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…

There are so many fab new releases coming this month that I’ve had a terrible time narrowing down my ‘hot picks’ choices but here are the seven books that I’m planning to add to my shelves in September.

Watching Willow Watts by Talli Roland
E-book Released September, Paperback November
Published by Prospera Publishing
Website: http://www.talliroland.com

I loved Talli’s debut novel The Hating Game and have been looking forward to her next release for a long time! Look out for the official online launch ‘If I Could Be Anyone, I’d Be…’ party! on September 14th:

For Willow Watts, life has settled into a predictably dull routine: days behind the counter at her father’s antique shop and nights watching TV, as the pension-aged residents of Britain’s Ugliest Village bed down for yet another early night. But everything changes when a YouTube video of Willow’s epically embarrassing Marilyn Monroe impersonation gets millions of hits after a viewer spots Marilyn’s ghostly image in a frame.

Instantly, Willow’s town is overrun with fans flocking to see the ‘new Marilyn’. Egged on by the villagers — whose shops and businesses are cashing in — Willow embraces her new identity, dying her hair platinum and ramming herself full of cakes to achieve Marilyn’s legendary curves.

But when a former flame returns seeking the old Willow, Willow must decide: can she risk her stardom and her village’s newfound fortune on love, or is being Marilyn her ticket to happiness?

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Released 5th September
Published by Bloomsbury
Website: http://bloomsbury.com

I’ll be indulging my interest in Greek mythology with this one – it sounds brilliant!

Greece in the age of Heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia. Here he is nobody, just another unwanted boy living in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles.

Achilles, ‘best of all the Greeks’, is everything Patroclus is not – strong, beautiful, the child of a goddess – and by all rights their paths should never cross. Yet one day, Achilles takes the shamed prince under his wing and soon their tentative companionship gives way to a steadfast friendship. As they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms into something far deeper – despite the displeasure of Achilles’s mother Thetis, a cruel and deathly pale sea goddess with a hatred of mortals.

Fate is never far from the heels of Achilles. When word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, the men of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows Achilles into war, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they have learned, everything they hold dear. And that, before he is ready, he will be forced to surrender his friend to the hands of Fate.

Profoundly moving and breathtakingly original, this rendering of the epic Trojan War is a dazzling feat of the imagination, a devastating love story, and an almighty battle between gods and kings, peace and glory, immortal fame and the human heart.

Unlike a Virgin by Lucy Ann Holmes
Released 15th September
Published by Sphere
Website: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Britain-Sings/162133383864884?sk=wall

I’m reading and thoroughly enjoying this one at the moment  – laugh out loud funny; Gracie Flowers is fab!

Is Gracie in love for the very first time? You know that bit in The X Factor, when the singer tells everyone about the rocky road they travelled to pursue their dream? Well, that’s Gracie Flowers’ story. Gracie is very focused for a woman of almost twenty-six. Her favourite book is ‘The 5-Year Plan: Making the Most of Your Life’. And her five-year plan is going very well. That is, until she is usurped from her big promotion by a handsome, posh idiot; she is dumped by her boyfriend; and discovers her loopy mother is facing bankruptcy. Hormones awry and ice cream over-ordered, a dream Gracie thought she’d buried ten years ago starts to resurface. A dream that reminds her of the girl she used to be and everything she wanted to become.

The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory
Released 15th September
Published by Simon and Schuster
Website: http://www.philippagregory.com/work/plantaganet/the-lady-of-the-rivers/

Philippa Gregory is one of my favourite historical fiction authors and this is another book that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time; the story of Jacquetta, mother of Elizabeth Woodville, The White Queen and the third book in The Cousin’s War Series.

