Exciting New Books for December 2013

Looking back, I didn’t do a ‘new books I’m interested in’ post for last month. November is a huge month for books in Australia, as many ‘blockbuster’ titles come out in readiness for Christmas. It’s definitely hard to select just a few! In December, things are nearly as exciting but tend to slow down as it gets closer to Christmas and the temperature rises.

I’ve spotted some of the titles below on the shelves in late November as titles jostle for position and your love. I love it when books come out early!

These are my picks for the month, not influenced by any company or anyone! Do note that the release dates are for Australia.

The Rumour Mill by Roxy Jacenko

From the publisher’s website:

Jazzy Lou is back and busier than ever!

Queen Bee, her fabulous PR firm, is going from strength to strength with an ever-expanding roster of clients, including the hottest new International Designer.

At home, Jazzy has her hands full with her baby girl Fifi, as well as the planning of her upcoming wedding to Michael. But just as everything seems to be falling into place, Jazzy discovers that her old boss, the evil Diane Wilderstein, has resurfaced and has her heart set on poaching Jazzy’s Queen Bee clients. Meanwhile, someone is trying to bring her down by circulating a poisonous voicemail to ALL of Sydney’s media!

Will they succeed in destroying everything Jazzy has worked so hard for? Or will Jazzy find a way to save herself and Queen Bee? Sit back and enjoy this fast-paced peek inside the glamorous world of Sydney’s hottest PR agency.

My thoughts: This looks like the perfect book for long summer days!

Girl of Shadows by Deborah Challinor

From the publisher’s website:

What had they done? What had she and Sarah and Friday done?

1830: Convict girls Friday Woolfe, Harriet Clarke and Sarah Morgan have been transported to Sydney from London. Sarah has been assigned to jeweller Adam Green, Harriet is a maid for the Barrett family, and Friday is working as a prostitute in a brothel. Each of them is struggling to forget the brutal crime they committed.

But their fate is no longer theirs to control. Vicious underworld queen Bella Jackson holds the girls’ futures in the palm of her hand, biding her time until she exacts payment for what she knows about their misdeeds.

Harriet, racked with guilt, becomes convinced that their lost friend is haunting them, and while Friday succumbs to the bottle, Sarah has to fight for everything she holds dear. Once again, the girls must join forces to save one of their own. But which one?

And in the background Bella Jackson waits and watches …

My thoughts: I thought Behind the Sun was fantastic and can’t wait to see what they’re up to!

So Tough to Tame by Victoria Dahl

From the publisher’s website:

Tough to tame, but not too tough to love…

Charlie Allington is supposed to be on the fast track to the top—a small-town girl who was making it big in her career. Instead, she’s reeling from a scandal that’s pretty much burned all her bridges. Now, out of options, she needs a place to lick her wounds and figure out her future. True, working at a ski resort in rugged Jackson Hole, Wyoming, isn’t her dream job. But if there’s one perk to coming back, it’s a certain sexy hometown boy who knows how to make a girl feel welcome.

Cowboy Walker Pearce never expected a grown-up Charlie to be temptation in tight jeans. She’s smart and successful—way out of league for a man like him. But he’s not about to let that, or his secrets, get in the way of their blazing-hot attraction. Yet when passion turns to something more, will the truth—about both of them—send her out of his life for good…or into his arms forever?

My thoughts: The third in the Jackson series, these romances are sassy and fun. Perfect Christmas Day read!

Eliza’s Gift by Rachael Herron

From the publisher’s website:

This heart-warming novella, set in the 1940s, is a prequel to Rachael Herron’s bestselling novel, Eliza’s Gift. Home isn’t always a place…

It’s 1945, the war is over, the GIs are returning . . . and Eliza Masterson is on the run from her unhappy marriage. At least she would be if her truck hadn’t broken down in the middle of nowhere and her money hadn’t, quite literally, flown out the window.

So when Joshua Carpenter, a cowboy with the most brilliant blue eyes she has ever seen, stops to offer her help, Eliza can’t afford to say no . . .

Joshua, it seems, is single-handedly building a home for himself on farmland just outside the town of Cypress Hollow. And even though Eliza is determined to keep running, she is about to discover that sometimes running away is the only way to come home…

Telling the story of one of her most loved characters, Eliza’s Home is an absolute treat for Rachael Herron fans, and anyone who can’t resist a captivating tale of love…

My thoughts: A gorgeous cover! A novella is the perfect thing to get you out of doing the dishes on Christmas Day!

Infidelity by Hugh Mackay

From the publisher’s website:

The hardest thing, finally, is to accept our insignificance in the scheme of things – or perhaps to accept that there is no ‘scheme of things’.

Tom Harper, a 43-year-old Australian psychologist, is in self-imposed exile in London, living down a sexual indiscretion with a client. Through a chance meeting at the Royal Academy, he makes friends with Sarah Delacour, an academic who studies nursery rhymes. Sarah is beautiful, charming and smart, but she is morally trapped – and perhaps corrupted – by decisions she has made in the past.

As Tom and Sarah’s relationship evolves, many layers of infidelity emerge. Tom falls deeply in love and waits for Sarah to reciprocate. But while Sarah is brilliant at playing the role of a woman in love, Tom fears her ultimate commitment may be to securing a life of luxury.

Through his fiction and non-fiction, Hugh Mackay has developed a reputation as an acute and compassionate observer of the human condition, with all its shades of light and dark. In this beautifully written tale of love and the desire for control, he explores one of life’s most troubling questions: do our circumstances justify or merely explain our behaviour?

My thoughts: A serious book that will make me think.

Do any of these interest you?