Review: Rumor Has It by Jill Mansell

Paperback; 416 pages

Language: English

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark

May 1st 2010
ISBN-13-978-1402237508

From the publisher: " Rumor Has It sizzles with internationally bestselling Mansell's signature fresh sense of humor, poignancy, and happy ending with a twist… Newly single Tilly Cole impulsively moves to a small town, only to find she's arrived in a hotbed of gossip, intrigue, and rampant rivalry for the most desirable man—Jack Lucas, whose reputation is beyond bad. Tilly has no intention of becoming another notch on his bedpost. But she finds the thoughtful, caring guy she comes to value as a friend doesn't seem to fit the town's playboy image. Should she listen to her friends or her heart? Is Tilly being mature and sensible—or running away from the love of her life?"

My Thoughts: Such a fun read! Okay, so Tilly is not heartbroken that her boyfriend Gavin has left her but she is in a predicament. It will be hard to pay the rent on their pricey London flat without his half. While on a spur-of-the-moment visit to her best friend Erin in the small town of Roxborough, she answers an ad for a girl-Friday and talks herself into an immediate interview. The man running the ad is Max Dineen, a successful interior decorator, who needs help with his 13 year old spirited daughter Lou and anything else that needs doing. The three of them hit it off right away. She's hired and goes back to London to pack.

Tilly moves to the small town where it seems everyone knows everybody else's business and they are not afraid to let their opinions be known or let truth get in the way of a good story. When Max introduces her to Jack Lucas she is smitten at first glance. It seems Jack is a bit of a lad and has quite the reputation. Or so the gossip goes anyway, but when he takes Tilly out he doesn't make any untoward moves. This makes Tilly wonder if it is just her or is his reputation overblown. Through a lot of attemps on Jack's part to impress Tilly, she just is too afraid to admit that she has fallen for him because she thinks he is commitment challenged. And of course there is that reputation to worry about . . . .but finally Tilly gets the brilliant idea for a way to ferret out the truth. Now if it will only work!

Meanwhile, Tilly's best friend Erin has her own romantic challenges to work out. She got seriously involved with Fergus months after he left his wife Stella. The problem with Stella, besides her acting like a crazy woman, is she finds it hard to believe Fergus would actually leave her. How could he? She is so fantastic! Do you think Stella has an ego problem? Stella makes it her mission to make Erin's life miserable. Stella's cat Bing isn't the only one with claws!

Rumor Has It is just such a delightful book with many more plot threads to enchant fans of romantic comedy. I was immersed in the story right away and I especially liked Mansell's humorous style of writing. Her characters seemed so real to me. I loved all their shenanigans, their insecurities and illusions and their way of coping with life in general. The pace was quick, the dialogue was witty and the action kept me turning the pages almost non-stop.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jill Mansell is an internationally bestselling author, with over 4 million copies sold. She has written 20 women’s fiction novels with multi-generational appeal, Mansell’s cheeky writing style is loved by fans both here and abroad and has been compared to Sex & the City and Bridget Jones’s Diary.
Jill’s books have been consistently shortlisted for the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance. She was recently ranked #60 on The Guardian’s 100 Top Bestselling Authors of the decade. Rumor Has It was ranked at #50 on The Bookseller.com’s Top 100 Bestselling UK Titles of 2009.
Jill currently lives in Bristol, England, with her partner and their children, and writes full time. Actually that’s not true; she watches TV, eats fruit gums, admires the rugby players training in the sports field behind her house, and spends hours on the internet marveling at how many other writers have blogs. Only when she’s completely run out of displacement activities does she write.

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Sourcebooks, Inc.

Review: The Founding by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

The Founding by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Product ISBN: 9781402238154 Sourcebooks

Publication Date: April 2010

Originally published by Sphere 1980

From the publisher:

The first book in the epic bestselling Morland Dynasty series which spans from the Wars of the Roses to Queen Victoria's long reign, where war and famine, peace and plenty, love and loyalty, greed and envy spread the lines of the family throughout the country—into the courts of kings and the salons of the Regency, onto the battlefields of Culloden and the Crimea and beyond.

In The Founding, seeking power and prestige, grim, ambitious Yorkshireman Edward Morland arranges a marriage between his meek son Robert and spirited Eleanor, young ward of the influential Beaufort family. Eleanor is not only appalled at being forced to marry a mere "sheep farmer," but is secretly in love with Richard, Duke of York. Yet, in time, this apparently ill-matched union becomes both passionate and tender, the foundation of the Morland Dynasty, and sustains them through bloody civil war which so often divides families, sets neighbor against neighbor, and brings tragedy close to home.

