Book after Book

I am in a pickle! I enjoyed so much writing ' My top 5 books in 2017 ' post last year that I thought I'd do that again. I didn't read a lot in 2017, though, and picking my top 5 books was a breeze. If you've come across 'My 2018 in books' post last week, however, you know that I had a stellar 2018 when it comes to reading. There is no way I can do a Top 5 list. I tried. I failed. I refuse to try again. As I don't think anybody would survive a 'My top 70 books in 2018' post, I have therefore settled for a Top 10 instead. Just as hard but more doable. What I am NOT attempting is ranking these books in order of merit, enjoyment or any other classification. The numbers purely help me tidy up the page. In my heart, they are all in first place! So here it goes… And please do let me know in the comments below or on Twitter whether you also have loved some or all of these! 1) The Lion Tamer Who Lost by Louise Beech If you haven't experienc...

Hi Helen! First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the publication of The Kiss Quotient . Can you please briefly tell us what it is about? A: The Kiss Quotient is a gender-swapped Pretty Woman , featuring an economist on the autism spectrum and the male escort she hires to help her with relationships. Did you have the plot entirely figured out when you started writing or did it develop before your eyes as the characters grew on the page and did something that you were not expecting? A: I daydreamed the entire story before I wrote it, so you could say it was outlined beforehand. What kind of research did you have to carry out for this novel? Which aspect of it did you enjoy the most? A: I did quite a lot of research on autism spectrum disorder/Asperger’s Syndrome, particularly in women, and I was deeply fascinated by this research as it led to a greater understanding of myself. One aspect that I particularly enjoyed was interacting with other women on the spectrum,...

By Helen Hoang Published by Corvus Books Synopsis: It's high time for Stella Lane to settle down and find a husband - or so her mother tells her. This is no easy task for a wealthy, successful woman like Stella, who also happens to have Asperger's. Analyzing data is easy; handling the awkwardness of one-on-one dates is hard. To overcome her lack of dating experience, Stella decides to hire a male escort to teach her how to be a good girlfriend. Faced with mounting bills, Michael decides to use his good looks and charm to make extra cash on the side. He has a very firm no repeat customer policy, but he's tempted to bend that rule when Stella approaches him with an unconventional proposal.  T he more time they spend together, the harder Michael falls for this disarming woman with a beautiful mind, and Stella discovers that love defies logic. How did this book end up in my hands? I won a copy of this book ahead of its publication date. If I hadn’t won it, however, ...