Mills & Boon to publish spoof 'modern girl's guides'

Mills & Boon is best known for its female-orientated romance fiction

Publisher Mills & Boon is to launch a series of "Modern Girl's Guides" containing "vital advice every woman needs to survive the modern world".

Tongue-in-cheek guides to working and drinking will be published in November, with more titles to follow.

Written by two unidentified authors, they will be published under the pen name Ada Adverse.

The series is a departure from Mills & Boon's normal output of steamy romance novels.

According to the publisher, the mock guides will juxtapose black-and-white archive photos of women with "witty 21st Century commentary".

A sample page from one of the titles, on the subject of friends, tells of two girls named Linda and Simone "who are going to a party".

"Linda is going to keep an eye on her pedometer and tell Simone when they have danced enough to leave and get doner kebabs," the text reads.

Following Ladybird's lead

The initiative comes in the wake of the success of the Ladybird Books for Grown-ups series, a spoof on the classic children's books, which has now achieved more than two million sales.

Mills & Boon executive Lisa Milton said the books would offer "affordable, fun escapism".

"We couldn't resist bringing together an inspirational author and fabulous archive photos to create the Mills & Book Modern Girl's Guides," she continued.

"Whether its work or sex, going out or staying in - Mills & Boon has the guide for you."

According to a press release, Ada Adverse is "the world's leading authority on Having Fun" and is the author of more than 100 books.

The Mills & Boon Modern Girl's Guide to Working 9 to 5 and The Mills & Boon Modern Girl's Guide to Happy Hour will be published on 3 November.

They will be followed by The Mills & Boon Modern Girl's Guide to Helping Yourself on 29 December.

A fourth book, The Mills & Boon Modern Girl's Guide to Happy Endings, will hit shelves on 26 January.