The Asking Price by Caroline Upcher

(401 pages)



Hope is losing her grip. She has three unruly Children, a high power job, a glamorous ex-husband she is still in love with, plus a serious nanny crisis. In desparation Hope takes on Annabel, who seem to be the answer to her everyones prayers. But can Hope regain control of her life? And Why did Annabel leave England in such a hurry

This was Okay, with some likeable characters and a decent stiryline, but it didnt really grip me.

The Dewey Decimal System of Love by Josephine Carr

(251 pages)



After 15 celibate years, librarian Ally Sheffield is in love, and the object of her newfound affections is gorgeous maestro Aleksi Kullio, the latest conductor of the Philadelphia Philharmonic. The fact that Aleksi is already married is a mere obstacle for Ally, since she knows deep in her soul that the two of them were meant to be together. As Ally tries to figure out a way to get Aleksi to notice her, she discovers some interesting things about her friends, her coworkers, and herself. Carr's tale sparkles with sharp, clever, and occasionally earthy humor, and sassy, unconventional Ally is a terrific protagonist. The choice of which man is really right for Ally may be obvious early on to some readers, but much of the pleasure in this wonderfully amusing novel comes from Carr's realistic depiction of the everyday pleasures and occasional downsides to working in a library; her wonderfully quirky, all too real characters; and her delightfully acerbic prose.


I really did enjoy this. after a slow start and the rather bizzarre situation of a celibate for 15 years librarian I felt that it was going to be an unusual read..... however, the story panned out very nicely with a sweet and charming protagonist, a dashing leading man, quite a few laughs and a wee bit of mystery thrown in. I would reccommend this one to my girl-friends :)

Welcome To My Planet by Shannon Olson

(287 pages)



In Welcome to My Planet, the fictional Shannon Olson--who shares her creator's name--is witty but confused, whip-smart but unable to fully release her ties to bad boyfriends, childhood obsessions, and the "gassy expanse" of marginal jobs. With the help of a therapist known only as the counselor, this almost 30-year-old Midwestern neurotic gamely tries to steer her way past credit-card-fueled Target binges and a too close relationship with her mother, Flo, and to slowly inch toward the elusive land of adulthood. Comparisons to the charming neurotics found in Bridget Jones's Diary and The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing are inevitable, but beside the point: Shannon is less brittle, less self-consciously hip than those postmodern heroines. Contemplating living on her own again after a stint with her parents, she whines to the counselor, "I've never really lived anywhere else. What if I never find anyone? I may as well go out and adopt a bunch of cats and start wearing macramé ponchos."
Olson's debut easily pulls us in with a conversational, seemingly unadorned style that camouflages her well-crafted narrative technique as she moves back and forth in time. With her retro and up-to-the-minute pop-culture references to The Love Boat, grieving conferences, Prozac, Oprah, bachelorette parties, and the ravages of graduate school (where Babe the Gallant Pig is a "text"), the author clearly knows her target audience. Welcome to My Planet is an almost perfect coming-of-age story for an era in which public life, jazzed by lightning technological and commercial changes, leapfrogs away while emotional adolescence strangely extends into our 30s.

I had a really hard time getting into this, it was more like lots of disjointed little stories than a nice flowing novel. I did find myself chuckling in parts and it was worth the read, just not written in a style I enjoy.

The Narrows by Michael Connelly

(405 pages)



Former FBI agent Rachel Walling is working a dead-end stint in South Dakota when she gets the call she's been dreading for four years. The Poet is back. And he has not forgotten Rachel. He has a special present for her.
Harry Bosch is adjusting to life in Las Vegas as a private investigator and a new father. He gets a call, too, from the widow of a friend who died recently. Previously in his FBI career, the friend worked on the famous case tracking the killer known as the Poet. This fact alone makes some of the elements of his death doubly suspicious.
And Harry Bosch is heading straight into the path of the most ruthless and inventive murderer he has ever encountered ...

I did enjoy this, although not as much as its predecessor "The Poet". I struggled to get into it at first, as I havent read any of the books with Harry Bosch in them, and this made me feel as though I was missing out on some of the back story.
However once Harry met Rachel things rattled alonge really well with a very decent climax.

