Waiting On Wednesday: THE DISTANT HOURS by Kate Morton

I have a special WOW pick today - it's one of my most anticipated books of the year: THE DISTANT HOURS by Kate Morton! You may remember Ms Morton as the author of The House at Riverton and The Forgotten Garden - I absolutely adored those books (they're among my all-time favourite reads) and that's why I'm sooooo excited about this one!

I've been wanting to post about it for a while, but I decided to wait until both covers were released so we could compare - which one do you prefer, the UK or the US one? (see below, click to enlarge) I honestly can't decide, I don't dislike either and I don't really care about the cover in this case, I just want to read the book NOW!

Release dates: 15 October 2010 (UK) & 9 November 2010 (US)

Edie Burchill and her mother have never been close, but when a long lost letter arrives one Sunday afternoon with the return address of Millderhurst Castle, Kent, printed on its envelope, Edie begins to suspect that her mother’s emotional distance masks an old secret.

Evacuated from London as a thirteen year old girl, Edie’s mother is chosen by the mysterious Juniper Blythe, and taken to live at Millderhurst Castle with the Blythe family: Juniper, her twin sisters and their father, Raymond. In the grand and glorious Millderhurst Castle, a new world opens up for Edie’s mother. She discovers the joys of books and fantasy and writing, but also, ultimately, the dangers.

Fifty years later, as Edie chases the answers to her mother’s riddle, she, too, is drawn to Millderhurst Castle and the eccentric Sisters Blythe. Old ladies now, the three still live together, the twins nursing Juniper, whose abandonment by her fiancé in 1941 plunged her into madness.

Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother’s past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Millderhurst Castle, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected. The truth of what happened in the distant hours has been waiting a long time for someone to find it . . .

Doesn't it sound AMAZING? Watch the trailer below too! Honestly, words cannot express how excited I am about this book, I need it now now NOW! :D

Review: THE UNIDENTIFIED REDHEAD by Alice Clayton ****

When Grace Sheridan returns to Los Angeles to become a working actress, it's a second shot at a life-long dream. With some help from her best friend and agent, that dream could become a reality, but at thirty-three, has Grace missed her chance at the big time? Will an unexpected sizzling romance with the entertainment industry's newest 'it' boy shine an uncomfortable spotlight on her life?

Alice Clayton spins a playful and erotic May to December romance in her debut novel. Clayton's funny, borderline neurotic heroine is perfect in her imperfections, and the off the charts sexual chemistry between her and her charming, yet blissfully unaware leading man are the true heart of The Unidentified Redhead. With laugh out loud dialogue and a super steamy romance that will get your heart racing, sneaking around in L.A. and dodging the Paparazzi has never been so fun.

As you can see above, this book promises to be fun, but I honestly didn't expect to have *that* much fun reading it, wow! This is a an amusing and adorable story of Grace, aged 33, who moves back to LA to try her luck with acting. At her friend's party, she meets Jack Hamilton, a 24-year-old film star in the making. The chemistry between them is incredible and they hit it off immediately, but their little fling soon turns into a proper life-changing relationship.

I can't say this book excels plot-wise. The book is honestly mostly about Grace and Jack's relationship with a massive focus on their sex life. Yes, this book is rather explicit in terms of sex and swearing etc. so here's your warning if you're sensitive about that sort of thing. But don't worry, it's not offensive or super kinky or anything - it's just about two adults with incredible chemistry in the initial stages of their relationship when passion takes over anything. Personally, I was anything but offended by it - I actually enjoyed reading about their relationship growing and getting more passionate and everything, it was just adorable and fun (and quite hot too :p)! Anyway, as I said, there's hardly any proper plot to speak of, no antagonist or anything, but I didn't really mind. I found their relationship to be slightly too sex driven as it seemed that they barely knew each other outside the bedroom, but the book was just so much fun to read.

The novel does, however, stand out in terms of characters. I can't say that they showed incredible dimension, but pretty much all the characters were fantastic and the type of people you'd want to be best friends with. Grace was a fabulous narrator of the story and I loved her relationship with her best friend Holly, who's also her house-mate; the two really had the most awesome friendship ever. And ooh, don't even get me started on Jack! What an amazing and sexy guy, almost too perfect - and did I mention HE'S BRITISH?! ♥ Yeah, I know = dreamy accent! Luke Brandon (from the Shopaholic series, my little book crush) has some serious competition. ;)

Furthermore, the writing in this book is simply fabulous! No, the prose is hardly very eloquent, it's all just modern speak, but I thought it fitted the novel perfectly. As I mentioned before, there is quite a bit of swearing (in an endearing way), but I thought it just added character to the novel and made it more realistic. The narration is great, but the dialogue itself was even better and often absolutely hilarious - I loved it!

