lauraloves Posted January 16, 2011 Author Share Posted January 16, 2011 Jill Mansell is great. She is genuinely very funny. I'm glad you enjoyed this book. It really was a fantastic book! I'm definiatly going to look out for more of her books Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookworm44 Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Laura, I read Gone with the Wind last year and it is now my all time favorite. I hope you enjoy it as well. =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted January 17, 2011 Author Share Posted January 17, 2011 Laura, I read Gone with the Wind last year and it is now my all time favorite. I hope you enjoy it as well. =) I really need to get around to reading this! I've only heard good things about it so hopefully I will enjoy it too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted January 19, 2011 Author Share Posted January 19, 2011 Isobel's Wedding - Sheila O'Flanagan Synopsis - Four hundred and twenty pearls hand-sewn onto the wedding dress. The Mediterranean honeymoon booked for months. A pile of presents bigger than Everest. And her lovely Tim, the most perfect bridegroom a girl could wish for. Except, two weeks before the wedding, he changes his mind... Isobel's wedding is off. Her world in tatters, Isobel turns to Spain, a new job, a new life and as many men as she can decently manage. Including the very appealing Nico with whom, she feels, there could be a long-term future. But part of Isobel knows that she will have to go back home some day. And that, despite all that has happened since she left, she still has unfinished business... My Thoughts - I've just finished this book and I have to say I am so so so disapointed. I was really enjoying the plot line, was so happy that I thought that they were getting on again and then Isobel left tim at the alter, after everything that tim put her through. I just thought that they would live happily ever after. I was a huge let down to the book and has really disapointed me. Other than that, I was really enjoying the book and thought it was well written. Rating - 2/5 (purely because of the ending) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted January 19, 2011 Author Share Posted January 19, 2011 Yes its a follow up to The Chocolate Lovers Club. ah thanks will have to add that one to add that one to my wishlist too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted January 20, 2011 Author Share Posted January 20, 2011 I've just brought this book today as I'm taking part in The Ultimate Teen Book Guide Challenge, basically reading all the books mentioned in the book. I've been having a look through it and the list I have got slightly differs from the book. So I'm now going through the book making changes to the list that I have got. The 'good' thing about the book is after every book on the list, it mentions simular books that you might like to read. I've already added about 20 books to my wishlist and I've not even read many of the books on the challenge! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Good luck with your challenge. Are you going to start a thread about it in the Challenges forum? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted January 20, 2011 Author Share Posted January 20, 2011 I think I will do actually as soon as I get the book list sorted out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Goodo - I like reading about other people's reading challenges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexiepiper Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 I'm looking forward to seeing your revised list too as I did wonder if the original one was right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted January 21, 2011 Author Share Posted January 21, 2011 Goodo - I like reading about other people's reading challenges. You'll probably still be reading about it in ten years time by the ammount of books on the list! I'm looking forward to seeing your revised list too as I did wonder if the original one was right hopefully I shall have it done by the end of the day, I'm typing it straight out of the book and then I'm going to work from that list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted January 26, 2011 Author Share Posted January 26, 2011 Four Play - Fiona Walker Synopsis - Despite her broken heart, when Dilly Gently joins Magnus Olensen's new band, the chemistry between them is explosive. Both impossibly romantic dizzy blondes with the souls of poets, they could be made for each other. But before they have chance to declare themselves, Dilly's friend Nell confides that she has a huge crush on Magnus, and Dilly nobly steps down in order to play reluctant matchmaker. Nell returns the favour by setting her friend up with her dashing twin brother Flipper. But Flipper the bounder is not a good rebound for a true romantic. He hides a secret that could break Dilly's heart all over again ... My thoughts - I found out this book was part of a series halway through the book which could explain why I found it so confusing, although apperently you can read the books in any order. I was put off to start with by the sheer amount of caracters introducted within the first few pages. \this put me off so much that I only kept reading under the promise of a secret being revealed. I'm glad I stuck with it in the end as I ended up quite enjoying it. It wasnt anything to spectacular but it was a nice read. I'm hoping my reading mojo comes back soon though Rating - 2.5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted January 29, 2011 Author Share Posted January 29, 2011 Flowers For Algernon - Daniel Keyes Challenges - BCF February Reading Circle Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge Synopsis - Charlie Gordon, IQ 68, is a floor sweeper, and the gentle butt of everyone's jokes, until an experiment in the enhancement of human intelligence turns him into a genius. But then Algernon, the mouse whose triumphal experimental tranformation preceded his, fades and dies, and Charlie has to face the possibility that his salvation was only temporary. My thoughts - I don't want to go into too much detail until the february reading circle but I really enjoyed this book. It actually made me cry at the end! I thought it was a fantastic read and would highly