Book picks similar to
Smart Casual by Niamh Shaw


chick-lit
little-black-dress
little-black-dress-books
american-autors

Bad Brides


Rebecca Chance - 2014
    At 23, she's always been cast as the innocent heroine. But looks can deceive. Calculating and fiercely ambitious, Milly is determined to be the most famous star in England. And how better to achieve her goal than by dating Tarquin Ormond, lead singer of the biggest folk band of the moment? Tarquin is madly in love with Milly; Milly is only in love with herself. Brianna Jade is an all-American pageant girl. The daughter of Tamra Maloney, a stunning billionairess, Brianna is a sweet, pretty girl who is more than happy to go along with her mother's ambitious plans for her. Now Tamra's brought her to the UK and hooked her up with an Earl. He has a crumbling stately home and needs a rich wife to help restore it to its former glory. Tamra is as ambitious and determined as Brianna is sweet and innocent - is this more a case of mother-in-law-zilla than bridezilla?

Save the Date


Allie Spencer - 2013
    With the bride and groom at loggerheads and the guests in uproar, it is a million miles away from the rest and relaxation she'd been hoping for.And then suddenly, in the middle of the mayhem, she comes face-to-face with Nick, the man she walked out on just a few months earlier.How can Ailsa help get the wedding back on track when she and Nick can’t stop arguing? But if they do, she might remember why she fell in love with him in the first place - and then there really would be trouble.

The Plumberry School of Comfort Food


Cathy Bramley - 2016
    This is the complete story in one package.Verity Bloom hasn't been interested in cooking anything more complicated than the perfect fish finger sandwich, ever since she lost her best friend and baking companion two years ago.But an opportunity to help a friend lands her right back in the heart of the kitchen. The Plumberry School of Comfort Food is due to open in a few weeks' time and needs the kind of great ideas that only Verity could cook up. And with new friendships bubbling and a sprinkling of romance in the mix, Verity finally begins to feel like she's home.But when tragedy strikes at the very heart of the cookery school, can Verity find the magic ingredient for Plumberry while still writing her own recipe for happiness?

I Remember You


Harriet Evans - 2009
    She’s moving back to her picture-perfect home town to take up a teaching job. Langford is a place of pretty stone cottages, friendly locals in oak-beamed pubs and of course Adam, her best friend since childhood. But Adam is preoccupied with a new girlfriend, and the past - which Tess thought she'd put behind her - is looming large again.So by the time she has to take her class on a trip to Rome, Tess is feeling reckless. She is swept off her feet by a mysterious stranger, and finds herself falling in love. But her magical Roman Holiday is about to turn into a nightmare…Back in Langford Adam is gone and everything has changed.Tess has to decide, once and for all, where she belongs and with whom.

More Like Her


Liza Palmer - 2011
    More Like Her is the story of a seemingly perfect woman who’s the envy of her friends, neighbors, and co-workers…until the life of the object of their jealousy spectacularly, unexpectedly, and disastrously explodes. A novel of secrets, disappointments, false impressions—and what really goes on behind those suburban picket fences—More Like Her is ultimately about facing reality and appreciating everything that life has to offer.

Celebrity Bride


Alison Kervin - 2009
    Especially since his bride is a civilian - a nobody. Kelly Monsoon is a pretty, curvy theatre administrator. She never expected to meet a mega-star like Rufus let alone have him fall in love with her. And when Rufus asks Kelly to come and live with him, in his magnificent mansion, she feels like it's a fairytale come true. Only this Prince Charming comes with a 12-person entourage, a bevy of beautiful ex-girlfriends and the world's press camped on his doorstep. But when Rufus proposes Kelly accepts and the media interest in this new couple hits the roof. However, the small, intimate wedding Kelly always dreamed of is taking on Hollywood epic proportions...Rufus's manager is trying to book Buckingham Palace for the wedding reception and all Kelly's mum wants to know is where to buy a nice hat. It's a clash of cultures: British versus American, celebrity versus civilian - with poor Kelly stuck in the middle, not knowing where she belongs. Will this celebrity bride ever make it up the aisle?

