Best of the year: Chick Lit

He loves me not he loves me by Claudia Carroll

When her gambler father Lord Davenport leaves, Portia is the only sane family member who can possibly hope to keep the ancestral Irish home from ruin. Cash-strapped, she rents the pile out as a movie location. Hours of fun.

* Bantam, 34.95)

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Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes

British toff Plum Sykes lives in Manhattan and does a bit of magazine writing. She could well be the heroine of her first novel, who ponders existential dilemmas such as whether to skip work for a Chanel sample sale. Deeply superficial social comedy and seriously funny.

* Viking,$35

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Shopaholic & Sister by Sophie Kinsella

Another instalment from committed shopaholic Becky Bloomwood. This time she's back from overspending on honeymoon to discover she has a long-lost sister who seems not to have inherited her shopping gene and won't be tutored in credit card debt.

* Black Swan, $26.95

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Being Committed By Anna Maxted

Hannah has intimacy issues, stemming from her failed marriage. Her idea of togetherness is going to the toilet while her boyfriend's in the bath. A hilarious, well-written journey of overcoming a commitment phobia without the touchy-feely Deepak Chopra stuff.

* William Heinemann, $34.95

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Lots of love by Fiona Walker

A fabulous blockbuster in the grand tradition of master page-turner Jilly Cooper. Our heroine Ellen turns up in a Cotswold village and makes an immediate impression on the locals, not least the brooding bad-boy blue-blood Spurs Belling.

* Hodder & Stoughton, $23.99