“Queen of Babble Gets Hitched” by Meg Cabot

It looks like Lizzie Nichols is getting her happy ever after: Luke has asked her to marry him, she’s loves working at Chez Henri and after the wonderful press she received from her first big commission, her wedding dresses are now in demand, and she also gets to plan her own dream wedding. So why does she break out in hives every time she thinks of it?

This book was a perfect girlie escape for a lazy Sunday. I love Meg Cabot – her books never fail to keep me turning the page and to cheer me up, no matter how fed up I am when I start reading them. Thankfully, the blurb on this third book in the Queen of Babble series doesn’t give away a major plot point that happens almost at the end of the book (as the second book did), and was a fitting resolution to Lizzie’s story.

Lizzie gets the opportunity to prove to herself how strong she is, and despite the fact this is a romantic novel, Lizzie manages to resolve her own problems and become an independent woman. This is why I like Meg Cabot’s writing. While her characters have fun, fall in love, fall out of love, have adventures, make mistake and do all the ordinary things that normal girls and women do, they always end up being their own salvation and finding their own solutions to their problems, and never have to rely solely on a man or even their friends to get them out of harm/trouble/bad relationships. Strong (even if they don’t know it themselves), but flawed, heroines, and great fun, and the books are always a perfect pick-me-up when I’m feeling jaded or a fun way to spend my relaxation time.

“Who’s That Girl?” by Alexandra Potter

Thirty-one year old Charlotte Merryweather is a glowing example of the modern woman, a successful businesswoman who owns and runs her own PR company, living in a smart flat in London, with a fabulous sports car and a property developer boyfriend. Her day starts at six in the morning and a work out with her personal trainer, before a busy day filled with business lunches with top flight journalists, meetings with prospective clients, cocktail party press launches and dinner with Miles, her boyfriend. Sounds perfect? Charlotte is stressed out, always tired, a glutton for self help books on how to perfect her life, and has migrated from her dream of becoming a writer in favour of financial stability. So when she follows a diversion because of road works and finds herself face-to-face with her twenty-one year old self, she realises she has the perfect opportunity to undo some of the mistakes she made ten years ago.

The genre of chick-lit has moved on from the straight forward boys meets girl type of romcom, and now spans the spectrum of the life of women in today’s society. This is no exception, and although the publishers are keen to point out on the back cover that this is a romantic comedy, it is really more about a woman coming to terms with the mistakes she made when she was younger, and learning to understand what the important things are in her life, and realising her dreams. There is enough romance to satisfy the chick-lit audience, but this book is squarely in the aspirational category, concentrating on the main characters relationship with herself, her family and friends.

When I reviewed the last book by this author, I said that I thought it was a return to the form she showed in her first couple of books, and this one is even better. I loved the heroine, both as a twenty-one and thirty-one year old. All through the book, you’re wondering why she changes so much from the young carefree woman, into the stressed executive, and when the explanation arrives, it is brief, but as a woman, it speaks volumes and you understand completely how it could change your life.

You do wonder how the author is going to explain the time-travel plot line, and it is a bit of a cliché, but it’s not too overblown and I think she gets away with it. The ending of the epilogue is a bit corny as well, and if I’d written this book, I’m not sure I would have included it, but I guess it was necessary to tie up a particular loose end. It didn’t spoil the book by any means though, so I’m not going to quibble over it!

Overall, an above average chick-lit book, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and would happily recommend to other fans of the genre.

“A Vintage Affair” by Isabel Wolff

Phoebe Swift is working as the head of the costumes and textiles department at Sotheby’s when a tragedy results in a leave of absence, and she decides to change the direction of her career and open her own vintage clothing shop, “Village Vintage”. Buying stock mostly from other dealers, auctions and French markets, she is sometimes asked to look at pieces or collections that some have held in their wardrobes for years, and this is how she comes to the flat of the elderly Mrs Thérèse Bell who has a collection of her dresses to sell. There is one piece, however, she is unwilling to part with, and as the tale of the coat unfolds, could it be that Phoebe’s quest to help Thérèse will also provide her with a release of her own?

