Just to let you know that Chick Lit Uncovered is taking a short blog break, and will be back in April with plenty of news and reviews. See you soon!
Blog Break - back soon!
Saturday, 26 March 2016
Hello! Hope everyone is having a fantastic Easter break.
UNCOVERED PICKS: Five March Releases
Monday, 7 March 2016
March is here and with it comes new books from Anna Bell, Fiona Walker, Sarah Morgan and more. Here's our pick of five romantic reads for the upcoming month.
The Bucket List to Mend a Broken Heart by Anna Bell
Abi's barely left her bed since Joseph, the love of her life, dumped her, saying they were incompatible. When Joseph leaves a box of her possessions on her doorstep, she finds a bucket list of ten things she never knew he wanted to do. What better way to win him back than by completing the list, and proving they're a perfect match? But there's just one problem - or rather, ten. Abi's not exactly the outdoorsy type, and she's absolutely terrified of heights - not ideal for a list that includes climbing a mountain, cycling around the Isle of Wight and, last but not least, abseiling down the tallest building in town ...
Completing the list is going to need all Abi's courage - and a lot of help from her friends. But as she heals her broken heart one task at a time, the newly confident Abi might just have a surprise in store...
The Weekends of You and Me by Fiona Walker
Can your final fling become your Happy Ever After? When Jo Coulson finds herself single again in her late thirties, she finally resigns her membership to Last of the Hopeless Romantics, fully intending to tackle midlife and motherhood alone. First, she plans one legendary last fling...In walks Harry Inchbold, and the connection is electric. Passionate, unpredictable and messily divorced, Harry is the perfect antidote to cosy coupledom. Known as The Sinner, drama follows him around with a clapper board. Harry's favourite holiday hideaway in the wilds of South Shropshire puts the mud and fun into the perfect dirty weekend. But at the cottage Harry reveals a very different side, melting Jo's resolve. What better combination to face an uncertain future than two cynics who have learned from their mistakes?
Together they make a pact; 'same time next year'; they can promise no more than that. Through life's most stressful decade, Harry and Jo return to the Shropshire hills for one weekend each year to rediscover passion and make peace. As career, family and home crises all threaten to bring them unstuck, the cottage is their glue. Here, different rules apply: the day to day world is not allowed to intrude.With Harry and Jo, however, it's only a matter of time before rules get broken. As real life gets increasingly complicated, can they keep renewing their promise?
If the Dress Fits by Daisy James
She might be the most famous person in the country…but no one knows her name!
Celebrity actress Lilac Verbois is holding a competition to design her dress for the Wedding of the Year…and Callie’s exquisite, glittering silk gown has been shortlisted. But just as all her dreams are coming true, disaster strikes and she rushes home – forgetting to submit the forms!
Years ago, when Callie left sleepy Althorpe for the bright lights of London, she never expected to return. And there’s one man in particular she’d hoped never to see again, Theo, the childhood-sweetheart-turned-rock-God who turned her life upside down. But now she’s back, she realises it’s finally time to stop running…and face her past.
Yet, little does Callie know, Lilac Verbois has begun a Cinderella-like hunt for that perfect, pearl-embroidered wedding dress, mysteriously submitted without a name…
Sleepless in Manhattan by Sarah Morgan
What if the person who broke your heart, is the only one who can help you find your future? What if the person who broke your heart, is the only one who can help you find your future?
Great friends. Amazing Apartment. An incredible job. Paige has ticked off every box on perfect New York life checklist. Until disaster strikes and instead of shimming further up the career ladder, Paige is packing up her desk. Her brother's best friend Jake might be the only person who can help her put her life back together. He also happens to be the boy she spent her teen years pining after, and Paige is determined not repeat her past mistakes. But the more time she spends with Jake, the more Paige realises the one thing that was missing from her world all along. The perfect New York love story...
Nice Work (If You Can Get It) by Celia Imrie
Somewhere on the French Riviera, tucked between glitzy Monte Carlo and Cannes' red carpets, lies the pretty town of Bellevue-Sur-Mer. Sheltered from the glittering melee, it is home to many an expat – including an enterprising team who plan to open a new restaurant.
Snapping up a local property and throwing themselves into preparations, Theresa, Carol, William and Benjamin's plans are proceeding unnervingly well. But when Theresa encounters a mysterious intruder, she begins to wonder what secrets the building is concealing.