Jacquetta, daughter of the Count of Luxembourg and kinswoman to half the royalty of Europe, was married to the great Englishman John, Duke of Bedford, uncle to Henry VI. Widowed at the age of nineteen she took the extraordinary risk of marrying a gentleman of her house-hold for love, and then carved out a life for herself as Queen Margaret of Anjou’s close friend and a Lancaster supporter – until the day that her daughter Elizabeth Woodville fell in love and married the rival king Edward IV. Of all the little-known but important women of the period, her dramatic story is the most neglected. With her links to Melusina, and to the founder of the house of Luxembourg, together with her reputation for making magic, she is the most haunting of heroines.

The Very Picture of You by Isabel Wolff
Released 15th September
Published by Harper Collins
Website: http://www.isabelwolff.com/

I’ve been a fan of Isabel Wolff since I read The Trials of Tiffany Trott many years ago so I’m really looking forward to her latest release.

Ella Graham is a portrait painter, whose luminous and insightful likenesses are beginning to gain her widespread recognition. But when her younger sister, Chloe, asks her to paint her American fiance, Nate, as a wedding present, Ella is dismayed. She loathes Nate, and she distrusts him – painting him is the last thing she’d like to do. But Ella wants to make her fragile sister happy, and so she puts aside her misgivings and reluctantly accepts. As they start to spend time together in the intimacy of the studio, Ella realises that there is more to Nate than meets the eye.

At the same time Ella is learning about her other sitters’ lives: there’s an elderly widow with a wartime secret, a beautiful French woman who’s dreading turning forty, and a handsome politician who has a confession to make. Then, out of the blue, comes a message from Ella’s father John, who abandoned her and her mother when Ella was five.

In the meantime Chloe is planning her dream wedding: and as the day draws ever nearer Ella realises, to her horror, that she is falling in love with the one man she shouldn’t. She now faces a choice: to tear her family apart by revealing her secret, or to let the wedding tear her apart instead…

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Released 15th September
Published by Harvill Secker
Website: www.nightcircus.co.uk

Magic, mystery and romance – what more could you want?

In 1886, a mysterious travelling circus becomes an international sensation. Open only at night, constructed entirely in black and white, Le Cirque des Rêves delights all who wander its circular paths and warm themselves at its bonfire.

Although there are acrobats, fortune-tellers and contortionists, the Circus of Dreams is no conventional spectacle. Some tents contain clouds, some ice. The circus seems almost to cast a spell over its aficionados, who call themselves the rêveurs – the dreamers. At the heart of the story is the tangled relationship between two young magicians, Celia, the enchanter’s daughter, and Marco, the sorcerer’s apprentice. At the behest of their shadowy masters, they find themselves locked in a deadly contest, forced to test the very limits of the imagination, and of their love…

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
Released 29th September
Published by HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks
Website: http://www.maureenjohnsonbooks.com

I’m very excited about Maureen Johnson’s new series set in London.

Sixteen-year-old American girl Rory has just arrived at boarding school in London when a Jack the Ripper copycat-killer begins terrorising the city. All the hallmarks of his infamous murders are frighteningly present, but there are few clues to the killer’s identity.

“Rippermania” grabs hold of modern-day London, and the police are stumped with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. In an unknown city with few friends to turn to, Rory makes a chilling discovery…

Could the copycat murderer really be Jack the Ripper back from the grave?

Which new releases are you most looking forward to this month?

After finding lots of fellow Christmas fans when I posted about Trisha Ashley’s next book recently, I had to post about this cover which Cally Taylor posted on her blog today – isn’t it lovely?!

Home for Christmas is released on November 10th and sounds like a great Christmas read.

Beth Prince has always loved fairytales and now, aged twenty-four, she feels like she’s finally on the verge of her own happily ever after. She lives by the seaside, works in the Picturebox – a charming but rundown independent cinema – and has a boyfriend who’s so debonair and charming she can’t believe her luck! There’s just one problem – none of her boyfriends have ever told her they love her and it doesn’t look like Aiden’s going to say it any time soon. Desperate to hear ‘I love you’ for the first time Beth takes matters into her own hands – and instantly wishes she hadn’t. Just when it seems like her luck can’t get any worse, bad news arrives in the devilishly handsome shape of Matt Jones. Matt is the regional director of a multiplex cinema and he’s determined to get his hands on the Picturebox by Christmas. Can Beth keep her job, her man and her home or is her romantic-comedy life about to turn into a disaster movie?

