September's Hottest Reads

If you could solve everyone’s problems, surely you should be able to manage your own? As Honey Blennerhesket, Melissa runs the Little Lady Agency, dedicated to helping men improve themselves. She’s supremely confident, successful and attractive. But as herself, Melissa is having trouble keeping her own head above water; as her family threatens a meltdown, she tries to fix up her flatmate, and her gorgeous fiancé demands she move to Paris.

Add to this the arrival of Honey’s ultimate challenge, a playboy prince who needs to reform, and you have a fantastically written and hilarious novel, which I loved from start to finish. Hodder, RRP $27.99

At first glance, Willie Shakespeare Greenberg (student) and William Shakespeare (teacher and soon-to-be playwright) don’t have a lot in common. Willie spends his days getting high and trying to work on his master’s thesis, whilst William teaches Latin to schoolboys and tries to keep his family going. However, through this fast-paced and entertaining story their lives begin to parallel before ultimately colliding one drug-fuelled night.

Sex, drugs and Shakespeare quotes are the common themes, but My Name is Will also deals with issues of religion, war, and the complicated process of growing up, making it a great read. Allen & Unwin, $37.99

If you don’t handle tension well, this is not the book for you. Barbara Vine’s latest is a suspense-filled read about one man’s rise and fall. Ivor Tesham is an ambitious and hard-working MP in the Thatcher government. His mistress is the sexy Hebe, who shares his “unusual” passions. Narrated by Ivor’s brother-in-law and Hebe’s dowdy friend Jane, The Birthday Present unfolds layer by fascinating layer, as Ivor attempts to keep a lid on his secrets after Hebe is tragically killed in a kinky adventure gone wrong.

With a terrific sense of foreboding, the novel manages to maintain and build its pace over the months and years of Ivor’s torture to its dramatic conclusion. A stellar read. Viking, RRP $37.00

Josey has three secrets she keeps hidden from her tyrannical mother. One, she’s in love with their sexy mailman. Two, she has a hidden closet full of junk food and travel magazines. Three, said closet is currently inhabited by their local waitress Della Lee, who may or may not be the closest thing she’ll ever have to a fairy godmother. Della forces change on Josey, who at twenty-seven waits hand and foot on her mother, watches her mailman from a window, and has no real friends. Josey begins to realise that life may not have to continue in its sweet but boring rut… if she could only work up the confidence to tell the mailman and her mother how she really feels.

This delicious novel, set in the wintery wonderland of Bald Slope, is highly entertaining, although it may leave you craving sugary treats! Hodder & Staughton, RRP $38.99

Mara grows up in a remote New Zealand family, as part of a Celtic family living on land gifted to them by Maori friends. The farming is hard, but her family clings to the land that is now all they have. Mara’s childhood with her extroverted mother is semi-idyllic, and she can always find a secure place in her grandfather’s arms. However her mother leaves, and as she grows up Mara must find new ways to connect with her dreams and to find her place in a changing world.

Girlie is a truly New Zealand novel, written with an expansive sense of place that will leave you entranced. Penguin NZ, RRP $28.00