A Cottage in the Country by Katie Fforde

 

Clichéd? Yes. Predictable. Of course. Implausible? Without doubt. And with an exasperating heroine. Classic chick lit and therefore, utterly and deliciously entertaining! 

I enjoyed Fforde’s Island in the Sun (another maddening proganist therein!), and she does know how to craft an easy and undemanding read, even if she is a little out of touch with modern-day romance. When my favourite genre is crime thrillers, some of which have a corpse or six, a lightweight like this* is a refreshing change. (See About the Book below.)

All the familiar ingredients are present: best friends who really ought to stop resisting being anything else, a wedding that very definitely shouldn’t take place, a very dear and with-it nonagenarian being steam-rollered by a grasping relative, some stiff-collared parents and a rather amiable nephew. 

None of it new, really, but it is warm and endearing. I wasn’t left with a ‘wow’, but smiling and uplifted.

*Provided by NetGalley

See also:

Fforde, Katie - Island in the Sun

Steel Journeys: The Road to Patagonia by Lynda Meyers

Two things annoy me about books: the present-tense narrative (thank heavens it wasn't used here) and when books end at 72%. Unfortunately, this is where the book commits that particular crime.

Whilst I didn't find the main character, Abby, particularly 'badass', which is how the blurb describes her, I was rather enjoying her story. I did wish someone would shake her out of the bitterness that has been festering inside her for fifteen years (boyfriend betrayal) and tell her to move on, but for all that, I liked her. I consider her more independent than badass, and setting up what is essentially a travel business for female bikers is commendable. Patagonia doesn't feature much, by the way, but the story and the writing are decent. However, at seventy-two per cent, there are unresolved issues, but I did think, no worries, a quarter of the book to go, there's time. Alas, no, seventy-two per cent, and there it was: The End. I even thought it was a mistake and frantically tapped my Kindle to see where the rest of story was. 

I'm not keen on book excerpts (especially when they take up a quarter of a book) tagged on to the end of novels. I find it rather presumptuous and a teeny bit arrogant: the author is assuming you want to read more of his/her books. I'm not sure, despite this author's competence, I'm particularly motivated to do so. Will I find the answers to Abby's dilemmas? Or will it be another three-quarter offering?  I'm not so sure I want to pay to find the answer.

The Other Woman by Sandie Jones

There's nothing original about this plot. It's been done before many times, in novels, in TV dramas: girl finds Mr Perfect, but mum-in-law-to-be is a possessive, evil bitch, who will go to jaw-dropping lengths to ensure her Supernova son will never belong to anyone else. It's a tried and tested format, and Jones tackles it competently in this, her debut novel. However, committed though I was, eager to find out how Emily would detach Adam from his mother's, Pammie's, vice-like grip, I found the ending was a little far-fetched and a bit of a let-down. The methods Pammie employs are totally disproportionate to the reasons for them.

Pammie's manipulation is very clever and strategic, making it very hard for Emily to convince others. I couldn't help thinking, though, 'Emily, you have a twenty-first-century phone, record your vitriolic conversations between you and Pammie.' That would have put the kibosh on all Pammie's plotting. But then, I guess, the story would have run out of steam.

I won't give the editor any stars, either: apostrophes to pluralise words is an editorial sin, an 'I was sat' (aarrgghh!), one too many instances of 'there's' which should have been there are, along with...'for asking Kate and I'. For I??? Naughty, naughty.

Despite all the negatives, the rather stereotypical characters and the misnomer of a 'thriller', it's quite well written, and strangely, rather addictive.

Stay Tuned by Lauren Clark

Melissa, producer of a news programme, is in a marriage which has lost its mojo…husband is never home and communication is on a yellow-Post-It basis. Added to which, her news anchors have a live fisticuffs on the evening show, resulting in both being dismissed and Melissa having to spruce herself up and fill in. Oh, and one more thing: her mother has dementia.

This all sounds all rather tame for a plot, if I’m honest. BUT…I really, really enjoyed this. What could have been a somewhat schmaltzy, boring, clichéd story was actually a very well-written one that kept me interested from start to finish, and I found myself really looking forward to picking up the story every night for my pre-beauty-sleep read. No schmaltz, no boring, no clichés. Written articulately with style, it was actually quite wholesome with some down-to-earth, believable characters. Every relationship was handled with skill and insight…they were diverse, relatable and sometimes touching.

