February's Competition winner is......

Jen Boucher, no website given. The winner has been notified and the book and voucher will be sent soon. Thanks so much to everyone who entered, it was a very popular competition. Apologies to everyone for the delay in announcing a winner, I have been swamped and today was the first chance I have had.

As I have so much to do, at the moment I have no plans for a competition for March, hopefully I will sort one out for April or if I get a spare minute I will sort something out for March, watch this space. Thanks again and hope your all having a wonderful mothers day xxx

February competition - apologies

Sorry I haven't listed a giveaway or competition. Things have been really busy lately and any spare time I have had has been lost in either textbooks, ARCs or just a wee break into a book for the pleasure of reading. I can't believe I missed a Valentines giveaway and don't have a romantic book lined up as a giveaway.

To make it up to my fabulous followers, and any newbies who stumble across the comp, I will do a double giveaway. An amazon voucher for the value of £5 and Kathy Lette's book Dead Sexy. Now if you read my review you will see I didn't rate the book much but my tastes vary and you might love it. The book is immaculate and you could give it away as a gift, there is no damage or creases to the spine and it is exactly how I bought it.

The book is only available for UK entries as postage is creeping up at the moment, however the amazon voucher is world wide so as long as you have an email address you can enter.

As always if you leave a comment on this post you will get an additional entry. If you wish to enter both competitions you can use the form below just once and state you would like to enter for the book and the voucher. If you only want one please specify which it is. If you are entering for the book, please provide your name and address you would like the book sent to and or provide your email address if your entering for the amazon voucher. The reason being if you win and don't provide the details you only have up to 24 hours, sometimes 48 hours, to respond or another winner is picked. Sadly people have lost out on the prize before due to not providing the accurate information.

Feel free to follow on Twitter @smbslt or like our facebook page So Many Books, So Little Time.

Click here to enter the competition
Good luck to all entering, the competition runs to the end of the month. The winner will be picked at random using the usual system, announced on here and contacted by email. If you have a website, feel free to include it in your entry and if you win I will link it on the announcement page.

Review - Dead Sexy by Kathy Lette

Dead Sexy: A Novel by Kathy Lette
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Blurb From Goodreads

Why do men like intelligent women? Because opposites attract.

That's what shy London music teacher Shelly Green thinks when she meets hunky, boisterous American, Kit Kincaide...on their wedding day. Thrown together on the reality show Desperate and Dateless, they were predicted to be the perfect match--physically, emotionally, and intellectually. Proving their compatibility on at least one score (in the backseat of a limo), there appears to be some hope for this manufactured marriage...until their honeymoon on the tropical island of Reunion, where Shelly realizes that men and women have slightly different takes on the meaning of commitment. For Shelly it means love, kids, and happily ever afters. But for Kit it's a meaningful one-night stand. Or is it? What exactly is her husband trying to hide?

Will Shelly discover the truth about Kit? Will she find romance in spite of a civil war, a natural disaster, and a crew of dubious television lowlifes? Do she and Kit have a chance for a real marriage in the hyped-up, surreal world of reality TV?

Love may be blind.

But marriage is a real eye-opener.


My review

Oh My! Two people brought together in marriage via a television dating show, says it all really. Normally I would love this kind of book. The people don't meet until just before the wedding, they share a limo, some bottles of champagne and exchange some info. The computer has matched them up on the information they provided and if they get married and go on the honeymoon (all being filmed of course) and stay together for at least a year they get more cash incentives as well as other bonuses. What follows is utter mayhem as the two attempt to get to know each other and find out how much they didn't know and don't like about the other.

Shelly and Kit are worlds apart, she is a teacher and seemingly a plain Jane whilst he is buff, beautiful and too good to be true. As the story unravels though it becomes more ridiculous and unbelievable, things going from silly to down right outrageous.

Shelly's character becomes very unlikeable as she comes across as pathetic, begging for Kit's attention, believing or forgiving everything he says and does all in aid of attention. She comes across as a very weak female who is at the mercy of her wants of her body and has left her brain, and self respect, at home with her job. Kit flips from being a nice lovely sweet talking guy to an insensitive moron who expects women to fall at his feet, although with Shelly's behaviour you can't really blame him too much.

Some of it I laughed at, cringed at or rolled my eyes and sighed at it. It was just far too silly for me and the annoyance at Shelly being painted so pathetically really put me off it. Two quotes I must share with you from the book that may sum up what I am trying to say better than I am doing are

"Every time i see you a smoke-alarm goes off in my boxer shorts." and

"Hell, it was so magical, she wouldn't have been surprised to learn that Gandalf was behind it." Cringe, funny, embarrassing to name just a few words this book conjurers up. I have read Kathy Lette before and really enjoyed her, not sure what happened this time but this book wasn't for me, 2/5 this time.

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A.R.C - The Boy Who Fell To Earth by Kathy Lette

The Boy Who Fell to Earth by Kathy Lette

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Time Taken to read - 1 day

Blurb From Goodreads

Meet Merlin. He's Lucy's bright, beautiful son - who just happens to be autistic.
Since Merlin's father left them in the lurch shortly after his diagnosis, Lucy has made Merlin the centre of her world. Struggling with the joys and tribulations of raising her eccentrically adorable yet challenging child, (if only Merlin came with operating instructions) Lucy doesn't have room for any other man in her life.
By the time Merlin turns ten, Lucy is seriously worried that the Pope might start ringing her up for tips on celibacy, so resolves to dip a poorly pedicured toe back into the world of dating. Thanks to Merlin's candour and quirkiness, things don't go quite to plan...
Then, just when Lucy's resigned to a life of singledom once more, Archie - the most imperfectly perfect man for her and her son - lands on her doorstep. But then, so does Merlin's father, begging for forgiveness and a second chance. Does Lucy need a real father for Merlin - or a real partner for herself?

My Review

Meet Lucy, mum to the wonderful Merlin. Merlin's dad dumped them both after being told Merlin is autistic, what follows is Lucy learning how to raise and understand her child and his need for routines and accommodate them. Over a decade passes and Lucy starts to find some happiness for both her and Merlin when a blast from the past barges into their lives and change life as they know it.

I have ready a couple of Kathy Lette before and whilst her signature is still in there (sex, laughs, naughtiness) - this book is so very different in that it deals with a serious issue. Autism is such a huge subject and yet if you don't have a child with it it is hard to imagine living with it, what a whole day must be like. Whilst the book focuses a lot on Lucy and her dating I found it gave an insightful view into what life can be like for a single mum living with her autistic child. It isn't often I find a book that makes me laugh, gasp, mad and horrified all in one go. There are a lot of one liners in it (maybe a few too many for some people) but from what I remember this is par for the course in her books (it's been a while so I could be wrong, it does happen!).


Overall I enjoyed it - I got through it within a day. As I said it has been a while since I have read Kathy Lette so I think I will maybe reacquaint myself with her work. Thanks to Waterstones for the chance to review this and see an author with her hand at something different, 4/5 for me this time.

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