My thoughts :

Despite being well connected and brought up as a gentlewoman, the orphaned 18 year old Eleanor Courtney had no dowry or expectations. When her guardian, Lord Edmund Beaufort, arranged a marriage for her, Eleanor was not too pleased especially since she harbored a secret passion for Richard Plantagenet, the Duke of York. Beaufort arranged a marriage with Robert Morland, meek and mild son of a sheep farmer. Other than the fact that Robert had been brought up as a gentleman, his father was a stubborn and coarse man. Morland had plenty of money but what he lacked was connection to class. The titled Beaufort had plenty of connections but he needed cash to carry on in the War of the Roses. Ah, a match made in heaven!

I was sucked in immediately to see how the two conflicting personalities of Eleanor and Robert would mesh. When the two were wed and began their life together, tensions ran high as Eleanor was not afraid to defy her father-in-law and make demands; something her husband Robert would never dare to do himself but he admired Eleanor for having the backbone to do so. Robert was very much in love with Eleanor right from the start but it took many years and the birth of many children before Eleanor began to feel any real love for Robert. Business wise, the two were well matched; in other words, Eleanor came up with wise and profitable business decisions and convinced Robert to go along with them. If it weren't for Eleanor, Robert would have been stuck in neutral as far as the sheepfarming business went.

Along with running a successful farm and building a large family dynasty to carry on, the Morlands were always very involved in political goings-on. They were staunch Yorkists and contributed to the cause with both money and men, sometimes to their detriment. I'm not that well up on British history but I liked the way this plot thread was woven into the story. It wasn't just a boring recitation of facts. I thought the characters really came to life although a few battle scenes were enough for me. I was more interested in the family saga side of the book.

Over the course of the book's 52 year time span, Eleanor lived to see the death of many loved ones, wars, prosperity, peace, unrest and backstabbing change in rulers on the throne. Through it all, she was always in charge and presented a stalwart, hard-working front and sometimes with a most dictatorial and stubborn nature. There were times I cheered Eleanor on and at times I was very disappointed in her "my word is law, live with it" decisions; particularly in the case of her daughter Isabelle.

Even though there were many characters, Harrod-Eagles gave them varied personalities that worked well throughout the story. I just wish there weren't so many characters with the same names. Sometimes it was hard to keep them all straight. The majority of them were well fleshed out and I was invested in the book enough to want to see what happened to them all. It was interesting to see through descriptions that took me back centuries to the mid 1400's and gave me a birds eye view of how people lived, worked and thought back then - makes me glad I didn't. Overall, I did enjoy this beautifully written fictionalized account of the Morland family. Would I read the other 33 books in the series? Probably not but I certainly would be inclined to read the next one. 4****

About the author: (from the back cover) Cynthia Harrod-Eagles was born in Shepherd's Bush in London. The birth of the Morland Dynasty series enabled her to become a full-time writer in 1979. The series was originally intended to comprise twelve volumes, but it has proved so popular that it has now been extended to thirty-four. Harrod-Eagles still lives in London and has a husband and three children, and apart from writing her passions are music, horses, wine, architecture, and the English countryside.

Note: Harrod-Eagles is also the author of the Bill Slider police proceduals, a contemporary series I have greatly enjoyed.

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Sourcebooks, Inc. Thank you so much Danielle. The Sourcebooks link will take you to their page on The Founding where you can read an excerpt of the book.

Review: Beautiful People by Wendy Holden

From the publisher:

Wendy Holden's ninth novel blissfully returns to the witty, unputdownable style of her best-loved early bestsellers, featuring the trademark Holden wit that prompted the Daily Mail to say: "Thank God for Wendy Holden." A fabulous romantic romp revolving around the adventures of a struggling actress, a fame-crazed former film star, and a down-to-earth nanny, Beautiful People jets to London, Hollywood, and Italy at a frenzied pace. Holden crafts a tale wicked in its observations yet bouyant at its heart: a masterful return to the swashbuckling verve her adoring fans devour. A confection that's made for summer reading.

