Adrian Mole, less of the Mark Haddon book. Like Adrian Mole, Harriet is unaware of her limitations and much of the book's humour is at her expense. Unlike Adrian Mole, I didn't find it laugh-out-loud funny, more gently amusing. Apart from a teenage protagonist, I didn't think it had anything in common with The Curious Incident... and I feel that was only mentioned to try and cash in on that book's crossover appeal.

Although she's irritating, I did like Harriet and some of her meditations (particularly those relating to her father's death) were surprisingly moving, but rather than having "cross generational appeal" as the press release suggests, I'm worried that The Infinite Wisdom of Harriet Rose will be too YA to appeal to adults and too adult to appeal to teens.

Still, it's definitely well-written and good fun, so I'll certainly be reading whatever Diana Janney writes next.

Rating: 3/5

Like this? Try My Fat, Mad Teenage Diary by Rae Earl

BOOK REVIEW: The Wag's Diary by Alison Kervin

Despite my general obsession with celebrity, I don't have much interest in the WAGs. In case you're unaware of them, the WAGs are the wives and girlfriends of professional footballers. Victoria Beckham is their Queen (obviously), but there are loads of others, like Wayne Rooney's fiance Coleen McLoughlin and Alex Curran, wife of Steven Gerrard.

Anyway, despite not being interested in the WAGs, I was interested to read The WAG's Diary because I'd heard so much about it and the author, Alison Kervin, gave us such a good interview.

It's the story of Tracie Martin. Married to Luton Town footballer, Dean, she prides herself on being a WAG, believing it to be the pinnacle of achievement for any woman. But things aren't so good in Tracie's WAG world. Dean's playing days look to be numbered (he can still score, but often he does it in the wrong net), their daughter, Paskia-Rose, is more interested in being a footballer than a WAG (the horror!) and the other WAGs aren't towing the WAG line. Some of them even go to matches in trousers. Trousers!

Tracie thinks she should write a How To manual for potential WAGs and enrols herself on a writing course where she meets local reporter, Simon. They strike up a friendship and soon Tracie's writing that manual and everything is changing. And not necessarily for the better.

When I first started to read The WAG's Diary, I couldn't really see the point of it. Obviously, it's a satire on WAG-dom, but the WAGs are really beyond satire. I mean, they're a parody anyway so why bother parodying them? But as I read on, I really started to like Tracie and wanted things to turn out well for her. It's kind of like a cross between Bridget Jones and Footballers' Wives. (So if you didn't like either of them, I doubt you'll like this!)

My other complaint is that Tracie is supposed to be so stupid that she uses "ostrich-sized" when she means ostracised, but then, at other times, is extremely articulate! It makes it a bit of an uneven read. Still, I enjoyed it enough that I'll probably read the sequel, WAG's Diary in LA.

Rating: 3/5

Like this? Try Everything A Girl Needs To Know About Football by Simeon De La Torre and Sophie Brown

PREVIEW REVIEW: Mothernight by Sarah Stovell

Mothernight is Sarah Stovell's debut novel and it is startlingly accomplished.

Leila Hartley is a boarder at an exclusive girls' school in Kent. Leila is a genius, but very much alone - she hasn't even been home to see her family for years. Devestatingly clever, she confounds both her teachers and fellow pupils.

When Oliva Rudham arrives at the school, she is roomed with Leila and the two form an intense friendship.

Despite their intimacy, Leila keeps her past a secret from Olivia. Then, Leila's father invites them both back to the family home for the summer and the truth is finally unravelled.

Written in three narrative voices: Leila, Olivia and Kathryn, Leila's stepmother, this novel is intense and absorbing. The relationship between the girls is convincingly portrayed - as is the gothic, suffocating feel of the boarding school.

I really like Stowell's writing style. It allows for dry humour alongside the drama, and never sacrifices story for literary pretension.

In fact, more important than its intelligence, this book feels real. I believed in the grief and obsession and love so thoroughly that the chacters of Katherine, Olivia and Leila stayed with me long after I finished reading.

A page-turner with soul and a debut author to watch with interest...

Mothernight is out in March 2008.

Rating: 4/5

Like this? Try: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

BOOK REVIEW: Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips

I used to read Marie Phillips' blog, Struggling Author (now invitation only), and so I was familiar with Gods Behaving Badly before it even had a publisher. I always thought it sounded great (and I'd read the enthusiastic comments of industry bigwigs) so I was keen to read it.

As an idea, it's what Hollywood calls "high concept" - the gods behaving badly are Greek Gods, living in modern-day London. So we meet Apollo who is using his psychic ability to front a TV show, Aphrodite is working in phone sex, Dionysus runs a nightclub between Euston and Kings Cross and Eros has become a Christian. They all live together in a run-down house with a secret on the top floor.

Into this dysfunctional family comes Alice, an intelligent but timid cleaner who is in love with her best friend, Neil. Neil's in love with Alice too, but can't bring himself to tell her. When they go together to see Apollo's TV show, an unfortunate series of events finds their fate inextricably linked with that of not only the gods, but the entire world...

I enjoyed this book just as much as I thought I would. It's great fun. The Gods are hilariously narcissistic and Phillips fits them into the 21st century seamlessly. It's exciting, funny and features imaginative leaps that made me think of the Harry Potter series (I loved Angel tube station being the portal to the underworld).

Rating: 4/5

Like this? Try Venus Envy by Shannon McKelden

BOOK REVIEW: Sushi for One? by Camy Tang

Reviewed by Jill Hart

I knew this was going to be a great book when the crazy grandmother showed up in chapter one. Camy Tang’s first book, Sushi For One?, is a great start to a budding career. We don’t see a whole lot of Asian chick-lit, so this book, while maintaining what we love about chick-lit, gives a taste of something new and different. 