I realise it’s the middle of summer but I’m such a fan of Christmas and I’m already getting excited about the Christmassy reads that are coming out later this year so I just had to post about the gorgeous new cover for Trisha Ashley’s next release The Magic of Christmas which was revealed today …

The Magic of Christmas is released on 27th October and is a reworking of Trisha’s novel Sweet Nothings with lots of new material and is definitely on my Christmas wish list!

In the West Lancashire village of Middlemoss, Lizzie Pharamond is cooking up a defensive storm of comfort food as she becomes increasingly estranged from her serially unfaithful husband, Tom. Then fate takes a hand and when Tom is killed in a car accident, Lizzie has to deal with his quarrelling mistresses and devious friends – and to top it all – The Mystery Play steering committee have to find a new Lazarus. Middlemoss is already gearing up for its annual performance due to take place on Boxing Day with Tom’s elderly uncle Roly Pharamond as the Voice of God.

As a distraction, Lizzie’s Christmas Pudding Club is about to have the first meeting of the year to swap baking tips for traditional puddings, cakes and mince pies. Lizzie’s growing rivalry with her husband’s cousin, celebrated cookery writer Nick Pharamond, is coming to boiling point. Having snatched the Best Mince Pie prize away from her at the village show, he is certainly the last man she wants to play Adam to her Eve in the Mystery Play.

Meanwhile, her best friend Annie has developed an unsuitable crush on local resident Ritch Rainford, the handsome and charismatic star a popular TV soap. But it becomes clear that Ritch is more interested in Lizzie who, desperately in need of comfort, might just be a tiny bit tempted. The Voice of God will have one or two things to say about these and other village affairs at the Mystery Play, in a performance that will be a hard act to follow next year.

Some sequel news for this week’s book news:

A Discovery of Witches – the movie and the sequel!

I loved A Discovery of Witches when I read it earlier this year and have been eagerly awaiting news on the second book in the series which should be out next year. On Thursday Deborah Harkness made two big announcements on her Facebook page; the first, that the sequel will be called Shadow of Night and the second that Warner Brothers has acquired the rights to develop A Discovery of Witches as a series of films. You can find out the full details of the possible films on Deborah’s Facebook Page. The casting stage is still a long way off but feel free to leave your thoughts on who should play Diana and Matthew on the big screen in the comments box below!

For those of you who haven’t read A Discovery of Witches yet, the paperback is out in September with this lovely cover showing some of my favourite Oxford buildings.

Lindsey Kelk Hearts …

… Vegas! I’m so excited about this one – the next novel in Lindsey Kelk’s ‘I Heart…’ series will be I Heart Vegas and the book will be out just in time for Christmas with a release date of December 8th. I can’t wait to find out what happens to Angela next and I love the fact that the book will be set at Christmas too!

Angela Clark loves her life in New York. She loves her job, her friends and her gorgeous musician boyfriend, Alex, who is finally ready to move in with her and start planning their future together. Everything is perfect.

But, after Angela loses her job, her world starts to crumble around her – her visa is revoked and she’s given the disastrous news that she must leave New York and her life behind and go back to London.

Confused, heartbroken and desperate to stay, the last thing Angela needs is a girls’ trip to Vegas just before Christmas – especially when Manhattan at Christmas is so perfect that she never wants to go home…

Here are my August wish list choices – everything from romance to sci-fi next month! What are you looking forward to reading?

Bad Sisters by Rebecca Chance
Released 4th August
Published by Simon and Schuster
Website: http://www.rebeccachance.net/

Rebecca Chance is a new author for me but I think this sounds like a great read!

