Rating: 
Summary: Fun but not Fforde's best
Review: I am a mother of two small children, work outside the home at a demanding job and don't have much time to read. This book is perfect for me! It is easy, fast reading, predictably romantic, and exotic setting (English country), a handsome hero and a pretty heroine. Fforde has a formula for all her books (rakish, angry hero who is nevertheless appealing to the heroine), simple and determined to be remain independent heroine who is at a starting-point in her life and this book is no exception. I still enjoyed it and it was a nice escape. Not a book you will read more than once but still worth the time. I am looking forward to her next one!
Rating: 
Summary: Food and gardening, a wonderful combination
Review: I don't normally read contemporary romances but was recommended Fforde by a little old lady on a tour. If this is what she's like, I'll gladly buy all her books.
I liked all the characters and hope Fforde will consider sequels for the others in the story. I was simply moved by the Perdita & Kitty thread, and the romance bit isn't that in-your-face but does grow on you.
All in all, wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: Fun and ROMANTIC read by a wonderful British author!
Review: I have read all of Katie Fforde's boks, and I think this one is the best, next to Stately Pursuits. Very funny British sayings, and quirky characters. The dialogue between the main characters, Perdita and Lucas is great. Also published in England as Thyme Out.
Rating:
Summary: Katie Fforde Doesn't Disappoint
Review: If you haven't read a novel by Katie Fforde before, prepare yourself for a treat. Second Thyme Around (also published as Thyme Out) is truly a wonderful book. When the book opens, Peri has already grown from a sniveling little girl into a woman ready to be successful on her own, and perhaps even find love again after a disastrous marriage to a young businessman who left her for an older woman. She's settled in the country and is getting an organic specialty farm going, living close to her elderly friend, Kitty, who has been more of a mother to Peri than her own mother ever was. Imagine Peri's dismay when she walks into the kitchen of her largest client (a resort) to find a new chef - in the form of her ex-husband, who has somehow gone from businessman on the rise to hot stuff up-and-coming chef. Sparks start flying immediately between the two, and soon they are enmeshed in each other's personal and professional lives - including the filming of a national cooking series. What saves this from being a traditional and cliched romance is Fforde's extraordinary writing style and storytelling ability. The side stories are essential to the main story and you come to really know each of the characters. She infuses a gentle sense of irony and humor into the plot, but not to the point of distraction. It's a shame that you can't get all of her books in the US, but if you find anything by her - buy it!
Rating:
Summary: I'm Really Warming Up To Her
Review: It has taken me a couple of novels to really warm to this author. The first of hers I read she reversed the Pride & Prejudice characters, making Darcy the woman and present day. I had to go recover from this novel with my Colin Firth videotape of the series! However, now that I am used to Fforde's style, I like her. First and foremost, she creates a village of present day English characters and brings you into their world. There is a romance at the center, involving Peridita, a speciality produce farmer, and Lucas, an upscale restaurant chef. They were once married to one another and come together again roughly a decade later. Perdita also has another big relationship, with a woman in her late 80's who lives next door to her. They have been like mother and daughter since Perdita was a girl. Kitty, the older woman, begins to fail and it looks like the end might be near for her. I felt as if I were a part of this village by the end of the book and, really, what more can you ask of fiction?
Rating:
Summary: I'm Really Warming Up To Her
Review: It has taken me a couple of novels to really warm to this author. The first of hers I read she reversed the Pride & Prejudice characters, making Darcy the woman and present day. I had to go recover from this novel with my Colin Firth videotape of the series! However, now that I am used to Fforde's style, I like her. First and foremost, she creates a village of present day English characters and brings you into their world. There is a romance at the center, involving Peridita, a speciality produce farmer, and Lucas, an upscale restaurant chef. They were once married to one another and come together again roughly a decade later. Perdita also has another big relationship, with a woman in her late 80's who lives next door to her. They have been like mother and daughter since Perdita was a girl. Kitty, the older woman, begins to fail and it looks like the end might be near for her. I felt as if I were a part of this village by the end of the book and, really, what more can you ask of fiction?
