Novelicious.com | The Women's Fiction Blog for Readers and Writers

WIN!! 20 Signed Copies of SPOTLIGHT by Ilana Fox Up For Grabs!

  Hurrah! This is such a mega comp. To celebrate the release of Spotlight, we are very glad to be offering you a chance to win one of 20 SIGNED copies of this brilliant book (I know it's brill cos' I read it!).

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

To win we want you to answer this question (in the comments section)...

 If the spotlight was shining on you, what talent would you perform?

Extra entry for follow and tweet. Please make sure you put @novelicious in your tweet so that we know you have done it! Please only tweet once so that we can avoid twitter spamminess!

The best answers will win!

Please note that this is a UK ONLY contest. Closing date is Friday 7th May

Good Luck!!

To find out more about Ilana click here

Hidden Gems #5 Kiss Him Goodbye by Victoria Routledge

This book was released 10 years ago, and is still a firm favourite of mine. Please do ignore the cover, because it IS fugly. But what lies inside is a completley engrossing, jampacked chick lit bonanza.

I wonder how many of you may have read this (it does have a lot of excellent reviews on amazon), I'd be interested to know. If you haven't, I would definitely recommend.

The synopsis reads...

Kate Craig has many pet hates but top of the list is London. Dirty, smelly, unfriendly and unreasonably expensive beer. She's steered well clear for 21 years. But then her gorgeous Europhile boyfriend, Giles, invites her down to his palatial Chelsea house before he launches his international banking career: posh dinners out, cosy evenings in. It would be rude to say no. In fact, Kate's week of high-class indulgence is so idyllic that she's almost relieved when it turns horribly wrong. Giles's training course is in Chicago. It's four months long. And he wants her to wait in London for him. In a daze of anger, misery and deep subconscious disbelief, Kate suddenly finds herself cleaning her new cupboard in the first flat she sees. If it were just the filthy cupboards she had to contend with, she'd be OK. But there are flatmates: twins Dante and Cressida Grenfell have had a fairy-tale upbringing. Of the Grimm variety. He's a permanently hungover layabout, she's a control freak style queen. And the light relief is Harry, who gives upper crust blondes a bad name. All this and a bewildering new job, a sudden addiction to espressos, and the District Line - Kate's sixteen Mondays are looking like a lifetime.

To buy this book click here!

 

Review - This Little World by Imogen Parker

REVIEWED BY LAURA STANNING

As the 20^th century draws to a close, the sleepy seaside town of Kingshaven suddenly makes the front page of the world news when a bomb, which has lain hidden since the war, blows up.  As the effects of the explosion ripple outwards, the inhabitants of the town find that the bomb has shifted more than just sand; old memories and secrets, long buried, are inexorably coming to light.  As the 50^th anniversary of the D-Day landings, and finally the Millennium, approach the inhabitants of Kingshaven try to unravel their past as they search for happiness in their future.

 

In many ways, this is an outstandingly good novel.  Parker has an elegant and delicate turn of phrase, which makes the book stand out from so many of the novels currently on the shelves.   The beautifully written descriptive paragraphs are a real joy to read and the character interaction is excellent. Her characters are wholly believable, and highly sympathetic – where the author wants them to be!

The problem with this book is that, despite the copy on the back cover, Parker doesn’t really seem to have chosen a heroine, a central character, or even a handful of central characters.  The book tries to undertake the very difficult task of telling the interwoven stories of a large number of individuals and, frankly, it fails.  This is always a difficult style of writing, and I can think of very few books in which it has been successfully achieved without being muddling.  Putting a list of the principal characters at the start of the novel is absolutely no help at all – continuously having to flick back and see who’s being referred to breaks the thread of the story for the reader and pricks the bubble of the wonderful and absorbing world that Parker has created.   Furthermore, there are far too many semi-characters, who appear or are discussed for a scene or two, hand then never seen again.  They could all have been dispensed with.

The backgrounds and personalities of each character are fully and excellently described, creating people you really feel you know but sadly, because this has to be done with so many characters, the overall effect is that the book drags rather, and the plot doesn’t really progress as fast as it could.   There are also just too many plot twists and surprises for one average-length novel – dispensing with a few of them would have made the book a less heavy, and much more enjoyable, read.  Despite the plot flaws this is a well-written book, albeit one that would have worked twice as well with half the characters.

6/10

 

 

 

 

 

Novelicious chats to...Sue Moorcroft

Because of our STARTING OVER contest today, I thought it might be a nice idea to put up our interview with the author today too!