Three ambitious, rivalrous sisters. And a deadly secret, which one of them is determined to keep buried at any cost …Deeley is the fake wife of a Hollywood TV hunk, who is secretly gay. But Deeley’s five-year contract is up, and his cut-throat publicist wants Deeley out. So, dejected and penniless, Deeley wends her way home to London, hoping to re-establish links with her two estranged elder sisters …Devon is married to the nation’s-favourite-rugby-hunk Matt, and has her own highly successful TV career, as the sexy hostess of her own cookery show. But behind her buxom facade, Devon is lonely and frustrated, and when a live celebrity cook-off shows her up as a fraud, she leaves sweet Matt and runs off to Tuscany, to learn a few lessons – not just in cookery – from an Italian master. Lastly, there’s Maxie: a politician’s wife, Maxie is fiercely ambitious. She’s furious when Deeley, hard on her luck, sells the sisters’ childhood story to a tabloid newspaper, revealing their impoverished roots and unsavoury parentage. The story undermines Maxie’s carefully cultivated image, and the fallout threatens to be devastating. But Maxie is only too aware that there is much more Deeley could yet reveal. What murderous secret lies in the sisters’ past? And just how far will Maxie go to keep it buried?

A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James
Released 4th August
Published by Piatkus Books
Website: http://www.eloisajames.com/

Combining two of my favourites; fairytales and the Regency period, this is the first in a series of classic fairytales reworked and sounds like a fun read.

Miss Kate Daltry doesn’t believe in fairy tales …or happily ever after. Forced by her stepmother to attend a ball, Kate meets a prince, and decides he’s anything but charming. A clash of wits and wills ensues, but they both know their irresistible attraction will lead nowhere. For Gabriel is promised to another woman – a princess whose hand in marriage will fulfil his ruthless ambitions. Gabriel likes his fiancee, which is a welcome turn of events, but he doesn’t love her, and knows, he should be wooing his bride-to-be, not the witty, impoverished beauty who refuses to fawn over him. Godmothers and glass slippers notwithstanding, this is one fairy tale in which destiny conspires to destroy any chance that Kate and Gabriel might have a happily ever after – unless one kiss at the stroke of midnight changes everything.

What You Don’t Know by Lizzie Enfield
Released 18th August
Published by Headline Review
Website: http://www.headline.co.uk/

I love the cover for this book and the synopsis has me really intrigued!

You’ve been together for fifteen years. You’ve got two gorgeous kids and a great career. All the boxes are ticked. You wouldn’t be tempted by a plain, slightly balding man called Graham… Would you?

When Graham Parks walks into Helen Collins’ life, the last thing she expects is to fall for him. He’s nothing like her handsome, successful husband, Alex.

But fifteen years is a long time and Helen can’t help wondering what it would be like to sleep with someone else. Has Alex secretly been thinking the same thing? As harmless flirtation develops into something far more complicated, Helen’s perfect world begins to look shaky.

It’s exciting, alluring, all-consuming. But is it worth the risk?

Idol by Carrie Duffy
Released 18th August
Published by Harper
Website: http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/Titles/63189/idol-carrie-duffy-9780007421503

It was cover love at first sight for me when I saw Idol so it had to go on my wishlist!

Meet Jenna Jonsson and Sadie Laine: two gorgeous, glamorous twenty-somethings fighting to make it to the top of their chosen professions. Beautiful and talented, Jenna is an international pop star, determined to take her career to the next level. And when a chance meeting leads to an opportunity for Jenna to work with world-famous rock band Phoenix, Jenna is quick to agree – although her decision is somewhat influenced by Nick Taylor, the drummer with Phoenix and the most gorgeous man Jenna has ever met…Meanwhile, Sadie is a struggling dancer and a childhood rival of Jenna’s. Ambitious and passionate, she is determined to fulfil her dreams. And a move to Las Vegas yields an unmissable career opportunity and a chance at true love.Jenna and Sadie’s lives are about to collide but will sparks fly? Or will they be able to put the past behind them?

