Review: Farm Fatale by Wendy Holden
Farm Fatale by Wendy Holden. Sourcebooks Landmark (July 1, 2010). Trade Paperback. ISBN: 978-1-4022-3716-4. Pages: 402. Price: $14.99 (Amazon: $10.79 Book/Kindle $9.99).
Book Description:
Cash-strapped Rosie and her boyfriend Mark are city folk longing for a country cottage. Rampant nouveaux riches Samantha and Guy are also searching for rustic bliss-in the biggest mansion money can buy. The village of Eight Mile Bottom seems quiet enough, despite a nosy postman, a reclusive rock star, a glamorous Bond Girl, and a ghost with a knife in its back. But there are unexpected thrills in the hills, and Rosie is rapidly discovering that country life isn’t so simple after all.
Review:
Rosie dreams of living in the country away from the noise of London’s streets, especially the one they lived on which always seemed to be under repair — with big trucks and loud noises. Mark, however, barely pays attention to Rosie’s chatter about finding a place in the country. He loves the city and doesn’t want to leave because he’s just about to get his own column in the newspaper where he works as an assistant editor on the Sunday lifestyle section. Besides, they don’t have the money to move. That worked out well for Mark, he went to an office everyday which got him out of the noise and their grubby little apartment. Rosie, a freelance illustrator, was stuck working in the noise day after day, trying to draw when she could barely hear herself think. It seemed hopeless.
But suddenly, Mark was all for moving to the country. It seemed that he did listen to Rosie’s talk on how good a move to the country would be because he pitched it to the senior editor for a column and they were going to let him run with it — provided he moved to the country.
They finally settled on a small village called Eight Mile Bottom. However all they could afford was a small terrace cottage (in the US a row house) with a small garden area. Rosie throws herself into country life getting to know the neighbors, the nosy postman, and barkeep at the local pub, and many other colorful characters. Mark, however, barely leaves the house, ignoring and insulting Rosie by turns as he tries desperately to come up with a column.
Interspersed with Rosie and Marks plot line is one involving Samantha, a has-been actress with delusions of grandeur, and her husband, Guy, a banker. Samantha thinks that hiring the newest, brightest, whoever (architect, interior decorator, new age guru) will somehow put her in the same social strata as the famous people the newest and brightest whoever was with, in whatever fashion magazine she found them in. Guy on the other hand is thinking he made a mistake in marrying Samantha. Seeing a great spread in a home magazine about someone elegant country home Samantha begins to scheme to sell their London home and move to — you guessed it — Eight Mile Bottom.
These plotlines alternate and spin around each other throughout the book. Throw in a reclusive rock star, some ghosts, a farmer desperate for a wife who doesn’t mind hard work, an ex-Bond girl who raises racing chickens, a very nosy postman, loud hippy SCA neighbors, great dialogue, a few plot twists, and you get a wonderful romantic comedy with a definite English flair.
My only problem with the book and it’s one that I have with most romances is that Rosie was too darn accommodating to Mark. Just because he’s extremely handsome isn’t any reason to stay with someone who treats you like hired help. He’s lucky it was Rosie — I’d have booted him out long ago. I wished fervently that I could reach into the book and hit her upside the head with a clue stick. In a way that means the book is very well written — if the characters didn’t seem so real — no matter how outrageous — I wouldn’t have cared.
Since this is a romance, you know there will be the traditional HEA or happy ever after. What you don’t know is just who is going to get that HEA — will it be just Rosie or someone else, or several characters. To find out you’ll have to get the book and settle in for a delightfully funny and occasionally poignant getaway to the English countryside with Farm Fatale.