And how refreshing to find a well-edited book for a change…quite the icing on the cake. A light and easy read, yes, indeed, but one that doesn’t skimp on balance or sincerity.

The Blow-In by Susanne O'Leary

I’ve read a number of this author’s books. Whilst there’s no question that I obviously love her books, I’d be hard put to say which is my favourite because they’re all good, and The Blow-In is no exception. It’s another five-star read.

In this, we have the sassy, no-nonsense (my favourite female character!) Finola stepping down from edgy journalism to revive a local newspaper in a little Irish town. Not a bad place to start a calmer, less stressful life, away from failed relationships and controversial reporting. But we all know what happens to well-laid plans…conspiracy, good-looking men and way-too-adorable puppies upset the rural-bliss applecart.

O’Leary’s romances are mature, wholesome and robust. The plot is never predictable; there are surprises and twists. The Blow-In ticks all those boxes, along with some snappy, witty dialogue, characters who are colourful, interesting, funny, annoying, arrogant, all contributing to a cracking read.

See Also:

A Woman’s Place
Borrowed Dreams
Finding Margo
Hot Gossip
Hot Property
Hot Pursuit
Selling Dreams 
Sonja's Place

Decisions by Jessica L Degarmo

A good book if you don't want anything heavy and intricate. It’s very lightweight, predictable, rather one-dimensional…typical chick lit. Having read a book I absolutely did not enjoy and wanted to get out of my head, this was just the tonic.

It is totally unbelievable: a tyrannical, unethical, violent, controlling dad insists on an arranged marriage for his daughter, Emma, to seal a somewhat dodgy lucrative deal. I had a bit of trouble with that: unless you’re from a culture that insists on arranged marriages, it just doesn’t fit in the twenty-first-century western world. The unfortunate daughter manages to run away with the help of her submissive mother and plots to find someone to marry, thereby throwing her father’s plans completely off track. But the unwitting prey turns out to be rather handsome and just…well…perfect. How on earth can she go through with her plan and upset a good man with an equally good family?

The plot had a few holes in it, the long-suffering mother was rather inconsistent (one minute she’s doing her utmost to help her daughter escape, the next she’s insisting that, well, how bad can it be marrying someone you don’t want to?). The father is ghastly beyond belief, and Emma herself is rather bland and, dare I say, a bit stupid. 

But, actually, I found myself looking forward to picking up my Kindle and to the mushy, marshmallowy, happy (not a spoiler, this is chick lit, after all!) ending.

A perfect holiday read for a lazy, hazy, sunny afternoon on the beach.

Not to Us by Katherine Owen

I admire every single person who writes a book. I may not like the book, it may have faults, but I can’t ever take away from an author that he or she has poured out thousands of words to fulfil a dream to pen a novel. Truly admirable.

So, here’s the thing: the key word there is the ‘a’ in 'a great idea'. I can’t help thinking that this author scribbled down a number of ideas and thought, I know, I’ll put them all into one book. Result? Idea overload. (Which stretched to covers as well: I've seen four for this book.)  Can you have too much drama in one book? Quite possibly. 

Ellie’s husband has an affair with her best friend. The big C rears its ugly head. Ellie marries best friend’s husband. That’s probably enough to make a pretty good story, but no, let’s throw in two tragic deaths, a pregnancy, infidelity (yes, more) and you find yourself pretty stuffed after this smorgasbord of cheesiness.

Despite all that, I quite enjoyed this.

I found it a little hard to understand how Ellie seemed to be able to have men…three of them…falling at her feet. She was full of cancer and babies and not much personality, and yet they were all declaring undying love for her. It was all a bit mushy, despite dealing with some pretty full-on issues, and none of the characters were developed enough. It was hard to like, or even dislike, any of them.

Four things irritated me: the repetitive ‘bodacious tah tahs’. First time was amusing. The second, a little less. The third raised a titter. But after the seventeenth time, I’d had enough. I was also a little irked by the habit-of-stringing-a-whole-sentence-together-with-hyphens-to-make-it-an-adjective. Thirdly, this was written in the first person, present tense. It didn’t work. The (huge) issues in this book were ones dealt with by different people in different ways: I didn't perceive the gamut of emotions of the other characters, because of the first person POV and present tense. Lastly, the main character, Ellie, is an editor. A pity she didn’t edit her own book. There are a number of grammatical and punctuation howlers.

