Chick Lit Book Reviews

I just finished reading this really cute book.  The story follows the life of Holly, who was suddenly divorced a year ago, and her friends.  A mixture of chick lit fun, throw in a friend’s affair and a bit of romance,  this book is easy to read, enjoyable and quite funny.  Holly is a likeable character, although she does come across a little perfect.  This is a good read, a storyline i really enjoyed.  5 stars!

I’ve just discovered Ebooks!  What a brilliant idea!  I can now shop from home - at anytime - and cannot believe how much money I am saving.  I get to read as many new release chick lit books, be completely up to date with my favourite authors, for a fraction of the price of buying a hardcopy of the book!  I can download an Ebook staight away, and start reading!  I love it!

Chick Lit

A quick look at Wikipedia tells us that chick lit is a term used to denote genre fiction within women’s fiction written for and marketed to young women, especially single, working women in their twenties and thirties. Chick lit is very popular, with chick lit titles topping bestseller lists and the creation of imprints devoted entirely to chick lit. It generally deals with the issues of modern women humorously and lightheartedly.

Although usually including romantic elements, chick lit is generally not considered a direct subcategory of the romance novel genre, because in women’s fiction the heroine’s relationship with her family or friends may be equally as important as her relationship with the hero.

Chick lit features hip, stylish, career-driven female protagonists, usually in their twenties and thirties. The women featured in these novels may be obsessed with appearance or have a passion for shopping.

The setting is generally urban and the plot usually follows the characters’ love lives and struggles for professional success (often in the publishing, advertising, public relations, or fashion industry). The style is usually of an airy, irreverent tone and includes frank sexual themes. It frequently makes use of current slang and cliches.

Think Bridget Jones’ Diary, Sex and the City, The Devil Wears Prada, and, of course, The Secret Life of a Shopaholic.

For me, chick lit is nothing but an irrisitable , fu, can’t-put-down read.  I love nothing more than curling up with a new novel by one of my favourite chick lit authors.

In this column I am going to write a little review about all the chick lit books I love.  I would be absolutely thrilled to hear your comments too!

Happy Reading!

Chick Lit: Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella

I actually read this book some time ago, but remembered it when i was looking through all my Sophie Kinsella books yesterday!

So…I really liked this book!  Its starts off with Lexi waiking up in hospital after a car accident.  But she’s lost a few years, and she wakes up thinking she’s 25 and single.  But to her surprise, she learns she’s actually 28, and married to a man who seems absolutely perfect!  Good looking, lots of money and lovely!  On top of that, she’s the boss of her department & lives in a gorgeous home! 

Her perfect husband has written up a “marriage manual” to help her find her way around her life again, and Lexi thinks it will all come back to her soon.

But things start to unravel, when get finally gets back to work, to discover the friends she used to have now don’t want anything to do with her.  And her housekeeper is scared of her!  She has no idea why!  And then, of course, a man comes back into her life, which makes her question everything she believes to be true.  And nothing is quite what it seems.

An easy to read, although admittedly unbelievable, story.  Really enjoyable, another goodie from Sophie Kinsella.

Click here to buy this book online.

Now, I swore I’d try to stay away from the whole “Shopaholic” bandwagon…but I can’t help it!  I am so excited about the movie coming out, that I just had to put the books on my website!  I think the Shopaholic series of books by Sophie Kinsella are some of the funniest books around.  The letters from her bank manager are so hilarious, I actually did laugh out loud when I read every one of them.  Rebecca Bloomfield, the main character, seems so gorgeous, so cute and you just can’t help but laugh at the way she thinks!   The excuses and stories she makes up are so silly and unbelievable, that it just makes them funnier.  Especially when her future boyfriend is introduced to the storyline.

The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic is a must-read for any chick lit fan.  And the books that follow on, “Shopaholic Ties the Knot”, “Shopaholic & Sister”, “Shopaholic and Baby” and “Shopaholic Abroad” are all just as funny.  In fact, I think I might read them all again before going to see the movie!

Below are descriptions of each of the Shopaholic books, just to refresh anyone’s memory!  And if you are a chick lit fan, and haven’t read them…then hop to it!  You’ll love them!

The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic

Meet Rebecca Bloomwood. She’s a journalist. She spends her working life telling others how to manage their money. She spends her leisure time…shopping. Retail therapy is the answer to all her problems. She knows she should stop, but she can’t. She tries Cutting Back, she tries Making More Money. But neither seems to work. The stories she concocts become more and more fantastic as she tries to untangle her increasingly dire financial difficulties. Her only comfort is to buy herself something - just a little something…Can Becky ever escape from this dream world, find true love, and regain the use of her Switch card? “The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic…” is the perfect pick me up for when it’s all hanging in the (bank) balance.

Shopaholic & Sister

Becky thought being married to Luke Brandon would be one big Tiffany box of happiness. But to be honest, it’s not quite as dreamy as she’d hoped. The trouble started on honeymoon, when she told Luke the tiniest little fib, about the teeniest little purchase. Now she’s on a strict budget, she doesn’t have a job - and worst of all her beloved Suze has a new best friend. Then she receives some incredible news. She has a long-lost sister! Becky has never been more excited. Finally, a real sister! They’ll have so much in common! They can go shopping together…choose shoes together…have manicures together…Until she meets her - and gets the shock of her life. It can’t be true. Surely Becky Bloomwood’s long-lost sister can’t…hate shopping? A sister, a soulmate, a skinflint?

