BOOK 9/150

From Notting Hill...With Love Actually- Ali McNamara

A brilliant girlie novel centred around Scarlett, a movie obsessed woman who relates every event in her life to a film. She moves to London to house sit a property in Notting Hill leaving behind her sensible boyfriend David. Whilst in London she searches for the mother she has never met and she also meets a number of new friends on the way. I don't really want to say much more about it as I will give too much away.

There isn't a huge amount of plot to the book and it is very predictable but I absolutely loved it. It made me want to get out my film collection and visit all the places in London that are mentioned. The book even comes with a guide to London at the end and holds the details of the places Scarlett visits in the book and her favourite films and where they took place.

A light and frivolous read that will appeal to chick-lit fans and chick-flick watchers alike.

I am going to give this 4/5. At present this is the author's only book but it has definitely left me waiting for the next book which is released later on this year.

-Hayley

BOOK 8/150

Last Night At Chateau Marmont-Lauren Weisberger

As a massive fan of Lauren Weisberger I am always disappointed that more of her books don't exist. I realise that there are probably less because she focuses on the books that she publishes being of higher quality which is of course admirable. I have saved this book for a few weeks so that I could read it as a real treat. I started reading it during the end of my revision period and finished it very shortly after my exams. This in itself is a credit to the book as I am a fairly slow reader but I managed to read this very quickly.

I always find Lauren's style easy to read and the subject matter of this book sucked me in like no other. The book focuses on the lives of Brooke and Julian. Brooke attempting to support her husband in the start of his music career by working two jobs. Their lives change forever when he is signed as an artist by Sony and the book follows the couple as what should be the happiest times of their lives creates turmoil and distress within their relationship. It brings to the forefront of your mind just what a life followed by paparazzi would be like and that even when dreams come true they aren't always what you imagined they would be.

Written in her usual slick style you find yourself empathizing with Brooke but the one thing that this book lacked, unlike her other novels, was the razor-sharp wit that she was renowned for from the Devil wears Prada. This said I still really enjoyed it and it was nice to see Weisberger produce a departure from her other novels.

I'm going to go for a 4/5 as for me it just wasn't quite as good as Chasing Harry Winston or The Devil Wears Prada. Even if you haven't read one of her books though I would definitely give it a go and see what you think

-Hayley

BOOK 7/150

I Heart New York-Lindsey Kelk

It has been a few weeks now since I finished this so apologies for only just getting round to reviewing it now. This is a typical chick-lit book and was brilliant for a bit of light reading around the time of my university exams.

The story focuses on Angela Clarke, a woman who flees the UK after discovering her fiance had been cheating on her. All of this takes place on the day of her best friends wedding who also knew about the affair. Feeling betrayed she boards a plane to New York in just the bridesmaid dress she was wearing, with a pair of Louboutin shoes and her passport. It is a story of self-discovery and moving on which is told in a light-hearted manner. She soon finds herself writing a blog on her life in NYC and the two guys that she is dating.

This would make the perfect beach read however since it's been a few weeks since I have read it I feel rather underwhelmed by the book. This said I would probably read the other books in the series as a bit of relaxation and I can be quite sure that fans of chick lit will love this book.

I'm going to give it 3/5 and say that to read another one I would have to be in the mood for it. Check out review number one of the blog though as this includes Carly's review of I Heart Paris, the final book from the same series.

-Hayley

BOOK 6/150

LOVE ALWAYS - HARRIET EVANS

Harriet is one of my favourite authors of all time and I have loved every single one of her books. She also happens to be a complete legend is absolutely lovely on twitter! But, back to the book; Love Always has not disappointed at all. When I received the book I was quite surprised at the size of it! It’s a pretty hefty book, but with an absolutely gorgeous cover that just made me want to jump straight into it.

The subject matter of the book actually surprised me quite a lot, I was expecting another very romance centric book, which don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love, but this was something very different. There are moments of beautiful romance but there is much more to the book than that. It is about family dynamics and secrets and the life changing effects that they can have. There’s an element of the crime mystery in the book and a lot of underlying secrets to discover which all wind together very cleverly.

