With a new baby in the house , things have been a bit lacking lately like the time I have to read books LOL. So readers, you will recieve a review of Flirting with Magick at a later date but for now we have the awesome authoress Leigh Bennett to also help kick off International Chick Lit Month , a guest post for The Phantom Paragrapher.     Guest Post:  Life Inspiring Art aka Living in a Chick Lit Novel :   You might be surprised how much life can inspire art. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I realised that many have been living, myself included, straight out of a chick lit novel . Right now, while even writing this I have a Carrie Bradshaw monologue straight out of Sex and The City going through my head (cue music). Of course Flirting with Magick is a complete work of fiction but admittedly, there are definitely some things inspired by real life, even to the point that my own mother first thought the story was an autobiograp...

As we said Goodbye to International Chick Lit Month for another year, I had planned to finish it off by showcasing a few titles of my favourite Chick Lit Novels that I have read and reviewed on The Phantom Paragrapher for 2012 Special Mentions Go To :

As we come to a close of International Chick Lit Month, I would like to say a HUGE THANK YOU for all the guest posters who helped promote International Chick Lit Month on The Phantom Paragrapher and last but not least, I present to you the last Guest Poster for International Chick Lit Month 2012 - Kathy Gilmore Women Literature Today   I want to thank Paula for letting me guest host. The broad subject matter that she gave me kept me sleepless for a couple of nights. There are so many ways to take this wonderful subject that I had trouble eliminating all the paths but one.   I am a woman author and  continually  write when I can snatch a moment here and there from our fast paced world.  I, like many authors today, thought that the only way to publish  my  manuscripts was to get an agent who then would work tirelessly to get  me  a publishing deal with a major company.   Many, many rejections later a good ...

Today celebrates the last day of International Chick Lit month and to conclude , I have a Guest Post from one of my all-time favourite Australian Chick Lit authors Lisa Heidke. Hi Paula, Thanks for inviting me to do a guest post at The Phantom Paragrapher for Chick Lit Month. Is it just me or have you noticed that chick lit’s been getting some bad press lately. Recently, I spoke on a panel at the Gloucester Writers Festival in NSW, Australia, explaining why I think Chick lit is not dumb lit and then I wrote a blog about it. http://blog.lisaheidke.com/ But what I’d really like to talk about is why I write chick lit...Firstly, I think the definition has become muddied since Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary was first published in 1996. Way back then, most readers, writers and publishers believed that chick lit referred to books written by women about single, twenty-something women, searching for Mr Right, finding the perfect career (preferably in magazi...

There's two more days left in the celebration of International Chick Lit Month, so readers a question for you all "What is your all-time favourite Chick Lit Book "? Today's Guest Post is written by Rose McClelland on "Why she loves reading Chick Lit and Why she is a Chick Lit Author"? Why I love reading c hick-lit and why I’m a chick-lit author by Rose McClelland I love reading words that jump off the page. I love characte rs who are fun, vulnerable; love able – who make me want to stay with them on their journey. I love reading abou t modern girlie issues – our friendships, relationships with family, work problems, boy trouble. I love a story that reads itself – one where I can vividly imagine what the character is up to and one where I can see the scenes perfectly in my head. You know when that page turns effortlessly? When you’re s o engrossed in the character that you need to kno w what’s going to ha...

Wow, as we wind down International Chick Lit Month. It's been such an awesome opportunity to have all these great Guest Posts and it has given me ideas to run in other months of the year. Today we have author "Louise Wise" and her Guest Post about Partying and Chick Lit. Party like a Chick Lit Writer – by Louise Wise ‘You’re an author? Wow, that’s really cool.’ ‘Thanks. I enjoy it.’ ‘So what do you write?’ ‘Chick lit.’ ‘Ah.’ ‘Ah?’ ‘Sorry, just thought when you said you’re an “author” you write real books.’ ‘I do write real books. Paperbacks and eBooks.’ ‘But chick lit?’ ‘A genre that usually means books written by women for women with relationship and or work issues. Sometimes they are romance; most have a dose of reality, but all are humorous and light hearted. Yes, chick lit. I write chick lit.’ ‘I guess it’ll be practise for you until you begin to write proper books.’ ‘I do write proper –’ ‘I suppose it’s because they are e...

In celebration of International Chick Lit Month, we have had Chook Lit, Chick Lit , Heroes and Heroines , NZ Chick Lit and today readers we have a Guest Chick Lit review from Nancy Parker. Review: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell Okay, so I have to admit the first time I read North and South was after I’d watched the BBC adaption. Honestly after seeing Richard Armitage in the title role, how could any woman resist? But beyond just the great acting, it was the story that drew me in. Partially a drama about unions and classes, partly a great romance equal to anything Jane Austen wrote; North and South is just a perfect classic tale of honest, difficult, and passionate love. It is the world that keeps you reading. The history behind the mythical town of Milton and the cotton mills there. The union battles and the hard-working, coal coated workers. The woman, raised in the greenery and fresh air of the South tossed into the unforgiving, soot f...