recommend it. More thoughts to come in the february reading circle Rating - 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladymacbeth Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Hi lauraloves. I got the teen book guide out of the local library for a browse and got loads of ideas for my wishlist from it. I have to admit I stopped being a teen quite some time ago but never let that stop me. I think I'm reading alot of young adult novels because when I went to uni I was so engrossed in study that my reading mojo dissolved. It was only after I got into Harry potter after my 3rd year at uni that I rediscovered my love for reading. I have a true fondness for YA novels ever since - even though I don't think I read any as a teenager. Good luck with your challenge. I do recommend "The giver" by Lois Lowry which is in the book and is brilliant. I read alot of Fiona Walker several years ago. I found her later books confusing as well because I had forgotten the minor characters in between each new novel and then they reappear. Her earlier books like Snap Happy are much better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 Hi lauraloves. I got the teen book guide out of the local library for a browse and got loads of ideas for my wishlist from it. I have to admit I stopped being a teen quite some time ago but never let that stop me. I think I'm reading alot of young adult novels because when I went to uni I was so engrossed in study that my reading mojo dissolved. It was only after I got into Harry potter after my 3rd year at uni that I rediscovered my love for reading. I have a true fondness for YA novels ever since - even though I don't think I read any as a teenager. Good luck with your challenge. I do recommend "The giver" by Lois Lowry which is in the book and is brilliant. I read alot of Fiona Walker several years ago. I found her later books confusing as well because I had forgotten the minor characters in between each new novel and then they reappear. Her earlier books like Snap Happy are much better. I'm really excited about some of the books in the teen guide challenge , I have to admite I'm only starting to get into YA novels as I seemed to have passed them by when I was that age! I've just had a look at 'The Giver' and have added it to my wishlist I will keep my eyes open for Snap Happy too and see what I make of that one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladymacbeth Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 I have to admite I'm only starting to get into YA novels as I seemed to have passed them by when I was that age! It's odd that we do this isn't it. I think I was so keen to get into adult stuff that I missed out of a wealth of good books. Never mind, making up for lost time now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted February 1, 2011 Author Share Posted February 1, 2011 It's odd that we do this isn't it. I think I was so keen to get into adult stuff that I missed out of a wealth of good books. Never mind, making up for lost time now. Thats exactly the same as me! I think I must have thought that they werent worth reading at the time! how wrong I was! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safron Foer Challenges: Rory Gilmore Challenge 1001 Books to Read Synopsis - A young man arrives in the Ukraine, clutching in his hand a tattered photograph. He is searching for the woman who fifty years ago saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Unfortunately, he is aided in his quest by Alex, a translator with an uncanny ability to mangle English into bizarre new forms; a 'blind' old man haunted by memories of the war; and an undersexed guide dog named Sammy Davis Jr, Jr. What they are looking for seems elusive - a truth hidden behind veils of time, language and the horrors of war. What they find turns all their worlds upside down. My Thoughts - This was an interesting book for me. I wasnt overly keen on it, for some reason I just couldnt like it. I didnt really get into it at the begining and I think this might be why. I did find it a little confusing at the begining as it jumped about a little bit. However, I really enjoyed the storyline. I think I will give this a re-read at some point as I think that I might enjoy it a bit more then. Rating - 3/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Staying At Daisy's - Jill Mansell Synopsis - Love is always just around the corner in a Jill Mansell novel - with a few surprises and a lot of humour on the way to happiness Daisy MacLean runs the country house hotel owned by her flamboyant father, Hector. When she hears who's about to get married there, she isn't worried at all - her friend Tara absolutely promises there won't be any trouble between her and ex-boyfriend Dominic, whom she hasn't seen for years. But Dominic has other ideas... Meanwhile, Hector's getting up to all sorts with...well, that's the village's best kept secret. And then Barney turns up, with a little something belonging to the husband Daisy's been doing her best to forget. That's the thing about hotels, you never know who you're going to meet. Or whether they're going to stay... My thoughts - Well, I absolutly love Jill Mansell books and this one was no exception. I love the storyline. the characters, everything. I didnt even mind the happily ever after ending to it! It was funny in places, sad in places, made me laugh out loud. A fantastic read! I've read all the Jill Mansell books that I own now and I will definitaly be looking out for more! I can't really write much more about this book, but it was absoultly brilliant, highly recommended to anyone! Rating - 5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend - Jenny Colgan Synopsis - What does an It girl do if she loses all her money? Sophie Chesterton is a girl about town - she knows all the right people, goes to all the right parties, and wears all the right clothes. But deep down she suspects that her best friends are actually rather nasty, and that her lifestyle doesn't really amount to much. Her father wants her to make her own way in the world, to make him proud. But after one shocking evening her life is changed for ever. Scraping a living as an assistant to a 'glamour' photographer; living in a hovel on the Old Kent Road with four smelly boys; eating baked