I really can’t quite fathom why I found it such a compelling read! Apart from the afore-mentioned annoyances, this author does write rather well. There was something about this work that drew me in, and ultimately, it was an effortless read.

Borrowed Dreams by Susanne O'Leary

There’s nothing like a romance set in Saint-Tropez, one of the most famous resorts in Europe, where the well-heeled escape from it all to their shiny yachts in the glorious sunshine.

Daisy Hennessy isn’t exactly well-heeled, though. She’s rather desperate, in fact, to find a job after splitting up with her rather unscrupulous on-off boyfriend. House-sitting a luxury villa amongst the mega-rich and looking after a couple of pooches is the perfect distraction…she hopes. But when she borrows some designer clothes from the absent owner’s wardrobe to attend invite-only parties, she finds herself caught up in an ever-decreasing circle of lies. Famous Irish author Liam complicates her situation. Not only does she have to extricate herself out of her web of deceit…which seemed a harmless bit of fun to start with…if she’s going to get anywhere with the handsome writer, she suddenly finds herself rather close to home, when there's a series of robberies from the glitteratis' luxury villas.

Susanne has a wonderfully uncluttered and refreshing style and never fails to provide characters who are easy to like; she lures you into their lives and into the beautiful setting—you can feel the warm sun on your skin, see the sparkling azure-blue sea and almost taste the fine French cuisine in the topnotch restaurants.

This book follows Selling Dreams, but stands alone, which is one of the things I love about Susanne’s books. Each book is complete but she leaves the door slightly ajar so that anyone of her characters can squeeze through and tiptoe into another book; it’s rather fun trying to guess who will slip into another adventure.

As always, highly recommended.

Stalker in Paradise by Francine Howarth

With regret, this book disappointed me for many reasons. Let me start with some quotes from the book:

‘Ahoy, their Daddy, how’s the birthday boy?’ 

‘Oh, and Ricky, see to it your back on set by one on the dot.’ 

‘The fisherman are hauling their boats right up the beach’ 

‘Whilst walking down the winding path er thoughts kept turning full circle’ 

'Yee Gods' 

'Clothes-hangar' 

'Gratis a quickie divorce' 

And these are only a drop in the very large ocean of errors in this book. I’m wondering whether this book should have been titled ‘Stalker in Paradise—Draft Edition’. 

Unfortunately, it wasn’t well written, the characters were cardboard and one-dimensional, not credible or even likeable. The dialogue was wooden and unnatural, and there was an odd choice of words for a modern chick lit—who uses in a thrice or betwixt or visage these days? 

I always finish a book, and more often than not I have been rewarded for my determination. I hoped…desperately…that this would be the case in this book, but sadly it just didn’t happen. 

It's a thumbs down for this book.

A Very English Affair by Faith Mortimer

Summertime, for some reason, seems to be a great time for romances…reading them, that is…and one to include has to be A Very English Affair. Faith has a few very enjoyable romances tucked under her belt, and this one is no exception.

Danielle, in her mid-thirties, seems to have done well: a successful travel agency and owns her own home. Then, the icing on the cake comes in the form of handsome Christian, who sweeps her off her feet and a passionate love affair leads to an undying love for each other they know will last forever. How long, though, is forever?

A bit of a tearjerker, this one, but without being sloppy, cliched or oversentimental. As always, the story is perfectly balanced, and the characters likeable, credible and well portrayed. You’re always in good hands with Faith and you know what you’re going to get, whether it’s a romance or one of Diana Rivers’ adventures: a good, clean, structured plot with characters you can identify with, written with sincerity and feeling.

We’ve had A Very French Affair, now an English one…where next, I wonder…Italy, Spain?

Hot Pursuit by Susanne O'Leary

A third ‘Hottie’ by Susanne. (Hot Property, Hot Gossip). And it is a hottie! This time, we’re in the company of Rita, who made an appearance in Hot Gossip.

