Newest Women's Fiction Reviews
Women's Fiction
Stolen by Lesley Pearse
The story of Stolen is an interesting one. David Mitchell is walking along a beach in Selsey, Sussex in May 2003, when he comes across a young woman – beautiful, half-drowned and barely alive. She is taken to hospital and her photo is featured in the newspapers, as the police hope to discover who she is.
Meanwhile, Dale, a female hairdresser, sees the photo and believes the girl to be Lotte, who she befriended on a cruise they were working on. Along with Dale's colleague Scott – who also knew Lotte – they visit the girl, but she has amnesia and seems to have forgotten almost everything. Full review...
The Message by Julie Highmore
The Message is very much a twenty first century tale as it all hinges on a voicemail message made from a mobile phone. It is also based on the fact that it is very easy to send a message to one person when it is actually meant for someone else. This is what happens to Jen when she receives a message from her husband Robert. There is nothing particularly special about this message; that is until Jen realises that she is not the intended recipient and then it has a shattering effect on her marriage. Full review...
The Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman
Chocolate bonbons with an almond glaze. Peanut butter cookies double dipped in chocolate. Coffee and raisin hermit biscuits. Crisp vanilla fingers with toasted almonds. Thin crunchy crisps flavoured with molasses and ginger.
If you're even the slightest bit peckish after that, I guarantee you'll be starving by the time you finish this wonderful book full of festive flavour. Full review...
When the Duke Returns by Eloisa James
When the Duke Returns, the newest volume in the 'Desperate Duchesses' series, continues the regency celebrity romp saga where Duchess by Night left off.
The focus, this time, is on Isidore, the Duchess of Conway: hot-headed, hot-blooded and Italian to boot, she was married by proxy at the age of sixteen and is still a virgin seven years later. Isidore's cunning plot to entice back the husband she has never seen from his travels in Asia and Africa works perfectly and Simeon, His Grace Duke of Conway is now back in England, ready to claim his estate and, as Isidore presumes, ready to claim his beautiful wife. Full review...
More Than Just A Wedding by Nia Pritchard
If you like novels in which little happens as the story strolls towards its happy ending, then Nia Pritchard's sequel to 'More Than Just a Hairdresser' may suit you. If the Liverpudlian vernacular and setting pushes your buttons, then maybe you'll enjoy its light-hearted picture of Scouse life. My mother-in-law will probably love it. I'm sorry to say that it wasn't my cup of tea at all. Full review...
Sicilian Sunset by Jessica Porter
Sarah Livingstone's jewellery business was struggling but she was still annoyed when her father called James Ross for help. Sarah and James had had a relationship some ten years earlier and Sarah really didn't want to work with him, particularly after her marriage. Most people thought that her husband's death in a plane crash had been the cruel end to a good marriage. Only a few knew that he had been about to leave her to live with another woman. It's left Sarah very reluctant to get involved with any man. Full review...
Until We Meet Again by Margaret Thornton
In the fateful summer of 1914 Tilly Moon is settled in the midst of the Moon family in Scarborough. It's an extensive clan with the usual close relationships, unusual situations and slight distances between people for no apparent reason. Tilly's an accomplished pianist and she longs to take her music studies further, but there's someone who's coming to mean more to her than her music. Her twin's best friend, Dominic Fraser is the apple of her eye and he feels the same way about her. There are war clouds on the horizon though and when Britain declares war on Germany Tommy and Dominic are quick to enlist as were many of the men in and around the Moon family. Full review...
A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents by Liza Palmer
Grace is reluctantly participating in a 5k race when she receives the news: her estranged sister is calling to tell her their estranged father has had a stroke. That's two lots of estrangement in just two generations of family, but a summons is a summons, and Grace soon finds herself dragged back into the heart of the family she deserted, working with the others to discover the many hidden secrets of the father who deserted them all. It's a tough jump from her happy life of a good job, a new boyfriend and a home of her own to return to the family life she left behind a long time ago, and Grace has to decide whether she can ignore the pull of her biological siblings once more or whether the time has come to let bygones be bygones. After all, while there are lots of four letter words she would associate with her family, love is not one of them. Full review...
