Wendy Squires 'The Boys' Club'

I seem to have co-incidentally picked a number of Australian books recently. Most of them have been new ones I have recently bought too. No idea why they are all on sale at the moment!

'The Boys Club' is one of these books. Set in the Australian television industry it tells the story of one woman's struggle with work-life balance. Rosie took a change of career path from journalism to publicity for a television company. Here she hit the glass ceiling while watching the boys' club laughing on the other side. The story deals with issues such as sexism in the workplace, blatent nepotism, the struggles of single parenthood, emotions of divorce, parental pressure (even once you have your own kids) as well of the pressures of being a parent.

Be Warned! This book has a lot of swearing.

Madeleine Wickham "A Desirable Residence"

Madeleine Wickham also writes under the name Sophie Kinsella. I did a bit of a thought summary on this which you can read here if you are interested.

"A Desirable Romance" is a story of peoples lives which begin individually and end up tangled in one big messy ball, not that all the characters are aware of this! Liz and Jonathan Chambers leave their family home, with the intention of selling it, along with their daughter Alice in pursuit of of a dream. Unsurprisingly, the dream doesn't go according to plan and in comes Marcus to the rescue. Marcus finds them tenants whom Alice goes on to befriend. But is Marcus trying to befriend Liz? More twists and turns and crossed relationships makes this a very readable book without it being too in-depth or too complicated a read.

May Wynne "Carol of Hollydene School"

I was given this book when my Grandma downsized from her family home, but was moving at the time so the book ended up in a box with other stuff. I just found it again and was pretty excited to the see the inscription in the front as being presented to her in 1931. This is obviously a personal thing, but I have so many of these old books with inscriptions to people I obviously don't know that it is nice to have a couple that came from my family.

This book is very stereotypical of its time. Carol is a new girl at a boarding school with a secret. She gets swept into a group of "chums" who enjoy getting into mischief in an innocent way. There is a girl at the school with a malicious, snobbish streak who tries to work out what Carol's secret is. Carol also befriends quiet Bessy who is very studious. Bessy would love to be one of the chums but is too straight. Carol learns the value of different types of friends. An added twist to the story is Carol's cousin Jim who lives nearby being privately tutored.

This book doesn't hold the same charm of the Abbey Girls or the Chalet School or the Dimsie books. It really is only for the die-hard fans of this genre. It will still have a special place on my shelves for sentimental reasons though.

Sienna Mercer "My Sister the Vampire: Fangtastic"

This is a book my ten year old has had her eye on for a while. She was ecstatic when my 12 year old was given it for her birthday from one of my friends.

All three of us have read it now and all three of us have enjoyed it. It is the second book (I think it is the second one anyway) in a series of twin girls who were separated at birth at meet in high school. Ivy is a vampire and Olivia is human. They are firm friends and thrilled to have discovered each other but only one other person knows they are related. Their parents don't know. No-one at their school knows. And the secret community of vampires in the area don't know. Olivia is the only human to know about the existence of the vampire community. In this story, this quiet existence comes under threat when a ditzy reporter called Serena Star is determined to prove that vampires are living there!

"Fangtastic" has lots of references to the vampires we all know and love. Garlic, death by stake, coffins, sparkles (as being a distasteful thing! Sorry Twilight fans) and there is even an 'interview with a vampire'. A fun, age appropriate way for younger readers to join in on the vampire craze. Plus who doesn't love long lost twin sisters?! Recommended for 9 plus, although the story is more then appropriate for younger confident readers. We are looking forward to finding the rest of the series!

Penny Vincenzi "Sheer Abandon"

I need to start this post with the saying "never judge a book by it's cover" which I really know is a good way to live your life, and then I need to follow up by confessing in this case I did. I picked this book up cheaply from somewhere (although this isn't uncommon! This is pretty much how I get all my books) and sort of wrinkled my nose up.

I am glad I bought it! "Sheer Abandon" is the story of three girls - Martha (a high powered corporate lawyer beginning a career in politics), Clio (a doctor married to a domineering surgeon) and Jocasta (a newspaper reporter). They meet briefly while traveling straight out of high school, swear everlasting friendship and then, of course, don't keep in touch. Sixteen years later their lives overlap again and also overlap with a girl called Kate. Kate was born in an airport 16 years prior and abandoned. One of them is her mother.

The story is brilliantly written. I admit I worked out who was the mother before the book revealed, but it certainly wasn't a give away. There are twists and turns and clues and dead ends before the answer is given. The story doesn't end here however. Each of the main characters is shown in many levels. A classic case of "don't judge a book by its cover".

Stories of their own past. Relationships with partners, parents and friends. Heartbreak of infertility. The torn emotions of adoption, both for the child and the parents who have to deal with the fact their child is trying to find their birth family. Struggle of balancing life and career with love and family. Old scars of the past. Hope for the future. Infidelity. Choices. Spur of the moment decisions and waiting too long to make decisions. In the background featured is the "glamorous" worlds of fashion, politics and the media and there are many references to contemporary world events.

I highly recommend this book and I am looking forward to hunting up more of Penny Vincenzi's novels.