Lovelorn thirty-something Rita grabs an opportunity to start a new life in Dublin, working for a topnotch hairdressing salon. New life, new job, new friends: will this help her forget the object of her unrequited love? Will it help her forget the memory of a mistake she made as a naive sixteen-year-old?  A mistake she feels compelled to right if she is enjoy her new future.  She tries her best with the help of the dishy Ricardo, her hairdressing co-worker and Josh, the intrepid war correspondent. One is her lover, the other her best friend. But has she got them the right way round?

Once again, Susanne hits the spot with this romance. Colourful, interesting and funny characters against the backdrop of the gorgeous Irish countryside are the perfect ingredients for this story. It’s well balanced, the characters natural, the dialogue fluid and fun, and it’s all presented in Susanne’s usual, mellow, warm style.

Easy to read, easy to enjoy and very easy to recommend! Will we be Hotting up again, I wonder?

See also:

A Woman's Place

Sonja's Place

Finding Margo

Hot Gossip by Susanne O'Leary

Hot Gossip is the sequel to Hot Property. Susanne has done an outstanding job of enabling it to stand alone, with well-thought-out references to its prequel.

Also set in the beautiful Irish countryside, Hot Gossip features Janine Marchand, a rather enigmatic (and charismatic) young and beautiful Frenchwoman, with an intriguing and colourful past. She seeks to escape the more unsavoury aspects of that past in a small, quaint village in Ireland, backdropped by austere and stunning landscape. Her endeavours to stay incognito are not helped by two men in the village, who are captivated by her, and the daughter of one of them, twelve-year-old Nelia, whose impressionability and somewhat hasty immature actions lead to near tragedy.

The story weaves expertly back and forth from a heady time in Egypt, back to the sleepy Irish village, the times and events a sharp contrast to each other. As with Hot Property, it’s obvious the fondness O’Leary has for her adopted Ireland: she sells it better than any Lonely Planet guide!

Janine, Nelia, Jake (the significant other from her time in Egypt), and Mick (Nelia’s father) are all strong, know-their-own-minds characters. Makes for some delightful ‘fireworks’, and it’s wonderful to see Polish Beata and her big-bear husband, Boris, (from Hot Property) making a reappearance.

Wonderfully written, as always by this author, this is a ‘fine romance’.

See also:

A Woman's Place

Finding Margo

Sonja's Place

Hot Property by Susanne O'Leary

A very enjoyable chick lit novel by Susanne O’Leary—the sort of novel that’s delightfully easy to read. Predictable? Yes, of course it is, it’s chick lit. It has the requisite scum-bag and the hunky chunk, whom you know the very likable heroine is going to get, ultimately, and it’s great fun finding out just how, in Susanne’s uncluttered and crisp style.

Megan’s surprise inheritance from a great-uncle of a property in a beautiful part of Ireland comes at rather an opportune time. She’s lost her husband (to a younger model) and her job (as a personal stylist), so a windfall has got to be rather handy…hasn’t it? If her run of bad luck wasn’t enough, she finds that the property is a wreck and needs a fortune to restore. Her rather tasty solicitor gets close enough (ahem!) to persuade her that selling it would be the best and most profitable solution, but new friendships, a growing fondness for the area, the lifestyle, and the people are making it hard for her to agree. One person among those same ‘people’ is making it even harder. Blunt, a little abrupt, perhaps a little moody, BUT, devilishly attractive… Megan has to balance the odds and decide whether to listen to the overzealous persuasion of her solicitor boyfriend or go with her heart and try and make a go of a costly renovation.

Throw in family secrets, deception, and conspiracy and you get a novel that keeps you solidly entertained. Megan is a great character: she’s nice and normal. Stung by her husband’s infidelity, she does reel rather blindly into a new relationship, but she’s only human. However, she does learn from her mistakes, and I liked her determination, as well as her talent for making other people—woman in particular—feel better about themselves.

A very engaging, untaxing read. Thank you, Susanne!

Also by Susanne O'Leary:

A Woman's Place

Sonja's Place

Finding Margo

Saving Saffron Sweeting by Pauline Wiles

This was a debut chick-lit novel by Pauline Wiles, of which she should be very proud. The story focuses on saving not only Saffron Sweeting, a (fictional) small village in Cambridgeshire, in danger of losing its traditional landmarks to greedy developers, but also the marriage of a young interior designer, Grace, whose husband’s one-off drunken indiscretion rocks the foundations of her marriage to the core.