Last Christmas by Julia Williams
With Christmas fast approaching, what better way of getting in the spirit of things than by reading this excellent book that captures the joys and stresses of the festive season so well? The reader follows four different people – Catherine Tinsall and her husband Noel, Marianne Moore and Gabriel North. Each of these characters have their own reasons for not really looking forward to Christmas (mainly because of the experience of last Christmas) and these reasons slowly become apparent to the reader as the story progresses. Full review...
The Mother's Tale by Camilla Noli
It is early evening. I am suckling my infant son… We are picture perfect. Madonna and child.
No doubt about it: a new mother totally smitten with her son. Zach is adorable. Quiet. Undemanding. A happy, generally relaxed, child. Gorgeous.
But Zach isn't her first-born. First there was Cassie. A child who entered the world screaming and has since learned exactly what power she can wring with such lungs. Not yet two years old, Cassie adores her father, but even him she manipulates. Her mother she terrorises. Full review...
Starting Over by Sue Moorcroft
The story opens when Tess bumps her old reliable car into a breakdown truck. That's rather convenient, since she isn't hurt, and the guy driving it is able to tow her to his garage, and then give her a lift to her new home. Naturally, since this is the 'chick-lit' genre, Tess and the truck-driver, who goes by the unlikely name of Ratty (an abbreviation of his surname) feel mutual antipathy of the sort that's clearly going to lead, sooner or later, to strong attraction. Full review...
Midsummer Madness by Stella Whitelaw
You'll like Sophie Gresham. She wanted to be an actress but suffers from paralysing stage fright and when the side effects became too much for her she worked behind the scenes. She's a very good prompt despite the fact that you need to wrap up very warmly to survive in the prompt corner she loves her job and most of the cast in the theatre company. It's a bit of a shock though when she realises that the guest producer from New York is Joe Harrison, the man she helped out when he had nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep. Sophie was a little softer in those days – in the meantime she's had to develop a protective shell. Full review...
Follow Your Star by Jennifer Bohnet
It's three years since Nanette Weston left Monaco. She'd been engaged to a Formula 1 racing driver and had lived the life of the wealthy but a serious car accident had ended all that. The accident could have killed her fiancé and she lost her driving licence because of the alcohol she'd consumed. Her slow recovery was hindered by the end of her engagement but she's found some contentment in being a nanny to two young children. When her friend and employer, Vanessa, remarries and takes an extended honeymoon in the Amazon Nanette is asked to take the children back to Monaco where their father lives. Full review...
Christmas at Thrush Green by Miss Read
Set in the rural village of Thrush Green, this book is the latest in a series surrounding familiar characters. There is the feisty Ella Bembridge, who is finally having to admit that old age is creeping up as her eyesight fails. Friends such as Dimity and Charles Henstock are concerned about her, but she refuses to accept any help. Albert Piggott has decided it's time to retire now that his wife, Nelly, is a successful cafe owner and can afford to take care of him! And relative newcomer Phil Hurst and her husband are arranging the local nativity play, despite a number of set-backs. Will everything be in place for Christmas? And will independent Ella make a decision about her future? Full review...
River Deep by Maxine Barry
Two young women both have a love of the Thames. Melisande Ray's beloved hotel, the Ray of Sunshine is on the river bank. It's here that guests come who want to be pampered and looked after in the way that only the best hotels can do well, but when Wendell James checks in to the hotel it's not pampering he's looking for. He's buying a piece of land not far from the Ray of Sunshine and he's sussing out the competition. There's something personal in there too – if his new hotel means that the Ray of Sunshine goes under then that would be an added bonus. There's just a slight doubt in his mind when a red-haired maid catches his eye. Full review...
Remembrance Day by Leah Fleming
In the year 2000 an old lady in a wheelchair watches the unveiling of the new war memorial in the village square. There's pride in what has been achieved, in the family who are gathered around her and there are memories too. Some are good but many are not. Full review...
The Popularity Rules by Abby McDonald
This book is labelled as Abby McDonald's first adult novel, but a brief browse at the juvenile title, cover and formatted content bowls it straight down the teen read alley. The Americanised language, music scene setting and media heroine are aspirational stuff when you're stuck in the pre-scene years. So, despite its label, I've given it four and a half stars based on its appeal as a girlie book. That said, I'm well over eighteen, read the story avidly, and enjoyed the irony. So well done, Abby McDonald, for an entertaining story, cleverly told. Full review...
