It's Got to Be Perfect

When Ellie Rigby hurls her three-carat engagement ring into the gutter, she is certain of only one thing, that she has yet to know true love. 

Following months of disastrous internet dates and conflicting advice from her dysfunctional friends, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Although now, instead of just looking for a man for herself, she's certain her life's purpose is to find deep and meaningful love for all the singles in the world. 

Five years on, running the UK's biggest matchmaking agency, and with thousands of engagements to her name, she has all the answers she needs. She knows why eighty-five percent of relationships fail. She knows why twenty-eight is the most eligible age for a woman. She knows that by thirty-five she'll have only a thirty-percent chance of marriage. 

Most of all, she knows that no matter what, it has to be perfect. Or does it?

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Review: Me Before You

Synopsis

Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

Review

This week a member of my family died and it must have been fate because I picked up this book the day after, discarded it but came back to it that same night for no particular reason other than the fact that it was the closest book within my vicinity and I didn't put it down until I had read every single word. I'm terrified of death but I'm also more terrified of people who accept death, people who are ready and willing to accept death as an inevitable end. We are used to this Hollywood ending where the doctors come up with a miraculous cure for an illness and the world becomes a shinier place. There is no miracle cure in dear old England where this story is based.  Will is middle class and rich  and Lou is working class, poor and living with her mum and dad. Lou accepts a job as a carer for Will who is a quadriplegic.

Will Traynor has accepted death, he sees no other way, he knows what life was like before he was disabled and he knows he will never be happy with the knowledge of his former life as an adventurer/playboy and knows that death is the only option for him. I found his reluctance to adapt to his new way of life hard to accept since I'm conditioned to believe that life is life regardless of its limitations and God gives life and we should accept the fate we are dealt with. Lou attempts to change his mind but to no avail. Will wants to end his life. This book follows them as they learn to adapt and grow into love. This isn't a story about class, this is a story about lost opportunities and chances not taken. Although Lou and Will fall in love I don't think they are star crossed lovers, they are two people defined by awful circumstances who come together to make their world a better place. I would have thought less of Jojo Moyes if she'd penned a happy ending, a sort of collage of happy memories where the two main characters wheel off into the sunset but she doesn't and thank God for that.

There are books that come along once in a while that change your life and for me Me Before You has changed how I think about death. A friend told me recently that she didn't mourn the passing of her aunt and her reasoning was simple: why mourn someone who's gone to a better place.  I think Will's desire to die is his way of fighting back, his way of taking control of a situation and I believe Will went to a better place, that sounds like a cliche but I've found cliches help because they are a source of comfort when faced with crummy fate.

The cover is pink, cheerful concealing the emotional contents of the book.  I picked it up expecting a romance, this isn't romantic, it's a tale of a man's wish for his desires to be respected. I wept, I laughed, I scowled on the tube next to a woman reading Fifty Shades of Shades and thought to myself, she shouldn't have wasted her money. You should be reading this book.  This books is one of the best books I've ever read. It's sweet, funny and surprisingly upbeat.

Favorite Quote

“Shhh. Just listen. You, of all people. Listen to what Im saying. This...tonight...is the most wonderful thing you could have done for me. What you have told me, what you have done in bringing me here...knowing that, somehow, from that complete arse, I was at the start of this, you managed to salvage something to love is astonishing to me. But...I need it to end here. No more chair. No more pneumonia. No more burning limbs. No more pain and tiredness and waking up every morning already wishing it was over. When we get back, I am still going to go to Switzerland. And if you do love me, Clark, as you say you do, the thing that would make me happier than anything is if you would come with me. So I'm asking you - if you feel the things you say you feel - then do it. Be with me. Give me the end I'm hoping for.” 