My Thoughts: "Unputdownable" is definitely the right word. Once I started this delightful romantic comedy, I couldn't put it down. It's like one giant game of musical chairs with players leaving their own element to succeed in another player's element; Darcy, the dedicated Shakespearian actress who jets to Hollywood to audition for a part in a Star Wars type movie while Belle, the Hollywood bimbo, flies to London to try to repair her slipping image with some real stage experience. Belle just happens to try out for a role in a production of Shakespeare's Timon of Athens and succeeds! How , you ask, well you will just have to read the twist in this plot thread to see! Let's just say it's not your typical Shakespeare production.

The action ramps up in Italy when the movie production begins and other characters holiday in the same town. A lot of situations come to a head while characters search for fame, fortune and love in a tumultuous manner. There are some well deserved come-uppances, some soul-searching questions and answers along with plenty of romance.

Occasionally predictable but this reader didn't mind one bit; I was having too much fun with these characters. Of course, there were some characters who sometimes I just wanted to reach into the pages and slap! When I can easily get a running mental image in my head of all the characters, their surroundings and actions, then I know the author has done a good job.

Holden's wit is rapier sharp and her keen observational sense of the comedic is spot on. I had never read Wendy's books before but now I am a dedicated fan. This story tugged at my heartstrings, tickled my funny bone and just plain delighted me at every turn of the page. 4****

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Sourcebooks, Inc.

Show Me 5 Saturday: Sons of Fortune by Jeffrey Archer

Alipet at That's a novel idea started a new MEME called Show Me Five Saturday. Unfortunately, our host has been missing in action but Jenners puts up a Mr. Linky if you would like to play along. This meme will give each blogger an opportunity to give a brief description of a book they have read or reviewed during the week. It will work like this: Each Saturday you will post the answer to these questions.

1. Title of the book you read: Sons of Fortune by Jeffrey Archer


2. Words that descibe the book: Literary Fiction


3. Characters you met or location:

• Nat Cartwright: Vietnam war hero who goes on to run for governor of CT. At one point in the race, he is accused of murder. Who does he hire to defend himself but Fletcher Davenport even though Fletcher is also Nat's opposing candidate in the gubernatorial race.
• Fletcher Davenport: Born as Peter Cartwright, Nat's twin brother, but switched by the Davenport's private nurse with the dead Davenport new-born only hours after the birth. His life closely paralled his twin brother except that now he is being brought up by wealthy and influential people.
• Ralph Elliott: from school until the end of his life, Ralph Elliot was a thorn in Nat Cartwright's side. Ralph had no qualms about lying, stealing or cheating to get what he most wanted in life. Ralph was one of the few characters in the book that came to life for me. Archer did a good job of fleshing him out.

4. Things you liked/disliked about the story:

• I didn't like the improbabilities in the story: The Doctor figured that the unhealthy Davenport baby should have been the one to die and he wondered why the private nurse was running out of the nursery at such an early hour. When he went in to tell the Davenports that their son had died he never did tell them as the Davenports were so thrilled to finally have a successful birth they promised to build a new hospital wing so the Doctor just shut his mouth. Yeah, that would salve his conscience. No one seemed to notice that Nat and Fletcher looked alike until they were running for governor. Fletcher's parents never wondered why their son had such a rare blood type.
• The characters were what I would term "cream of wheat" characters. So bland at times Nat and Fletcher were almost indistinguishable from each other. None of the characters, with the exception of Ralph, were standouts. They may as well have all been named flat Stanley and be done with it.
• Many inaccuracies in the story: during the gubernatorial race, one of the campaign managers talked about who would be getting which electoral college votes. Huh? They are running for governor, not president. If you are a British author and wish to use American political races, please do your homework and see how it works here. Time line at one point could not have been possible.
• Although I did like the premise of the plot, I just wish it would have been better executed and it could have been done much better without all the extraneous filler pages.
  

5. Stars/Rating: 2 ** This is a generous rating as I could have stopped reading after the first 150 pages but I committed to finish it for the Chunkster, British and Read from my own shelves challenges.

Disclosure: This book is from my personal library.

