Book picks similar to
Unchained Melanie by Judy Astley


chick-lit
fiction
romance
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Under My Spell


Deborah Wright - 2004
    She's also a witch. Unsure of her feelings towards magic and desperate to escape the clutches of her overbearing mother, she takes a 'proper' job as a nanny for the Wilkins family. But things don't go quite as she has planned. Cara moves into the Wilkins' home and before long the whole family come to rely on her as a source of fun and excitement in their lives. Nick and Andie Wilkins' marriage is falling apart and so Cara sets about trying to reconcile them. When her benign attempts to fix things result in Nick flirting with her and Andie contemplating an affair, Cara can't resist any longer. She resorts to the magic she's been trying so hard to to give up and soon the whole house is in uproar...

Everything Changes But You


Jennifer Joyce - 2014
    And when her husband says he wants to start a family, she begins to panic. Is this all that life has to offer from now on? Popping out babies and growing old gracefully? She wants a life crammed with glamour and spontaneous adventure, not one full of dirty nappies and night feeds. When Ally makes a silly birthday wish for a new, exciting life, her wish is granted. But when Ally is presented with the freedom and opportunities she craves, she soon realises this new life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and that there really is no place like home.

Three Times a Lady


Sarah Webb - 2005
    Fast-moving, compelling, sexy - THREE TIMES A LADY is three times the fun!

Absolutely Smashing It


Kathryn Wallace - 2019
    Have you done your TEETH? HAIR? SHOES? Come on, come on, come on, we're going to be bastarding late again. No, I haven't seen Lego Optimus Prime, and nor do I give a shit about his whereabouts. Sam, will you stop winding your sister up and take this model of the Shard that I painstakingly sat up and created for you last night so that I wouldn't be in trouble with your teacher. I mean, so that you wouldn't be in trouble with your teacher. No, it doesn't smell of 'dirty wine'. Well, maybe it does a little bit. Look, Sam, I haven't got time to argue. Just hold your nose and get in the car, okay? AVA! TEETH! HAIR! SHOES!" Gemma is only just holding it together - she's a single parent, she's turning 40 and her seven-year-old daughter has drawn a cruelly accurate picture which locates Gemma's boobs somewhere around her knees. So when her new next-door neighbour, Becky, suggests that Gemma should start dating again, it takes a lot of self-control not to laugh in her face. But Becky is very persuasive and before long Gemma finds herself juggling a full-time job, the increasingly insane demands of the school mums' Facebook group and the tricky etiquette of a new dating world. Not only that, but Gemma has to manage her attraction to her daughter's teacher, Tom, who has swapped his life in the City for teaching thirty six to seven year olds spelling, grammar, basic fractions - and why it's not ok to call your classmate a stinky poo-bum...It's going to be a long year - and one in which Gemma and Becky will learn a really crucial lesson: that in the end, being a good parent is just about being good enough.

The Trouble With Marriage


Debby Holt - 2008
    Ten years on, the sparkle has faded - household bills, household chores, two small children and a dog have seen to that - but Tilly is convinced their love can survive even the attentions of interfering in-laws and a glamorous ex-girlfriend.

Just Desserts


Sue Welfare - 1995
    Every time she chops up her delicious home-grown tomatoes she dreams of murdering her husband. Why can’t Harry just have an affair with a younger woman, and leave?Trouble is Harry has no intention of giving up his home comforts. Not when he’s been having his cake and eating it for years. Glamorous banker Carol accompanies him on business trips and the odd weekend away, but she too is beginning to think maybe life with Harry is growing stale.So who’s fooling who? Harry, happy in his illusion that he’s a sex god and all his women love him? Katherine and Carol, unlikely partners in Harry’s parallel lives? Against a background of gleeful coincidences, cute Cambridge cafes and the unexpected joys of unexplored freedom, the women decide that revenge is a dish best eaten cold.First published in 1999, Just Desserts takes us back to an era of shoulder pads and fax machines, and proves that when it comes to love and betrayal some stories are timeless.Pro

Keeping It in the Family


Sinéad Moriarty - 2008
    But it's even trickier being an adult and realizing that her family expects her to settle down with a nice Irish lad. When Niamh finally meets the love of her life he is the last person she would expect to fall for her.

