1. Hi Lisa, welcome to the site! Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

And thank you for having me, it’s very lovely to be here! I’ve been writing books since I was twenty seven and my first novel was published in 1998. I’ve since published a further nine novels and my eleventh is coming out in July. I’m forty four and I live in London with my husband and my two girls, Amelie and Evie who are nine and six. I also have two silver tabby shorthair cats (like the Whiskas cats!) and a very furry house.

2. Can you tell us about your new paperback Before I Met You?

Before I Met You is my first foray into writing in a historical period. It tells the story of twenty-two year old Betty coming to Soho in the mid nineties to track down the mysterious beneficiary named in her grandmother Arlette’s will, a woman called Clara Pickle who nobody has ever heard of before. Betty’s hunt for Clara is interleaved with flashbacks to Arlette’s secret time in London, seventy years earlier, a time of jazz and dancing and forbidden love affairs. Betty discovers Arlette’s terrible secret and the reason why she left London in 1921 never to return.

3. Before I Met You is a dual timeline story, how hard (or easy!) was it to keep both stories flowing?

Arlette’s chapters didn’t come until I’d already got a third of the way through the book. So the hardest thing for me was reworking the existing 1995 chapters to make room for Arlette’s story. That required a certain amount of butchery, which hopefully isn’t too obvious to the reader! But once I’d engineered her chapters in, the whole story flowed beautifully and I loved writing from both women’s perspectives and in both periods.

4. Did you write both timelines together as it is in the book – one chapter in the 20s, one in the 90s – or did you write all of the 20s chapters and all of the 90s chapters separately?

A lot of my books have two storylines running concurrently and whenever I write a back story and a fore story I always write them in turn. I think each story influences the other and they bounce off each other in a way that wouldn’t happen if you wrote them separately.

5. Your writing seems to have changed so much since your earlier novels, they seem to be a lot more grown-up, do you feel your writing has changed since your first novel?

Well, blimey, I should hope so! I was a childless, newly divorced whippersnapper of twenty seven when I started writing Ralph’s Party. I was still working in an office and flat sharing and going to the pub every night. I’m forty four now, have two children and own my own home. I’m a school governor for goodness’ sake! I think if my writing hadn’t mature and changed over that time it would have been a deliberate state of arrested development.

6. What novels do you enjoy reading when you’re not writing?

I like books that do all the work for me, whatever genre they’re in. I read books that pull me in from page one and don’t let me go. I am a particular fan of a good psychological thriller or books that are slightly creepy with menacing undertones. But I also like books where not much happens but they’re written so well that you can’t bear to put the book down because you want to stay in that world. I would never now read a book because I thought I should. I only read books that I desperately want to read, that talk to me and call me from the reading pile. Life’s too short to struggle with a book.

7. Before I Met You is your 10th novel, happy 10th novel, do you find it’s easier to write books now you have so many under your belt?

In some ways I do, yes: the nuts and bolts of writing are easier and that’s mainly because I’ve finally found a writing routine that works for me. Whereas before I’d sit at my desk all day willing myself to get off the internet and do some work and then go to bed filled with self-loathing because I’d wasted a whole day on eBay, nowadays I only use the internet at home and take myself out of the house to write. I have two or three cafes in my local area that I use and I never ever ask them for their Wi-Fi code!

In other ways it’s harder as I really really try to up my game with every single book. The best thing that a reader can say to me about a new book is that it’s better than the last one and that’s a lot of pressure and very hard to pull off. So I’m constantly questioning myself as I write in a way that I never used to earlier in my career.

8. We all know how your original book deal came around after a bet (that’s quite amazing, really), but you moved from Penguin to Random House for The Truth About Melody Browne, can you tell us how that move came around?

That’s a great question but I’ll have to answer it rather carefully. Basically, through no fault of my own, my contract negotiations with Penguin went rather wrong and I found myself in the position of having to change my agent and my publisher at the same time. Random House had already made it clear they wanted me and my new agent saw that it was a good offer and so that’s where I went. It wasn’t a choice I would have made under other circumstances but everything happens for a reason and I now have the best editor I’ve ever had and a completely amazing team and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

9. You wrote a sequel to Ralph’s Party called After The Party, would you ever consider any more sequels to your novels? Maybe Fortysomething?