The Write Match


Margaret Carroll - 2006
    That is until she falls into a cab with Wall Street player Mark Dawson III, who is gorgeous, funny...and engaged to be married.Mark Dawson's work may be risky business, but his loyalty to friends and family runs deep. He knows the wedding is a mistake, but it would be damaging to his fiancée and her career to call it off now. To make matters worse, Kit is covering their nuptials for her magazine and he can't seem to take his eyes off the lovely editor.With the big day less than two weeks away, Kit and Mark struggle to hide their growing attraction to each other from everyone, including themselves.

Hot and Bothered: A Novel


Annie Downey - 2006
    He’s a rat, anyway, and currently attends Sex Addicts Anonymous. He still comes by the house, though, as do her hippie, macrobiotic mother; her feisty, alcoholic best friend; her God-fearing grandmother; and that Perfect Guy, the one with the beatific son who plays with her daughter, the one who happens to have a winning smile, wild black hair, a professorship at Harvard—and (drats!) a gorgeous doctor girlfriend. Told in short takes that perfectly mimic the frantic nature of our busy lives, Hot and Bothered follows its heroine through the streets of Cambridge, where she spends far too much time staring into space and sipping mocha lattes with extra whipped cream; to church, where she prays for a little salvation; to Alaska, where she believes a rugged outdoorsman might just be that salvation; and to Cape Cod, where, in a little house by the sea, she might finally see the light. Annie Downey has written an updated Cinderella story for all single moms.

Finishing Touches


Patricia Scanlan - 1992
    Cassie put her life on hold to attend to her family's needs while Laura and Aileen soared in their careers. Now they were together again as Cassie dared to start her own business and make her impossible dream come true.

Hope in a Jar


Beth Harbison - 2009
    Throughout high school, they were inseparable…until a vicious rumor about Olivia— a rumor too close to the truth—ended their friendship. Now, on the eve of their twentieth high school reunion, Allie, a temp worker, finds herself suddenly single, a little chubby, and feeling old. Olivia, a cool and successful magazine beauty editor in New York, realizes she’s lonely, and is finally ready to face her demons. Sometimes hope lives in the future; sometimes it comes from the past; and sometimes, when every stupid thing goes wrong, it comes from a prettily packaged jar filled with scented cream and promises. Beth Harbison has done it again. A hilarious and touching novel about friendship, Love’s Baby Soft perfume, Watermelon Lip Smackers, bad run-ins with Sun-In, and the healing power of “Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific.” Hope in a Jar: we all need it.

And The Winner Is (The Adventures of Marty Peters)


Erin Brady - 2012
    Marty hates her job of number crunching and secretly longs to pack it all in and follow her dreams of Hollywood fame and fortune. When both of those worlds combine through a series of comical misunderstandings and one missing screenplay, Marty finds herself as one of the accountants at Staner chosen to fly out to Los Angeles to attend the Academy Awards. Taking credit for "Until Tomorrow", a screenplay that does not belong to her, and falling in love with the handsome Egan Riley, the writer behind Until Tomorrow and the only person who stands in her way of living the life of paparazzi and movie premieres, Marty finds that she must make a choice between love or her fifteen minutes of fame on the red carpet

Snow Falling


Jane Gloriana Villanueva - 2017
    With these tumultuous events as inspiration, Jane’s breathtaking first novel adapts her story for a truly epic romance that captures the hope and the heartbreak that have made the television drama so beloved. Snow Falling is a sweeping historical romance set in 1902 Miami—a time of railroad tycoons, hotel booms, and exciting expansion for the Magic City. Working at the lavish Regal Sol hotel and newly engaged to Pinkerton Detective Martin Cadden, Josephine Galena Valencia has big dreams for her future. Then, a figure from her past reemerges to change her life forever: the hotel’s dapper owner, railroad tycoon Rake Solvino. The captivating robber baron sets her heart aflame once more, leading to a champagne-fueled night together. But when their indiscretion results in an unexpected complication, Josephine struggles to decide whether her heart truly belongs with heroic Martin or dashing Rake. Meanwhile, in an effort to capture an elusive crime lord terrorizing the city, Detective Cadden scours the back alleys of the Magic City, tracking the nefarious villain to the Regal Sol and discovering a surprising connection to the Solvino family. However, just when it looks like Josephine’s true heart’s desire is clear, danger strikes. Will her dreams for the future dissolve like so much falling snow or might Josephine finally get the happy ever after she’s been dreaming of for so long?

