This week the heat gang popped our slippers on, took the phone off the hook and polished our spectacles as we sat back and enjoyed a spot of reading. On this week's heat bookshelf: All She Wants by Jonathan Harvey and Penny Sweets And Cobbled Streets: My East End Childhood by TOWIE's very own Nanny Pat. 

Here's what we thought:

All She Wants

Jonathan Harvey (Pan Macmillan, £7.99)

The plot: From an early age, Liverpool-born Jodie McGee knows that she wants to become an actress in a soap opera, but what she doesn’t plan on is her own life becoming one. Whether it’s waking up to find her knickers dangling from the ceiling fan, projectile-vomiting over her sexy neighbour, making a fool of herself at an awards bash, or walking in on her brother doing something gut-wrenchingly awful at her own wedding, life for Jodie is certainly never dull. But can she muddle through the mess and madness and find the happiness she craves?

What’s right with it? With writing credits for shows including Corrie and Gimme Gimme Gimme under his belt, Jonathan Harvey was always expected to produce a hilarious gem of a debut novel – and this one is both original, smart, engaging and giggle-like-Muttley funny. You’ll fall for Jodie’s unique charms within the first few sentences and be rooting for her from thereon in.

What’s wrong with it? There are a lot of references to growing up in the late ’80s, so younger readers may stumble a bit.

Verdict: A brilliantly written and laugh-out-loud jaunt through the giddy life of one of our new most-favourite female heroines ever. 5/5 @Broomie29

Penny Sweets And Cobbled Streets: My East End Childhood

Nanny Pat (Pan, £7.99)

In a nutshell: She’s probably the only woman to have become famous for taking a sausage
plait round to her grandson, but have you ever wondered what Nanny Pat was up to pre-TOWIE? She hasn’t always been the Peggy Mitchell of Essex, y’know.

What’s right with it? Penny Sweets… takes us way back, with loads of anecdotes about her school days, getting married and having kids. It’s like sitting down for a cosy chat with your nan.

What’s wrong with it? If you hadn’t guessed from the title, this isn’t really the place for goss on the TOWIE lot. Pat goes into detail on how people in the ’50s would run a home, and teases us with comments like, “Years later, I came across the Kray Twins – although the details of that story are for my next book.” You can’t say that!

Verdict: There’s plenty for Nanny Pat fans to coo over, although we’d suggest skipping past the jellied eels recipe at the back. 3/5 @deborah_heat