International Chick Lit Month: Destiny by Louise Bagshawe

I used to be a real Louise Bagshawe fan back in the day and  I still love her earlier books such as Career Girls, The Movie Set, Tall Poppies, Monday's Child and Tuesday's Child. She really was one of the first authors to bring blockbusters into the 21st century and was quite rightly dubbed the new Jackie Collins. I stopped following her books when they dropped off the boil around the time when she was making political moves (cough cough) because they seemed to lack the spark that made me fall in love with them. However, it looks like Louise is back in the game with her new book, Destiny. The novel is about orphan, Katie Fox who is born into riches and rags but is gifted with great looks and an abundance of ambition. Katie is determined to make it in life and one way of doing that is to marry media mogul, Marcus Baker who is big player on the scene. Sophisticated, powerful and wealthy he is just the kind of guy to make Katie's dreams come true. Pretty soon she has the life she always dreamed of; wearing designer clothes and fabulous jewellery and attending glittery events with her uber rich and glam friends with all the time in the world to lunch and shop. However her lifestyle begins to lose its shine and Katie decides she wants more out of life such as a career of her own and a man she actually loves. Alas she soon finds that leaving her marriage is not as easy as she thinks and she finds herself with a fight on her hands to keep her independence and reputation.

Destiny by Louise Bagshawe is available to buy from today on amazon.

You can check out Louse Bagshawe's website.

Chick Noir

Since its inception chick lit has often come in for a bit of a bashing. Many people dismiss it as fluffy, vapid, disposable and even badly written works of fiction. I will be the first to put my hand up and agree that a lot of books in this genre are not worth the pretty paper that they are printed on but on the flip side there are some very good books out there. Authors such as Jane Green, Sophie Kinsella, Louise Bagshawe, Mike Gayle, Robyn Sisman and Lisa Jewell turn in amazing stories and serve chick lit well. There is a new modern fiction category on the block; chick noir which is post modern chick lit with an edge. This differs from chick lit which is all about getting the guy and living happy ever after while chick noir is much more dark and features single women who grow to be happy in their own skin and not obsessive about being married. The pioneer of this exciting genre is Jane Fallon, author of Getting Rid of Matthew and Got You Back. Fallon's talents do not just lie in fiction, she is an established TV producer and has worked on fantastic shows like EastEnders, This Life and Teachers which are infamous for their portrayal of strong women.

Both Fallon's books, Getting Rid of Matthew and Got You Back cover the tales of infidelity and unravels the lives of the wife and the mistress. Getting Rid of Matthew was released last year and secured itself on Richard & Judy's summer read and went to become a bestseller. I am sure that the eye catching cover with a lady in a pencil skirt and stilettos cannot have hurt. However there is no denying that Getting Rid of Matthew is a great piece of fiction. The book tells the story of Helen whose lover, Matthew turns up on her doorstep and announces that he has left his wife. From there you expect the story to take the conventional approach of focusing on the couple and their trials and tribulations but remember that this is not chick lit but chick noir and that calls for a few twists and turns. Hence the entrance of Matthew's wife, Sophie who is picking up the pieces of her broken marriage. Then there is the small matter of Helen deciding that Matthew and her are not right together and hatches a plan to return him to his wife.

Fallon manages to turn Helen who some people would define as a self centred cow into a very sympathetic character. Compelling and extremely funny are the words I would use to describe this book as the writer takes you through the story with style as well as a lot of substance. It is so good that a certain Jennifer Aniston has acquired the rights for her production company, Plan C with plans to turn it into a film. Fallon's new book, Got You Back offers more of the same with two women; wife and mistress colluding to plot the down fall of husband James who has been leading two separate lives. So just as women are leading their lives as they please on TV shows such as Sex and the City and films like The Women, it seems that we have now reached that place in books.

To find out more about Jane Fallon, check out an article in The Guardian here.