Chick Lit Plus by Samantha March

Latest Youtube Videos

Book Review: The Debt and the Doormat by Laura Barnard
Chick Lit Review

Book Review: The Debt and the Doormat by Laura Barnard

I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.
When I started reading this, I wasn’t sure I would like it. The book begins with the main character Poggy getting upset with her friend over a pillow…..seemed a bit shallow to me and I was thinking, boy I am not going to like this one….
Well let me tell you this book was amazing! I loved it so much I read it all in one sitting! The story is about 2 single women who decide to “switch” lives in order to get the other to see that they could do better. Pog’s and Jazz are the best of friends even though they are as different as 2 people could be! Pog’s sees herself as this klutzy accident prone average looking push over. Jazz is your typical blonde bimbo that parties too much and spends more than her monthly allowance from her rich Mum allows her…This is where the switch comes in, Pog’s wants her friend to be more responsible and Jazz wants Pog’s to loosen up and enjoy life! So they switch homes and agree to let the other tell them what they can do.
This is where the story gets good…Pop’s meet’s the housemates, people who most assuredly change her life. Jazz appears to buckle down and take it easy and even gets a job!
The story continues and you find that Pop’s is a disaster waiting to happen! From a sprained ankle to gash on her head to getting a housemate shot, she truly finds trouble everywhere she goes! You honestly feel bad for her and her bad luck throughout the book!
The dynamic relationships in this story are just fun! I love them all…some I love to hate, but others are seriously just so much fun! Pop’s seems to really question her relationship status with everyone in her life. Growing up with a drunken demanding Mum is probably a large reason why. She really seems to come into her real self as the story continues and even learns to stand up to many people in her life.
The love story part of this book is probably my favorite! These two are generally cute! They seem to really struggle with the feelings they have for each other but just can’t seem to stay apart. I love how strong their friendship develops long before the love drops into play. There’s no chance Pop’s won’t keep him on his toes for years to come!
Based on the way the book ends, I will not lie in saying that I am looking forward to reading book 2 and cannot wait to see what trouble these two ladies get into next! Great read and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting a fun romantic comedy!

October 17, 2013
2 Comments
In My Mailbox: Week of September 22
Chick Lit Plus

In My Mailbox: Week of September 22

Title: Christmas Carol
Author: Michele Gorman
Received: Michele Gorman
Synopsis: One winter wedding, two happy couples, three ex-boyfriends… And a very uncomfortable weekend.

Carol hates Christmas. Being recently dumped, she’s not crazy about weddings either. So her sister Marley’s nuptials, over the Christmas weekend, are making her positively Scrooge-like. When she arrives for the weekend at the stately home in rural Scotland to find her three ex-boyfriends in attendance, Carol has no choice but to face her ghosts to discover what really happened in those relationships, learning a lot about herself in the process. As the snow falls outside and the fire crackles in the hearth, might one of the wedding guests become the harbinger of Christmases to come?

Title: Spirits of Christmas
Author: Nicky Wells
Received: Nicky Wells
Synopsis: At one time, up-and-coming rock singer Jude had it all: a great band, a platinum record, a loving girlfriend. This Christmas, however, he is well down the road towards spontaneous self-destruction.

Unwitting at first, Jude has progressively alienated his band and driven away the love of his life. Tonight, the night before Christmas Eve, he has broken the final taboo during a disastrous gig. Yet Jude doesn’t see how badly his life has derailed, not until a ghostly procession of legends passes through his bedroom with a series of vivid and powerful wake-up calls.

Will the Spirits help Jude put the friendship, love, and rock music back into his Christmas?

Spirits of Christmas is a modern-day rock’n’roll adaption of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol. This novella will enchant romance readers, rock lovers, fans of ghost stories, and everybody who adores the festive season.

Title: Someone Else’s Love Story
Author: Joshilyn Jackson
Received: SheReads
Synopsis: Someone Else’s Love Story is beloved and highly acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Joshilyn Jackson’s funny, charming, and poignant novel about science and miracles, secrets and truths, faith and forgiveness; about falling in love, and learning that things aren’t always what they seem—or what we hope they will be.
Shandi Pierce is juggling finishing college, raising her delightful three-year-old genius son Nathan, aka Natty Bumppo, and keeping the peace between her eternally warring, long-divorced parents. She’s got enough complications without getting caught in the middle of a stick-up and falling in love with William Ashe, who willingly steps between the robber and her son.
Shandi doesn’t know that her blond god Thor has his own complications. When he looked down the barrel of that gun he believed it was destiny: It’s been one year to the day since a tragic act of physics shattered his world. But William doesn’t define destiny the way others do. A brilliant geneticist who believes in facts and numbers, destiny to him is about choice. Now, he and Shandi are about to meet their so-called destinies head on, making choices that will reveal unexpected truths about love, life, and the world they think they know.
Title: The Youth Corridor
Author: Gerald Imber, MD
Received: FSB Associates
Synopsis: Dr. Gerald Imber shows women and men how to keep the signs of aging at bay with a prescriptive, common sense plan of skin care, exercise, vitamins & diet, stalling & often eliminating the need for surgery. By following the earliest & most basic treatment for skin care & maintenance, you can maintain a youthful appearance for a lifetime. You can return your skin to the exuberance of the youth corridor — the years between 30 & 55 during which the most drastic physical changes occur. Imber’s easy-to-follow regimes & helpful illustrations make timeless beauty a reality. This book also catalogs beauty products that give women the best results & describes successful procedures in plastic surgery.