No! No no no! I am done with sequels. I did not enjoy writing After the Party and I’m not sure I really like the book that much and in a way I think that After the Party was the sequel to all of my early relationship novels; to thirtynothing and Vince & Joy. They would all have involved taking a lovely happy couple and giving them lots of unpleasant hoops to jump through so no, I work very hard to give my characters happy endings and I won’t be doing any more sequels .

10. Can you tell us about your new novel The House We Grew Up In? (I adore the cover, by the way, massive kudos to the designer, it’s stunning!)

I know, it’s so beautiful, isn’t it! I feel very blessed! The book is about Lorelei Bird and her four children and husband. It’s about what happens to the seemingly perfect family after a terrible and inexplicable tragedy strikes one Easter Sunday. Lorelei becomes a compulsive hoarder and very quickly the family falls apart, seemingly never to reunite. Until in the aftermath of Lorelei’s death, one by one, story by story, the family returns to the house they grew up in.

11. Finally, can you tell us what you’re currently working on?

Actually, I can! I could not have said that a few weeks ago because it wasn’t working and I had no idea what to do with it. But I’ve gone back to basics, taken out tons of back story and reworked the basic premise and what I am now working on is a novel about Ade, a lovely man with too many ex wives and children, who falls in love with a beautiful stranger and then rather immediately he loses her. As he tries to track her down using what very little he knows about her, he discovers a colourful, bizarre and rather chaotic life. And in doing so he sees how he can fix his own disjointed and messy life. It’s going to be quite magical and quirky, I think and I’m really looking forward to getting properly stuck into it and seeing where it goes.

Thanks so much Lisa!

Before I Met You by Lisa Jewell is out now (arrow, £7.99)

Running Like A Girl by Alexandra Heminsley

Very funny, very honest and very emotional, whether you’re in serious training or thinking about running for the bus, this book will make you want to put on your trainers.

Alexandra Heminsley had high hopes: the arse of an athlete, the waist of a supermodel, the speed of a gazelle. Defeated by gyms and bored of yoga, she decided to run.

Her first attempt did not end well.

Six years later, she has run five marathons in two continents.

But, as her dad says, you run with your head as much as with your legs. So, while this is a book about running, it’s not just about running.

You could say it’s about ambition (yes, getting out of bed on a rainy Sunday morning counts), relationships (including talking to the intimidating staff in the trainer shop), as well as your body (your boobs don’t have to wobble when you run). But it’s also about realising that you can do more than you ever thought possible.

Very funny, very honest and very emotional, whether you’re in serious training or thinking about running for the bus, this is a book for anyone who after wine and crisps for supper a few too many times thinks they might . . . just might . . . like to run like a girl.

When I heard about Running Like A Girl by Alexandra Heminsley, I wanted to read it immediately. You see I’ve been on a bit of a diet recently, and I’ve lost 9 kilos, which is not a bad effort. It’s since gone a bit sideways, though, and I’ve stabilised at my current weight, and I’ve decided that the best way to carry on losing weight is to do exercise. But, exercise terrifies me. I’m quite terrified that if I went walking or running (or a bit of both), people would see and judge and say I’m not a runner. I can’t run! I’m not athletic. I used to cheat when we did cross-country at school! I HATE running. But I know that if I want to lose weight and I want to get my legs to be less chunky I will have to do exercise, so I bought some running shoes when I was in England… I just need to actually start running.

So, Running Like A Girl. I wanted to read it because I wanted it to inspire me! I wanted Alex’s tale to inspire me into running, and it has. For the first time ever, in my life, tomorrow I will go outside and I will run! It may be JUST as terrible as Alex’s first run, and I don’t aspire to do marathons as Alex does (I don’t think Tenerife has any marathons, to be fair) but I do want to get fitter and running is something everyone can do, despite my can’t-do attitude. It’s so easy to say you can’t do something – I can’t speak any other language than English for example, but I can’t claim to not run because as Alex herself says, after hearing it from her dad, everyone can run. It’s just a matter of doing it. That is what will be ringing in my ears as I attempt to become a runner. I can do it, I just have to get over the fear of doing it and that is why I loved Running Like A Girl.

