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Katie Fforde

Author of Thyme Out

53+ Works 7,940 Members 192 Reviews 23 Favorited

About the Author

Catherine Rose Gordon-Cumming was born on 27 September 1952 in Wimbledon, London. She is founder of the Katie Fforde Bursary for writers who have yet to secure a publishing contract. She was for many years a committee member of the Romantic Novelists' Association and was elected its twenty-fifth show more chairman (2009-2011) and later its fourth president. In June 2010 she was announced as a patron of the UK's first National Short Story Week. Many of Fforde's own experiences end up in her books. Her novel Going Dutch was a Sunday Times top ten bestseller in June 2007. Her titles include Stately Pursuits, Going Dutch, The Undercover Cook, The Perfect Match and A Summer at Sea. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: http://www.lovereading.co.uk/author/264

Works by Katie Fforde

Thyme Out (1999) 489 copies
Stately Pursuits (1997) 473 copies
Highland Fling (2002) 461 copies
Practically Perfect (2006) 436 copies
Restoring Grace (2004) 435 copies
Wild Designs (1996) 412 copies
Life Skills (1999) 409 copies
Wedding Season (2008) 408 copies
Love Letters (2009) 400 copies
Flora's Lot (2005) 395 copies
Paradise Fields (2003) 375 copies
Artistic Licence (2001) 357 copies
Living Dangerously (1995) 354 copies
The Rose Revived (1995) 329 copies
Going Dutch (2007) 301 copies
A Perfect Proposal (2010) 294 copies
Summer of Love (2011) 194 copies
Recipe for Love (2012) 167 copies
A French Affair (2013) 155 copies
A Vintage Wedding (2015) 143 copies
A Summer at Sea (2016) 131 copies
The Perfect Match (2014) 112 copies
A Secret Garden (2017) 112 copies
A Country Escape (2018) 109 copies
A Rose Petal Summer (2019) 77 copies
A Springtime Affair (2020) 70 copies
A Wedding in the Country (2021) 53 copies
A Wedding in Provence (2022) 40 copies
Loves Me, Loves Me Not (2009) — Editor — 36 copies
Saving the Day (2021) 16 copies
One Enchanted Evening (2023) 15 copies
A Christmas in Disguise (2015) 6 copies
Life Skills | Thyme Out (2006) 3 copies
A szerelem titkos kertje (2017) 2 copies
Een betoverende avond (2024) 1 copy
Tökéletes ajánlat (2019) 1 copy
Tökéletes esküvő (2016) 1 copy
Hív Amszterdam (2008) 1 copy
Kevättä mielessä (2023) 1 copy

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Reviews

Island in the Sun is a sweet and generally rather gentle story of Cass, a young woman charged by her father with travelling to Dominica to try and locate and photograph a petroglyph using a very old and hard to read map. In some ways it seems like rather an odd assignment for Cass but she has her father's friend, Ranulph, accompanying her and taking care of her. She finds herself very attracted to Ranulph but isn't sure if he feels the same.

It's clear that Katie Fforde loves the island of Dominica and she describes the hurricane-hit island very well. I must admit that I would have preferred more of the remote Scottish island where Cass's father lives but that's just because I have a thing about remote Scottish islands. Cass has a bit of a time of it on Dominica as a horrid man called Austin is also looking for the petroglyph and is determined to make her life difficult.

I found Island in the Sun to be an easy and unchallenging read and I enjoyed following Cass's journeys to Scotland and Dominica. I feel it lacked the charm of some of Fforde's other books, for instance I absolutely adored her last book, One Enchanted Evening, but I still felt like I wanted to see what happened, whether Cass would find the petroglyph, whether her feelings for Ranulph would be reciprocated and if she would get her life together, stop drifting, and stand up for herself against some of her rather overbearing family members and do what she wanted to do. As I say, sweet and gentle, with some rugged and enticing landscapes, a dastardly villain, romance, and an arty feel to the storyline.
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nicx27 | 1 other review | Feb 21, 2024 |
A cliché book with a cliché story and stereotypical characters. You'll be able to predict every plottwist from miles away. I guess this is your average chicklit.
 
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jd7h | 15 other reviews | Feb 18, 2024 |
This isn't my number one genre, but I do like to pepper my reading list with the occasional romance for all its clicheness, predictability, inevitable happy-ever-after ending and if I'm honest, the cheesiness of it all!

This ticks all those boxes, it's true. We have the girl (Cass), we have the (older) man (Ranulph), a lovely sunny (bit prone to hurricanes) island (Dominica), there's the ex, and then there are the misunderstandings. All the right ingredients and although the dish comes out cooked, it's all a bit bland, lacking in spice.

Cass is annoying to the point you want to slap her and tell her to grow up and get over herself. The rest of the characters are all a bit like cardboard cut-outs with no substance or emotion. The Dominican setting is authentic (which the author explains at the end) and almost makes you want to put the island on your must-see list, so job well done there.

But I did enjoy the author's writing, and I was invested enough to see it through to the end. It's an above-average-edited book, which is refreshing, although the author or the editor got in a bit of pickle with step-siblings and half-siblings…probably best to clarify themselves on that one.

Not a 'wow, amazing' book, but a decent enough read.
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Librogirl | 1 other review | Jan 24, 2024 |
*2.5 stars*

Quintessential Kate FForde.

A Country Escape was a good beach read. The set up was a typical setting with the heroine taking on a new lease in life by tackling farming and she meets someone in the process. However, I didn't really get the farming aspect and I doubt Kate herself did too. LOL.

All in all, I didn't read this to get farming know how so lack of details didn't really bother me, but I will admit that some of the things that happened made me suspend my belief a little bit too much.

Thanks to The Publishers and NetGalley for the ARC
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DramPan | 3 other reviews | Sep 6, 2023 |

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Statistics

Works
53
Also by
6
Members
7,940
Popularity
#3,053
Rating
½ 3.6
Reviews
192
ISBNs
606
Languages
10
Favorited
23

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