Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann

An evocative, frightening and insightful debut, Tiger in Red Weather is heart-breakingly breath-taking. Set just after the second world war, this is a story that delves into a family's lives, loves and truths. Nick (a lady) and Hughes are newly-weds, Helena (Nick's cousin) has married a second time and the world is new. But life is never quite like you imagined it to be and one incredibly honest line from Nick to her young daughter Daisy is: 'If there's one thing you can be sure about in this life, it's that you won't always be kissing the right person.'

Nick is like that. Always wanting to be interesting, different, never being ordinary or staid. She is always pushing at the world, pushing for life or something that makes her feel alive. It is almost as if she cannot see what is right in front of her. Her husband Hughes is beautiful, she is so in love with him she knows even if she left she wouldn't be able to stay away. It reminded me of a line from the movie Gigi where she says to Gaston: 'I would rather be miserable with you than without you.' I felt like Nick had made that decision but spent her whole life fighting it. She is a complex and fascinating character and I love that Liza Klaussmann based her on her grandmother. It shows how well she knew her grandmother, how much she loved her.
Hughes is incredibly gentle and sweet, but he is damaged. Damaged by a war and the 'world on fire'. He has a past that has almost driven him from Nick, to be a sleepwalker in his own life, existenting within a self he no longer knows. Change has come upon him, like everyone in this novel, as a surprise and he cannot find his way back to who he was before.

Liza gives us a glimpse into every main character's head (Nick, Hughes, Daisy, Helena and Ed), drawing us further into a family of complicated untruths and secrets that always lay beneath the surface. You feel so drawn in to this story you can hardly believe it isn't real. You are completely entrenched in their lives, in the world of Tiger House.

I really don't want to ruin this book for anyone, but forget everything you have ever known and then read this book. It will jolt your system and draw you into yourself like nothing I have ever read before. It is life, life in a book coiled and just waiting to spring.

With its chilling undercurrent and incomparable ability to create characters who are so real you can smell the martinis, it is the perfect summer read. Curl up with a cocktail shaker close to hand and get ready for the glitz, glamour and terrifying truths. You will not regret it. I, for one, will never be the same again.

Size 12 and Ready to Rock by Meg Cabot

The brand new, hilarious and wonderful Heather Wells' mystery Size 12 and Ready to Rock! I was so excited to read it, but I had to start right from the beginning with Size 12 is not Fat, Size 14 is not Fat Either and Size Doesn't Matter (which is my favourite one!). It was a fantastic week and a bit, especially when I was able to finish one book and go straight to the next. No need to wait and agonise over Cooper (the hunkiest private investigator I have ever read about!) and Heather...did they get together? will they won't they? Etc.

Finally... Size 12 and Ready to Rock had arrived (in the post because it is not yet available in the UK - trust me, I rang publishers!!) and I was too excited! I got right to reading, seamlessly moving from Size Doesn't Matter, because Meg Cabot picked right up from where she left off... Oh okay, there was a gap of a few days, weeks, months maybe, but not the years I had to wait just to read this book! So...

Heather Wells is still at Death Dorm sorry, I mean Fisher Hall residence hall for the summer. Or at least she is working for the summer while the residence hall is closed for redecoration and painting. Hiring on some of her favourite students, or 'misfit toys' as Cooper calls them, she is pretty much enjoying her summer. Well, aside from Sarah's wild mood swings (which aren't anything new, but must get on the nerves eventually!). The best bit is that Heather is pretty much in charge now, since the death of her last boss (poor Oscar) the college has been frantically searching for a new director, but it turns out no one really wants to be the director of 'Death Dorm', so Heather is able to call all the shots! Which is a good thing, because she is awesome! But all good things must come to an end and Heather finds herself across town (okay like 10 blocks away - but they are really long blocks) when her new boss finally does show up: a perky cheerleader-type who already has Sarah's disapproval.

Then Tania Trace (Heather's arch-nemesis) becomes a target. Someone is trying to kill her and Cartwright of Cartwright Records hires his own son (black-sheep, Cooper) to be her bodyguard, apparently he is the only one Tania can trust. Of course all of this would be fine, but Tania has also decided to stick to Heather too and ends up moving her 'reality' show Tania Trace Rock Camp from it's palatial hotel venue to 'Death Dorm'. Who wouldn't love their summer to be crashed by a bunch of overly-competitive children and mums? Um, Heather Wells that's who!

