Book Review: How to Lose A Husband And Gain A Life by Bernadette Strachan

Ruby Gallagher thinks she has it all - a happy marriage, money and a lovely home. But everything falls quickly apart when her husband Manny is arrested for fraud, and Ruby's life as she is knows it is swiftly repossessed by police.

Ruby has to quickly find herself a job to pay her rent, and try to get her life back together with the help of her new friends Maria, Kendall and Teddy.

But will her past secrets stop her from finding a new love? And is Manny ever going to be able to let go of Ruby once and for all?

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Book Review: Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult

Handle With Care is possibly one of Jodi's most controversial books, with an impossible question at the heart of it. Willow O'Keefe was born with OI - Osteogenesis Imperfecta, a brittle bone disease which means even a sneeze can break several bones.

Her sister Amelia and parents Charlotte and Sean O'Keefe do their best to look after her but are stressed out due to the pressure of caring for such a sick young girl, and are also in financial trouble. Charlotte is thrown a lifeline when someone tells her she can sue her obstetrician for not warning her of Willow's condition when she was pregnant.

But suing would mean Charlotte has to admit she would have aborted her baby if she had known. Oh and not to mention the fact that Charlotte's obstetrician is her best friend Piper...

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Book Review: Coming Up Next by Penny Smith

Katie Fisher is the anchorwoman for the breakfast show Wake Up Britain! and thinks she is rather good at her job.

So it comes as a bit of a shock to Katie when she's suddenly sacked in favour of the younger and more attractive Keera. Katie flees to her parents to escape the paparazzi but realises she hasn't got a clue what she's going to do next.

Can she rebuild her career, and is Katie ever going to find out what's Coming Up Next?

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Book Review: Flawless by Tilly Bagshawe

Scarlett Drummond Murray is an ex-model turned jewellery designer and is doing well for herself in London. But when Scarlett starts getting involved with her campaign Trade Fair to get people to take note of bad treatment of diamond miners, things start to become sinister for Scarlett.

Diamond mogul Brogan O'Donnell isn't happy his mines are being bad-mouthed and sets out for revenge. London twins and diamond dealers Jake and Danny Meyer are also caught up in the corrupt world, and their lives are taking turns they didn't quite expect along the way.

Who will come out on top in the ruthless diamond world?

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Book Review: The Gift by Cecelia Ahern

Everyday Lou Suffern battled with the clock. He always had two places to be at the same time. He always had two things to do at once. When asleep he dreamed. In between dreams, he ran through the events of the day while making plans for the next. When at home with his wife and family, his mind was always someplace else.

On his way into work one early winter morning, Lou meets Gabe, a homeless man sitting outside the office building. Intrigued by him and on discovering that he could also be very useful to have around, Lou gets Gabe a job in the post room.

But soon Lou begins to regret helping Gabe. His very presence unsettles Lou and how does Gabe appear to be in two places at the same time?

As Christmas draws closer, Lou starts to understand the value of time. He sees what is truly important in life yet at the same time he learns the harshest lesson of all.

This story definitely is a modern day fairytale style book, with a good storyline and a lot of magic thrown into the mix to create something unique and very  different to most of the other chick-lit out there. Cecelia Ahern seems to like using the impossible in her stories, as in PS I Love You where a dead man communicated with his wife from beyond the grave, and this novel also explores a magical element too. Gabe can seemingly move quicker than is humanly possible, and the reason for this is intriguing and something it took a while to get my head around as I was reading. But credit to Ahern here, because I can't normally stand unrealistic books, yet this one drew me in immediately and I just couldn't put it down, so much so I actually read it in just over a day - I was desperate to find out how it was all going to come together at the end.

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Book Review: Wedding Season by Katie Fforde

REVIEW BY DOT

I discovered Katie Fforde's books only last year and I have enjoyed all that I have read so far. With my own wedding fast approaching, I thought I would give Wedding Season a go.

Sarah Stratford is a wedding planner with a secret, she doesn't believe in love, her skills are tested to the limit when she has to organise the celebrity wedding of the year plus her little sister's tiny budget wedding, all on the same day. Luckily she is able to enlist the help of two new friends; Elsa is a dress designer who prefers to stay out of the limelight and Bron is a hairdresser, among many things, who is embarking on a new and exciting life. So from sourcing the perfect venue, making a fairytale dress and constructing an impossible wedding cake, these three definitely have their hands full.

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Book Review: Platinum by Jo Rees

Platinum focuses on the lives of 3 women all scorned by one man and how their lives were ruined by the evil Yuri Khordinsky.

Frankie is a computer-whizz, but due to something that happened to her at home in South Africa, she's now a stewardess on board Pushkin, a yacht owned by rich businessman Alex. But when Frankie gets to know Alex better, is her life ever going to be the same? Peaches Gold is a high-class prostitute, running her own female-escort service (to put it politely!), and she knows secrets about the biggest names in Hollywood, but does someone know a secret about her? Finally, Lady Emma Harvey lives in England with her husband, who's about to open a Platinum mine in Russia.

But when Emma is shocked to her core, will she get to the bottom of what really happened? The three women are unlikely allies, but they decide together, they have to bring down Yuri Khordinsky and make him pay for the tragedies he has caused.

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