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lraven13's review
3.0
Shy girl meets wild boy, shy girl wins wild boy with no effort. Shy girl is confronted by random chick, scampers away in the night and wallows in misery though wild boy has never indicated he's into random chick. Finish formulaic romance here.
purplelorikeet's review against another edition
3.0
I'm currently slogging through another of Katie Fforde's books but having read a few reviews found it was one of the least favorites of hers. So I tried this book and the results are improved.
Laura is twenty-six years old and soon to be made redundant from her bookstore job since the shop is closing. At a book event being held there, she chats with Eleanora and is quite honest with her opnions, feeling she has nothing to lose at this point. Her new acquaintance turns out to be an agent and thinks Laura is perfect to help out with a literary festival being planned. In the course of finding out more, it comes out Laura is a huge fan of Dermott Flynn and is roped into going to Ireland to attempt to bring him out of seclusion to star at the festival.
Laura makes lots of new friends, meets her hero, finds herself doing things she never thought possible, falls in love, etc. It's a fairly typical sort of contemporary romance and much of it takes place in Ireland. I found it was enjoyable for the first half or so. Somewhere in the second half, a supposed misunderstanding derails things and this put me off a lot of that part of the book. Because the character just made assumptions and ran away from the situation instead of trying to clarify things. And the way it plays out, it seems the Dermot is made out to be in the wrong when most of the issue really falls on Laura. Not to say he is not to blame for some issues but the main mistakes were made by Laura. And worse, she's a well-read protagonist, including contemporary romance. She should have known better. :)
This was a pretty good read but could have been so much better. I'd give it a solid three stars.
Laura is twenty-six years old and soon to be made redundant from her bookstore job since the shop is closing. At a book event being held there, she chats with Eleanora and is quite honest with her opnions, feeling she has nothing to lose at this point. Her new acquaintance turns out to be an agent and thinks Laura is perfect to help out with a literary festival being planned. In the course of finding out more, it comes out Laura is a huge fan of Dermott Flynn and is roped into going to Ireland to attempt to bring him out of seclusion to star at the festival.
Laura makes lots of new friends, meets her hero, finds herself doing things she never thought possible, falls in love, etc. It's a fairly typical sort of contemporary romance and much of it takes place in Ireland. I found it was enjoyable for the first half or so. Somewhere in the second half, a supposed misunderstanding derails things and this put me off a lot of that part of the book. Because the character just made assumptions and ran away from the situation instead of trying to clarify things. And the way it plays out, it seems the Dermot is made out to be in the wrong when most of the issue really falls on Laura. Not to say he is not to blame for some issues but the main mistakes were made by Laura. And worse, she's a well-read protagonist, including contemporary romance. She should have known better. :)
This was a pretty good read but could have been so much better. I'd give it a solid three stars.
the_naptime_reader's review
3.0
I don't remember who recommended this to me, it's been on my to read shelf for 7 years, eek, finally picked it up at the library. A cute story, I devoured it, stayed up later than I should reading last night, but found ironic that the main character works at editing books, and I felt like that was what this book needed, just a bit of trimming, as things got dragged out, but otherwise a cute and sweet story.
pinkalpaca's review
1.0
I don't read romance generally and I realize I'm giving up right after our heroine sees her beloved in the flesh for the first time, but honestly, Laura is irritating and getting more so by the page. She's exasperating actually and I can't stand any more drinking or her inner dialogue.
tigerlea's review
lighthearted
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
This book, I assume, is meant to be a light hearted romantic read. Instead I found the love interest lead to the unhealthiest relationship I've read in a novel. The protagonist is basically a stalker. There is no relationship growth between the two romantic interests, and instead it is just there one day, with not reason as to why other than the obsession of the main character. Although the ending of the novel is sweet, I literally had to force myself to finish the read because I detest leaving books unfinished, and hoping with every page turn that it would get better.
The concept was great, the execution flawed, I hate to say. Will be donating this one off to the charity shops.
The concept was great, the execution flawed, I hate to say. Will be donating this one off to the charity shops.
bananatricky's review against another edition
4.0
Three and a half stars.
I'm having a bit of a Katie Fforde binge instead of reading my NetGalley arcs, aided and abetted by Amazon who keep offering them at 99p or £1.99.
I liked this story of the shy librarian Laura Horsley who ends up organising a literary festival at the local stately home and persuades Ireland's greatest living author, heart-throb and notorious recluse Dermot Flynn to turn up.
However, it wasn't without its faults. I don't understand why Dermot suggested that Laura sleep with him to get him to attend the festival, nor do I understand why he was prepared to have sex with her, drunk as she was, until she passed out. I found both of those things distasteful. In fact, I found Dermot's behaviour to be inexplicable generally and I think the novel would have benefited from the reader having better insight into Dermot's motivations - you know where everyone can see the reasons for his actions except Laura. As it was, by the end of the book I felt I still had questions over Dermot's behaviour.
Nevertheless, this has all of Katie Fforde's trademark English charm, country houses, glorious countryside, engaging characters and a fun plot.
I'm having a bit of a Katie Fforde binge instead of reading my NetGalley arcs, aided and abetted by Amazon who keep offering them at 99p or £1.99.
I liked this story of the shy librarian Laura Horsley who ends up organising a literary festival at the local stately home and persuades Ireland's greatest living author, heart-throb and notorious recluse Dermot Flynn to turn up.
However, it wasn't without its faults. I don't understand why Dermot suggested that Laura sleep with him to get him to attend the festival, nor do I understand why he was prepared to have sex with her, drunk as she was, until she passed out. I found both of those things distasteful. In fact, I found Dermot's behaviour to be inexplicable generally and I think the novel would have benefited from the reader having better insight into Dermot's motivations - you know where everyone can see the reasons for his actions except Laura. As it was, by the end of the book I felt I still had questions over Dermot's behaviour.
Nevertheless, this has all of Katie Fforde's trademark English charm, country houses, glorious countryside, engaging characters and a fun plot.
marijnboomars's review
Started reading this, because I didn't have anything else to read, but when I could I decided that it was worth my time more to read something that I really wanted to.
e_curran's review
2.0
I can't quite place why, but I didn't enjoy this book as much as others by Fforde that I've read. Maybe it was a little too rote? I knew what was going to happen, and it did happen, in a fairly bland fashion.