BOOK NEWS: The Dating Bender by Christina Julian

The Dating Bender is the upcoming debut novel by Christina Julian, in which divorcee Samantha decides up her 'good girl' life in favour of romantic (mis)adventures...

The Dating Bender will be released in August.

Here I am, on my knees in front of the Trevi Fountain, hoping like hell the legend is true. That the fountain gives you solace and love by a mere toss of a coin. 

Why am I here, exactly? Let’s see…

It started with my parents telling me to get married. Of course, being the good Catholic girl I am, I did.

Needless to say, that marriage nosedived, and my parents weren’t exactly happy about it.
Newly ditched and shamefully disowned, I decided to follow the advice of Babs, a tart-of-a-mentor, who offered me a job in Colorado. 

Her advice? Sex…and lots of it.

The temptation of freedom, to do whatever—whoever—I wanted was too damn strong for me to say no.

And that’s how it all started. The men, the sex, the journey…

The dating bender. Because everybody deserves a do-over.

COMING SOON: Every Secret Thing by Rachel Crowther

Every Secret Thing is the new novel from Rachel Crowther, author of The Things You DO for Love. The novel is due for release on 29th June and focuses on five friends who return to the Lake District and rediscover past events...

Can you ever bury the past? 

She'd recognised in him something of herself: that sense of not belonging, of secrets fiercely kept...
Five friends, newly graduated, travel together to the Lake District. Young and ambitious, they little imagine the events that will overtake them that fateful summer, tearing their fragile group apart.

Twenty years later, they return to the same spot, summoned by a mysterious bequest. It's not long before old friendships - and old romances - are re-kindled. But soon, too, rivalries begin to re-emerge and wounds are painfully reopened...

How long does it take for past sins to be forgiven? And can the things they destroy ever really be recovered?

COMING SOON: Flora's War by Audrey Reimann

Flora's War by historical fiction author Audrey Reimann is due for release on May 18th. In the novel, orphan Flora heads to the wealthy family of the sailor she loves to find help for her and her baby...

Dare she risk her reputation?

When the orphaned Flora MacDonald escapes from a harsh reform school she falls - literally - into the arms of Andrew Stewart, a handsome sailor on shore leave. But their blossoming love is interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War.

With Andrew away fighting, Flora finds herself in an impossible situation: alone and pregnant. Out of desperation, she travels to Andrew's country estate, but she doesn't know how kindly his well-to-do family will welcome her in. Will she find a home where she can raise a child?

BOOK NEWS: Mystery at Maplemead Castle by Kitty French

I absolutely adored Melody Bittersweet and the Girls' Ghostbusting Agency, and now a sequel is about to be released!

Out next month, Mystery at Maplemead Castle is the second book starring Melody and her hilarious colleagues, in The Chapelwick Mysteries series. This time, Melody is investigating the haunting of a trapeze artist, whilst trying to fend off her annoying ex and an intrusive reporter...

Welcome to Chapelwick, a leafy English town in the hills of Shropshire, where chocolate pecan cookies come with a helping of sabotage.

Maplemead Castle is crawling with ghosts, and the new owners need them gone. When Melody Bittersweet and the Girls’ Ghostbusting Agency arrive on scene, they quickly identify the troublemakers swinging from the chandeliers...literally. 

A century ago, stunning trapeze artist Britannia Lovell plunged to her death, and has done every night since. But did she really just fall, or was there something more to her demise?

Forced to work with Leo Dark, her scoundrel ex, and infuriating, irresistible reporter Fletcher Gunn, Melody’s investigative powers are under strain (i.e. lost in a pink mist of lust and confusion). She needs her team on top form, but best friend Marina’s cake pipeline goes AWOL, assistant Artie’s distracted by a giant sausage roll, and the pug is scared witless by a lion.

Somewhere, hidden in the castle, is a heart-breaking secret, but what will it take to find it? And is there a chance it could set Britannia free, or is she doomed to repeat her last fateful act forever?

COMING SOON: The House of New Beginnings by Lucy Diamond

The House of New Beginnings is the new novel from Lucy Diamond (author of Sweet Temptation, The Year of Taking Chances and The Secrets of Happiness), and will be released on January 26th...

Number 11, Dukes Square, looks just like the other houses on the Brighton seafront: a Regency terrace with elegant sash windows, a winding staircase, and post piled up in the hall for its tenants. It might be part of the city's history, but it's also a place of brand new beginnings.

