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.

One Minute to Midnight is Amy Silver’s third novel and I’m fast becoming a big fan of her books which explore the complexity of friendships and relationships of all kinds. I love the cover for this book with its sparkly fireworks and London scene but despite the sparkles this isn’t a ‘fluffy’ Christmas read and it delves into some hard hitting topics including adultery, abusive relationships and bereavement. The drama and darker undertones are nicely balanced with bright moments as Nicole and friends celebrate New Year through the decades and I loved the way the story unfolded.

The story is told from Nicole’s point of view and starts in 1990 when she is thirteen years old and is delighted to be thrown together with her crush Julian Symonds at her parents’ house party on New Years Eve. The two form a complex but instant bond and the story of their lives flies by in flashback from that point. There is something a little ‘One Day‘ about this book as it recounts the details of Jules’ and Nicole’s lives at the same period each year but dare I say – I actually liked this better!

The flashback chapters alternate with Nicole’s first person narrative in the present day where the story starts on Boxing Day 2011 and follows Nicole and her husband Dominic as they prepare for a New Year trip to New York. As with all of Nicole’s relationships, the one with her husband is not simple and I was completely drawn in as the couple face their problems and try to work out a way forward. Both the flashbacks and current story finally come together as New Years Eve 2011 approaches and Nicole begins to resolve her relationships with her friends, family and husband and I thought the ending was excellent.

Amy Silver writes relationships brilliantly and she really gets under the skin of her characters cleverly showing their good and bad sides together with their vulnerabilities and insecurities. Nicole is the perfect example; she’s a mix of emotions and veers from being a loving and caring wife, daughter and friend to keeping secrets, sneaking around and saying one thing then doing the opposite and I found her fascinating. I liked that she was complex and despite not agreeing with everything she does in the book, she had me rooting for her from the start.  I also loved the dynamic between the four main characters; Nicole and Julian at the start of the book with the addition of Alex (who Nicole meets at University) and Aiden (Jules’s cousin) as the story progresses.

Amy Silver’s writing is fresh, funny, heartbreaking and honest; the story is completely believable and I could see elements of myself and people I’ve known in the main characters. I always enjoy stories that track characters over a long period of time and I loved that One Minute to Midnight gave me the chance to get to know Nicole, Alex, Jules and Aiden and see how their decisions and actions affected them over time. It made a refreshing change to read a novel set at New Year rather than Christmas and once I started reading I couldn’t put this book down. Highly recommended for your winter reading list!

5/5

One Minute to Midnight is released on 24th November and I’d like to thank Amelia from Arrow for sending me a review copy.

One Minute to Midnight is available in paperback and for Kindle (Links go to amazon.co.uk)

October – another quick month and another six books read. Interestingly, I’m reading a lot more on my Kindle these days as I find it much easier to hold the Kindle than a book at the same time as holding baby! Four of the books I read were new releases for October.

The books I read were:

October book of the month

An Autumn Crush by Milly Johnson

The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks

Trade Winds by Christina Courtenay

Renovation, Renovation, Renovation by Nell Dixon

Wrapped up in You by Carole Matthews

Highland Storms by Christina Courtenay

My book of the month for October is An Autumn Crush by Milly Johnson because Autumn is my favourite season and I loved the emphasis on family. I found it to be a really emotional and enjoyable read perfect for this time of year.

The three most popular posts in October were:

My review of The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks; Carole Matthews’ guest post on researching her new book and my review of Netherwood by Jane Sanderson.

