In My 40th Year

So. I've had a birthday. Which now makes me 39. Nearly 40. A hop, skip and a jump away from elasticated waists, Tena Lady pads, tutting at kids who don't queue for buses.... same old, same old really...

The Girls did me proud with a suprise garden party. There was booze, there were cakes, there were platters of gorgeous little nibbles from the deli...oooh it was fab.




My Husband and I had a long old bike ride. I fell, well actually rode, into a fence/hedge thing. I snapped a something on the bike. We nearly had a falling out... things were a bit tense.

The Boss took me for lunch. The Team took me for lunch. And I'm out with The Family for lunch tomorrow.

The Diet starts on Monday.

Again.

FREE BAG!!

Mills & Boon has launched a promotion with W H Smith whereby customers who buy four of its romance titles will receive a free canvas bag.

The limited edition, pink-handled bag with the slogan "Romance is Everything" is only available at WHS stores with the purchase of Mills & Boon books.

Mills & Boon sales and marketing director, Clare Somerville, said: "Mills & Boon has a history of strong iconic design and our artwork has always had huge appeal to women. Producing these bags is a fantastic way to reward our readers for their loyalty, and offer an environmentally sustainable alternative to plastic shopping bags."

A book to add to the pile me thinks....

Farahad Zama has been announced as the first man to win the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy romance—beating the five female authors on this year's shortlist, which included Kate Harrison and Jane Costello.

Zama picked up the £5,000 prize for his The Marriage Bureau for Rich People (Abacus) last night in a ceremony at the Café de Paris in London. He said: "I am absolutely delighted at winning the Melissa Nathan award. When I started writing, it was as a diversion from a stressful job and getting awards was the last thing on my mind, especially from a jury of such well-known authors, comedians and literary figures."

This year's judging panel comprised comediennes Jo Brand and Morwenna Banks, Joanna Trollope, Sophie Kinsella, Tesco’s head book buyer Gaynor Allen, and presenter Liza Tarbuck.

The Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance is the UK’s only literary award dedicated to comedy romance writing. The inaugural winner, in 2007 was Marian Keyes, with Lisa Jewell winning last year.

The other shortlisted novels were: The Secret Shopper’s Revenge by Kate Harrison (Orion); Bridesmaids by Jane Costello (Pocket Books); Recipe For Disaster by Miriam Morrison (Arrow); A Winter’s Tale by Trisha Ashley (Avon); The Importance of Being Emma by Juliet Archer (ChocLit).

I’ve said it before and I’m quite sure that after the next 48 hours I’ll say it again, but for the Love of God, who the hell is Bob Crow – and why on earth hasn’t someone in power managed to get rid of him before now?!

My astonishment at this latest strike action is two fold.

Firstly, how on earth can a body of people expect guaranteed 5% salary increases AND a guarantee that an employer will not have to make any compulsory redundancies in today’s fiscally turbulent times, when the world economy is on it’s knees and a recession deeper than that which followed the Second World War is taking place, is completely beyond me; especially given that the rest of us that are lucky enough to still have jobs, jump for joy every Friday afternoon that we’ve managed to last another week of getting paid at all …

I mean really, you really think that’s acceptable? Or fair? Or right? Or just? Like really?

And then the complete kick in the teeth to all those hundreds of thousands of people who have been made redundant over the past say 12 months who would literally lick the feet of The Man that could give them a job which gave them a salary of around £30k, free travel on the Tube, 35-40 days holiday a year, a uniform….it must make them sick to their stomach…

So, from 7pm tonight till 7pm on Thursday, London will yet again be a place of chaos, confusion, frustration, exhaustion and anger. Journey’s to and from work will be hideous, and everyone will have a tale to tell about this, the latest in a ridiculously long line of Tube Strikes….

Thankfully Boris is right on top of his game by laying on an extra 100 buses to cope with the 3.4 million people who should be using the tube. You go Boris, you genius you!

If you go down to the beach today...

BREAKING NEWS FROM THEBOOKSELLER.COM

Penguin's beach ball for Jane Green
05.06.09

A city beach in London's Westfield shopping centre is just one of the summer reading initiatives dreamed up by Penguin for Jane Green's latest paperback The Beach House.

A city beach with branded deckchairs and parasols will be created in the north atrium at Westfield (12th–14th June) to tempt female shoppers. Cocktails, cakes, manicures and book samplers will be available, together with a chance to enter a competition to win a holiday to Antigua.

Commercial marketing manager Ruth Spencer said: "We are constantly thinking of how we can engage more with consumers rather than push messages at them. The beach provides the perfect opportunity to invite people to spend time with the Jane Green brand."

I'm always tempted by a cocktail, a cake and a book. It's like all my favourite things rolled into one.