Georgie has followed her childhood sweetheart to Brighton but is determined to carve out a career for herself in journalism. Throwing herself into the city's delights is fun and exciting, but before she knows it, she's sliding into all kinds of trouble...

Charlotte's in the city for a new start, hoping to keep her head down and somehow get over the heartbreaking loss she's suffered in the past. But Margot, the stylish old lady on the top floor, has other ideas. Like it or not, Charlotte must confront the outside world, and the possibilities it still holds.

A terrible revelation sent Rosa running from London to start again as a sous chef. The work is gruelling and thankless but it's a distraction at least . . . until she comes up against the stroppy teenager next door who challenges her on her lifestyle choices. What if Rosa's passion for food could lead her to more interesting places?

As the three tenants find each other, it's as if a whole new chapter of their lives has begun.

COMING SOON: The Boy is Back by Meg Cabot

Bestselling author Meg Cabot returns with her new novel, The Boy is Back, next month! Meg is hugely well-known for her young adult novels, including The Princess Diaries and the Mediator series. However, she has also penned novels for adults which include Royal Wedding, Size 12 is Not Fat, and Every Boy's Got One. 

Reed Stewart thought he’d left all his small town troubles—including a broken heart—behind when he ditched tiny Bloomville, Indiana, ten years ago to become rich and famous on the professional golf circuit.  Then one tiny post on the Internet causes all of those troubles to return . . . with a vengeance.

Becky Flowers has worked hard to build her successful senior relocation business, but she’s worked even harder to forget Reed Stewart ever existed. She has absolutely no intention of seeing him when he returns—until his family hires her to save his parents.

Now Reed and Becky can’t avoid one another—or the memories of that one fateful night.  And soon everything they thought they knew about themselves (and each other) has been turned upside down, and they—and the entire town of Bloomville—might never be the same, all because The Boy Is Back.

COMING SOON: A Season of Ruin by Anna Bradley

Anna Bradley, author of A Wicked Way to Win an Earl, returns on 6th September with new regency romance, A Season of Ruin (which, I have to add, has a stunning cover!)

Lily Somerset's plan for the London season is simple: courtship, marriage to a respectable gentleman, then the comfortable existence of a proper Lady. That is, until one tiny misstep leaves Lily on the edge of social ruin, forcing her to depend on a wicked rogue to save her reputation.

Robyn Sutherland doesn't save reputations-he sullies them. He'd rather be drawn and quartered than find himself spending the season as Lily's escort. But he has no choice but to stay until her tattered standing is mended.

What begins as a ruse to deceive London soon flames into an uncontrollable passion. Robyn calls to the wild spirit that lurks beneath Lily's prim exterior, and Lily awakens the hero's heart within Robyn. But can these unlikely lovers trust themselves enough to let desire overrule reason?

UNCOVERED PICKS: Five August Releases

Uncovered is back from a summer hiatus, and back into a month of great new reads! Here's a selection of five new and upcoming titles for the month of August...

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
NEMESIS (n) 
1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome
2) A person's undoing
3) Joshua Templeman

Lucy Hutton has always been certain that the nice girl can get the corner office. She prides herself on being loved by everyone at work - except for imposing, impeccably attired Joshua Templeman.
Trapped in a shared office, they've become entrenched in an addictive, never-ending game of one-upmanship. There's the Staring Game, The Mirror Game, The HR Game. Lucy can't let Joshua beat her at anything - especially when a huge promotion is on offer.

If Lucy wins, she'll be Joshua's boss. If she loses, she'll resign. So why is she questioning herself? Maybe she doesn't hate him. And just maybe, he doesn't hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game...

Can I See You Again? by Allison Morgan
Matchmaker Bree Caxton has a 98% success rate, a book about to hit the stands, and an amazing boyfriend. Until, that is, he gets cold feet about their future and runs from their relationship.

Afraid no one will buy a book on love from a woman whose love life is a mess, Bree begs her one matchmaking failure, Nixon Voss, to pose as her boyfriend. But when they become a hit with readers, they must carry on their charade just a little longer. Fortunately, they’re both having fun...

But then Bree’s ex decides he wants her back and a newspaper presents a challenge that could expose the truth about her rocky love life. Now she must find the courage to embrace what is, or risk losing something much bigger than her reputation: her heart...

