Some Kind of Wonderful by Sarah Webb, (Pan, £6.99)

ROSIE'S life has become an exhausting string of stresses and strains... getting her four-year-old to school, getting to work on time, conjuring up "clever" ideas for marketing campaigns and she's only 28.

When her estate agent husband, Darren announces he's having an affair, Rosie feels as though her world has crumbled around her.

But she takes a deep breath and decides Darren is not the only one who can make life-changing decisions.

Opting out of Dublin's rat race, Rosie sets up a small art gallery at a stately home with its own wildlife park. Run by enigmatic entrepreneur Conor Dunlop and his good-looking son, Rory, every day is full of surprises.

The best-selling Irish chick lit writer's

It's very much aimed at glossy readers - harassed mum, takes the steering wheel and makes good, finding romance and professional fulfilment en-route.

Webb taps into characters with whom people can easily identify, giving a realistic take on life, romance and friendship. The dialogue's crisp and lively. It's not at all heavy reading and rattles along at a good pace, too.

It's a harmless, unchallenging novel-lette. The characters and their situations seem clichs. Even the struggles are sugarcoated. Hayley Jarvis