It's like Toddlers In Tiaras and Murder She Wrote and The Golden Girls and so many other things all rolled into one. This is one amazing book people! It had me at 'Hello'! No seriously, the cover is so fantastic and the story is brilliant, I was completely hooked! Tania finally becomes a real character and you get to resolve all of those pent up issues you have against her, for treating Heather the way she did. Cooper comes a bit more to the forefront and Heather, as always, is a bad ass.

After this book everything pales in comparison. I shall have to hang on and wait for the next instalment...which isn't due out until 2013!!! How can I wait? How?

All I can say is read this book! READ IT! You will not regret it.

Size Doesn't Matter by Meg Cabot

As I believe I mentioned earlier, this was my favourite Heather Wells Mystery novel. It has the genius character's of Tad Tocco and Muffy Fowler (yep that is her name!). Also, one of the most disturbing murder mysteries yet.

It has the best start too...
Heather goes jogging - yep, you read it correctly, JOGGING! This is all Tad Tocco's idea, he thinks Heather should get a little more toned up, not that she is fat or anything! Well, Heather gets up at 6am (why would anyone do that out of choice?), goes to the park and runs around for about 1 minute. But then (wisely) she decides to save herself and her uterus (from jiggling free) and stops jogging. I mean, who would want to go jogging - Heather doesn't even like to shower, why stand up when you can sit down and bathe?
A question I am constantly mulling over...

So, once Heather has managed to walk around the park (Tad ran off easily in tiny shorts) and convinced Tad that really he wants to go get waffles for breakfast she is feeling pretty good about things. That is until she is rudely awoken by a fresh dead body at Death Dorm. But who would murder Heather's new boss, Owen? It's not like he was a saint, but he doesn't deserve to be shot in the head through an open window over his morning coffee. I mean no one should have to go like that!
Top it all off with a cute new boyfriend (Tad - her remedial maths assistant professor) and a little romance buzzing around the dorm (I mean residence hall) between two rather wonderful (and much loved) characters. This is actually one of the most romantic novels in this series. Everyone gets a glimpse at happiness, but I can hear you all saying: 'What about Cooper?!'

Well my friends, he isn't far away and hey, he needs to see that someone else might WANT to be Heather's rebound. Hilarious storyline coupled with a terrifying murder, especially if it wasn't caused by a stray bullet. Plus, lots of lovely family bonding going on between Heather and her dad. It really is an incredible read!

Now, onto the brand new and very shiny Size 12 and Ready to Rock...!

Size 14 is not Fat Either by Meg Cabot

We left Heather Wells happily living with Cooper after successfully catching the Death Dorm 'elevator surfing' murderer. All she needs now is a new boss and a new pair of jeans (after all the delicious Christmas and New Year dinners (and all those parties). No longer so cut up over vanity sizing, Heather is ready to take on this new year! She just didn't factor in her dad getting out of jail or Jordan wanting to invite her to his wedding to Tania Trace (like she even wanted to go!) or... finding a girl's head in a boiling pot on the stove!

Well, at least this time Heather isn't going to get involved...until she sees how little the police are doing that is. So armed with her street smarts and no-nonsense attitude, Heather starts to investigate. A girls gruesome death should not go un-avenged and Heather is the perfect person to go about this, especially with the help of Cooper and, a rather unexpected, Gavin.

If anything, this book is funnier and scarier than Size 12 is not Fat especially as you get a better introduction into Heather's family life. As always Magda and Pete form a dynamic work-family-duo keeping Heather sane while she attempts to navigate her newly complicated life. Lucy provides the cute-dog thing every ex-popstar needs to help her get up in the morning relief and Cooper - well, Cooper is the cute, but kind of off-limits, dream guy.

This series does just keep improving and I cannot wait to get started on Size Doesn't Matter which is my favourite! Because really who else could come up with a character like Tad Tocco and who could possibly start a third novel with a murder mystery quite like Meg Cabot?!

Go on, 'Read for Free' by borrowing from a library or even go out and show some independent bookshop some love by buying in store. You will not regret it!

Size 12 is not Fat by Meg Cabot

And so it begins...

Heather Wells, teen pop sensation, is now in her late twenties, no longer engaged to Easy Street dreamboat (yep it's a boyband - like The Backstreet Boys) Jordan Cartwright and dropped from her label (Jordan's dad's label to be exact). She has, also, put on a few pounds - but, she is NOT fat. Size 12 is the average size of a woman in America, so how can that be fat?

