Top 5 fashion fiction

The Book: Heaven, Hell & Mademoiselle by Harold Carlton
Series or Standalone: Standalone
Publisher: Orion
What it's about: It's Paris, 1968 and four young and fabulous designer hopefuls are desperate to make it big in the world of haute couture. But do they have what it takes?

There's Monique, a talented, young seamstress who leaves her humble and lowly family home to become a seamstress in the house of Chanel and longs to find love and success , and alluring and beautiful Sophie, model extraordinaire with a face and figure that launches her career as the face of Chanel, but who happens to harbour a secret that threatens to upset her cosy and privileged lifestyle.

London-born Christopher is handsome, straight and determined to climb his way to the top in a world where sex, money, and fashion sells - and where straight men are considered rare and prized. Then there’s Samantha, a loud, brash, spoilt American princess, who always gets what she wants and climbs her way to the top through sex, sex and more sex.

In this novel where fame, fashion and Chanel reside, four young lives will collide in a spellbinding tale of love, rivalry, fashion and more fashion.

Buy your copy here.

The Book: Blue Bloods by Melissa de La Cruz
Series or Standalone: Series (Vampire fiction - includes Masquerade, Revelations, The Van Alen Legacy and Misguided Angel. You can also be on the look out for Bloody Valentine, a Blue Bloods novella (expected to be released in February 2011)
Publisher: Atom Books
What it's about: Gossip girl meets sexed-up teen vamps in this fresh, sexy and unique take on vampire lore.

15-year old Schuyler Van Alen has never quite fit in with the preppy, popular snobs at Duchesne Academy, the exclusive school she attends.  But all that is about to change because:

a) Jack Force, the most popular (and by default the hottest and one of the wealthiest) has suddenly taken an interest in the ignorant-of-her-beauty 15-year old - a fact which upsets his equally popular, but bratty, spoilt and mean twin sister, Mimi.

b) That craving for red meat, the blackouts and the increasingly marked blue veins confirms that she's a Blue Blood - part of a secret elite group of vampires who are dazzlingly beautiful, extraordinarily powerful and exceedingly glamorous.

As a Blue Blood, she is invited to join The Committee - an elite society presided over by vampires, where she soon learns some startling information about her family history.

The setting of this novel is everything that you could imagine the slutty, wealthy, fashionable character cast of Gossip Girls would be comfortable in. Trendy, upmarket designer stores, fashion modelling shoots, exclusive clubs - you name it, this novel has it.

Buy your copy here.

The Book: I Heart New York by Lindsey Kelk
Series or Standalone: Series (Included I Heart Hollywood and I Heart Paris)
Publisher: HarperCollins
What it's about: When Angela, a 26-year old freelance writer from London stumbles upon her fiancé, cheating on her with another woman in the back of their car at her best friend's wedding, she not only reels in shock, but discovers that everyone (including her best friend) has known about the whole sordid affair.

She does what any girl who has been cheated would do: Ruins the wedding, breaks the groom's hand (with one of her chic Louboutins nogal), pees in the cheating rat bastard's toiletry bag and promptly books a one-way ticket to New York.

When she meets a bubbly, self-proclaimed therapist and hotel receptionist Jenny things start turning around. A fabulous new opportunity to write an online blog for The Look magazine, a sexy new wardrobe and new look later, and the girl's back on her feet and living it large in NYC.

Add in a new potential romance and things just may end up working out for her…

You can read our review here.

To purchase a copy of this book, click here.

The Book: Silk by Rupert James
Series or Standalone: Standalone
Publisher: Ebury Press
What it's about: What is fashion without money, sex and power? 

Isabelle is a talented, young design graduate hoping to make it big in London. In love with all things colour, texture and fabulous fabric and material, she's filled with dreams and high-powered ambitions, but seems to have an unfortunate weakness for unsuitable men.

Her mother, Christine, is a top-notch divorce lawyer hoping to make Queen's Council  with her next big case.

And then there's Victoria Crabtree. Greedy, ambitious and mistress of Massimo Rivelli (who just so happens to be the mult-millionaire owner of leading fashion house, House of Rivelli), she loves fashion almost as much as she does money.

Of course, when you're a dynamic fashion powerhouse, having your share of models to pick from is a given. And with the danger of potentially being replaced with a younger model, Massimo is about to discover to just what lengths Victoria will go to, in order to survive.

These 3 women's lives collide and become entangled when Christina handles the divorce case that could give Victoria the man she's wanted for so long, but in the process could potentially destroy her daughter's blossoming career at the same time.

You can read our review here and buy your copy here.

The Book: Killer Hair by Ellen Byerrum
Publisher:  Signet books
Series or Standalone: Series (Books include:  Designer Knockoff, Hostile Makeover, Raiders of the Lost Corset, Grave Apparel and Armed and Glamorous)
What it's about: ... They say a bad haircut can't kill you… or can it?

Lacey Smithsonian is just a simple fashion reporter who reports on all things fashion related. Her career, however takes a bit of a turn when a beautiful hairstylist is found dead with her throat slit and a vicious buzz cut (any hairstylist's nightmare right?).

The cops call it suicide, but Lacey's fashion instincts call it murder… and although she's initially reluctant to become involved with the case, she eventually finds herself at the forefront of the investigation when more clues begin to emerge. With the help of her punk-stylist friend Stella, Lacey must find a way to weave out the truth amidst a barrage of scandals, assisted suicides while dealing with ditzy, diva stylists in between.

Buy your copy here.

What other fabulous fashion reads can you recommend? Besides Confessions of a Shopaholic and The Devil Wears Prada?