Stately Pursuits

No one hates these "bodice rippers," whether modern or period, more than I do. But Katie Fforde's Stately Pursuits didn't read like one. It was funny and a terribly fast read. The English country village sports the usual pack of eccentrics, but they were people you wish you knew.

I couldn't put it down. I don't say that about many books, but, in this case, I just had to see how the novel would resolve itself. With stories like these, as Roger Ebert observed about a similar movie, you know where the stories going but, if it's done well, you enjoy the ride anyway. Here's one case where you'll enjoy the ride.

Katie Fforde's heroines are charming - sometimes not the brightest, most sophisticated people alive - but they are thoroughly Nice and that's why we love them. Hetty has, in stock romantic heroine tradition, been dumped, and is looking for a quiet place to recover, so she house-sits the decrepit yet stately house of a distant relative. Enter Conan the Barbarian, the heir to the estate, who would like to see it torn down and made into a theme park. With that, we have the promised romantic novel set up and we're off to a good time. There's chemistry, there's laugh aloud moments, the bounder ex gets his due, and there's more chemistry. The reader is left smiling - no wiser or better informed, but greatly entertained.

*sigh* Another book where the heroine is pretty, talented and falls on her feet...but what the heck, I still loved it. This was a good mix of escapism and romance, with a bit of comedy thrown in. Working in heritage, the location was great, and I totally got the love, sweat and tears that the characters poured into the property. A good, quick holiday/ escapist read!

Katie Fforde keeps me interested in her characters and settings. She helps the reader to feel a part of the world she writes about. This book was a little more serious than the others I've read, but there were still plenty of wit and humour to keep me smiling. As usual, I had to look up several British words or phrases (some I never found and still have no idea what they are) to understand the description or noun. Very interesting to understand everyday words or phrases that are so different from American versions.

I absolutely loved all the house and furniture descriptions (who doesn't like antiques and historical estates?).

Hetty house-sits in a stately home. She quickly gets caught up in village life. A good plot although the characters were a bit flat: too much conversational banter and recorded thoughts, making some of Hetty's reactions a bit unlikely. Pleasant reading overall.

This book was a book market finding. I was in London and only took 1 book with me (Christmas Carroll,by Dickens) and my tablet decided it would not charge with the charger I had with me, so if I wanted to read something else I had to buy it.
One day I was going to meet with some friends for a food festival, and it was on the South bank of London, and I remembered about the book market under Waterloo bridge.
I was checking row after row of books, some looked promising, but nothing seemed to hit that perfect spot, until in the end of the second to last row I got to a set of books by Katie Fforde. I bought this one, but it was a bit of a random choice between her books.
And unlike the Christmas Carroll, where I couldn't read more than a show more couple of paragraphs, I had a hard time putting this book down. I read it on the bus, I skipped a trip to Tate Modern to stay in a park reading, stayed in bed a couple of mornings just so I would know the next bit of the story.

But lets face the facts, it's not the most original story. The blurb on the back makes it sound like there's a plot to commit murder, but that's not really true. It's just a story about a girl that gets asked to take care of a house that is falling apart, she starts to (re)build it up, and the heir finally comes out of the desert and he has a different view on the future of the house.
I will not spoil it, but if you can't figure out what happens next, maybe this book isn't for you.
For most of the book Hettie is the type of character that things just happen to, sure she reacts and tries to turn things over, but most of the time she is set into motion by events external to her (and she is pretty lucky with some of them). But the string of events is captivating. I just had to keep reading to check if Hettie would make it to the next milestone, and some of the milestone events are set pretty early in the story. First she has to get the house ready to open to the public, then she gets asked to host an anniversary party, and there is a loan payment hanging over her head... show less

Fluffy fun with engaging characters.