Review, buy Romance: The Branded Man, The Secret Baby Revenge (Modern Romance Audio CDs), The Jane Austen Collection: "Emma", "Mansfield Park", "Northanger Abbey", "The Biography" (Classic Fiction), Firefly Summer: Complete & Unabridged, Alphabet Weekends, Thirtynothing, Hollywood Divorces, Flatmates, Simon the Coldheart, This Year It Will Be Different, A Train to Love, Devil's Cub, talking classic audio books on cd - jane austens emma read by belinda lang, Tara Road, Mates,Dates and Portobello Princesses, The Princess Diaries: Give Me Five (The Princess Diaries), All American Girl, Exit A, Ever After, Persuasion

Amazon. com Oprah Book Club(r) Selection, September 1999: Against all odds, two newlyweds manage to buy the house of their dreams. In 1982, property speculation is beginning to be a big, big thing in Dublin-and their street is very much in an up-and-coming part of town. "They laughed and hugged each other. Danny Lynch from the broken-down cottage in the back of beyond and Ria Johnson from the corner house in the big, shabby estate were not only living like gentry in a big Tara Road mansion, they were actually debating what style of dining table to buy. " But for its various inhabitants, the street is to become a boulevard of dreams-some broken, others created anew. Maeve Binchy has long proved herself a secure hand at multiple story lines, and over the course of 500 satisfying pages she focuses on Ria; her best friend, Rosemary Ryan, a beautiful, endlessly selfish career woman; Gertie, the battered wife of a drunkard; and several other intriguing women, each of whom has secrets not to be shared. There is even an all-knowing fortune teller who early on hints that Ria will travel and start a successful business-two things she knows are definitely not in the offing. Yet after our supposedly happy housewife and mother of two is confronted by some inexorable home truths, a chance phone call from America will change her life, forcing her to discard her illusions about men, women and marriage and start all over again. At the same time, the Connecticut caller, Marilyn Vine, has her own lessons to learn when she and Ria swap houses for the summer. [+]

Yet there's nothing remotely preachy about this novel-even the bad guys (and yes, they're usually guys) and beautiful mistresses get to maintain some appeal. Instead, Tara Road is a stirring look at the reality behind our consuming fantasies, and a page-turner to boot. -Siobhan Carson.

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Mates,Dates and Portobello Princesses (Bolinda Audio Books,Australia)

Authors

Cathy Hopkins

Creator: Melissa Eccleston
Edition: Trade Ed
Publication date: 2004-09-01
RRP: ~~£8.99~~
Price: £10.79

Review Mates,Dates and Portobello Princesses / Bolinda Audio Books,Australia:

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Review Macmillan Audio Books / The Princess Diaries: Give Me Five (The Princess Diaries)

The Princess Diaries: Give Me Five (The Princess Diaries) (Macmillan Audio Books)

Authors

Meg Cabot

Creator: Amber Rose Sealey
Edition: New Ed
Publication date: 2005-05-20
RRP: ~~£9.99~~
Price: £3.94

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Review Macmillan Audio Books / All American Girl

All American Girl (Macmillan Audio Books)

Authors

Meg Cabot

Creator: Amber Rose Sealey
Publication date: 2004-06-04
RRP: ~~£9.99~~
Price: £8.90

Review All American Girl / Macmillan Audio Books:

In All American Girl Meg Cabot shows that she is comfortably carving out a niche for herself as an author of teen-chick-lit, albeit with the same plot line: an ordinary American girl who thinks she's not ordinary becomes an involuntary celebrity and realises life's the same whatever. This time, rather than becoming princess of a small fictional nation, as Mia does in The Princess Diaries, the heroine Sam saves the American president's life. Perhaps when Cabot's on her fifth ordinary heroine who thinks she's not ordinary, becomes an involuntary celebrity etc the idea may lose its lustre, but this book is fun, witty, cynical and realistic enough to ensure that the idea still shines. Sam lives in Washington DC, is the middle teenager between two very annoying sisters, and dyes all her clothes black. She has a best friend, she's not cool like her big sister, she doesn't have a boyfriend but thinks she's in love with someone, and she likes to draw. Her credentials as an "ordinary" girl who thinks she's a misfit (black clothes, not a cheerleader) are established immediately, and the story flies from there. Sam's appeal lies in how she's bothered about making things genuine in her life, whilst Cabot's winning touch is in her realism-the president is a normal guy who likes cookies; the plot where Sam saves him is not impossible; the resulting fuss is boring and her priorities lie elsewhere (making lists of Top Tens, worrying about who she wants to go out with, going to her drawing classes). Fans of Princess Mia will probably read this book in one sitting, and become equally attached to Sam, with her usual teenage desire to feel unusual. For now Meg Cabot's star of an idea continues to shine brilliantly. -Olivia Dickinson.

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