The novel wraps up nicely, but I want to know what happens next and how Grace and Jack will coping with the change in their relationship. Will Grace become a star? And how will Jack being a star when his film comes out affect their relationship? I do wonder - that's why I'm screaming for a sequel and I do hope there's one in store. ;)

The blurb above really doesn't lie - "laugh out loud dialogue" and "super steamy romance" sum up this book really well! I really enjoyed reading it and I definitely recommend it if you're looking for a light, sexy and super fun read! :) To get your copy, please visit Omnific Publishing. This is a debut novel, but I'd love to read more by this author!

overall rating:
plot: 3/5 | writing: 5/5 | characters: 4/5 | cover: 4/5

Cover WIN / FAIL: Angelic covers? + Winners announced!

It's cover talk time again, woohoo! Yeah, it's been a while, but I just had so many other reviews and interviews to post that I just couldn't squeeze it in, but now the time has finally come to spotlight two covers that got my attention recently - one took my breath away and the other one made me raise my eyebrows, heh. As always, I mean no offence - I'm just expressing my humble personal opinion and you're more than welcome to disagree - tastes differ, after all. :)

Anyway, this week I decided to spotlight two books that both deal with the subject of angels. Quite frankly, this sort of books are way out of my comfort zone so I must confess I didn't really read the summary for either of the books below, I'm just focusing on the covers, which really are special.

Cover Win: HALO by Alexandra Adornetto
Honestly, doesn't this cover just make you go, 'WOW!'? I think it's absolutely beautiful and I'd buy it for the cover alone, I don't even care what it's about. I'm not usually not a massive fan of "non-drawn" covers as I don't think there's anything amazing about a picture with some text on it, but this one really is beautiful and I can tell that a lot of thought and effort was put into it.

Cover Fail: THE UNFINISHED ANGEL by Sharon Creech
I'm sure there's a good explanation for this cover, but I just can't help disliking it. It's just boring and blah. :( I've noticed this book on another blog where quite a few people called the cover 'adorable', but I just don't see it myself. I would never pick this book up in a bookshop or bother to read about it online, the cover is just too off-putting. I'm sure I'm very wrong to judge this book by the cover as it's aparently very good and it won the Carnegie medal, but still. Luckily, the book was re-designed for the paperback release, which looks a bit better and more like something I'd bother picking up off the shelf in a shop. But the original just makes me frown, I'm sorry.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Do you agree or disagree? Let me know! :)

ps: Before I wrap this post up, I still need to annouce the winners of my Ilana Fox competition! Thanks to everyone who entered - I had nearly 200 entries! And yay for Google Docs for making it so easy to pick winners with the help of random.org (yes, I know I'm late)! Anyway, without further ado ...
The two winners of SPOTLIGHT are TINA and NATALIE & the winner of THE MAKING OF MIA is Iffath - please EMAIL ME in the next two days to claim your prizes! Congrats, girls, and I hope you enjoy your faaabulous new books! :)

In My Mailbox #43 + A new book blog introduction!

Before I reveal which books I got this week, I want to invite you all to check out a new book blog on the block - it's called This Miss Loves to Read and the girl behind it is my friend from Uni/college, a fellow bookworm. :) She's now the first and only book blogger I know in real life (not surprising since she and I live pretty much in the Middle of Nowhere) and she's one of the few people I can discuss books with in real life. Then I got myself this blog and I started telling her how amazing the book blogosphere is and totally nagging her about how she should start her own book blog too since she reads a lot - and she finally did, yay!
So do go visit and follow her - she's already posted a whole bunch of awesome reviews, ranging from YA to paranormal to historical to classics and so much more (Twilight Saga, Fallen, The Book Thief, The Musician's Daughter, Wuthering Heights, The Luxe, The Collector, The Phantom of the Opera etc.)
I think her comments aren't working properly at the moment, but I'm sure she'll fix that soon. You can still follow her blog (she just got herself a pretty new layout, yay) or on Twitter. :)

Anyway, moving on to IMM! I'm happy to say that I've had an amazing book week, woohoo!