I don’t think I can actually fault this book at all. It surprised and shocked me in all the right ways and even managed to give me that warm fuzzy feeling we all search for. Finally, Harriet’s descriptions of that part of London are absolutely fantastic and actually caused me to take a trip over that way on Sunday. I explored the delights of Spitalfields markets and even bought a necklace while I was there in tribute to Natasha.

If you’re looking to explore chick lit a bit more I’d really recommend this, as it has some elements of it but has a great serious side as well with some gripping passages. The use of the diary of young Cecily is also very interesting and really contrasts nicely with Natasha’s narration and yet compliments it at the same time. This book is all round good stuff and I’m going to be lending it to all my friends.

5/5 stars again for me here! I’m a roll!

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Also, we don't seem to be doing too badly with our target and I believe we've actually read more than we've reviewed so far! I've also got a HUGE backlog of things to read but have been focusing a lot more on uni books at the moment as I'm sure we all have.

My next two book reviews to look forward to will be Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro & You Don't Have To Say You Love Me by Sarra Manning

I'm also really interested to know what books anyone would recommend to me at the moment. Is there anyone out there dying to give us some recommendations, because we'll definitely try and follow them up.

I'm also thinking of trying to organise a little giveaway of some sort, so let me know if you'd be interested in that too.

And, FINALLY, if you're liking the blog, please follow us so we can know who's out there and try and catch up with your blogs too!

Thanks, Charlotte x

BOOK 5/150

The Hand That First Held Mine – Maggie O’Farrell

The Hand That First Held Mine is a stunning exploration of two women’s lives which are interestingly intertwined and also a very captivating look at childhood memories and family bonds.

I think I can say pretty much undoubtedly that this is the best book I have read in a long time, and probably since I read another of Maggie’s books last year. Her books are completely in a league of their own, I enjoy many genres of books, but nothing will ever come close to how I feel about hers.

I really can’t criticise anything in this book; it is beautifully written, with an amazing story which is just so real. I can’t get over how much I loved the characters and how I felt for them. I really felt like I was there with them, through two generations. The two stories tied up beautifully and are seriously touching, they made me cry and long to reach out and get involved with the individuals.

I can’t urge you enough to read this book, even if you have never read anything by Maggie O’Farrell before, it is just simply a beautiful piece of work which hugely deserved the Costa Novel Award which it recently received.

I ended up taking the book everywhere with me last week as I couldn’t bear to leave it at home and miss an opportunity to sneak in a bit more reading. I’d like to thank the lovely people at Headline Publishers for sending me the book to read and review. You can check them out here: http://twitter.com/#!/Headlinechiclit

A definite 5 out of 5 stars for this one!

-Charlotte

BOOK 4/150

The Diving-Bell And The Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby

Having finished this book yesterday I have spent some time pondering just how I can review this book and summarise just what this book symbolises and how remarkable it actually is. I will start with the subject matter, it is a real-life account of Jean-Dominique Bauby. At the tender age of 43 he suffered a massive stroke which left him completely paralysed. He was then diagnosed as having "locked-in" syndrome. Whilst being unable to physically move other than the blinking of his left eyelid he dictated the entire book purely by this ordinarily simple movement. The accounts of him wishing to talk to his two young children and his wife are simply heartbreaking.

Whilst trapped in his "cocoon"- like state his mind races and we are told of memorable accounts from his time as the editor-in-chief of French Elle. It is an incredible memoir of a man's triumph over the obvious barricades that he faces with the most admirable grit and sheer determination. The stunning imagery cannot help but propel you through the book and I came to the end without even realising how many pages and just how much time had passed. This said it is only around 100 pages and can easily be devoured in one sitting.

Bauby passed away in 1997 but his legacy lived on in the form of the ALIS (Association Du Locked-In Syndrome) a foundation that he set up from his hospital bed.

This book has truly opened my eyes and will stay with me far into the future. It makes me want to seize my own life in my hands and run with it taking a mental picture of every moment as I go. I cannot really find the words to say the effect it had on me personally but I am sure everyone that reads this will be touched. It will lead you to examine your own life and lead you to fall back in love with it. I encourage you to experience it for yourself as it really is a book that should be treasured.

I would give this 5 stars, something you will see in the future I do not do very often

- Hayley