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

Review - Just Look At Me Now by Nell Dixon

REVIEWED BY DEBS CARR

Just Look At Me Now tells us about Tia, a perfectly turned out, glamorous Beauty Editor at the prestigious Platinum magazine. From her sleek brunette hair to her perfectly made up face and enviable figure, no one could suspect that Tia had led anything other than a blessed life.

 Tia has secrets she is determined to hide. Unlike her present self, Tia used to be Barbs, a fat girl, alienated from her peers by her looks and clumsiness, as much as her scholarship status at the private school she attended. She has gone through a lot to give herself the perfect makeover, not only changing everything about the persona she projects, but also giving herself a different name to ensure that no one discovers her secret.

 None of her new friends or colleagues are aware of the embarrassing past Tia has been so determined to forget. She has never confided about the devastating prank Juliet, a beautiful bully, played on her ensuring everyone witnessed her ultimate humiliation including Josh Banks, Tia’s schoolgirl crush and Juliet’s boyfriend. Having distanced herself from her past, Tia is horrified to discover that not only is Juliet being seconded to her magazine, but also that she is to take part in arranging a shoot for the magazine being held at Josh’s state-of-the-art spa.

 When Tia discovers that Juliet is up to her old tricks again, and not only intends getting her claws firmly back into Josh, but also determined to keep Tia firmly in her place, she begins to wonder how long it will be before either her nemesis or Josh discover who she really is, and when they do, what will they do with the information.

 I always know before starting a Nell Dixon book that I’m going to enjoy the story and fall in love with the hero. Just Look At Me Now didn’t disappoint me in any way. Written from both Tia’s and Josh’s point of view, we learn how each character has grown over the intervening years since they last saw each other. How Josh feels he knows her from somewhere, but can’t recollect where, and how Tia is determined to hold her feelings for him in check and distance herself from him despite his obvious attraction to her.

 

Rating: A thoroughly enjoyable 9/10

 VISIT NELL'S WEBSITE

 

LBD News - My Bollywood Wedding by Rekha Waheed

I thoroughly enjoyed Rekha's last book SARIS AND THE CITY, and love the sound of this one. Plus the cover colours are lovely!

This book is released on December 9th 2010 and the blurb reads...

Maya Malik wants a big glamorous Bollywood wedding.

And now Maya has found Jhanghir Khan, her perfect man, it’s time to start the mammoth task of planning it. But fifteen designer wedding boutiques, seven venues, two jet-set dashes to Dubai and Dhaka, and one trip to Tiffany’s later, with interfering aunties on her tail, her enthusiasm is flagging. And with the Maliks and Khans fighting over dowries and every decision related to the 600 strong guest list, Maya questions if it’s all worth it. Most importantly, she starts to doubt if Jhanghir really is Mr Right...

You can buy this novel here!

Guest Post - Can a Bloke Like Chick Lit? By Jonathan Eaves

Jonathan Eaves is 40 years old, married, lives in Cheshire and is far too fond of beer for his own good. He writes predominately for fun but only because no-one seems willing to pay him for it. He did once make a failed attempt to wrest the comic fantasy crown from Terry Pratchett with his novel Rude Awakenings. Reactions to the book were mixed. Some people merely disliked it whilst others actively hated it. Consequently it deservedly bombed but, undeterred, he’s currently working on the sequel which only goes to show that some people never know when to quit...

Strange Love (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Chick Lit)

 By Jon Eaves

 Okay, before I start, I am aware that the term ‘Chick Lit’ is sometimes frowned upon these days. The Genre-Formally-Known-As-Chick Lit is now called Women’s Contemporary Fiction, or Women’s Commercial Fiction or Women’s ‘something else beginning with a C’ Fiction. But my wife still calls it Chick Lit, and she reads bucket loads of the stuff, so if it’s good enough for her, it’s good enough for me.

