Be Careful What You Wish For by Alexander Potter

For me this is a charming romantic comedy.

Do you ever wish for something without thinking? Maybe like when you go out of the house, you just wish the day be sunny and that the car would start properly?

Well, Heather Hamilton was forever wishing for things. Some she does consciously and some unconsciously. But luck doesn't seems to be on her side.

One day, things had gone pretty bad for her. She was drenched in rain when a gypsy peddler stopped her to sell he a lucky heather.  In order to get the gypsy woman off her back, she bought it.

And from that moment on, everything goes smoothly for her.

Cab stopped for her. She was able to find parking anytime she wish for.


The gorgeous man, James, that she had a crush for asked her out for a date. And he seems to be the Perfect Man that she had wish for. But how come even though things are perfect, she still feeling like somehow things are not complete?

And there is this handsome American came to rent a room at her flat.

I love this book. Reading it gives me a happy feeling.

The plot were smooth and light heart. Although the story does not have heavy emotional stuff, I find it not too sweet. Not like the plot is unbelievable.

I can see this book have good potential to be make into a romantic comedy. The character Heather and Gabe were fun and complement each other well.

Mrs. Perfect by Jane Porter

Taylor Young had the perfect life. A loving husband and three gorgeous kids. She had her dream house which is the envy of the community. She is involve in her kids school activities and is viewed as the Super Mom. Everyone look up to her.However, nobody noticed that she is just a fragile woman underneath her perfect image.

Only one woman marred her perfect life...Martha Zinsser who is a self sufficient and confident lady.

Taylor thought this is her only problem till one day suddenly out of the blue her credit cards wouldn't work anymore and her husband suddenly on an "extended" business trip.

Then thing start crashing down on her. Those whom she thought were her friends avoided her like a plague. And unexpectedly, she received help from one corner which she had never expected...Martha Zinsser.

For me, this book is just okay. Nothing much outstanding about thing.

The plot and story were pretty much predictable.

However, it is commendable that the author managed to bring up the image of Taylor from a weak woman into a pretty determined woman in the end.

I didn't quite catch what character Taylor's husband is supposed to play in the story. In the beginning he was portray as strong and confident but at the ending he was something like a crying baby. or me the changes was not as convincing as the changes in Taylor. It could be due to the husband figure was not given enough space to expand.

Nevertheless, this book has been a good try. There is potential for development.

Mr. Maybe by Jane Green

Synopsis at www.goodreads.com

To Libby Mason, Mr. Right has always meant Mr. Rich. A twenty-seven-year-old publicist, she’s barely able to afford her fashionable and fabulous lifestyle, and often has to foot the bill for dates with Struggling Writer Nick, a sexy but perpetually strapped-for-cash guy she’s dating (no commitments–really). So when Ed, Britain’s wealthiest but stodgiest bachelor, enters the picture, her idea of the fairy-tale romance is turned on its head. Libby soon finds herself weighing the advantages of Nick’s sexual prowess and tender heart against Ed’s luxurious lifestyle and unlimited retail therapy. But when the diamond shopping commences, Libby is forced to realize that the time for “maybe” is up.

Taking romantic comedy to a hip, sparkling new level, Mr. Maybe is a classic tale of what happens to one girl when her heart and her head aren’t looking for the same thing. With a laugh a minute and a heroine whose struggles in the dating jungle will remind you of your own, Mr. Maybe is a story that will leave you smitten

My Comments :

This is my first Jane Green book. Someone recommended this author name to me. I was unsure what to expect when I bought this. 


I find that the main character, Libby, is quite shallow. Nothing much outstanding about her. At times, I found myself irritated by her indecision.


For me it was just an okay type of read. Plot were pretty much predictable.

Tuesday Child by Louise Bagshawe

This is one of the Chick-lit that I managed to grab from the previous BBWS.

Lucy Evan was a Tomboy and she was happy with her life. She had a great job as reviewer of video game magazine although it pays peanuts. She shares a flats with her best mate, Ollie. And they have been the best of mate since they met. They shared almost everything.