Through Rose-Coloured Glasses by Anne Baker
Dinah Radcliffe lived in one of the poorer parts of Liverpool and whilst there might not have been a lot of money to spare she was happy in her job as an apprentice milliner and spent her free time nursing her mother, Sarah. Her father had been killed in the Great War, but it was the nineteen thirties and the Radcliffes were making the best of things. The son of their next door neighbour was a jockey and it was his free tickets which took Dinah and her friend to a race meeting at Aintree. It was there that she met Richard Haldane, a widowed businessman who swept Dinah off her feet and introduced her to a life of wealth and privilege beyond her wildest dreams. Within weeks they were married - and within hours Dinah discovered that her husband was not the man she thought he was. Full review...
That Loving Feeling by Carole Matthews
Have you ever wondered what successful authors write about? Since they no longer partake of the everyday world of work, how do they 'write about what they know' while still sounding fresh and up to the minute? And how do they think up all those unique plots? Well, Carole Matthews has solved the problem in 'That Loving Feeling' by setting the book in a Public Library, cleverly utilising the hours she must have spent promoting her previous romantic comedies at Libraries up and down the country. To be cruising towards twenty published novels suggests plenty of interest from library readers and it's a rather nice touch, isn't it, to set a book amongst your loyal fan base. Full review...
The Lost Guide to Life and Love by Sharon Griffiths
Tilly Flint is a food journalist living in London and hankering for a more glamorous life than the one she has. She has a taste of this when her boyfriend Jake takes her to an upmarket nightclub frequented by top footballers and models. Little does she know at the time but some of the people she only glimpses that night are about to become very important to her. Just after, she agrees to go on a working holiday with Jake and they book an isolated cottage in the Pennines. However, an almighty row leads to Jake storming out and Tilly being left on her own. Surprisingly though, it is relief rather than fear that she experiences, particularly when she realises that where she is staying has very strong links with her family's history and that everyone knows of her Great Granny Allen who's sayings Tilly's mother is so fond of quoting. Full review...
House of Angels by Freda Lightfoot
The novel focuses on the Angel family who live in the Lake District in the late 1900s. Josiah Angel is the head of the family and appears to be a respectable business man, bringing up his three daughters after the death of his wife. The family live in a beautiful house and – to outsiders – the daughters seem to have everything – comfort, money, beauty and an easy life, in great contrast to the poverty around them. Not far from Josiah's department store are the workhouse with its brutality and the blocks of slum flats infested with rats. Full review...
Confessions of a Reluctant Recessionista by Amy Silver
Cassie may be 'just' a PA and living and working in one of the most expensive cities on the planet, but thanks to a flair for fashion, and a generous banker boyfriend you'd never know it from looking at her. But, in the fickle world of fashion, friendships and fat-cat bonuses, things can change in an instant. Let go from her job, and from her relationship by her rhymes-with-banker now ex, she is forced to fend for herself and make some cut backs (*shudder*). Forget the Louboutins and the fancy, on-fashion belts, the only buckling she'll be doing any time soon is the buckling down to get a new job, reduce her outgoings, and maintain the smidge of self-respect she has left. Full review...
The Life You Want by Emily Barr
Many good writers have a signature style and for me, Emily Barr's has always been the utterly authentic travel details all her books have been peppered with, whether it be the lazy life in a lush French farmhouse, or the excitement of backpacking across Asia. Her new title is no exception, and this time the destination is India. Full review...
Hedge Fund Wives by Tatiana Boncompagni
Chick lit is about finding a man in order to live happily ever after: not just any man, of course, but Mr Right himself. Hedge Fund Wives is as pink cotton-wooly as any self-respecting chick lit novel in search of a hero. But... it also flies in the face of this convention. In the story, marrying money does not secure the fairy tale ending. It's really amazing that Tatiana Boncompagni has managed to deliver a rags-to-riches happy ending for her heroine while roundly denouncing the riches along the way. Full review...