Heather has just started her job as assistant dorm (I mean, residence hall) director at Fisher Hall ( a residence hall for New York College). Handily it is only a short walk from her new digs, the top floor apartment of Cooper Cartwright's (you got that right - Jordan's older brother) brownstone. Thankfully she can stay there for free (so long as she does all of Cooper's accounting) and it doesn't hurt that she is completely head over heels in love with him and might catch a glimpse of Cooper in a towel (and nothing else)!

Heather is trying really hard at work and enjoys working with the very stylish (and rather size-ist) Rachel, who is the new director of Fisher Hall. Heather actually enjoys her job, that is until girls start being found at the bottom of the elevator shaft after "evaluator surfing". But Heather knows that a girl who likes Ziggy (a cartoon character) is not the type of girl who would go "elevator surfing" and she begins to investigate on her own. Oh, with Cooper's help every once in a while, what with him being a private investigator he is actually quite useful. If only he would confess his undying love for her, Heather would be completely happy... of course after they catch the killer!

I absolutely love this series, I have read it over and over again, because it is still fresh, funny and at points pretty terrifying. The perfect combination for a girl like me! I gasped, laughed and basically inhaled this book. Also, Meg Cabot is a lady after my own heart, she makes a reference to Rory Gilmore (from The Gilmore Girls TV show)!!

Size 12 is not Fat is a terrific read and I just cannot wait to get my teeth into the new book! Just two more to go and Size 14 is not Fat Either has already had me in stitches.

Look at Me by Jennifer Egan

One of Jennifer Egan's earlier novels delves into the fashion industry, it's obsession with beauty, youth and fame. It questions our thoughts and feelings on identity, reality and Western culture Look at Me is a haunting novel that stays with you long after you have finished it. Look at Me is perhaps not as accomplished as Egan's most recent novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad, but it does show the seedlings of her ideas on life, love and truth.

Charlotte was a model/party girl when she was horribly injured in a car accident. She had to have reconstructive surgery, on her face. Suddenly her calling card, her entire business was in jeopardy. By looking even slightly different she finds friends and colleagues walking right by her. They don't recognise this new Charlotte.

As Charlotte continues to fear for her career and lifestyle her identity comes into question: Who is she now? Who was she and is there anyway of getting it all back?
Overwhelmed with memories of her past, Charlotte is lost in her new reality. But when a gruff private investigator wants to question her in a missing persons case, can she really turn down a chance to be seen? Even if only by a PI.

Twinned with this narrative we are introduced to another Charlotte. A girl who lives in the first Charlotte's home town. Listing between childhood and adulthood, this second Charlotte feels lost in a world where childhood disappears so rapidly. Where trust is suddenly something rare and where questioning 'why?' is important.

I absolutely loved reading about these, while at different ages and circumstances, Charlotte's. They might be different people and yet what they are going through is incredibly similar. Who wouldn't give anything to feel special, different, to stand out from the millions of other people? It is hardly surprising that a teenager would do something reckless or that a grown woman would throw caution to the wind once she feels her life start to slip between her fingers.

The most incredible part of this book is Egan's prophecy. I don't want to ruin it for you, but it truly is brilliant!

A must-read for any Egan fan and for those starting out, this novel is very accessible and suits this modern age to a T!

The Travelling Matchmaker series part 2 by M.C. Beaton

So, here we are, back at the old M.C. Beaton. Here are my reviews of the rest of the series...


Beatrice Goes to Brighton
So our intrepid traveller, Miss Hannah Pym, former servant, now independent lady of means is off on her stagecoach adventures again. This time with her faithful servant Benjamin, a footman who takes a lot of pride in his appearance even if he also likes to get into a scrap or two (or play with the dice in his pocket). There is also Lady Beatrice, a cold woman well-known for her cruelty and dazzling beauty. Finally, escaping from a brutish husband, Lady Beatrice hopes to escape another horrendous match by taking the stagecoach (and not her carriage) to Bath.
Now, Miss Hannah Pym has never been able to resist matchmaking, especially when there is a beautiful young lady involved...but when Lady Beatrice takes a private carriage at one of the stagecoach stops (from Hannah's perspective: forced to, at gunpoint), Hannah has to act. Luckily she has stumbled upon a rather rakish Lord Alistair Munro, who is willing to help her...and maybe, Hannah can make another match!
Another great story from M.C. Beaton, Hannah is a brilliant protagonist, you can't help but love her. I also love the new addition of Benjamin the footman, he just shakes up the stories and adds an extra bit of excitement! Great read, perfect for gloomy rainy days.

