Author Interview: Tara Hyland

A few months ago, Tara Hyland released her debut novel Daughters of Fortune with publishers Simon & Schuster. I was lucky enough to read it and found it to be a great read, and Tara was also kind enough to grant us another author interview so here it is.

Q1. Can you tell us about your book 'Daughters of Fortune' please.

The novel is about the three very different daughters of William Melville, an English fashion mogul. There's cold, ambitious Elizabeth; gentle, naïve Caitlin; and wildchild Amber. The book follows their lives, loves and tragedies, as they grow from being teenagers to young women. It starts off with the arrival of Caitlin, the illegitimate child, in the Melville household. The product of an affair between William Melville and a shop assistant in the seventies, Caitlin has been raised in secret in Ireland for the first fifteen years of her life. But when her mother dies, Caitlin is sent to live with the father she's never met and his resentful family. She struggles to adjust to her new, privileged life, and naturally her presence stirs things up in the Melville household, laying the path for events that will have an impact on the family over the next decade or so.

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Book Review: Excess All Areas by Mandy Baggot

When the going gets tough Freya Johnson gets going! Humiliated by her boyfriend the day she turns 30, Freya boards a last minute flight to Corfu to visit her best friend Emma. Little does she know that this holiday will change her life forever. Enter Hollywood film star Nicholas Kaden whose entourage is stirring up the village of Kassiopi while filming his new movie.

Caught up in a media frenzy, feeling unwelcome and uncomfortable in Nicholas' movie world, Freya battles with the ghosts of her past and the uncertainty of her future. Can she help Emma? Can she keep her own big secret? And can she find out what Nicholas is hiding before she feels the urge to run away again?

Mandy Baggot is an unsigned author who published her novel on YouWriteNow.com, a website that allows unsigned authors to print copies of their own books and hopefully garner interest from literary agents and big name publishing houses. I was a bit concerned by the dark cover, it didn't look that attractive and I think it doesn't do any justice to the book at all. I'm terrible for judging a book by its cover, so I am glad I didn't in this case. I was really impressed with this book, and I am surprised that Mandy hasn't been snapped up by a publishing house yet, this is just as good as many chick lit books I have read, and better than a few as well!
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Book Review: Spotlight by Ilana Fox

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.

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Book Review: Wild Things by Jo Carnegie

The Churchminster residents are thrilled when a glamorous film crew descends on their quiet village. But with just four months to prepare for the final of the 'Britain's Best Village Competition', the chaotic filming schedule may do more damage than good. Meanwhile Camilla grows suspicious of the attention boyfriend Jed is receiving from the film's demanding leading lady. And younger sister Calypso has caught the penetrating eye of dashing leading man 'Rafe Wolfe'. Brim-full with lavish garden parties, illicit affairs, sordid shenanigans and a sneaky bit of sabotage, not to mention a spot of fund-raising with 'Churchminster's Got Talent!

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Book Review: Desire by Louise Bagshawe

Lisa Costello is leading a charmed life – until she wakes up the morning after her glamorous Thailand wedding to find her new husband Josh dead in their bed, the murder weapon in her hand. She remembers learning at the wedding that Josh had been unfaithful, but she certainly doesn't remember killing him. As Lisa flees the scene for Europe, ex-FBI trainee Sam Murray is on her trail. Catching up with her, he's quickly convinced she's been set up, and they start to work out which of movie producer Josh's many enemies could be behind the hit. It's a race against time to unearth the truth and keep Lisa out of jail – or gunned down by the professional assassin tailing them. And the danger only adds to the excitement of the passion brewing between them...

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Book Review: A Summer Fling by Milly Johnson

When Christie comes to take over the reigns at the Bakery Department in which 5 ladies work, they don't expect to develop the friendships and bonds that they do, especially that they've barely spoken a work to each other in the many years they've already worked there! There's young Dawn who is planning her wedding to fiancé Calum, but starting to have niggly doubts about him and his lifestyle. Anna has been dumped by her fiancé Tony for younger woman Lynette but she still doesn't seem to be over him. She's sure that everyone sees the dowdy, hideous woman she sees when she looks in the mirror, but mysterious Vladimir Darq is out to prove her wrong.

Grace married her husband because of his children, not through true love, and now it's coming back to bite her in a big way. Can she get out before it takes a turn for the worse? And finally, there's Raychel who is hiding a secret past that no one else but her husband knows about. Will the other ladies be able to coax her out of her shell? All together, these women realise how much they need each other and the friendships that come with it too, and help is what they'll need to get them through some troubling times ahead!

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Book Review: Scandalous by Martel Maxwell

Meet Max and Lucy Summers – half-sisters and the best of friends. Max is a gorgeous showbiz reporter whose life is a whirlwind of celebrity parties, glamorous bars, juicy gossip and gorgeous men. Lucy, a beautiful, elegant fashion writer, has always been the sensible one, taking care of her little sister and never seeking the limelight. But that all changes when she falls for Hartley, Britain’s sexiest royal bachelor, and her lovelife is suddenly splashed across the front pages of the tabloids.

When Hartley's ex-girlfriend starts scheming to get her man back, Lucy realizes that she’s up against more than just the paparazzi… Meanwhile Max, tired of the non-stop partying that her job entails, has finally met the perfect man but when she finds out who he really is, she realizes that they can’t be together. Can Max walk away from the love of her life? And will Lucy play the fame game in order to keep hers?

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