The main character, Lex, is on the verge of becoming the oldest single female cousin in her family. With her older cousin, Mariko, getting married, Lex knows that her family will soon be on her case about getting married. It starts sooner than she thinks, though, when her grandmother corners her even before Mariko’s wedding and lets Lex know that she better have a date – a real date – for the wedding….or else.

Hilarity ensues with Lex making a fool out of herself in a number of ways and places. The lengthy list of qualifications her dates must meet keeps her far from finding anyone to fit the bill. She may just have to settle for what’s available – if she can convince him. Or is it Lex that needs convincing – to trust new people and open her heart to new possibilities?

Tang delivers a fresh outlook on the single life and gives her readers a glimpse of life in the Asian community. This first book in the Sushi Series will leave readers giggling and looking forward to book two.

Rating: 4/5

Like this? Try The Wedding Date by Liz Young

Book News: Smart Girls Like Me

Remember the pre-Y2K madness? Remember Blooks?

Well, Diane Vadino's debut novel is not exactly a blog-to-book, but it is a book from a blogger (bunnyshop.org).  And, according to everything I've read, it brilliantly captures the flavour of the last few months of 1999.

The heroine, Betsy Nilssen, is twenty-four and working for an online fashion site. Her best friend is getting married and the trauma of 'losing' her soul mate makes Betsy realise it's time to grow up. Only she's not at all certain they are going to survive New Year...

Smart Girls Like Me has already garnered high praise and it's got a good cover, so I will have to check it out ASAP. Watch this space!

Related posts: And In Blook News | Shaggy Blog stories | Upcoming bloggy book

BOOK REVIEW: The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz

I loved the premise of Lisa Lutz's debut novel, The Spellman files: a family of private investigators who just can't resist investigating each other.

Isabel Spellman has been working for the family business since the age of 14, but lately she's started to realise that having your parents tailing you and undertaking surveillance in order to find out who you're dating is, well, not normal.

Isabel's older brother, David, got out while the going was good, but her younger sister, Rae, is not only obsessed with the business, she's got even less sense of personal privacy than their parents.

When Isabel meets Daniel and decides she's going to leave the business, her parents give her one last job - a ancient missing person case that was closed years ago. Her parents see it as a wild goose chase to keep Isabel busy long enough that she decides not to leave after all. But Isabel finds plenty of clues that had been overlooked in the original investigation and the case begins to take over her life. Until, that is, her sister goes missing...

I was hooked by this book from the first page. Isabel's voice is distinctive, dry and very funny. The idea is original and inventive and so are the secondary characters - Rae is great: infuriating and impressive; Isabel's parents are calmly demented and her uncle Ray is believably tragic. The only character that didn't work for me was Daniel, who I never felt I really got to know.

Before writing this novel, Lisa Lutz wrote a screenplay and The Spellman Files is very filmic. I was mentally casting it all the way through and I would love it to be turned into a movie. I do know there's going to be a sequel and, frankly, I can't wait.

Rating: 4/5

Like this? Try One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

BOOK REVIEW: Violet On the Runway by Melissa Walker

When I was a youngster I fell in love with a series of books about an innocent young girl - I think she was called Caitlin - who got into modelling. It was like America's Next Top Model, but not so skanky. So I was excited to read Melissa Walker's Violet On the Runway, the story of 17-year-old Violet, who believes she's P.L.A.I.N. until a model scout tells her she could be a star.

Violet's friends and family are unsure this is the right thing for her, particularly when the scout, Angela, insists she goes to New York to try out for the Fashion Week shows.

Violet does brilliantly and ends up moving to New York to model and live in one of those model apartments with other models, on of whom is, inevitably, a complete bitch. Violet enjoys the modelling, particularly since she seems to be good at it, but she's not sure New York, the people or the industry are right for her...

I enjoyed Violet On the Runway to an extent. It was an easy read and Violet is an endearing character, but I felt like it didn't really live up to its promise. Early in the book Violet overhears Angela talking about how Violet's going to be "skewered" and, for me, the skewering just never happened. It was too nice, Violet's journey was too easy.

But then this *is* the first in the series - the first chapter of Violet By Design, out in March next year, is included in this book - so perhaps things hot up for Violet in the future.

One thing I will say though is that there never would have been any cocaine snorting in the Caitlin books. Either young adult fiction is getting too realistic or I'm getting old. Or both.

Rating: 3/5

Like this? Try Dramarama by E Lockhart

BOOK REVIEW: Happy Hour at Casa Dracula by Marta Acosta

Reviewed by Angela Richardson

Happy Hour at Casa Dracula is Marta Acosta’s first published novel about a young woman who finds her heart’s desire in the least likely of places – with a family of vampires.

Latina Ivy League grad Milagro de Los Santos is the star of Happy Hour at Casa Dracula. She can’t find her place in the world or a man to go with it. Her life changes when one night at a book party for her pretentious ex-boyfriend she meets an oddly attractive man. After she is bitten while kissing him, she falls ill and is whisked away to his family’s estate to recover. She discovers the family’s secret; they say that they are carriers of a hereditary disease, but others claim they are vampires. As Milagro falls for a fabulously inappropriate man, she finds herself caught between a family that has accepted her as one of its own and a powerful, clandestine organisation that refuses to let the undead live and love in peace.

What raises this book head and shoulders above the rest of its genre are the strong characters. Milagro is so endearingly lacking in self-confidence, yet she still fights her corner with the most hilarious acerbic put-downs. She is just so likeable that I found myself rushing through the book rooting for her to get her heart’s desire. More importantly her ex-boyfriend’s personality is so hideous that I loved hating him and enjoying any of the plot that made his life a misery. The combination of the humour and fast pace made Acosta’s book one of the best that I’ve read in a long time.