Firstly, here are the books I got for review:

• THE CASTAWAYS by Elin Hilderbrand - Another surprise from Hodder! I haven't heard of this before, but it sounds and looks good, and rather intriguing too!
• PIECES OF SKY by Kiki Warner - I've been waiting for this one for quite a while. It's actually a western (as in cowboys etc.) romance story, quite unlike everything I've read before so I can't wait to see what I think of it.
• A RELUCTANT CINDERELLA by Alison Bond - Yaaaaay, I've been looking forward to this one for ages and I even did a WOW post on it months ago! I was so happy when it arrived and I cannot wait to read it!

I also bought a few books (shocking, innit :p):

• HEART OF THE MATTER by Emily Giffin - I pre-ordered it a while ago and it arrived pretty much on the release date, heh. I've read two other books by Emily Giffin (Baby Proof & Love the One You're With) and loved them so I'm expecting great things from this one too! I've read the first chapter and it was fantastic, I'd totally read the whole thing in one sitting if I had the time, which I sadly really don't, argh!
• THE FINISHING TOUCHES by Hester Browne - Other chick lit blogs have been buzzing about this book for months and I just couldn't resist it, it's too cute!
• NO GREATER LOVE by Danielle Steel - This one was recommended to me by the awesome Juju @ Tales of Whimsy since we both enjoy Titanic-related books. I ordered it straight away - thanks for the rec, Juju! :)
• INFINITY by Sarah Dessen -This little book thingy is a major RIP OFF! The description online is really vague and since it's only about 100 pages long, I thought it was a novella or something, cool. Imagine my surprise when this book arrived and I opened it and I saw that it contains a short story called Infinity (30 pages) and then two excerpts, one from Just Listen and the other from That Summer, each 30 pages long with huge font and like double spacing. If I hadn't pre-ordered it for like 2 €, I would totally demand my money back. I mean, who wants excerpts in a book?! No one, especially not for 3.99 GBP! Just thought I'd warn anyone who might be considering getting this book. ;)

Right, that's it from me - can't wait to see what you all got!
Have a great weekend, everyone! :)

ps: Don't forget, there are only a few hours left to enter my contest to win a copy of Spotlight or The Making of Mia by Ilana Fox!

Review: CAN YOU SEE ME? by Ruth Gilligan **

When Alice arrives on campus amidst the ancient splendour of Cambridge University, she thinks she’s found her wonderland. Then one night something happens – one inexplicable act ruins everything and she finds herself alone. Alice will not admit defeat; having practically raised her two brothers single-handedly, she is good at being strong. Too good.
But soon her dark secret becomes too much and the cracks begin to show. Her weekly meetings with Flo, the stranger on the bench, become her lifeline. And try as she might to bury the dark truth of that awful night, she begins to realise that some things have to be faced up to.
It’s time for Alice to look at her broken reflection and start to put the pieces back together…

I bought this book (trade paperback even!) immediately after I heard about it months ago - it just sounded so good, just my kind of thing. I started reading it as soon as I could and I was rather impressed by the beginning, but then things just went downhill and I found myself struggling to finish it, which was completely unexpected. I don't think the book itself is to blame, I guess it just didn't strike a chord with me personally.

The plot started off well - I enjoyed reading about Alice's settling back into the Cambridge life for her second term and I found the descriptions of her Uni life rather interesting as my experience was quite different. But that's just the side plot whereas this book mostly revolves around the fact that Alice was raped and the effect this has on her life. Obviously, this is a very difficult topic to tackle and I appreciated that it wasn't sugarcoated at all. In fact, I thought the author did a good job portraying the internal struggle women have after being raped - doubting that they were raped, wondering if it was their fault, nightmares, feeling dirty, withdrawing from people, facing emotional breakdown etc. While I appreciate that, I still the plot didn't flow well - I somehow still found it boring? There was an explosive subject at the heart of the book, but the story failed to intrigue me somehow. I thought the Flo bit was rather silly and I wasn't too keen on the ending either - it was slightly confusing, but I didn't really dwell on it, I was just relieved that the novel was finally over.

I'm afraid I didn't really warm up to the characters either. Alice should be someone I should symphatize with, and I did at first, but then I somehow just found her more annoying than anything, as harsh as it sounds. I could understand why she acted the way she did, she wanted to remain strong as always etc., but I just couldn't relate to her. The side characters just all fell flat for me too and sadly I wasn't particularly intrigued by any of them.

