Love, Lipstick and Lies by Katie Price: Review

Love, Lipstick and Lies by Katie Price

 When Was It Released?:  24th October 2013
Where Did I Get It From?: From Netgalley. Thank you!
Who Published It?: Century
Number Of Pages?: 336 Pages
Buy?:Paperback or Kindle

The last three years of Katie Price's life have been as dramatic as ever. From the highly publicised divorce from Alex Reid to the romance and split from Leandro Penna, and a whirlwind marriage and surprise pregnancy with Kieran Hayler, Katie has been through a lot of changes. And that's just her love life.
Katie has also dealt with increasingly bitter disputes with first husband Peter Andre and her former manager, as well as her public spats with comedian Frankie Boyle, who made offensive comments about her son Harvey, and Kelly Brook, over her dalliance with Danny Cipriani.
Despite her personal life being played out in the public arena, Katie remains true to her heart by always speaking her mind and living life to the full. This fifth installment of Katie's roller-coaster life provides intimate access to her side of all the stories with her own special brand of humour, compassion and total honesty.

I have been a big fan of Katie Price ever since her days of only being known only as Jordan. When her first autobiography was released I remember buying it, reading it and loving it. I admire her as a successful business woman and an amazing mother, but I have to admit I am also very intrigued by her relationships which usually seem to end quite badly. Since her first autobiography ‘Being Jordan’ I have to admit I haven’t read any of her others so when I received my copy of Love, Lipstick and Lies I couldn’t wait to dive in.

While Love, Lipstick and Lies is 400 pages long, I have to admit that it seemed a lot shorter when reading it. This could be due to the pictures that are included, which sadly seem to be missing from the kindle version so I was unable to look at these. So I would recommend that if you are interested in the pictures then buy the paperback so you are disappointed. I enjoyed reading about Katie’s life, especially in terms of her relationships, her life as a mother to her four children and her businesses. 

The problem with this autobiography was that if you are up to date on all Katie Price news then there will really be nothing new in the book.  There is a lot about the ending of her relationship with Pete, her volatile and shocking relationship with Alex, her whirlwind romance with Leo, her encounters with Danny Ciprani and her new marriage to Kieran all of which has been vastly covered in the press. This was fine with me as I am no longer really one for reading gossip magazines but if you are then you will probably know the whole story already. I also felt at times that there is a lot of self promotion in this book while she is talking about her different businesses and all the ranges. It was interesting to read about the businesses to begin with but I soon felt as though I was reading an advertisement instead of a book.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Love Lipstick and Lies, and catching up on all that has been going on in the world of Katie Price. It was a very interesting read but I do wonder whether Katie has enough material to keep writing her autobiographies at the rate she has been doing.

 

 

Take A Look At Me Now by Miranda Dickinson: Review

Take A Look At Me Now by Miranda Dickinson

When Was It Released?:  24th October 2013
Where Did I Get It From?: From Netgalley. Thank you!
Who Published It?: Avon
Number Of Pages?: 390 Pages
Buy?:Paperback or Kindle

How far would you go to make a new start?
When Nell’s on-off boyfriend Aidan calls her into his office, losing her job is the last thing she expects.
Heartbroken and unemployed to boot, she makes a radical decision to blow her redundancy cheque and escape to the untested waters of San Francisco.
But is the glamour of the city too good to be true? And can Nell leave her past behind?

Whenever this time of year rolls around and it gets to the time when Miranda Dickinson releases a new book I always get excited and this one was no exception. Team Nell has been all over twitter from Miranda and her fans for a long time and I just could not wait to find out about Nell and discover just how much I was going to love her character and exactly why everyone was routing for her. Once I received my copy of this book I could not wait to dive in, and even though it was a busy time for me that meant I didn’t have as much time to read as I would have liked I still finished this book within two days. I just could not put it down.

Take A Look At Me Now is such a relevant book for this moment in time, with the economy how it is and many people finding themselves in difficult situations with losing their jobs. Nell gets made redundant but instead of letting this get her down she decides to spend her redundancy check on a trip to San Francisco. I loved the setting of San Francisco, somewhere that I have never been interested in before now that is. I adored the way in which Miranda Dickinson described San Francisco, it made me feel as though I was there alongside Nell during her trip and almost made me feel as though I already knew the city. You can tell that Miranda did a lot of research and even took a trip to San Francisco itself which really brings the setting to life within the book. I wanted to step into the pages of Take A Look At Me Now and visit Annie’s Dinner and taste her incredible pancakes, which made me hungry every time I read about them.  