Meanwhile Sally, an actress who gave up the stage to live in quiet anonymity, has decided not to be involved. The famous Cannes Film Festival is on and she is far too busy entertaining unexpected visitors from her past, and an intriguingly handsome Russian.
As the razzmatazz of the festival begins to spill over into Bellevue-Sur-Mer, its inhabitants become entangled in complex love triangles and conflicting business interests. With the race on to get the restaurant open in time, the gang find themselves knee-deep in skulduggery, and realise they can no longer tell who's nasty...and who's nice.
Abi's barely left her bed since Joseph, the love of her life, dumped her, saying they were incompatible. When Joseph leaves a box of her possessions on her doorstep, she finds a bucket list of ten things she never knew he wanted to do. What better way to win him back than by completing the list, and proving they're a perfect match? But there's just one problem - or rather, ten. Abi's not exactly the outdoorsy type, and she's absolutely terrified of heights - not ideal for a list that includes climbing a mountain, cycling around the Isle of Wight and, last but not least, abseiling down the tallest building in town ...
Completing the list is going to need all Abi's courage - and a lot of help from her friends. But as she heals her broken heart one task at a time, the newly confident Abi might just have a surprise in store...
Can your final fling become your Happy Ever After? When Jo Coulson finds herself single again in her late thirties, she finally resigns her membership to Last of the Hopeless Romantics, fully intending to tackle midlife and motherhood alone. First, she plans one legendary last fling...In walks Harry Inchbold, and the connection is electric. Passionate, unpredictable and messily divorced, Harry is the perfect antidote to cosy coupledom. Known as The Sinner, drama follows him around with a clapper board. Harry's favourite holiday hideaway in the wilds of South Shropshire puts the mud and fun into the perfect dirty weekend. But at the cottage Harry reveals a very different side, melting Jo's resolve. What better combination to face an uncertain future than two cynics who have learned from their mistakes?
Together they make a pact; 'same time next year'; they can promise no more than that. Through life's most stressful decade, Harry and Jo return to the Shropshire hills for one weekend each year to rediscover passion and make peace. As career, family and home crises all threaten to bring them unstuck, the cottage is their glue. Here, different rules apply: the day to day world is not allowed to intrude.With Harry and Jo, however, it's only a matter of time before rules get broken. As real life gets increasingly complicated, can they keep renewing their promise?
She might be the most famous person in the country…but no one knows her name!
Celebrity actress Lilac Verbois is holding a competition to design her dress for the Wedding of the Year…and Callie’s exquisite, glittering silk gown has been shortlisted. But just as all her dreams are coming true, disaster strikes and she rushes home – forgetting to submit the forms!
Years ago, when Callie left sleepy Althorpe for the bright lights of London, she never expected to return. And there’s one man in particular she’d hoped never to see again, Theo, the childhood-sweetheart-turned-rock-God who turned her life upside down. But now she’s back, she realises it’s finally time to stop running…and face her past.
Yet, little does Callie know, Lilac Verbois has begun a Cinderella-like hunt for that perfect, pearl-embroidered wedding dress, mysteriously submitted without a name…
What if the person who broke your heart, is the only one who can help you find your future? What if the person who broke your heart, is the only one who can help you find your future?
Great friends. Amazing Apartment. An incredible job. Paige has ticked off every box on perfect New York life checklist. Until disaster strikes and instead of shimming further up the career ladder, Paige is packing up her desk. Her brother's best friend Jake might be the only person who can help her put her life back together. He also happens to be the boy she spent her teen years pining after, and Paige is determined not repeat her past mistakes. But the more time she spends with Jake, the more Paige realises the one thing that was missing from her world all along. The perfect New York love story...
Somewhere on the French Riviera, tucked between glitzy Monte Carlo and Cannes' red carpets, lies the pretty town of Bellevue-Sur-Mer. Sheltered from the glittering melee, it is home to many an expat – including an enterprising team who plan to open a new restaurant.
Snapping up a local property and throwing themselves into preparations, Theresa, Carol, William and Benjamin's plans are proceeding unnervingly well. But when Theresa encounters a mysterious intruder, she begins to wonder what secrets the building is concealing.
