PLBR Book Reviews 2018 - ELLES BOOK BLOG

ELLES BOOK BLOG

MARRIAGE ON MADISON AVENUE BY LAUREN LAYNE

2/3/2020

Marriage on Madison Avenue is the final book in the Central Park Pact series. I recommend reading the books in order BUT you don't have to. They are interconnected though.

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: January 28, 2020
Genre: Friends to Lovers. Fake Relationship. Chick Lit.
Series: Central Park Pact series #3
Pages: 285 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

From Lauren Layne, comes the final installment of the Central Park Pact series, a heartfelt and laugh-out-loud romantic comedy that’s perfect for fans of Sally Thorne and Christina Lauren.

Can guys and girls ever be just friends? According to Audrey Tate and Clarke West, absolutely. After all, they’ve been best friends since childhood without a single romantic entanglement. Clarke is the charming playboy Audrey can always count on, and he knows that the ever-loyal Audrey will never not play along with his strategy for dodging his matchmaking mother—announcing he’s already engaged…to Audrey.

But what starts out as a playful game between two best friends turns into something infinitely more complicated, as just-for-show kisses begin to stir up forbidden feelings. As the faux wedding date looms closer, Audrey and Clarke realize that they can never go back to the way things were, but deep down, do they really want to?

LOVE ON LEXINGTON AVENUE BY LAUREN LAYNE

1/17/2020

Love on Lexington Avenue is the second book in the Central Park Pact series by Lauren Layne. This is an interconnected standalone and I personally recommend reading these books in order. They are all pretty spectacular!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: September 17, 2019
Genre: Chick Lit
Series: The Central Park Pact series #2
Pages: 288 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

From New York Times bestselling author Lauren Layne comes the second delightfully charming installment in the Central Park Pact series, following a young widow whose newfound cynicism about love is challenged by a sexy, rough-around-the-edges contractor.

There’s never a bad time to fall in love in the city, right? Wrong. According to the recently-widowed Claire Hayes, it’s very, very wrong. In fact, after finding out her late husband was a liar and a cheat, Claire’s convinced there’s never a good time for romantic notions. Determined to rid her home of anything that reminds her of her philandering husband, Claire sets out to redesign her entire Upper East Side brownstone and make it her own. But when she meets gruff and often-cantankerous contractor Scott Turner and realizes not all men are scumbags, Claire must decide if she’s ready to risk her heart again.

Scott needs a change of pace from the corporate offices and

CHRISTMAS SHOPAHOLIC BY SOPHIE KINSELLA

1/15/2020

The long-awaited next installment in the Shopaholic series is a HIT! I loved this book to pieces. It’s festive, hilarious, and everything I wanted! I highly recommend this book and series.

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: October 15, 2019
Genre: Chick Lit. Christmas.
Series: Shopaholic series #9
Pages: 384 pages
Format: Hardcover. Purchased.

’Tis the season for change and Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) is embracing it, returning from the States to live in the charming village of Letherby and working with her best friend, Suze, in the gift shop of Suze’s stately home. Life is good, especially now that Becky takes time every day for mindfulness—even if that only means listening to a meditation tape while hunting down online bargains.

But Becky still adores the traditions of Christmas: Her parents hosting, carols playing on repeat, her mother pretending she made the Christmas pudding, and the neighbors coming ’round for sherry in their terrible holiday sweaters. Things are looking cheerier than ever, until Becky’s parents announce they’re moving to ultra-trendy Shoreditch—unable to resist the draw of craft beer and smashed avocados—and ask Becky if she’ll host this year. What could possibly go wrong?

25 DAYS 'TILL CHRISTMAS BY POPPY ALEXANDER

12/24/2019

25 Days 'till Christmas is an amazing debut by Poppy Alexander and I am looking forward to many more of her books in the future. I recommend this one during the holiday season!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: October 8, 2019
Genre: Holiday Chick Lit.
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 348 pages
Format: Paperback. Purchased.

In this heartwarming, feel-good holiday novel, one woman needs to find a little inspiration in the 25 days leading up to Christmas to help her remember the magic of the season and the magic of falling in love—perfect for fans of Jenny Colgan and Josie Silver.