The Poet by Michael Connelly

(480 pages)



The apparent suicide of his policeman brother sets Denver crime reporter Jack McEvoy on edge. Surprise at the circumstances of his brother's death prompts Jack to look into a whole series of police suicides and puts him on the trail of a cop-killer whose victims are selected all too carefully. Not only that, but they all leave suicide notes drawn from the poems of writer Edgar Allan Poe in their wake. More frightening still the killer appears to know that Jack is getting nearer and nearer. An investigation that looks like being the story of a lifetime, might also be Jack's ticket to a lonely end.

I finally got round to this (i have the sequel to read and pass on so I had to) and I certainly wasnt disappointed.
The story moved at a really fast pace with lots of little twists and turns and shocks too.
I would reccomend this to anyone who enjoys a thriller and detective story where the lead isnt actually a detective in the traditional sense :)

I am now moving on to 'The Narrows' can't wait......

Homesick by Sela Ward

(272 pages)



This is a story about home . . .
At a time when much of America is yearning to recapture the spirit and feelings of a more innocent era, comes this exceptional new book from one of our most beloved actresses: a story of one woman's journey to reconnect with the landscape of her childhood.
Though best known today as the star of the television series Once & Again and Sisters, Sela Ward considers herself first and foremost a small-town girl. The eldest of four children, she was raised by a father who helped her believe in herself, and by a mother who taught her a sense of the importance of virtues like self-respect, grace, and sacrifice. In her hometown of Meridian, Mississippi, within a tightly-knit community of neighbors and kin, Sela learned ways that would remain with her throughout life -- humble virtues that were "forged in the hearth of a loving home."
After graduating from the University of Alabama, Sela left the South in search of the excitement of cities like New York and Los Angeles, and the creative rewards of an acting career. But as she started her own family, she found herself pining for the comforts of her small-town childhood -- and searching for a way to balance her children's West Coast upbringing with a taste of a more natural way of life. She and her husband built a second home on a farm there, where she and her family could retreat several times each year, and became involved in several projects designed to restore the vitality of the hometown she remembered so fondly. Even as Sela was reconnecting with the rhythms of home, though, her world was rocked by a crisis the family had long anticipated but never quite prepared for -- the death of her mother. As her family gathered around her mama's bedside, Sela's simple journey home became something far deeper: a turning point in her own life, as she pondered her mother's complicated legacy, and came to terms with just what it was she herself was searching for.
Filled with warmth, storytelling, and laughter, Homesick is a book to treasure: an exploration of the lessons we carry away with us from childhood, and a celebration of the bittersweet legacy of home.

I enjoyed this, and being a fan of Sela to start with it was nice to get an insight into her past :) One I would like to read again.

The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad

(288 pages)



This volume offers an intimate portrait of Afghani people.

This is a book telling the true story of the extended Khan family following the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The bookseller of the title, is the patriarch of the family, Sultan. He is married with children and lives in a small apartment in Kabul with his extended family including his ageing mother and a nephew.
The focus of the story is upon the treatment of the Afghan women, including the situation of there now being no need to wear the prescribed Bhurkas (veils covering the entire body and face), and the growing want, and need, for independence. It also discusses the role and importance of faith and religion in the ‘new’ Afghanistan.
The story is told from a third person perspective, focussing upon the individual dramas faced by the family during the stay of the author in the Khan household. There are stories of crime and punishment, the stresses of courtship and the pilgrimage of a guilt-riddled son in an attempt to wash away his sins. The most fascinating, and moving story for me though was that of Leila, the 19 year old sister of Sultan, whose job it was to keep house for the entire family, and her desire to become more than a ‘slave’.
It is written in a very easy to read manner, and the story itself is highly compelling. The people are full of life, energy, emotion, individuality and determination, an amazing feat considering all that they have been through. The dramas are fascinating, addictive at times humorous and sometimes sickening, but they are the real-life stories of the Afghan people.
Having read this book (in just over 1 day – it is that gripping), I can now appreciate the difficulties there have been in trying to restore order and government into this war ravaged country, which to western eyes is still very old-fashioned. The west claims to have ‘liberated Afghanistan, but how can it have done so if it does not understand it?
I loved this book, and would recommend it to anyone and everyone!!

