UNCOVERED PICKS: Five June Releases!

Chick Lit Uncovered has returned! (Did you miss me?) Anyway, I'm back after a short blog break
and just in time for some of the wonderful new reads being published throughout June. So, on with this month's five picks!

Dream a Little Dream by Giovanna Fletcher
Sarah is doing just fine. Sure she's been single for the last five years, and has to spend an uncomfortable amount of time around her ex-boyfriend and their mutual friends, and the rest at her tediously mundane job, but it's fine. She's happy(ish).

But it's not surprising that when Sarah starts dreaming about a handsome stranger, she begins looking forward to falling asleep at night. Reality isn't nearly as exciting. That is until her dream-stranger makes an unexpected real-life appearance, leaving Sarah questioning everything she thought she wanted.

Because people never really find the person of their dreams... do they?

Career Game by Louise Mensch
Topaz Rossi and Rowena Krebs are live and kicking. In more ways than one.

Music wonder Rowena Krebs is so huge she's now in the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame. Right at the top of Musica Records. Her old rival, now best friend, Topaz Rossi is a magazine guru in New York, heading up American Magazines. Bright and energetic as the city itself.

But things are changing: Rowena senses a shift both in business and on the home front. And Topaz can't work out why the circulation figures are dropping. Something's up. Paradise is a place that can bring trouble...

Afternoon Tea at the Sunflower Cafe by Milly Johnson
Her marriage is all washed up. It's time for a clean start…

Connie Diamond has always been her husband Jimmy's 'best girl' - or so she thought. But then she discovers that he's been playing away for the past twenty-four years, and that the chocolates she believed he bought her as a sign of his love were just a cover-up, and she is determined to get revenge.

Along with Della Frostick, Jimmy's right-hand woman at his cleaning firm, Diamond Shine, Connie decides to destroy Jimmy's life from the inside. Together they will set up a rival business called Lady Muck, and along with the cleaning ladies who meet at the Sunflower Café, they'll make him wish he had never so much as looked at another woman.

Then Connie meets the charming Brandon Locke, a master chocolatier, whose kind chocolate-brown eyes start to melt her soul. Can the ladies of the Sunflower Café help Connie scrub away the hurt? And can Brandon cure her affliction and make her smile again…?

The Rose Girls by Victoria Connelly 
Thirty-year-old Celeste Hamilton’s life is at a crossroads: she has just left a disastrous marriage, and her estranged mother has recently died, leaving the family’s rose business in jeopardy. Reluctantly, Celeste returns to the family home, a moated manor house in Suffolk, to help her two younger sisters sort out the estate and revive the business.

Having endured the fallout from her mother’s Narcissistic Personality Disorder when she was younger, Celeste is filled with self-doubt and crippling insecurities. But she must find the strength and courage to take charge and make some tough decisions to keep the old house from falling down around them.

The One That Got Away by Bethany Chase
Sarina Mahler thinks she has her life all nailed down: a growing architecture practice in Austin, Texas, and an any-day-now proposal from her loving boyfriend, Noah. She s well on her way to having the family she s hoped for since her mother s death ten years ago. But with Noah on a temporary assignment abroad and retired Olympic swimmer and former flame Eamon Roy back in town asking her to renovate his new fixer-upper, Sarina s life takes an unexpected turn. Eamon proves to be Sarina s dream client, someone who instinctively trusts every one of her choices and Sarina is reminded of all the reasons she was first drawn to him back in the day. Suddenly her carefully planned future with Noah seems a little less than perfect. And when tragedy strikes, Sarina is left reeling. With her world completely upended, she is forced to question what she truly wants in life and in love.

BOOK NEWS: Career Game by Louise Mensch

After her addictive book Beauty, Louise Mensch (otherwise known as Louise Bagshawe) is back this summer with new novel Career Game. Released in June, the novel focuses on Topaz and Rowena, characters from Louise's previous novel Career Girls.

Topaz Rossi and Rowena Krebs are live and kicking. In more ways than one. Music wonder Rowena Krebs is so huge she's now in the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame. Right at the top of Musica Records. Her old rival, now best friend, Topaz Rossi is a magazine guru in New York, heading up American Magazines. Bright and energetic as the city itself. But things are changing: Rowena senses a shift both in business and on the home front. And Topaz can't work out why the circulation figures are dropping. Something's up. Paradise is a place that can bring trouble... 