beans from the can - this is one spectacular fall from grace. Sophie is desperate to get her life back - but does a girl really need diamonds to be happy? My thoughts - A lovely little book. A kind of cinderella story in reverse. I liked how it started in the present and then went back to the past. it kept me guessing which man she was with untill right at the end. It is a lovely little story that doesnt require much thinking. Highly recommended. Rating - 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted February 20, 2011 Author Share Posted February 20, 2011 The C Words - Mark Mason Synopis - Alex is thirty-four, and, after a string of unsuccessful relationships, single and not really sure why. His last ex-girlfriend Amy told him he had 'commitment issues', and in an attempt to establish exactly what these are, Alex is reluctantly persuaded by his friend Rosie to buy a self-help guide to relationships. At the same time, Tony, recently divorced and low on confidence, is struggling to summon up the courage to even talk to a woman, let alone commit to one. Undaunted by their previous failures, Alex and Rosie decide to follow the self-help guide's advice; Rosie ends up on a series of disastrous dates, while Alex refuses to take any of it seriously ...until, on a business trip to New York with Tony, he meets Elisabeth. She's funny, charming, sexy. In fact, she's everything Alex wants in a woman - right up until she too mentions the dreaded C Word ... My Thoughts - this is a bit different from the books that I normally read as it asbout two men and written by a man! I really enjoyed the story and the two different approaches to children. An enjoyable read. Rating - 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted February 27, 2011 Author Share Posted February 27, 2011 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold Challenges - Rory Gilmore Challenge Ultimate Teen Guide Book Challenge New Classic Challenge Synopsis - My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. My murderer was a man from our neighborhood. My mother liked his border flowers, and my father talked to him once about fertilizer. This is Susie Salmon. Watching from heaven, Susie sees her happy, suburban family devastated by her death, isolated even from one another as they each try to cope with their terrible loss alone. Over the years, her friends and siblings grow up, fall in love, do all the things she never had the chance to do herself. But life is not quite finished with Susie yet ... My thoughts - This was quite a harrowing book to read. I found the subject matter very hard at times. I had started to read this book a few years ago, but it went back before I had a chance to read it properly. This is a book that was an alrite read, just the subject matter was hard to get through. Rating - 3/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted March 10, 2011 Author Share Posted March 10, 2011 The Screwtape Letters - CS Lewis Challenges - March Reading Circle Ultimate teen guide book challenge Synopsis - This is a series of letters from Screwtape, a devil high in the Infernal Civil Service, to his nephew Wormwood, a junior colleague engaged in his first mission on Earth trying to secure the damnation of a young man who has just become a Christian. Although the young man initially looks to be a willing victim, he changes his ways and is "lost" to the young devil. My thoughts - I really enjoyed this book. I thought that I would find some of the ideas difficult to get because I had heard that the book was quite christian orientated. However the ideas of christianity were easy to understand, and I didnt find it too preachy either. I Would recommend this book to anyone, as it is quite short and made me think about a different take on religion. Rating 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted March 13, 2011 Author Share Posted March 13, 2011 Jenny Colgan - Operation Sunshine Synopsis - Evie needs a good holiday. Not just because she's been working all hours in her job as a receptionist for two high-powered plastic surgeons - but also because every holiday she has ever been on in her life has involved sunburn, arguments and projectile vomiting - and sometimes all three at once. Why can't she have a normal holiday, like other people seem to have - some sun, sand, sea and (hopefully) sex? So when her employers invite her to attend a conference with them in the south of France, she can't believe her luck. At last, the chance to hob nob with the rich and glamorous, to party under the stars, to live the life she's dreamed about. It's certainly the holiday of a lifetime - but not quite in the way Evie imagined! my thoughts - This book was a lovely little sunday afternoon read. It is another chick lit book, I seem to be reading quite a few of them at the moment, but I really enjoyed this one. It made me think about how much I am looking forward to summer this year. The plot line was good and I really identified with Evie too. A lovely easy read, perfect for reading on the beach in the summer! Rating - 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted March 19, 2011 Author Share Posted March 19, 2011 The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne Challenges - 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Ultimate Teen Book Guide Challenge Synopsis - The story of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is very difficult to describe. Usually we give some clues about the book on the cover, but in this case we think that would spoil the reading of the book. We think it is important that you start to read without knowing what it is about. If you do start to read this book, you will go on a journey with a nine-year-old boy called Bruno. (Though this isn't a book for nine-year-olds.) And sooner or later you will arrive with Bruno at a fence. We hope you never have to cross such a fence My Thoughts - this has got to be the saddest book that I have read this year. I don't want to say too much about this book as I don't want to give anything away, but if you havent read this you must! A fantastic book that makes you think about a different perspective about events of the second world war. Rating - 5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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