Searches bringing most people to the blog were:

1. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
2. The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks
3. Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes by Sue Watson

In other October news, I took part in my first blog tour for Carole Matthews lovely Christmas book Wrapped up in You; gave my thoughts on my favourite books from the World Book Night 2012 list, hosted a fab Nicholas Sparks giveaway and made it to 900 followers on Twitter

I also began planning for my Countdown to Christmas in detail in October and am excited to say that I have some fantastic guest posts, guest reviews and giveaways lined up for December!  Countdown to Christmas is my book blogger version of an advent calendar with a Christmas-themed post every day from December 1st to 24th. I did the countdown last year and it was great fun but I’m making it bigger and better this year! There is still time to take part so if you are an author, publisher or fellow blogger and you’d like to contribute a post; be interviewed about Christmassy things, do a guest review or a giveaway or have another fab Christmassy idea, drop me an email at: onemorepageamanda@gmail.com

Coming up in November I’ve got a fab pile of wintry chick lit books lined up with reviews of Maria Duffy’s debut Any Dream Will Do, Miranda Dickinson’s It Started With a Kiss and One Minute to Midnight by Amy Silver. I’m taking part in Ali McNamara’s blog tour to celebrate the release of Breakfast at Darcy’s and I’m also looking forward to reviewing the first in a new paranormal series; Avenger’s Angel by Heather Killough-Walden.

Happy November reading!

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 really enjoyed Amy Silver’s last book All I Want for Christmas and have been eagerly awaiting details of her next novel. It seems publishers really are pulling out all the stops with the gorgeous covers for their winter releases and One Minute to Midnight is no exception. The cover below popped up on Amazon today and I’ve also managed to find a synopsis. This is a winter must read for me and I can’t wait until it’s released on 24th November.

For many years, beginning when she was thirteen, Nicole Blake spent every new year with her three friends: Julian, her first love, Alex, her best friend, and Aidan, her obsession. Together the four had partied hard, supported each other, and fallen in love. But then tragedy and betrayal tore the friends apart, and Nicole settled down to married life with Dom in London.

But in the week running up to New Year’s Eve 2011, Nicole and Dom are preparing for a trip to New York to meet up with Aidan and Alex for the first time in years. But with so much left unsaid and unresolved between them all, can they really return to their old friendship? And if they do, Nicole isn’t sure she’ll ever want to come home again.

As part of my Countdown to Christmas I’ll be doing lots of giveaways over the next couple of weeks – because it wouldn’t be Christmas without the presents would it?  I was fortunate to end up with two copies of this book so I have one copy to give away. Just leave a ‘pick me’ comment in the comments field and I’ll choose one at random following the closing date. This giveaway is open internationally and closes at midnight on Tuesday 7th December so get those entries in quick! This is a lovely winter read – you can read my review here and the official synopsis is below. Good luck!

Twelve days and counting…

It’s Bea’s first Christmas with her baby son, and this year she’s determined to do everything right. But there is still so much to do: the Christmas menu needs refining; her café, The Honey Pot, needs decorating; and she’s invited the whole neighbourhood to a party on Christmas Day. She really doesn’t have time to get involved in two new people’s lives, let alone fall in love…

When Olivia gets knocked over in the street, however, Bea can’t help bringing her into The Honey Pot and getting to know her. Olivia’s life is even more hectic than her own, and with her fiancé’s entire family over from Ireland for Christmas, she shouldn’t be lingering in the cosy warmth of Bea’s café. Chloe, on the other hand, has nowhere else to go. Her affair with a married man has alienated her friends, and left her lonelier than ever.

But Christmas is a magical time, and in the fragrant atmosphere of The Honey Pot, anything can happen: new friends can be made, hearts can heal, and romance can finally blossom…

This giveaway is now closed. A winner will be announced shortly.

Twelve days and counting…

It’s Bea’s first Christmas with her baby son, and this year she’s determined to do everything right. But there is still so much to do: the Christmas menu needs refining; her café, The Honey Pot, needs decorating; and she’s invited the whole neighbourhood to a party on Christmas Day. She really doesn’t have time to get involved in two new people’s lives, let alone fall in love…

When Olivia gets knocked over in the street, however, Bea can’t help bringing her into The Honey Pot and getting to know her. Olivia’s life is even more hectic than her own, and with her fiancé’s entire family over from Ireland for Christmas, she shouldn’t be lingering in the cosy warmth of Bea’s café. Chloe, on the other hand, has nowhere else to go. Her affair with a married man has alienated her friends, and left her lonelier than ever.