Results May Vary by Bethany Chase
She never saw it coming. Without even a shiver of suspicion to warn her, art curator Caroline Hammond discovers that her husband is having an affair with a man—a revelation that forces her to question their entire history together, from their early days as high school sweethearts through their ten years as a happily married couple. In her now upside-down world, Caroline begins envisioning her life without the relationship that has defined it: the loneliness of being an “I” instead of a “we”; the rekindled yet tenuous closeness with her younger sister; and the unexpected—and potentially disastrous—attraction she can’t get off her mind. Caroline always thought she knew her own love story, but as her husband’s other secrets emerge, she must decide whether that story’s ending will mean forgiving the man she’s loved for half her life, or facing her future without him.

Compassionate and uplifting, Results May Vary is a bittersweet celebration of the heart’s ability to turn unexpected troubles into extraordinary strength.

Coco Chanel Saved My Life by Danielle F White
Rebecca is thirty-three years old, has a wardrobe full of tweed trouser suits and a boundless passion for the splendid Coco Chanel.

She is romantic, dreamy, and madly in love with Niccolò, whom she is about to join in Milan. On arrival, Niccolò confesses to have fallen in love with another woman.

After spending several days confined in her flat, Rebecca plunges herself into the intense Milanese social life with the stylishness of her heroine.

Will Rebecca remain an eternal Mademoiselle, like the ageless Coco? Or does destiny have an unexpected surprise in store for her?

The House on Sunset Lake by Tasmina Perry
A family secret. A house in ruin. A mystery to unravel...

1995. Savannah, Georgia, where the sunsets are long and golden and the air is hot and heavy with promise. Student Jim Johnson isn't happy when he has to abandon his plans of a carefree month of inter-railing to spend the summer in the Deep South with his mother and his father, a down-on-his luck author who has been sent to Savannah to rediscover his muse. But when Jim meets the beguiling Jennifer Wyatt, the daughter of the owners of Casa D'Or, the mysterious plantation house on the shores of a lake, Jim knows he has made the right decision in coming along. Until an event happens that shatters Jim and Jennifer's lives for ever and sets both their lives on a different course. 2015. Twenty Years later Casa D'Or stands abandoned and neglected, a victim of tragic events that everyone wants to keep buried. But when Jim Johnson's boss buys it as the latest acquisition to his hotel chain, Jim is forced to return to the house and restore it to its former glory. Fate throws him back into the orbit of Jennifer Wyatt, the woman his heart has never truly got over, but as he tries to put the ghosts of the past behind him, he unearths a chilling secret that makes him wonder what he has ever really known about the people he loves.

COMING SOON: Danger, Sweetheart by MaryJanice Davidson

Having been a fan of MaryJanice Davidson's books for quite some time (I was hooked on her Undead series a few years back!), it was great to hear the news of her upcoming novel, Danger, Sweetheart. MaryJanice is back with a romantic tale about a rich party boy and a small-town farm girl. Danger, Sweetheart will be released on May 10th.

This city boy's about to get a taste of country life...

Blake Tarbell has a town to save. Rich, carefree, and used to the Vegas party lifestyle, Blake is thrown for a curve when his former cocktail-waitress mother pleads he go back to her roots to save the town she grew up in. Blake's used to using money to solve his problems, but when he arrives in Sweetheart, North Dakota, this city boy has to trade in his high-priced shoes for a pair of cowboy boots - and he's about to get a little help from the loveliest lady in town...

Natalie Lane's got no time for newbies. The prettiest gal to ever put on a pair of work gloves, there's nothing she can't do to keep a farm up and running. But when a handsome city-slicker rolls into town with nothing but bad farmer's instincts and good intentions, Natalie's heartstrings are pulled. She's about to teach him a thing or two about how to survive in Sweetheart. And he's about to teach her a thing or two about love.

UPCOMING RELEASE: The Life Intended by Kristin Harmel

The Life Intended is the beautiful new book by Kristin Harmel, which arrived in the mail today. It's due for release on March 12th, and follows Kate, who is about to marry her new love after losing first husband Patrick.

After her husband's sudden death over ten years ago, Kate Westhoven never expected to be lucky enough to find another love of her life. But now she's planning her second walk down the aisle to a perfectly nice man. So why isn't she more excited?

At first, Kate blames her pre-wedding jitters on stress. But when she starts seeing Patrick, her late husband, in her dreams, she begins to wonder if she's really ready to move on. Is Patrick trying to tell her something about his death and is there a chance his nighttime visits could be more than just wishful thinking?