Then things came crashing down. Ollie came home from a date one day and told her that his girlfriend, Victoria, had proposed to him and he had accepted. That is the good news. The bad news is that Lucy had to move out from the flat since Ollie is getting married.

Things got worse when the magazine that Lucy was working for was sold off and she finds herself without a job and no place to stay. She does not have qualification for another job.

Ollie pulled some string and got her a receptionist job. The only hurdle she had to go through is to makeover herself from a Tomboy into an English.

This is where the annoying and "vicious" Victoria comes in. She is the the perfect image of feminine. Her mission is to "help" Lucy to makeover herself. Would Lucy manage to do that? It came not without a price. Victoria also took the change to warn her off Ollie.

Lucy found herself with a gorgeous boss, Todd, who seems to have feelings for her. He lavished her with many splendid things. Branded clothes, lavish dining, great big rent free penthouse to name a few. But can Lucy accept him as her boyfriend and will Lucy chance who she is to be with Todd. Will her friendship with Ollie end just like that? 

I find that this one is a delightful read. The characters are well developed. The innocent ones are are pure a white rose, the bad ones stick like a bad egg.

It's really amazing how the events and things fell in place so comfortably.

There was also a rather unexpected ending in this book.

I noticed that there is a discrepancy in page 360 and page 428 whereby for the same scene, the former was said done by Melissa and the latter was done by Buffy.

It's a fun read if you happens to be down.

Running Away From Richard by Chris Manby

Chris Manby's "Running Away From Richard", is the Book 2 of the Lizzie Jordan series.

The story is about Lizzie Jordan who just graduated from drama school. She is looking forward to a glittering career and hopes to be Mrs Richard Adams. She have been living with her artist boyfriend, Richard for four years and she know that he is going to propose soon.

Her best friend, Mary is getting married and Lizzie is to be her Chief Bridesmaids. Then a week before the wedding Richard threw Lizzie a bomb. He broke up with her and kick her out from the flat which they shared. Lizzie was devastated but harbor hopes that Richard would come back to her.

Lizzie moved back in with her parents. But a month later, she finds herself in Los Angeles because she can't stand her brother's patronising tone. She though she can have a new beginning in L.A but life have other plans for her.

She found herself in a cockroach infested  house with her ex-housemate Fat Joe who had turned from a he into a she. Sharing the house with them is Brandi, an optimistic wannabe actress. Lizzie found herself with not much money and had to work in a notorious transvestite bar.

She was offered a job by the hottest gay Hollywood director; not in movie but to act as his fiancee to deceive his mother.

I find that this is just an average read.

First half of the book is dedicated to the sobs story on how Lizzie moping after Richard. Most of her friends saw through Richard and yet she still won't give up. It was really pathetic.

But thank goodness the second half of the book was saved by introducing some colourful supporting characters like Fat Joe, Brandi, Eric and Eric's mother.

Things could have been improve with less whining from Lizzie about Richard. It's just so irritating when it was repeatedly hammer into my brain that Lizzie still holds feelings towards Richard. Plot was rather predictable .

I have read several of Chris Manby books and for me this is not one of her better works.

Amazing Grace by Tara FT Sering

Grace is desperate to be married and she was delighted when Mike asked her to marry him though the impression that I have of her is that she wants to marry for the sake of getting marry.

Mike is moving to overseas to work. The long distance relationship did not go well. Grace was going to surprise Mike with a visit but she had a nasty shock when she saw Miken had taken up again with his old flame.

She was determine to get him back. She dragged her chums to chase Mike over 3 countries in order to have him back.

I find that the plot of this book is very simple and predictable. The characters are pretty much shallow. There is nothing amazing about Grace


This is only my opinion. Others may find that they will like this book. Have a try and see.

Undercover Tai Tai by Maya O Calica

First thing to remember when reading this book is to throw logic to the wind and you will enjoy it more.

The story is about Amanda who is having a dead end sort of live in Singapore. Her job sucks and even her housemates can't recall her name.