Rating: 5/5

Like this? Try Undead and Unwed by MaryJanice Davidson

BOOK REVIEW: Blood is the New Black by Valerie Stivers

I was very excited when I reported the forthcoming debut novel from Valerie Stivers in book news back in September – vampires and fashion are just my thing – so imagine how excited I was when Blood is the New Black plopped through my letterbox weeks before publication.

The story revolves around Kate McGraw and her internship at Tasty magazine. Kate’s a medical student with an eye for fashion – she can diagnose a man and tell you where his suit was tailored at 50 paces. Her mother, who seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth, was a fashion designer, and although Kate has tried to break free of the fashion world her aunt introduces her to Tasty editor, Lillian Hall, who offers her a job at Tasty.

Kate soon faces the wrath of her fellow interns when she becomes Lillian’s favourite, but that doesn’t worry her as much as the murders that are going on around her. And why are some of her Tasty colleagues so odd? What’s the strange red drink they all have and why do they sleep in their offices? And why do they all start work so late – surely they can’t all be up all night?

I love the new trend of supernatural chick lit and this one really hits the mark – this was a read in one sitting book. It turns the world of fashion on hits head, but is still believable. If you’ve ever wondered how people in fashion manage to stay so thin maybe this is the real reason.

Rating: 4/5

Like this? Try Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

BOOK REVIEW: Crow Lake by Mary Lawson

I added Mary Lawson's Crow Lake to my Amazon wishlist *years* ago on, if memory serves, Jennifer Weiner's recommendation (via her blog, we're not actually friends ... except in my imagination). Despite that, I never actually bought it because it didn't really sound like my kind of book. Too depressing. Too (old) Oprah. But then on holiday I was stuck for something to read and Crow Lake had been left behind by someone else so I picked it up and ... lost about two days.

Set in Northern Ontario, Canada, it's the story of the Morrison family: Kate, who narrates the story, her older brothers Matt and Luke and their younger sister, Bo. At the beginning of the book their parents are killed in a car accident and when Kate reacts incredibly badly to the idea of the siblings being separated, the oldest brother, Luke, decides to give up his chance of teacher training college and take care of the family himself.

The story of Kate's childhood is mixed with the story of Kate as an adult. Apparently repressed and regretful, Kate is an academic, living far away from her brothers and sister and unable to get over the events of their childhood. Not just the loss of their parents, but the loss of the future in academia her brilliant brother Matt (yes, Matt, not Luke) had to give up, for reasons we don't learn until almost the very end of the book.

I found Crow Lake utterly compelling. While not exactly depressing, it is dreadfully sad, full of regrets and missed opportunities, but also somehow life-affirming and encouraging. The characters of Bo and Matt are both wonderful, plus Lawson writes evocatively about the lakes of Northern Ontario. I know the characters and events will stay with me for a long time.

Rating: 4/5

Like this? Try Afloat by Jennifer McCartney

BOOK REVIEW: Inside the Mind of Gideon Rayburn

Inside the Mind of Gideon Rayburn has a really interesting premise. Gideon Rayburn starts a prestigious boarding school, but he's not alone. Well, as far as he knows he is, but we know better, because the book is narrated by a girl. A girl who is living in Gideon's head.

I know. It sounds far-fetched - well, it *is* far-fetched, obviously - but it's only weird for the first couple of chapters, then you come to accept it and it's fine. In fact, it's very entertaining to have a girl's take on a boy's thoughts and behaviour. If only it could have happened to me when I was 16 ... or maybe not.

Gideon's two roommates set him a challenge to lose his virginity to a nice girl named Molly, but of course, Gideon, because he's a boy, has set his own sights on a not quite so nice (but far hotter) girl named Pilar.

At first I thought this book was going to be fairly typical - the roommates would set Gideon up and humiliate him and it would all be terrible and I would find it very stressful, but it wasn't like that at all. Gideon is a lovely character (the girl inside his head falls in love with him within the first few chapters) and the events of the book are much more realistic and less painful than I imagined.

It was actually issued as an adult novel, but it's YA through and through (apart from one instance of a very rude word). Judging by the colours on the back of the book, the publishers were presumably trying to cash in on the success of Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep.

I  haven't read Prep, but I really enjoyed Inside the Mind of Gideon Rayburn.

Rating: 4/5

Like this? Try Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky

BOOK REVIEW: Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler

Reviewed by Jill Hart

I have a confession: I loved this book. As a Jane Austen addict myself, I'm always nervous about books that "add to" or try to "complete" any of Austen's work. This book, however has a story all its own with some Austen references thrown in to make it all the more enjoyable.

Courtney Stone has just been dumped. She decides the best way to console herself is a stiff drink and an evening with one of her favorite Jane Austen novels. When Courtney wakes up, she's in for the shock of her life - she's in the bed of a woman in England. The England of Jane Austen's time, that is.

Courtney is sure she must be dreaming, so she plays along at first. However, after a couple of days in her "new" body, she comes to the terrifying conclusion that she truly is stuck in this new - make that old - world.

Courtney has a series of hilarious adventures and combined with her neurotic assessment of her situation, it makes for a unique and highly entertaining story. She must live another woman's life and fool everyone around her into believing that she is this woman. There is a suitor to deal with, Mr. Edgeworth, friends to convince and parents to put up with.

This Laurie Viera Rigler's first novel and she's done a wonderful job. Charming characters, matchless plot-lines and a great Austen flavor make this debut a must-read. Fans of Austen will love Rigler's style and Austen newbies will have no trouble following the story even if they aren't familiar with all of Austen's work.