Angel of Brooklyn by Janette Jenkins
On the eve of the Great War, Jonathan Crane arrives home to the unyielding grey of his home town of Anglezarke, Lancashire with a beautiful new bride on his arm. Beatrice is not immediately warmly received into the embrace of the women of this alien place - her beauty is captivating and the stories about where she grew up, enchanting; Jonathan Crane's new foreign wife is not ordinary among these folk and they are suspicious of her and as sometimes only gritty, British women know how, they are openly and unashamedly hostile toward her. Who is this stunning creature that is trying to infiltrate their lives? Full review...
The Italian Matchmaker by Santa Montefiore
Luca, a half-Italian, rich banker has been through a painful divorce and has decided to take stock of his life. He decides to leave the City behind and, at the suggestion of a friend (and, inevitably, ex-lover) he decides to take off for the summer to visit his parents who have, fortuitously, recently renovated an old palazzo in (the sadly fictitious) Incantellaria on the Amalfi coast. Here, his parents live with a rich assortment of eccentric friends in residence, including a pet pig. Full review...
The Secret Shopper Unwrapped by Kate Harrison
Glamourous Grazia, sassy Sandie and enthusiastic Emily first got together in Harrison's earlier title, 'The Secret Shopper's Revenge'. Now they're back but this time there are many more hassles to deal with than just a bit of simple, secret shopping. Think toy boys and sugar daddies and the odd A-lister, a choice between aging gracefully or disgracefully, reformed criminals and criminal exes, long lost mothers and potential new mothers in law (in the same room! At the same time!) and the delight or dread that comes from finding yourself unexpectedly in the family way. Combine all these factors with the run up to Christmas and you have three good friends run off their feet in every direction but, because friendship is really all that matters, resolutely there for each other in a pinch. Full review...
Unsticky by Sarra Manning
Low paid but with big dreams, talented fashionista Grace is in the process of being dumped by a boy whom she was too good for anyway. If that's not bad enough, he's doing it on her birthday, and if even that's not bad enough, he's doing it in Liberty's. Right by the new season Marc Jacobs bags. It's just wrong. And yet, as one door closes, another opens right next to it. And this one is bigger, older and a lot more expensive. The mysterious Vaughn rescues Grace as the tears begin to fall, whisking her off to dry her eyes over four types of chocolate cake. There are worse things I can think of, that's for sure. Full review...
The Perfect Man by Sheila O'Flanagan
I've read many of Sheila O'Flanagan's books and have always found them light enjoyable reads with interesting storylines and likeable characters. This is what I was expecting from The Perfect Man, and I wasn't at all disappointed.
Unlike most of O'Flanagan's books, this one is not set in Dublin but mainly takes place on a romantic cruise ship in the Caribbean. Britt McDonagh, the successful author of a novel also entitled The Perfect Man, has been invited on board to present a series of talks and workshops about successful romantic writing. Full review...
The Position by Meg Wolitzer
Paul Mellow loves his wife, Roz, seemingly like no other man has ever loved a woman – his idolatry is boundless, bordering on theatrical and yet out of this worship, Paul has the germ of an idea. Who would not want to know the ways in which it is possible to pleasure a wife as beautiful and perfect as his? How could everyone not want to see, to share the artistic renderings of this act of love? Full review...
Fraser's Line by Monica Carly
When Edie died Fraser was devastated. They'd been married for thirty one years and he'd been devoted to her. Nothing had been too much trouble and he'd been quite prepared to watch her flirt with other men, to shine in any company. He was, after all, the man she went home with. Her death had come suddenly and weeks later he was still in a state of shock, but he knew that he would have to sort out her affairs and he enlisted the help of a casual acquaintance to support him. He was in for some painful shocks. Full review...
Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts by Lucy Dillon
Lucy Dillon's previous novel, The Ballroom Class, featured three couples whose individual stories end up muddled when they start the same dancing lessons. In Lost dogs and Lonely Hearts we have three very different families whose lives end up intertwined when they suddenly become involved with the local rescue kennels. Sound familiar? While the premise for the two is similar, the stories share only one common theme: they're both great reads. Full review...