After reading this book I could completely see why so many people have been on Team Nell, she is such a wonderful character that you can’t help but route for the entire time. I wanted so badly to see Nell discover herself and find true happiness as she is such a relatable character. Aside from Nell I adored Max Rossi, who seemed like such a kind hearted man and I was dying for this book to end a certain way for him. There are just too many characters I loved for me to mention. I really enjoyed how as Nell meets and grows to like the characters so did I, especially the children in the SOS club who were just too cute for words.

Take A Look At Me Now was hands down one of my favourite books I have read this year. The story completely captured me and stole my heart along the way.  It is always so difficult to write a review of a book that I have fallen in love with, because words cannot get across how much I truly enjoyed this story. I would urge everyone to go and get a copy of Take A Look At Me Now because I can guarantee you will not regret it.

So You Think You're A Celebrity Chef by Caroline James: Blog Tour

Fiction Addiction Tours presents:

 

So You Think You're A Celebrity Chef by
Caroline James

When Was It Released?:  4th October 2013
Where Did I Get It From?: As part of the blog tour
Who Published It?: Thornberry Publishing
Number Of Pages?: 284 Pages
Buy?:Paperback or Kindle

Mix together…
A tough-cookie media agent who's clawed her way to the top, and a con-man who wants to open a cookery school. Add in a washed-up celebrity chef whose career needs re-building…
Flavour with…
An aging rock star fresh from rehab, and a Sloane Ranger food writer who gets her own TV show…
Bring to the boil…
At a Gourmet Food Festival, in Ireland, where anything goes!
When media agent Hilary Hargreaves travels to Ireland to look at a campaign for a new cookery school, she meets a blast from her past - the romantic but feckless chef Mickey Lloyd, who is hell-bent on resurrecting his flagging career. Her tough demeanour is rocked as it becomes apparent Mickey's intentions involve more than a stint behind a stove in his quest to pursue her. But as plans for the school gain momentum, she realises that she's developing more than a passing interest in reformed alcoholic Long Tom Hendry, who owns the crumbling old mansion where the school will be homed. Hilary has many ingredients to juggle with her demanding client list - which looks set to boil over if she doesn't keep control. From London's bustling Soho, to Southern Ireland and the sunny shores of the Caribbean, has Hilary got too much on her plate and is she really prepared to risk it all for love?

When invited to join the book tour for Caroline James' new novel, So You Think You're A Celebrity Chef, I jumped at the chance. I love cooking shows and so reading a book about the lives behind the glossy world of celebrity chefs is something that really had me intrigued and a concept I had not read about before.

I absolutely loved the main character of Hilary Hargreaves, the agent of the celebrity chefs.  She was such a character, with her larger than life character. She has a harsh exterior but once you delve beneath that layer Hilary is hilarious and is found dancing on tables to the 'gobble dance', drinking far too much Black Velvet and champagne and being the focus of a large amount of male attention. My favourite character had to be Bob, Hilary's flamboyant assistant who absolutely loves gossip but is completely loyal to Hilary. All the supporting characters were all interesting and memorable including, Lenny the scammer, Mickey chef and Hilary's ex-lover, Zelda the posh chef who cant control her weight and Long Tom the mysterious rock star.

I really enjoyed delving into the world of celebrity chefs and all the crazy happenings. Its a world that isn't looked into very often and I can imagine that some well known celebrity chefs can be a complete handful to deal with getting up to all sorts of mischief. The plot takes the characters from their base in London to Kindale in Ireland for a food festival to the exotic Caribbean. I enjoyed jetting off to all these different locations in the food world.

So You Think You Are A Celebrity Chef is a funny, well written novel centred around  the world of celebrity chefs. I found myself laughing out loud on many occasions and was routing for Hilary and who she would end up romantically with in the end. A highly recommended read for anyone looking for a light hearted novel.

Giveaway

The giveaway is AWESOME and there is something for UK and International. Click on the link to
enter: A Rafflecopter Giveaway

 

5 x Chocolate Brownies (UK only)

In the book, gorgeous Gary from Bon Appetite! makes sublime melt-in-your-mouth brownies. We’ve commissioned award winning Brownie Queen, Justine Forrest to supply her amazing brownies, individually boxed as a giveaway treat!

5 x Bespoke Book Bags (UK and International)

The perfect little bag to pop your book or kindle in – don’t forget your glasses and a bar of chocolate! Individually designed for this tour by Leanda Peters Designs.

Signed Paperback copy of So You Think You’re a Celebrity … Chef?(UK)

Kindle Gift Copy of So You Think You’re a Celebrity … Chef?(International)