The Corset Diaries by Katie MacAllister

(344 pages)



No woman in her right mind would consent to wearing a corset for a month. Especially a "skinny-challenged" woman like Tessa. But dreams of being debt-free dance in her head at the offer of appearing in a reality TV show. "A Month in the Life of a Victorian Duke" is about real people pretending to live on an English estate, circa 1879. And Tessa's leading man-a real-life Duke-is so handsome she can barely breathe, with or without the corset...

this was a lovely fun light hearted read with plenty of laughs, just what I needed! :D

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

(320 pages)



From an isolated mountain cabin, Deanna Wolfe, a reclusive wildlife biologist is caught off guard by a young hunter. On a farm futher down the mountain, Lusa finds herself marooned in a strange place where she must declare or lose her attachment to the land that has become her own. A few more miles down the road a pair of elderly feuding neighbours tend their respective farms and wrangle about God.
Over the course of one humid summer, these characters find not only their connections to each other but a sense of the place they share.

this was a lovely book with losts of likeable charactes, extremely well written and highly addictive once you get into it :)

Night Swimming by Robin Schwarz

(352 pages)



An overweight New Hampshire bank employee is misdiagnosed with cancer and given a year to live in this first novel, a giddy, overblown romantic comedy. Wish-fulfillment is on the agenda for the unfortunately named Charlotte Clapp. After her doctor gives her the bad news, she decides to rob the bank where she works and run away to L.A. Miraculously, her daring life change is rewarded by unintentional weight loss—fortunate, because Skip, the pool boy at her luxury apartment complex, is a blonde Adonis (and a former lawyer), and Charlotte (now calling herself Blossom McBeal) plans to sit in a kimono by the pool, hoping desperately that he'll fall for her. Friendship is provided by Charlotte's dog-loving elderly neighbor, Dolly—and Charlotte needs it, because the police are still after her, slowly but surely tracking her to California. Schwarz's novel is as padded as Charlotte's waistline with purple prose ("The perfect silvery notes... hovered like breakable angels over the audience") and hyperbole ("One Krispy Kreme after another, until she resembled a cardboard clown with a ring of white powder around its mouth"). But those willing to read between the book's often-unwieldy lines will be rewarded with soap-operatic satisfactions.

i found this a really enjoyable read, nice and slushy with focus on the importance of friends and love. the sickly sweet ending was a little irritating, but the thing that spoilt it for me the most was the fact that Charlotte found love after becoming thin and beautiful.... what about the fat girls?

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

(192 pages)



The deliberately fanciful story spans a time period from the 16th to the 20th centuries and takes the hero, Orlando, from being a handsome boy of 16 to Lady Orlando, experiencing historical insights through encounters with figures of the time.

It didnt take long to reaf this, but unfortunately i dont think it was my kind of thing. Well written, i just didnt really enjoy the story :(

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

(607 pages)



Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth book in J.K. Rowling’s bestselling series, picks up shortly after we left Harry at the end of The Order of the Phoenix. Lord Voldemort is acting out in the open, continuing his reign of terror which was temporarily stopped almost 15 years beforehand. Harry is again at the Dursleys, where the events of the previous month continue to weigh on his mind, although not as much as the impending visit from his Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Given their last meeting, Harry is understandably confused as to why the old wizard would want to visit him at home.
Rowling opens with a chapter she had wanted to use for the first book, of The Philosopher’s Stone--Lord Voldemort has been creating chaos in the Wizard and Muggle communities alike, the war is in full swing and the Wizarding community now lives in fear. The press have been questioning the events at the Ministry which led to the admission of Voldemort’s return, and of course Harry’s name is mentioned a number of times. Harry’s got his problems, but his anxiety is nothing compared to Hermione’s when the OWL results are delivered. There’s a new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher, an assortment of new characters and creatures, and startling revelations about past characters and events.
Gone is the rage-filled Harry of The Order of the Phoenix--he’s not being kept in the dark any more, his unjustified Quidditch ban has been lifted and he has matured considerably in his short time out of school. Half-Blood Prince follows Harry into the world of late-teens, and his realisation that nobody is infallible has made his growth that much easier. Accepting his destiny, Harry continues to behave as teenagers do, enjoying his time with his friends, developing his relationships outside of his usual circle, and learning more about how he must, eventually, do what he is destined to do.

it was totally unputdownable! I don't know how JK keeps these books so gripping and addictive. I was chuckling, gasping and at the end even crying! Fabulous, cant wait for number 7! just hope it doesnt take another 2 years:(
I dont want to write too much about the story cos i dont want to spoil it for those who havent yet read it :D

All Over Creation by Ruth Ozeki

(432 pages)



"All Over Creation" is the second novel by Ruth L. Ozeki. Lloyd Fuller and his Japanese wife, Momoko, have begun to feel the ravages of time. They must consider the future of their precious yet fragile livelihood on Fuller Farms in Power County.

this was an enjoyable read, not my usual fare, but still good!