Enjoy!

1. Can you tell us a little about your average writing day?

I have quite a long day. I’m generally at my machine by around 07.45 and I begin with emails, reading newsletters etc. My professional life is divided into creative writing tutor/writer and I divide most days in the same way. The mornings are devoted to students and critiques – since I took on the Writers’ Forum fiction competitions my mornings have been extremely busy.

 

At lunchtime I often attend a class – yoga, piano or pilates. Or I go for a walk. Sometimes I just work right through.

 

The afternoons are for writing. I try not to let the time leach away but it’s inevitable that there will be business emails and promo to do. It’s all very important but it sometimes seems as if writing time is hardest to find. Maybe it’s just because that’s the hardest job. The teaching takes less concentration. I generally finish around six.

 

I do a little work some evenings and weekends, too, especially if I have a manuscript to appraise or another comp to judge.

 

2. When you are writing, do you use any celebrities or people you know as inspiration?

Yes, to an extent. Ratty in Starting Over came to me as I was watching an amazing Kevin Kline as the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance. If you’re not into the works of Gilbert and Sullivan you probably think I’m nuts – but just watch a few clips and you’ll see the Pirate King’s mixture of insouciance and passion. And he’s always the leader of his gang.

 

Not that Ratty carries a sword or anything.

 

Tess is entirely from my imagination but I have a very strong image of her. Some characters come to me one way, some another.

 

Justin in All That Mullarkey is a pastiche of several people. Bryan Brown, actor, Carl Fogarty, motor cycle racer, and Fabrice Santoro, tennis player. This is only a visual reference - I created the person that went inside the skin. Cleo, in All That Mullarkey, is a woman I saw in a magazine article. It was one of those features where they took people and looked at what they hated about themselves and then dressed them to minimise the despised bits. But this woman – Cleo – pretty much said that she didn’t mind having eyes that turned down at the corners instead of up, or being too busty and hippy for her height. They dressed her in a straight black dress to try and minimise the effect of the curves and she said she preferred her usual style, thanks very much. I thought, ‘I like her!’

 

3. What is your favourite Women’s Fiction book of all time and why?

Wow. That’s a bit like asking what is my favourite type of chocolate.

 

OK, if I absolutely have to go for one, it’s Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Cruisie. The relationship between hero and heroine sizzles from the moment they stand on the same porch.

 

4. What is your writing process? Do you plan first of dive in? How many drafts do you do?

I used to hate planning – it reminded me of school, when everything had to be planned and analysed until there wasn’t a spark of life left in it. But as I developed as a writer I began to find that I could see the big picture if I planned, so had less of a tendency to ramble or wander into blind alleys. I learnt to look for the central thrust of the story and write with focus.

 

I usually begin with the central characters and scribble, longhand about them, learning how they affect each other, how each sees the other, how others see them, what there is in their history to affect their personalities and interest the reader. I give them employment and begin to research that – it’s surprising what effect a job can have on a plot – and I also research any big issues they have in their lives. If I’m writing romantic fiction I work on the hero and heroine together, to check our that their relationship is going to sizzle rather than fizzle. And I work out what is going to keep them apart for most of the book – otherwise they might get together in Chapter 1. You get very short, very dull books, like that.

 

I amass a kind of compost heap of information and I begin to think in terms of big plot points, thinking around these, utilising logic. Logic has a big part to play in fiction writing and if you remember that you tend to produce a plausible book.

 

I generally know the end of my book, what I’m writing to, as well. If it’s romantic, it has a built-in element of hero and heroine getting together in some way, at some level. This provides a lot of reader satisfaction.

 

Review - Desire by Louise Bagshawe

REVIEWED BY KIRA SLAUGHTER

It’s the perfect wedding: tropical sunshine, glamorous guests, a beautiful bride who came from nowhere to marry a handsome Hollywood millionaire. But the day is about to take a shocking turn.

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

As Lisa escapes, ex-FBI trainee turned journalist Sam Murray is on her trail. Suspecting a set-up, both Lisa and Sam face a race against time to uncover who’s really behind the hit. With a professional assassin moving in for the kill, the clock is ticking fast...

When I found out that Louise Bagshawe was bringing a new book out I couldn’t wait. I’d read all of her previous books and they were fantastic, and over the years her writing style has changed. Whereas before her stories would be about women fighting their way to the top, in her last two books Passion and Desire, she’s written a thriller-cum-romance and it has proven to have worked really well. I devoured this book in a day; I just could not put it down.

