Category: women’s fiction

Book of the Week, women's fiction

Book of the Week: Appleby Farm

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I read a lot of books while we were on holiday, but this week’s book of the week is Cathy Bramley’s Appleby Farm which I started before we went away and finished after we got back*. That said, while I was on holiday I read parts two and three of Bramley’s latest serialisation and really liked them too, so it seemed like a really obvious choice.


So, Appleby Farm (which came out as a e-book partwork earlier this year before the paperback release) tells the story of Freya, who starts the book working in a cafe near the Ivy Lane allotments that featured in Bramley’s book from earlier this year.  But soon she gets an SOS call from her auntie, and heads up to the Lake District farm where she grew up after her uncle has a heart attack.  Soon she’s torn between the boyfriend down south and the farm that she loves.

I really liked Freya.  She’s a really well put together character, who has flaws and issues but is really, really likeable.  And as the granddaughter of a farmer (on both sides) and with three farms in the extended family (and another couple of cousins working in agriculture/agribusiness as well) the farm setting really worked for me.  I loved reading about Freya’s plans for the farm as she tries to help her auntie and uncle.  I wouldn’t say I’m a farming connoisseur, but I know the basics, and I didn’t spot any glaring errors in the farming facts, which was great.

I also didn’t notice the joins between the parts in this as much as I did when when I read Ivy Lane.  Appleby Farm, although it’s still divided into sections, seemed to flow better, with less building to cliff hangers which were rapidly/immediately resolved at the start of the next part.  It definitely feels more like a novel, than a part-work that’s been stitched together.

I’ve mentioned (many times) before that I’m not a great candidate for serialisations.  I don’t like cliffhangers – one year I waited til the start of the new season of Greys Anatomy before watching the end of the previous one so I wouldn’t be left in suspense – and when I find a series I like I like to be able to read on and read more (25 Janet Evanovich books in five months anyone?), but I really do like Cathy Bramley’s work.  As I mentioned further up, I read two parts of Wickham Hall during the holiday, and whilst I want to know what’s happening next (and have the book on preorder) I finished each part with a smile on my face having enjoyed seeing what had happened rather than angry that I’ve been left hanging.

Roll on Part four of Wickham Hall – and I really need to get my hands on Conditional Love too.

Appleby Farm was all over the supermarkets when it came out in August – and I’m hoping it’ll still be there and in the bookshops, but if you can’t wait – here’s the Kindle, Amazon, Foyles and Waterstones and as an extra special bonus, here’s Wickham Hall: Part One and Ivy Lane (both for kindle).

* I have a rule about not taking books that I’ve already started away on holiday with me.

reviews, women's fiction

Review: Love Me Or Leave Me

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Another review of a new book – out today in Kindle, and later in the month in paperback (though I think it’s been available in giant airport size paperback for a few months) – it’s Claudia Carroll’s Love Me Or Leave Me.  You’ll be pleased to here that it’s not one of a series that I’m coming to mid way through, or a serialisation that’s driving me to begging.  I’m also well rested and hopefully coherent!

This is the third of Claudia Carroll’s novels that I’ve read – I have a fourth waiting on the Kindle for me to get around to it (quelle surprise!) and I’ve read a few of her short stories too.  She’s one of a gaggle of Irish authors who I’ll always have a look at when I see that they have something new out, but won’t necessarily automatically buy.

Love Me Or Leave Me tells the story of Chloe – dumped at the altar and rebuilding her life – who takes a job as the General Manager of Ireland’s newest concept hotel – a divorce hotel.  That’s right – you check in married and check out divorced (practically) as the hotel helps you untangle your life from your ex-spouse’s.  But the book doesn’t just follow Chloe – it also follows three of the couples who check in for the hotel’s opening weekend.

I really liked the multiple Points of View you get with this novel – Chloe is a first person narrative – and the others are third person – which helps keep the focus on Chloe and her journey.  But all the stories are interesting and having four means that there are enough twists and and turns to the novel to keep it pacey and interesting without it seeming forced or over dramatic – after all when your heroine’s been left at the altar at the start of the book, there’s not a more drama that can happen to her without it seeming like she’s being picked on by a higher power!  I liked the little reveals of the secrets in the other couple’s relationships and I found myself rooting for different people and various different outcomes.

And for a novel about divorcing couples (and heartbreak) it’s actually a cheerful and up-beat read.  And that’s partly because of that four-way narrative again – each couple’s story is well-fleshed out and feels real, but because there are three of them (and Chloe’s story) you don’t have to have 100 pages of each couple being miserable to set up the split and make you care about what happens to them.  In fact I’d say Carroll’s done a great job of writing each story so that it grabs you and gives you definite opinions about the characters very quickly – without a lot of background waffle.

This is a lovely back to school read – it is romantic and chick lit-y but to me it doesn’t feel like a book for reading on a sun lounger.  Perfect for a rainy Sunday afternoon as you curse the British weather – and the lack of an Indian Summer!  Find the Kindle edition here or pre-order the paperback here or from Hive or at your bookseller of choice.