BLACK Country author Miranda Dickinson has celebrated her highest placing yet on the Sunday Times bestsellers list - with her new novel Take A Look At Me Now.

The book, which has become Miranda's fifth consecutive bestseller, shot straight to number four in the book charts on release - making it her most successful novel to date.

Her debut offering Fairytale of New York made it to number eight on the bestsellers list but she says the success of Take A Look At Me Now has surpassed her expectations.

Miranda, who grew up in Kingswinford, said: “It's my highest placing yet. It's been ranked higher than bestsellers by Josephine Cox and Carole Matthews and I'm thrilled.”

The 40-year-old romantic writer's latest tale centres on Nell Sullivan (aka Miss Five Year Plan), who - after being dumped and made redundant on the same day - decides to cash in her redundancy cheque for a trip of a lifetime to San Fransisco where a whole new life, including a new love interest, beckons.

Despite the success of the new novel, Miranda admits to having experienced her toughest year yet as a published author.

After enjoying her own fairytale wedding last September - writing book five proved so problematic for the usually optimistic former King Edward VI College student that she almost gave up.

But taking inspiration from her very own chick lit heroines - she made a bold decision to scrap the original story, flew to San Fransisco with new husband Bob and drafted a brand new tale in a matter of weeks.

The decision paid off and the popular author , who is signed to Avon (part of HarperCollins), has now sold around 71,000 paperback and e-book versions of Take A Look At Me Now and more than 500,000 copies of her five published books combined.

She said: “The support from my home community means the world to me; I know the reason for my books' success is largely due to awesome Black Country support.

Miranda, who lives in Lower Gornal, will be meeting fans and signing copies of her latest book at Netherton Library on December 5. Free tickets for the event are available on 01384 812845.

She will also be holding a coffee and cake book launch event at Jilly’s Coffee Lounge, Kingswinford, on Friday December 6 from 3pm till 6pm.

To read more about Miranda check out www.miranda-dickinson.com