Wednesday 22 June 2016

When is a book like a biscuit? ... let me explain

There is something very comforting about having favourite authors who are still writing, because we can buy their latest creation and feel confident that we have an inkling of the type of book we are getting into and that we will enjoy it (like selecting one of your preferred packets of biscuits : oat & raisin cookie or type of ice cream : white chocolate Magnum).  This is not to say you only ever go for this author/biscuit/ice cream - but you can depend on really enjoying what you are "devouring" when you select it!

Sophie Kinsella is one such author for me - from the the first novel I read by her "Can You Keep a Secret?" I loved it! So swiftly moved onto the Shopaholic series and have since enjoyed her standalone novels, I feel her writing has matured and her style developed  with "Twenties Girl" and "Finding Audrey" - which I read 2 months ago and was captivated by her perception of the troubled teen psyche.  The one I read this week was I've Got Your Number.  This may be an earlier novel, as the style reverts to that of Shopaholic or "The Undomestic Goddess" - some of the sticky situations our heroine Poppy gets into had my heart racing - SK has quite a distinctive knack - she gets you panicking in sympathy with her heroines.

Poppy has been swept up in a whirlwind romance, but there seem to be 'red flags' in the relationship: she is terrified of his high-profile, academic parents, her wedding planner is a disorganized friend of her fiance's family, and her colleague cant forgive her for snagging the eligible bachelor who should have been her client.  Mixed in with this is a comedy of errors where she loses her engagement ring & her mobile phone in the space of one afternoon, but a twist of fate provides a replacement phone from an unusual source, and suddenly the dynamics of Poppy's life are totally changed.



Another 'Favorite' author of mine is Janet Evanovitch - who writes her sassy Bounty Hunter series following the crime fighting antics of Stephanie Plum and her oddball collection of family & friends.  Because I am such a fan of these novels my attention was grabbed when I saw Innocent in Las Vegas: A Humorous Tiffany Black Mystery  by  A R Winters being described as a rival for Stephanie's fans, I had to give this first book a 'spin'.  I was delighted!  The story was gripping from the start, the narrative was fast paced and amusing, Tiffany's family were quirky and she was constantly in and out of danger (which she dealt with in unorthodox ways) so I was equally enthralled and amused.  I shall definitely be downloading her next adventure onto my kindle - why don't you check the books out too?  Tiffany's Grandmother looks likely to give 'Grandma Mazur' a run for her money - she loves to gamble and is a bit of a grifter!.


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