I thought Running Like A Girl was excellent. Anyone who has ever thought about running, who has ever said it wouldn’t be possible needs to read this book and read about how Alex overcame that and has run 5 marathons. Yes, it’s hard, and yes, she struggled during most of her marathons at one stage or another but I didn’t finish the book feeling put off by the bad things about running. No, I took away the message Alex was telling us that running is therapeutic. If you get past the bad things, if you keep going and keep your legs moving, the payoff is more than worth it. And I find myself inspired. I liked how the novel was split into two parts, chronologically Alex’s journey to becoming a runner and then a second section that helped would-be runners. Giving the history on famous female runners, telling us what you’d need with you if you were to run a marathon, injuries you might incur. It’s filled with information and I am totally inspired. I’ll soon be a runner, and I can’t wait for tomorrow to come so I can go running, or at least attempt it, because if you never try, you can’t succeed.

A tale of intrigue, revenge and excess…

When the ‘Blue Angel’ yacht is found abandoned off the coast of Antigua and Playboy and Casino owner, Tom Black, who was on board is pronounced missing, foul-play is suspected. After all, the serial gambler and womaniser has made plenty of enemies.

As events come to light however, the finger of suspicion points to three women in particular – and the men they’re married to.

Ellie Scott, the beautiful socialite with a dubious past; Loretta Fiorentino, the fame-seeking gold-digger and Victoria Mayfield, the glamorous successful author.

Full of intrigue, revenge and decadence, this is a tale you’ll want to revisit again and again.

Pre-order Wicked Wives by Anna Lou Weatherley from Amazon.co.uk today!

How Do You Spell Love? by Zanna MacKenzie

Rating: 4/5

Release Date: 23rd February 2013

Source: Review copy from the author

Buy: Kindle | Paperback

Amazon Summary: Make a wish. Kat can’t help wishing there was more to life than this. What happened to her dream job? What happened with Nathan? Summer is wondering where her life is going too… battling the developers of a controversial housing estate and working out why boyfriend Rob is increasingly distant. When the developers win the battle and move into town, everyone’s life is turned upside down. Kat meets building site project manager Alex. She enjoys his company far too much, even though he’s on the town’s most hated list. Summer meets Tom who has plenty of relationship troubles of his own, so things could get really complicated. Soon everyone is keeping secrets, lives change and hearts are broken. Is everything falling apart, or does life just work in mysterious ways?

Review: 

When I first read the blurb for this story, I was intrigued by the mixture of love and magic combined in a story. I wasn’t sure exactly how it would work, but I wanted to find out. Summer is a practicing white witch and you see her make spells to help customers out and to help with the vegetables in her allotment. It’s not cheesy or unbelievable; it is subtly done and it fits in with the character and the story.

The characters, Kat and Summer, are very easy to identify with as they go through the same everyday things as you and feel the same things as you. When we see Kat meet and get to know Alex, we see confusion and denial over her growing and conflicting feelings. It’s interesting to read how they act around each other and how their relationship develops. It isn’t overdone and there aren’t any major clichés that make you cringe. It all feels very real and normal, and I like that.

What I also liked was that you get these little stories on the side and other characters which you get the chance to know and like. We learn that Summer and Kat are into caring for the environment and we get to see that side of them, plus the professional and personal things happening in their lives. We get to learn why Summer became a practicing white witch and about Kat’s past love life. It gives more depth to the story and when things tie in you realise the story has been put together with a lot of thought and creativity. I’d definitely recommend this for a light, enjoyable read that is difficult to put down!

*****

Rachael is 22 years old and lives in West London with her parents and two cats. She enjoys reading, baking, shopping and is slightly obsessed with Harry Potter. Follow her on Twitter: @rachaelvictoria

Love Me Anyway by Tiffany Hawk

A darkly funny, compulsively readable debut novel about two young flight attendants coming of age at 35,000 feet

When twenty-three-year-old Emily Cavenaugh’s marriage to her abusive high school sweetheart ends, she trades in her dull smalltown life for an all-access pass to see the world as a flight attendant. Hoping for a new start, she moves to San Francisco to bunk with six other new flight attendants. Among them is KC Valentine, a free spirit who encourages Emily to shed her mousy ways and start collecting experiences as exciting as her passport stamps. Emily soon follows KC’s advice a little too well, falling in love with an older, married co-worker named Tien, a father to two young girls. But as Emily and Tien become more deeply entangled, KC grows distraught. Neither her friends nor co-workers know the real reason she became a flight attendant: to find her father who abandoned her as a child. As Emily and KC fly from Vegas to Boston, San Francisco to London, Chicago to Delhi, each searching for love and acceptance, they’re torn between passion and moral conviction, freedom and belonging.

An assured debut from a former flight attendant, Love Me Anyway deftly captures the complexities of love, friendship, and family, the excitement and loneliness that come from living everywhere and nowhere, and the surprising detours life can take when you set out to discover the world.