I'll be on the lookout for Rigler's next novel. In the meantime, this is a novel I'll read again.

Rating: 4/5

Like this? Try

BOOK REVIEW: The Queen Geek Social Club by Laura Preble

The back of this book piqued my interest, as it proclaims "I'll be the first to admit it - I'm a geek". I'm a geek too. I think - I'm a dork, at least - so I was intrigued to read a young adult book from a geek's point of view.

Shelby Chapelle hasn't had a close female friend for a while. She gets plenty of dates, but she's missing out on female companionship, particularly since the death of her mother. Yes, her inventor father has created a robot companion - Euphoria - but that's not really the same, is it? But then Becca Gallagher comes to town...

Becca's a self-proclaimed geek too and soon she's convinced Shelby that geeks need to band together if they're going to take over the world. Of course, the first step to taking over the world is taking over the school and so the "Queen Geek Social Club" is formed. Becca has plenty of ideas of what they should do - starting with force-feeding too thin supermodels - but Shelby isn't sure she wants so much attention. Wasn't she happier as a lone geek?

I enjoyed the Queen Geek Social Club. Shelby and Becca are both fun characters (particularly Becca) and I enjoyed the schemes they came up with. The problem for me was that they weren't really geeks - they were just too cool! Plus the suspension of disbelief required by the robot Euphoria was just too much for me. I don't know much about robots, but I'm not sure they can make meals, wash dishes and form romantic attachments for other household products.

Having said that, I would like to read the next book in the series, Queen Geeks in Love (out next month), if only for Becca.

Rating: 3/5

Like this? Try How to be Popular by Meg Cabot

BOOK REVIEW: Five Things I Can't Live Without by Holly Shumas

If you're a regular Trashionista reader, you'll know how excited I was to read Holly Shumas's debut novel, Five Things I Can't Live Without, and I wasn't disappointed.

It's the story of Nora Bishop who is the very definition of a woman who thinks too much. She calls it her "meta-life" but it basically means she can't live in the moment because she's always second-guessing, questioning and analysing everything. Can't think why that appealed to me so much!

Realising her heart's not in her job, Nora quits, but doesn't know what she really wants to do. When a friend asks for her help rewriting her internet dating profile, Nora thinks she may have found her niche.

Each chapter begins with the dating profile of various characters (some more than once and including Nora herself) and it's a surprisingly successful device. I loved seeing how Nora developed through her profile alone, but there's more to the book than that. Holly Shumas is a marriage and family therapist and it shows, Five Things I Can't Do Without is warm, wise and, dare I say it, emotionally intelligent.

Between Nora, her friends and her clients, various relationship issues are raised and examined. Like life, not all are resolved, but they're interesting and thought-provoking.

I think I might be making this book sound more serious than it is. It's a lot more serious than I expected it to be, but it's still a fun read that I didn't want to put down. I can't wait to see what Holly Shumas does next.

Rating: 4/5

Like this? Try Pug Hill by Alison Pace

BOOK REVIEW: Following My Toes by Laurel Osterkamp

Following My Toes is Laurel Osterkamp's first novel. The title refers to Faith's psychic powers - when something bad is going to happen her skin hurts, but when it's something good in her future, her toes itch.

Following a bad break-up, Faith's friend suggests she move from Duluth to Minneapolis. The itching in her toes suggests this is just what she needs, but once there she starts to doubt her abilities since everything that could go wrong, does.

In fact, before she's even arrived in town she has a run-in with an obnoxious (but sexy) mechanic, Ethan. Her roommate, Missy, is not only a phone sex worker and stripper, she's a nutcase. Struggling to find a teaching job, Faith begins work as a barista in the local coffee bar where an utterly awful customer treats her like dirt.

That's not all. Before long she's being stalked, her friend Carolyn's apparently perfect relationship is breaking down and her spoilt younger sister comes to stay. Plus she still has to go back to Duluth for her parents' taxidermy convention. Yes, taxidermy convention.

And if you think all of the above sounds farfetched, you'd be right. But the thing that really makes it unbelievable isn't the events, it's that every single character constantly behaves like an idiot. Every last one. You know some books when you can tell a character only behaves a certain way because the plot requires it? Well this book is like that all the way through. I didn't believe a second of it.

It's a shame because I liked the basic premise, but the book itself came close to being thrown across the room on more than one occasion.

Rating: 2/5

Like this? Try Me vs Me by Sarah Mlynowski (it's much better)

BOOK REVIEW: Golden by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Jennifer Lynn Barnes was 19 when she wrote Golden. 19! Do you know what I was doing when I was 19? Following Matt Goss around London. Shut up. Anyway, Barnes' time was much better spent (obviously) since Golden is a treat.

Like the other women in her family, Felicity "Lissy" James has "the Sight" - she can see people's auras. Her mother, Katie, can find lost children. Or at least she usually can. When she is unable to find 4-year-old Cory Park until after his murder, the James family are hounded out of town and return to Katie's Oklahoma home town.

Lissy is greeted by three bitchy girls who tell her that her new school is split into "Goldens" and "Nons". They make it quite clear that Lissy is likely to be a Non and when, on Lissy's first day, she both throws up and passes out, her position is assured.

But the vomiting and fainting was a reaction to Lissy's first glimpse of her new Maths teacher, Mr Kissler. As a child, Lissy gave the name "Garn" to a really bad aura, an aura that signifies a person has done, or is doing, something really really bad. She's never before seen an entirely Garn aura until Mr Kissler's so, with the help of her younger sister, Lexie and Audra and Dylan (two friendly fellow Nons), Lissy has to work out just what Mr Kissler has done and what she can do about it.