Kate Potter used to love Christmas. A few years ago, she would have been wrapping her presents in September and baking mince pies on Halloween, counting down the days and hours to Christmas. But that was before Kate’s husband left for the army and never came home. Now she can hardly stand December at all.

Kate can’t deny she’s lonely, yet she doesn’t think she’s ready for romance. She knows that her son, Jack, needs a Christmas to remember—just like Kate needs a miracle to help her finally move forward with her life. So she’s decided if there isn’t a miracle on its way, she’ll just have to make her own.

CLARA AT CHRISTMAS BY LACEY LONDON

12/20/2019

If you're a fan of Sophie Kinsella or Lindsey Kelk you won't want to miss the Clara Andrews series! This is probably the closest I have gotten to finding a series like the beloved Shopaholic and I Heart series. I recommend this series to chick lit fans!

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: October 16, 2015
Genre: Chick Lit
Series: Clara Andrews series #4 (read in order)
Pages: 171 pages
Format: eBook. Purchased.

With snowflakes falling and fairy lights twinkling brightly, it can only mean one thing - Christmas will be very soon upon us.

With just twenty five days to go until the big day, Clara finds herself dealing with more than just the usual festive stresses.

Plans to host the perfect Christmas Day for her American in laws are ambushed by her BFF’s clichéd meltdown at turning thirty.

With a best friend on the verge of a mid life crisis, putting Christmas dinner on the table isn’t the only thing Clara has got to worry about this year.

Taking on the role of Best Friend/Therapist, Head Chef and Party Planner is much harder than Clara had anticipated.

With the clock ticking, can Clara pull things together - or will Christmas Day turn out to be the December disaster that she is so desperate to avoid?

THE BEST MEDICINE BY CHARLOTTE FALLOWFIELD

10/9/2019

This is a really fun series. If you're looking for a good laugh you really can't go wrong with this one. This is the third book in the Dilbury Village series but can stand alone. The books are interconnected but each book focuses on new couples.

Rating: ★★★
Release Date: February 28, 2018
Genre: British Chick Lit. Romantic Comedy.
Series: Dilbury Village #3
Pages: 307 pages
Format: eBook. Kindle Unlimited.

She knows her way around risqué romances, but author, Charlie Faulkner, only dreams of starring in her own love story. Drowning her sorrows in takeaway pizza, she writes what she's never experienced.

When she does venture out of her writing cave, chaos and medical disasters follow. After a trip to the emergency room, the handsome and capable doctor ignites long-forgotten sparks of passion. Guy Fitton is the guy for her and exactly what the doctor ordered. The only problem is that he may just see her as a crazy, accident-prone woman … not the desirable temptress she craves to be.

Will Charlie get her "happily ever after" with the sexy doctor or is she destined to rely on the pizza delivery man for company?

While The Best Medicine is a standalone story, it's the third in the

BIG SEXY LOVE BY KRISTY GREENWOOD

9/18/2019

This is one of the funniest books I have read in a long time! If you're looking for a book that will make you laugh until you cry (just as the cover says) then you need this book!

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: June 29, 2017
Genre: Chick Lit. Romanitc Comedy.
Series: None. Standalone.
Pages: 350 pages
Format: Paperback. Purchased.

Olive Brewster is a scaredy cat. She doesn't do new or risky. She’s happy enough with her job at the local market, it’s cool that she has no boyfriend to fret over, she even likes that she still lives in her childhood home. No drama, no fuss, no problems. Everything is fine. Super duper fine.

Except … Olive's best friend in the world, Birdie, is dying.

Birdie has one final wish. She wants to track down her first love, Chuck, and because she's stuck in the hospital she needs Olive's help to do it. But there’s a teeny problem: Chuck is somewhere in New York and Olive has never even left her home town, let alone roamed the crazy streets of Manhattan.