Out on a Limb


Lynne Barrett-Lee - 2007
    Either slightly dramatic or seriously dramatic. That this is the latter means just the one thing. That my day is about to get worse...' And for single mum, Abbie, life is complex enough. So once her eldest son, Seb, has gone on his gap year, she's decided it's time to make changes. She's just left her old job and started a new one (to escape the gorgeous man-who-turned-out-to-be-married), and is planning some space for herself at long last. But fate seems to have something else in mind for Abbie, in the shape of her demanding and incorrigible mother, whose feckless fourth husband, Hugo, has just died. Temporarily in a wheelchair after a recent knee op, Diana - retired TV fitness icon and dancer - will need looking after, so will have to move in. Still, Abbie tells herself - gritting her teeth - it won't be for more than a few weeks... However, Abbie hasn't figured on the sudden arrival of Hugo's 20 years' estranged son.

The Engagement Party


R.J. Gould - 2012
    With eight adults to contend with, making the celebration a pleasant experience for all is going to be tricky. In fact, the obstacles seem insurmountable. Number One: the two families are from vastly different social backgrounds. Number Two: there are severe tensions between the exes. Number Three: some of the new relationships are falling apart.Things go from bad to worse during the week leading up to the engagement party and the stress of it all is threatening Wayne and Clarissa's relationship.This laugh-out-loud dive into family life will help the reader appreciate that however bad things are in their own family, it could be a lot worse!

Sister, Sister


Donna Hill - 2001
    Donna Hill introduces sisters long divided by their mother's favoritism--now reunited in Washington, D.C., one sister's sudden illness is the catalyst for a long waited reconciliation.Carmen Green takes two very different sisters to beautiful Martha's Vineyard, where a week in the warm and healing sun brings mutual understanding.Jamice Sims unites two estranged sisters in new York City where their childhood loyalty is tested, a new life is welcomed--and a family restored. From three favorite authors, Sister, Sister brings you three short stories about the trials and bonds of sisterhood.

Confessions Of A Demented Housewife: The Celebrity Year


Niamh Greene - 2008
    The only thing standing in the way is her stubborn jelly belly - and her hilariously complicated home life, of course.

Getting Personal


Chris Manby - 2002
    They trust each other with their lives; now they've got to trust each other with their love lives. Ruby, Louisa and guy friend Martin do the desperate deed and pen personal ads, sort replies and plan dates -- for each other.Friends don't let friends settle....Which is why Martin won't let Ruby make her usual mistake of being a just-divorced egomaniac's "transitional lay," Lou is mad to match Martin with a girl with a brain and Ruby is determined to find the blond stranger who captured Lou's eye on the underground one morning.A hilarious triple blind date at the same restaurant results in one split check, one spark-filled encounter and one very distraught young man handcuffed to a towel rack. But to find true love, the friends realize they've really got to broaden their horizons without losing sight of what's in front of them.

Saints V Sinners


Katie Agnew - 2010
    Or at least they used to - until the head of the family, Giancarlo 'Fatty' La Fata, vanishes over the side of his yacht one night & disappears into the dark Riviera night. His family are left awash in a sea of heartbreak & confusion. Did Fatty fall?

The Defrosting of Charlotte Small


Annabel Giles - 2006
    Years of suppressed heartbreak and disappointment overwhelm her and the fine thread of sanity finally snaps. Consequently, having thrown the entire contents of her house onto the street, she's found by the police, lying on her back under a Christmas tree with an empty bottle of Port and a half-eaten lump of Stilton. Charlotte needs to claw her way back from the brink and start again. But can she build a bigger, brighter, and better existence this time around? "The Defrosting of Charlotte Small" is wonderfully observed and genuinely funny, mining the glorious seam of black humour that is fast becoming Annabel Giles' trademark.

Dreams of a Little Cornish Cottage


Nancy Barone - 2021
    But having kicked out her adulterous ex-husband, her house is filled with nothing but echoes and Nat yearns for the coziness and bustle of seaside living. In particular, the rundown Lavender Cottage that has gone up for sale.But when her mother has a fall, Nat's dream of a quiet new life crumbles as she instantly brings her into her home to care for her. With her two energetic nieces then dumped on her doorstep and her recently heartbroken daughter moving back into the nest, Nat can't possibly abandon her family... Lavender cottage will just have to wait.That is until Irishman Connor enters Nat's life and makes her realize that it's okay to put herself first, and she's allowed to wish for more.