Book Jacket

 

rank 5469
word count 15802
date submitted 07.10.2009
date updated 07.10.2009
genres: Fiction, Chick Lit
classification: moderate
incomplete

Moving to New Heights

Selena

Chicklit at its best.

Isabelle's life spirals out of control when she eventually climbs the top of the social ladder.

 

Isabelle Hannigan is a 29 year old Graphic Designer who moves to Holland Park (after months of nagging, obsessing and property searching) with her 32 year old husband Toby and 7 year old daughter Clara. Isabelle is excited at the prospect of living amongst the cream of the crop, expanding her social network and having Clara attend a better school.

However, Isabelle soon realises that her day dreams of elaborate dinner parties and marble counter tops are a far cry from the reality of social acceptance, financial instability and Clara’s struggles to fit into an established group of sophisticated 7 year old girls who spend their pocket money on organic coconut smoothies as opposed to Clara’s unwholesome slush puppies. Isabelle’s best friend Alison feels threatened by Isabelle’s move as she feels it spells the end of their friendship, she is particularly vulnerable as her husband Nathan has suddenly requested a divorce and later she learns his new girlfriend is pregnant, after herself and Nathan spent years going through unsuccessful IVF treatment.
Isabelle is introduced to a wealthy mystery man whom she eventually has an affair with causing devastating consequences for her and all those she cares for.

 
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tags

affair, chicklit, life, romantic

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7 comments

 

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paxie wrote 908 days ago

Selena

The font size and layout make it very difficult to read... If I maximize it I lose the tail end of your sentences......Give the dialogue a line of its own, it's what Agents want and expect.....You've got a hell of a job on your hands as it is, formatting.....

That said...I love the premise, its like a kind of Notting Hill type snobbery but with a Friends approach......The narration is to the point, interesting and flows well.......I had no trouble reading 2 chapters....(well I did, I struggled to see it, but content wise I was happy).....Dialogue simplistic in a complimentary way...... Clara is a nice kid.....

I write in your genre, I felt comfortable here.....

Shelved with pleasure.......



Miss Sully wrote 914 days ago

Really liked your opening Selena. It's like a real life story reight there, very plausable. When I have time I'd like to read more so I'll get back to you again!
All the best!

Grace - Suitcase of Memories

Aurora87 wrote 948 days ago

Brilliant pitch and an equally great opener. I can see this having great appeal for the chick-lit audience. I love your style of writing and will definitely be reading more as soon as I have the time. In the meantime I am more than happy to shelve. I wish you all the best. Emily. p.s. If you have chance I'd love it if you could check out my book 'Aurora'!

Kim Jewell wrote 955 days ago

Hi Selena!

This is a great start to a chick-lit novel! I did think that the paragraphs in your pitch and storyline were rather long and cumbersome. Coupled with the small font in your text, it seemed a little hard to read through. However, you have written some wonderful, enjoyable characters and your pitch and plotline are spot on for the chick-lit audience. The gals will love this one! I'm happy to back this.

Kim
Invisible Justice

danielharper wrote 956 days ago

I'm hooked! And as an only boy in a family surrounded by women... I'm basically your biggest chicklit fan, ever.

Really enjoying the story... I'm not sure how I feel about Isabelle, but that doesn't take away any of my enjoyment-- just more power to you as a writer.

Really like your writing-- wanna call it romantic? I also might be okay with the formatting of your dialogue and such... didn't interrupt the flow for me, but that's just personal preference...

Either way-- backed with pleasure. Good luck! Let me know if you'd like to take a look at my work -- A Life of.

Dan

T.L Tyson wrote 956 days ago

Your idea is what I am backing here, as the punctuation, structure and grammer really need work.
When one person is talking you need to space it out. This is a jumbly confusion of work. Your writing isn't bad. Actually the contrary you have some nice description but a reader will be discouraged just looking at this. Please look into reworking this, splitting the dialogue, inserting the proper punctuation and breaks.
Your writing is nice, don't let structure pull your book down.
T.L Tyson-Seeking Eleanor

Lovexlee wrote 956 days ago

Hello Selena!

Your pitch grabbed my attention. I would just suggest separating your pitch into several paragraphs so that it is easier to read and the reader will be able to catch the key points more easily.

Your writing is descriptive and the story is written well. You have an interesting plot that hooked me. I would just suggest to do an edit of your story. You either place your periods after the quotation marks (they're supposed to go before) or forgot to use them at all. You need to go over the spelling and grammar. And each time a different person speaks you need to have that be as a new paragraph. You might consider increasing the size of the font in your story as it might be too small for some people to read.

Overall the concept of the story is good and your narrative is written well, you just need to polish the story up.

Shelved.

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