As if the big city isn't scary enough, Olive has to contend with Seth, a cocky comedy TV writer who thinks she’s a joke; Anders, a bored socialite who’s taken a shine to her; and the fact that no matter

YOU'VE BEEN VOLUNTEERED BY LAURIE GELMAN

7/23/2019

I genuinely hope Laurie Gelman continues to writes books, especially in this series! The Class Mom books are funny, engaging, and perfect for those who love sarcasm!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: June 23, 2019
Genre: Chick Lit. Humor.
Series: Class Mom #2
Pages: 268 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

In the eagerly anticipated follow-up to Laurie Gelman’s "irreverent and hilarious" (The New York Post) hit Class Mom, brash, lovable Jen Dixon is back with a new class and her work cut out for her

If you’ve ever been a room parent or school volunteer, Jen Dixon is your hero. She says what every class mom is really thinking, whether in her notoriously frank emails or standup-worthy interactions with the micromanaging PTA President and the gamut of difficult parents. Luckily, she has the charm and wit to get away with it—most of the time. Jen is sassier than ever but dealing with a whole new set of challenges, in the world of parental politics and at home.

She’s been roped into room-parenting yet again, for her son Max’s third grade class, but as her husband buries himself in work, her older daughters navigate adulthood, and Jen’s own aging parents start to need some parenting themselves, Jen gets pulled in

THE FRIENDS WE KEEP BY JANE GREEN

7/6/2019

Jane Green has written plenty of books in her time and each one her stories make me smile. This is a beautiful women's fiction novel about friendship and time. I recommend it.

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: June 4, 2019
Genre: Women's Fiction
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 384 pages
Format: eBook. ARC received from publisher.

The Friends We Keep is the heartwarming and unforgettable new novel from Jane Green, the New York Times bestselling author of The Sunshine Sisters and The Beach House.

Evvie, Maggie, and Topher have known one another since college. Their friendship was something they swore would last forever. Now years have passed, the friends have drifted apart, and they never found the lives they wanted—the lives they dreamed of when they were young and everything seemed possible.

Evvie starved herself to become a supermodel but derailed her career by sleeping with a married man.

Maggie married Ben, the boy she fell in love with in college, never imagining the heartbreak his drinking would cause.

Topher became a successful actor, but the shame of a childhood secret shut him off from real intimacy.

SAVE THE DATE BY MONICA MURPHY

6/25/2019

Save the Date is the perfect summer read! Readers who enjoy travel, fake relationships, second chance romances, and books that revolve around weddings are not going to want to miss Monica's latest novel!

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: June 25, 2019
Genre: Contemporary Romance. Chick Lit.
Series: Standalone
Pages: 315 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

Caroline Abbott loves her job—helping engaged couples pick out the perfect save the date cards and invitations for their dream wedding. Working at Noteworthy means she has to deal with the occasional bridezilla, but Caroline’s always up for the challenge.

Until one particular bridezilla walks into the stationery store who’s fiancé happens to be the boy Caroline shared her first kiss with. Alexander Wilder is all grown up now, helping run his family’s successful luxury hotel chain, and is somehow even better looking than she remembers.

When Caroline just happens to catch Alex’s fiancée half naked with another man well, of course she has to tell Alex. Of course, he breaks off his engagement.

And of course, the ex-bridezilla has gone completely bonkers.

PASSION ON PARK AVENUE BY LAUREN LAYNE

6/5/2019

If you adore dishy reads about women who take their lives back after being duped by a lying cheater, then this is your book! I absolutely adored this one. I can't wait for the next!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: May 28, 2019
Genre: Chick Lit. Romance.
Series: The Central Park Pact series #1
Pages: 288 pages
Format: eARC.

From the author of the New York Times bestselling Stiletto and Oxford series, the first in a sizzling new series following the unlikely friendship of three Upper East Side women as they struggle to achieve their dreams and find true love and happiness in the city that never sleeps.

For as long as she can remember, Bronx-born Naomi Powell has had one goal: to prove her worth among the Upper East Side elite—the same people for which her mom worked as a housekeeper. Now, as the strongminded, sassy CEO of one of the biggest jewelry empires in the country, Naomi finally has exactly what she wants—but it’s going to take more than just the right address to make Manhattan’s upper class stop treating her like an outsider.

The worst offender is her new neighbor, Oliver Cunningham—the grown son of the very family Naomi’s mother used to work for. Oliver used to torment Naomi when they were children, and as a

THE GREAT ESCAPE BY CAHRLOTTE FALLOWFIELD

2/16/2019

The Great Escape is another hilarious addition to the Dilbury Village series! If you enjoy laugh out loud chick lit novels, I very much recommend this book (and the series).