But Christmas is a magical time, and in the fragrant atmosphere of The Honey Pot, anything can happen: new friends can be made, hearts can heal, and romance can finally blossom…

Bea, Olivia and Chloe are three very different characters. Each woman has relationship issues to overcome. Bea is a single mum to her young son Luca and is trying to come to terms with life without Luca’s father; Chloe is a hard nosed lawyer having an affair with a married man and Olivia has just become engaged but fears that marriage will ruin her relationship with the man she loves. All I Want for Christmas is very much a book about relationships and the leading women all have very different backgrounds and perspectives on love, life, marriage and children. I think a lot of different readers will find something to identify with and will enjoy this book.

I really like the way this book is structured. Each chapter is a date and the chapters count down to Christmas day starting on 14th December. The chapters are broken down into timed entries and it reads almost like a diary with events told from the different perspectives of the three key characters; Bea, Olivia and Chloe. Bea is the main character and Chloe and Olivia are customers at her cafe, The Honeypot. The different entries in each chapter made the story flow really well and I found that the different plot lines and perspectives held my interest and made this a quick read.

Bea’s story is told in the first person and from the beginning, I felt very sympathetic to her. She is struggling to hold everything together and build a perfect first Christmas with her little boy. The first person perspective made me feel like I really knew Bea and as the story progresses we learn more about her past and how she came to be in her current heartbreaking situation. Chloe and Olivia are written in the third person and although I found their stories interesting I didn’t feel like I knew as much about them by the end of the book. As Christmas draws nearer, each of the girls has to face a difficult relationship situation and make decisions about how they want to take their lives forward. As they try to come to terms with new loves, past loves, loss and loneliness, they  find themselves confiding in each other and beginning to build new friendships.

I love Christmas and always make sure I have a number of seasonal books to see me through December, but for those of you who don’t want an overtly Christmassy story, this is the book I’d recommend. This isn’t a book about wrapping presents, snow-filled winter wonderlands or over-sentimentalised family Christmases; it is a story of three women, and their lives, which just happens to be set at Christmas.  I’d recommend it as an enjoyable winter read with a nice satisfying ending.

All I Want For Christmas is released on 25th November and I’d like to thank Amelia at Arrow (Random House) for sending me a copy to review.

4/5

In My Mailbox is hosted by the Story Siren to highlight books bought, borrowed or received each week and is a great way to find lots of new ideas for books to read.

I thought last week was a fab book week but this week has been amazing

For Review:

Welcome to My World by Miranda Dickinson (Released 11th November)

Thanks to Miranda and Harper Collins for sending me a copy for review. Look out for an interview with Miranda coming later in the month!

Close your eyes and imagine the world is your oyster…

And now imagine never seeing it. Welcome to Harriet Langton’s world. All her life she’s dreamt of travelling the globe – fate always got in the way. Working as a travel agent, the closest Harri comes to her dream destination of Venice is booking the trip for someone else. But everything changes when travel fanatic Alex drops in. With her boyfriend Rob tied up with work, Harri is persuaded to help Alex in his quest for love. But in her attempts to help, Harri soon discovers that she’s alienating those around her. Desperate to leave her life behind, will her dreams finally come true? Or will Harri’s leap of faith be her biggest mistake yet?

From Notting Hill with Love … Actually (Released 25th November)

Thanks to Little Brown Book Group for sending me a copy to review. I’ll be launching a fab competition to win one of five copies of this book on 12th November so please pop back to enter.

She was just a girl, standing in front of a boy …wishing he looked more like Hugh Grant. Scarlett loves the movies. But does she love sensible fiance David just as much? With a big white wedding on the horizon, Scarlett really should have decided by now …When she has the chance to house-sit in Notting Hill ? the setting of one of her favourite movies ? Scarlett jumps at the chance. But living life like a movie is trickier than it seems, especially when her new neighbour Sean is so irritating. And so irritatingly handsome, too. Scarlett soon finds herself starring in a romantic comedy of her very own: but who will end up as the leading man?

All I Want For Christmas by Amy Silver (released 25th November)

I’d like to thank Random House for sending me a copy of this to review.