Let the Reading Begin

With the arrival, finally, of some sun (cross fingers, don’t speak too soon...) my Summer Reading campaign has got underway…

First up are two books from New Work, Diva’s which is coming in August and perfect for everyone off on their Jollydays this Summer and Between The Sheets which came out last month, and is set to be an all year round favourite for me…

Diva’s is a back-to-basics bonk-buster, with hot hot men, hot hot sex, scandal, shopping, stripping, money… oh, all the good stuff! Lola and Evie are connected in a way they never imagined – It-Girl Lola is the daughter of an indulgent multi-millionaire who has been pampered her all her life and Ex-Pole Dancer, never-had-it-easy Evie is the mistress, holed up in a penthouse flat with her $100,000 diamond stripper pasties.

But then, shock horror, Old Man Fitzsimmons is placed in a diabetic coma and evil stepmother bitch Carin takes control of both their lives with dramatic and scandalous results….

This is a fantastic roller coaster of a read, takes absolutely no brain power at all to get through and the final chapter had me roaring with laughter….

I have two sneaky copies available for the first two eager beavers to leave a comment...

Between the Sheets is an altogether different book. Not chicklit. Not a bonkbuster. Nothing like a lot of the old claptrap that is out there right now. It’s much more women’s fiction – classy, grown up, dealing with real issues and the twist and turns of real lives.

Romantic novelist Dana De Lacey hides some tragic and devastating secrets and when the lid is lifted on them by her gorgeous architect husband Gus, her life gets turned upside down. Unable to finish her current book, and without Gus at her side, she finds relief in the bottom of a wine glass and is forced to face up to her past in a way she never thought possible…

I’m sure I must have read some of the authors previous work – and she has been compared by many to Marian Keyes so you would have thought I would remember at least one of her other books, but I don’t remember any of them… the up-side of this, is that I’ve now managed to add another five guaranteed excellent books onto my must-read-now pile.

Again, two copies are sat beside me right now, and can wing there way to you if you leave me a suitable comment...

It's not all been vows and veils I'll have you know. There has been a touch of reading as well over the past few weeks.

A Spring Affair by Milly Johnson was a gorgeous bedtime treat and was published by New Work a month or so ago. It's great fun, and a scrummy feel good story, by the author of The Yorkshire Pudding Club. We've gone for a brand new look for this one, but the familiar themes of love and laughter you will expect from Milly ripple throughout this tale of Lou Casserly who starts to declutter her draws and ends up decluttering her whole life, with exciting and unexpected results.

Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner, another new title from New Work continues the story of Cannie Shapiro, who we first met 8 years ago in Good in Bed. Cannie is now married to Peter and living an anonymous life writing scifi under a pseudonym. Her daughter Joy is struggling with barmitzvah pressure and hearing aids, and the brand new knowledge that her mums bestselling fiction book might actually be the real story of her own life...

I enjoyed Certain Girls so much more than I expected to. Good in Bed I remember as being great fun, but Certain Girls has definately grown up, and whilst there is some fun and laughter, this is not your typical chicklit tale of shoes and happily ever after with some cocktails and sex thrown in for good measure. It hits home hard on some very sensitive and emotional issues, and the ending is a real punch to the stomach. I loved it, and look forward to reading the rest of the impressive backlist from Jennifer soon.

Later on this year, maybe early next year New Work will be publishing The Christmas Cookie Club and I read a draft copy a while ago. Focusing on the lives of a group of middle aged ladies who get together just before Christmas every year to swap stories and cookies, it has a familiar and comforting feel, and whilst I only read a rough draft it's shaping up to be a lovely book. It feels much more like a book my Mum would buy, than one I would be normally drawn to - but it's good to read something a bit different every now and again...

my last wedding photo post.... i promise!

What a ToDo

So yes, as you may have noticed, I was officially pronounced Mrs Boo on 3rd May as arranged. Everything went according to the Master Plan, with the added bonus of me blubbing like a baby throughout the official bits.


Nothing has changed since. And yet, everything has changed. Those of you who have equally strolled down an aisle will know what I mean. We had a brilliant time, everyone else - all 7 of them - have reported back that they did too.

We then jumped on a plane and 2 hours later, give or take, were sipping champagne on the balcony of Room 309 at the Hotel Milano in Maderno, Lake Garda - admiring this amazing view...


Seven days and seven nights of honeymooning bliss.

So now we are back to reality,back to a huge pile of laundry and back to Work....

more urbanbridesmaid snaps....

urban bridesmaid sneaky peeks

... is a Virtue

So, no pressure then. A cold sore is brewing. I have the slitty red devil eye of doom in both eyes. It’s going to piss down according to the weather reports….and I still haven’t started the frigging diet. And yet according to everything I keep being told, I am getting married on Sunday. This Sunday coming. In 5 days. And people keep jumping up and down in front of me, grinning, gurning, yelling… “Oh my God, you must be sooooooo excited?” and I feel like a failure and a freak when I say “Erm, not yet, but I’m sure I will be...”

Ex-Le Grande Fromage has been interviewed (again) and you can find it here. Read it. He’s lovely.

I finished the new one coming in July from New Work’s very own Paige Toon this morning. The first third wasn’t my cup of tea at all. The middle third got me going. By the last third I was blubbing with tingles down my spine….