Title: The Bump List
Author: Amber Best & Miriam Brady
Received: Amber Best & Miriam Brady
Synopsis: Murder of Crows, greatest band of all time, are used to living in the limelight. They know what comes with the territory, however, their families have always been off-limits, until now. Super-stardom has come at a high price. Madison Hunt is finding her past exposed for all the world to see. Her best friend and sister-in-law, Kinley is being dragged through the mud as well. Things they thought were secret are now on display, thanks to a tell-all reporter and her show- Celebrity Dirt. Their private joke- the back-up list- has now been made public, while Cal and Rory’s names have been ‘bumped’ from the list. Madison and Kinley appear to be gold diggers who schemed to marry rock star brothers, and don’t mind disposing of them if someone better comes along; at least that is becoming the popular point of view. Will their marriages survive the mistrust, and can their friendships survive the media firestorm from hell?

Title: The Debt and the Doormat
Author: Laura Barnard
Received: Laura Barnard
Synopsis: Poppy and Jazz have been best friends from the first week of uni. Whenever these two get together trouble isn’t far away and things haven’t changed much. When Jazz gets herself into financial trouble Poppy, being a good friend, offers to help. She instead ends up being talked into swapping lives, with Jazz insisting it will be good and help her get over her broken heart.

Poppy is thrown into a new life, full of crazy housemates; there’s fitness freak Izzy, horrendously beautiful bitch Grace and the slightly gorgeous, if not incredibly grumpy Ryan. Quickly, with the help of Jazz, her life is thrown upside down. Madness ensues and her need to please everyone gets her in more trouble than she could ever imagine.

Before she knows it she’s got a fake boyfriend and is hiding so many secrets she’s scared they’ll spill out any minute. With a bullying boss, a sex crazed colleague, a mental mother and three brothers each with their own dramas, life has gotten pretty difficult for Poppy. And all of this would be much easier, if she could just stop falling over.

Will she get her life back to normal before her brother’s upcoming wedding? And will she want to?

September 22, 2013
Leave a comment
Interview with Laura Barnard
Chick Lit Authors

Interview with Laura Barnard

When did you know writing was for you?
From a very young age. My mum says even as a small toddler I was obsessed with books and the minute I could put pen to paper I was coming up with all sorts of stories. I used to bore my mum senseless making her listen to them. As I got older I started to pester teachers with marking extra stories, but then hit my teens and got a bit shy.

How would you describe your books?
I would say they are a portal for you to enter into another woman’s hilarious life. There are laugh out loud moments, but also serious, tender moments. There’s a romance (the amount of people that refer to Ryan as a real person is hysterical!), but really my book is centered around friendship. It shows with the right love and support you can get through and laugh about anything.

Why was The Debt and the Doormat a book you wanted to write?
A lot of my friends started struggling with debt and they’d always come to me embarrassed, as I’m normally so careful and organised with money. I would try to help them, but realize that unless you totally take control over someone there is no way you can change them. That’s where the idea came from. I still get phone calls from friends, frantically asking me ‘Am I Jazz???’ However, without these friends I would be a total bore! I’m such a Poppy! They’re the ones persuading me to get another bottle of wine in or treat myself to a new outfit. I think opposites suit each other as they can both bring out the best in the other.

What is the hardest part of the writing process for you?
The beginning! I have so many ideas, its sometimes hard to focus on just one. I like to have a rough idea of the story and then work on characters. I go so ridiculously in depth – I write interview questions for them, find similar looking celebrities, even find what sort of clothes they would wear and what kind of vocabulary they would use. Once I have a set of solid characters they seem to guide me on where the book goes and sometimes its in a totally different direction!

What are your favorite genres to read?
I love reading chic-lit and my favorite authors are Madeleine Wickham (writing as both herself and Sophie Kinsella) and Lindsay Kelk. However, while writing this I tried to broaden my tastes and wondered around my local library selecting books I wouldn’t normally bother with – crime thrillers, erotic and heavily romantic Mills and Boon books. It was strange going outside of my usual comfort zone but I loved them and feel each one taught me something different. I learnt how to write tense, edge of your seat scenes and I learnt how to write a love story the reader completely goes head over heels for.

What do you want readers to take away from your story?
Mainly I just want them to have a good laugh and when they finish the book feel like they’ve lost a friend. A great book is one you keep thinking about and wish was a bit longer. If you can remember a scene from it a few weeks later and have a giggle its a good one.

How important do you think social media is for authors these days?
I think its hugely important, especially for self-publishing. Before social media there was really no other way of mass-promoting your work on such a huge scale. You can also hear up to date information from reviewers and receive comments from the public. It’s like skipping the messenger and having everything to hand.

What would be your advice to aspiring writers
Keep writing! Sometimes it can feel like you are getting nowhere but if you carry on you’ll be surprised at how you can pull something together. The best advice given to me was by my college Tutor, Ian St Peters, who said ‘Writing is a craft. You have to perfect it over time, but if you don’t enjoy it don’t bother.’ I genuinely love writing and if only a handful of people also enjoy my story that really is enough satisfaction for me. If it isn’t maybe you’re in the wrong game.

August 12, 2013
Leave a comment
August 2013 New Releases
Chick Lit Plus

August 2013 New Releases

Contributor: Allie Sadly, summer is almost over, but we still have a handful of chick lit books to look forward to before the leaves begin…

August 8, 2013
3 Comments