Light reads for the Easter weekend

Romance. Friendship. Joy. And the possibility of happy endings. What more do you want in a feel-good read? In the latest Katie Fforde release, Lizzie’s mother is keen for her to have A Wedding in the Country, to a suitable chap chosen, obviously, by mum. And to learn how to be a ‘good wife’, she’s sent off to cookery school in London. It’s 1963 … and London is swinging! Lizzie cuts her hair, buys a mini dress and moves in with two great friends. All of her mum’s plans are forgotten. She’s going to have fun … even if that entails falling in love with someone who appears to be engaged to someone else. We love Katie Fforde … and fans will love this latest book. From Exclusive Books, in store or online.

Dodging doctor’s orders, 17-year-old Lenni, who’s living in the terminal ward, joins an art class where she bumps into fellow hospital patient Margot, a rebel-hearted 83-year-old from the next ward. Their bond is instant as they realise that together they have lived an astonishing one hundred years. To celebrate their shared century, they decide to paint their life stories … of growing old and staying young, of giving joy and receiving kindness, of losing love and finding the person who is everything. Fiercely alive, disarmingly funny and brimming with tenderness, The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin unwraps the extraordinary gift of life, even when it is about to be taken away, and revels in our infinite capacity for friendship and love when we need them most. Keep the tissues at your side. From Exclusive Books, in store or online

The Notebook Was there a single book club in the late 1990s which didn’t have The Notebook on the must-read list? Impossible. And now, 25 years after its first release, Nicholas Sparks’ love story to end all love stories is being released. It’s the story of Noah Calhoun, who returns from war and, in an attempt to escape the ghosts of battle, sets his mind and his body to restoring an old plantation home to its former beauty. But he’s haunted by memories of the beautiful Allie, who he’d met years before … a girl who stole his heart at the funfair, whose parents didn’t approve, a girl he wrote to every day for a year. When she turns up on his doorstep, he has a chance to win her back. Small problem … she’s engaged to someone else. You’ve seen the movie … you may have read the book … but read it (and weep) again anyway. It’s not called a classic heartbreaker for nothing. From Exclusive Books, in store or online   

BOOKCLUB GIVE AWAYS UP FOR GRABS

We’ll be featuring our favourite reads weekly … and book-clubbers, listen up. Once a month we’ll be giving away Exclusive Books vouchers, so your next bundle of reads will be on us. Watch this space!