Agent Brian is an officer who bakes when he is depressed and he was depressed coz his girlfriend left him for another guy.

His Boss came to him and gave him 48 hours to find a partner in order to solve the mystery of the missing rich widow, Jasmine, who is the widow of a rich man, Tony.

He some how managed to rope in Amanda , a civilian, who was his sparring partner in a self defence class to be the undercover agent. And a series of funny incidents happen

As I have said earlier, this novel is not that logical. However, it have moments of fun.

It's not logic that Singapore Police would use dubious method to force a civilian to help them especially in undercover job.

If I a rich and would wanna flee, I would have had the brain to create a new identity and squirrel all my asset to the new identity instead of waiting for the Police to freeze my asset.

If I am dead and my death is know to everyone, the Bankers surely would have frozen my asset long time ago.

Anyway....as I have said there were some fun scene too. Love the way the author wrote about the blossoming romance of Brian and Amanda

You can try reading this as you might enjoy it thought I didn't

The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughin and Nicola Kraus

I was hoping for a bit of light reading when I pick up this book. Unfortunately it's not.It's a rather thought provoking sort of book.

"Nanny" is a student struggling to graduate from NYU. She advertised her service as a nanny in order to support herself and to afford the tiny studio apartment which she shares with another.

She literally bumped into A Mrs X's little boy or rather the boy bumped into her. They chatted and that was how she become the nanny to Mrs X's little "monster".

As the story goes, Nanny and the oby grew fond of each other. However, the longer Nanny was with the Xes, the more she was drawn into their webs of lies and deceits.


It was a tense 9 months where Nanny tried to help the boy, to maintain her own integrity and also avoid to be drawn into the domestic squabbles of the Xes.

Sometimes it's really scary on how a book can mirror life so vividly. Time and time again, Nanny was used mercilessly by Mrs X. At first,  Nanny would just tried to accommodate her ridiculous requests and made sacrifices. However, Mrs X seems to have taken Nanny for granted.

The despicable Mrs X also likes to dangle a carrot in front of the horses nose.

I love the part near the ending where Nanny realised what a conniving lying ahem ahem Mrs X was. All the frustration and anger described in that part was what I felt after the evil scheme was revealed.

I guess all these things made this novel such a great success. It got innocence, greed, envy and totally wicked.


I like this book. Reading this makes me want to watch the movie.

I Heart Hollywood by Lindsey Kelk

This is a sequel to I Heart New York.Angela Clark is now living in New York. She is a blogger and have been writing online diary for TheLook.com . She have a sexy boyfriend, Alex, who is in a Band.

Angela cant believe her good luck when she was informed that she is being sent to Hollywood to interview a hot actor. He is none other than James Jacob. He have been link to various rumours and have a reputation as a ladykiller.

This is her first time doing interview, She have no idea how to go about it but she have got the help of her good friend, Jenny. Together they set out to Hollywood.

Soon some minor hiccups start to arise. Then bigger boo boo was Paparazzi catching Angela with James and the spotlights were on them. Everyone thought that there is something going on between them.

How can Angela convince her boyfriend, parents and friends to believe her? She runs the risk of being jobless and deported. Then she found out a secret. The secret could save her  job and live but is she willing to divulge the secret?

At first I thought this is another run of the mill Chit Lit, nice at the beginning then panic in the middle and happy ending at the end but it’s not. There are some interesting moments and there is an unexpected twist near the end of the story.

One thing I don’t like is how Paparazzi conveniently appear in the story. It seems that she is trying to portray Paparazzi kept following James but how come at other times, no paparazzi were about? That part was quite unbelievable.

Otherwise, this is not a bad read.

Me and Mr Darcy By Alexandra Potter

Emily Albright is an American and is Manager of a book store. She had a string of disastrous relationship with modern men. They just does not have the gentleman charm of the flamed Mr Darcy, a character from Jane Austen's book "Pride and Prejudice". She had it with all modern men. Her dream man is Mr Darcy.

