Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns by Lauren Weisberger

She’s Baaaaaack!

Reviewed by Mel Hearse

      I’m a fan of Weisberger’s work—Last Night at the Chateau Marmont is my personal favourite, and while her latest, the hotly anticipated sequel to the best selling Devil Wears Prada, fails to knock it off the number one perch for me, it’s certainly a great read.  

      Following on from the original Devil, Revenge Wears Prada sees Andy at the newly turned age of thirty, now an incredibly successful magazine editor, and working closely with her best friend Emily, another Runway survivor (yes, THAT Emily). She’s about to be married and has been careful to stay clear of Miranda Priestly, her dreadful first boss. But Andy’s luck is running out. Miranda Priestly isn’t the kind of woman who hides in the background.

      In the words of the book’s blurb—Miranda’s baaaaack...and more devilish than ever.

      If I have a complaint about the sequel, it’s that there wasn’t much of the Devil herself, and where she did appear there was a slight feeling that it was really a tack on moment, included simply for continuity or a sense of obligation to the franchise. The strength of the book is Andy.        Her story line is interesting enough to class this book as a masterpiece in its genre (Hey, literature it ain’t, but as a good chick-lit novel it excels.)

      Overall, the book is a great read, any issues are no more than niggles.  The book is aspirational, glossy and all the basic things you want in a good beach read.  

       I give it three stars for execution, four stars for delivering the fun factor.

Our review copy of Revenge Wears Prada thanks to the stylish people at HARPER COLLINS PUBLISHERS Australia

BOOK BLURB

Everything′s in place for the season′s hottest launch:

Tall latte (with two raw sugars)? Check.

Gucci trench (draped over desk)? Check.

Outrageous, unreasonable demands? Check.

Andy has just turned thirty and is an incredibly successful magazine editor, working closely with her best friend Emily, another Runway survivor. She′s about to get married - life′s on track and she's been careful to stay clear of Miranda Priestly, her dreadful first boss. But Andy′s luck is running out. Miranda Priestly isn′t the kind of woman who hides in the background.

She′s back... and more devilish than ever.

USEFUL INFORMATION

Release Dates:            Australia and New Zealand: June 2013

Purchasing details:      Click here

Author’s Website:        LAUREN WEISBERGER

Sample Read:             Click here

THE AUTHOR

      Lauren Weisberger is the author of the mega success The Devil Wears Prada. It is almost autobiographic, since Lauren did start her career as an assistant to Editor-in-Chief of Vogue, Anna Wintour. She then moved to Departures magazine where she began writing both for the magazine and in writing classes by night. She debuted with The Devil Wears Prada, which exists in more than 4 million copies and became the Golden Globe award winning motion picture starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway.

      With her second book, Everyone Worth Knowing Lauren Weisberger proved that she was not just a one hit wonder, with more than a million copies in print to prove it. .

Lauren Weisberger is now married to Mike Cohen who is also a writer.

The Australian Women's Weekly FOOD WE LOVE ★★★★★

I CAN BAKE!  I CAN BAKE!

When I think of The Australian Women’s Weekly cookbooks I think of my first attempts, over thirty years ago, at cooking and my first ever cookbook, The Women’s Weekly Cooking Class Cookbook.  I loved it so much because until I owned that book everything I cooked was a disaster.  They had fabulous pictures of every step of the process and a picture of how the dish was meant to look at the end.  I truly learnt to cook with that book. Until a recent house move that book sat on my shelf for three decades. 

Of course, over the years you add more and more books to your collection and most of mine were Women’s Weekly.  Any time favourite cookbooks are mentioned amongst friends there is usually the comment, “You can’t go wrong with a Women’s Weekly.”

The Australian Women’s Weekly cookbook series has been around since 1976 beginning with Best Ever Recipes.  After that one book a year was released and they have now sold over 75 million copies worldwide across 100 countries. 

Enough of history though, you want the review part don’t you?

So, when my The Australian Women’s Weekly ‘Food We Love’ (favourite recipes from the AWW Test Kitchen) arrived, I took one look and fell in love.  This book was first published in 2006 and this is the latest 2013 edition.

In Food We Love 90 past and present staff of the AWW Test Kitchen have gathered together their favourite recipes. Even though some of the recipes are years old, these are recipes they helped develop and are still cooking today for their family and friends.

Let me be honest, despite my cooking experience—some say I am not bad—I am not a baker.

Muffins, yes!

Biscuits, rarely!

Ice-cream with a banana for dessert, mostly!

I blame the oven every time a cake failed.  Of course, said my friends nodding, while probably thinking she can't bake.  It’s always the oven, right?  Eventually, I gave up and brought salads or Tim Tams to gatherings .