The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore
Released 23rd August
Published by Michael Joseph
Website: http://www.iamnumberfour.co.uk/

I read I Am Number Four last year and had really mixed feelings about it but I can’t resist finding out what happens next.

We are the last defence.

I’ve seen him on the news. Followed the stories about what happened to John Smith. To the world he’s a mystery, but to me … he’s one of us. Nine of us came here, but sometimes I wonder if time has changed us, if we all still believe in our mission.

There are six of us left. We’re hiding, blending in, avoiding contact with one another, but our Legacies are developing and soon we’ll be ready to fight. Is John Number Four – and is his appearance the sign I’ve been waiting for? And what about Number Five and Six? Could one of them be the raven-haired girl with the stormy eyes from my dreams? The girl with powers that are beyond anything I could ever imagine? The girl who might be strong enough to bring the six of us together?

They caught Number One in Malaysia. Number Two in England. And Number Three in Kenya. They tried to catch Number Four in Ohio … and failed. I am Number Seven. And I’m ready to fight.

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky to attend my second blogger event of the summer. Hosted by Harper Collins (thank you Kat and Elinor!) the first part of the event found me enjoying a delicious ‘Not Afternoon Tea’ at the Oxo Tower with fellow bloggers  and authors David Nobbs and Fanny Blake. I reviewed Fanny’s debut novel What Women Want back in April and was very excited to get my copy signed. David was celebrating a new release, It Had to be You which I’m looking forward to reading soon having really enjoyed one of his previous books Going Gently.

With lively chat covering blogging, twitter and writing it was a lovely afternoon with two great authors and a nice opportunity to catch up with Mel (High Heels and Book Deals), Talli (http://talliroland.blogspot.com/) and Jackie (Farm Lane Books) who I’d met at previous events and to meet fellow bloggers Elaine (Random Jottings of a Book and Opera Lover), Simon (Stuck in a Book) and Claire (Paperback Reader).

Following tea we hopped (ok, stepped slowly in my case) onto the river taxi and headed to the Tower of London where we attended the launch event for Sarah Gristwood’s debut fiction novel The Girl in the Mirror. Sarah gave a fascinating talk on the latter days of Elizabeth I’s reign and her relationship with the Earl of Essex including some delightfully horrific details of the beheadings that took place not far from where we sat that evening! Of course I couldn’t resist buying a copy of the book and getting Sarah to sign it too and went home one very happy blogger.

As well as the books featured above there are some fantastic titles being released by Harper in the latter half of 2011 so I thought I’d share with you my July-December highlights (click on the thumbnails to see the full covers)

Last Dance with Valentino by Daisy Waugh (August)

One night. One dance. One love to last a lifetime. 1916. Leaving war-ravaged London, Jenny Doyle sets sail for New York where she is to work for the de Saulles family. Their home, Gatsby-like in elegance, is rife with intrigue and madness. Only Jenny’s friendship with dancer Rodolfo offers escape… until, one tragic day, the household is changed forever.1926. America booms, prohibition rules and Rodolfo has taken his place on the silver screen as Rudolph Valentino. Will the world’s most desired film star and his lost love have their Hollywood happy ending, or will the tragic echoes from their time with the de Saulles thwart them one last time?

The Very Picture of You by Isabel Wolff (September)

A forbidden love, a life-long secret, and one chance to make the right decision. Ella has always been an artist, jotting down pictures from a young age, and now in her thirties she has made it her profession. Commissioned to capture memories, fading beauty and family moments, her sitters often reveal more about themselves than merely their outward appearance.When Ella’s younger sister Chloe asks her to paint a portrait of her new fiancé Nate, Ella is reluctant. He is a brash American who Ella thinks has proposed far too fast, so the thought of spending many hours alone with him fills her with dread. But before long Ella realises there is more to Nate than meets the eye. Inter-weaving the stories of Ella’s sitters – from the old lady with a wartime secret, to the handsome politician who has a confession to make – with Ella’s own hunt for her real father and slow realization that she is falling in love with the wrong man; a truly unforgettable portrait of the many aspects of love.

