Advantages: lovely flowing writing, keeps you wanting more
Disadvantages: none

...Lesley Pearse is a bestselling author and she doesn't let that reputation down with this book "Secrets". This is a wonderfully written story (as usual for lesley pearse) it follows a 12 year old girl through more heart ache than most of us could bear. The story is no stop, you won't want to put this one down waiting to see what the next twist and turn is in Adele's life. The story starts in 1931when a huge tragedy hits Adele's family, this has a knock on effect and Adele is no longer wanted when her mother goes mad. Adele is then sent to a children's home which is a horrific affair indeed and one that she runs away from. Adele manages to reach her Grandmothers house in Sussex (but not without making herself very ill), where she is nursed back to health. It is after this she meets Michael Bailey on the marshes. The story... Read review

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Advantages: a good read, great characterisation
Disadvantages: not compelling enough

...Playing Away is a novel written by Adele Parks, a young British author. I had not heard of her before, but the book was recommended to me by a friend, and the cover declares the novel is the closest you will get to having an affair, without having one - so it sounded interesting !! It is the story of Connie & Luke's marriage, told from Connie's viewpoint. On the surface she has it all - a good job, nice home, perfect husband and it is early on in their marriage. They are the envy of their friends. But when Connie goes away to a conference and meets John, a handsome flirt, why is she tempted to stray ? This is a light read and a fairly good book, but not one I would rave about. One of Adele Parks' best qualities is how well she writes about the other characters in the book, Connie & Luke's friends - Rose & Peter, Daisy, Lucy et al... Read review

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Advantages: Good Storyline, Great Characters
Disadvantages: Emotionally Exhausting

...This booked touched me right from the start. You show empathy towards the characters. Kamryn and Adele were best friends when they were younger, but fell out because Adele slept with Kamryns boyfriend and got pregnant, an unforgivable offence we will all agree. But then Kamryn is faced with Adele getting in touch to tell Kamryn that she is termanally ill, oh, and by the way will you be able to adopt, Tegan the child that I had from your ex. After some soul searching, Kamryn goes and gets Tegan, and the story continues with the bonding of the two, adjusting her hectic social life and work to fit, but also not wanting to hate tegan because she reminds her so much of Nate, her ex partner. And the coming together again of Kamryn and Adele in such an awful circumstances. Of course the father Nate raises his head, but he shows himself... Read review

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Advantages: It's chick lit, so you don't need to have won the nobel science prize to understand it
Disadvantages: The main character is selfish and needs a good slap.

...Playing Away was one of the first of a long series of Chick Lit genre books that I read (and am still reading)and I was so disappointed in it that I have shunned everything else that Adele has written since. Her central character is a girl called Connie and Connie has been married to the pityable Luke for a year; the reader is led to believe that everything in the garden is rosy until the John Harding, the Corporate Lothario arrives on the scene and a bored and shallow Connie dives head first into the murky puddle of an affair. What Adele's first outing has in common with most author's first outings is that you get the distinct impression that the main character is modelled on themselves - an understandable trait in an author; I mean, you have to start somewhere... and sticking with what you know is fairly safe. But because Connie... Read review

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Advantages: Good story, well structured characters
Disadvantages: A bit on the predictable side

...for a while because I had got fed up of the usual Chic Lit books and was expecting this to be more of the same...but I was wrong. The book centres on a group of 6 friends who go away to celebrate a wedding. Adele Parks is a very observant author, the characters are well defined and believable. Ok, so the book is essentially another love story, but the author has gone further than that and it is about the darker side of love, obsession, infedility and casual sex, as well as the more traditional happy ever after love story. I found that I was drawn into the story very quickly, and found it hard to put the book down after only a few chapters. I was impressed by how well Parks had described how each of the friends really feel about each other and the ups and downs of friendship. She is incredibly observant. I have a read a couple of other books... Read review

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Advantages: Good, all rounder.
Disadvantages: If you don't like a soul/jazz/pop combo, eat elsewhere.

...There seems to be a new wave of female, jazz-esque vocalists reaching the masses, Ms. Winehouse being the front runner (when she's not smoking crack cocaine and scrambling about on stage in an alcohol fuelled mess), that is until Adele arrived on the scene this year. I'm sure she's sick of being compared to winehouse by now, but there's no denying that you can fit them nicely in to the same 'music box'. I first heard Adele's track 'Hometown Glory' on Xfm in Dec '07 - when Marsha described the track as 'devastatingly beautiful', which indeed it is. The song is a simple account of her everyday musings inspired by her, well, hometown. But it's all about the way that she sings it.....(the piano helps too). From then I made it my mission to seek out this talented voice and buy her debut, 19. OK, so it's not as edgy as Winehouse's 'Frank... Read review

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Advantages: On 3 times a week,, omnibus on Saturdays., Brilliant scriptwriters that come up with some amazing storylines.
Disadvantages: None.

...and for that matter in any of the soaps, its far too dangerous to be a soap character. Over the last couple of months Brookside has been at its best and it