CHICK LIT:
The Way We Were
by Elizabeth Noble
Penguin, $30
This is very easy-to-read chick lit. A little like junk food, it will satisfy the craving but not necessarily fill you up.
Sussanah and Rob were childhood sweethearts who never quite got over their affair.
Now, 20 years later, they meet at a wedding.
Will they be able to make a go of it this time or has fate once more conspired against them?
Elizabeth Noble presents the story from a very realistic angle and deals with the negatives quite brutally for this genre.
She writes about the world of 40-something childless and single women like a native: even though she lives in New York with her family (husband and two daughters), so she must eavesdrop really well.
Light, but not too much so, with a dash of reality as well as the nostalgia of the late 1980s mixed with a little romance.
- Elisabeth Marrow
ANIMALS:
Giant George
by Dave Nasser
Penguin, $32
In 2006, the author and his wife bought a Great Dane pup - the runt of its litter. Four years later he was officially listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's tallest dog. He was by then 1.52m tall and 2.13m long.
He also appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, acquired his own fan club, a website, and is on Twitter and Facebook.
When invited to appear on Oprah, he was going to be flown (from his home in Arizona) first class - but was too big to fit. Despite his size he's a big softie - scared of everything. He has given his owners - and many others - a great deal of pleasure, as will this book give readers.
- Graeme Barrow
SUPERNATURAL:
Emblaze
by Jessica Shirvington
Lothian, $29.99
Fans of the insanely popular Twilight series will love this title, the third in the Violet Eden Chapters series. In this supernatural series, the protagonists are angels and fallen angels rather than vampires and werewolves, but there are many other similarities.
In both series the main characters are teenage girls on the brink of womanhood who have to deal with the forces of the supernatural world, in addition to everyday challenges.
The Violet Eden Chapters began with Embrace (published last year), followed by Enticed. In the latest instalment, Emblaze, the main character, Violet, has come to terms with the fact that being part-angel, part-human means her life will never be normal. Now she has something in her possession that Phoenix, the dangerous exiled angel, will do anything for. Emblaze is a highly readable example of its genre.
- Katy Davidson
FOOD:
Dressing Fish, Game & Seafood
by Brad Parkes
The Halycon Press, $34.99
A well-presented guide on what to do with fish, game and seafood after you have caught or shot it. Interesting, educational and no-nonsense, this book will be useful for anybody wanting to learn more about dressing, gutting, plucking, shucking and filleting New Zealand's wild foods so they can eat the best part in the safest and most efficient manner. I found the pictures a bit small and thought it would have been helpful if they had been number referencedto the text. However, the book, another success for Parkes, is a good resource and makes a nice gift for the hunter or fisherman in your life.
- Heidi Hendrikse