The main character, Lisa, is marrying a top Hollywood producer, yet even from the first chapter you can tell that she doesn’t want to. All throughout the book I felt sorry for her at how she had been treated by people and the situation that she had ended up in, yet you know that she is a fighter and that she doesn’t let people get the better of her.

The other main character, Sam, is a tabloid hack as they call it, and all he is after is a story. When he finds Lisa that is where the story picks up and from that point I didn’t get a whole lot done as I couldn’t put the book down to even try! There’s good chemistry between the two characters, and you end up getting really into the story.

The thing I like most about Louise Bagshawe is that she always creates main characters that you can’t help like and feel sorry for. In the case of Lisa Costello, I found myself feeling sympathy towards her as he was in a situation that she had no control over. When Sam turns up you start to think that everything will be ok, but that’s where the story starts to get really interesting.

To anyone who, like me, has read all of Louise Bagshawe’s books and loved them, this will not let you down. It’s fast paced, gritty and unbelievably hard to put down as I found out!

I highly recommend this and give it a 10/10! Fab!

Kira x

Win!! 3 Copies of STARTING OVER by Sue Moorcroft for Giveaway - WORLDWIDE!

Choc Lit Author Sue Moorcroft has very kindly offered Novelicious readers the chance to win one of three copies of her fantastic romantic comedy novel - Starting Over!

The synopsis to the book reads...

New home, new friends, new love. Can starting over be that simple? Tess Riddell reckons her beloved Freelander is more reliable than any man - especially her ex-fiancé, Olly Gray. She's moving on from her old life and into the perfect cottage in the country. Miles Rattenbury's passions? Old cars and new women! Romance? He's into fun rather than commitment. When Tess crashes the Freelander into his breakdown truck, they find that they're nearly neighbours yet worlds apart. Despite her overprotective parents and a suddenly attentive Olly, she discovers the joys of village life and even forms an unlikely friendship with Miles. Then, just as their relationship develops into something deeper, an old flame comes looking for him ... Is their love strong enough to overcome the past? Or will it take more than either of them is prepared to give?

This comp is open WORLDWIDE, and all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is tell us why you would like a copy of this novel.

This contest will close on 5th May and winners will be announced shortly afterwards.

Good Luck!

If you don't win a copy, you can buy this book with free worldwide shipping and local currency at www.thebookdepository.com

You can find out ore about Sue here!

Take a look at the Choclit Website!

Confessions of a Wannabe Chick Lit Author by Emily Tootsweet - I *Heart* Book Shops

Another week in which lovley secret writer Emily Tootsweet tells us about life as a writer in hope of publication. Say hello to Emily in the comments, or by dropping by her blog!

I *heart* book shops.

 
I went into my favourite book shop last week to do a bit of window shopping. Money’s a bit on the tight side at the moment so window shopping is all I can do for now. I don’t know about any other pre-published writers but whenever I go into a book shop, after a bit of browsing, I head to where my book would appear on the shelves and try to visualise my book with my name on it sitting on the shelf waiting to be bought. It’s just a little writing fantasy of mine. I hope it comes true one day.
 
I hated walking out the book shop empty handed. I usually only go in when I specifically want to buy a book so I don’t know what made me go in when I knew I couldn’t buy anything. This might sound daft but I always feel at home in a book shop. The relaxed atmosphere, the smell of new books and coffee from Costa… It’s fab!
 
Now, I know I could join a library and that way I get books to read and save money but I have to admit I’m a book snob. I don’t like the smell of books from libraries. I don’t like not knowing who’s had the book before me (They might have been reading it on the toilet - who knows!?) I like having my own copy of a book to do with it as I please (Read that as: so I can look after it, don’t break the spine or fold the corners over!) I have been tempted to join my local library in the past but it gives me the heebie-jeebies to read books other people have handled - Told you I’m a book snob! So I buy books. Luckily my family and friends know I’m a bookaholic so they give me book tokens/vouchers for Christmas/birthdays/Anniversaries and I get books by using them.
 
The general fiction area of my favourite book shop is okay but I wish it was slightly bigger and the writing section is pretty much non-existent, which annoys me completely as I have to get all my how to write books from the internet and I don’t get the same buzz from buying books online than I do going into an actual book shop. But I get by. It’s the only real book shop I have in my city so I make do with what I have.
 