Twelve days and counting… It’s Bea’s first Christmas with her baby son, and this year she’s determined to do everything right. But there is still so much to do: the Christmas menu needs refining; her café, The Honey Pot, needs decorating; and she’s invited the whole neighbourhood to a party on Christmas Day. She really doesn’t have time to get involved in two new people’s lives, let alone fall in love… When Olivia gets knocked over in the street, however, Bea can’t help bringing her into The Honey Pot and getting to know her. Olivia’s life is even more hectic than her own, and with her fiancé’s entire family over from Ireland for Christmas, she shouldn’t be lingering in the cosy warmth of Bea’s café. Chloe, on the other hand, has nowhere else to go. Her affair with a married man has alienated her friends, and left her lonelier than ever. But Christmas is a magical time, and in the fragrant atmosphere of The Honey Pot, anything can happen: new friends can be made, hearts can heal, and romance can finally blossom…

Won

I was very lucky to win a ‘Devils vs Angels’ goodie bag from Foyles Bookshop on Halloween Weekend. I was expecting something small so I was so shocked when a large box arrived this week with lots of amazing book-related treats inside including a proof of Nightshade by Andrea Cremer. It’s not out until the end of December in the UK so there was a lot of happy dancing when I saw that!

So that was my fab week – probably my best mailbox yet. Thanks for stopping by and I’ll be visiting as many mailboxes as I can over the next couple of days!

November is going to be an amazing month for new books – there are so many fantastic sounding books being released in time for Christmas and narrowing it down to the ones I plan to buy has been really hard but here they are:

Mary Ann in Autumn (Tales of the City) by Armistead Maupin
Released 11th November
Published by Doubleday
Website: http://www.armisteadmaupin.com/

I already raved about this one in my mailbox post last week so I’ll say no more except that it’s a must for Tales of the City fans.

Twenty years have passed since Mary Ann Singleton left her husband and child in San Francisco to pursue her dream of a television career in New York.Now, a pair of personal calamities has driven her back to the city of her youth and into the arms of her oldest friend, Michael “Mouse” Tolliver, a gay gardener happily ensconced with his much-younger husband. Mary Ann finds temporary refuge in the couple’s backyard cottage, where, at the unnerving age of 57, she licks her wounds and takes stock of her mistakes.Soon, with the help of Facebook and a few old friends, she begins to reengage with life, only to confront fresh terrors when her speckled past comes back to haunt her in a way she could never have imagined. Among those caught in Mary Ann’s orbit are her estranged daughter, Shawna, a popular sex blogger; Jake Greenleaf, Michael’s transgendered gardening assistant; socialite DeDe Halcyon-Wilson; and the indefatigable Anna Madrigal, Mary Ann’s former landlady at 28 Barbary Lane.

Welcome to My World by Miranda Dickinson
Released 11th November
Published by Avon
Website: http://coffeeandroses.blogspot.com/

Miranda’s first book Fairytale of New York was one of my favourite reads of last year and I’ve been eagerly anticipating Welcome to My World since I read the sample chapter at the end of Fairytale. Thankfully I don’t have much longer to wait

Close your eyes and imagine the world is your oyster…
And now imagine never seeing it. Welcome to Harriet Langton’s world. All her life she’s dreamt of travelling the globe – fate always got in the way. Working as a travel agent, the closest Harri comes to her dream destination of Venice is booking the trip for someone else. But everything changes when travel fanatic Alex drops in.With her boyfriend Rob tied up with work, Harri is persuaded to help Alex in his quest for love. But in her attempts to help, Harri soon discovers that she’s alienating those around her. Desperate to leave her life behind, will her dreams finally come true? Or will Harri’s leap of faith be her biggest mistake yet?

A Winter’s Wedding by Sharon Owens
Released 11th November
Published by Penguin
Website: http://sharonowens.blogspot.com/

Having had a wintry November wedding myself, this one really appealed to me!