When I was offered Love Me Anyway by Tiffany Hawk to review, I said yes immediately. I absolutely love the idea of being a flight attendant, it was something I wanted to be when I was younger though it isn’t something I’ve followed through on because you have to be a certain weight apparently and it’s not something I’d like to have to be ruled over. Also the more flights I’ve taken the older I’ve gotten, the less glossy the job looks when you realise they have to deal with obnoxious passengers all day long and, of course, you could die. But I still really enjoy reading about flight attendants because I do still like the idea of flying to glamorous destinations even if that’s generally not the reality so I jumped at the chance of reading Love Me Anyway, and it’s a book I thoroughly enjoyed.

Love Me Anyway tells the story of two brand new flight attendants, Emily and KC. They share a base in San Francisco but rarely find they’re in town at the same time due to the fact that because they’re newbies they’re constantly on call. Emily has recently left her hometown of Bakersfield and alongside that, her childhood sweetheart husband and can’t wait to start her brand new life as a flight attendant. KC has spent her life running, having grown up in Las Vegas with her single mother. She sees her job as a chance to hunt down her absent father, who left when she was just a little girl. She wants to know why he left and is determined to find out. As the girls navigate their new waters, they find themselves falling in love and flying to many new destinations, but is the life of a flight attendant really all it cracked up to be?

Love Me Anyway was a really interesting read. I really liked the novel, I loved reading about Emily and KC’s lives and I loved the insight into being a flight attendant. There’s still a bit of me that would like to try the job out, even now. The novel is written in both first- and third-person, with the first person narration from Emily’s point of view and the third person allowing us insight into KC. I thought it worked very well. I loved the both Emily and KC were just two twenty something’s who weren’t at all sure where there place was in the world. I liked that they were just figuring it out as they went along. I wasn’t a massive fan of Emily’s relationship with Tien and as such for that portion of the novel I jut wanted to get back to KC’s narrative.

The ending of the novel was a little weird for me. It ends 10 years after 9/11 and it was a little bit too political for my liking with Emily being a bit too outspoken, it seemed out of character and out of sync with the novel to throw in bits about wars and bombs and it was just a bit weird. I also felt really sad KC didn’t get the ending I felt she deserved, I thought she was a bit robbed with how her life ended up. But apart from that, I really liked the novel. It was a very impressive debut novel, and I loved the insight into United Airlines and the insight into 9/11, you could feel the panic rising off the page and it’s almost like a personal insight into the terrors – if anything would ever put you off being a flight attendant that would do it, sadly. Yes, I definitely recommend the novel, I did enjoy it!

Ella and Micha have been through tragedy, heartbreak, and love. When they are with each other, anything seems possible. But now they are thousands of miles apart . . .

Ella continues going to school and tries to deal with her past, desperate for Micha to be by her side, but she refuses to let her problems get in the way of his dreams.

Micha spends his days traveling the country with the band, but being away from Ella is harder than he thought. He wants her closer to him — needs her with him. But he won’t ask her to leave college, just to be with him.

The few moments they do spend together are fleeting, intense, and filled with passion. They know they want to be together, but is wanting something enough to get them to their forever?

Pre-order The Forever of Ella and Micha by Jessica Sorensen from Amazon.co.uk now!

‘The Perfume Garden’ was the perfect chance to try this. We lived in Spain for three years, so I had a lot of personal experience to feed into Emma’s contemporary story. Emma is a young perfumer who inherits a house near Valencia. Interwoven with her story is that of her grandparents in the 1930s. Emma gradually discovers the truth about her family’s involvement with the Spanish Civil War, and why her grandmother Freya had vowed never to return to Spain.

I’ve heard that some authors write a twin timeline as two separate books, straight through, and then alternate the chapters. I had an outline of each chapter, so that I knew how they connected and that the historical events were in the right sequence, but I wrote past and present in turn, because I wanted each chapter to feed off the next, for them to resonate against one another. So the chapters of ‘The Perfume Garden’ alternate, gradually weaving past and present together. From the early reviews, not everyone liked this:

Take ‘Jeffrey’ a fellow writer of historical fiction: “If a writers (sic) gives us alternating chapters past and present – they cannot expect us to engage or root for the characters. And I didn’t.” Ouch. He really didn’t. So much so that he gave it a one star review on several sites. Sorry, Jeffrey.