The Noble Assassin by Christie Dickason (October)

Court beauty, Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford, feels frustrated by life with her weak husband. Poverty stricken, they are confined to their country estate and excluded from court life in London after he disastrously allies himself against Elizabeth I.Now, some years later, James I is seated on the English throne. His daughter, Elizabeth Stuart, former confidant of Lucy, has married the King of Bohemia. The precarious political situation in Europe is fraught, setting father against daughter. When Elizabeth and her husband are deposed, exiled and forced on the run, James is in no mood to come to Elizabeth’s aid.Hearing of Elizabeth’s predicament, Lucy sees an opportunity to re-establish the Bedford name and offers herself as a peace envoy between the two parties. Setting out on a daring mission across the channel, Lucy discovers she is being manipulated by unscrupulous men, not least the calculating and darkly handsome Duke of Buckingham.Can Lucy tread this most dangerous path, or by risking everything, will she pay the ultimate price?

The Time of My Life by Cecelia Ahern (November)

Dear Lucy Silchester,You have an appointment for Monday 27th July 2011.Yours sincerely,Life.Lucy Silchester has received an appointment card. Actually, she’s been invited along a few times to this appointment, but she keeps brushing the gold embossed envelope under the shag pile carpet. She’s taken her eye off the ball and has busied herself with work (a job she doesn’t love), helping out friends, fixing her car, feeding her cat, seeing her family and devoting her time to their life dramas.But Lucy is about to find out that this is one appointment that she can’t miss. And she can’t escape it either. Her Life is about to catch up with her in the most surreal of ways…

It Started With A Kiss by Miranda Dickinson (November)

How far would you go to find the man of your dreams? Romily Parker is a woman on a mission. On the last Saturday before Christmas, (shortly after disastrously declaring her undying love for her best friend, Charlie) Romily has a sudden, brief encounter with a gorgeous stranger who might, just possibly, be the man of her dreams. It only takes two small words – ‘Hello, beautiful’ – and one, heart-stopping kiss to make up her mind: she has to find him again.Giving herself a deadline of the following Christmas Eve, Romily commits to spending a year searching for the stranger – a decision which divides her family and friends.A sparkling, romantic comedy about an English girl who won’t give up on her dream of love.

The Scarlet Contessa by Jeanne Kalogridis (November)

Daughter of the Duke of Milan and wife of the conniving Count Girolamo Riario, Caterina Sforza was the bravest warrior Renaissance Italy ever knew. She ruled her own lands, fought her own battles, and openly took lovers whenever she pleased.Her remarkable tale is told by her lady-in-waiting, Dea, a woman knowledgeable in reading the ‘triumph cards’ – the predecessor of modern-day Tarot. As Dea tries to unravel the truth about her husband’s murder, Caterina single-handedly holds off invaders who would steal her title and lands. However, Dea’s reading of the cards reveals that Caterina cannot withstand a third and final invader – none other than Cesare Borgia, son of the corrupt Pope Alexander VI, who has an old score to settle with Caterina. Trapped inside the Fortress at Ravaldino as Borgia’s cannons pound the walls, Dea reviews Caterina’s scandalous past and struggles to understand their joint destiny, while Caterina valiantly tries to fight off Borgia’s unconquerable army.

I Heart Vegas by Lindsey Kelk (December)

Angela Clark loves her life in New York. She loves her job, her friends and her gorgeous musician boyfriend, Alex, who is finally ready to move in with her and start planning their future together. Everything is perfect.But, after Angela loses her job, her world starts to crumble around her – her visa is revoked and she’s given the disastrous news that she must leave New York and her life behind and go back to London.Confused, heartbroken and desperate to stay, the last thing Angela needs is a girls’ trip to Vegas just before Christmas – especially when Manhattan at Christmas is so perfect that she never wants to go home…