Helpful Score: 5
This is an international bestseller, chick-lit, by the author of "Simply Divine" and "BAd Hair Day". It's the humorous tale of two couples who, separately, leave London for life in the "countryside" - one an unmarried struggling journalist and his girlfriend, a book illustrator, who must buy a delapidated bargain, and the other, a shrewish former actress and her rich but hapless husband who buy the 2nd biggest manor in town. The largest is of course occupied by one of the hilariously intriguing characters that populate the town - a reclusive rock star. Throw in a local theatre group, a gruff farmer, a joke-cracking bartender, a nosy postman, a hippie couple with a tribe of unruly children, and a sweet elderly neighbor who has matchmaking ideas of her own - well, you get the picture. It's light reading, but well done, and you WILL smile at the images invoked.
Farm Fatale is a breezy Cinderella of a novel, tarted up in wellies and corduroy rather than the more traditional ball gown. Its theme--Londoners move to the country--is a well worn one in British comic writing, and Farm Fatale hews closely to tradition. Rosie is a disgruntled illustrator, bored with city living and dissatisfied with her relationship. She convinces her crabby boyfriend Mark to move with her to the country. Samantha and Guy--a trophy wife and the man who bagged her--end up in the same town, dragging their pretensions along with them. Village life looks easy enough, but the four newcomers find plenty of pitfalls among the cows, the mud, the marauding hippies, and the leaky outbuildings. This is the kind of novel that ends with someone slipping a "pale blue Tiffany ring box" into the heroine's hand; the fun is in finding out just who that suitor will be.
Wendy H. (donkeycheese) -
Helpful Score: 2
Rosie is an illustrator and Mark is a journalist living in the big city, but they both have grander dreams. Rosie wants to move into the country and Mark wants to become a freelance columnist.
With a quirk of fate, Mark is bestowed a column about cityfolk living in the country and so begins the search for a cozy cottage in the country. After much searching, they finally find a cute cottage affordable within their means in a small village and things seem to be working out nicely.
Then the neighbors come home with all of their children and it's just not as quiet as it once was. Rosie gets a job to illustrate a book and she needs farm animals to draw, so she begins visiting a neighboring farm, and Mark struggles with his column. Rosie keeps advising him to use some of the local color, but Mark tells Rosie she doesn't know what she is talking about.
It gets tense between the two and the local farmer's advances to Rosie are getting harder and harder to avoid. Meanwhile, social climber, actress wannabe Samantha and her husband move into the village, buying one of the oldest and finest homes in the area, and throw a party. Mark is determined to get invited, and perhaps get a deal as a screenwriter.
The characters are quirky, funny, and the plot highly entertaining. The gossiping mailman was my favorite! Great for a summer read! Chick-lit lovers will love Farm Fatale!
With a quirk of fate, Mark is bestowed a column about cityfolk living in the country and so begins the search for a cozy cottage in the country. After much searching, they finally find a cute cottage affordable within their means in a small village and things seem to be working out nicely.
Then the neighbors come home with all of their children and it's just not as quiet as it once was. Rosie gets a job to illustrate a book and she needs farm animals to draw, so she begins visiting a neighboring farm, and Mark struggles with his column. Rosie keeps advising him to use some of the local color, but Mark tells Rosie she doesn't know what she is talking about.
It gets tense between the two and the local farmer's advances to Rosie are getting harder and harder to avoid. Meanwhile, social climber, actress wannabe Samantha and her husband move into the village, buying one of the oldest and finest homes in the area, and throw a party. Mark is determined to get invited, and perhaps get a deal as a screenwriter.
The characters are quirky, funny, and the plot highly entertaining. The gossiping mailman was my favorite! Great for a summer read! Chick-lit lovers will love Farm Fatale!
Helpful Score: 2
Awesome story, once it got started I couldn't stop reading it. I loved the characters and some of them were so over the top it made me laugh out loud. Great ending.
Helpful Score: 2
funny and entertaining- typical Wendy Holden. The ending is a bit of a stretch- but again typical. Most of the characters in this book however, are NOT likable- which can be off-putting.