Before We Say Goodbye by Louise Candlish
Olivia suffered a great deal in her childhood and teenage years. Her mother Maggie would disappear, often for months at a time, leaving Olivia and her brother disorientated, upset and - eventually - very angry. But when her mother lies dying, there's a big question Olivia wants to ask. Did her mother deliberately keep her away from Richie, the young man she fell in love with when she was sixteen? Full review...
Eating Blackbirds by Lorraine Jenkin
'Delightful', 'unsophisticated' and 'funny' tags jump to mind for Eating Blackbirds, one of several books published this year, aimed at the women's mainstream market from Welsh publishers Honno. I read it in a couple of sittings, not wanting to put it down. Full review...
The Prodigal Sister by Laura Elliott
Sisters Rebecca, Julie and Lauren are travelling from Ireland to attend their younger sister's wedding in New Zealand. This is unlikely to be just any family reunion though as no one had heard from Cathy since she fled from their home fifteen years ago. There are many unresolved issues but Cathy has invited them all with the hope that they can achieve some closure and hopefully move on with their lives. Full review...
When Good Friends Go Bad by Ellie Campbell
A famous designer, a cleanliness-obsessed stay at home mum and a slightly kooky Yank who talks to angels might not be three people you'd pick to be friends in a normal story, but these women haven't met now, as pushing-40 year olds. No, they were good friends, great friends even, all through high school, and though life has evidently taken then in different directions, you can understand how something like surviving their teen years together would form an everlasting bond. Except it didn't, really. They've barely talked in years, and even the reunion organised ten years ago went wrong. So how is it that they've ended up back in each others' lives? What's happened? Why now? Full review...
Before I Forget by Melissa Hill
At the start of the book, Abby's partner of four years has just left her and, in dealing with her misery, she is becoming a bit of a workaholic and a social recluse. One morning, on her way to work she becomes the victim of a freak accident and suffers a brain injury that is going to affect her long term memory. Faced with the prospect of forgetting all that she holds dear, Abby re-evaluates the way she has been living and makes a list of all the memorable experiences she hopes to create. She also sets about capturing all the memories in a 'memory chest' on her computer so that she will be able to remember all the wonderful experiences. Suddenly she is enjoying life a lot more especially when she meets the handsome and thoughtful Finn. Unexpectedly, Abby's life has never looked better except, of course, for the fact that she keeps forgetting things. Full review...
I Heart New York by Lindsey Kelk
Holed up in a New York hotel room, Angela is getting a New York make over from her NY NBF, Jenny. And how, we ask ourselves, did our heroine end up in The City That Never Sleeps? Well, if you had caught your boyfriend of ten years having sex with a skinny (grrr!) blonde on the back seat of your car (where the car seats of your future children were supposed to go), during the wedding reception of your best friends, and that everyone – including your best friends - apart from you had known what he had been up to for some considerable time, you may very well have kicked off your Louboutins, hitched up your bridesmaids dress and headed for the nearest airport too! Full review...
Secrets and Lies by Jaishree Misra
Four girls became friendly at school in Delhi. Fifteen years later three of them are in London, but Zeba is still in India. She was a promising actress (on and off the stage) at school but in 2008 she's the reigning queen of Bollywood. Let no one say that she hasn't earned her position; some of those producers can be quite demanding – on and off the stage. Back in London Bubbles is the wife of a millionaire Indian businessman. It was an arranged marriage and although it's never been close Bubbles isn't too unhappy. Sam is the trophy wife and her marriage seems to have ground to a halt, whilst Anita, always the brainiest of the group, seems to have difficulty in keeping a relationship going. There was another girl who had an influence on the girls, but they hated Lily D'Souza – and then she died. Full review...
Hot House Flower by Margot Berwin
Themed fiction, where there is a clear obsession with a specific topic can be a bit hit or miss, but in the past I have enjoyed ones that focus on books and shoes and especially food. The key in my mind has always been to write about something other people obsess over, establishing an immediate bond between reader and writer. This title falls into this category but with a rather unusual and specific fixation: tropical plants. I know little about these, and have never really wanted to change that fact, but though I didn't share the author's fascination initially, by the end of the book I was hooked. Full review...