Love in the bleak mid-winter . . . Emily loves Dylan.And Dylan loves Emily.Their relationship is rock solid.Everyone says they are meant to be together, it’s just a matter of when – not if – Dylan’s going to pop the Big Question. There’s just one tiny fly in the ointment: Emily hates weddings. Which is fair enough seeing as she was jilted at the altar years ago by Alex, her supposed soulmate.Still, Dylan isn’t Alex.He’s gorgeous and sexy and scruffy and kind – and more than worth taking a chance on … But what happens when the ghost of Emily’s Christmas past threatens to ruin everything? Can Dylan convince the love of his life he’s different and that their wedding day will be remembered for the right reasons? After all, with a sprinkling of snow and a touch of magic in the air, there’s nothing quite like a winter’s wedding to warm the soul …

From Notting Hill With Love … Actually by Ali McNamara
Released 25th November
Published by Sphere
Website: http://www.alimcnamara.co.uk/

This is Ali McNamara’s debut novel and it sounds like a lot of fun. I love the cover and the title.

She was just a girl, standing in front of a boy …wishing he looked more like Hugh Grant. Scarlett loves the movies. But does she love sensible fiance David just as much? With a big white wedding on the horizon, Scarlett really should have decided by now …When she has the chance to house-sit in Notting Hill ? the setting of one of her favourite movies ? Scarlett jumps at the chance. But living life like a movie is trickier than it seems, especially when her new neighbour Sean is so irritating. And so irritatingly handsome, too. Scarlett soon finds herself starring in a romantic comedy of her very own: but who will end up as the leading man?

Black Swan Rising by Lee Carrol
Released 25th November
Published by Bantam Press
Website: http://www.booksattransworld.co.uk

This one is set in New York and promises to reveal a whole new side to my favourite city.

Jeweller Garet James isn’t the same as everyone else. She just doesn’t know it yet. With her fair share of problems – money (lack of), an elderly father, a struggling business – Garet should be just like any other young, feisty, single New Yorker. If only it was that simple… It begins with the old silver box that had been soldered shut. All Garet has to do is open it. A favour for the frail owner of the antiques shop. Who wouldn’t help? Only it’s then that things start to change. Garet doesn’t notice at first, the shifts barely perceptible. But the city in which she grew up is beginning to reveal a long-hidden side – darker, and altogether more dangerous: parallel world of chaos, smoke and blood. And now it’s out of the box…and it has no intention of going back in.

All I Want for Christmas by Amy Silver
Released 25th November
Published by Arrow
Website: http://www.randomhouse.co.uk

As you may have already guessed – I love Christmas and will be well and truly stocking up on lovely Christmassy reads during November. This one sounds like it fits the bill perfectly!

Twelve days and counting… It’s Bea’s first Christmas with her baby son, and this year she’s determined to do everything right. But there is still so much to do: the Christmas menu needs refining; her café, The Honey Pot, needs decorating; and she’s invited the whole neighbourhood to a party on Christmas Day. She really doesn’t have time to get involved in two new people’s lives, let alone fall in love… When Olivia gets knocked over in the street, however, Bea can’t help bringing her into The Honey Pot and getting to know her. Olivia’s life is even more hectic than her own, and with her fiancé’s entire family over from Ireland for Christmas, she shouldn’t be lingering in the cosy warmth of Bea’s café. Chloe, on the other hand, has nowhere else to go. Her affair with a married man has alienated her friends, and left her lonelier than ever. But Christmas is a magical time, and in the fragrant atmosphere of The Honey Pot, anything can happen: new friends can be made, hearts can heal, and romance can finally blossom…

Comfort and Joy by India Knight
Released 25th November
Published by Fig Tree
Website: http://www.penguin.co.uk

I love the cover for this one – it really stands out.

It’s December 23rd and Clara Dunphy is running around Oxford Street like a blue-arsed fly trying to buy presents. She wants to make Christmas perfect: it’s a lifelong ambition. And a challenging one at the best of times, even without taking her sixteen guests – sorry, “loved ones” – and their varying degrees of social dysfunction into account. Meanwhile, something weird has happened to her marriage, and the ho, ho, ho is thin on the ground. Why does Christmas have such an emotional hold over us? Why does family stuff hit the peak of its madness on December the 25th? And is it okay to want more than you have, when what you have seems so enviable from the outside?

So that’s my November wish list – what are you looking forward to?