So the first section I turned to in Food We Love was ‘Baking’. Here is the real test of the success of a cook book for me. Can I bake something from it and not watch my family chew for far too long on the initial bite?

Results:  Moist orange cake. Yes! “Please make another,” said the 10 year old. 

Moist coconut cake with coconut ice frosting.  Yes! “Wonderful and different,” congratulates the husband.

Carrot and banana cake.  Yes! “Please pack extra for my lunch,” said the two boys who normally will only take those horrible, deadly, sugary muesli bars you buy from the shop.

Cinnamon teacake. Yes! Yes! Yes! Everyone loved this big, yummy, donut-tasting cake which my fussiest son devoured after first licking—yes licking—the side nervously having experienced my baking for years.

And this is only some of the baking section. There are finger foods, soups and starters, and mains; broken into the usual meats, pasta & rice, seafood, salads, and accompaniments.  Then desserts, baking (wonderful baking) and even Christmas fare.

It’s bright and breezy and basic—with a beautiful picture of the result—which is what we average cooks want.  In the side column of the recipes there is also a little blurb from the test kitchen employee who chose the recipe.  They tell you who they are and why they love this recipe.

The Australian Women’s Weekly Food We Love is now the cook book I love.  I could write so much more about this book but I have a lemon sour cream cake in the oven and …

Review copy thanks to my delicious friends at Bauer Media

Please click here for purchasing info and further details.

More Women’s Weekly Cookbooks to check out HERE

Published: June/2013

Page extent: 240pp

ISBN: 978-1-74245-385-9

RRP: $29.95

NIGHT TERRORS ANTHOLOGY edited by Karen Henderson

Since the rise and rise of eBooks, short stories and novellas have become increasingly popular.  I think of short stories as a sorbet between longer books; something to refresh your palette before moving on to that six hundred page tome or if you are a Stephen King fan one thousand plus page doorstop.

The “Night Terrors Anthology” edited by Karen Henderson of Kayelle Press is a creepy little anthology of all things nasty with an abundance of demons, vampires, ghosts and the undead.  Inside are seventeen top-notch horror stories from international authors; many of whom are award winners.

The quality of the stories ranges from very good to exceptional.  The first of the anthology, “A World Not Our Own” by J.C. Hemphill proves you can’t trust vampires and is as far from “Twilight” as a good vampire story should be. 

Now the publishing and film and television world have fallen in love with zombies, zombies have become the new black.  Move over Edward. Read “Share the Love” by Chris Donahue to get your quality zombie fix.  

“White Lines, White Crosses” by Andrew J. McKiernan could have been written by Stephen King.  It is a cool little ghost story about a teenager’s desire to fit in and the price he pays when the peer pressure comes from the other side of the grave. It is seriously dark and beautifully paced.

There is also a few classics thrown in for good measure. They are just as fresh today and fit right in with their modern counterparts;  Edgar Allan Poe’s “A Tell-Tale Heart, “The Dead Girl” by Guy de Maupassant and “A Ghost Story” by Mark Twain.

The “Night Terrors Anthology” is a solid collection with some truly enjoyable, clever tales that will stay with you whether you want them to or not.   The “Creepy” Badge of Honor is awarded to Editor Karen Henderson for having a great feel for a good story.

Thank you to Kayelle Press for our e-review copy of Night Terrors Anthology.

 This book is available in paperback and e-book format

Visit http://www.kayellepress.com/shop/night-terrors-anthology/ for more details and to purchase.

ABOUT KAYELLE PRESS

Based in Australia, Kayelle Press is a new independent publisher of speculative fiction, which includes fantasy, science fiction and horror. We will publish books for young readers, young adults and adults that will tempt your imagination and allow you to escape into unknown worlds.

Most of our books will be available in paperback and various digital formats. They can be purchased through this website or from your favourite online book store. Alternatively, you can request an order form through email and send the order through the post with a bank cheque, money order or international draft. Refer to our How to Order page for more information.

Raven Girl by Audrey Niffenegger ★★★★ ½

FLIGHT OF BEAUTIFUL FANCY

           My ten and twelve year old boys are, sadly, at an age where they don’t want me to read to them anymore.  In fact, thanks to iPads, X-boxes and cable TV, they don’t even want to read themselves anymore.

            However, they both expressed interest in me reading them “Raven Girl”.  In the end, my hubby sat in and for several nights our family eagerly anticipated the next reading.  Reading this book with them was a wonderful experience.  First they wanted to read it; then they didn’t want me to stop. They loved the story and wanted it read again.  A miracle.

           “Once there was a Postman who fell in love with a Raven.” 

