UNCOVERED PICKS - New Year, New Reads! Five January Releases

Hi all! It's a brand new year and Chick Lit Uncovered is back. I always like to kick off a new month with a selection of new and upcoming reads, but before I do, I'd like to wish everyone a super happy new year! Here's hoping 2017 will be fantastic for everyone. It's certainly looking exciting in terms of books!

Here are five new women's' fiction novels that'll be heading our way this month.

Whatever Happened to Vicky Hope's Back-Up Man? by Laura Kemp
Twenty-one and insecure, Vicky Hope comes up with a plan on the eve of travelling the world with her high flying friend, Kat Lloyd: if she isn't married by the time she's thirty, she'll marry her geeky best mate Mikey Murphy.

Fast-forward eight-and-a-bit years, Vicky, now Vee wakes up on her thirtieth birthday in Brighton, expecting a proposal of marriage from her arty boyfriend Jez. Instead he tells her their relationship is over and she has no choice but to return to her parents' home.

Devastated and alone in her childhood bedroom, she decides she has nothing to lose and tracks down her two old mates. With shock, she discovers Mikey, now Murphy, is a successful app designer driven by his tragic upbringing. Kat, or Kate, never made it – but she hides a devastating secret, which threatens the happiness of all three.

The Good Girlfriend's Guide to Getting Even by Anna Bell
When Lexi's sport-mad boyfriend Will skips her friend's wedding to watch football - after pretending to have food poisoning - it might just be the final whistle for their relationship.

But fed up of just getting mad, Lexi decides to even the score. And, when a couple of lost tickets and an 'accidentally' broken television lead to them spending extra time together, she's delighted to realise that revenge might be the best thing that's happened to their relationship.

And if her clever acts of sabotage prove to be a popular subject for her blog, what harm can that do? It's not as if he'll ever find out...

New York, Actually by Sarah Morgan
Meet Molly

New York’s most famous agony aunt, she considers herself an expert at relationships…as long as they’re other people’s. The only love of her life is her Dalmatian, Valentine.

Meet Daniel

A cynical divorce lawyer, he’s hardwired to think relationships are a bad idea. If you don’t get involved, no-one can get hurt. But then he finds himself borrowing a dog to meet the gorgeous woman he sees running in Central Park every morning…

Molly and Daniel think they know everything there is to know about relationships…until they meet each other that is…

White Lies and Wishes by Cathy Bramley
Flirtatious, straight-talking Jo Gold says she’s got no time for love; she’s determined to save her family’s failing footwear business. 

New mother Sarah Hudson has cut short her maternity leave to return to work. She says she’ll do whatever it takes to make partner at the accountancy firm. 

Bored, over-eating housewife Carrie Radley says she just wants to shift the pounds – she’d love to finally wear a bikini in public.

The unlikely trio meet by chance one winter’s day, and in a moment of ‘Carpe Diem’ madness, embark on a mission to make their wishes come true by September. 

Easy. At least it would be, if they hadn’t been just the teensiest bit stingy with the truth…

With hidden issues, hidden talents, and hidden demons to overcome, new friends Jo, Carrie and Sarah must admit to what they really, really want, if they are ever to get their happy endings.

Almost a Bride by Jo Watson
That moment you catch your boyfriend in bed with another woman and then mistakenly get arrested. #awks

Annie doesn't want to dwell on the fact that she walked in on her bf wearing nipple clamps on the day he was meant to propose to her. She just wants to move on - cue escaping to a tropical paradise.

Life is dreamy on the beaches of Mauritius, until the nightmarish appearance of her ex and the 'other woman'. Faced with the enemy, Annie refuses to look like the sad, lonely single she actually is. She needs a decoy - and fast. Enter Chris, a sexy screenwriter who agrees to play her pretend boyfriend.

But as a battle of the exes commences, the white sand, tropical heat and a pina colada (or five) might just be the cocktail for a real romance - and the adventure of a lifetime.

UNCOVERED PICKS: Three Summer Reads

Cornwall, Tuscany, or Manhattan - what's your dream escape? If you're looking for a romantic holiday-themed read to enjoy in the sun, then here's a selection of three new travel-themed reads, from Samantha Tonge (author of Doubting Abbey), Lisa Dickenson (Catch Me if You Cannes), and Sarah Morgan (First Time in Forever).

Breakfast Under a Cornish Sun by Samantha Tonge
Kate Golightly needs to move forward and what better way to do that then with a trip to the Cornish coast with best friend and boss, Izzy.

The sea wind is just what Kate needs to finally relax and begin to let go of her past. Except she’s suddenly got one big reason to panic! She RSVP’d ‘yes’ to the Queen Bee of her high school’s wedding saying she’s bringing her boyfriend (she doesn’t have one) who looks just like Ross Poldark!

With only two weeks to find the Poldark look-alike of her dreams Kate is under a lot of pressure for the Cornish coast to deliver...

You Had Me at Merlot by Lisa Dickenson 
Elle and Laurie are the last ones standing: they're single, they're not having babies any time soon and their weekends aren't filled with joyful meetings about mortgages. For Elle, this is fine. She likes her independent life, but Laurie wants love and she wants it now.

So when Laurie begs Elle to come with her on a singles holiday to a beautiful vineyard in Tuscany, Elle is reluctant. She has no intention of swapping her perfectly lovely life for someone else's idea of her Mr Perfect, but ten days under the Italian sun with her best friend and lashings of wine? How bad could that be?

Sunset in Central Park by Sarah Morgan
Love has never been a priority for garden designer Frankie Fisher. After witnessing the fallout of her parents’ divorce, she’s seen the devastation an overload of emotion can cause. The only man she feels comfortable with is her friend Matt—but that’s strictly platonic. If only she found it easier to ignore the way he makes her heart race…

Matt Walker has loved Frankie for years but, sensing how fragile she is beneath her feisty exterior, has always played it cool. But then he uncovers new depths to the girl he’s known forever, and doesn’t want to wait a moment longer. He knows Frankie has secrets and has buried them deep, but can Matt persuade her to trust him with her heart and kiss him under the Manhattan sunset?

UNCOVERED PICKS: Five March Releases

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.