Sunday, March 2, 2014

Readers' Choice Spotlight - Chick-Lit/Women's Fiction


Remember to vote for your pick in each category and to enter the giveaway on this page.


Click: An Online Love Story by Lisa Becker

Fast approaching her 30th birthday and finding herself not married, not dating, and without even a prospect or a house full of cats, Renee Greene, the heroine of Click: An Online Love Story, reluctantly joins her best guy pal on a journey to find love online in Los Angeles. The story unfolds through a series of emails between Renee and her best friends (anal-compulsive Mark, the overly-judgmental Ashley and the over-sexed Shelley) as well as the gentlemen suitors she meets online. From the guy who starts every story with "My buddies and I were out drinking one night," to the egotistical "B" celebrity looking for someone to stroke his ego, Renee endures her share of hilarious and heinous cyber dates. Fraught with BCC's, FWD's and inadvertent Reply to All's, readers will root for Renee to "click" with the right man.


Haole Wood by Dee DeTarsio

When San Diego weathercaster, Jaswinder Park, is mysteriously summoned to the island of Maui in Hawaii to help her grandmother, she ends up losing her job. This fair-haired, light-skinned foreigner, called haole by the natives, decides to stay in Maui for a couple of days until she can figure out what to do with her life. She realizes that her quick trip to Maui may not be all she’s hoping for when:

-She has to bail her Hawaiian/Korean grandmother out of jail for possession of pakalolo.

-The only thing she can understand her grandmother say is: “Not that.”

-She can’t decide which hurts worse, her sunburn, hangover, or memories of the night before.

-She’s labeled the “Liquor Licker” on the front page of the Maui News in a photo that shows her doing a shot of tequila with a hunky Hawaiian who’s been found dead.

-It seems she’s had orgasms that have lasted longer than her career.

-She scrapes the bottom of the barrel to find her guardian angel.

Beautiful fabric found in her grandmother’s closet unfolds a future for Jaswinder as she designs sensuous silky wraps called sunshminas that provide sun protection. She tries for a Hollywood connection, but her company, Haole Wood, has some growing pains. From trying to find a killer, to selling her sunshminas, to lusting after Dr. Jac, the island dermatologist, to trying to ignore her so-called guardian angel, can Jaswinder learn to embrace the island way of life? Aloha!"


It Isn't Cheating if He's Dead by Julie Frayn

It Isn’t Cheating if He’s Dead is a modern day fairy tale complete with damsel in distress, white knight, village paupers, an evil step-mother, a castle, and happily ever after. Full of rich characters and a palpable sense of place, it is a sexy tale that is never sappy. 

Jemima Stone has waited four long years for Gerald, her missing fiancĂ©, to come home. When he is found dead halfway across the country, the news is devastating. 

Detective Finn Wight has been working Gerald’s case from the beginning. He refuses to drop it now, even though it is out of his jurisdiction. He keeps Jemima apprised of all his findings, no matter how painful. 

Defending her ‘innocent’ clients fills Jemima’s days. Finn’s muscular frame and easy smile fills her fantasies. But nothing relieves the guilt. Guilt that she couldn’t prevent Gerald’s devolution from genius scientist, to absent-minded professor, to ‘bat-shit crazy’ at the hands of paranoid schizophrenia. Guilt that, not long after his death, she was finding solace, and happiness, in the arms of another man. 

Feeding homeless in a local park helps ease Jemima’s pain. When a new ‘resident’ shows up, the others are wary. Though he refuses to speak, something in his eyes tells Jemima that he doesn’t belong there — that someone is looking for him. 

Jemima and Finn join forces to discover the man’s identity. They uncover the secret that sent him running from home, but there is so much that even he doesn’t know. Will the truth send him over the edge for good? Or can Jemima bring him back to reality? Bring him home? Before it is too late.


Just Add Spice by Carol E. Wyer

Escape from reality comes in patent-leather Prada kneeboots

Dawn Ellis needs to escape from her painfully dull existence. Her unemployed husband spends all day complaining about life, moping around, or fixing lawnmowers on her kitchen table. The local writing class proves to be an adequate distraction with its eccentric collection of wannabe authors and, of course, the enigmatic Jason, who soon shows a romantic interest in her.

Dawn pours her inner frustrations into her first novel about the extraordinary exploits of Cinnamon Knight, an avenging angel -- a woman who doesn't believe in following the rules. Cinnamon is ruthless and wanton, inflicting suffering on any man who warrants it. Little does Dawn realise that soon the line between reality and fiction will blur. Her own life will be transformed, and those close to her will pay the price. Find out what happens in Just Add Spice by best-selling author Carol E Wyer.



Orla's Code by Fiona Pearse

"If you want to get ahead, get noticed," is Orla Hanlon’s motto. New to London and the first female programmer at CouperDaye, a global investment bank, she takes on a high-profile but controversial project. 

With her new luxury apartment and a work-romance quietly on the side, Orla thinks she has everything under control. 

Until a bug in her code causes chaos on the trading floor and Orla finds herself a scapegoat in a corporate game, fighting to save her new life in London.


She's the Boss by Lisa Lim

The Devil Wears Prada meets The Office. Twenty-something Karsynn is now a boss, but she's not so much The Devil Wears Prada as she is The Angel Wears Payless. With a brighter career, things should be going better for her, right? Wrong. There's now a new director at the office, Carter Lockwood, and he's brought his reputation for wreaking havoc amongst the ladies. Karsynn prides herself on being the only one impervious to Carter's good looks. In fact, she takes great pleasure in blowing on the embers of Carter's hostility.

Karsynn thinks Carter is arrogant and obnoxious. Carter believes Karsynn is an ignorant, sassy spitfire. Once they start working closely together, they discover first impressions can be deceptive. Karsynn may be winning the battle against Carter, but will she lose the war? And more importantly, will she lose her heart? 



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