Mieneke, however said: Both timelines are equally grabbing and I enjoyed them both, but for very different reasons.

However ‘London Matron’ thinks: this book is structured in a way that does not engage … It flicks from year to year, so you never get into it, didn’t anyone spot that? Surely?

The Bookseller review was more positive: ‘The novel is beautifully constructed, with the characters’ individual experiences gradually weaving together, and the events of the past unfolding to reveal aftershocks in Emma’s present.”

That was the key reason for writing this as a twin timeline. I wanted to show the ripple effect a war has, not just at the moment of conflict, but for generations to come. The historical part of ‘The Perfume Garden’ has years of research behind it. I trawled through true stories of how brother turned against brother, the atrocities committed, the suffering of innocent children. I really wanted to write about Spain, a country we had grown to love, but until I realised it could be written as a twin timeline I was at a loss how to make this a redemptive story about the strength of families, and of love – particularly a mother’s love. The Civil War was devastating – the research moved me to tears several times, but I wanted to show that families, and love survives. I hope the twin timeline does that. This is a book I put my heart and soul into. No wonder perhaps that one of the other early reviews has said people have been weeping helplessly on the Tube …

So, twin-timelines – love them or hate them? I still adore them, but how about you?

LINKS:

AMAZON http://www.amazon.co.uk/Perfume-Garden-Kate-Lord-Brown/dp/1848879342/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

WEB www.katelordbrown.com

Book Trailer  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qViezOftdpM&feature=share

Thanks so much, Kate, and check back next week for my review of Kate’s book The Perfume Garden!

The Longest Holiday by Paige Toon (Buy it now!)

I was quite disappointed with One Perfect Summer/One Perfect Christmas by Paige Toon, it was the first time I’d even been disappointed in one of her novels and so when her new novel arrived (thank you Amazon!) I was torn between devouring it immediately and waiting, just in case it wasn’t fab. Thankfully, it was fab! It was Toon at her best as Laura (from Chasing Daisy!!!!) flees her life in England for a holiday in Key West, Florida. I loved it, and it was definitely Toon at her best!

Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella (Buy it now!)

What can I say about Kinsella that I haven’t already said about Kinsella? I love her. I love her so much I have TWO copies of Wedding Night – one signed, one unsigned. Wedding Night was ridiculously funny, as Lottie decides the best way to get over her ex-boyfriend is to marry long-lost love Ben. However Lottie’s sister Fliss thinks it’s the stupidest idea ever, and sets about ruining their Greek honeymoon, with hilarious results. Kinsella at her best, and I was so, so, so sad when it was over!

Before I Met You by Lisa Jewell (Buy it now!)

Lisa Jewell is a magic writer and Before I Met You blew me away. I finished it merely days ago, and I can’t stop thinking about Arlette and Betty. About how despite the fact their lives were decades apart, their lives mirrored each other so closely. Jewell is massively talented, and I long to be back in her world again and Before I Met You is easily one of my favourite books this year so far!

Wonder Women by Rosie Fiore (Buy it now!)

When I asked online if there were any novels by strong women, author Rosie Fiore told me her new novel Wonder Women had strong women and she was right! Wonder Women is one of the most magical and enjoyable books I’ve read. It’s about three women, primarily Jo, who opens up a children’s clothes shop with a jungle theme, allowing children to play while their parents shop. It was BRILLIANT. I loved Jo, Holly, Mel, and Jo’s husband Lee, they had one of the most realistic marriages ever, and I loved how they were there for each other no matter what. It was a really fabulous read.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (Buy it now!)

If you love The Big Bang Theory and you ever wondered what would happen if Sheldon Cooper wrote a book, about himself, The Rosie Project would be the result, except for the whole wife thing because Sheldon Cooper doesn’t believe in wives. The Rosie Project was magnificent; warm, witty, wise, and with the most surprising, unassuming hero you will ever meet in Don Tillman and one of the most engaging females in Rosie, I looooooved Rosie so much! It was brilliant, and I can totally see why it’s been optioned for a film, it’ll be an AMAZING film!

Headline has acquired New Adult trilogy The Games by self-published e-book bestseller Nyrae Dawn, with plans to release the first title this spring.

Associate publisher Sherise Hobbs bought five titles by Dawn, who has also previously self-published Young Adult fiction. Hobbs signed three of the titles through Kate McLennan at Abner Stein, who was handling the deal on behalf of Lauren Abramo at Dystel & Goderich, and two from Nancy Wiese at Grand Central.