BOOK NEWS: The Gospel According to Drew Barrymore by Pippa Wright

Being a fan of Pippa Wright's novels (which include Lizzy Harrison Loses Control and The Foster Husband), it was exciting to find out about her newest book, The Gospel According to Drew Barrymore, which is out in March. Read on for the blurb!

Friendship is like a shark: it has to keep moving forwards to survive.

Esther and Laura have been best friends since they were seven, when Esther was chubby and Laura was already perfect. So much has changed since then - school, boyfriends, drink, experimental hair-dye, university, jobs, London, babies - and their friendship has changed just as much, but they are still close, still inextricably linked to one another.

So when Esther is told that Laura has gone missing, she leaves everything behind - including her husband and small child - to fly to San Francisco and trace her friend's last movements. All she has is an email from Laura: 'I'm channelling Drew Barrymore, as ever. The Gospel, right?'

In trying to understand why Laura has disappeared, and what on earth Drew Barrymore has to do with it, Esther needs to look back. Back at the secrets woven into their friendship and the truths she's avoided facing for so long.

BOOK NEWS: Girl Before a Mirror by Liza Palmer

Liza Palmer's novel Girl Before a Mirror is due for release on 27th January 2015, in which account executive Anna discovers a self-help book that might just change her life...

An account executive in a Mad Men world, Anna Wyatt is at a crossroads. Recently divorced, she’s done a lot of emotional housecleaning, including a self-imposed dating sabbatical. But now that she’s turned forty, she’s struggling to figure out what her life needs. Brainstorming to win over an important new client, she discovers a self-help book—Be the Heroine, Find Your Hero—that offers her unexpected insights and leads her to a most unlikely place: a romance writers’ conference. If she can sign the Romance Cover Model of the Year Pageant winner for her campaign—and meet the author who has inspired her to take control of her life—she’ll win the account. 

For Anna, taking control means taking chances, including getting to know Sasha, her pretty young colleague on the project, and indulging in a steamy elevator ride with Lincoln Mallory, a dashing financial consultant she meets in the hotel. When the conference ends, Anna and Lincoln must decide if their intense connection is strong enough to survive outside the romantic fantasy they’ve created. Yet Lincoln is only one of Anna’s dilemmas. Now that her campaign is off the ground, others in the office want to steal her success, and her alcoholic brother, Ferdie, is spiraling out of control. 
To have the life she wants-to be happy without guilt, to be accepted for herself, to love and to be loved, to just be—she has to put herself first, accept her imperfections, embrace her passions, and finally be the heroine of her own story.

COMING SOON: Perfect Girl by Michele Gorman

Next month sees the release of Perfect Girl, the exciting new book by Weightless and Single in the City author Michele Gorman. Perfect Girl is a modern-day fairytale focusing on trader Carol, whose seemingly perfect life is about to unravel.

Carol is perfect… at least that’s what everyone thinks. In reality she’s sinking fast – her family treats her like their personal assistant and her boyfriend is so busy with work that he’s got her single-handedly running their relationship. Not that her job is any easier. As the only woman on the bank’s trading floor she spends twelve-hour days trying not to get sworn at or felt up by colleagues who put the "W" in banker.

How long can she go on pleasing everyone else before she snaps and loses it all?

With humour and empathy, Perfect Girl lays bare the balancing act that working women face in a man's world.

UPCOMING RELEASE: Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Earlier this year, Uncovered reviewed Liane Moriarty's novel The Husband's Secret - an addictive, mysterious tale about a secret that, once revealed, is enough to tear an entire family apart. We were excited to find out about Liane's next novel, another mysterious novel titled Little Lies (Big Little Lies in the US), which is released at the end of July.

Jane hasn't lived anywhere longer than six months since her son was born five years ago. She keeps moving in an attempt to escape her past. Now the idyllic seaside town of Pirriwee has pulled her to its shores and Jane finally feels like she belongs. She has friends in the feisty Madeline and the incredibly beautiful Celeste - two women with seemingly perfect lives ...and their own secrets behind closed doors. 

But then a small incident involving the children of all three women occurs in the playground causing a rift between them and the other parents of the school. Minor at first but escalating fast, until whispers and rumours become vicious and spiteful. It was always going to end in tears, but no one thought it would end in murder...