View source for Girls' Night In by Loose Women

{{infobox1 
|title= Girls' Night In
|author= Loose Women
|reviewer= Karen Inskip-Hayward
|genre=Home and Family 
|summary= A great fun read for all women of a certain age and all fans of ''Loose Women''.
|rating=4 
|buy= Yes
|borrow= Yes
|pages=272 
|publisher= Hodder Paperbacks
|date= August 2009
|isbn=978-0340918593 
|cover=0340918594
|aznuk=0340918594
|aznus=0340918594
}}

I love watching ''Loose Women'' on TV and feel it's like sitting down for a good gossip with a load of girlfriends. Every time it's on, I get involved in the debates and they spark discussions at home with whoever is around. My teenage daughters are fans of the show too.

So when I heard a book was coming out, I definitely wanted to read it! But would the fun and camaraderie so obvious on the telly really be able to translate to the written word?

The eight Loose Women are all featured in the book –

Coleen Nolan is one of my favourites. Baby of the Nolan Sisters, 4th in Dancing On Ice and ex-wife of Shane Richie, Coleen comes across as warm, witty, maternal and lovely. I especially relate to her when she is discussing weight problems and parenting issues.

Jane McDonald became famous on reality TV show ''The Cruise'' and is a successful singer. I like her for her glamour and Northern twang.

Sherrie Hewson is an actress of many years' experience, most famously in ''Coronation Street''. She is eccentric and comes out with some wonderful things, so she always makes me laugh. She is single and devoted to her daughter and grandson.

Another former ''Corrie'' star is Denise Welch, now Steph in ''Waterloo Road'' and married to co-star Tim Healy. I love Denise and find my opinions usually correspond with hers. 

Carol McGiffin was my least favourite for a while. I only knew her for being the ex-wife of Chris Evans, but she has had a long career as a journalist too. I have finally warmed to her, but she does come across as brash and loud-mouthed.

Actress Lynda Bellingham is someone I love listening to. She is dignified and intelligent and often comes out with real wisdom and sense. 

The two anchors of the show are former weather girl Andrea McLean and DJ Jackie Brambles and I feel I know these two least, perhaps because they are there more to structure the discussions than to participate themselves. They are both mothers of young children, so I am interested to hear about their lives, but don't feel I would get on with them as well as some of the other Loose Women.

This book features the views of all eight of these wonderful women. It is organised into chapters which cover specific topics – friendship, relationships, sex, travel, family, appearance and so on. The chapters read like big group discussions between the girls, with each speaker's name written in like a script.

I enjoyed the format and found the voices of the women were happily reading out their bits in my head. The only concern I had was not knowing whether the conversations were taken from TV shows, or were from chat sessions specifically for the book or something else. I would have liked to have seen an introduction explaining this.

The book is very readable; I could have happily sat down and read it all in one sitting, if I'd had the time. It is great fun and I found myself laughing out loud at some parts and relating to a lot of what the girls were saying. It is reassuring to know that even glamorous television presenters worry incessantly about a particular body part!

My eighteen-year-old daughter has read about half the book and is enjoying it too. I would recommend this for any women from teenagers upwards, but especially the 35-65 age group. The only section of the population that should avoid it are the males. My husband always ends up shouting at the telly when ''Loose Women'' is on and complaining about the sexism they 'get away with' and he'd hate this book. But that's fine – because I loved it!

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag. 

If this book appeals to you then we think that you might also enjoy [[Dear Fatty by Dawn French]]. 

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