Domestic Bliss

by Rosemarie Jarski

Dazzle your Mum this Mothers Day with all your new home-loving skills.  Chances are, she forgot to teach you how to hem a skirt…or you were too busy facebook-ing.  By now you’ve worked out how to fold those miserable fitted sheets, but does it still come out looking a wee bit sloppy?  Domestic Bliss to the Rescue!  This handbook won’t be making it back to the shelf, as it’s likely to become a constant reference manual.  With such a pretty cover – (looks like a Tiffany box but houses so much more) and easy to follow instructions, it makes you want to turn tasks into triumphs.

WAH Nail Art

by Sharmadean Reid

No appointments necessary – at salon chez you.  Channel your inner Rihanna + Katy Perry as you polish your style, one nail at a time.  This DIY tutorial provides all the information necessary to get fresh, fierce nails without the wait.  Feeling like marble on Monday or Aztec Tribal on Tuesday – no problem.  The step-by-step “how to’s” are easy to follow and the “top tips” make uniquely customizing for every mood, whim, outfit, etc a breeze.

Losing you

by Susan Lewis.

At 18, Lauren is a talented musician with a promising future.   Until one fateful night, she is walking along a dark, deserted road when she is struck by a drink driver.  From the depths of her coma, Lauren’s mother is desperately fighting for her survival, while her father is peacefully trying to let her go.  Simultaneously, the driver of the car is battling his own demons, including his questionable fate as his case is tried in court.  It’s easy to Lose yourself in this book – so add it to your packing list for your next holiday.

And PS – is it just me or is the girl on the cover Rory Gilmore’s doppleganger?

I’ve Got your Number

by Sophie Kinsella 

Shopaholic fans won’t be disappointed by Sophie Kinsella’s latest dramedy starring Poppy Wyatt.  Newly engaged to Magnus Tavish, a handsome, respectable Professor, she misplaces her engagement ring and mobile phone within moments of each other.  Poppy spies a tossed phone in the bin and much to the owners dismay, claims it as her own.  One problem down – one several more to go…What follows is a series of slip ups, stumbles and blunders as Poppy sweetly tries to right all her recent wrongs.

The Stag and Hen Weekend

by Mike Gayle 

Want to know what shenanigans guys get into on a MAN-cation?  Now’s your chance to be a fly on the wall!  You are cordially invited along to both Helen’s Hens weekend in the English countryside as well as Phil’s Stag in Amsterdam in this 2-books-in-1.  Follow all the mischief of bar crawls and exes as you sip bubbles with the ladies or down beers with the boys.  Attend either party first – then just flip the book over and find out how the other party is heating up.

The Angel at No. 33

by Polly Williams

“If you harbour a secret from your friend and you agonise whether to tell them and are almost on the verge of telling them when you get knocked down by a bus, it means the secret is irretrievable.  It’s like dropping a laptop in the bath” (p. 66)

One accidental step off the curb and into oncoming traffic is all it takes to turn Sophie from wife, mum, and best friend into the Angel at No. 33.  Sophie sticks around in spirit watching as Ollie, her grieving widower and their young son deal with her untimely death.   Luckily, devoted best friend, Jenny puts her own life and impending nuptials on hold to help Ollie pick up the pieces.  Cleaning out Sophie’s closet, Jenny finds something unexpected between best friends – a secret.

“Like secrets, words that are left unsaid get buried with you” (p.35).

This is where I leave you

by Jonathan Tropper.

“Sometimes it’s heartbreaking to see your siblings as the people they’ve become.  Maybe that’s why we all stay away from each other as a matter of course” (p. 321).

Meet Judd Foxmann.  Things haven’t been going so well for him recently.  And by not so well, I mean his dad has just lost his battle with cancer AND he’s just walked on in his wife having an affair…. with his boss.   The heart and soul of the novel take place at the Foxman family home as the  brothers and sister spend seven whole days memorializing their father through the Jewish Tradition of sitting Shiva.  The Foxmann’s must really put the fun in dysFUNctional, because despite all the pain, you’ll have a great laugh….

“There has been no time in your life that you wouldn’t have killed for a girl like that to look at you like that.  Then she does, and something in you doesn’t respond and you realize that you don’t understand yourself any better than you understand anyone else” (p. 254).

The hand that first held mine

by Maggie O’Farrell

Two separate stories:

1) Set in the 1950’s, Lexie, is a young woman who’s passion for Art takes her from the English countryside to the SoHo Bohemian scene in London.

2) Ted + Elina, a present day couple navigating their way through new parenthood.  Both attempt to reconcile their life choices leading up to baby, but the memories keep coming up blurry…

Separated by time and place, the accounts don’t seem remotely related to one another, yet there must be a binding element.  The independent tales are captivating and beautifully written, but the real fun is in using your best investigative skills to determine their connection!

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and other concerns)

by Mindy Kaling

The Office Star/writer had me laughing out loud and embarrassing myself on the beach, on the bus, in line for my coffee, etc.  It reads like a conversation with one of your best girlfriends – the kind of girlfriend you can talk about everything and nothing with.  With endless current pop culture references and hilariously relatable tales of awkward adolescence it’s impossible to imagine why ANYONE would be hanging out without Mindy Kaling!

State of Wonder

by Ann Patchett.

Marina’s colleague, Dr. Anders Eckman has been sent to the Amazonian jungle to research the progress of a fertility drug that could potentially stall the tick tock of that nagging biological clock…only Anders never returned from his assignment.  Now the boss wants to send Marina into the depths of that same jungle to finish the job Anders began. As if this task isn’t daunting enough, Marina has an additional assignment…from Anders grieving widow: Find out what happened to her husband.   Anders disappearance is just one of many mysteries uncovered by Marina in Patchett’s latest page turner.

“Never be so focused on what you’re looking for that you overlook the thing you actually find” (p. 246).