LoveReading Says
Her passion is fashion, but she's on a budget! Personal shopper Annie Valentine is about to hit the big time: presenting a glamorous TV makeover series! But too late, Annie discovers this is TV on a shoestring. They're paying her buttons and her budget is zip. Can she make do with Primark when all she wants is Prada? Wonderful feel-good easy reading.
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'I loved her then, I love her now. Annie's back and she's better than ever! Fun, feel good and feisty - Annie Valentine is the woman you want to share a cocktail with!' Portia MacIntoshHer passion is fashion... but she's on a budget! Personal shopper Annie Valentine is about to hit the big time: presenting a glamorous TV makeover series! This is it for Annie and her little family. No more scrimping and saving, finally all her hard work has paid off. But life in the spotlight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Soon, Annie discovers this is TV on a shoestring and her budget is zip. But more than this, Annie feels as though the women she should be helping to look fabulous, go away feeling all the more like fashion failures! Can Annie make it in the spotlight? Or will making it big mean losing who she really is? Fans of Sophie Kinsella, Lindsey Kelk and Paige Toon will love this laugh-out-loud romantic comedy from bestselling author Carmen Reid. What readers are saying! "If you love shopping as much as you love a great read, try this. Wonderful." Bestselling author, Katie Fforde "Annie Valentine is a wonderful character - I want her to burst into my life and sort out my wardrobe for me!" Bestselling author, Jill Mansell "You will enjoy getting to know Annie Valentine; laughing with her and crying with her. You may even fall in love with her . . . I have! A fantastic read!"? ? ? ? ? Reader review "Fantastic read, couldn't put it down" ? ? ? ? ? Reader review "Can't wait to read the next one!" ? ? ? ? ? Reader review
About This Edition
About Carmen Reid
Carmen Reid was our Guest Editor in February 2011 - click here - to see the books that inspired her writing.
Carmen Reid was born and brought up in a chilly and windy corner of Scotland in the depths of the countryside.
This may explain her lifelong phobia of cows and abiding interest in cities, department stores, books, the cinema and newspapers.
Her parents still live on the organic farm she grew up on and she goes back regularly to eat the alarmingly healthy home-grown meals which probably turned her into a 6" lass.
She spent four teenage years at a girls' boarding school in Edinburgh (yes, just like the one in Secrets at St Jude's!) where she read her way through the school library. Favourite subjects: English, German, French and Spanish.
After school, she went to study English Literature at University College, London, though her fashion sense will remain "Edinburgh-with-an-edge" forever.
Being a student in London was fantastic - she even paid a few bills with modelling jobs. After uni, she went back to Scotland to work as a local newspaper reporter: a brilliant job for anyone planning a career as an author.
London kept calling and she was soon back working for news agencies then a national tabloid. She has interviewed many famous (and often unwilling) people but was especially dazzled by Hugh Grant (even better looking in real life!), Rupert Everett and Elle Macpherson.
Knowing deep down that she was supposed to be an author not a journo, she left her day job to have a baby and write her first novel. (Hey, and just a few sleepless, penniless years later it was published!)
Although there is a corner of her heart that will always belong to London (and she still knows all the streets like a cabbie) Carmen now lives in Glasgow, Scotland, with her husband, Thomas, her two lovely children, Jimmy the Jack Russell and the (now sadly) two goldfish. She writes full-time and is aiming to have four new books out in 2011.
Fortunately her hobbies include laundry, cooking, cleaning, arguing about whose turn it is to walk the dog, cleaning the fish tank, doing the school run... and so on.
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