I did have a dream to open my own book shop one day. Just a little independent book shop that gets by despite the large competition out there. There would be large squishy chairs to sit on and read the books you’ve just bought. I would brew fresh coffee for regular customers and sell lovely cakes too. I would order books in for customers if I didn’t already have them and I would make the shop a lovely quiet haven for those who loved books just as I much as me. Its just a dream and I know it’ll never happen but there’s no harm in dreaming…
 
So keep dreaming… ;o)
 
Yours,
Emily Tootsweet :o)

My Writing Room - Ilana Fox

Welcome to the first week of our brand new feature - My Writing Room (cheers, applause, etc)!

 Taking inspiration from The Guardian's 'Writers' Rooms', Sky Arts' 'The Write Place' and Book Chick City's excellent 'Where Stories Are Made'; My Writing Room is a fabulous fortnightly event, in which some of our favourite authors show us where the writerly magic happens, and tell us a little about their routine.

Our first My Writing Room Author is the lovely Ilana Fox - author of The Making of Mia and Spotlight.

My Writing Room by Ilana Fox

 

"When I get going I can spend up to ten hours a day writing my books, so it's important that my desk is somewhere I want to hang out. I wrote my first two novels on the sofa, but since we moved into our house I've the luxury of having an office all of my own, and I make the most of it! Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on my mood and writers' block), my kittens like to follow me around all day, and their favourite place to sit is on my laptop. I think Torres (pictured) thinks it's her own personal sunbed. The kittens have already broken one of my laptops, and they're definitely not allowed on my new one!

I like to have things that mean something to me around me, so I have a couple of photos on the wall. One is of my boyfriend in the sea (a photo that's followed me from job to job - all the girls at ASOS.com used to love looking at it!), and another is of my parents and aunt and uncle in the 70s. I also have a retro postcard of the Chrysler Building picked up from a recent trip to New York, a Buddha I got in Hong Kong (for writing luck), and a bronze leaf. My grandparents used to have loads of them in their condo in Florida , and when they sold it, I took this one. It reminds me of my childhood."

Visit Ilana'a Website

Follow Ilana on Twitter

Buy Spotlight!
 

Writers' Tuesday - Rowan Coleman's Short Story Competition

To all of our readers who are also budding writers, this is an amazing contest with FAB prizes.

To celebrate the publication of her upcoming release THE HAPPY HOME FOR BROKEN HEARTS, Rowan is running a short story contest for stories of (approx) 1000 words on the theme of STARTING OVER.

Rowan's website says...

"(The Story)...must be a completely new and original work that has not previously been published, even on your blog. This is a competition for aspiring, as yet unpublished writers who do no have a contract or an agent.

and now for the bit I'm really excited about - the prizes!!

FIRST PRIZE: 3 months creative writing online mentoring from Rowan Coleman, Tea and Cakes at Random House Publishing with Arrow Publishing Director Kate Elton and Rowan Coleman, a letter of introduction and agent feedback from David Higham Associates, £100 to spend on Random House books, your story to be published on Rowan Coleman's blog/website and a signed copy of THE HAPPY HOME FOR BROKEN HEARTS.

SECOND PRIZE: 1 months creative writing online mentoring from Rowan Coleman, £50 book vouchers to spend on Random House books and the story to be posted on my blog and a signed copy of THE HAPPY HOME FOR BROKEN HEARTS.

THIRD PRIZE: £25 Worth of vouchers to spend on Random House books and the story to be posted on my website and a signed copy of THE HAPPY HOME FOR BROKEN HEARTS.

ALSO five runners up prizes each winning a signed copy THE HAPPY HOME FOR BROKEN HEARTS.

The competition will be judges by Rowan Coleman, Lucy Diamond, Cally Taylor, Tamsyn Murray and Caroline Smailes. Rowan Coleman will have the final decision.

All entries MUST be sent to rowanswritingcomp@btinternet.com"

For more details, and to read terms and conditions take a look at Rowan's blog

Good luck!!

Hannah's List Giveaway for U.S Readers!

To celebrate the publication of Debbie Macomber's new book Hannah's List - we are holding a contest that is open only to our U.S readers!

One (1) Grand Prize winner will receive:

*    Additional titles by Debbie Macomber with a $50 VISA gift card

*    Copy of Hannah's List


Two (2) additional winners will receive a copy of the book!

The synopsis of this book reads...

Occasionally, we get an opportunity to change our lives—whether it’s another chance at love, changing the path we’ve chosen or going back and making amends for the past.  Hannah’s List is the story of a widower who is given an unexpected letter from his wife on the first anniversary of her death.  In a remarkable act of love, Hannah includes a list of three women for him to consider marrying. With a unique twist and intriguing element, readers will be in for a wonderful story of a love that transcends time, hope that is exceptionally unselfish, and the possibility of a future otherwise unfathomable. An unexpected letter. An impossible request.  The gift of a second chance.