The Pact: A Love Story by Jodi Picoult

(400 pages)



For eighteen years the Hartes and the Golds have lived next door to each other, sharing everything from Chinese food to chicken pox to carpool duty - they've grown so close it seems they have always been a part of each other's lives. Parents and children alike have been best friends - so it's no surprise that in high school Chris and Emily's friendship blossoms into something more. They've been soul mates since they were born. So when midnight calls from the hospital come in, no one is ready for the appalling truth: Emily is dead at seventeen from a gunshot wound to the head. There's a single unspent bullet in the gun that Chris took from his father's cabinet - a bullet that Chris tells police he intended for himself. But a local detective has doubts about the suicide pact that Chris has described. As its chapters unfold, alternating between an idyllic past and an unthinkable present, "The Pact" paints an indelible portrait of families in anguish...culminating in an astonishingly suspenseful courtroom drama as Chris finds himself on trial for murder.

I absolutely loved this book!!! I am now officially a Picoult obsessive!!
I just adore the way she moves you forwards through the story by taking you into the past to build up such a deep multi-layered and emotional story. She, and this book are truly magnificent!! I cannot reccommend her work highly enough. I will read this one again and again (when I get my own copy that is!!)

My Brother's Keeper by Patricia McCormick

(187 pages)



From the acclaimed author of "Cut" comes this new novel that explores the anguish of living with divided loyalties and the cost of keeping family secrets, as a young teen struggles to keep his family together when his father abandons them.


My Brothers keeper is the story of a single parent family consisting of mom, Eli who is slightly strange, has a bike called Tonto and a female cat called Mr Furry, Jake who has fallen into 'bad company' decided that his beloved baseball is uncool and started using drugs and finally Toby, a 13 year old who is going grey and whose best friend is the local shopkeeper called Mr. D (who also happens to be a pensioner). It is Toby who takes it upon himself to try and hold his family together after his alcoholic father left. He does so by covering up for his older brother Jake and hiding his moms bill because he knows she cant afford to pay them.Unfortunately Toby's best intentions dont always work out quite to plan and the family nearly enters meltdown before too long.
Patricia McCormick has succeeded in bringing to the fore the problems faced by teens today with regard to the availability of drugs and the hassles they can bring to a family. She also manages to touch upon the breakdown that can occur when one parent leaves, and the emotional turmoil that can be caused and what further problems it can lead to.
However, as good as the story was and as touching and likeable Toby appeared, the book seemed to be lacking a depth that would have allowed the reader to get more inside the world of the disintegrating family. The book is aimed at younger teenagers, so this may be the reason for the apparent surface nature of the drug abuse, but a great opportunity was missed to investigate and explore the sheer destructive nature of the problem at hand. I feel that the message could have been got across more clearly if the story had continued on further into 'what happened next'.
Overall this was an easy, likeable and touching read, bnut it was lacking some depth.

Pariah by Brian Vallee

(372 pages)



The murders begin in rural Pennsylvania, in a high rent nursing home. Then come more brutal killings in Spain, Las Vegas, Paraguay, all with a macabre trademark; a crisp new dollar bill stuffed into the mouth of each of the victims, most of them close associates of the late, eccentric billionaire Elliot R. Brodie.

this is truly one of the worst books I have ever tried to read!! the story was all over the place and the writing was so chauvanistic in infuriated me!!! LOL!

Still Thinking of You by Adele Parks

(563 pages)



New love, old relationships and a question of fidelity from the bestselling author of The Other Woman's Shoes.
Tash and Rich are newly engaged and wild about each other. They can’t wait to celebrate their wedding with their closest friends, all of whom have known each other since university, where they enjoyed a hedonistic whirl of parties, popularity, sex and success.
But is fun really as easy-come-easy-go in your thirties as it was in your twenties? How do relationships change once you leave college and have to cope with real life? And what if the love of that life were to reappear now?
As old, long buried passions are reawakened, the group realise that a lot can change in twelve years. And a lot can happen in seven days…

I did quite enjoy this. The range of chaacters was great, I am sure everyone will be able to relate to at least one of them. The story had a couple of twists and had me gasping and giggling all at once. I absolutely hated Mia at first, and then in the end I started to feel quite sorry for her.
The only fault i could find was that at nearly 600 pages it was a tad overlong, but definitely worth the read :D