Me Before You 

Review: Mr Commitment by Mike Gayle

Synopsis

Duffy is engaged. He accepted Mel's proposal. But the trips to Ikea, dinner parties for couples and talk of babies are giving him itchy feet and now he's not sure if he can say goodbye to his extended adolescence and face up to that final walk down the aisle. How does he know if she's The One? Can he cope with responsibility? Does he have what it takes to become Mr Commitment? Because if he doesn't, he may just find that he's lost Mel, for ever.

After twenty-eight years of shirking responsibility Duffy's finally realising that he can't extend his adolescence forever. His low-paid temping job is threatening permanency. His gradually receding hairline is depressing him greatly. And if that's not enough, his long-suffering girlfriend, Mel, wants to get engaged.

Trips to Ikea, dinner parties with married couples and talk of babies, however, are giving Duffy cold feet. He doesn't have many worldly goods to share - apart from the remote control for his TV, the beers in the fridge and his record collection - but can he really put his hand on his heart and say 'I do'? He knows Mel's the one for him, so why is it he'd feel happier swapping 'Till death us do part' for 'Renewable on a four year basis'?

But the choice is: all or nothing. So after a lifetime as Mr Irresponsible does Duffy have what it takes to become Mr Commitment?

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Review 

A work colleague once told me a story of how she got her husband to marry her. She said she hounded him for years, begged him and finally he relented. She said it took courage, prowess and blackmail. In her mind that was the only way of dealing with a commitment phobic man. With this in mine I embanked on reading Mr Commitment with a mindset that Duffy, the main character would be allergic to all things commitment related. My colleague was right, when it comes to commitment phobic men, a little blackmail and courage goes a long way.

After his girlfriend proposes to him Duffy who is unsure of marriage begins to question his life and his dreams. His quest for answers takes him into night clubs and Ikea and with the help of his boisterous loving sister he matures and faces his responsibilities. This is a wonderful venture into the male brain.

Mike Gayle is a wonderfully funny author.  It's no secret that I am obsessed with Mike Gayle. His books have the ability to make me laugh unreservedly. He is the type of author who has mastered humor whilst dealing with everyday issues. I've read many reviews who refer to his books as male chick lit. I'm not quite sure how that works but I don't think this is any way chick lit. This is funny, well written, contemporary fiction and to call it anything else would be insulting to the author and his readers.

I would recommend this to anyone looking for a funny read and wonderful characters.

A Life Less Lonely

Synopsis
Dr Andrea Palmer, a young widow of a military hero is left feeling confused when she is thrown into a high profile drugs trial with an attractive medic.

Dr Keir Harrison is still reeling from his broken marriage, and Andrea is so overwhelmed juggling a demanding job, four-year-old Josh and her elderly mum that she hadn’t considered a second love affair.

Although the pair are careful to keep their feelings to themselves, a trip to a Montreal conference fuels their attraction, and a stolen kiss lights the spark.

Away from tensions and prying eyes, she begins to discover a life of fun and passion again.

But Keir must be patient while Andrea, guilty about falling in love too soon, battles with her conscience...

Can the couple learn to let go and love again?

Or is Andrea too scared to open her heart up again in the search of A Life Less Lonely…?

"An enjoyable romance, sensitively written." Holly Kinsella, author of Uptown Girl.

Jill Barry is a former airhostess, secretary and guest house owner and now finds inspiration for her contemporary and historical romance novels in her own quiet corner of Wales.

Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher.

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Forget Me Not

Synopsis

What happens when a first love is given a second chance?

Torn apart ten years previously, Michaela and Jesse’s lives couldn’t be more different. Jesse is enjoying huge success in New York after denying where he came from, while Michaela treasures the quiet life in their hometown, Starling. 

Who they are may have changed but their love hasn’t.

A school reunion forces them to meet again, and after a passionate night together they can’t bear to be apart. Faced with problems, past and present, the pair try to pick up their relationship where they left off. But when Jesse has spent the last ten years running from his troubled past he finds the journey home, to his true love, harder than anything he has ever done. Michaela is rooted there by her son and her family, both of which present problems for Jesse, but after building a life in Starling off of her own determination and strength, Michaela isn’t willing to throw that away...for anyone. 