When her best friend Stella invited to a weekend full of "fun" and men in Mexico, she hastily declined and booked herself on a tour to Britain. It a Literature Lovers Tour to explore the world of Jane Austen.


There are no handsome hunks on the tour. It's just a bus load of "Kooks and old people", as Stella put it. The only man who is remotely of her age is Spike, a journalist that got on the wrong side of Emily. But as fate has it, the two of them were thrown together more and more.

To Emily's surprised, she met Mr Darcy during the tour. He is exactly as described in Jane Austen's novel. Gentlemanly and sexy. For a moment there, Emily thought she had imagined it all but everything seems so real. Is he the man for her?

This is sort of like a modern fairy tale. Most of the thing seems to have been exaggerated like the part where her date split the bills with her by counting up to the cost of the pizza topping.

The plot was sort of predictable. It's a smart move to introduce Mr Darcy into the story or else it would be very bland. The kind of girl meet boy, fight and fell in love.

What I like about this book is that it have a hint of "Fantasy Island" and "Love Boat", where everyone in the tour got to know one another well and they went on the tour with problems in their heart. At the end of the tour, their heart are somehow fixed.

Fairytale of New York by Miranda Dickinson

I was going crazy after reading two tear jerking books in a row. I dug into my vast collection of books pending to be read for something "happier" when I chance upon this book. Actually, I had kinda forgotten that I have this book. That's the hazard of having too many books.

Well, I guess ones can't go wrong with Chit-lit if ones wanted something light to pass time.

Rosie Duncan was badly hurt emotionally but she managed to rebuilt her life in New York as the owner of a small florist shop. She thought by building a wall around herself and running away from her past would keep her from getting hurt again. Outward, she looks happy. Her business is blooming and she have a set of great friends. None of her friends know of her secret except from Celia.

She thought all is well until she met Nate who at times seems to be interest to be more than just her friend.

Meantime, there is another worry. Her brother, James arrived at her doorsteps and he seems to be keeping a secret.

On top of all the confusion, suddenly, her past caught up with her. She thought of running away and hide but then her pride wouldn't let her.

Frankly I didn't have high expectation on this book. Thought it's just another mindless chit-lit that would get me pass the sadness of the previous two book. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book presented just ample dose of drama, love and friendship.

It leaves me with a warm and optimistic feeling inside. Rosie was such an optimistic girl. If only all things in life could be wrapped up in such a neat packet.

Crazy In Love By Chris Manby

Birdie Sederburg is a celebrity heiress. Her parents died in an avalanche. Her only living relative was her grandfather Julius Sederburg who is too busy with his business empire to take care of her. Hence under the care of a series of nanny.

Julius was ruthless in business and let Birdie do as she likes as long as she don't disturb him. She grew up to be a rich, spoilt and over pampered young lady who care for herself only. Anything she wants, she must have.

One day, she got into her head that she is in love with a hot young actor, Dean Stevenson. Dean was horrified but at the pressure of his agent, Dean, "entertained" Birdie's attention to him.

But soon, Dean, found a new love. Birdie is willing to do anything to get him back, including getting herself kidnapped.

And this kidnapping episode really changed her life and she saw what an empty existence that she was having all this time. She also found her true calling and love.

I have read some of Chris Manby books and they are good. But I can't say the same for this. I had a hard time finishing this book.

First of all, the font was quite tiny making it hard to read. I wonder why she want to have this book printed in such a tiny font. To save paper and the environment so that it's coincide with a part of this book?

Secondly, the first half of the book of the book are dedicated to describing what a pampered and empty live that Birdie and her friends were having. Nothing better to do than updating their Facebook with every tiny things that they do and also creating false news for the Paparazzi to write.

The second half of the book was about how she want converted from her selfish ways to seeing the light of her empty existence and turn into a pro-environment supporter. Pretty much unbelievable.

For me it rate 1 star. Maybe I am getting to be too demanding in my reading?

In 5 Easy Steps by Lum Kit-Wye

Elaine Chan was just spectacularly dumped by her jerk of a boyfriend, Patrick, at her class reunion in front of all her classmates who had laughed at her during her school days. To make the matter worse, she also lost her job when Patrick fired her. She was working for Patrick father.

