The lovely Choc Lit gang revealed the cover for Jane Lovering’s next novel Vampire State of Mind over on their Facebook page the other day. Isn’t it gorgeous? And such a fab title too. Described as “Choc Lit’s version of Buffy”, I can’t wait to read this one. Vampire State of Mind is out in August – perfect timing for your beach reading list!

Check out One More Page’s Facebook page for more book news and gossip!

In the second part of my ‘hot picks’ for 2012 I’ve chosen the paranormal and fantasy books that I’m most looking forward to reading. Are your favourites on the list?

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood (Razorbill, March)

I love witch stories and am looking forward to this new YA series. I’ve shown the US cover here – isn’t it lovely?

Our mother was a witch too, but she hid it better.

I miss her.

To me, the magic feels like a curse. According to the Brothers, it’s devil-sent. Women who can do magic-they’re either mad or wicked. So I will do everything in my power to protect myself and my sisters. Even if it means giving up my life – and my true love.

Because if the Brothers discover our secret, we’re destined for the asylum, or prison . . . or death.

Romance, magic, and an age-old prophecy.

The Reckoning by Alma Katsu (Century, June)

The second book in The Taker series – no synopsis yet for this immortal love story but the series has undergone a striking cover change for this release!

666 Park Avenue by Gabriella Pierce (Canvas, June)

I’m very excited about this series which definitey falls into the chick lit side of paranormal – it sounds brilliant.

Welcome to New York City, where the socialites are witches Ever since fabulously wealthy Malcolm Doran walked into her life and swept her off her feet, Jane Boyle has been living a fairy-tale. When he proposes, Jane can’t believe her incredible luck and decides to leave her Paris-based job as a fledgling architect and make a new start with Malcolm in New York. But when Malcolm introduces Jane to the esteemed Doran clan, one of Manhattan’s most feared and revered families, Jane’s fairy-tale takes a darker turn. Soon everything she thought she knew about the world-and herself-is upended. Now Jane must struggle with newfound magical abilities and the threat of those who will stop at nothing to get them. What if your mother-in-law turned out to be an evil, cold-blooded witch … literally?

Shadow of the Night by Deborah Harkness (Headline, July)

The long awaited sequel to A Discovery of Witches. Enough said

Together we lifted our feet and stepped into the unknown.

Shortly after Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont timewalk to London, 1590, they discover that the past may not provide a safe haven after all. Reclaiming his former identity as poet and spy Matthew Roydon, the vampire falls back in step with a group of radicals known as the School of Night who share dangerous ideas about God, science, and man. Many of his friends are unruly daemons – the creative minds of the age who walk the fine line between genius and madness – including playwright Christopher Marlowe and mathematician Thomas Harriot.  Matthew, himself, is expected to continue to spy for Queen Elizabeth, which puts him in close contact with London’s cutthroat underworld.

Together, Matthew and Diana scour the bookstalls and alchemical laboratories of London where they follow the elusive trail of Ashmole 782 – and search for the witch who will teach Diana to control her powers.

Wake by Amanda Hocking (Pan Macmillan, Autumn)

Having just read Switched I’m looking forward to reading the first in Amanda’s new Watersong series.

Beautiful. Fearless. Dangerous. They’re the kind of girls you envy; the kind of girls you want to hate. Strangers in town for the summer, Penn, Thea, and Lexi have caught everyone’s attention, including the eye of practical Harper. But it’s her sister, Gemma, they’ve chosen to be part of their group.

Sixteen-year-old Gemma seems to have it all – carefree, pretty, and falling in love with the boy next door. But her greatest passion has always been the water. She craves late night swims under the stars, where she can be alone yet belong to the sea. Lately she’s had company. Penn, Thea, and Lexi spend their nights dancing, singing, and partying on the cove–and one night Gemma joins them. When she wakes up groggy on the beach the next morning, she knows something has changed.

Suddenly Gemma is stronger, faster, and more beautiful than ever. As she uncovers the truth about her new mythical powers, Gemma is forced to choose between staying with those she loves or entering a dark world brimming with unimaginable secrets.

The Water Witch by Carol Goodman (Ebury, September)

No synopsis yet for this book which is the second novel in the Fairwick Chronicles series. I loved Incubus and can’t wait to find out what happens to Callie next.

