Cirrus@Austlit

'"I am a failure."

'"Yeah, sure, I hear you say. What's the problem? Broken up with your boyfriend? Eaten a few too many tubs of quadruple fudgey double double chocolate-chunk your jeans won't fit in the morning ripple? And now you've developed a lovely big zit on your chin. Well poor squiddly diddums."

'"Yep, I'm sure you think you've read it all before. But believe me, it's true. I am a complete and utter failure. A loser. Literally. You see, in the past six months, I have lost everything. My company, my husband and, only a few minutes ago, my lover. Frankly, there's nowhere else to go from here - this is rock bottom."

'"The funny thing is how fast it's all happened. I can't remember the point where things turned around and started to go bad. It was like everything was perfect and then, suddenly, I was left with nothing. On New Year's Day, you could have said I had a snow dome of a life. A life that was shaken constantly by some divine hand - glittering and sparkly. I had my own multi-million dollar pyjama empire that I built from scratch. I had journalists queuing up to interview me. I had a husband who loved me and I loved him back. I was happy. And then some clumsy oaf dropped the snow dome."

'"The stupid thing is that clumsy oaf was me, Dicey Dye (we'll get to that later, believe me, it's not my real name)."

'Dicey has taken the wrong turn in her life and when it all collapses in a screaming heap she is forced to reassess what she really wants and who she wants to share it with. Enjoy this hilarious journey with her as she struggles to get her life back together with the help of her sister, her best friend and an Irish Wolfhound named Fergus.' (Publisher's blurb)

Mia Clementine's world is turned upside down and inside out overnight when her cousin Sebastian calls in an owed favour - come back to London and work for The Inner Gentleman one last time. It's a big ask. The Inner Gentleman, Sebastian's firm, is used to turning men into gentleman, but to turn Josh Watkins, London United's star striker and all-round bad boy into a gentleman in eight weeks isn't an ask. It'd be something closer to a miracle.

It's not like Mia doesn't have enough on her plate as it is. There's her sick father in Tasmania to think of. And her ailing ancestral home in Lincolnshire, currently in the middle of some very expensive renovations. But Sebastian's put his foot down and so has Mia's father. Out of guilt, she's staying in London. Josh Watkins is getting a gentlemanly makeover whether he likes it or not. What Mia hasn't planned on, however, is her own life being made over just as quickly. And then, of course, there's the fact that she never knew just how charming Josh Watkins can be. - back cover (2008)