The first three quarters of Golden are entertaining, but not earth-shattering - I wasn't excited to get back to it, but I enjoyed it as I read - but then the last quarter is absolutely fantastic. I thought I knew what was going to happen, but I was so wrong. If Barnes can come up with something as inventive and thrilling as the end of this book aged 19, Lord only knows what she'll do next.

Rating: 4/5

Like this? Try Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

GIVEAWAY: I Married A Pirate

A few weeks ago we featured an interview with journalist and debut novelist Samantha David, as part of our Summer Special.

Today: the chance to win not just a copy of her book, I Married a Pirate, but a signed copy! (UK only I'm afraid)

Carry on over the cut to find out how to be in with a chance to win...

Entries should be sent to our usual address - subject line: PIRATE - and please include your name and address (so we can send you the book if you're picked at random). Closing date is midnight GMT next Friday, 14 September. Good luck!

BOOK REVIEW: The Perfectly True Tales of a Perfect Size 12 by Robin Gold

Robin Gold's debut, The Perfectly True tales of a Perfect Size 12 isn't perfectly true at all - it's a novel and a very sweet and funny one it is too.

Delilah White is a producer on a Martha Stewart style homemaking show called Domestic Bliss. Her mentor and the show's executive producer, Agnes De Ville is leaving and the coveted executive producer position is going to either Delilah or another producer named Margo Hart.

But just for the weekend Delilah's not going to worry about that, instead she's going upstate to spend the 4th of July weekend with her best friend Sofia (who also works at Domestic Bliss) for Sofia's extremely rich family's Independence Day celebrations.

Delilah's having a wonderful time - she's relaxed, she's happy, she's met a gorgeous man - but then Margo turns up and Delilah learns that the competition for executive producer is much hotter, and meaner, than she'd anticipated...

I really loved this book. It's written in quite an unusual style. I can't really describe it except that there's a lot more "telling" than "showing", but because Robin Gold has such a great voice, it works (it also makes for a shorter, and possibly sweeter, book).

Delilah is a lovely character. She could have been too perfect, but somehow (and, again, I'm not sure how) Gold makes it work and within pages I was mad about her. It made me laugh out loud more than once (it features the best - if not the only - bouncy castle scene I've ever read) and the last page made me cry.

I have only one criticism. The title. Yes, Delilah is a "perfect size 12" (UK 16) but she's happy with that. She doesn't spend the book worrying about her weight or trying to diet, she's comfortable with who she is. So why mention it in the title?

Apart from that, The Perfectly True Tales of a Perfect Size 12 is a charming, old-fashioned and inspiring book. It's also the first book for a long time that I actually read while walking down the street!

Rating: 5/5

Like this? Try Love Walked In by Marisa De Los Santos

(Quite a lot of) Caprice Crane news

Caprice Crane has been a big fave of ours since her fabulous debut Stupid and Contagious (it wasn't the former, but definitely was the latter!)

Next Wednesday, in honour of the release of her new book Forget About It (which Keris is reading at the moment - jealous!) Caprice will be the star of our author interview. (Buy the book from 27th August in the US/on Amazon or from 4th October in the UK).

In the meantime, you can watch a short film, Passing the Time, created as a sort-of trailer for the book (which will be turned into a feature film by Disney, starring Scarlett Johansson - and which meant Crane couldn't make an actual trailer proper for copyright reasons. Or something.)

Finally, if you're quick and in the Santa Monica area, you might be able to catch Miss Crane at a Barnes and Noble signing today. [Via Galleycat].

TV NEWS: Gossip Girl

Last August we brought you news that Cecily Von Ziegesar's controversial teen series Gossip Girl was to be made into a TV series by OC creator Josh Schwartz.

Now we have some more information for you and (over the cut) a video clip!

The series centres around a group of spoilt rich girls at an exclusive Manhattan boarding school, whose antics are immortalised by an anonymous blogger, Gossip Girl. As Catwalk Queen editor Kim says, "The words 'guilty pleasure' spring to mind..."

Look out for the show in the US from 17 September on the CW. And in the UK... hopefully soon!

Carry on over the cut for a sneak preview... (and if you recognise that narrator's voice, that's cos it's Kristen Bell, aka: Veronica Mars!)

[Via Catwalk Queen].

YAY OR NAY WEDNESDAY

Just yesterday I wrote about a new book with 'club' in the title, and here at Trashionista we've reviewed (brace yourselves!):

The Tuesday Erotica Club, The Yorkshire Pudding Club, The Jane Austen Book Club, The Friday Night Knitting Club, Man of the Month Club, The Dirty Girls' Social Club, The Second Wives' Club and The Adultery Club.

There's also The Sunday Night Book Club, The Naked Drinking Club and - to be a bit different - The Book Group.

So is it time to call time on the word 'club' and ask authors and publishers to think of different titles... (there have to be other ways to bring disparate characters together) or don't you care as long as the story is good?

'Club' in the title - is it a Yay or a Nay... and WHY?

Yay or Nay archives.

[Don't forget it's Yay or Nay day at Hippyshopper, Bridalwave, Dollymix, Corrie Blog, Catwalk Queen, Kiss and Makeup, The Bag Lady, Shoewawa and Shiny Shiny, too!]

BOOK NEWS: The Hindi-Bindi Club by Monica Pradhan

Another book with club in the title, and hey, why not?!

The Hindi-Bindi Club is getting great reviews. Monica Pradhan's debut novel, it's about an inter-connected group of Indian-American families who face issues ranging from racism to breast cancer to infidelity, and it entwines personal stories of joy and heartache with delicious-sounding Indian recipes.