Last year I wrote a post on my top five most anticipated chick lit books of 2011 and it was the most popular post on the blog for the year. This year I’ve decided to expand on my list with lists for the three genres I read most, starting today with historical fiction. Here are the books that I’m most looking forward to over the next twelve months (there are seven because I just couldn’t narrow the list down any further!)

The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak (Doubleday 19th January)

I love reading about strong historical female figures and discovering new areas of history so this book really caught my attention and it has a beautiful cover too.

When Vavara, a young orphaned Polish girl, is brought to serve at Empress Elizabeth’s glittering, dangerous court in St Petersburg, she is schooled by the Chancellor himself in skills from lock-picking to love-making, learning above all else to stay silent – and listen. Soon, she is Elizabeth’s ‘tongue’ – her secret eyes and ears.

Then Sophie, a vulnerable young princess, arrives from Prussia as a prospective bride for Elizabeth’s heir. Set to spy on her by the Empress, Vavara soon becomes her friend and confidante, and helps her navigate the illicit seductions and the treacherous shifting allegiances of the court. But Sophie’s destiny is to become the notorious Catherine the Great. Are her ambitions more lofty and far-reaching than anyone suspected, and will she stop at nothing to achieve absolute power?

The last summer Judith Kinghorn (Headline 2nd February)

Judith Kinghorn’s debut novel set against the background of the First World War sounds like a great read.

Clarissa is almost seventeen when the spell of her childhood is broken. It is 1914, the beginning of a blissful, golden summer – and the end of an era. Deyning Park is in its heyday, the large country house filled with the laughter and excitement of privileged youth preparing for a weekend party. When Clarissa meets Tom Cuthbert, home from university and staying with his mother, the housekeeper, she is dazzled. Tom is handsome and enigmatic; he is also an outsider. Ambitious, clever, his sights set on a career in law, Tom is an acute observer, and a man who knows what he wants. For now, that is Clarissa.

As Tom and Clarissa’s friendship deepens, the wider landscape of political life around them is changing, and soon the world – and all that they know – is rocked irrevocably by a war that changes their lives for ever.

The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye ( Headline 15th March)

I first heard of this book at a Headline blogger event way back in May 2011. I love New York and this sounds like a fantastic piece of historical fiction.

August 1845 in New York; enter the dark, unforgiving city underworld of the legendary Five Points…

After a fire decimates a swathe of lower Manhattan, and following years of passionate political dispute, New York City at long last forms an official Police Department. That same summer, the great potato famine hits Ireland. These events will change the city of New York for ever.

Timothy Wilde hadn’t wanted to be a copper star.  On the night of August 21st, on his way home from the Tombs defeated and disgusted, he is plotting his resignation, when a young girl who has escaped from a nearby brothel, crashes into him; she wears only a nightdress and is covered from head to toe in blood. Searching out the truth in the child’s wild stories, Timothy soon finds himself on the trail of a brutal killer, seemingly hell bent on fanning the flames of anti-Irish immigrant sentiment and threatening chaos in a city already in the midst of social upheaval. But his fight for justice could cost him the woman he loves, his brother and ultimately his life…

The Perfume Garden by Kate Lord Brown (Atlantic 1st April)

Kate’s debut The Beauty Chorus made my top books of 2011 so I have high hopes for her second novel!

High in the hills of Valencia, a forgotten house guards its secrets. Untouched since Franco’s forces tore through Spain in 1936, the whitewashed walls have crumbled, the garden, laden with orange blossom, grown wild. Emma Temple is the first to unlock its doors in seventy years. Guided by a series of letters and a key bequeathed in her mother’s will, she has left her job as London’s leading perfumier to restore this dilapidated villa to its former glory. It is the perfect retreat: a wilderness redolent with strange and exotic scents, heavy with the colours and sounds of a foreign time. But for her grandmother, Freya, a British nurse who stayed here during Spain’s devastating civil war, Emma’s new home evokes terrible memories. As the house begins to give up its secrets, Emma is drawn deeper into Freya’s story: a story of crushed idealism, of lost love, and of families ripped apart by war. She soon realises it is one thing letting go of the past, but another when it won’t let go of you.

Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann (Picador August)

I only heard about this book recently but it was fought over by eight publishers at auction and sounds brilliant!

The epitome of East Coast glamour, Tiger House is where the beautiful and the damned have always come to play in summer, scene of martinis and moonlit conspiracies, and newly inherited by the sleek, beguiling Nick.

The Second World War is just ending, her cousin Helena has left in search of married bliss in Hollywood, and Nick’s husband is coming home. Everything is about to change.

Their children will suprise them. One summer, on the cusp of adolescence, Nick’s daughter and Helena’s son make a sinister discovery that plunges the island’s bright heat into private shadow.

Magnificently told by each of the five characters in turn, Tigers in Red Weather is a simmering tale of passion, betrayal and secret violence beneath a polished and fragile facade.

Citadel by Kate Mosse (Orion 13th September)

I loved Kate’s previous books Labyrinth and Sepulchre so was very excited to see that she is bringing out a third novel set in the same part of France.

Set during World War II in the far south of France, Citadel is a powerful, action-packed mystery that reveals the secrets of the resistance under Nazi occupation. While war blazed in the trenches at the front, back at home a different battle is waged, full of clandestine bravery, treachery and secrets. And as a cell of Maquis resistance fighters, codenamed CITADEL, fight for everything they hold dear, their struggle will reveal an older, darker combat being fought in the shadows. Citadel is a story of daring and courage, of lives risked for beliefs and of astonishing secrets buried in time.

Ravenscliffe by Jane Sanderson (Sphere 27th September)

Jane Sanderson’s debut, Netherwood was another of my top ten reads of 2011 and I can’t wait for the sequel.

On Netherwood Common, Anna Rabinovich shows Eve Williams a house: a large Victorian Villa, solidly built from Yorkshire stone, with wide bay windows that look out over the rugged landscape. This is Ravenscliffe, and it’s the house Anna wants them to live in. It’s their house, she says. It was meant to be. As Anna transforms Ravenscliffe, an attraction grows between her and mineworker Amos. But when Eve’s long-lost brother Silas returns, a rift begins to open up between the two women. Meanwhile, things at Netherwood Hall are changing. Below stairs, the staff struggle to preserve the dignity of the old order but Tobias Hoyland and his young bride Thea Stirling seem to have different ideas.

Stop by later in the week for my top chick lit and paranormal picks for 2012!

Dear Santa, if you are reading this I’d love to find any of these in my stocking and they might provide some gift ideas for book loving boys and girls. Lots of love, Amanda x

A handbag?

These handmade handbags are one of a kind and so gorgeous. Available from The Literary Gift Company.

The Chocolate Library

Chocolate and books; the perfect combination and the Edinburgh based Chocolate Library has some delicious gifts for book lovers. My favourites are the Book Lovers Gift Bundle and the ‘Too fond of books’ chocolate bar.

Flipback to the future!

Flipbacks are the new way to read and they are so cute! I’m dying to get my hands on one. Basically, the Flipback is a book that opens top to bottom with the print from side to side. It makes for a lovely little full sized novel!  Launched in the UK by Hodder earlier this year, you can find out more at: http://www.flipbackbooks.com/or search Amazon for Flipback. My favourites are the Flipback versions of Jane Austen’s novels that were released last month.

Reading Spa from Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights

I recently discovered the website for this wonderful book shop after someone Tweeted about it. I think the Reading Spa is a brilliantly original idea; it’s a gift voucher entitling you to visit the bookshop in Bath for about an hour of book chat over tea and cake in the wonderfully named Bibliotherapy Room with a member of the shop team. Following a discussion of your likes and dislikes, the bibliotherapist selects books that they think will appeal to you and the voucher price includes an amount to spend on books in the shop – a really fabulous treat for book lovers!

Tiger Tea and Biscuits!

The Tiger Who Came to Tea is one on my son’s favourite story books at the moment and The Victoria and Albert Museum have a whole range of gifts inspired by the book. My personal favourites are these Orange Crunch ‘Tiger Food’ biscuits and English Breakfast ‘Tiger Tea.

Martina Reilly tweeted the cover for her January 2012 release, Even Better Than the Real Thing earlier this week and I think it’s lovely – really eye catching! The book sounds like a great read to start the New Year with and is released on 5th January.