In any case, I’m talking about a very particular type of Chick Lit. The cover will invariably be pale pink or baby blue. The title will be written in a curly, a whirly or even possibly a squirly font.  There will, without exception, be a smattering of either silvery stars or shiny red hearts or, in the worst case scenario, purple butterflies. The cover illustration will be a stylised colour drawing of the thin, pretty heroine wearing deep red lip gloss and very pointy shoes. And, underneath the title, there will undoubtedly be a pithy (read cheesy) strap line along the lines of ‘Abigail thought love was a four letter word’ or ‘Could a little white lie really ruin true love?’ etc. By now I think you will know exactly what sort of book I’m talking about…

Due to what amounts to a borderline addiction on my wife’s part, there are hundreds upon hundreds of these books stacked upon bookshelves around the house and heaped in piles at the side of the bed or by the toilet. Much to my amazement Ally will regularly read 2 or 3 a week and often re-read one that she may only have read a month or so previously. Subsequently I have often struggled to understand why such a busy, intelligent, capable woman would waste so much of her precious weekend reading such… rubbish. I know that I am partly to blame for my wife’s virtual dependency on these books - whenever it’s my turn to do the weekly shop and I happen to spot such a tome, particularly when it has one of those ‘£3.99, Sainsbury’s Book Club’ stickers on the cover, I’ll pop it into the basket, knowing I’ll get not only a couple of brownie points for my thoughtfulness, but also an extra hour’s kip on a Sunday morning because Ally will be reading and therefore won’t feel the need to nudge me in the ribs with her elbow and tell me it’s time to get up. But even so!

To her credit Ally generally just ignores my jibes over her choice of reading, occasionally responding by casually accusing me of reading what she sneeringly terms ‘Boy Trash’. Boy Trash consists mainly of contemporary military or espionage action thrillers and its authors would include Andy McNab, Lee Child and Jack Higgins. I would have to please guilty to my wife’s accusation, but I maintain that, when it comes to any measure of literary merit, ‘Boy Trash’ is way beyond the pink and fluffy style of ‘Chick Lit’ which my wife devours each Saturday and Sunday. How can you possibly say that, Ally says sweetly, when you’ve never even read a single one of my so-called pink and fluffy books?

Review - All That Mullarkey by Sue Moorcroft

REVIEWED BY DEBS CARR

Cleo believes her marriage is fine, so she’s hurt and confused to discover her husband’s graffiti on their bedroom wall announcing that, “This marriage is over.” She turns to her friends who take her for a night out to forget her troubles. Cleo ends up having a one-night stand with Justin, a gorgeous man who takes life as it comes and their brief encounter ends up being the catalyst that changes her life far more than she could ever have imagined.

 Despite Gav’s protestations that he’s ready to work at their marriage, Cleo discovers she’s pregnant with Justin’s baby. She invites Justin back to her house and is about to tell him about the pregnancy, when they’re interrupted. Her sister and then Gav turn up and when her sister Liza makes a comment about ‘Out with the old and in with the new’, Justin feels humiliated and tells Cleo to leave him well alone.

 Having disappointed her parents with her behaviour and the end of her marriage, Cleo decides she can manage on her own. She discovers Gav has been lying to her and therefore doesn’t feel quite so guilty about her relationship with Justin.

 Justin returns from America where he’s been working for eighteen months. He goes round to see Cleo and discovers she’s had his daughter. However, nothing is simple in Cleo’s life, but her one constant in it is her young daughter. Gav wants to give their marriage another try and is finding it hard to accept that what they once had is now over, and Justin finds he is the recipient of some very underhanded dealings that he has no idea how to sort out.

 I read this book in one sitting and couldn’t put it down. I was thrilled to find Sue Moorcroft had written another gorgeous hero to rival Ratty in her previous novel, Starting Over. This is an excellent story full of twists and turns that will keep the reader riveted from the first page right until the satisfying conclusion.

 Rating: A perfect 10/10

BUY THIS BOOK

VISIT SUE'S WEBSITE

 

 

Top 5 Writing Tips from Trisha Ashley

 

 1) If you can’t get started at all, read Natalie Goldberg’s book, ‘Writing Down the Bones’.

 2) Once you’ve got into the daily writing habit, then read Stephen King’s book, ‘On Writing ‘ – he really tells it like it is.

 3)  Read my novel Happy Endings – the heroine, Tina Devino, is a novelist who also runs a manuscript critique service and there are letters  to and from aspiring novelists throughout the book.  You will learn a lot about what – and what not – to do!

 4)  Read a lot of recently published novels in the genre you are aiming at.  Consider what length they are and what the readers of that kind of book expect from a novel.