It sounds like a mix of The Joy Luck Club, Like Water for Chocolate and Desperate Housewives! First magazine calls it "enthralling".  Definitely one to watch out for (and just look how pretty the cover is!)

Related: BOOK REVIEW: The Tuesday Erotica Club | BOOK REVIEW: The Yorkshire Pudding Club.

BOOK REVIEW: No! I Don't Want to Join a Bookclub by Virgina Ironside

Better known as an agony aunt, Virginia Ironside is also an experienced journalist and now a novelist, too. No! I Don't Want to Join a Bookclub is about Marie Sharp, who's single and just about to turn sixty and has decided to start a diary, Bridget Jones-style.

Kind of.

Unlike many people of her generation, Marie is not trying to recapture her youth, doesn't want to take evening classes, expand her mind, keep active, or god forbid, join a book club. What she wants to do is cover up her bingo wings, drink a lot of wine and enjoy being old. But being old doesn't mean doing nothing - in fact Marie has a pretty jam-packed time even though she has retired. She becomes a granny (or, as she inexplicably writes it, grannie) for the first time (something she talks about with such joy, I was incredibly moved and almost wanted to be one myself - although at 28 I think I might be a little young...) Her first love also comes back into her life, one of her oldest friends becomes very ill, and Marie has a young French lodger to keep a motherly eye on.

Although sometimes a little too cynical and curmudgeonly for my tastes, Marie is a very well-drawn and likeable character and I found this a fast and enjoyable read. It was refreshing to read about an older heroine and especially one who is both single and happy about it and happy with her age.

However, I'm not sure I'd want to be like Marie when I'm older - I don't see what's so wrong with salsa dancing and bungee jumping post-retirement if you fancy it, and sometimes Marie sounds more like 80 than 60!

But don't be put off if your age is nearer 20 - this is a good read for any age. I'd just love for a book club to pick it...

Rating: 4/5

Like this? Try Plotting for Beginners by Sue Hepworth and Jane Linfoot.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Holly Shumas

We like to strike while the iron is hot, so no sooner did Holly Shumas get in touch to tell us about her new website, than we grabbed her (in the nicest possible way) for an interview about her book, Five Things I Can't Live Without, and a few other things too...

Please describe your latest book in 15 words or fewer:

A woman approaching thirty needs to get out of her head and into her life.

Where do you like to write your books (in bed, a coffee shop, an office)?

At my desk at home.  I want to be one of those cafe writers, but I'm just too distractible.

Your favourite chick-lit book?

The Big Love by Sarah Dunn.

Your favourite female heroine (if different from above!), and why?

Stargirl, from the book of the same name by Jerry Spinelli.  It's classified as a young adult novel, though if I could write the world a syllabus, it would be required reading for everyone. She shows how magical it can be to completely inhabit your own skin. [Okay, totally adding that to my Amazon wishlist now! - Diane]

What tips would you give to any of our readers who want to become writers?

It's been said a million times, I know, but it's just so true: Read often, and read widely.

Study the genre you want to write in, but read outside of it, too. Figure out what your gifts are as a writer, and cultivate them.

What are you reading at the moment?

I'm almost at the end of "Then We Came to the End" by Joshua Ferris, and I'm so sad about it. It's a phenomenal book, especially if you've ever spent significant amounts of time in a cubicle. If you haven't, I think you'll like it anyway because it's so spot-on about human nature (and so funny, too!) but I'm not making any promises.

What are you working on now? (If you can give us a hint!)

I'm working on a novel about a woman who discovers her seemingly devoted husband has been involved in an emotional affair for the past year. It deals with the question of whether emotional infidelity is better -- or maybe worse -- than sexual infidelity. Grand Central's 5-Spot imprint (which also published Five Things I Can't Live Without) has bought the book; now I've just got to finish writing it...

What question have you never been asked in an interview, but think you should have been? (Tell us the question and answer it too, if you like!)

Q. Is the question "What question have you never been asked in an interview, but think you should have been?" the hardest question you've ever been asked?

A. Yes!

Ingenious answer, Holly - thanks so much for chatting with us!

Interview archives.

TRASHIONISTA RECOMMENDS: Dear Holly

A couple of months ago, Keris told us about Holly Shumas's new book debut, Five Things I Can't Live Without. She'll be reviewing it soon, but in the meantime you might like to take a look at the author's excellent web site, which includes an interactive advice section, Dear Holly. Follow that link for questions from readers and answers from Holly herself on all manner of dating dilemmas.

Why don't more authors do this? I'd love Marian Keyes's advice on skincare and Sophie Kinsella's tips on shoe shopping...

Which author would you most like a Q & A with, and on what topic?

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Alice Kuipers

Alice Kuipers' book, Life on the Refrigerator Door, is causing a bit of a stir. Published in both adult and teen editions, it's a compelling tale about the effects of breast cancer on the relationship between a mother and a daughter, told entirely via notes on the fridge door. A review is on the way.

Please describe your latest book in 15 words or fewer:

During a tragic year, Claire and her mother learn to make time for each other.

Where do you like to write your books (in bed, a coffee shop, an office)?

I write on a laptop which I bring with me wherever I travel.  Right now, I'm working in my office in Saskatoon.  Next week, I'll be working on my mum's kitchen table in London.

Your favourite chick-lit book?

I loved Bridget Jones' Diary when it came out.  I think Helen Fielding is a terrific writer.

Your favourite female heroine (if different from above!), and why?

My granny is 92 years old and was just in a Muller Light ad.  She's my hero.

What tips would you give to any of our readers who want to become writers?

If any of you are writing, I'd suggest that you keep going and keep going and then write a little more.  It's hard to get what you want to say on the page, it's hard to get published, it's hard to get up every day and write, but if you want to do it then don't let anyone stop you.

