Review: Is There Still Sex in The City by Candace Bushnell

Twenty years after her sharp, seminal first book Sex and the City reshaped the landscape of pop culture and dating with its fly on the wall look at the mating rituals of the Manhattan elite, the trailblazing Candace Bushnell delivers a new book on the wilds and lows of sex and dating after fifty.

Set between the Upper East Side of Manhattan and a country enclave known as The Village, Is There Still Sex in the City? follows a cohort of female friends--Sassy, Kitty, Queenie, Tilda Tia, Marilyn, and Candace--as they navigate the ever-modernizing phenomena of midlife dating and relationships. There's "Cubbing," in which a sensible older woman suddenly becomes the love interest of a much younger man, the "Mona Lisa" Treatment--a vaginal restorative surgery often recommended to middle aged women, and what it's really like to go on Tinder dates as a fifty-something divorcee. From the high highs (My New Boyfriend or MNBs) to the low lows (Middle Age Madness, or MAM cycles), Bushnell illustrates with humor and acuity today's relationship landscape and the types that roam it.

Drawing from her own experience, in Is There Still Sex in the City? Bushnell spins a smart, lively satirical story of love and life from all angles--marriage and children, divorce and bereavement, as well as the very real pressures on women to maintain their youth and have it all. This is an indispensable companion to one of the most revolutionary dating books of the twentieth century from one of our most important social commentators.

Review: i was so excited when I heard that this book was coming out and it was definitely worth the anticipation and the hype. This book does exactly what it says it is going to, it revisits dating and sex in new york city only now we are older and wiser and we have Internet dating-whats not to love about this premise?

I love the way this book is structured. It is broken down into several essays each under a few different themes. But Candace Bushnell being Candace Bushnell we deviate into personal anecdotes and drama amongst the friendship group. I loved reading it and this style made for a very quick page turning nonfiction read. 

I love that fact that we have a wealth of experience in this novel. This isn't anywhere close to what we read about in Sex and the City. This has thought and such personal information and a certain level of, 'I'm old enough to not give a shit' about it and that felt great to read. This writer shares some deeply personal events, thoughts and feelings with us and for that I am grateful. There are also things in here that happen in the dating world outside of New York city and those felt refreshing and real. I enjoyed every moment of this book. It was great to catch up with this author again and great to have another take on dating life today. 

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Blog Tour: Extract from The Beijing Conspiracy by Shamini Flint

I'm very excited to be part of the blog tour today for The Beijing Conspiracy by Shamini Flint. I have an extract to share with you and if you like the sound of that, you can click here to order your copy now. Don't forget to check out the other stops on the tour for more exclusive content and reviews. 

Here's what it's all about...

"I need your support. There is no one else I can trust. Please help her. Please help our daughter." When ex-Marine Jack Ford receives a letter containing news of a daughter he never knew he had, he feels compelled to return to China, a country he hasn't visited since 1989 when, as a young American spy, he fell in love with a beautiful student activist and found himself caught up in the horrors of the Tiananmen Square massacre. But why has Xia got in touch now, after a thirty-year silence? On arrival in Beijing, Jack finds himself accidentally in possession of an explosive piece of information both the Chinese and American governments are desperate to get their hands on. Alone in a strange city, suspected of being a traitor by his own side, not knowing whom to trust, Jack is faced with an impossible dilemma: should he save his new-found daughter or prevent a new world war from breaking out?  

And here's that excerpt for you...

The following day, Vice Premier Liu Qi sat in his favourite chair in his Spartan living room. He rocked gently back and forth, his eyes on the dead man on the floor. The small concentration of bullet holes in the chest of the body looked like a bouquet of roses, little bursts of red.

General Zhang marched in. Liu Qi had called him first. The police would have their moment, grovelling and scraping and assuring him, a senior member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo, that no blame could possibly attach to him for shooting a man dead in his living room. But his discussions with Zhang would determine how events in the real world, the world of high stakes and high politics, played out.

‘What the fuck happened here?’

‘I shot him,’ said Liu Qi.

‘He stole the memo?’

‘Yes.’

Zhang prodded the body with the toe of his boot. ‘Did you question him?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well?’ The impatience, always so close to the surface in the powerful, barrel-chested general, was already spewing like an active volcano.