What would you do if you were an unwitting part of the greatest art scam in history? Eve Cole knows. She’s going to get her painting back and return the eleven million paid for it. The only thing she needs is a plan that won’t implicate her or her family.

Enter Larry, her handsome, duplicitous next-door neighbour. Larry is full of plans and he might just be amoral enough to go through with them.

Eve, knowing she has no choice but to trust this ex-con, reluctantly throws her lot in with him. But is Larry the real deal? Is he just another big fake? Will he con her out of her ill-gotten millions?

As the plan escalates, Eve learns that much like riding a rollercoaster, life would be much more fun if she could just let go…

Even Better Than the Real Thing is available to pre-order now (link goes to Amazon.co.uk)

Just four books on my December wish list and I can’t wait to read them all!

Build a Man by Talli Roland
Released 7th December
Published by Notting Hill Press
Website: http://talliroland.blogspot.com/

This one is actually already out as an ebook but the official launch date is 7th December. It sounds like another fun read from Talli who has certainly been busy this year!

How far would you go to create the perfect partner?

Slave to the rich, rude and deluded, cosmetic surgery receptionist Serenity Holland longs for the day she’s a high-flying tabloid reporter. Unfortunately, every pitch she sends out disappears like her clients’ liposuctioned fat, never to be seen again. Then she meets Jeremy Ritchie — the hang-dog man determined to be Britain’s Most Eligible Bachelor by making himself over from head to toe and everything in between — giving Serenity a story no editor could resist.

With London’s biggest tabloid on board and her very own column tracking Jeremy’s progress from dud to dude, Serenity is determined to be a success, even going undercover to gain intimate access to Jeremy’s life. But when Jeremy’s surgery goes drastically wrong and Serenity is ordered to cover all the car-crash goriness, she must decide how far she really will go for her dream job.

Build a Man is available for Kindle (link goes to amazon.co.uk)

Confessions of a Karaoke Queen by Ella Kingsley
Released 8th December
Published by Sphere
Website: http://www.littlebrown.co.uk/About/Imprints/Sphere

This one sounds like lots of fun and is Ella Kingsley’s debut.

Maddie Mulhern is suddenly in charge. Her parents – former 80s pop duo Pineapple Mist – have left for the summer on a nostalgia tour, entrusting her to manage their struggling karaoke bar, Sing It Back. Panicking over the dodgy finances, Maddie takes a gamble: she signs up for a fly-on-the-wall reality TV series. With her faithful staff (divalicious drag queen Ruby, shy barman Simon and wannabe actress Jasmine) she’ll transform the bar into a huge success. Simple. Right? Executive Producer Evan Bergman knows that scandal sells. It’s no coincidence that he hires cool, attractive Nick Craven as director. Evan wants drama on screen – and he’ll do anything to get it. As the series builds to a live finale, will Maddie see the truth in a Careless Whisper? Will Nick be able to keep his Poker Face? One thing’s for sure: we all do things at karaoke that we regret …

Confessions of a Karaoke Queen is available in paperback and for Kindle (links go to Amazon.co.uk)

I Heart Vegas by Lindsey Kelk
Released 8th December
Published by Harper
Website: http://www.iheartlindseykelk.com/

I’m a huge fan of this series and can’t wait to read the fourth installment of Angela’s adventures. Gorgeous cover too!

Angela Clark loves her life in New York. She a Brit who’s conquered the Big Apple. Unfortunately, she’s also a Brit who’s lost her job. And when, just a couple of weeks before Christmas, the immigration department gets wind of this, Angela needs to find a new job urgently. Or a husband. And she doesn’t think her boyfriend Alex will be keen.

A girls’ weekend in Vegas with her best friend Jenny seems the perfect way to forget her troubles. From the minute they arrive Angela is swept up in a whirl of cocktails, outrageous outfits, late nights and brushes with the chapel of love. But rather than escaping trouble, Angela is up to her neck in it….

But what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas – right?

I Heart Vegas is available in paperback and for Kindle (links go to Amazon.co.uk)

Manhattan by Ronni Cooper
Released 22nd December
Published by Sphere
Website: http://www.ronnicooper.com/

New York is my favourite city so this had to be on my list and it sounds like a real page turner!