The author has a great way with words and her writing is really lyrical at times, which is something that I appreciate and I know she'll be able to go a long way with it. However, I still can't say that the novel was incredibly well written, seeing how to me the plot didn't really flow nicely and I certainly wasn't keen on multiple narrators - every now and then, one of Alice's friends takes over the narration: sometimes it's her BFF Millie, then it's her friend Joey, a couple of times it's her ex Paddy etc. These narrators aren't marked by name or anything so you have to figure out yourself who's telling the story now, which isn't particularly difficult (although their narrative voices are quite similar), but sometimes it's still a bit confusing.

All in all, I had high expectations for this novel, but sadly they were not met. I knew what it would be about and I expected such a topic to inspire a very moving book, but unfortunately it all just fell a bit flat for me. I'm not saying the book was bad, as a matter of fact I think the author is very talented, especially given her youth, but I just really couldn't connect neither with the story nor with the characters. But wahey, at least the covers are pretty, right? Pictured above is the one I have (Irish trade paperback) and below are Irish paperback and the UK paperback respectively. Which one's your favourite?

overall rating:
plot: 2/5 | writing: 3/5 | characters: 2/5 | cover: 4/5

Waiting On Wednesday: ELIXIR by Hilary Duff

This meme is hosted by Breaking the Spine.

My this week's pick is Hilary Duff's YA debut titled Elixir. I'm completely indifferent to Hilary Duff and so I won't be picking this up because it's (supposedly) written by *her*, but mostly because the story sounds quite interesting - plus I just know I won't be able to resist the massive hype this book will most likely be subjected to, heg.

The cover was also recently released - what do you think of it? Personally I'm not overly impressed, but it is rather astounding how this cover manages to be powerful and boring at the same time, ha.

ELIXIR by Hilary Duff
[12 October 2010]

As the daughter of a renowned surgeon and a prominent Washington D.C. politician, Clea Raymond has felt the glare of the spotlight her entire life. And though she dreads the paparazzi who track her every move, she herself is a talented photojournalist who takes refuge in a career that allows her to travel to the most exotic parts of the world.
But after Clea’s father disappears while on a humanitarian mission, eerie, shadowy images of a strange and beautiful young man begin to appear in Clea’s photos—a man she has never seen in her life.
When Clea suddenly encounters this man in person she is stunned—and feels an immediate and powerful connection. As they grow closer, they are drawn deep into the mystery behind her father’s disappearance and discover the centuries-old truth behind their intense bond.
Torn by a dangerous love triangle and haunted by a powerful secret that holds their fate, together they race against time to unravel their past in order to save their future—and their lives.

What's up with all these celebrities taking up YA fiction all of a sudden? (I'm looking at you, Tyra.) What's YOUR opinion on this? Do you ever buy a book just because it was written by a star, or could you care less? :)

Review: THE HIDDEN DANCE by Susan Wooldridge ****

On March 1st 1933 the luxury liner, SS Etoile, sets sail from Southampton en route for New York. On board the liner is Lily Sutton – a fragile but determined woman who is seeking to escape the brutality of her failed marriage, and begin life anew in America.
During the five days at sea, Lily is caught between the world she leaves behind, with its attendant riches and position in society, and her new-found love which has given her the strength and courage to be herself. Travelling in steerage so as not to attract attention, Lily is terrified that her flight from England will be uncovered, but a new friendship makes the journey easier to bear... until an old enemy surfaces and Lily must do everything she can to protect those she loves most in the world.

I've been wanting to read this book ever since it came out in hardback last year - it just had my name written all over it, being set on a ship (called Etoile! - I love that word, it's French for 'star') and in the 1930s and everything. I patiently waited for the paperback and then when it finally arrived, I pretty much read it immediately - and gosh, what a delight to read it was!

I must admit that I wasn't overly impressed at the beginning as the story started out a bit slowly and it just kept jumping forwards and backwards, and I was starting to worry where all this was going ... However, once the stage was set and all the relationships were established, the book really picked up and I just couldn't put it down as I couldn't wait to found out what will happen to Lily - will she manage to escape her violent husband Charles and start a new life in the US with her son Nickie and her beloved, or will her enemy Lavinia ruin everything for them just out of spite? I was quite pleased with the conclusion, but then the epilogue, set in 1943, provided some additional information that I wasn't expecting so I guess the ending turned out to be rather bittersweet - sad, but optimistic.