A shadow passed across Liu Qi’s face. ‘It seems that my aide was an American spy. Codename EMPEROR.’

Zhang rose to his feet and, without warning, rained kicks on the body on the floor. Bones cracked like distant gunshots, flesh split. The sudden surge of rage mottled Zhang’s face; his cheeks and forehead turned red but the skin around his eyes and nostrils was bloodless.

‘What did you say he called himself? EMPEROR?’ he asked.

Liu Qi nodded.

‘Well, EMPEROR is done leaking secrets to anyone.’

About the Author

Shamini Flint was born and brought up in Malaysia. Having studied law at Cambridge University, she travelled extensively throughout Asia for her work as a corporate lawyer, before giving it up to become a writer, part-time lecturer and environmental activist. Shamini now lives in Singapore with her husband and two children. She is the author of the highly acclaimed Inspector Singh mystery series.

Twitter Handles

@ShaminiFlint

@SevernHouse

Movie Reviews: July 21st-August 3rd 2019

Another Sunday, another lot of movie reviews. I haven't updated my movie reviews for a little while now as this blog has been BUSY so here you go! As always, I go into more detailed thoughts on my movie reviews video over on my BookTube channel which I will leave at the bottom of this post once it is live so if you want a little more detail, give that a watch please and thank you!

I liked it, it felt a little thinner than the animated version but the music was good. I LOVED the new Timon and Pumba, they were the real stars for me. 

This one was OK. It was much more violent than the trailers would suggest. I wouldn't recommend rushing out to go and see it. 

This one was one of those where I had seen the trailer and was vaguely interested but I decided to give it a go. A lot of it is subtitled so it is one of those you have to pay full attention to. There is a lot of comparison between eastern and western culture so that was good but I would recommend waiting until it comes to DVD/streaming before watching. 

I left this one wanting to find out more about the Manson family and the Sharon Tate murders. I have since watched a couple of documentaries on the subject. This movie doesn't get super violent until the very end so a little unusual for a Tarantino. There are a lot of bare feet filling the screen and its an interesting story about a western actor who is trying to keep his career afloat. Again I wouldn't say, rush and see this in the cinema. It was good but not great. 

August 2019 TBR

Well August is historically a great reading month for me. Just like June and July, there is a readathon at the end of the month. August this year is also the month where I shift from working full days back to working half days again so I think all of this is hopefully going to add up to a good reading month for me. 

I have a lot of buddy reads going on this month too so that should help to keep me on track-lets jump in with the books that I want to read. As Always this is a pool of books I have to choose from so you have an idea of the reviews that might be popping up on the blog over the course of the month!

Carried Over From Last Month (August Releases)

September Releases

Out September 5th UK

Out September 3rd US

Out September 3rd US

Out September 3rd US

Out September 3rd US

Out September 10th US

Out September 10th US

Out September 17th US

Out September 24th US

Out September 24th US

Out September 25th UK

Buddy Reads

Other Books I Want to Get to

Ok I'm going to run away and hide from this toppling TBR now-help!

Review: The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

In a large house in London’s fashionable Chelsea, a baby is awake in her cot. Well-fed and cared for, she is happily waiting for someone to pick her up.

In the kitchen lie three decomposing corpses. Close to them is a hastily scrawled note.

They’ve been dead for several days.

Who has been looking after the baby?

And where did they go?

Two entangled families.

A house with the darkest of secrets.

A compulsive new thriller from Lisa Jewell.

Review: Oh my goodness this is the creepiest of Lisa Jewell's novels yet. I felt like parts of it were verging on horror they were getting to me so much. I highly recommend that you read this book but I would avoid doing so before bed otherwise you'll be dreaming about just who could be above you!

I loved this book and I have no idea how Lisa Jewell manages to come up with the plot twist that she does but this is in intricately woven plot with events and people that you will never see coming, It takes place so close to home as well, everything that these characters go through could totally happen to you and so that it why it gets under your skin so quickly and so deeply. 

Speaking of characters, there are so many intriguing ones in this novel. I loved spending time with Libby who is the young innocent in the whole saga. She doesn't really know what she's getting herself into at the start of the novel and I feel like she still really doesn't grasp the massively big picture by the time we get to the end of the novel. The answers to the questions posed in the blurb get answered slowly and surely throughout the novel but you're never really sure if the answers you've been given should be trusted because we have a whole host of unreliable characters and narrators here. 