Grace and her husband, James, are living in Silicon Valley in the US. When she discovers he has been unfaithful to her, she flees home to the UK and finds a small, cosy, pretty little village in Cambridgeshire in which to lick her wounds. She finds herself working for an estate agent run by Amelia—herself not a stranger to errant husbands. As chance would have it, Grace finds herself making the most of her interior design talents, when the effervescent Amelia pushes her into active village life…which also blows a certain handsome young property developer, Scott, into Grace’s path. Teetering on the ‘rebound’ tightrope, can Scott help her forget her rat of a cheating husband, or does her history with and love for her ex provide too much competition? And can Saffron Sweeting haul itself into the twenty-first century and defend itself against greed?

Wiles has certainly picked all the right ingredients for this chick-lit novel, and the result is a crisp, clean, witty, and well-devised book. She has portrayed some colourful and entertaining characters (all of them believable), and Grace is a strong and very likeable protagonist.

A very commendable first novel.  A professional edit has been overlooked and would certainly upgrade it from 'commendable' to 'excellent'.  Lack of attention to some editorial areas were just a little jarring, but it was enjoyable nevertheless. Hopefully, this promising author will address this, if not with this novel, with any future projects, which I would be happy to read.

The Christmas Grandma Ran Away From Home by Nancy Warren

It's easy to identify with the protagonist of this book. Seventy-one-year-old Sandy has had enough: enough of cooking turkeys (which, as a vegetarian, she doesn’t eat), enough pies and enough shortbread cookies. She’s had enough bickering, feuds over the Xmas dinner goodies and fisticuffs with the mince pies.  Solution?  Run away.  Well, not so much run away, as down tools and leave them all to it. 

Sandy picks what she hopes will be the perfect spot to enjoy her fuss-free Xmas and finds an expected but very welcome little bit of icing on her own Xmas cake in the form of a gentleman.

A sweet and entertaining little seasonal tale sprinkled with charm, appeal, and feel-good: qualities I am beginning to become accustomed to from this author who knows how to strike the right chords.

Permanently Temping by Lauren Milner-Howells

Regrettably, I didn’t enjoy this. This was a chick-lit novel, but I think even a 13-year-old would have been embarrassed to read it. 

It features a university graduate, Hollie, who like many graduates, is trying to decide what career path to follow, and defying her father’s ambitions for her to follow law, flits from one temp job to another. And of course, true to chick-lit form, there’s a broken heart (cheating university ex-boyfriend), a heart about to be broken (cheating current boyfriend) and a lusted-for hands-off future boyfriend. 

But…Hollie had barely two brain cells to rub together—how she managed a university degree is beyond me  She wasn’t just ditzy and scatty, she was a bit stupid and immature  There was no character development, the dialogue was immature and just not credible  I simply cannot believe that a law firm would have nothing better to think of than a cake rota, that a 22-year-old’s sole ambition would be to ride in a police van with flashing lights or that someone would be seen as a capable events’ organiser simply because she happened to have a couple of packets of post-its in her handbag. Nor can I believe that an intelligent graduate would list bullet-point drawing as a skill.

Sadly, too, the book was unedited: punctuation was practically non-existent, there were spelling mistakes, and every adjective seemed to be followed by ‘looking’, eg, imposing-looking, worn-looking, petite-looking, green-looking (???), garish-looking…in fact, about forty of them.

This had all the elements for a fun story, a funny story even. The author had a well-mapped plot, and it was neatly, although not unexpectedly, wrapped up, and she has a light, easy-to-read, uncomplicated style. In essence, all the perfect ingredients.  It just lacked maturity and substance. I so wanted to like Hollie, but she was just irritating and rather vacuous. 

On the whole, it wasn’t a bad attempt for a debut novel, but I think the author needs both a technical and developmental editor, especially if she wants to aim at an audience that's older than young teenagers.

Finding Margo by Susanne O'Leary

This is my third outing with Susanne.  I have read her excellent A Woman’s Place and Sonja’s Place.  I love her style.  Finding Margo did not disappoint.