 5)  You will know your main characters are three dimensional when they start having conversations with each other in your head.  This is usually just as you are trying to go to sleep and you must switch the light on and immediately write down what they are saying, because you will have entirely forgotten it by morning!

Trisha's latest book Twelve Days of Christmas is released on the 26th October. You can buy it here. Also stay tuned for an interview with Trisha coming very soon!

My Writing Room - Veronica Henry

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 writing life.

This week's Writing Room comes from Veronica Henry, author of the wonderful The Beach Hut and the just released The Birthday Party...

 

My Writing Room by Veronica Henry

I do have a proper office.  A room stuffed with desks and shelves and filing cabinets, the walls covered in cork boards and charts, where I keep all my paperwork, my reference library and research cuttings, and piles and piles of magazines.  It’s where I do all my ‘housekeeping’ – the VAT returns, the note-taking, my emails – but I couldn’t begin to actually write in there.  It’s far too cluttered and distracting.  There will always be something to take my mind off the world I am trying to escape to.  I don’t want to be surrounded by the tedious and mundane when I’m trying to create.

 As I get older I need less and less distraction.  I can’t work if there’s anyone else in the house, let alone the room.  I can’t have music on.  I don’t want anything on the table around me.  As everyone knows a writer will do anything not to get on with the job in hand, so all potential displacement activities have to be nipped firmly in the bud!

 So during the summer months, this is where I write.  Obviously not when it’s raining or blowing a force ten gale – then I retire inside to the dining room table.  But I find the view both inspiring and relaxing – it calms me and stimulates me at the same time.  And if I get writer’s block, or need a break, I go down to the beach for a walk to clear my head – quite often a knotty plot problem resolves itself by the time I get back.

 It’s pretty obvious that this was the inspiration for my latest novel.  The beach huts I wrote about are tucked just behind the green hills.  In the height of summer, I can hear the shrieks and laughter of people splashing in the waves – strangely, this isn’t a distraction, but a rather soothing background noise.

 It’s pretty perfect as places to write go – although the finishing touch would be a Balinese sun umbrella in white and gold, edged with shells and beads, to shield me from the sun while I write. 

Visit Veronica's Website

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Buy Veronica's Books

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author by Anna Bell - My Five Letter Pet Peeve

You can listen to Anna’s podcasted novel over on her website www.annabellwrites.com and follow her on twitter @annabell_writes. Enjoy!

MY FIVE LETTER PET PEEVE

My biggest writing pet peeve isn’t to do with writing, or deadlines, or the trying to get published. My pet peeve is, in fact, a five letter word that people sometimes use to describe my writing when they call it a hobby.  *Breaks into cold sweat*

I know that from the outside my writing probably looks just like a hobby. I work full time, and I don’t make any money from it. I do love my time writing and I enjoy creating the stories. But I really do want to be published, and I really do want to be an author, so when people tell me its a nice hobby to have I want to scream at them and tell them it's not one.

 If I was a ‘wannabe recording artist’ I would probably be performing in dingy pubs or clubs, or if I was a ‘wannabe actor’ then I would attend auditions. Which I guess would be more visible to people. Whereas with writing, people don’t see me entering short story competitions, or sending submissions to agents (unless they’re working behind the counter in the post office). Which means until someone physically sees a book on a bookshelf I think my writing is always going to get tarred with the hobby brush.

 I know that rationally it is only a five letter word, and it shouldn’t make me so angry. I know that they don’t mean anything bad by it. But it comes across as so patronising. It's as if they’ve told me that I’ve got no hope of ever becoming a published author, I get the same looks as if a child told their parents that they wanted to be an astronaut when they grow up. I’m not completely delusional, I realise that I might never get published, but I think there is a world away from trying to become an author and writing stories for your own amusement.

 What I’d love for people to see is just how much work goes into ‘my hobby.’ From getting up (sometimes before work) to write or to upload and publish my podcasting, to editing and submitting my novel. And that's before I’ve read other books to review or written more of my work in progress. To me, a hobby should be relaxing and done when you have the time. The fact that I schedule my week around my writing and reading deadlines sure doesn’t feel like a hobby.