           The opening line in this modern-day, dark, fairy tale begins a marvelous tale of a postman who “thought he had seen just about everything Her Majesty’s Postal Service could offer in the way of danger and difficulty, hilarity and boredom”.  When he rescues a baby raven, which has fallen from her nest, they fall in love and eventually have a baby raven girl who has human form but speaks in raven.  Like any child, the raven girl is not happy with herself and seeks to be transformed.

            Niffenegger has collaborated with Royal Ballet Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor to produce a ballet based on this book. It premiered at the Royal Opera House in London in May 2013.

                Audrey Niffenegger was on my list of beloved authors before this book.  Her first novel, “The Time Traveler’s Wife” was an international best-seller and her second book, a ghost story entitled “Her Fearful Symmetry”, is in my Top reads.

           Niffenegger puts words together from which spin magic.   She is also a talented artist. In “Raven Girl”, she not only wrote a charming tale, she also illustrated it beautifully using the 17th century technique of aquatint, which uses metal, acid, wax and rosin to achieve delicate tone and detailed images.

          Anyone, any age reading this will fall in love with the tale of the “Raven Girl”.  It is a book of exceptional beauty and one to treasure.

My review copy of RAVEN GIRL thanks to the hardworking people at RANDOM HOUSE Australia.

Release Dates: Australia and New Zealand: May 2013

Useful Links

For purchasing details and more information:   click here

Visit the official website for Audrey Niffenegger

Read a free chapter of RAVEN GIRL

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Audrey Niffenegger is an exceptionally creative writer and visual artist who has achieved enormous success in both worlds. Her debut novel, The Time Traveler's Wife, has sold more than seven million copies worldwide and has been translated into forty languages. A Richard & Judy book club choice in the UK, it has been a huge bestseller all round the world. In the Daily Telegraph's readers' poll of the 'Top 50 Books of All Time' it appeared at no. 11. Niffenegger is also the author of two 'novels-in-pictures', The Three Incestuous Sisters(2005) and The Adventuress (2006), both published by Cape. Her graphic novel The Night Bookmobile was serialized in the Guardian and published on the Cape Graphic list.
A Chicago native, Niffenegger received her MFA in Printmaking and Drawing from Northwestern University. Her art has been widely exhibited in the United States and is in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress and Harvard University's Houghton Library.

Devil in the Hole by Charles Salzberg ★★★★

Into the mind of a murderer

Reviewed by Tracy Harris

          James Kirkland is not your typical nosy neighbor. So, when he notices all of the lights blazing in his neighbors house, he’s curious but not curious enough to knock on the door and inquire after their health.  He is inquisitive enough to notice that the lights are slowly burning themselves out. 

          
         A phone call to the police results in the discovery of the gruesome murders of an entire family including the dog, minus one member. John Hartman, husband, son and father of three is missing and all evidence points to him as the prime suspect.

          We are given an unusual insight, discovering the story through the eyes of a cast of characters who have their own individual opinion on the man who is John Hartman. From the senior investigator who has become obsessed with apprehending Hartman, to his former mistress, to past work colleagues and even his postman.  Even Hartman's side of the story is revealed through his viewpoint; a man who has committed the unthinkable crime and managed to elude authorities but not himself.

          Based on a true story, the John List murders, reading the first page to Devil in the Hole is like having just one potato chip. You simply must have more.

        Read this book if you want to treat yourself to a novel that is different, a novel not told from the traditional single viewpoint, but through multiple character’s viewpoints. I felt this allowed an opportunity to discover each individual's opinion of Hartman, through their own distinct and unique interactions.  This way we have an opportunity to attempt to understand how such a horrendous crime impacts everyone.

Thank you to author Charles Salzberg who contacted us directly and supplied a copy of his novel. 

PURCHASING DETAILS:   Click here
IN AUSTRALIA: Click Here
                                                          

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      Charles Salzberg is a New York-based novelist, journalist and acclaimed writing instructor.

          A celebrated and popular creative writing teacher, he has been a Visiting Professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and has taught writing at Sarah Lawrence College, Hunter College, the Writer's Voice, and the New York Writers Workshop, where he is a Founding Member. He is a consulting editor at the webzine Ducts.org and co-host, with Jonathan Kravetz, of the reading series, Trumpet Fiction, at KGB in New York City.

          Visit Charles' website here.

SHIFT by Hugh Howey ★ ★ ★★★

READ MY FASCINATING INTERVIEW WITH HUGH HOWEY: CLICK HERE

A MASTER STORYTELLER STRIKES AGAIN

The beautiful blue covered book that is SHIFT, prequel to Hugh Howey’s mega-hit WOOL, sat on my bedside table for a week; not because I didn’t want to read it but I was simply delaying gratification.  I knew once I started it, I would devour the 576 pages in a few days and then I would be forced to leave the world of Howey’s Silo and would have to wait months until the final book in the trilogy was released. 

