Book Review: She'll Take It by Mary Carter

"She'll Take It" tells us the story of Melanie Zeitgar, a woman living in New York City with dreams of becoming a world famous actress. But Melanie has a downfall...she has a penchant for stealing things. Not enormously expensive items you understand, just the odd sweater from Barneys or the odd pillow from the Homewares shop. But Melanie can't stop, even when a man comes into her life whose job in life is to help shops detect thieves. Will he suss out Melanie? And more importantly, will Melanie be able to curb her stealing habit?

I instantly warmed to the main character in this book, Melanie. She is hilariously written, and despite the fact she is a serial thief, I really liked her, even when she was stealing! She was hilarious because it was clear she knew what she was doing was very wrong, but she managed to find a rational way of thinking which would help her to steal! She also started each chapter with the sentence "This is how Im going to die" and then relayed some ridiculous tale of how she would perish. I was actually crying with laughter at points in this book, it was simply hilarious.

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Book Review: Step On It, Cupid by Lorelei Mathias

This book follows the main character of Amelie Holden, a woman who works in London in the competitive field of advertising. She and her best friend Duncan are assigned a new project involving Speed Dating much to Amelie's horror.

She decides to research Speed dating thoroughly and ends up on several Speed Dating nights. Her Aussie boss Joshua is driving her mad with his motivational speeches, her ex-boyfriend Jack is suddenly back on the scene and she begins to eye up an actor she met on a speed-dating night.

Will Amelie and her colleague Duncan be able to create the perfect slogan for Fast Love? Is Amelie destined to be alone forever?

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Book Review: A Crowded Marriage by Catherine Alliott

Review by Dot

I've never really taken the time to pick up a Catherine Alliott book for some reason, however this one found it's way into my basket and I'm extremely glad that it did. The story revolves round Imogen Cameron, her husband Alex and their son Rufus. The Camerons are experiencing financial troubles so they have to leave their house and life in London and accept Eleanor Latimer's offer of a rent-free cottage on her large country estate. The problem is that Eleanor is Alex's glamorous ex and Imogen already has her suspicions.

So they relocate to the country and settle into Shepherd's Cottage which comes complete with sheep, chickens and cows that Imogen is expected to look after. Life becomes very busy, Rufus has to be settled into a new school; Imogen has many encounters with the bossy but handsome vet and Alex and Eleanor seem to be spending far too much time together. Although Imogen had not welcomed the move to the country she does find that she is able to re-invigorate her painting career and begins to think that she could become very happy in the country. There are many twists and turns in the story as the situation finally comes to a head. I did not expect the ending at all which was a nice surprise really as books in this genre can sometimes be a little predictable.

A Crowded Marriage made me laugh out loud on several occasions and I think that Catherine Alliot creates extremely witty dialogue between her lovely characters. I will definitely be reading another Catherine Alliot book, I just hope the rest are as good as this one!

Rating 4/5

Double Book Review: The Ex-Boyfriend's Handbook by Matt Dunn

Edward is shocked to come home from work one day to find his girlfriend of ten years, Jane, has done a runner, taking everything of hers from their flat in the process. She's left Edward a note saying it's his fault, and that she'll be back in 3 months but he has to change.

Edward's not really aware of his faults until best friend and TV Antiques Show presenter Dan Davis is more than willing to show Edward exactly where he is going wrong. So, Edward sets out to fix everything that's wrong with him in order to win Jane back, with more than a little help from Dan along the way.

But is it just Edward's image that is going to change?

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