Review: They Found Him Dead by Georgette Heyer

From the publisher: One heir after another turns up dead…

Silas Kane's sixtieth birthday party is marred by argument and dissension amongst his family, and then the next morning, Kane is found dead. The coroner's verdict of death by misadventure would seem to confirm that Silas accidentally lost his way in the fog. But then his heir is shot, and threats are made against the next in line to inherit his fortune. The redoubtable Superintendent Hannasyde is called in to investigate. All clues point to an apparently innocuous eighty-year-old woman, but as the Inspector delves further into the case, he discovers that nothing is quite as it seems…

My thoughts:

If you like British manor house mysteries, you are in luck with this reprint of Heyer's, They Found Him Dead. It's the classic set up - large extended family gathering where we meet a variety of characters; some nice, some not so nice and one or two that are downright obnoxious! A little bit of back and forth bickering and some spats amongst family sets the tone for the mystery. The large estate set on the cliffs, the 1930's time frame and the pea soup fog certainly create the perfect ambiance. But when young Timothy wildly proclaims it's the perfect night for a murder, he is looked on askance. Who would be murdered? Most importantly, why would someone commit such a heinous crime? What would they gain?

Heyer gives readers enough suspects and motives to keep them guessing all through out the book. Inspector Hannasyde certainly has his work cut out for him sifting through clues and interrogating suspects time and time again but time is of the essence as the third in line to the family business and fortune has some narrow misses. Is someone out to get him too or are these murderous attempts just red herrings?

This was a very enjoyable read for me. Several things I really liked about the book are the time frame and the myriad of characters so deftly described as Heyer brings her characters to life on the page with all their distinct personalities, weaknesses, strengths and loyalties. An intriguing whodunnit as well as a fun read. Highly recommended for mystery fans. 4****

Georgette Heyer is also the author of Death In The Stocks reviewed here.

The late Georgette Heyer was a very private woman. Her historical novels have charmed and delighted millions of readers for decades, though she rarely reached out to the public to discuss her works or private life. She was born in Wimbledon in August 1902. She wrote her first novel, The Black Moth, at the age of seventeen to amuse her convalescent brother; it was published in 1921 and became an instant success.

Heyer published 56 books over the next 53 years, until her death from lung cancer in 1974. Heyer's large volume of works included Regency romances, mysteries and historical fiction. Known as the Queen of Regency romance, Heyer was legendary for her research, historical accuracy and her extraordinary plots and characterizations. Her last book, My Lord John, was published posthumously in 1975. She was married to George Ronald Rougier, a barrister, and they had one son, Richard

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Sourcebooks, Inc. Thank you so much, Danielle.

Typically British Challenge for 2010

Honestly, I had no intentions of signing up for any challenges in 2010 but then I saw the challenge to read your own books so I succumbed to that one. Then I didn't finish all the Russian books I wanted to in December and saw the Chunkster challenge. Well, you know what happened. It was inevitable that I succumbed to that challenge also. Now I just saw this one, Typically British Challenge. Since I read so many British mysteries, I just couldn't help myself and so I'm signing up for this one too. But this is it! Honestly, it is. I mean it this time. Don't make me say it again. Seriously, no more challenges, none, zip, nada. I'm done.
Here are the rules for the Typically British Challenge:
Timeline: 1st Jan 2010~ 31st Dec 2010. Only books started on January 1st count towards this challenge.
Details:
1. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate.
2. There are four levels:
• "Put The Kettle On" – Read 2 Typically British novels.
• "Gordon Bennett" – Read 4 Typically British novels.
• "Bob's Your Uncle" – Read 6 Typically British novels.
• "Cream Crackered" – Read 8 Typically British novels.
3. Any book format counts.
4. You don't have to select your books ahead of time, you can just add them as you go. Also if you do list them upfront then you can change them, nothing is set in stone!
5. The books you choose can crossover into other challenges.
6. If you decide to participate in this challenge please use the link I have set up below with the button to post on your sidebar, this way others can find their way back to this post and join in the fun.
7. If you decide to join this challenge be sure to create a post telling others, please make sure you add a link back to this post so others can join in.
8. There will be a place for you to link your reviews, but this is optional.
9. Obviously only British authors count!

How could anyone resist with clever levels such as these? It's "Bob's Your Uncle" for me; 6 book commitment. How about you? Does this look like your cuppa? You can sign up at Book Chick City.
Here is a list of my books:

1. They Found Him Dead by Georgette Heyer 4****
2. Rumor Has It by Jill Mansell 4****
3. Sons of Fortune by Jeffrey Archer 2**
4. The Water's Lovely by Ruth Rendell 4****
5. Beautiful People by Wendy Holden 4****
6. The Founding by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles 4****
7. Holly's Inbox: Scandal in the City by Holly Denham 3***
8. Take a Chance on Me by Jill Mansell 4****