The story itself is fascinating, but it also gets quite dark at times, what with tackling the issues of domestic violence and the effects of war on people. All the characters have also had their fair share of struggle and while I don't really fancy living their lives, I certainly admire them for overcoming their problems. Characters like Lily, Johnnie, Mrs Webb etc. were easy to sympathize with and the villains (namely Charles and Lavinia) were easy to detest, especially Charles - just reading some of the violent scenes made my blood freeze.

As much as I enjoyed the story and liked the characters, I actually thought the writing itself was the strongest point of the novel. I found the novel to be well researched and believable, but the writing was really just the cherry on top - the imagery it painted was exquisite and I absolutely adored the dialogue, which really made me feel as if I was transported back into the 1930s.

Overall, this was a magnificent historical novel, set in a fascinating period of time and with a bittersweet story at heart - it may be set mainly in the 1930s, but some of the issues it tackles are still very topical today.

overall rating:
plot: 4/5 | writing: 5/5 | characters: 4/5 | cover: 4/5

The publishers, Allison & Busby, have chosen this title as their Book of the Month so visit their website in order to get a 25 % discount! :)

Interview: ILANA FOX + WIN a copy of SPOTLIGHT or MIA!

I absolutely loved both of Ilana Fox's novels - her smashing debut THE MAKING OF MIA and her recent bestseller SPOTLIGHT (my review here) so I was thrilled when she not only agreed to be interviewed here, but also provided some fabulous answers, yay!

Furtheremore, those of you who are not familiar with her books yet will also get a chance to WIN either of her novels so scroll down for more info on the giveaway!

Enough rambling for now - let's move on to Ilana's answers! :)

* How would you describe your two novels in five words (per novel)?
THE MAKING OF MIA: Ultimate makeover and revenge story.
SPOTLIGHT: When being famous goes wrong.

* How did you come up with the idea for Spotlight? Were you inspired by any real life events or people? Beau is rather reminiscent of Simon Cowell, methinks ... ;)

I'm really interested in how you can be a celebrity without having any special talent ... and how 'celebs' are turning more and more into brands. Take, for example the Sugababes. Their brand is exactly the same as it's ever been, but the three original members have left and have been replaced. Yet they're still the Sugababes! When Britney Spears had her very public breakdown people weren't just concerned for her, they were concerned about her image, too, and it's becoming less and less about the person and more what brand values they project. I'd love to say Simon Cowell didn't influence Beau at all, but I'd be lying. Simon Cowell is a genius and an expert in building pop brands - but that's where the similarities lie. I doubt very much Cowell would be as ruthless as Beau Silverman ... although they both do have hairy chests and dark hair.

* What kind of reasearch did you have to do? How did you get all the behind the scenes info on reality TV, the lives of the rich & the famous and (most importantly) strippers? ;)

I'm really lucky that most of my friends work in the media, and know famous people. I've interviewed a lot of celebrities, and the good ones are expert in turning their brand on and off - when they're on they're incredibly professional, but when they're off they're just like you and I ... only perhaps more insecure and needy. Their careers are based on wanting to be loved, and they live in fear of not being adored any more, especially if their career is all they have. I couldn't live like that! When I was writing the stripper scenes I asked around, and one of my friends had gone undercover at a strip joint for a national newspaper. She filled me in on how the business worked, and I used the Britney Spears 'Gimme More' video for a setting. I know some girls think it's cool to go to strip clubs so they can pretend to be one of the lads, but they're not for me. I don't have a problem with girls making money that way if they want to, but it can be so dangerous and exploitative.

* Being a Brit, was it challenging for you to write a novel set mostly in the US, or is that like a second home to you?

It's actually a second home for me, as I'm half American! I was born in England but my mother's American, so I've been to America more times than I can count! When I was writing the novel I went to Oklahoma, Boston and Chicago for work, so I set some of the book there. I also love love love Manhattan, so it was a treat to be able to set a lot of Spotlight there. Unfortunately I've not been to California yet, but so many TV shows are set there you get the gist of what it's all about. It's somewhere I definitely want to go.

* How long did it take to write the book and were there any particular scenes you were struggling with? On the flipside, what scene was your favourite to write?

