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2.91 AVERAGE
2.91 AVERAGE
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Just awful. Quite disturbing in parts- comes across as a strange fantasy of a middle aged woman. Just all very odd… and very badly written. Just be warned, this contains a lot of sex including sexual assault. A good example of fame getting you a book deal.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Rape
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Started and finished date - 10.02.25 to 12.03.25.
My rating - Three Stars.
This book was okay and the cover of book was okay. I still think the atmosphere was well written and the paced of plot was well structured. The ending of book was okay and I liked the characters but I would have like them to be flash out.
My rating - Three Stars.
This book was okay and the cover of book was okay. I still think the atmosphere was well written and the paced of plot was well structured. The ending of book was okay and I liked the characters but I would have like them to be flash out.
I was very disappointed with this book to be honest and I’m not ok with the plot. Despite it being funny in parts, as I expected from Dawn French, I just couldn't get behind the plot. Former school teacher Rosie is an English West-Country girl who arrives in New York to start a new job as a nanny for a well to-do family. The family’s grandmother is a cold, controlling woman who rules her family with a rod of iron and is a complete contrast to bubbly, jovial Rosie with her wild hair and bright clothes. Complicated family relations are the theme of this story and Rosie is written as an inspirational character who changes all the families lives. However as much fun as Rosie was I just couldn't support her actions in the book, barrelling through life doing whatever she feels like and showing no remorse for the carnage that ensues. I also didn't understand why everyone seemed so ok with it either, particularly the boys mother! (if you know, you know). It made me laugh in places but overall I felt let down and even actually angry about it.
Living life for a single grieving primary teaching British woman, Rosie, 'According to Yes' seems to entail moving into a house - sorry, apartment - with a dysfunctional New York family ruled by an insecure and horrible matriarch and proceeding to have sex with son, gay father and grandfather. What?!
And what was the Nicole Kidman cameo about?
Thankfully, there was Iva and the twins or this would have been a total waste of time.
What a disappointment.
And what was the Nicole Kidman cameo about?
Thankfully, there was Iva and the twins or this would have been a total waste of time.
What a disappointment.
Some elements of story were a bit problematic and writing fell well below the standard I have seen in other Dawn French work (e.g. Because of You).
Good for the commute!
Good for the commute!
A glorious, surprising read with characters you will love. Curl up with this one and you won't put it down. Warm and fuzzy to the end.
I liked this book, but I didn't want to like it. I love Dawn French and I think she's a hilarious comedian so I was looking forward to reading one of her books. I love the main characters and feel like they've been written so well that I felt like I really knew them. Rosie has such a lovable demeanour as a nanny who lets boys be boys! I took a lot of mental notes on fun activities she did with the children that I hope to replicate with my own children one day. This, added to fact she's a representation on the plus size community, and shows we're fun and sexy was all great.
The reason I didn't want to like this book is the fact that such a bunch of lovable characters were very quickly sullied in my opinion. Rosie essentially ending up as being the cliche nanny who does it with the husband. I felt an automatic dislike of her actions once she started to continuously fall into bed with every tom dick and harry from there on, as well as a dislike for the husband/ men involved too obviously. None of them were because of her genuinely falling in love with any of them, and even if it was casual, they all had something about their situation that just didn't sit well with me, be it they were married, virgins or closet gays trying to "cure" themselves. But each to their own I guess, I'm aware this is sadly just the way of the world, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.
All of that aside, I resonated with Rosie on a level when she found out she was pregnant after years of believing she wasn't able to conceive. Which made me hate to love her even more... annoyingly lol.
Don't get me started on the fact we never actually find out who the real father is of the baby! At least a clue?! No?!
The reason I didn't want to like this book is the fact that such a bunch of lovable characters were very quickly sullied in my opinion. Rosie essentially ending up as being the cliche nanny who does it with the husband. I felt an automatic dislike of her actions once she started to continuously fall into bed with every tom dick and harry from there on, as well as a dislike for the husband/ men involved too obviously. None of them were because of her genuinely falling in love with any of them, and even if it was casual, they all had something about their situation that just didn't sit well with me, be it they were married, virgins or closet gays trying to "cure" themselves. But each to their own I guess, I'm aware this is sadly just the way of the world, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.
All of that aside, I resonated with Rosie on a level when she found out she was pregnant after years of believing she wasn't able to conceive. Which made me hate to love her even more... annoyingly lol.
Don't get me started on the fact we never actually find out who the real father is of the baby! At least a clue?! No?!
Someone bought me this book for my birthday, and I was instantly dubious, as I do not generally enjoy 'chick-lit' or humorous chick-lit books. I do love Dawn French though, so I thought why not give it a go, it should at least be funny. Sadly, it's not. It didn't make me laugh once. It did raise a few smiles, but mostly they were smiles of embarrassment. The plot involves an eccentric, and in my view, somewhat cliched British nanny who goes to work for a posh and snooty family in New York. Glenn Wilder-Bingham is the matriarch of the family, and her 'men' include her husband Thomas, her disappointing son Kemble, and his three sons, 18 year old Teddy and 8 year old twins Red and Three. It starts somewhat predictably; Rosie Kitto arrives in a whirlwind of colour and bad language and soon has the twins, and the men of the house wrapped around her finger. I didn't like the dialogue used, particularly for Rosie. It felt fake and stereotyped, like an American had written it thinking that's how Brits speak. But Dawn French is British...weird. Anyway, the story progresses in quite ridiculous fashion, with Rosie inexplicably sleeping with 83 year old Thomas, who quite predictably needs some excitement in his life. After all he is married to boring, stern, funless Glenn. I think the reader is supposed to like and identify with Rosie, and feel like Glenn gets what she deserves, but what happens is the opposite. I found myself thinking, who the hell does this Kitto woman think she is? Things get even weirder when she sleeps with Teddy, the 18 year old. I'm sorry, just wrong! And yes, you've guessed it already, she next sleeps with Kemble, which is even more horrible as it happens just after he makes a clumsy attempt at raping her, and then reveals he isn't even into women. Hmmm. I was at this point still trying to work out why I am supposed to be on Kitto's side? Or anyone's? Things get even more stupid towards the end. Rosie falls pregnant, and everyone forgives her everything. Yes, even Glenn. It seems what this uptight New York family really needed in their lives was a colourful Brit for everyone to sleep with! Instead of blowing the family apart, the baby brings them all together. I put the book down but what I really wanted to do was throw it across the room.
Entertaining, easy-going story about a Cornish nanny who disrupts and mends the lives of a wealthy Manhattan family.
Read this book for Book club, and as such it's not a book I would typically chose. The title was strange, but once I read the book it made sense. It was surprisingly interesting and scandalous, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The characters are a tad exaggerated, but engaging. Not bad, not bad.