What are you reading at the moment?

I just finished the new Harry Potter.  I enjoyed it - I think JK Rowling has done an amazing job with those books.  I'm reading a novel called Steppenwolf now by a German writer called Herman Hesse.  He's one of my favourites.  Not an easy read but very beautiful.

What are you working on now? (If you can give us a hint!)

I'm working on several projects.  One is a novel about a baby that falls out the sky onto someone's doorstep.  One is a short story about a woman who is having an affair.  I just finished a short story about a doctor who wants to save a patient who's 94 years old.

What question have you never been asked in an interview, but think you should have been? (Tell us the question and answer it too, if you like!)

I was having lunch with some other writers who live here in Saskatoon and someone asked, "Why do you write?"  I think I write because I can't do anything else; I write because the only way I can understand the world is to put it on the page.  I liked thinking about that question and I'd never been asked it before.

Thanks, Alice.

BOOK REVIEW: Momzillas

I have to admit to being completely superficial: the thing that grew me to Momzillas by Jill Kargman was... the pretty pink and black cover! It also reminded me a bit of The Nanny Diaries which I *heart* so if the novel itself was awful, I was going to be really disappionted. And at first, I did question the need for this book: semi-autobiographical novels about competititve parenting in Manhattan are not new, but I'd yet to read one I really enjoyed, so I was hoping this would be the one. Luckily, it was! (There must be something in that judging by cover thing after all...)

Momzillas follows San Francisco transplant Hannah Allen's attempts to fit in with the New York society mamas who are married to her husband's new NYC colleagues - and friends with her rich and frosty mother-in-law. Suddenly she's thrust into a world where $350 is a modest amount to spend on a birthday present for the child of someone you hardly know, and staying in the city over the summer (or worse, going on the subway!) just isn't done. Struggling to keep up with the snobbery, but feeling that she has to mingle with women who look down on her in order to get her daughter Violet into the right pre-school and to help her husband's career, Hannah despairs of ever feeling less lonely. So when her old Art Histroy professor from university, the one she had a mega crush on back in the day, asks her to meet up and visit museums with him, that's a perfectly reasonable thing to do, right?

As Hannah's relationship wobbles, so does her certainty that she's done the right thing in moving to New York. She also starts to care a bit less about what the ultra-posh mothers in the posh playground think of her and tries to find a niche for herself and a pre-school for Violet that isn't run by Neo-Nazis...

Can her marriage survive her re-ignited crush on her professor and her husband's crazy hours? And can she break free from all the stupid demands of Momzilla society and enjoy her new situation?

I knew that things would surely work out OK for Hannah in the end, but I enjoyed reading about how she got there. Hannah is a very likeable character (and her daughter Violet couldn't sound cuter!) and Jill Kargman's writing style is snappy and witty. I also liked the fact that Hannah's husband Josh was sympathetic rather than cruel or pathetic, as in other books of this type! I felt the book's ending was a little rushed - too much was summarised rather than shown to the reader - and I was aggravated by the narrator's description of single life as almost a fate worse than death! But I'd definitely recommend this as a great holiday read.

Rating: 4/5

Like this? Try The Nanny Diaries by Nicola Kraus and Emma McClaughlin.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Samantha David

Samantha David is a journalist who has written what could be the perfect summer read: I Married A Pirate is her debut novel and she'll tell you about it below, along with talking about what she's reading now, and women who prefer dogs to men (really)... And yes, we will be reviewing her book at some point, of course!

Please describe your latest book in 15 words or fewer:

An original, intelligent, irreverant, quirky, laugh-aloud romantic comedy about Bohemia, personal freedom and love. [Ooh, good one! - Diane]

Where do you like to write your books (in bed, a coffee shop, an office)?

At my desk, in front of my computer, preferrably after midnight when I won't be disturbed. (I spend my days at my desk, in front of my computer, being a journalist.)

Your favourite chick-lit book?

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos.

Your favourite female heroine (if different from above!), and why?

Flora Poste (from Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons) because she makes me laugh. Tessa Sanger (The Constant Nymph by Margaret Kennedy) because she makes me cry.

What tips would you give to any of our readers who want to become writers?

JDI - Just Do It.

What are you reading at the moment?

The Lady of Shalott (Tennyson), Northanger Abbey (Austen) and Scotland Street (Mccall Smith).

What are you working on now? (If you can give us a hint!)

A romantic comedy about the most charming, intelligent, handsome, sexy man in the world and Rosie - who is stunningly beautiful but prefers dogs to men...

What question have you never been asked in an interview, but think you should have been? (Tell us the question and answer it too, if you like!)

Where shall we send the cheque?

Hee... sorry, we're not asking that either, but thanks, Samantha!

Author Interview archives.

BOOK REVIEW: Sammy's Hill by Kristen Gore

Reviewed by Jessica Denmark of Jessica, Etcetera.

Easy to relate to, acceptable to laugh at and unavoidable to laugh with, the 20-something political aide on Capital Hill  Sammy Joyce is a reader's "every girl". Seamless between instantaneous thoughts and the immediate situation at hand, Sammy's Hill was the perfect read for me at the precise moment in my life when I read it.

Despite tripping along over life's stumbling blocks, Sammy seems relatively content. She lightheartedly struggles with her career and its effects on her in an all-too-familiar cocktail of passion and politics. Of course, a man in the mix stirs the concoction more so until readers are pleasantly tipsy on her life events and their outcomes.

Sammy's introspections pop and bubble as everyone's do. From her daily battle to keep her Siamese fighting fish alive, to her review of animal attack defense movements while in the shower (a true laugh-out-loud moment), Sammy reassures us that we are not crazy after all when we find ourselves pondering during the weekly budget meeting why we can't keep a plant thriving, milk from spoiling or remember to get an oil change.