Raine: Born in Brooklyn, the undisputed queen of the City, Raine owns the sexiest, starriest nightclub in New York – and no one is ever going to take her crown. Mei-Lin: The beautiful, enigmatic madam moves in all the right circles – but it wasn’t always that way. Now her American dream has become a nightmare and she may have to pay the ultimate price for freedom. Stevie: Once the lead singer of the biggest female rock band in the world, Stevie is now flying solo – but she has a secret that could destroy her. Now all three women are about to discover that payback is the biggest bitch of all…

Manhattan is available in paperback and for Kindle (links go to Amazon.co.uk)

Judith Kinghorn’s February 2012 historical fiction debut has been on my wish list for a while and I noticed recently that the cover had appeared on Amazon. It sounds like a great read doesn’t it?

Clarissa is almost seventeen when the spell of her childhood is broken. It is 1914, the beginning of a blissful, golden summer – and the end of an era. Deyning Park is in its heyday, the large country house filled with the laughter and excitement of privileged youth preparing for a weekend party. When Clarissa meets Tom Cuthbert, home from university and staying with his mother, the housekeeper, she is dazzled. Tom is handsome and enigmatic; he is also an outsider. Ambitious, clever, his sights set on a career in law, Tom is an acute observer, and a man who knows what he wants. For now, that is Clarissa.

As Tom and Clarissa’s friendship deepens, the wider landscape of political life around them is changing, and soon the world – and all that they know – is rocked irrevocably by a war that changes their lives for ever.

I always love November for book releases as there are lots of lovely Christmas titles to choose from. I’ve narrowed the November releases down to five of my favourites that I’ll be adding to my shelves next month.

Highland Storms by Christina Courtenay
Released 1st November
Published by Choc Lit
Website: http://christinacourtenay.com/

Highland Storms is the sequel to the excellent Trade Winds. Trade Winds was short-listed for the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Pure Passion Award for Best Historical Fiction 2011 and I’m really looking forward to finding out what happens next to the Kinross family. You can read the first two chapters on the Choc Lit website.

Betrayed by his brother and his childhood love, Brice Kinross needs a fresh start. So he welcomes the opportunity to leave Sweden for the Scottish Highlands to take over the family estate.

But there’s trouble afoot at Rosyth in 1754 and Brice finds himself unwelcome. The estate’s  in ruin and money is disappearing.  He discovers an ally in Marsaili Buchanan, the beautiful redheaded housekeeper, but can he trust her?

Marsaili is determined to build a good life. She works hard at being housekeeper and harder still at avoiding men who want to take advantage of her.  But she’s irresistibly drawn to the new clan chief, even though he’s made it plain he doesn’t want to be shackled to anyone.

And the young laird has more than romance on his mind. His investigations are stirring up an enemy.  Someone who will stop at nothing to get what he wants – including Marsaili – even if that means destroying Brice’s life forever …

Any Dream Will Do by Maria Duffy
Released 3rd November
Published by Hachette Books Ireland
Website: http://writenowmom.wordpress.com/

As a bit of a Twitter addict myself, I love the sound of the plot for Maria Duffy’s debut novel.

‘Tis the season to be jolly, except single Dubliner Jenny Breslin is feeling something a little closer to gloomy. Everything about her life – her boring job at the bank, the complete lack of romance – has been untouched by holiday magic, and she dreads the thought of spending yet another festive season with her larger-than-life mother and her new boyfriend.

Thank God for Twitter, a place where there are always people ready and waiting to have a chat. She’s even managed to make a couple of genuine friends there, even though she’s never met them IRL (that’s ‘In Real Life’ by the way).

‘So who’s on for a few days in Dublin? Would love to meet you all in person. I have a spare room in my house’ – this drunken tweet to her Twitter pals changes Jenny’s life forever. Before she knows it, she’s counting down to a Christmas visit from London-native Zahra Burns, make-up artist to the stars; Fiona Lee, a stay-at-home mum from Galway, and nurse Kerry (the Twitter buddy Jenny feels closest to).