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Quick Thoughts

This is an easy read, a Sunday morning hangover must read.

However to love this book, you must love romance because almost every page is packed with endearments and sentimentality. The two main characters profess how much they love each other on every page.

This gets annoying very quickly. I would have liked more character building than endless declarations of love. 

Review: What Will Survive

Synopsis

Graham Melton was a normal fifteen-year-old until he met Charlotte Marshall over a can of warm lager at his best-friend’s party in 1985. It was love at first sight, and teenage life was never going to be the same again.

 Two decades later, Graham is a single father trying to protect his son from the rigours of the modern world. Everything has changed, and the innocence has long gone.

What happened in those years inbetween? How did something so perfect go so tragically wrong?

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Review

Life in its natural state can be extremely mundane. Grief, love and growing up narrated in books can be uninspiring. Some books dealing with these issues lack the sensitivity to really capture the true nature of loss and growing up. Mark Gartside is fantastic at capturing life’s highest and lowest points without succumbing to clichés. His What will survive is set in modern day Britain with Graham Melton struggling to understand his teenage son whilst also battling his own demons.  

As the book progresses Gartside intertwines this modern Britain with Thatcher’s Britain where Graham falls deeply in love with Charlotte Marshall. He draws you into the political issues plaguing the 1980s whilst also satirising the class issues that could have potentially ripped the couple apart. What Will Survive brought tears to my eyes.   It is an emotionally charged read with fantastic characters dealing with sensitive issues with a realistic flare that forces you to empathise with the book. He captures the heart and soul of a father and son relationship with enough awkward moments to create humour.  

What Will Survive is a real triumph for Gartside, a moving tale of loss, love and growing up. To say I loved this book would be an understand. I really really loved it. 

Review: One Day

Synopsis

'I can imagine you at forty,' she said, a hint of malice in her voice. 'I can picture it right now.'

He smiled without opening his eyes. 'Go on then.'

15th July 1988. Emma and Dexter meet for the first time on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways.

So where will they be on this one day next year?

And the year after that? And every year that follows?

Quick Thoughts

“You're gorgeous, you old hag, and if I could give you just one gift ever for the rest of your life it would be this. Confidence. It would be the gift of confidence. Either that or a scented candle” David Nichols - One Day 

I started One Day a few weeks ago then dropped it as I made the mistake of reading Mike Gayle's His and Hers and the obsession with Mike Gayle took me away from Dexter and Emma for the next two weeks. So when I finished Dinner For Two on Friday I picked up One Day only to obsess about it and ultimately finish it in two days.

One Day is centered around two characters Dexter and Emma and follows them over a twenty year period.
 Dexter Meyhew an over indulged, pampered, public schooled turned TV presenter is an embodiment of arrogance and self assurance. He takes life by the  horns, achieves success only to turn into a chaotic self destructive mess. Emma Morsely is a middle class, waitress and struggling writer who lacks confidence misses opportunities and feels sorry for herself. She is a mess also but a self assured mess, a mess type of person who has an affair but justifies it with at least there are no children involved type mess. She controls her mess of a life with Ian only breaking up with him after wasting so much time.

This a charming, almost too realistic splurge into the lives of two people who avoid facing the truth until they have no choice but to. As a Nineties child I feel cheated as I feel like I should have lived in the glorious 1980's with trips to Paris and endless opportunities and excessive wealth instead of having to face David Cameroon's recession.

If there is a writer out there whose mastered irony, cynicism with a hint humor its Nichols. He masters all three without batting an eyelid. I was fuming as to how good this book is.  The pages aren't filled with inanity or false humor, the characters are complex and open yet you never truly know what the next page will hold. Nichols reminds us of the hopes and dreams of the those in the early twenties as well as showing the depressing reality of struggling with age.  I live in awe of David Nichols.

