Come and Meet Lisa Jewell

Despite being attracted to the vibrant and vigorous marketing campaign for Lisa Jewell's debut novel, Ralph's Party back in 1999, I did not get round to reading her books till a good few years later. Thirtysomething was my first taste of Lisa Jewell(ism) and it certainly left a fantastic taste in my mouth. The story was about Dig and Nadine, two best mates who were doomed for each other except things kept getting in the way. Like Dig's first love, Nadine's career etc. I read the book in a flash and really fell in love with the characters as well as Lisa Jewell's style of writing. I tucked into One-Hit Wonder and A Friend of the Family and enjoyed every bit of them - you see there is something very endearing about the way Lisa writes and you really do fall in love with her characters. So when I received an invite from Random House inviting me to a Blogger event to meet Lisa Jewell herself and other like minded bloggers, I was pretty estatic.

The event took place at Random House headquarters last Wednesday and bloggers such as Efe from Efe Fabulous, Emma from The Adventures of an English Mum, Tamsin from Tamsin's Blog, Hannah from Why Miss Jones, Lisa from The Wright Stuff, Cate from Bitchbuzz and Yasmin Selena. The idea was to celebrate the sequel to Ralph's Party, After the Party which takes place 12 years after the first book. After some nibbles, a glass of wine and some chit chat we all settled down and Lisa Jewell took part in a Q&A where she talked about her life as an author and how her books always have to have a happy ending. How she got started, what her inspirations were, the idea behind the sequel of Ralph's Party. Lisa was a real gem, so down to earth and very inspiring. The staff at Random House were very welcoming and it is so great to see a huge brand like Random really taking the social media thing to another level. It was also really empowering to be in the company of very creative and independent thinking women. The evening ended with pleasantries and we were each given a huge goodie bag with lots of chick lits in. Now I read a lot of blogs especially fashion and beauty ones and I am always jealous of the goodies they receive so this experience was a real coup for me. As well as a copy of After the Party inside the goodie bag were books like Confetti Confidential by Holly McQueen, Lost Innocence by Susan Lewis, Midnight Girls by Lulu Taylor, Truth to Tell by Mavis Cheek, Every Last One by Anna Quindlen, a fancy notebook and of course a large bar of Galaxy chocolate. Needless to say I was very chuffed and it looks like I have a few more titles to add to my 'to be read' pile.

After the Party is available to buy from amazon.

Check out the website for After the Party and you can join the Lisa Jewell Facebook fan page.

You can follow Lisa Jewell on Twitter here.

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.