I am touring about the country this month (Click on the ‘Girls Night In Tour’ category for details… maybe you can come!) visiting libraries for fun-packed Girls Night In events.

The first was at Cardonald Library in the South Side of Glasgow. What can I say? These people know how to party! We had food, we had drinkies, goodie bags and there was a whole wonderful pink and black theme going on with ribbons on the chairs, flowers and matching plates and napkins. I turned up in pink and black by co-incidence! It was a fantastic evening. I enjoyed the Q and A bit hugely, especially the spontaneous telling of our worst changing room disasters. It was great fun to read extracts from How Not To Shop and Jealous Girl to such a fabulous audience. Thank you all so much for a brilliant night!

Carlisle was also fantastic! We talked about books, writing, favourite authors, but also shoe shopping! We had chocolate and fudge tasting, lovely ladies from Lush and Clinique on hand and the fabulous Marie from Hoopers, a real live personal shopper, talking us through key looks. Marie is a total Annie fan, so it was brilliant to watch her bring little Valentine touches to her talk. According to Marie, every girl must have a red handbag and a pair of Armani Jeans this season. If you live anywhere near Carlisle, book yourself a session with her, it is probably as close as you will come to an Annie makeover!

Portlethen, Perth, Fort William and Blackpool are next.

To celebrate the publication of How Not to Shop, my publisher has created the fab new How Not to Shop quiz! Give it a whirl to find out what kind of shopper you are, and to get a recession-busting 35% off any of my books!

Loads of things going on this month as the third Annie Valentine is released: How Not To Shop comes with the chance to win an Egyptian holiday (and if like me you’ve spent much of the summer in Glasgow – you might be needing something like that).

Rush to your nearest branch of Faith and they will give you a special edition of The Personal Shopper for free if you spend over £30 (easily done, I have been on their website and checked those shoes out… and they do big sizes. Gone are the days when you went to any shoe shop, asked for a size 8 and the shop assistant’s eyes popped from her head in astonishment – I’m still slightly scarred though.)

The lovely people at ultra-stylish Scottish Woman magazine have put me on their shortlist for witty Scottish Woman of the Year. I still can’t believe that… anyway, you can find out more if you follow this link. Hey, you can even vote and yes I will understand if you think Ronni Ancona is much more worthy!

Also, give this link a whirl if you’d like to read an interview with me from the Sunday Herald magazine. It’s incredibly nice, Susan Swarbrick was totally charming and no, I don’t have anything on her, she wrote this all of her own accord, honest! ‘Poster girl for yummy mummy chic’ oooh how my husband fell about laughing at that. He knows the grim reading glasses and ratty jeans reality!

Now, which photos can I use to enliven the August blog… I’m still missing New York, so here are another two from the holiday. The big plastic roach key-ring which was the gag of the fortnight: it ended up in everyone’s shoes, everyone’s bed, even Sam’s salad and my birthday presents. Eeek!

Then there are the family birthday cards… obviously cute dogs feature highly as we were all totally missing Jimmy by then!

 To celebrate the publication of How Not to Shop, Transworld Publishers and Faith Shoes are offering you the chance to win a fabulous holiday for you and a friend to Egypt!

The fantastic prize, courtesy of Libra Holidays, will include return flights and 4* accommodation at the Hilton Sharks Bay Resort. Enjoy seven all-inclusive days, relaxing by the pool, sipping a cocktail at one of the hotel bars, discovering the underwater delights of the Red Sea or partying into the early hours and enjoying the lively nightlife in Sharm el Sheikh!

To enter visit the Faith website from 10th August.

The closing date is 24th August 2009. See www.faith.co.uk for terms and condtitions.

Listen to my introduction to How Not To Shop and find out a little more about what Annie gets up to in the story…

About How Not to Shop

And here’s a little audio taster from How Not To Shop…

Introduction

Extract

Pre-order your copy of How Not to Shop

How Not to Shop star Annie Valentine shares her top tips on iVillage, to give you a fabulous wardrobe on a budget!

Read Annie’s tips on i-Villlage

On the book front: the next instalment of Secrets at St Jude’s: Jealous Girl is out on 2nd July for everyone who loved New Girl and can’t wait to find out what happens next…

Make a little room in your summer holiday suitcase for the new Annie Valentine, as How Not To Shop comes out on 13th August.

At the AK Bell Theatre in Perth, I served my first ever time on a discussion panel this month.  Is The Love Story Dead? Discuss. It was a really interesting and enjoyable evening. Great to meet writers Ewan Morrison and Sharon Blackie as well as the incredibly well-read Dorothy Macmillan, Stuart Kelly and Ajay Close. Just as soon as I’d sipped down my second Buck’s Fizz to quell those public speaking nerves, I had a great time!

I’m going on a library tour in September… more details to follow next month. Hope I can catch up with lots of readers.

The rest of June has been all about two of the Very Important Males in my life: my son and my Dad.

On the same day that my son went off on his first week-long school trip to an outward bound adventure centre thingy, my Dad went into hospital to have his hip replaced.

Oh what a lovely amount of fretting and stressing I did! Will Sam have enough socks? Eat enough fibre? Survive the abseiling lesson? Will Dad have enough books to read? Eat any hospital food? Survive the operation?!!

Good grief it was stressful. My Mum and I got through much more wine and cake than usual, I can tell you.

However, the week ended. Sam came off the bus looking tall, brown, grubby and ridiculously chirpy. He was absolutely fine – apart from a neck rash brought on by a combination of ‘slurping on midge repellent like gravy’ (his words) and not washing properly (well, he is newly 11!) And apparently abseiling – which he’d been slightly worried about – was the best fun ever.

Dad came out of hospital the following day and went home to the farm along with crutches, a raised loo-seat and various other gadgets.

He has always been the fittest, healthiest person I know. Up until two years ago he was still running (he doesn’t jog, he RUNS!) and he looks after a herd of 80 cattle, so the ever-increasing hip problem has taken some time for him to adjust to.

I have no idea how Mum is going to keep him resting for six weeks. There is already talk of how soon can he get back on his bike (his new hobby now that he can’t run!) and my Dad’s usual competitive streak  means he will want to make the fastest recovery from the operation ever!

More news next month when I get back from New York! Yes, I’ll just say that once again… when I get back from New York!!

Check out the gorgeous cover for my new book, How Not to Shop, which will be out this August!

How Not to Shop