The trouble with husbands, Margo finds, despite their skills in plastic surgery, is that they can become snippy, bad-tempered, verbally abusive, and generally a pain in the proverbial.  Margo’s husband goes a little too far whilst driving to Cannes for a medical conference, and his reaction to her deficient map-reading skills is the straw that breaks the camel’s back.  Impulsively, bravely, and perhaps a little uncharacteristically, she leaves her irritating husband of ten years when they stop at a motorway filling station.  With no real clue where to go or how to get there, this action marks the start of Margo’s French ‘adventure’ and the path to self-awareness, confidence, and love.

Paris and the French countryside with its majestic and charming châteaus provide the perfect romantic setting.  The dishy love interest is, of course, French, and the world of immaculate French ‘chic’ is provided by Monsieur Gorgeous’ mother.  A little clichéd, perhaps?  Maybe, but Margo’s development, her courage, her tolerance and perseverance, are compelling, and your support for her is unfailing throughout.

There’s a delightful mix of characters – French, English and Irish – each with very individual style and personality.  Susanne is a pleasantly easy-to-read author – her style is crisp, clean and sharp.

This is a delightful rites-of-passage, soft and mellow romance, and I thoroughly recommend it.

The Royal Sheikh by Katheryn Lane

This was a romance classified as 'sweet' in terms of levels of 'page sizzling' content.  It was indeed 'sweet', but it was also very sweet as in old-fashioned in a Mills & Boon/Harlequin-romance-type way.  It was stereotyped and predictable – boy meets girl, falls in love with girl at first sight, does his best to find her when he fails to find out her contact details, chance and luck play their parts, then follow misunderstandings causing boy and girl to break up, but boy and girl can't live without each other, chance and luck are at it again and before you know it, it all ends. Yes, predictable.

I liked it – it was indulgently sugary, innocent, charming and gave you a warm feelgood afterglow.  It wasn't taxing, it was delightfully easy to read and the author had a very pleasant and especially refreshing style.  There was something very clean and crisp in the writing as a result of the author's avoidance of any contractions in the narrative (not a 'wasn't' or 'didn't' to be found).  It was very hard not to care about the two main characters, Clare and Rafiq. They were both independent, knew what they wanted and the misunderstandings that gave their relationship the runaround were neatly laced into their lives, never leaving you frustrated or wishing the pace of the story would step up a gear.  Not a long novel, but it was well designed.

I think I prefer a slightly more robust romance – something in the middle of 'sweet' and erotica – but it was hard not to like this;  it was light, airy and enjoyable, just right for a quick and uncomplicated read.

The Story of Plan B by Kate Dempsey

This is an enjoyable chick-lit set in Dublin – Zoe, a computer technician, moves there from England to get away from bad memories of an unscrupulous boyfriend. She receives a phone call one evening from the publicist of a rather engaging, colourful, and of course, good-looking TV gardener, Larry Harte, asking if she might be able to assist with the biography of his even more colourful, deceased father, who died suddenly in the mid-seventies. What connection does she have with this man, how can she possibly help and how can she resist the rather lovely Larry?

I was instantly drawn into this book. The characters are well-drawn and make up a delightful mixed bag of quirky, comic, weird, and obsessive.  Zoe is extremely likeable – she is patient, tolerant, funny and resolute; the circumstances leading to her departure from England are portrayed to lend her just the right amount of sympathy; facts from the past, both from 34 years ago, clarifying Zoe’s connection to Larry and from 4 years ago, revealing the start – and finish – of her relationship with her boyfriend, run neatly and smoothly alongside the narrative time and all three timeframes bring you to the end with satisfactory explanations, leaving no stone unturned.

I loved Kate’s easy-going style and the veil of gentle Irish humour made this a delightful and entertaining read.  Highly recommended.

Circle City Blues by Susan Bennett

I thoroughly enjoyed this chick-lit book, which took me no time to get into. It is instantly an effortless read with a likeable array of characters that you care about. Don’t be fooled by the hint of predictability early on – it gets thrown off balance soon enough, so which girl the boy is going to get is a mystery for a little longer.

The author leaves no questions unanswered, you are left happy with the fate of each character, and the ending is simple, but conclusive.

This is the first book by this author I have read - Bennett has a pleasant, easy-going style, and her characters are well portrayed. I will certainly be reading more by Susan.