Popular picks for July: SEVEN RULES FOR A PERFECT MARRIAGE by Rebecca Reid, MY OTHER HEART by Emma Nanami Strenner, THE SECRETS OF DRAGONFLY LODGE by Rachel Hore
SEVEN RULES FOR A PERFECT MARRIAGE by Rebecca Reid (Bloomsbury £9.99, 304pp)
Moral fable meets urban romance in this tale of relationship influencers.
Jessica and Jack have millions of followers, plus book and TV deals coming out of their ears. Everyone wants a marriage as wonderful as theirs.
Behind the scenes, however, they're both miserable. She wants a baby while he wants his old job back at the BBC.
During a moment of drunken madness, Jack unwisely reveals all. What now, as followers and publishers desert the golden couple in droves?
Lots of fun media detail and some great minor characters; Jack's stingy and snobbish parents, in particular.
MY OTHER HEART by Emma Nanami Strenner (Hutchinson Heinemann £18.99, 416pp)
A sharp upstairs-downstairs look at the Asian-American experience. We're in Philadelphia with Kit, Japanese adopted daughter of a wealthy white couple, and her BFF Sabrina, child of a poor Chinese single mum.
School's just ended and this last summer before college has some big surprises in store.
While feckless, beautiful Kit flies off to find herself in Tokyo, the less assured Sabrina interns at a downtown migrant charity. In the background is Vietnamese Mimi, whose child was snatched as a baby, and Lee Lee, Sabrina's prickly ma.
I loved this family drama which considers geography and destiny from a fascinating point of view – with a great twist at the end.
THE SECRETS OF DRAGONFLY LODGE by Rachel Hore (Simon and Schuster £16.99, 480pp)
Writer Stef's researching a book about pioneering women scientists. One is zoologist Nancy Foster, an elderly Norfolk neighbour of her mother's. Brilliant as she was, Nancy's career never reached the heights it should have, but why?
Stef sets about finding out, getting to know her subject's smouldering grandson along the way. There unfolds a tale of sexism and skulduggery.
The action moves between modern-day Stef and 1950s London, where Nancy studies alongside dashing and dastardly James West. Hore's novels are absorbing, calming and wonderfully sane. They should be prescribed on the NHS.
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