Then she read in a magazine which teach her to re-invent herself in 5 easy steps. When her mom start match-making her with every Tom, Dick and Harry, she had to take a drastic step. She grab the chance to work in Singapore when the opportunity arise.

The first night she arrived Singapore, she was locked out of the apartment. Lucky there was a nice neighbour, Kai, a guy who is staying next door with his grandmother and his father. And soon, Kai, become his best friend and "partner in crime".


Her first day at work as a secretary in a law firm were nearly disastrous but she bump into a gorgeous hunk who looks like Aaron Kwok.

The gorgeous hunk name is Evan and he is a successful lawyer in the firm. Soon he became Elaine's boyfriend.

There were a series of very comical incidents when Elaine tried to be the model girlfriend for Evan

Throughout all this, her neighbor Kai was there to help her...including the time when she tried to play sleuth to find the missing maid of an abusive neighbor.

Kai's relax attitude about life makes Elaine questioned her own happiness and of Kai's happiness as he seems to be heading into a disastrous relationship again.

This is the first Asian Chic-lit which I have come across and I must say, Ms Lum Kit-Wye had out done herself in writing this book.

For me this book beats Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic series hands down! She really deserve to win "The Inaugural Chic Writing Competition 2009"

Her writing style are easy to read and characters are well developed. There are many aspects in the story which is believable and not too outrageous. The heroin was perfect. Appear to be helpless without being brainless and too feather headed.

I laughed out at the part where she describe how Kai's grandmother's denture got glued together when eating "Nian Gao"and the part where Elaine put too much pepper into her cooking.

This is a very enjoyable novel. I hope that Lum Kit-Wye will come out with a second novel soon.

To give you a hint on what is instal for you in this book here is something about the author extracted from the back of the book/

About The Author

Kit-Wye has written numerous best-selling novels and divides her time between her beach house in the Bahamas and her New York Penhouse where she lounges around on her designer furniture seeking inspiration for her next best selling book....JUST KIDDING! Actually, Kit=Wye spends all her time in Singapore where she works hard at her lecturing job and, together with her two equally hardworking husband, runs after their two young sons, trying to stop them from destroying the Ikea furniture. This is her first novel.

(Extracted from the back of the book)

The Devil In The Junior League By Linda Francis Lee

Just finished this book last night.

Fredericka Mercedes Hildebrand Ware(wow...what a mouthful), Frede to her friends have the perfect life. She is rich and from the old money group in Taxes. She is a member of Junior League of Willow Creek and is expected to be the next president-elect of JLWC. The members of JLWC are consist of those rich and high power women in the society. They are the trend setter.

She have a handsome husband, Gordon, that is until one day when she found a a mousy woman standing by her door step claiming that she is pregnant with her husband child. She threw her out with her husband. Unknown to her, Gordon had siphoned her money and assets away too.

Her impeccable reputation was in jeopardy and so is her financial situation. There is only one person who could help her. Howard Grout, a shark of a lawyer who is also her neighbour.

The price that he wanted for his services was something that Frede might not able to deliver. He wanted her to get his tacky wife, Nikki(once was Frede bestie), into JLWC.

To make the matter worse, Pilar(another one of her former bestie), who is also in JLWC seems to be up to something.

At first Frede did not really want Nikki to be in the JLWC. But later on she grown fond of Nikki.

My first impression of Frede in the first few chapter is that she is just a shallow and snobbish woman. As I read on, Linda managed to turn Frede into more human.

The part where her starving artist boy friend is actually super rich seems to be familiar. I recall reading a similar plot in Chris Mansby "marrying for money". The ending also seems to be something like "The First Wives Club" by Olivia Goldsmiths.

I just wish she would elaborate more on Frede's no good husband. The ending seems too convenient and easy for him

Overall it's a acceptable read. I give it 3 stars out of 5.

Bought this book from BookXcess at RM9-90 only. Worth the money