The cover of this book would make you think this is a standard, fluffy chick-lit novel, even down to the tagline the publishers have added, “Do fairytale dresses bring fairytale endings?” This is far from the truth. While there are romantic elements to the story, the main themes are regret, loss and friendship, and central to this, is the relationship that develops between Phoebe and Thérèse. Both women feel a sense of responsibility for the fate of beloved friends, and this book shows how they deal with the weight of these emotions that they have placed on their own heads, and the author uses the vintage clothing bring together their tales and those of the other women Phoebe encounters on her journey.

Isabel Wolff’s style of writing flows so beautifully with ease, that I found myself swept up in the story, and finished it in two sittings. Fans of chick-lit should be happy with the romantic elements that have their place in the book, but I was more captivated by the relationship between Phoebe and Thérèse. It was also, for me, a satisfying conclusion, and although not perhaps the expected one for this genre, it was the right one in my opinion.

“Busy Woman Seeks Wife” by Annie Sanders

Alex may be an excellent marketing executive, organized, efficient and dedicated, but when it comes to her domestic life, she’s seriously lacking. Her washing machine is broken, the leaking shower is causing complaints from the neighbour in the flat below, and when she arrives home from her latest overseas business meeting, her cleaner is otherwise engaged in Alex’s bed! Telling Saffron, her best friend who is a full time wife and mother, Alex receives a telephone call informing her that her mother has fallen off a stepladder and broken her arm, and is going to need supervision in her convalescence. With another business trip on the cards, Saff comes up with a brilliant idea to get someone to help Alex with all areas of her home life, and writes the advert to be placed in the local paper – Busy Woman Seeks Wife …

This is the third Annie Sanders book I’ve read, and it is probably my favourite one so far. Annie Sanders is actually two writers, Annie Ashworth and Meg Sanders, who write both non-fiction and fiction books together. Their novels definitely need to be placed in the “Entertainment” category of my reading, as they are pure escapism. Characters are always real people with real lives, who have flaws and problems but who you grow to know and love through the course of the book. This one is no exception, with five main characters to get to know, each of them is important to the plot as well as having their own story to develop.

Annie Sanders books will be placed squarely in the chick-lit genre, and while there is nothing wrong with that, I feel their books are much more about the observation of the lives of their characters social situations, than about the standard romance-led chick-lit novels, dealing with issues of motherhood and careers in the 21st century. They are warm and funny, full of charming people who are recognizable as people we all know.

Annie Sanders are quickly becoming some of my favourite chick-lit books to read, and “Busy Woman Seeks Wife” is no exception. If you like authors like Jane Green and Sophie Kinsella, and are, like me, getting a bit too old for mainstay of chick-lit, the twenty-somethings searching for true love, then I would definitely recommend this book for you.

“Me and Mr. Darcy” by Alexandra Potter

New Yorker Emily Albright is on yet another hopeless date, with a man who can’t even hold the door open for her. As a bookworm since an early age, she knows the type of man she’d love to meet – Pride and Prejudice‘s Mr Darcy! Brooding, intelligent and handsome, he’s recently been voted the man most women would love to date, and Emily is no exception. Desperate to avoid an 18-30 holiday in Mexico her best friend has organised, she finds a flyer for a literary tour of Jane Austen’s England and immediately signs up.

When she arrives, however, she finds she’s on a tour-bus full of elderly ladies, and wonders if she’s done the right thing, especially when the objectionable journalist, Spike, joins them so that he can interview the ladies to find out more about why women love Mr. Darcy.

Me and Mr. Darcy is a lovely, easy, fun read, perfect for chilling out with in the evening, or a beach read on holiday. Personally, I didn’t like the magic realism elements that had been added to the plot, and would have preferred for the story to be based on reality instead.

Alexandra Potter is one of my favourite writers of romantic comedy books, Going La-La being my favourite chick-lit book ever, with that one and What’s New, Pussycat? as her first two novels standing out as her best work. In addition to a smart, funny story, I also loved cover designs of the books. I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but the covers of these two books perfectly matched the style and content of the stories. I was disappointed with the next three books, the stories weren’t as strong, and had lost some of the humour and the sassy style of the heroines, and with a couple of changes of publishers, I didn’t like the cover designs either! Me and Mr. Darcy looks like the start of a return to her earlier form, although, for me, not quite there yet.

If you love funny, romantic stories to relax with, I would recommend you read Going La-La and What’s New, Pussycat? first, and if you like those, try this one next. By all means read the others in between, but for me they aren’t as good as the first two.