Shopaholic Abroad

For Rebecca Bloomwood, life is peachy. She has a job on morning TV, telling people how to manage their money ? a subject on which she is an expert. Her bank manager is actually being nice to her, despite being just a tad overdrawn. And the icing on the brioche is that her boyfriend is moving to New York ?and has asked her to go with him. New York! The Museum of Modern Art! The Guggenheim! The Metropolitan Opera House! And Becky does mean to go to all these. Honestly. It’s just that it seems silly not to check out a few other places first. Like Bloomingdales. And Saks. And that amusing little place she’s been told about where you can sometimes get a Prada dress for $10. Or was it $100? Is Becky too dazzled to care?

Shopaholic Ties the Knot

Life has been good for Becky Bloomwood: She’s become the best personal shopper at Barneys, she and her successful entrepreneurial boyfriend, Luke, are living happily in Manhattan’s West Village, and her new next-door neighbor is a fashion designer! But with her best friend, Suze, engaged, how can Becky fail to notice that her own ring finger is bare? Not that she’s been thinking of marriage (or diamonds) or anything . . . Then Luke proposes! Bridal registries dance in Becky’s head. Problem is, two other people are planning her wedding: Becky’s overjoyed mother has been waiting forever to host a backyard wedding, with the bride resplendent in Mum’s frilly old gown. While Luke’s high-society mother is insisting on a glamorous, all-expenses-paid affair at the Plaza. Both weddings for the same day. And Becky can’t seem to turn down either one. Can everyone’s favorite shopaholic tie the knot before everything unravels?

Shopaholic & Baby

Becky’s life is blooming! She’s working at London’s newest fashion store The Look, house-hunting with husband Luke (her secret wish is a Shoe Room)…and she’s pregnant! She couldn’t be more overjoyed - especially since discovering that shopping cures morning sickness. Everything has got to be perfect for her baby: from the designer nursery…to the latest, coolest pram…to the celebrity, must-have obstetrician. But when the celebrity obstetrician turns out to be her husband Luke’s glamorous, intellectual ex-girlfriend, Becky’s perfect world starts to crumble. She’s shopping for two…but are there three in her marriage!

I’ll Have What She’s Having by Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke

Kate has been depressed ever since yet another long-term boyfriend unceremoniously dumped her. When her younger and married sister Kelly convinces her the way to meet a quality man is for the two of them to sign up for a volleyball class, she’s just desperate enough to agree. But Kate becomes so fixated on their coach that she fails to see an unlikely but perfect match right in front of her. Kelly has been less than happy for longer than she wants to admit. She’s the one who appears to have it all: the perfect husband, the big house and the beautiful daughter. Despite it all, she feels an emptiness she can’t explain and is conflicted when it’s her volleyball coach who offers an answer. I’ll Have Who She’s Having follows Kate and Kelly as they battle themselves and each other in their search for a happy ending. Through a series of hardships and self-doubt, they both realize they were looking for happiness in the wrong places. It s a novel for anyone who ever secretly let their insecurities get the best of them. 

I think this is one of the best Chick Lit books I’ve read for ages.  5/5 xx

Click here to buy this book online.

I know, these books are not new releases, but Marian Keyes has been my favourite chick lit author forever, and she deserves a mention!  And I am desperately waiting for her next novel to be released!  There is not doubt, she is a brilliant story-teller.  She epitomises chick lit, her novels are so funny, so comically written…and let us not forget the amazingly romantic storylines she writes. Every book she has written, I have not been able to put down until finished.

I adored everyone one of them.  They will never go out of fashion! 

Last Chance Saloon

Rachel’s Holiday

Anybody Out There?

Sushi For Beginners

Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married

Watermelon

Angels

This Charming Man

The Other Side of the Story

“Pippa seems to have everything in life. But suddenly she finds her world beginning to unravel. Amid the buzzing lawnmowers and suburban coffee mornings, she starts to wonder how she came to be in this place…”

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee follows the life of Pippa, who is 50, and her husband, who is 80, moving from their townhouse to a retirement community in Connecticut. Pippa, who is not yet ready for retirement, begins to exhibit bizarre behavior in her sleep. She reflects back to her younger days, her difficult relationship with her pill-popping mother, and her participation in outrageous sexual performances. She gave up this life for a quieter life with an older man and fall into a life of domesticity and motherhood. To save her own sanity, she must find a way to cope with the new challenges of her life.  Very beautifully and sensitively written, I found this book intriguing captivating.  Not your normai chick lit, but this book definitely would appeal to the chick lit followers.  A thoroughly enjoyable read, 4/5 stars.

Click here to buy this book online.

Beautiful People by Wendy Holden

Even after writing her ninth novel, Wendy Holden still has it.  She writes with quick wit and Beautiful People is no exception.  Its sharp and funny, and I couldn’t put it down.  The story makes fun of what some people would do for fame, and the hilarious story line follows a Shakespearean actress who is discovered by a Hollywood producer, and then of course clashes with another actress who would stop at nothing to be the star and centre of attention. In typical Holden style, the story makes fun of celebrities and wannabes, but also has some very lovable characters as well.  A great summer holiday read, I give this story 4/5 stars.

Click here to buy Beautiful People online.

To Love, Honour and Betray by Kathy Lette

Lucy’s been married for so long, her wedding certificate should be in hieroglyphics. When Jasper walks out after eighteen years, she panics. What will she do about vehicle maintenance, shifting heavy objects and Allen keys? Not to mention her rebellious teenage daughter Tally, who blames Lucy for the marital meltdown. Low self-esteem is hereditary: you get it from your kids. While Tally’s busy trying to find a loophole in her birth certificate so she can put herself up for adoption, Lucy strives to accept that a child is for life and not just for Christmas. Could teenagers be God’s punishment for having sex in the first place? This is a chick lit book about what to do when you fall in love. (Wipe it off your shoes before you walk it all over the carpet.) But above all it’s a survival guide for anyone who has realized that the perfect marriage is like an orgasm - many of them are faked.  Chick lit at its very best!

Click here to buy To Love, Honour and Betray online.