Hilarious, Heartwarming Heroines: Four Novels: Can You Keep a Secret?, The Undomestic Goddess, Remember Me?, Twenties Girl


Sophie Kinsella - 2013
    In these four stand-alone novels, Kinsella’s charming heroines juggle work life, love life—and sometimes, even the afterlife—to heartwarming and hilarious effect. This must-have eBook bundle includes:CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET?“Move over, Bridget [Jones]! . . . Kinsella’s witty take on mundane office and family life will really make you laugh out loud.”—Evening Chronicle (UK)Emma Corrigan has a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets. Secrets from her boyfriend, secrets from her mother . . . secrets she wouldn’t share with anyone in the world. Until she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane, who, she later discovers, just so happens to be Jack Harper, her company’s elusive CEO—a man who now knows every humiliating detail about her.THE UNDOMESTIC GODDESS“Another charming winner from the delightful Kinsella.”—BooklistSamantha Sweeting, a workaholic attorney at a London law firm, has just made a huge, unthinkable mistake, wrecking her chance of becoming partner. Going into utter meltdown, she walks out of her office, boards a train, and ends up in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she’s mistaken for an interviewee and is offered a job as their housekeeper. And as she figures out how to turn on the oven and how to open the #@%# ironing board, she finds that this new life may be exactly what she is looking for.REMEMBER ME?“A delicious page-turner.”—USA TodayWhen twenty-eight-year-old Lexi Smart wakes up in a London hospital, she’s in for a big surprise. Having survived a car accident, Lexi has lost a big chunk of her memory—three years to be exact—and somehow she’s gone from being a twenty-five-year-old working girl to being a corporate big shot with a sleek loft, a personal assistant, and a gorgeous husband. Will she ever remember how this all came to be? And what will happen when she does?TWENTIES GIRL“Kinsella [is] a master of comic pacing and feminine wit.”—Publishers WeeklyLara Lington’s imagination seems to be in overdrive. Normal twenty-something young women don’t get visited by ghosts. Or do they? When the spirit of Lara’s great-aunt Sadie mysteriously appears, she has one request: Lara must find a missing necklace that was in Sadie’s possession for more than seventy-five years. And in their mission, these very different “twenties” girls learn some surprising truths from and about each other.BONUS: This eBook bundle also includes an excerpt from Sophie Kinsella's Wedding Night.

Taking a Chance on Love


Erin Green - 2020
    She's ready for the next step but a proposal seems to be as far away as ever.Polly is devoted to her family. But after her parents' bitter divorce, she's wary of marriage - even after sharing twenty years and one son with Fraser.Single mother Dana longs for companionship, despite her dedication to raising her son Luke. Finding the right person to bring into their lives feels impossible - until a unique way to select a potential Mr Right comes along.With 29th February fast approaching, will they each take the chance this Leap Year to take control of their fates?

An Impossible Thing Called Love: A heartwarming romance you don't want to miss!


Belinda Missen - 2018
    But why did he disappear for so long? What has he been hiding? And could this really be their second chance at falling in love…? Perfect for fans of Carole Mathews, Mhairi McFarlane and Carrie Hope Fletcher. Readers LOVE Belinda Missen: ‘a captivating and compelling read I highly recommend!’‘A delightfully funny, engaging and warm-hearted read’‘the characters are brilliant, the setting is gorgeous and the writing is compelling’‘A pleasant. light funny read, well written and thought-provoking.’