 The only positive thing that comes out of this pet peeve is that everyone who calls it a hobby makes me even more determined to get published. I want to prove to them that I’m deadly serious about being an author.  And when I do get published I’ll make sure that I put a big smug line in the acknowledgements page to thank them for supporting my little hobby.

LBD News - No Ordinary Girl by AM Goldsher

I've yet to read AM Goldsher's books, but the quirky superhero romance concept really appeals to me.

This book is released on the 25th November 2010 and can be bought here.

The blurb reads...

Abbey Bynum never asked for her strange superpowers; she was born with them and man, does she hate them. Only a few family members and her ex-fiancé, the uptight government bureaucrat Murphy Napier, know her secret. But when supervillain Jon Carson appears on the scene under the guise of a brilliant new defence lawyer at her work, Abbey knows she must embrace her ‘weird stuff’ to have any chance of thwarting his plans for world domination. There’s only one person who can assist her: Murphy. He’s had a complete makeover since their split two years ago, but can he help Abbey triumph in her epic superbattle of good versus evil, winning back her trust and her heart in the process?

LBD Review - The Final Hitch by Samantha Scott-Jeffries

REVIEWED BY DEBS CARR

We previously saw Izzy Mistry in I Do, I Do, I Do where she leaves her job and all that she knows in London, including her boyfriend Harrisson, and moves to Majorca to work as a wedding planner.  The Final Hitch begins with Izzy at her own wedding, but who is she getting married to?

 

Having received two proposals in one night, one from Tomas, the beautifully mannered, quiet son of her employer, Celia and the other from her elusive ex-boyfriend Harrisson, Izzy accepts Harrisson’s proposal and immediately gets caught up in the excitement of being able to plan her own wedding.

 

She buys a rundown house in the mountains where she pictures them both living happily ever after and busily begins organizing the renovations hoping to ensure that their home is ready for them to start their married life in as soon as possible. However, life isn’t that simple and as well as Harrisson having to take jobs back in England and being away more than she would like, Izzy begins to feel that maybe some of the people she’s dealing with aren’t as honest as they could probably be.

 

Celia becomes unwell and despite her best attempts, Izzy ends up spending time with Tomas and starts to wonder if maybe she’s made the wrong choice. Is she destined to marry Harrisson and is he all that he professes to be? Could she be making a terrible mistake not only with the house, but also marrying the wrong man?

 

I enjoyed this novel and the descriptions of Majorca, it’s beautiful landscapes and tasty dishes were beautifully written. I would have liked the book to have included more scenes with Tomas, but have to admit that I was happy with the man Izzy did eventually end up marrying.

 

Rating: 6/10

Novelicious at...The Press Launch of From Notting Hill with Love...Actually by Ali McNamara

BY KIRA SLAUGHTER

When I received the email from Kirsty asking me if I would be interested in attending a book launch, I was convinced my head was going to explode from excitement. Never having attended an event like this before, I jumped at the chance as it was a opportunity to gain some insightful experience into this type of thing, and of course to schmooze until my heart’s content!

So after booking my tickets and finding somewhere to stay, I was getting even more excited as the days passed by. Being a typical girl I also went out and bought a new dress just for the occasion ( don’t judge me, I didn’t want to look like something my cat dragged in, in front of all those industry types!).

The morning of the actual launch I was starting to get nervous, worried that I’d end up getting lost in London and just walking round and round in a circle. Truth be told, once I was on my way, it felt like I’d lived in London my entire life. After walking the wrong way down the road where the launch was being held, I finally arrived outside The Travel Bookshop. Before I could enter two men dressed as fifties ‘hacks’ took my photo. I’m pretty sure I blinked when the flash went off but I was way too excited to be bothered!

Once inside I was immediately welcomed by Hannah, who works in the Publicity department at Little Brown. After shaking hands she dragged me over to where the champagne was being served and made sure I was comfortable. After giving me a few brief details she took me over to where Ali McNamara was standing (wearing an absolutely gorgeous purple dress) and introduced me to the author herself. Considering this was the first time I’d ever met an author, I thought I was quite calm and collected. I asked her a few questions about the book, such as how she came to be a writer and what made her think of writing a book based on popular chick flicks.