 

Sounds good, no?

 

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning one of the prizes is to leave a pick me comment! The winners will be chosen at random and the contest closes 11th May 2010

 

Good Luck!

 

You can find out more about this book, and read the first chapter by clicking here

 Or you can visit Debbies website!

The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Aherne - New Paperback Cover

I'm not a huge fan of Cecelia Ahern's writing, but the hardback cover for The Book of Tomorrow (pale lilac) really is one of the prettiest ones I have ever seen.

I've just found the new paperback cover (which is released in September of this year) and it's also gorgeous. I have a bit of a thing for dark book covers, so I can't decide which one I like best.

What do you reckon. If you saw them next to each other on the shelf (same price, etc), which would you go for?

The Synopsis of the book reads...

Sometimes tomorrow has to start today Tamara Goodwin always had everything she wanted. Why would she ever give a thought to tomorrow? But suddenly life takes a difficult turn, and Tamara faces the hard decision to swap her glamorous town living for life in the country. However, Tamara is soon lonely and longing for her old life. Then a travelling library arrives in the village, bringing with it a mysterious leather-bound book locked with a gold clasp and padlock. What Tamara discovers within its pages takes her breath away and shakes her world forever.

You can buy it here

Win A Signed Book and Keyring from Milly Johnson!

The utterly lovely Milly Johnson is offering 3 Novelicious readers a gift-wrapped, signed copy of A SUMMER FLING (one of my few 10/10 reviews!) and this gorgeous keyring.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment telling us why you would like the book. The best three answers will be chosen. This contest is open to UK readers only (though fear not - we have a U.S only one tomorrow!) and will close on Friday 30th April at Midnight!

Good luck :)

Event for Lisa Jewell Fans!

To celebrate the release of AFTER THE PARTY, Lisa is offering 40 people the chance to attend an exclusive event at her local bookshop in West Hampstead, where she will chat about the sequel to RALPH'S PARTY. To get your free ticket, all you have to do is sign up over on the book website...

If you do get the chance to go, we would love to know what you thought!

Visit Lisa's website here!

Buy the book here!

Review - My Single Friend by Jane Costello

REVIEWED BY KIRA SLAUGHTER

Lucy Tyler and Henry Fox have been best friends since primary school. So when he enlists her help to embark on an image makeover, she and her friends Dominique and Erin approach the project with relish. As well as the haircut and fashion overhaul, there are master classes in flirting and seduction.

But none of the girls imagine at the start of Project Henry quite how successful it’s going to be. After a shaky start, Henry’s transformation from Lucy’s terminally single friend to an irresistible sex god takes on a life of its own. And Lucy isn’t at all sure she likes it.

It would help if her own dates were more promising. Only, between breaking someone’s arm during a YMCA routine and leaving another in casualty, courtesy of an errant chop stick, they’re anything but. With a romantic history like that, is it any wonder Lucy starts to despair when she finds herself living with the man of everyone else’s dreams?

This is the third book from Jane Costello and I could not wait to get my hands on it. Her previous books, Bridesmaids and Nearlyweds, were fabulous and I think I read both of them within the space of two days. This was no exception; I read this in less than twenty four hours.

Her characters, as usual, are really funny and likeable. I loved Henry, he sounds like the type of male best friend every girl would love. The lead girl, Lucy, is hilarious and the situations she gets herself into had me laughing out loud. Some of her dating disasters were brilliant and it made me like her even more because she wasn’t perfect. In some books the heroine tends to have perfect relationships and sometimes this puts me off, but in this book she didn’t and it appealed to me even more.

What I also loved about this book was Henry and Lucy’s relationship. They depend on each other a hell of a lot and I loved how close they were. She tells him all about her dating disasters and he sits there and listens like the dutiful friend, which made me like him even more (I know it’s wrong to have a crush on a fictional character, but I challenge you to read the book and not love him yourself!)

Costello also creates loveable characters in Lucy’s two best friends, Dominique and Erin. All three are so different yet complement each other in a great way, with Dominique being the crazy one and Erin being the laid back and sensible one.

Yet again Costello has written a brilliant story with great characters and an even better storyline. I highly recommend this book to people who are yet to discover Jane Costello, or who have already read her other two and loved them.

I give this a 9/10!

Kira x

Visit Jane's website!