Hobbs said: “Nyrae Dawn is a rare and explosive talent who already has a huge following in the US. We cannot wait to introduce her fantastic novels to an even wider audience.”

The publisher described first title Charade as “a passionate love story about two damaged individuals, Cheyenne and Colt, who agree to a ‘fake relationship’ to help each other out at college. But as dark family secrets surface, they realise this charade might actually be the lifeline they both need to survive the pain of the past.”

A Headline UK e-book of Charade will replace the self-published edition this spring, with a paperback to follow this summer. Book two in the trilogy, Facade, will be published this summer, with the third book, Masquerade, coming early 2014. Headline will also publish the author’s two Young Adult novels What a Boy Wants and What a Boy Needs in e-book and print in 2013.

I absolutely LOVE the sound of Nyrae’s trilogy, and it’s one I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for, for sure!

Before I Met You by Lisa Jewell

London, 1920. Arlette works in Liberty by day, and by night is caughty up in a glamorous whirl of parties, clubs, cocktails and jazz. But when tragedy strikes she flees the city, never to return.

Over half a century later, in the grungy mid-’90s, her graddaughter Betty arrives in London.

She can’t wait to begin her new life. But before she can do so, she must find the mysterious woman named in her grandmother’s will.

What she doesn’t know is that her search will uncover the heartbreaking secret that changed her grandmother’s life, and might also change hers for ever…

Lisa Jewell is an amazing author – I adore her novels and she’s evolved so much since her earlier novels of Ralph’s Party and Thirtysomething, and has become a much better author. I adored Thirtysomething, it’s one of my favourite books, but her newer novels just have an added something, an extra layer of emotion. As soon as I heard about Before I Met You, I couldn’t wait to read it. I adore novels told in dual timelines, and I’m really starting to enjoy novels set in the 20s/30s/40s etc. I love learning about these time periods, and I love how authors bring these decades back to life with so much charm and verve and I was very interested on Jewell’s take on the 20s.

Before I Met You, as I’ve said, is a dual timeline story. There’s Arlette, who moves to London in the 20s from her home in Guernsey, and finds herself caught up in the glitz and glamour of 20s London, the parties, the nightlife, the jazz, the people. Until one day it all falls apart, after she learns a tragic secret, and she flees back to Guernsey, never to return. Decades later, Arlette’s step-grand-daughter Betty is following in her grandmother’s footsteps, not that she knows it yet, having made the exact same journey from Guernsey to London, happy to be standing on her own two feet for the first time in her life. But she has another reason to be in London: she’s there to track down the mysterious Clara Pickle, named in Arlette’s will, and as Betty starts her new life in London, and as she attempts to track down Clara Pickle, she has no idea how her life is going to change.

I really LOVED Before I Met You. It’s such a multi-layered story, with so many threads, and I adored it. I found it to be such an emotional read, one that I both desperately wanted to read and desperately wanted to savour. I loved both tales immensely, I adored learning more about Arlette’s life in the 20s, especially as prior to that we only knew her as Betty knew her, as a frail old lady, and life in the 20s sounded so glamourous, so achingly glamorous. Betty’s story was also amazing, seeing a young girl in the mid-90s trying to make her way in London was great. I enjoyed Betty’s life so, so much. I imagined myself as Betty, hanging out on her fire escape, chatting to the market traders, being friends to the celeb next door! The story alternates chapter by chapter from Betty to Arlette and the lives they lead are fairly similar, though obviously decades apart, and I enjoyed Betty’s search for Clara while running parallel we learned all about it first-hand from Arlette. The search for Clara Pickle was so enjoyable, normally I’m not a massive fan of mysteries in books but this one was so, so good.

Before I Met You was spectacular, the stories were so immensely told that I didn’t want either of them to end, although the ending was very much satisfactory. I was so caught up in Arlette and Betty’s lives, they felt so real to me. This is such a special novel and Jewell is such a special writer, a writer that seems to have grown so, so much with each novel she writes and she’s one of the finest Chick Lit writers around. I’m really, really excited for her new novel The House We Grew Up in which sounds (and looks) absolutely amazing, also. Do read this book, it is an amazing story, with amazing characters that you’ll really adore. It’s an amazing novel, one that I can’t praise highly enough and one I will very much re-read because it was just THAT GOOD. It was so amazing, and I know I’ve started to repeat myself, but it was just that good, and I miss it already.