I am in love with Diversity . I remember being in love with George Sampson, Scala, Flava and Signature in previous years. I love Britain’s Got Talent. It’s my favourite.

That’s all for now folks.

My friend Bernie has started up a new blog on her website…and as with her fiction it’s brilliant, well observed and makes me proper giggle.

I love Bernie , and wish I had met her years ago when we both wore shoulder pads and had bigger hair.

My tip for today, read her blog and it will make you laugh. My second tip for today, buy her new book as that will also make you laugh.

The To-Do List is the first work of non-fiction from the great Mike Gayle, whose fiction titles (8 so far) I love.

It's basically 352 pages of Mike working his way through a phenomenal 1277 things-to-do which he wrote in his daughters little red notebook the year before he turned 36.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t love it anywhere nearly as much as I either wanted to, or thought I should. It was ok, it was, you know, funny and stuff, but it didn’t grab me in the way I hoped. I don’t really feel I learnt any more about Mike (other than the names of his close family members) than before I read it, and I didn’t get any real sense that he had learnt “stuff about life (323), love (999), friends (1004) and family (9) and finally work out what it means to be a grown up (846)”.

Sorry.

It’s very rare that I’m got. I’m normally the one who does the gotting (getting?). I’m normally the one in charge of the planning and the organisation and the surprise and the stuff. And yet, on Friday I was well and truly gotten. What was supposed to be as far as I knew, a “lets meet for lunch as we are all off” day in Notting Hill on Friday with the girls, was hijacked into a sort of hen day thing for me instead. It was lovely. There were glow in the dark penis earrings. Strawberry body paint. Plastic penis straws. Passion fruit massage oil…. such class! There was a fair bit of booze, and a healthy dose of inappropriate “all men are shit” discussions… There was also a smartbox delicious retreat gift box voucher – which will involve an overnight stay in one of 50 4 star hotels around the UK, breakfast, a three course meal and a welcome glass of fizz on arrival for me and my future husband. A lovely surprise and great present…

Saturday me and Boo were heading off for our romantic weekend Easter break. He had booked a gorgeous Victoria gothic hotel in Windsor (where we got engaged) that allegedly was used as the English HQ of the French Resistance during WWII… amazing surroundings, beautiful location right on the banks of the Thames…blah blah bloody blah. It was roasting hot all the time, the windows didn’t fit quite right so let in mosquito’s, the plumbing was both noisy and useless, the air con didn’t work but was constantly droning in the background even when turned off and our room service dinner was delivered wrongly! We were offered a transfer at 2 in the morning to a twin room, but even we would struggle to be romantic in separate beds, so couldn’t wait to get home on Sunday for some sofa and pj action. Heaven.

The Nearly-Weds is the second book on offer from great new chick lit author, Jane Costello, and tells the story of poor old Zoe Moore, who having been jilted at the alter by childhood sweetheart Jason, buggers off to the US of A to become a nanny. She gets dumped again by the new family she is supposed to go and work for even before she meets them, and ends up with single dad Ryan and his two kids Ruby and Samuel….

Ryan is a complete dish, and Zoe quickly falls in lust with him, despite still being firmly in love with Jason and embarks on a steamy affair… all the time sorting out the kids and the home with the help of her new friends.

If you are popping off for some Spring sun this Easter, you could do worse than slip this into your beach bag. It's short, sweet and good fun.

26 days....

With less than 4 weeks to go now, you would imagine that we are in a complete mad dash to get things planned and arranged and sorted. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is where you would be wrong. Being afflicted as I am with a mild (some would say major) dosage of OCD, I had everything in hand months ago…so all that has been left to do recently is send off some huge cheques to a bunch of lovely people to ensure that we have cakes, flowers and photos…

So me and him can just sit around going “oooh, are you nervous” and “oooh, are you excited” in equal measure.

There is just one slight sticky wicket at the moment. The dress. Despite having had 4 fittings, the damn thing is still too damn big. Not just a tad loose. HUGE. Don’t for a moment imagine this is due to a drastic weight loss…nope, still a lard arse… It just seems to have been ordered in literally double the size it should have been. Final (she says) fitting is just two weeks before the wedding. And trust me, there will be tears at bedtime if it doesn’t fit then…tears, and violence I think.

The Party Part I

Watching

There has been a fair amount of film watching going on of late….the bulk of which have passed me by without feeling the need to pass comment. BUT. In the spirit of washing all my dirty linen in public as I do, I thought you might like to know my thoughts on the following…

Gran Torino – so overrated I can not begin to understand what the critics were watching when they called it mesmerising. Dull and long.
Seven Pounds – brilliant, but confusing.
The Wrestler – I have just one word – enunciate.
The Dark Knight – cripes. Fabulous.
Slumdog Millionaire – wasn’t prepared for the violence, but brilliant.
WALL-E – my favourite film for a long time. Just beautiful and gorgeous and sweet. Until the fat Americans save the planet.
Taken – quite shocking…but good fun.

That's all folks...