Five Minutes Peace

BOOK REVIEW: Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin

Reviewed by Deborah Riccio

The ultimate ‘What If?’ story.

What if, after 100 days of being married to the gorgeous, charming, rich, kind, sensitive, hell - perfect - Andy, you literally happen to run into the enigmatic, wildly exciting, passionate, nerve-tinglingly handsome Leo with whom you shared some, shall we say, positively highly charged months of your life?

Gulp.

Would you have the nerve to speak to him?  Would you have the strength of mind to pretend that this encounter (some might call fate or destiny) means nothing and that you’ve moved on quite nicely without him, thank you very much?  Or would you just put this sighting down to pure chance and get on with your life, ignoring the fact that he probably doesn’t want any more to do with you now than he did when he unceremoniously left you cold all those years ago without a decent explanation as to why? Well?

BOOK CLUB: April - The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy

April's book - Elaine Dundy's The Dud Avocado - was recommended to me by a customer when I worked in Waterstones. Since then, I've had it in the back of my mind as a guaranteed good read. But was it?

Did you read it? Did you like it? You'll find my thoughts (such as they are...) over the cut and I'd love to hear yours via the comments.

BOOK REVIEW: A Brand New Me by Shari Low

As the clock strikes in a brand new year Leni Lomond makes a vow. This year things will be different. Working in the marketing department of City Plumbing Supplies is not the most prestigious of jobs. Although Leni would love for her life to be different, she isn't one of life's go-getters. Thankfully she has a friend called Trish who is, and who manages to persuade her to try for a job with Zara, TV astrologer to the stars.

Working for Zara sounds like her dream job, except for one thing. She has to blind date one man for every sign of the zodiac for one of Zara's projects. Not the greatest job for someone with a fairly restrictive comfort zone. But she does it and finds more than she bargains for on the way.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Lucy Diamond

Following the success of Any Way You Want Me and Over You, Lucy Diamond's third novel is out later this year. Here she is to tell us all about it.

What is your latest book, Hens Reunited, all about?

Hens Reunited is about three women, Katie, Georgia and Alice, whose lives are tangled together. Back in the good old days, the three were best friends, and all went to each other's hen nights, but now their marriages have failed spectacularly and their friendship has been tested to the limits. It's a novel about second chances, friendship and forgiveness, and girls' nights out... 

BOOK REVIEW: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

When her horrendous divorce is followed by a devastating break-up, Elizabeth Gilbert decides to take a year out just for herself. She comes up with a plan to spend the year pursuing three very different things in three very different countries: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India and balance in Indonesia. The fact that the countries all being with "I" is coincidental, but, Gilbert thinks, a good sign. Can she recover from her past and find herself and her future all in the space of a year?

In Italy Elizabeth learns the language, makes friends, eats tons of pasta, and gains 23 pounds, but her depression and loneliness have followed her there and she's afraid she'll never be able to leave them behind. The Indian part of the book, i.e. the "Pray" of the title, was the part I was a bit worried about - I'm not religious and I thought reading about someone's experiences on an Ashram would be a bit much, but Gilbert never loses her sense of humour and that, combined with the vivid descriptions of the characters she meets there make this section completely different from, but just as enchanting as, the first third of the book. But it's in Indonesia that Elizabeth really starts to recover and find what she was looking for all along.

The New Romantics

Seven British romance novelists - Lucy Diamond, Kate Harrison, Matt Dunn, Veronica Henry, Milly Johnson, Jojo Moyes and Sarah Duncan - have banded together under the name The New Romantics. They aim to promote their chosen genre (much like the crime writers that formed The Murder Squad).

Romance is a massively popular and hugely varied genre that gets continually derided (or ignored) by both the media and literary establishment. And it's a genre that focuses on subjects that are traditionally 'female' - love, relationships, the domestic sphere, and family. Interesting, no?

The New Romantics are standing up to say 'we are intelligent professionals and we are proud to write and read romance'. Hurrah for that.

There's also a fab competiton running on the site to win a novel a month for a year. The closing date is 8 May so don't delay!

BOOK REVIEW: Blood Fever by Charlie Higson

Reviewed by Stella

James Bond has settled somewhat into Eton. He has joined a secret club with some of the other boys named the Danger Society. The most dangerous thing the Danger Society gets up to is sneaking out of their bedrooms at night to meet up.

Luckily for us, James Bond is never too far away from real danger. On a school trip to Sardinia, Bond finds himself mixed up with a proper secret society- a gang of criminals involved in theft, kidnapping and robbery. He discovers a maiden in distress who he simply has to rescue at the same time as being sure the villain at the centre of all the trouble gets his comeuppance.

Book Review: Crazy In Love by Chris Manby

Birdie Sederburg, American heiress to the Sederburg Golf Resorts fortune and party lover, is obsessed with Dean Stevenson. She has been ever since she was introduced to him at the launch party of the soap opera he was appearing in. She googled him and stalked him, until eventually she found her opportunity, and crashed into him in her car. Thus precipitating a fantastic chain of events involving kidnap and environmental activists.

On first glance I thought the main character, Birdie, would irritate me and put me off the book. She wasn't, after all, particularly likable. However, she has her humourous moments and there are glimpses in the beginning of the person she really is underneath.

Next three book club selections

I'm going to have to stop sounding surprised at each passing month, but really! Can it be April already?! Apparently so. And that means I have to announce the next three books.

I hope you've been enjoying the book club so far. I've enjoyed our discussions, even when we don't agree.

Find out what's coming up next over the cut.