It’s hard to find eloquent words to describe my love for the genius of Hugh Howey.  Reading his work reminds me of how I felt almost forty years ago when I first read Stephen King’s CARRIE.  For me, no author has ever measured against Master King’s writing. There are many great writers who have penned wonderful books but Howey and King have one thing in common. They are storytellers before they are writers.

Even more exciting is that Howey is one of the new breed of Indie Hybrid authors, self-publishing his e-books and licensing the paper-book distribution rights to  major publishers. So, he can write and deliver great reads quickly; no more waiting for the publishing world’s limit of one release a year.

SHIFT takes us back to the beginning before Wool; before the world was laid waste and toxic by something that happened sixty years ago, forcing the few thousand remaining human beings to live in two hundred storey silos.  The silos are layered with not only physical levels but political and social stratas and are governed under strict rule.  None of the Silo inhabitants remember what happened before. 

Whilst reading Wool, (which I recommend reading before Shift) there were what you could presume were plot-holes (as it turns out they were purposely there). These are resolved in Shift as we travel from the destruction of Earth to the monotonous existence of the inhabitants of Silo One who are cryogenically frozen and awakened for their shifts of varying lengths.

This new world and its progression through several hundred years is told through the stories of various characters: the engineer who unwittingly designed the silos, a shift worker who remembers fragments of another life, a courier who becomes embroiled in an uprising, a child trapped for years in a computer safe room.

It is science fiction work but it crosses genres ingeniously and the reason for Howey’s huge success is the human stories he tells. Through his wonderful and rich characters Howey challenges us to contemplate hope and humanity.   Just like King’s millions of loyal fans who read every book he releases, there will be few initiates to the Howey style who will not continue to follow him wherever he chooses to write. And that’s the kind of passion a good story-teller evokes.  

My review copy of Shift thanks to the hardworking people at RANDOM HOUSE Australia.

For more information please visit http://www.randomhouse.com.au
Release Dates: Australia and New Zealand: May 2013

To purchase:   click here

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hugh Howey is the author of Wool, a bestselling novel that has appeared in the top 5 of science fiction on Amazon. He is also the author of the award-winning Molly Fyde Saga. He lives in Boone, N.C. with his wife Amber and their dog Bella.

• Follow Hugh Howey on Facebook
• Sign up to receive Hugh Howey's newsletter
• Visit Hugh Howey's official website
• Follow Hugh Howey on Twitter
• Read a free chapter of SHIFT

THE MIDWIFE'S TALE by Sam Thomas ★★★★

Reviewed by Tracy Harris

In the early 1600s, a woman’s role was easily categorised as that of being a wife and mother. Nothing more, nothing less.  Except in the case of twice widowed Lady Bridget Hodgson, who serves her community in the role of midwife, tending to ladies and maids and everyone in between.

York in 1644 is not a pleasant place, even for an educated and wealthy woman such as Bridget. A civil war is splitting the country in two, and Parliament’s forces are at the city’s walls.  In the midst of this uncertainty, one of Bridget’s friends is accused of murdering her husband, an act of petty treason. Esther Cooper begs Bridget to help prove her innocence and save her life.

Appalled at the way Esther’s trial is handled and at the attitude of the Lord Mayor, Bridget finds herself drawn towards proving Esther’s innocence, and her life, ably assisted by her new maid, Martha Hawkins. For a lady’s maid, Martha has an unusual skill set and understanding of the seedier side of life which comes in surprisingly useful in a city under siege, where unsavoury characters lurk around corners and danger comes in all shapes and sizes.

Samuel Thomas has captured his female protagonist with a realistic hand, keeping her wit and wisdom fresh and believable. His enthusiasm for Reformation history keeps the story flowing without becoming bogged down in dreary details. Samuel based his character Bridget on a midwife by the same name who practiced in York and whose Will can found online at the Borthwick Institute for Historical Research website.

However the most unique aspect of this book is its historical accuracy as far as midwifery. We are taken on a journey into a world that exists no longer, but was an integral and essential part of life in the 1600s. As a midwife, Bridget is not only responsible for bringing new life into her world, but for interrogating single mothers and ensuring the fathers’ of their children take responsibility for their actions.

A mystery with a unique setting, The Midwife’s Tale is certainly a novel worth exploring, if you like facts along with your fiction.

FOR PURCHASING INFORMATION: CLICK HERE
VISIT THESE SITES FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE AUTHOR:

• Author Website
• Author Facebook
• Author Twitter