Suddenly, Jenny becomes aware of how her life will appear to these strangers. In a word: Boring. It’s easy enough to pretend that you’re an exciting and sophisticated person when nobody can see you, but now Jenny’s worried about being caught out in the occasional lies that she’s told. All the more incentive to change her life for the better! But once her pals arrive, Jenny finds herself pining for the past and wondering if people are ever who they claim to be.

It Started With a Kiss by Miranda Dickinson
Released 10th November
Published by Avon
Website: http://www.miranda-dickinson.com/

This is the final book from my ‘Top Five Most Anticipated Chick Lit Books of 2011‘ I’m so excited that the wait is almost over and can’t wait to read it!

As the singer in a wedding band, Romily Parker has seen her fair share of happy endings, even though her own love life isn’t quite as simple.

On the last Saturday before Christmas, (shortly after disastrously declaring her love for best friend Charlie), Romily has a brief encounter with a handsome stranger whose heart-stopping kiss changes everything.

Determined to find him again, Romily embarks on a yearlong quest, helped (and sometimes hindered) by enthusiastic Uncle Dudley, cake-making Auntie Mags and flamboyant Wren. Will she find the man of her dreams? Or could true love be closer than she thinks?

Breakfast at Darcy’s by Ali McNamara
Released 24th November
Published by Sphere
Website: http://www.alimcnamara.co.uk/

I’m a big fan of Ali’s debut From Notting Hill with Love … Actually so this is another book that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time!

When Darcy McCall loses her beloved Aunt Molly, she doesn’t expect any sort of inheritance – let alone a small island! Located off the west coast of Ireland, Tara hasn’t been lived on for years, but according to Molly’s will Darcy must stay there for twelve months in order to fully inherit. It’s a big shock. And she’s even more shocked to hear she needs to persuade a village full of people to settle there, too. Darcy must leave behind her independent city life and swap stylish heels for muddy wellies. Between sorting everything from the plumbing to the pub, she meets confident, charming Conor and sensible, stubborn Dermot – but who will make her feel really at home?

One Minute to Midnight by Amy Silver
Released 24th November
Published by Arrow
Website: http://www.rbooks.co.uk/author.aspx?id=64028

Another gorgeous cover and fab sounding plot!

Nicole Blake’s New Year Resolutions, 1990: 1 Start keeping a journal; 2. Lose half a stone; 3. Kiss Julian Symonds. If there are two things Nicole can guarantee about New Years Eve it’s that there are always fireworks and Julian Symonds is always there. Since she was thirteen, no New Year has been complete without Jules. Through school, university and beyond, as friends come and go, Nic and Jules are at the centre of every party. Until one year everything changes…

Now, as another New Year approaches, Nicole has ghosts to lay and bridges to build – with her husband Dom, with her best friend Alex, and with Aidan, the man who broke her heart. Life is about to change again for Nicole, and once the fireworks are over and the dust has settled, this time she is determined it will be for the better.

What are you looking forward to reading next month?

I’m a big fan of Alma Katsu’s debut novel The Taker which came out earlier this year and have been eagerly awaiting news of the second part of the trilogy so I was very excited to find that the cover has been released for The Reckoning. I have it on good authority that the cover will be silver and embossed like that of the UK Taker cover. I’m so pleased that the covers will match! Having loved the black page edges of The Taker I wonder if The Reckoning will have coloured page edges too?

There isn’t a synopsis available yet but The Reckoning will be released early in 2012 and I can’t wait!

I read my first Jill Mansell book earlier this year and became an instant fan so I was excited to see that the cover and details of her next release while I was browsing Amazon the other day. A Walk in the Park is out in February 2012 and sounds like another fab read from Jill. I love the pretty green cover:

It’s been a while, but Lara Carson’s back in Bath and lives are set to change as a result. Because Lara left her family and boyfriend Flynn eighteen years ago without a word to anyone. Why has no one heard from her since? Her childhood best friend Evie is thrilled Lara’s back and able to share her happiness. Evie’s about to walk down the aisle with her dream man, Joel. Or so she thinks… Then there’s Flynn Erskine, even more attractive now and stunned to see Lara again. The spark between them is as strong as ever, but how’s Flynn going to react when he discovers the secret she’s been keeping from him? Oh yes, there’s a lot of catching up to be done…