Deborah Goes to Dover
Lady Deborah Western has no intention of being a lady, not for one moment does she want to simper and flirt. She would rather wear trousers and ride horses, go fishing and hunt with her twin brother and never attend balls. A determined tomboy and one Miss Pym has decided to make into her next success story, especially when she meets the rather dashing Earl of Ashton.
A lot of the action in this one takes place between Dover and London, staying at rather grand houses. It is also rather exciting if you are a fan of Benjamin, the footman (which I am!!). Deborah was also a pretty spunky lead, but I don't like how she had to change from who she was into a lady, just to be desirable...but still a pretty good book. Very exciting and an excellent scene involving the evil Lady Carsey and the Western twins.

Yvonne Goes to York
Yvonne is French, she has escaped The Terror and is now living in England, but is there any escape when a French agent of the Revolution is sitting next to her on the stagecoach? When Miss Pym is around, there most certainly is!
I don't want to give too much away about this, but it was a great final book for the series! It had adventure and historical information that I really enjoyed. The matchmaking was not so much a theme, but you do get a whole bunch of happy endings here and a great surprise. Worth reading the series just to get to this one. Definitely one of my favourites! I was glued to it from the first page and bitterly disappointed when it all ended...


Read them all! Great covers, perfect for reading on the train or at home, buy them or borrow them (from a library!), they are frothy, pretty, perfect little books to cheer up gloomy, grey days.

The Best Books to Read in the Sun

So, as it is absolutely lovely outside (sweltering inside) here is a list of some of my favourite books to read in the sunshine. That is if you have already finished (or have eschewed) Fifty Shades...

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell is one of those perfect summer holiday reads. It is romantic and exciting, a book that spans many years of the most incredible (love her or hate her) protagonist, Scarlett O'Hara. If you are lucky enough to have some time off at the moment (student, clever person who booked off the right holiday week, or anyone else) and are looking for a fantastic (yes, it is long, but you've got a week in the sunshine) read, look no further!

If you aren't swooning for Rhett Butler by the end I will eat my hat!




This gorgeous bind-up from Mills & Boon was my top read last summer, as I sat tanning my legs in the rare beams of sunlight. Under Summer Skies by Nora Roberts is a combination of two classics: From This Day and Her Mother's Keeper. I can't tell you which one was better, they were both perfect for sitting around and daydreaming about being somewhere else!

A great book for when you can't bear anything too complicated, but are still looking for a bit of romance.

So, I have written about all the books in this series and I can highly recommend them! Incredibly well written by Meg Cabot, these books get better and better, ending with the incredible Missing You. 


Perfect for any teenage girl or anyone out there who enjoys teen fiction, these are fast-paced with a great heroine and a pretty hunky male lead! Being entertained while lying in the sun was never so easy!


Here Lies Bridget is another, for teens (but I am no longer a teen and I couldn't put it down) recommendation. It is funny, but also dark, poignant and desperately good. Bridget has always been popular, but when all of a sudden she starts to push things a little too far will her 'friends' stay by her side or has all of Bridget's bitchiness come back to haunt her?

By a fantastic new author Paige Harbison, MIRA totally know what they are doing and I am sure New Girl will be another firm favourite (was out in May 2012)!

Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson is a real page-turner. I could hardly put the book down it was so addictive. When Christine wakes up every morning she thinks she is in her twenties, that she has gone home with some random older man and that she needs to sneak out before his wife finds out. That is until she looks into the mirror and sees herself, middle-aged and unfamiliar, but definitely still her. How did she get here? Every night her memories reset, Christine can only remember things for about 24 hours and then it is like nothing happened.

If you are looking for a crime thriller to keep you glued to the page then take this one out in the sun. I guarantee a fantastic suntan, just don't forget to put on sunscreen!

And finally, my favourite read in 2012: The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown. It is absolutely the best thing! Read it anytime, but if you can, sit out all day with it, don't forget to hydrate! This is a book about books, a book about family, sisters, parents, your own life. It rolls everything is a book I wanted to fall into, a book I wanted to breath in!

Three very different sisters all end up home again to help their mother, but being all together again under one roof, the roles they used to play threaten to take over and the bonds of sisterhood are stretched...