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: August 31, 2017
Genre: Chick Lit. Romantic Comedy.
Series: The Dilbury Village series #2 (can stand alone)
Pages: 214 pages
Format: eBook. Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited.

A tropical beach paradise in Mexico was the last place Georgie Basset expected her decimated heart to be jump-started again, not after she’d been jilted the year before by her fiancé, leading to said breakage. But when she spotted Weston Argent jogging along the beach, all bronzed with ripped muscles like some Greek God out of a modern day Baywatch scene, she nearly choked on her cocktail. She knew immediately she was in trouble, she’d never reacted so strongly to a man on first glance.

However, after a disastrous first date with him, she headed back home to Dilbury, resigned to never seeing him again. That is, until Weston turned up unexpectedly at her dog grooming parlour with Bertie the French bulldog, a species she had a real weakness for. She couldn’t help but wonder if fate was playing a helping hand. But each time she saw him, their encounters never went smoothly, resulting in some

I OWE YOU ONE BY SOPHIE KINSELLA

2/6/2019

It comes as not surprise to me that Sophie Kinsella has written another fantastic and hilarious novel. One would think her quirky characters would eventually get old but this isn't the case! I absolutely loved this book. And I highly recommend it.

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: February 5, 2019
Genre: Chick Lit.
Series: None. Standalone.
Pages: 448 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

Fixie Farr has always lived by her father’s motto: “Family first.” And since her dad passed away, leaving his charming housewares store in the hands of his wife and children, Fixie spends all her time picking up the slack from her siblings instead of striking out on her own. The way Fixie sees it, if she doesn’t take care of her father’s legacy, who will?

It’s simply not in Fixie’s nature to say no to people. So when a handsome stranger in a coffee shop asks her to watch his laptop for a moment, she not only agrees—she ends up saving it from certain disaster. To thank Fixie for her quick thinking, the computer’s owner, Sebastian, an investment manager, scribbles an IOU on a coffee sleeve and attaches his business card. Fixie laughs it off—she’d never actually claim an IOU from a stranger. Would she?

MEET CLARA MORGAN BY LACEY LONDON

2/1/2019

The Clara Andrews series keeps getting better and better! If you are a chick lit fan this is a must read series for you!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: July 4, 2015
Genre: Chick Lit.
Series: Clara Andrews series #3
Pages: 161 pages
Format: eBook. Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited.

Clara is back!

Wedding bells are ringing for Clara and Oliver in Meet Clara Morgan - the much anticipated, third installment in the Clara Andrews Series.

When Clara, Lianna and Gina all find themselves engaged at the same time, it soon becomes clear that things are going to get a little crazy.

With Lianna and Gina busy planning their own impending nuptials, it’s not long before Oliver enlists the help of Janie, his feisty Texan mother, to help Clara plan the wedding of her dreams.

However, it’s not long before Clara realizes that Janie’s vision of the perfect wedding day is more than a little different to her own.

Will Clara be able to cope with her shameless mother in law Janie?

What will happen when a groom gets cold feet?

99 PERCENT MINE BY SALLY THORNE

1/27/2019

Sally Thorne nails it with 99 Percent Mine and I know readers are going to go crazy for this one! If you enjoy friends-to-lovers romcoms, this is one book you don't want to miss!

Rating: ★★★
Release Date: January 29, 2019
Genre: Friends-to-Lovers Romantic Comedy
Series: None. Standalone.
Pages: 348 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

Readers and critics alike raved over USA Today bestselling author Sally Thorne’s smash hit debut, The Hating Game, which has sold in over 20 countries. Now she’s back with an unforgettable romantic comedy about a woman who finally has a shot at her long time crush—if she dares.

Crush (n.): a strong and often short-lived infatuation, particularly for someone beyond your reach…

Darcy Barrett has undertaken a global survey of men. She’s travelled the world, and can categorically say that no one measures up to Tom Valeska, whose only flaw is that Darcy’s twin brother Jamie saw him first and claimed him forever as his best friend. Despite Darcy’s best efforts, Tom’s off limits and loyal to her brother, 99%. That’s the problem with finding her dream man at age eight and peaking in her photography career at age

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