Helpful Score: 1
Funny and clever. Urbanites move to the English countryside and find it's not quite what they expected.
Very funny!
Two couples move to a small town. Very funny!
If you like "Monarch of the Glen" (BBC) you'll love this and "Bad Heir Day". Funny, sweet Brit-Lit.
A tale about what happens when two city couples go country.
Funny story about two city couples who find themselves living in the country.
Excellent! This was enormously fun to read.
A hillarious book that I just couldn't set down. Very believable characters. Great setting. Cute story! Two thumbs up!
Really funny, several out and out guffaws while reading. Loved the town and locals in the book. A good fun read.
Tonya M. (heyteacher-tpm) reviewed Farm Fatale: A Comedy of Country Manors on + 35 more book reviews
A pretty funny book - a good quick weekend read when you've got nothing else to do. A bright young London couple goes off to the country and find themselves shocked by the conditions, the lifestyle and of course the people they meet. Definitely a classic fish-out-of-water tale, the main characters of Rosie and Mark don't handle change well and struggle to keep the relationship going in their "charming cottage." Enter a gruff and studly local farmer, reclusive pop star, former actress with delusions of grandeur and the requisite cast of local loons (like a postman who can't control his love of gossip) and it's a fun, light-hearted read. Fans of the lighter British humor should enjoy it.
A laugh out loud book about city girls moving to the English countryside. Coy, sassy, satirical....very funny.
Wendy H. (donkeycheese) -
Rosie is an illustrator and Mark is a journalist living in the big city, but they both have grander dreams. Rosie wants to move into the country and Mark wants to become a freelance columnist.
With a quirk of fate, Mark is bestowed a column about cityfolk living in the country and so begins the search for a cozy cottage in the country. After much searching, they finally find a cute cottage affordable within their means in a small village and things seem to be working out nicely.
Then the neighbors come home with all of their children and it's just not as quiet as it once was. Rosie gets a job to illustrate a book and she needs farm animals to draw, so she begins visiting a neighboring farm, and Mark struggles with his column. Rosie keeps advising him to use some of the local color, but Mark tells Rosie she doesn't know what she is talking about.
It gets tense between the two and the local farmer's advances to Rosie are getting harder and harder to avoid. Meanwhile, social climber, actress wannabe Samantha and her husband move into the village, buying one of the oldest and finest homes in the area, and throw a party. Mark is determined to get invited, and perhaps get a deal as a screenwriter.
The characters are quirky, funny, and the plot highly entertaining. The gossiping mailman was my favorite! Great for a summer read! Chick-lit lovers will love Farm Fatale!
With a quirk of fate, Mark is bestowed a column about cityfolk living in the country and so begins the search for a cozy cottage in the country. After much searching, they finally find a cute cottage affordable within their means in a small village and things seem to be working out nicely.
Then the neighbors come home with all of their children and it's just not as quiet as it once was. Rosie gets a job to illustrate a book and she needs farm animals to draw, so she begins visiting a neighboring farm, and Mark struggles with his column. Rosie keeps advising him to use some of the local color, but Mark tells Rosie she doesn't know what she is talking about.
It gets tense between the two and the local farmer's advances to Rosie are getting harder and harder to avoid. Meanwhile, social climber, actress wannabe Samantha and her husband move into the village, buying one of the oldest and finest homes in the area, and throw a party. Mark is determined to get invited, and perhaps get a deal as a screenwriter.
The characters are quirky, funny, and the plot highly entertaining. The gossiping mailman was my favorite! Great for a summer read! Chick-lit lovers will love Farm Fatale!
Lynda C. (Readnmachine) reviewed Farm Fatale: A Comedy of Country Manors on + 1474 more book reviews
This one just didn't do it for me.
Two London couples pick the same small village as their get-away-from-it-all destination. Largely unlikeable or clueless characters and an author who is inordinately pleased with her "inside" jokes drag everything down.
Two London couples pick the same small village as their get-away-from-it-all destination. Largely unlikeable or clueless characters and an author who is inordinately pleased with her "inside" jokes drag everything down.