With a splash of karma and what-was-she-thinking, Sammy's Hill might be chick-lit in flavor but goes down like a delicious glass of relatively-affordable white wine.

Rating: 4/5

Like this? Try The Washingtonienne by Jessica Cutler

BOOK REVIEW: Another Man's Life by Greg Williams

The concept of  Another Man's Life by Greg Williams is pretty interesting: twin men with very different lives (one is a single, hot-shot rich businessman, the other a stay-at-home-dad ever since he was made unemployed) decide to swap lives and to find out how the other half lives, if the grass is greener on the other side... and all that jazz.

So they hatch a plan to pretend to be each other for two weeks, during which Tom (the stay-at-home-dad)'s wife will be away and Sean (the single, hot-shot rich businessman) will be off work. Or that's the plan, anyway.

What could possibly go wrong?

Of course LOTS could possibly go wrong, and in fact does - Sean meets a woman he could fall in love with, but is posing as a married man; Tom is shocked to discover how little he misses family life. And both men realise that yes, in many ways the grass is greener on his twin's side of the fence.

A quote from GQ editor Dylan Jones on the front of this book calls it 'Nick Hornby with knobs on', so I was expecting big things. Unfortunately it didn't quite deliver. The brothers narrate alternating chapters but I found little to tell their voices apart, and kept having to flick to the front of a chapter to remind myself who was telling the story! While the moral implications of such a life-swap were dealt with pretty well in the narrative, the characters still came across as a bit unsympathetic at times. And it just isn't as funny and clever as it thinks it is. (Jokes are often punctuated with a "she thought I was really funny" - type comment as if to impress the reader, which doesn't work).

However, I did enjoy the concept and liked the book more as it moved towards its conclusion. I liked the happy ending but just didn't feel I'd read anything particularly special.

As it's 'lad lit', I wonder if a man would have enjoyed it more...

Rating: 3/5

Like this? Try Mr Nice Guy by Thomas Dowler.   

BOOK REVIEW: Scot on the Rocks by Brenda Janowitz

Brenda Janowitz's debut novel, Scot on the Rocks, is subtitled "How I survived my ex-boyfriend's wedding with my dignity ever-so-slightly intact" and is the tale of lawyer Brooke Miller, whose boyfriend dumps her just before her ex-boyfriend's wedding, which they were supposed to attend together.

Too embarrassed to tell her ex, Trip, that she's now single (he's marrying a Hollywood superstar, after all) she convinces her friend and colleague, Jack, to accompany her and pretend to be her fiance, Douglas. Her Scottish fiance, Douglas. I feel I want to say "with hilarious consequences" here, probably because I bet you can imagine exactly what happens.

Despite its predictability, I really enjoyed Scot on the Rocks, though I did have a few problems with it. Douglas is so, so awful that I couldn't imagine what Brooke ever saw in him, plus her attentions switch to Jack a bit too quickly to be convincing. I would have liked to have got to know both Jack and Brooke's best friend Vanessa a bit better (although I can see Vanessa having her own book in the future).

Despite the above, I enjoyed Scot on the Rocks predominantly because of Brooke's voice. She's sweet and very funny and I really enjoyed her asides to the reader. As a character, she'll stick in my mind, but I'm not sure if the book will. I'll certainly be keen to read Brenda Janowitz's next book though.

Rating: 3/5

Like this? Try Talk Gertie to Me by Lois Winston

Look out for a big Scot on the Rocks giveaway next week

BOOK REVIEW: The Washingtonienne by Jessica Cutler

Jessica Cutler is probably the most notorious of all the people to have been fired for blogging at work. Not only did she work for a senator in Washington, D.C but she wrote about the six different men she was having sex with and all of their sexual peccadilloes... and her own. She blogged anonymously, but was found out through word-of-mouth (and eventually, hard disk evidence) and unceremoniously 'let go' from her job. Instead of hiding in a dark corner, she decided to capitalise on the subsequent media attention she received, and used it to get a book deal (with a 6-figure advance). The Washingtonienne isn't her blog in book form, however; it's novel based on her experiences.

Jackie Turner is a New York transplant in America's capital, working for a senator, having her apartment paid for by two wealthy men she sleeps with, one of whom pays her for the privilege. Then she starts a blog, which causes a huge scandal.

'Semi-autobiographical' doesn't quite seem to cover it!....

I must admit there were times I forgot I wasn't reading a memoir. I always find it hard to get a handle on novels based heavily on the author's experiences - I always want to know exactly which bits are true. If the lawsuit against her is anything to go by, however, Cutler's debut is very close to the truth.

It's witty and readable but the narrator has a very dark world view and it's full of drug-taking and sordid sex (which on one occasion seemed uncomfortably close to rape to me) and the narrator's presumption that most people live like her (those that don't are stupid/boring) and that these things are what constitute 'fun'. Yet puking purple bile into bushes on the way to work and snorting drugs off - well, you'll have to read the book - doesn't sound much fun to me. Although I did feel a bit jealous that she could watch Law & Order all day...

This is definitely a novel in the anti-heroine trend, saved from being appalling by the snappy writing and (finally!) the narrator's insight into her behaviour towards the end of the book. Not everyone will enjoy reading this, some people will find it shameless, I just found it left me with a bit of a nasty taste in my mouth at times. And yet I kind of enjoyed it (she said, in horrified disbelief) and it was certainly entertaining. If anyone else has read it (perhaps for Mamapop's book club) I'd love to know what you thought.

Rating: 3/5

Like this? Try My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler.