CHICK LIT
WHAT FRESH HELL by Lucy Vine (Orion £7.99)
This is an easy, breezy, laugh- aminute read from the author of last year’s hilarious hot Mess.
here, Lilah Fox is 28 and in the midst of a hellishly expensive wedding season. her best friend, Lauren, asks Lilah to be her maid of honour. Lauren promises she won’t turn into a bridezilla — but soon succumbs.
Not only does Lilah have her job to deal with, she’s also plunged into the nightmare of organising the hen do for the crazed bride.
Lilah has no time for her longweekly suffering boyfriend, her family or herself. something’s got to give.
i raced through this brilliantly written exposé of what it’s really like to be at a wedding every weekend for a year and the strains this can place on our most important relationships.
ONE LOVE, TWO STORIES: THEO by Amanda Prowse
(Head of Zeus £11.99) earLier this month, i reviewed anna’s rather sad, emotional story in this two-parter and found it compelling. This time, we hear Theo’s.
it’s an original trick to offer two sides of the same love story but, in reality, there are three: hers, his and the truth. in anna’s account of her relationship with Theo, it was clear she wasn’t the only one who bore scars from her early life. here, it’s confirmed that, although Theo was born into money and privilege, his childhood also contained great suffering.
When Theo meets anna, he feels their relationship is perfect and decides not to sully it by telling her his long-buried secrets.
When she eventually finds them out, however, he is distraught to be told he’s effectively been cheating on her since they met. i loved both books.
THE ONE by Maria Realf
(HarperImpulse £7.99) Lizzie sParkes’s heart was smashed into tiny pieces when her university boyfriend, alex, abandoned her to help in Thailand after his brother died in the Boxing day tsunami. she hasn’t heard from him in a decade and is only a few months away from marrying kind, reliable Josh when alex returns home.
his shock re-appearance throws Lizzie into emotional chaos and, when he tells her his bad news, she’s not sure she can go through with the wedding.
The narrative oscillates between Lizzie’s present wedding plans and her past, where she is in love with alex. This is a thoughtful read about whether or not strong feelings from the past can ever truly remain there.