Meanwhile Sally, an actress who gave up the stage to live in quiet anonymity, has decided not to be involved. The famous Cannes Film Festival is on and she is far too busy entertaining unexpected visitors from her past, and an intriguingly handsome Russian.
As the razzmatazz of the festival begins to spill over into Bellevue-Sur-Mer, its inhabitants become entangled in complex love triangles and conflicting business interests. With the race on to get the restaurant open in time, the gang find themselves knee-deep in skulduggery, and realise they can no longer tell who's nasty...and who's nice.
GUEST POST: Elle Turner on writing and perseverance
Friday, 4 March 2016
When I was eight years old I started to write my first book. I didn’t get any further than chapter headings, but I knew then that it was something I wanted to do. In my teens I set myself age related goals – I’ll write a book by the time I’m 21! or I’ll write a book by the time I’m 30! Both these milestones passed without me having written a book. I turned my attention to doing something “more sensible”, assuming that I just wasn’t the sort of person who could produce a book. It wasn’t until my children were born that I allowed the possibility to enter my head again and, instead of plucking age related goals from thin air, I decided it would be better to work at writing in the same way as any other job by learning, practicing and working hard. To help me with this I simultaneously joined the Romantic Novelists Association New Writers’ Scheme and took a short story course by distance learning with the London School of Journalism, two things that gave me the focus I needed to start me down this route.
Since then I’ve written four books. I would love to find an agent and/or traditional publisher interested in them, so that’s one of the things I’m working on at the moment (please keep your fingers crossed for me!). I’ve also written Tapestry, a collection of twelve short stories, which I self-published in September. Over my writing years I’ve learned a lot about patience, rejection and perseverance, so when Elle kindly allowed me a spot on Chick Lit Uncovered for a guest post, we thought that was one subject (or three subjects) it might be useful to talk about.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t find it easy to be patient. There’s no two ways about it, though, if you want to submit your writing for consideration by an agent or publisher, patient is something I’ve found you just have to be. I mean, no one is sitting about waiting for me to land in their lap, are they? As someone who’ll buy hair extensions rather than wait for their hair to grow, or who’ll walk between stops rather than stand ten minutes waiting for a bus, I would class this need for patience as NOT FUN, but it’s part of the process. I've found the best way to deal with it for me is to have several different projects on the go at once so I never feel like I’m “waiting” for something to happen.The variety helps with rejection too, another inevitable part of the writing for publication process. No one is sitting around waiting for me, but equally I know no one’s out to get at me either and rejection isn’t personal. I try not to get upset, although it’s definitely easy to feel discouraged, which I do from time to time. I try, though, to look upon rejection as something to be expected and see what I can learn from it. If I have several things on the go, I always have something else I can turn to while I’m rethinking whatever’s been rejected. I think the frustrating part is not always knowing exactly why something’s been rejected, because there can be so many variables. It really helps, therefore, to have a source of feedback to help gauge writing ability. For me primarily this is the RNA NWS although, more recently, it’s helped to have feedback about Tapestry too. I’ve been so chuffed with the reviews so far. They are something to (patiently) hold on to whilst being rejected, I guess…
If you’ve got the patience and can cope with the rejection, chances are you’ll be happy to persevere! This is probably my only natural ‘win’. I like to think I’m determined (shush now to whoever said stubborn) and, although I do feel discouraged sometimes, I believe the best things that happen in life are hard won. So actually having to work hard and persevere are GOOD THINGS…
That’s the way I try to look at it, anyway, but I’d love to know what others think!
Tapestry
In hope, in pain,
we lose, we gain,
but always and forever
the human heart braves life
in light and in shade
A collection of twelve short stories exploring the complexities of life and love. Tapestry - Available now from Amazon.
Elle dedicated Tapestry to her mum so, to celebrate Mother’s Day weekend in the UK, Tapestry is free from 4-6 March 2016.
Elle Turner writes contemporary women’s fiction and lives in beautiful Scotland with her husband and two children. She loves scones, Coronation Street, all songs by Sara Bareilles and will happily admit to having little or no sense of direction. If you offer her a 50:50 she will ALWAYS get it wrong and, despite living in Scotland, she rarely manages to wear shoes that don’t leak.
If you would like to find out more about Elle or her writing, she’d love to see you at www.elleturnerwriter.com on Twitter @ElleTWriter, Instagram elletwriter or she’s on Facebook as elleturnerwriter.
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