So, those are my recommendations. If you want to add anything to this list or recommend something to me (I am always on the lookout for a great summer read!) please just let me know via twitter or comment below! Enjoy the British Summer...while it lasts!

Missing You by Meg Cabot

The final instalment in the incredible Missing series is absolutely brilliant. It is a little older than the previous novels, Jess is now living in New York (well, Hells Kitchen) with best friend Ruth. She is going to Julliard and working very hard to keep her place as first chair in the flute section. Jess is just a normal girl. And that's the problem, she is normal - her powers are gone.

Jess had gone to help in Afghanistan. What was she supposed to do? People needed her and they needed her there. So off she went leaving behind her sort-of boyfriend, Rob, and her whole life to find people for the US government. But now that she is back, she is having nightmares, she can't find people anymore and she sure as hell isn't sure what she is doing with her life.

That is... until Rob shows up on her doorstep.

I absolutely loved, loved, LOVED this book. Jess is older now, but just the same, if a little more grown-up. She is broken, or at least that is pretty easy to say when it comes to her powers, but she is even letting Skip take her out on dates!! She is letting her mother tell her who to be. Where has Jess gone?

The best parts of this book surrounded Jess's family (Mike, Douglas, Ruth, her dad) and Cabot's interesting portrait of post-traumatic stress in a teenage girl who went to war. She brings a little bit of reality to her stories that keep you reading, (hooked, really). This whole series has been one big discussion about the US government and their tactics, if you were a teenager would you really want to work for them?

There is also a pretty nice reference to the TV show based on this series, Missing that obviously changed quite a few plot points. One being her father (in the TV show he is dead). It is a cute reference and is a great benchmark to show her notoriety in her home town has not diminished.

I read this in one sitting, it is an absolutely brilliant book that straddles the teen and adult market perfectly. There are adult themes that didn't exist in the previous books, but Jess is older now. I only wish there were more of this series, but sadly this is the last. I hope you do read it. The whole series is well worth reading, especially now! Go out and buy them or even borrow from your local library. Let's show the books, and the incomparable Meg Cabot, some book-buying/borrowing love.

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Jennifer Egan's brilliant (and Pulitzer Prize Winning) A Visit from the Goon Squad is simply fantastic. It is a novel about life, love, failure, success and the constant ups-and-downs of modern living. This book is so powerful it kept me glued to it's pages. I was unable to do anything else, except read.

I have heard many a story about the brilliance of this book, it was published in 2010 and has been snowballing those awards until it's grand finale in 2011 when the Pulitzer dropped its own hat and bowed down in amazement. All of a sudden this book was an international must-read and I kind of missed it, so here I am a few years later devouring it in one sitting.

I almost find it difficult to describe this book, but here goes:

Crudely you could say this is a book about the music industry, it does have many characters who work in the industry, but I would have to say that this is just a book about life, the music industry is just a handy tool to further illustrate Egan's point. There are many overlapping themes and repetitions about youth, anger, fear, growing up, cruelty and the desire to preserve ourselves, our lives, our past. Nostalgia is a sign of decline while moving with the times can be terrifying, you can feel yourself getting lost. Each character/chapter brings with it it's own insight into different characters, each trying to be 'the survivors'.

Sasha is the first character we meet, she is sitting on a couch talking to her therapist, trying desperately to work out her impulse control issues, while regaling the reader with a blind date story. The next chapter jumps back in time to Bennie (Sasha's old boss) and his fears of getting older, losing something he once had, not being able to connect with his son, looking back over his own failures and embarrassments.

This is just a brief introduction into the characters you meet in Egan's wonderfully crafted novel. They are flawed human beings, people who are going through something, people who feel like they will never succeed. With incredible skill Egan takes us on a wild ride, jumping between time periods, characters and even narrative styles (you have all heard about the PowerPoint slide chapter). What is astounding is that she doesn't lose her touch. She is just as convincing as a 10 year old girl as she is a 43 year old man. With each chapter Egan delves a little deeper into the collective character storyline, weaving an incredibly interconnected narrative.

I could go on and tell you all my favourite parts, but I feel that you should read it yourself. There is so much to say about this moving and brilliant book, so many points where I clutched the book or when I was so overcome I nearly couldn't keep reading. It was a book that made me laugh, gasp and nearly cry. An inherently wise and beautiful book that I most highly recommend.