I really don't want to say much more apart from the fact that I feel she eases us into this plot gently and then you're pushed under and you won't want to surface again until you reach the end. I read this book in two sittings totally gripped and I loved every moment of it. There are a couple of points that are definitely not for those of you who might be a little squeamish and there are care warnings for sexual violence but on the whole I really do recommend this book to everyone else-you're in for a wild ride!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

July 2019 Reading Wrap Up

Well July went pretty well considering what a busy month it was for me, the amount of Love Island that I watched and the fact that I was working a lot of hours this month. I'm pleased with my progress. 

As always I will break my reading down into who I read the book and link any reviews I might have already posted. 

Ebook

Physical Book

My Review

Audiobook

My Review

Did not finish 

(unusual for me I know but there are so many great books, why stick with one that just isn't grabbing you?)

Review: Living My Best Li(f)e by Claire Frost

This heart-warming and funny novel is the perfect balm for the insta-weary mind – get ready to shatter the illusion that is #LivingMyBestLife

Bell never thought she’d be facing her 40th birthday single. Recently dumped by her boyfriend of ten years, Bell is struggling to move on with her life – and surrender the fleecy pyjamas she’s been living in since January. Sick of being bombarded by #blessed on social media and feeling like her life doesn’t live up to everyone else’s, she decides it’s time for a change; time to find out who she really is, not who she thinks she should be.

Enter Millie, a successful online influencer posting under the handle @mi_bestlife. But as a single mum trying to make ends meet and stay ahead of the younger generation snapping at her heels, her Instagram feed is far more #BestLiethan #BestLife. With the internet trolls continuing to bring her down and an ex who cares more about playing football than seeing their son, Millie begins to wish her life was more like her filters.

It isn’t until Millie and Bell’s paths cross that the two women begin to realise what they’re missing. Will Bell finally learn to live life for herself? And will Millie see that she needs to start living for the moment and not for the likes?

Review: Oh this book was just absolute perfection. It has all the feelings of those classic rom coms we love so much but with a fresh take that comes from a debut novelist especially when that someone is so wrapped up in the world of social media. 

Bell and Millie are great characters to spend this novel with. They have just the kind of flaws that I love to read about that make them so likable and so easy to relate to. Bell is struggling to get over a break up and also panicking about turning 40. She has a lack of confidence and a lack of joy for life. I loved watching her grow and develop over the course of this novel because she really is a lovely person and I wanted to see her literally living her best life. Millie is one of those people we really can't believe exists but it really is a job these days to be a social media influencer but it isn't as shiny and bright as it would seem as we are beginning to realise in the real world. You would think that she has it all, a beautiful son with a footballer for a dad and the chance to schmooze luxury brands at London parties all in the name of instagram. But Millie is also suffering from a lack of self-confidence that is only further fuelled by those online trolls. You can see you're going to be in for a treat with these two at the helm. 

I love the fact that this book is structured so that we switch back and forth between these two ladies and we also gain the ability to see some situations from both points of view... no spoilers of course. I love the fact that these two women approach social media from very different points of view but both are aware of its strengths and weaknesses. This is explored so well over the course of the book. The fact that social media can be used for great things but it can also cause pain and trauma and isn't always as glossy as it would be made out to be. Claire Frost really doesn't handle this issue well without this being an issues driven book, she examines the pros and cons of social media through the lives of her characters and this makes the events of the book just as easy to identify with as Bell and Millie themselves. 

There are also some brilliantly developed side characters in this novel. I absolutely loved Bell's friend Suze. She is so funny and brings a touch of diversity to the book as well which is never a bad things. I was discussing with a friend of mine that we would both love to be mates with Suze, I think she is a great person to have around and I really wouldn't mind seeing more from her in the future. 

Overall this is just a really great read for so many reasons. It is well paced and had me turning the pages to find out what was going to happen next with Bell and Millie. It is easy to relate to and it does a great job of exploring the truth about social media without that being directly what the book is about. This feels like a classic romcom with a fresh new twist and I urge you to add it to your reading list now. 

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US