Single, Available, Completely Attached

Synopsis

Good girl Anna Maloy has always been drawn to the wrong kind of guy—and if anybody fit that definition, it was Drew Whitman: her boyfriend’s best friend. 

So when Anna breaks things off with her boyfriend of seven years, her newly minted ex does the logical thing: He asks Drew to keep an eye on her. 

Drew Whitman has never understood the hype about monogamy. He’s never even been tempted. Well, maybe, just that once—but as a loyal best friend, he’s chosen to forget all about that past and enjoy a life of self-indulgence and instant gratification. 

Until he’s practically forced into her life, that is. He does his best to ignore—well, everything about Anna Maloy, as he’s done the last seven years. But the more time he spends with her, the harder it gets—especially when she’s the one crossing the line.

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Quick Thoughts

I finished reading this book this morning. This is a great read but longer than I had anticipated. I would recommend it as a fun and easy read. Anna is a great character although she is a little too contrite to work as a fully fledged character.

I'm also not sure the title works.  I would have preferred a title that says something about the book and the characters. Overall this is an okay read.  

Eeny meeny miny man

Synopsis

Carrie has never been lucky in love or in jobs, so when she gets a temporary assignment as a secretary at the local hospital, all she wants to do is keep her head down and keep this job long enough to make the next electricity bill. 

That’s if she can stand the bizarre gallery of new and strange colleagues, including a woman with a giggle so high-pitched that only dogs can hear her, and another with a serious Cliff Richard obsession, without going mental herself. And after yet another break-up, she certainly isn’t looking for a relationship, despite her mother’s well-intentioned but tactless reminders that she’s not getting any younger. 

But fate has other ideas and soon Carrie is attracting the attention of more men than she can handle and making herself powerful enemies to boot. Who will she choose – sensitive and respectable Daniel or sexy bad boy Kurt? And will she keep herself out of trouble for long enough to escape the wrath of her new nemesis, department boss Portia?

Eeny Meeny Miny Man is Tilly’s debut novel and is due for release autumn 2013.

 http://tillytennant.com/eeny-meeny-miny-man/

Harper Impulse presents Contemporary Romance

Do You Remember 

First Love. First Loss. Last chance?

2005 was the most traumatic year of Emma Barron’s life. It was the year her mother died and the year she met Guy Duval. Eight years on, she’s an English teacher with a doting boyfriend and a young son. Life’s been hard but now it’s comfortable. She’s settled and content…so why would she risk it all for another chance with the man that broke her heart?

Guy’s an international renowned footballer newly signed to a top UK team. But behind the confident facade is a man determined to drown the horrors from his childhood with fame, success and money.

Unable to confide in her best friend, Ally, Emma tries to hold her life together as her heart is pulled apart.

 Did she turn her back on love too soon?

Neither of them know what really happened on 5 September 2005 and as events are slowly revealed can anyone cope with the truth?

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Waking Up In Vegas 

Waking up to the bright lights of Vegas in an unfamiliar penthouse suite, cocktail waitress Phoenix Montgomery finds she’s covered from head to foot in gold glitter and not alone – aside from the empty bottle of champagne, there’s a mystery man in the shower and a huge sparkly ring on her finger!

Stays in Vegas?
There’s no denying Max Waldburg’s demi-god sex appeal but commitment-phobic Phoenix doesn’t do relationships. Only it seems her new husband (agh!) has other ideas…he’s trying to keep that ring on her finger and his wife firmly back in his bed. The only question on her lips is – why? Or maybe, why not?

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Confessions of a Chalet Girl


Super hot snowboarders such as Luxury Chalet Experiences owner Scott Hamilton…

But not for Holly Buchanan. This accidental chalet girl won’t drink, can’t ski – and isn’t there to hook up with any man who’s only interested in making her another notch on his ski pole. Or so she thinks!

