the Book Brothel

Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Trade (available in mass market), 408 pages, 2006

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: It looked like the perfect backyard-read for enjoying the weather.

Synopsis: Izzie Stock figured that moving to the country would be great for her husband and herself - a relaxed pace of life to fit in with her boho style - but she didn’t count on the Stepford Wives of the neighbourhood. Salvation comes in a strange but perfect figure, that of Maddy Hoare, a woman with effortless grace and endless money, and yet a sense of humour. Shortly after their meeting, tragedy strikes, and Izzie despairs ever finding comfort in her new life, until the pair discovers that some old French beauty potions may contain the secrets to a life neither woman expected to be living…

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover, 277 pages, 2005

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: I’m a natural blonde that dyes her hair…blonde. So it just seemed appropriate, really.

Synopsis: Georgia Watkins never wanted anything more than to join her mother’s small but popular salon in Weekeepeemie, New Hampshire, until she finds out that ’small but popular’ doesn’t quite bring in enough cash to pay off the mortgage. With money threats looming over her family, she decides to go to school and then head to New York to become a colourist at Jean-Luc. For something that’s ‘just hair,’ there sure is a lot involved - pacifying rich clients, earning a place on the floor, temperamental salon owners, and the fear of slipping up and making a very important woman into a very angry woman. Georgia might be living in the city that never sleeps, but who has time for a personal life when your boss expects your job to be your life?

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover, 371 pages, 2005

Rating: 6/10

Reason for Reading: I liked all of Kinsella’s previous books, so I took her new one out of the library.

Synopsis: The only thing Samantha Sweeting has ever wanted is to make partner at a top law firm, and she’s sacrificed a lot for it - namely, any semblance of a personal life and any activity that might be the least bit peaceful. Just before her partnership is sure to be announced, Samantha finds a problem while clearing off her desk. A big, big, huge problem that’s sure to cost her everything. Before she even knows what she’s doing, Samantha has hopped onto a train and is heading for the English countryside, where she quickly finds herself with a much simpler job offer on hand. Should she take it? Well, surely cooking and cleaning can’t be as hard as it sounds, and maybe she just wasn’t cut out for a career as a lawyer…was she?

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Trade, 286 pages, 2005

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: How could I resist such an adorable cover?

Synopsis: Chloe Rose has just found herself on the path to her dream career at Issues magazine (well, ‘assistant to the assistant’ is bound to lead to the specially-created title of ‘Shoe Editor,’ right?), and it comes with all kinds of perks - access to the shoe closet, outfits from the fashion closet, and even the occasional attempt at some creative work for her not-so-easy-to-please boss, Ruth. But there’s trouble brewing around the promotion department of the magazine - it just seems like everything Chloe does draws a crowd, and not everyone is a big fan of hers…

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Trade, 228 pages, 2004

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: Chant with me now: “Summer and chick-lit! Summer and chick-lit!’

Synopsis: Alison Hopkins is getting ready for a dinner party and sends her boyfriend of four years, Tom, out to get some Dijon mustard, but instead of returning he phones her to say he’s leaving because he’s in love with someone else. What’s a girl - a thirty-two-year-old girl that’s just lost her first and only ‘real’ boyfriend, no less - to do in a world of endless possibilities? A long-time friend, an off-limits co-worker, the stranger upstairs, or - dare she even think it - trying to win back Tom: is her romantic happiness destined to be linked with one of them, or is she searching for love in all the wrong places?

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alt="All This Heavenly Glory by Elizabeth Crane" />

Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover, 224 pages, 2005

Rating: 8/10

Reason for Reading: Someone saying they ‘adore’ an author is generally a good sign

that you should give them a whirl, is it not?

Synopsis: Travel along with Charlotte Anne Byers as she spends her life looking

for a place where she can be herself (once she figures out who exactly that might be), from

precarious childhood friendships, through lowering herself to the indignities of teenage

dating, to the quest of her thirties to shake off the tempestuous years of her twenties and

finally get her life on track.

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover (available in trade), 306 pages, 2004

Rating: 6/10

Reason for Reading: I enjoyed Fielding’s sense of humour in the Bridget Jones books.

Synopsis: Olivia Joules is a bottom-of-the-barrel journalist who is often accused of relying more on her wild imagination than on actual facts, so when her boss sends her to Miami for the launch of a face-cream, it comes as no surprise to anyone that she becomes fixated on the idea that movie mogul Pierre is actually Osama bin Laden in disguise. Unfortunately, she also finds herself lusting after Pierre, and so, half out of a sense of duty to protect the world from terrorism and half to see if she’s found a guy worth dating, Olivia embarks on a self-appointed espionage mission to various locales around the world. She’s found her man, but now she must try to separate the facts from the fiction to see if Pierre belongs behind bars or between her sheets.

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover (available in trade), 516 pages, 2004

Rating: 8/10

Reason for Reading: Marian Keyes is the author that got me hooked on chick-lit for my fluff reads.

Synopsis: In three loosely linked stories, the narrative hops between events organizer Gemma, whose father has walked out on a thirty-five year marriage, leaving her to deal with her hysterical mother and rendering her unable to have a life of her own; Jojo, a literary agent who’s trying to swing million-dollar-deals for her authors while juggling an affair with her married boss; and Lily, a novelist living beyond her means while she tries to write her second book and wrestles with the guilt of the father of her child, Anton, being Gemma’s ex-boyfriend. All of the women are faced with confronting another woman who’s in some way a disruptive force in their lives, but do they want to (or can they) deal with the other women’s sides of the story?

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover (available in trade), 407 pages, 1966

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: It’s the cult-classic that arguably led to trash-writer favourites like Jackie Collins.

Synopsis: Anne, a Mary Tyler Moore-esque character, is thrilled to be out of her small town and in New York City, where she becomes friends with the upbeat Neely, who’s trying to start a singing career. Anne unexpectedly finds herself making connections to the rich and famous and as a result is pulled into a fast-paced world of champagne, pill-popping, and friendships with people like the glamorous Jennifer North. The three girls find themselves getting deeper and deeper into lifestyles and well-paid careers that may cost them much more than they expected.

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover (available in trade), 357 pages, 2004

Rating: 8/10

Reason for Reading: All of the Shopaholic books were fun brain-candy reads.

Synopsis: Emma Corrigan is a twenty-five year old marketing assistant with a few secrets. Harmless, of course. She’d rather wear underwear two sizes too small than tell her boyfriend her real weight, and she’d prefer people didn’t know she was hiding celebrity magazines inside her business journals. On a plane ride home from a business trip, however, she spills all her secrets to the American stranger sitting beside her. But when he shows up on Monday morning as her boss, knowing how she waters her hated co-worker’s plant with orange juice, Emma is horrified…and the situation promises to get worse.

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