THE MAKING OF MIA took nine months to write (on top of working full time at The Daily Mail), so I naively assumed SPOTLIGHT would take the same. The reality is it took eighteen months - mainly because I had so much going on in my personal life. 2009 was definitely the worst year of my life - although there were some amazing highs, too - and it took a lot of determination to finish SPOTLIGHT. I look at it and I think, yeah, I had a shitty time, but I also managed to write this book and I'm really proud of it. So it wasn't all bad!
I don't think I particularly struggled with any scene, although I'm sure there were times when I would look blankly at my manuscript and wonder what on earth was going on. I remember getting about halfway through and feeling a bit lost, but if I feel that way I know my characters have veered off track a little, so it's about pin-pointing where it starts to go wrong and changing it. When I was writing a bit near the end where Beau's about to get his comeuppance it went really wrong as one of the characters said 'we're going to do this to get back at you!' and Beau simply shrugs it off. I didn't expect that - but then, Beau is really wily.
In terms of my favourite scene, well, the last scene of a book is always my favourite to write as I sob my eyes out. Honestly. I know it's ridiculous, but when you finish writing a book it's like saying goodbye to a whole amazing world filled with people you know intimately, and there's a massive release. My boyfriend came home from work just as I finished SPOTLIGHT and couldn't work out why I was sniveling at my screen. He thought I was quite mad.

* How did the gorgeous cover come about? Would you happen to have any stories to share about it?

I wish there was an amazing story to tell about this, but there isn't! The paperback cover of THE MAKING OF MIA is gorgeous, and I think Orion wanted to have something quite similar. When I saw it I was shocked at how pink it is! I'm not a particularly girlie girl, or very 'pink', but I love the cover. I'd definitely pick it up if I was in a shop. Literally, tens and tens of people have asked me if those are my legs on the cover. They're not! Maybe I'll audition my legs for NO PRINCE CHARMING.

* Did you do anything special on the Spotlight launch date? Was there a party?

I had a massive champagne-fuelled launch party for THE MAKING OF MIA, and even though it was utterly amazing, I wanted to keep the SPOTLIGHT launch a bit more low key. The problem with huge parties is you try to speak to everyone and end up speaking to nobody. So this time round I had a dinner at my favourite restaurant - Roast, in Borough Market in London - for 15 of my best friends and family. It was absolutely gorgeous, and we drank champagne and my favourite wine, and had the best food and service ever. I always go to Roast for special occasions, and the team there made it really magical for me. I can't thank them enough.
And to celebrate on the day itself - a Thursday - I went out and bought a car. On impulse. I got a beat-up, green VW Golf Convertable, and I love it. I've not driven in about nine years though so I'm having a couple of lessons to remind me how to park and reverse. I can drive without a problem, it's just the parallel parking bit that gets me every time!

* The rumour has it that you've recently quit ASOS to become a full-time writer - how has your life been ever since?

Yes, it's true! I was at ASOS for over a year, and I set up all their social media activity, but it was all getting a bit too much. My job at ASOS was really full-on, and I realised that if I stayed there while I wrote NO PRINCE CHARMING I wouldn't be able to give as much as I could to either. I miss working in an office, and I especially miss working in newspapers, but I love working for myself. I do a bit of social media consulting to get me out of the house and for pocket money, but it really feels like I'm living the dream. I feel very lucky.

* Amazon tells me that we'll have to wait for nearly two years for your next novel, No Prince Charming. Why so long? And can you tell us what it's about?

I think Orion are just being cautious, and I'm hoping it will be out Spring 2011 - we'll see how it goes! I'm writing it at the moment and I hope to have the first draft finished in a couple of months. It's so exciting! It's about a girl named Ella who has settled for what seems like the perfect life, but it isn't really. Then she falls in love, and it all falls to pieces. I'm not going to tell you any more as it's still early days, but I'm very very very excited about this book. I have quite a few plans and tricks up my sleeve. It's really good fun, and I'm talking to a lot of people (some quite famous) about things to make sure it's authentic. Would love to tell you more, but you'll just have to wait and see!
__________

Thanks so much for your fabulous answers, Ilana! I cannot wait to get my hands on No Prince Charming!
Don't forget to visit Ilana's website and follow her on Twitter.
Visit Amazon or Book Depository to purchase her books.
__________

Lastly, it's GIVEAWAY time!
I have
one (1) copy of THE MAKING OF MIA
and
two (2) copies of SPOTLIGHT
up for grabs
so there will be three winners in total.

Here are the rules:

• fill in THIS FORM to be entered
• you don't have to be a follower to enter
• see the form for how to get extra entries
• ends May 15 at midnight UK time
• open to UK only this time, sorry.

Feel free to comment below and at least let me know which book you'd prefer to win, but in order for your entries to be counted, you must fill out this form. This is the first time I've used Google Docs so I hope I'm doing it right, heh?!