Rating:
Summary: ....A Pleasant Read
Review: It was alright. It was good to see a female character that could have a life other than the guy. It was nice that he was on the periphery of her world for a good hunk of the book.
Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable read with likeable characters
Review: OK, this isn't going to win the Booker Prize, but I found this book charming and absorbing. It's basically a romance but the main female character (Perdita) is likeable and not sitting around waiting for Prince Charming. I don't normally like romances but this book has much more substance and quality than the average romance.
Heroine Perdita has a life of her own already and is not looking for a man. She has a small organic gardening business and loves what she does even if she's not going to get rich doing it. Perdita's ex-husband Lucas walks back into her life. Perdita and Lucas had been married a number of years ago when Perdita was still in her teens; he left her for another woman and broke her heart. He's the new gourmet chef at a restaurant that she supplies -- she delivers vegetables there everyday. There is the predictable sexual tension between the two (she's attracted sexually but still mad at him), but it's all done so well you don't really care if it's predictable. Being set in an English village added to the charm, as does Perdita's loving relationship with the delightful 80-something "Aunt" Kitty, who has more or less raised her.
This is the first book I've read by this author -- I'm looking forward to reading more and hope they're as good.
Rating:
Summary: Rather sweet, light reading
Review: Perdita Dylan, the heroine of this book is making it on her own. She has a small business growing organic herbs and vegetables for local businesses. She doesn't make a lot, but then she doesn't want a lot either. She is happy in her small life, dealing with her few large clients and sharing things with Kitty, her 87-year-old neighbour who is also her good friend and pseudo parent.Goodness knows Perdita needs parents - her own sound like selfish flakes whenever they come into the story. Unfortunately someone else comes into the story whom Perdita would rather not. That is her ex-husband Lucas, who not only moves to the area, but is in fact now chef at the local restaurant who is one of her biggest clients. Perdita's struggles with her past and her odd hopeless attempts to fool Lucas or mislead him make sweet rather than gut-wrenchingly funny reading - but the story really does suit that sort of humour. It is almost a thoughtful light novel at time - dealing with issues of betrayal, birth and death with an equally careful but not over-done hand. I must admit I usually prefer a more outrageously funny read like Janet Evanovich or Elizabeth Peters, but I did enjoy this book. Fforde's writing style is almost 'blink and you'll miss it'. She doesn't often advertise jokes to her readers so a second reading would probably throw a lot more wit to light. I really enjoyed Fforde's wonderfully written Christmas for Perdita with her friend Lucy in the frozen manor in the Welsh marches. Truly funny. I would definitely read more of Fforde's if it came around but I have to admit it there would be other books I would put on much higher priority to read.
Rating:
Summary: A treat from Fforde!
Review: Perdita, the heroine, has a name which is Latin for "little lost one" and it fits her in many ways. She married and divorced very very young -- 18 years old! -- and hasn't dated since. She is now 29, and has a rather successful business supplying chefs with vegetables. Her best friend is an elderly neighbor named Kitty, whom she has known for 20 years -- Kitty was her own mother's godmother and cared for Perdita as a youngster (her parents are in the foreign service.) Though not blood-related, Kitty has been a fount of strength and support for Perdita as she got over her first husband, an ambitious stockbroker named Lucas. So imagine her surprise when she discovers Lucas is now a chef and taken over the restaurant of one of her main customers! She hasn't seen him in 10 years, and now he's back, and determined to stage a cooking show in Perdita's kitchen -- so there is an "at-home" quality viewers to which can relate! This would have been a silly fluff novel if it weren't for the character of Kitty, who is a wonderful elderly person. Her relationship with Perdita, especially when she gets ill, illustrates a lot about Perdita's growing up and being more mature about examining her relationships and moving on with her life, whether or not Lucas is in town.
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