Farm Fatale - Wendy Holden

Oh I've got another great chick lit title for your beach bag! Wendy Holden was an author new to me but one I will be reading again for sure. In Farm Fatale, Rosie has her heart set on moving to the country from London, England. Her boyfriend Mark only says yes after his newspaper agrees to let him write a column about the goings on in Eight Mile Bottom - the village they move to. Their little cottage needs some work and there are some issues with the neighbours, but Rosie is determined to make it work.

Also moving into Eight Mile Bottom are Samantha and her husband Guy. Samantha saw a magazine spread about a country estate and decided she should have one too. With more money than common sense, they end up buying a local manor house.

But not everything is coming up rosy in the country.....

Holden has created a wonderfully warm, funny, lovable character in Rosie. She's real and is the kind of person I'd like to have as a friend. Her search for love and happiness is one we can all identify with. Who hasn't dreamed of escaping to the country?

But it was the character of Samantha that had me laughing out loud. She is just so blatantly over the top, it's hilarious. The details of the designer (Basia) who redoes her London house are priceless.

"...at the vase, more than a meter square, which Basia had placed in the center of a coffee table the size of a double bed. Vase fascism, Samantha had hotly retorted, is a central tenet of Basia's design philosophy. She wanted to challenge the fact that I filled the same vases in the same place with the same flowers every week."

I also really enjoyed Samantha's daydreams - she writes the copy for the magazine articles she envisions herself in. Holden perfectly captures and delightfully skewers every glossy magazine layout you've ever read.

The supporting cast of characters are no less engaging. I particularly enjoyed the local pub owner - his dialogue was quite witty, as were his various tee shirt logos.

There's lots of misunderstandings, missed cues, romantic entanglements and untangling along with the search for greener pastures. A light-hearted read chock full of witty dialogue and fun!

Read an excerpt of Farm Fatale.