Stately Pursuits

Rating:
Summary: Funny and endearing
Review: This is a pleasant, well written enough novel. It is also "Exhibit A" on how an Englishwoman writes a romance differently from an American woman. For one, it is so much quieter and drier than an American romance. It is set in a village of English eccentrics (is there any other kind?), which is intent on preserving local businesses. The heroine decides to help the village save the historical house she has been assigned to house-sit. While she and the villagers are busy making it ready for tourist house tours, enter the hero and heir to the house. He is Connor Barrabin, nicknamed Conan the Barbarian because he would like to sell the house to an amusement park. You'll have an enjoyable enough time with this novel but you will hardly be riveted to every page. I'm unsure if I want to read anymore of this author's work. I think I may personally require more gripping material. If you like light, dry English comedies, however, this may be just your...er...cup of tea.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, Light Read
Review: This is a pleasant, well written enough novel. It is also "Exhibit A" on how an Englishwoman writes a romance differently from an American woman. For one, it is so much quieter and drier than an American romance. It is set in a village of English eccentrics (is there any other kind?), which is intent on preserving local businesses. The heroine decides to help the village save the historical house she has been assigned to house-sit. While she and the villagers are busy making it ready for tourist house tours, enter the hero and heir to the house. He is Connor Barrabin, nicknamed Conan the Barbarian because he would like to sell the house to an amusement park. You'll have an enjoyable enough time with this novel but you will hardly be riveted to every page. I'm unsure if I want to read anymore of this author's work. I think I may personally require more gripping material. If you like light, dry English comedies, however, this may be just your...er...cup of tea.

Rating:
Summary: First Contact
Review: This Was the first book I had ever read from Fforde. I was working in a bookstore at the time and glanced at the cover while dusting the shelves. Since then Katie Fforde has become one of my favorite authors of this genre. Hettie is timid and sweet, Conner definately lives up to his nickname "Conan the Barbarian". While you know immediately the outcome for these two from practically the moment you open the book. You'll enjoy their path getting there in a beat up (but beautiful) old car.

Rating:
Summary: A Mild Diversion
Review: Whilst well-written, I found this to be somewhat too lightweight and lacking depth in its plot. I did like the characters and how they developed but felt that the story itself plodded along and that the romance between the main characters was perhaps a little too chaste for this day and age.

Rating:
Summary: A Mild Diversion
Review: Whilst well-written, I found this to be somewhat too lightweight and lacking depth in its plot. I did like the characters and how they developed but felt that the story itself plodded along and that the romance between the main characters was perhaps a little too chaste for this day and age.