Scott’s living life to full, both on and off the piste, and Holly can’t help but find his attitude just a little bit infectious… And the hook up? Well,she’s going to have to confess that one night with her boss just won’t be enough!


So pack your salopettes and pour another shot of Jägermeister, it’s time to hit the slopes.
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Getting Rooted in New Zealand

Synopsis

Craving change and lacking logic, at 26, Jamie, a cute and quirky Californian, impulsively moves to New Zealand to avoid dating after reading that the country’s population has 100,000 fewer men.

In her journal, she captures a hysterically honest look at herself, her past and her new wonderfully weird world filled with curious characters and slapstick situations in unbelievably bizarre jobs.

It takes a zany jaunt to the end of the Earth and a serendipitous meeting with a fellow traveler before Jamie learns what it really means to get rooted.

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The Green Hills of Home

Synopsis 

Gwen Jones, a young Welsh writer, is desperate to save the family farmhouse from being sold from under her critically ill mother and herself. When she lands a lucrative three-book deal with an eminent publisher, she thinks her problems are all over. 

However, Gwen's need to be near her sick mother means she’s unable to travel to London to work with her devilishly desirable editor, John Thatcher, and he must come and stay with her in Wales. Handsome and eminently capable, cosmopolitan John is used to getting his own way and has plans for the future which certainly don’t include being distracted by pretty Welsh girls; nevertheless when he journeys into the country to work with Gwen it’s not long before he finds himself falling in love with her, as well as the house she’s so anxious to save. 

But is John capable of loving anyone as much as his job? And when he has to decide between his goals and Gwen, which will he choose?

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Review: Moody Not Broody

Synopsis 


Emma is a newly-wed looking forward to some blissful years with her new husband, but everyone else expects her to have children. They think that because she is a teacher, she MUST want children. However, Emma has never wanted children and has to convince her husband, her family and her friends that she's not cut out for motherhood. 

Emma would much rather pursue her career in teaching and work with children with Special Educational Needs, but then her plans are thwarted and she has to make a choice which will affect her and her husband, Mike, forever. Purchase


Review

From the beginning I couldn't put Moody Not Broody down. As many readers who follow on Twitter might be aware I started reading this at the same time as One Day, they are complete opposites but read together was a lesson on the different styles of writing. Moody Not Broody is set to a great extent in a school, with funny anecdotes and humorous conversations that had me laughing out loud.  One of my pet hates are books set in schools because they at times draw stereotypical characters that seem self obsessed and complain themselves into a coma about teaching but this works. I think it's because the characters are relatable, the type of people I could have a drink with at the end of a school day.

Moody Not Broody I originally thought would be about a woman wanting a child and getting pregnant, a book similar to No One Has Sex on Tuesday. I was wrong, this book isn't necessarily about pregnancy but about friendships, marriage and families, the pregnancy or lack of it becomes secondary which I found to be fantastic, a breath of fresh air. Emma's reluctance to have a child is refreshing because although she works with children, she is sure she doesn't want children, there is no uncertainty, she is sure she does not want children. There is a myth out there that all women of a certain age want children and she proves that she doesn't not because she is flawed as a woman but because she sees no appeal in having children.

She is however under pressure by her know it all husband Mike. Mike was my least favorite character in the book because at times he did seem very smarmy and controlling. He didn't seem to be accepting of his wife's flaws or quirks and for this reason he irritated me beyond belief. The scenes with him became my least favorite scenes but towards the end he did start to grow on me and I hope there is sequel which shows him in a better light. 

I was impressed by Kathyn Player's writing; she is funny, succinct and doesn't waffle on and on like so many authors. Once I started reading this book, I found it impossible to put it down. This is one of those reads that makes you think about the impact of children and whether the decision is truly a woman's decision. I felt that it was inevitable almost that Emma would get pregnant, either that or leave her husband.  I loved this book, it kept me awake till the early hours of the morning.  This is a wonderful debut novel by a fantastically funny author.