BOOK REVIEW: Beauty by Louise Mensch

Those familiar with bestselling author Louise Bagshawe may already know that this is the pen name of MP and Unfashionista blogger Louise Mensch. Beauty is Louise's latest novel, penned under her real name. Having only read one of Louise's previous books, I wasn't sure what to expect, but Beauty did not disappoint. At all.

Dina Kane is a natural beauty. She didn't ask to be so beautiful, nor did her mother particularly ask for a  daughter - after all, being graced with their son Johnny, the Kanes could hardly afford to raise another child. Being so the blatantly second best Kane sibling doesn't seem to bother Dina given that beloved Johnny is practically her only friend, and the only one to show her affection - her mother's disdain is always evident. Intelligent, ambitious and gorgeous Dina has her heart set on going to college, but there are only funds for one child's tuition - Johnny's. And when their father dies, leaving their grieving mother alone and on the start of a downward spiral, Dina quickly realises that whatever she wants in life, she'll have to work hard to get.

And life is only just beginning.

Dina's determined to get to the top, and with an aim to save fund for college, leaves her hometown for the city, renting a tiny, grubby apartment and getting a job as a coffee-shop waitress. Very soon, her once undesirable living space has been transformed due to her knowledge and flair, and the job is proving a success - helped partly by the fact Dina's natural beauty can charm customers in an instant - though her life is about to change when Edward Johnson walks through the door.

Rich, arrogant and self-assured, Edward and his friends place a bet amongst themselves that he can bed the coffee-shop waitress. Despite Dina's high-achieving nature in business, she's still naive and weary about men. So Edward makes it his mission to fool Dina - and when he does, leaving Dina upset and humiliated, she vows to get him back.

When Edward's life is left in tatters due to Dina’s successful attempt at revenge, Edward Johnson starts to plot his own.

Dina Kane is going to be sorry. But he needs to catch her first…and with Dina’s know-how, having left the coffee shop and moved onto bigger and better career opportunities, there’s no stopping her. Dina Kane is working towards a life she'd dreamed of; properties, money and a career in the beauty industry. But with Edward lurking in the background, intent on ruining everything she loves, it’s only a matter of time before things come crashing down…

My verdict? I loved Beauty, and struggled to stop reading. I could go on for quite some time about the events in this novel but to do so would spoil it. Beauty is a gripping, scandalous tale of ambition and revenge, with a fast-paced plot that makes this book so hard to put down. Despite not inititally taking to Dina Kane's coldness and her high-achieving ways, I grew to like her quite early on, and couldn't wait to see what her next move would be.

Rating: 5/5

IN THE MAIL: Beauty / The Key to It All

It's always exciting to receive new reads in the mail, and so we thought it'd be fun to share some of the great new titles on the to-be-read list. This week, we're rather looking forward to reading about Louise Mensch's heroine Dina, who's determined to remain a the top of the beauty game, and a group of people  who are about to be given a strange yet life-changing gift...

Beauty by Louise Mensch
Dream Big. No Limits. Be Bold. Manhattan is there for the taking . Blend it. Sculpt it. Shape it. Use it...There isn't a woman on earth who doesn't have her beauty secrets. But for Dina Kane, beauty is more than just business. It's power. And it is the secret. She's dragged herself up from poverty to Park Avenue. She's rolled with the punches. And she's learned how to win. Now someone is out to destroy her, and all she's built. They've underestimated Dina Kane. She's staying at the top - and she's happy to wait for the perfect moment to exact her revenge...

The Key to It All by Joanna Rees
When five random people simultaneously receive 'the key', they don't realize that their lives are about to change forever. Shrouded in secrecy, the mysterious silver key is delivered to each of them along with a code, a web address and a promise that - if used wisely - it can unlock a door to luxury and privilege beyond their wildest dreams. However, as each of them begins to use the key, they are propelled into a world of hazy moral choices, and soon start to question their enigmatic gift. Who is funding the key's lavish promises? And why have they been chosen to receive it? Only the bravest will use it to seek the truth...