“At the time when the recession was at an all time high I started to write out an idea for a book. Being a Personal Trainer there wasn’t much call for my expertise so I put that on hold and turned my attention to full-time writing. I loved all of the classic rom-coms such as Notting Hill and Pretty Woman so I thought I’d base it around those”.

Let's get Talli Roland into the Amazon Bestsellers Chart!

Though Talli Roland's debut The Hating Game will be released in paperback on the 9th March next year, the ebook version will be available to download on December 1st of this year.

 As part of her publicity campaign, Talli is hoping to take on Amazon and to get her indie published novel to the top of the Amazon charts - with the help of bloggers!

I love this idea so much, and that's why I'm bringing it to your attention. Can you help? Can you?!

Talli says,

"So I'm dreaming big. Wouldn't it be great if my debut novel by an indie publisher made it into the top ranks of Amazon Kindle sales? It might sound crazy, but it's amazing how quickly your book can move up the ranks if a number of people purchase it on the same day. And with an ebook, there are no distribution issues. Anyone, anywhere can buy it!

On release day -- December 1 -- I'm looking for bloggers (and Tweeters and Facebookers) to help with a Blogsplash to spread the word!

Bloggers: If you sign up, all I ask is that on Dec 1 you post a short paragraph about what I'm trying to accomplish and The Hating Game blurb. I'll send you all the content so you just have to cut and paste! I am aiming to have one thousand bloggers take part (I know, I know -- but it might happen! I'm thinking big!) so anything you can do to spread the word would be FANTASTIC.

Facebookers/ Tweeters: I'll send you a status update to post on December 1, 2010. The Facebook event page is available here"

 

Novelicious will be joining in, fo sho! For more info about getting involved in the blogsplash, and to sign up, you can visit Talli's fantastic blog here.

Her website is here

And you can follow Talli on twitter here.

Let's make this happen! Power to the bloggers!

 

My Writing Room - Victoria Connelly

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 writing life.

 

Today we bring you the writing room of Victoria Connelly - author of the delightfully charming 'Molly's Millions' and 'A Weekend With Mr Darcy' (which our Debs rated 10/10)

My Writing Room by Victoria Connelly

This is my corner of the room we call our study but it’s not just a study – it houses all sorts of things from a wardrobe to an exercise bike, and used to be the home of my two low-flying budgies as well!

 My husband is a landscape painter and we fight for wall space all the time.  Where I’ll want to put another bookcase, he’ll want to hang a painting.  It’s a constant battle but I love that our house is filled with beautiful books and paintings.  There’s always something fabulous to read or look at.

 I find pictures very useful for my writing and often surround myself with images.  I framed a montage of photographs of Venice when I was writing a novel set there and have several Venetian masks smiling down at me.  I’m writing about Jane Austen addicts at the moment so I have ‘I Love Darcy’ items all over the place and the image of Colin Firth everywhere.

Top 5 Writing Tips from Sue Moorcroft

   

   1.       Educate yourself. Don’t fall for this idea that great writers are born and not made – great artists, singers and actors train exhaustively for years. So should writers.

   2.       Network. If you don’t like to/can’t afford to attend conferences and talks, join online groups. Learn about the industry.

   3.       Write with focus.

   4.       Use vivid verbs. 

  5.       Create characters that you want to be with, every day.

 

Sue's latest book is 'All That Mullarkey' and you can order it here.

Her next book 'Want to Know a Secret?' is released by Choc Lit on November 1st. You can pre-order it here.

You can also visit Sue's website by clicking here.

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author by Anna Bell - Under Pressure

You can listen to Anna’s podcast novel on her website www.annabellwrites.com and follow her on twitter @annabell_writes

UNDER PRESSURE

When I first started writing I sat down at my laptop and started to write what I thought was a great story and a book I’d like to read. Then once my manuscript was finished I thought I might send it off to some publishers and agents. It was about then I realised that it needed to be a bit more than a nice story.

 Suddenly there were other things to consider; who was my target audience? What else was like it on the market? Would it sell? All things that had never crossed my mind when I started writing my nice little story.

 I’m currently writing a new book but it’s taking me three times as long to write it. I keep getting freaked out and panicked.  I’m 20,000 words in and  I’m wondering if people will want to read it; whether agents will think it will sell, and whether it’s original enough. It means that for every thousand words I write, I probably spend just as long thinking maybe I should write something else.