Azur Like It [Mass Market Paperback]

Wendy Holden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 27, 2004

A witty, winning escapade through the south of France from the internationally bestselling author of Gossip Hound.

The only intrepid reporter in her hometown hamlet, Kate Clegg has dreams of parlaying her dead-end job at the Mercury, or Mockery, as it is affectionately known, into an award-winning career with the most celebrated papers in London. But things seem to be going in the toilet, literally, since her biggest break thus far has been investigating a drainage disaster at the local high school. At least things can't get worse...

That is until shady billionaire Peter Hardstone pulls up outside the Mercury's tiny storefront office in his gold Ferrari and begins firing the staff. Soon enough, Kate herself decides that leaving the Mockery behind may just be the best career move she'll ever make-until Hardstone's wildly attractive son, Nat, takes up residence at the Mercury's office with an offer Kate cannot refuse-a chance to cover the Cannes Film Festival on the luxurious Côte d'Azur.

With internationally acclaimed author Wendy Holden's signature verve, intelligence, and originality, Azur Like It is a rollicking ride through the parties, haute couture, and glamour of the French Riviera where, behind the glitz, lies a mystery that would make even the most jaded journalist salivate.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Predictable plot turns and humorless puns abound in Holden's superficial satire (after Gossip Hound, etc.), which starts out as a promising tale of a smalltown reporter's attempt to break out of her sleepy English hometown and quickly devolves into a colorful but cliched farce crowded with outlandish caricatures and unlikely goings-on. Kate Clegg, the slightly plump senior reporter for the Slackmucklewaite Mercury (more often referred to as "the Mockery"), longs to have the exciting life of a London reporter, but barring that, she'll settle for covering sleepy stories by day and penning her racy book, Northern Gigolo, by night. Aspiring actor Nat Hardstone, the gorgeous son of her callous new boss, may be the answer to one of her more scandalous dreams. Not only does he want to shake the dust of Slackmucklewaite off his shoes, but he wants to take her with him to the Côte d'Azur for the Cannes Film Festival. Though it's obvious that Nat is as shallow and scheming as his father-he makes her foot the bill at a fancy restaurant and then presses her to front the money for his plane ticket-Kate rides his coattails to the south of France and is promptly abandoned. But with the help of a few friendly strangers, she finds love and scandal in a French town eerily similar to the English one she just left. By the end of the novel, Kate is as clueless as when she started her unlikely adventure, and readers will have as little sympathy for her as they do for Nat and his impossibly small-minded acquaintance, Champagne D'vyne.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Holden's latest novel is like a daydream--people's words and actions are often unrealistic, scenarios are over-the-top, and unlikely events are contrived for the sole purpose of fulfilling the dreamer's fantasies. That said, those looking for a fun, fluffy read will enjoy this tale of Bridget Jones-like journalist Kate Clegg, who, after toiling for years as a reporter for the Slackmucklethwaite Mercury (or, as locals not-so-affectionately call it, the Mockery), thinks she's finally off to cover the Cannes Film Festival. After her boss' would-be actor son seduces Kate in order to trick her into putting up plane fare to France for the both of them, naive Kate finds herself in a small village outside Cannes with almost no money left and possibly no job to come home to. At her grandmother's urging, Kate decides to look upon this disaster as an opportunity for grand adventure and stays in France, finding work as a maid for an elderly art lover, a freelance reporter for an English-language paper, and a waitress. Twists and turns abound, along with hefty doses of mystery and romance, in this (as the title would suggest) pun-filled story. Holden, who has been mining the British-working-gal subgenre through several successful novels--Gossip Hound (2003), Farm Fatale (2002), Bad Heir Day (2001)--seems ready for a leap to the next level of mainstream popularity. Beth Leistensnider
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Plume (January 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452285178
• ISBN-13: 978-0452285170
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,045,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Ugh, February 17, 2004

By 

V. Ludas (Montclair, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Azur Like It (Mass Market Paperback)

What a stupid main character. She's convinced she knows all while outwardly displaying really obnoxious low self-esteem. The story is standard and dull, the humor that I found in earlier Holden books is pretty much absent, and I eventually had to give up and stop reading. I don't know, perhaps the book redeems itself in the last third, but honestly, I stopped caring. The part that really disgusted me was when the main character completely disregards any idea that things are not always what she's sure they are, and ignores the likeliest of possible scenarios in favor of considering herself superior. I won't go into detail so as not to spoil anyone, but if you want to know what I mean, email me.
But sheesh, what a dope.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars "Azur" don't like it, May 17, 2004

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Azur Like It (Mass Market Paperback)

A quirky English reporter at the Cannes Film Festival -- the makings of a fun novel, right? Wrong. Wendy Holden misfires badly in "Azur Like It," a tepid Brit-chick-lit nove. Saddled with an offensively dumb heroine and a boring plot, it has only a few moments of over-the-top color.

Kate Clegg toils at her thankless job at the Slackmucklewaite Mercury (known as the "Mockery") in a small North-English town. She yearns to escape to a real journalism job, but has to be content with small-town stuff for the time being. Things go downhill when megamogul Peter Hardstone buys the Mockery and wrecks what little worth it had. Gone are Kate's dreams of covering the Cannes Film Festival -- all she gets to do is interview witchy reality-TV starlet Champagne D'Vyne.

That all changes when Kate encounters Nat Hardstone, the hunky son of her boss. Kate is swept off her feet by the sexy Nat's advances, and most of all by his willingness to get her sent to the Cannes Film Festival. She doesn't notice his shady, manipulative behavior, and ends up in France by herself, abandoned and friendless. But with some friends to help out, she might just salvage her trip...

"Azur Like It" is strictly by the numbers chick lit, with a slightly different setting. But a boring plot set in southern France is still boring. Holden tries to spice it all up to make it fun and delicious, but without a solid plotline or much of an idea where it's all going.

Holden manages some uproarious kitsch moments, like the description of the Hardstone mansion's "Baroque'n'Roll" interior decoration. But those are offset by the boring, like much of Kate's horrible first days in France. Not to mention the embarrassing: It's hard not to wince when we're treated to a cringeworthy sex scene in a restaurant, involving Nat's big toe.

What's more, "Azur Like It" is hideously predictable. It's obvious early on just what a creep Nat is, and that Kate will end up in more trouble if she goes along with him. And her constant parade of misery -- getting her jacket burned off right before the festival -- gets tired after a while.

Kate is so blindingly naive and trusting that you may want to club her. Her Goth-y pal Darren is far more likable, and the caricatures -- the flamboyant decorator, the snotty trophy wife -- are the most fun, even if they rarely are more than cardboard cutouts. The most entertaining is certainly Champagne, a horrendously rude, untalented starlet who aspires to be the next Bond girl.

Take your average chick-lit book, cut out the plot, add kitsch and an exotic setting, and you have "Azur Like It." It's pretty at the start, but degenerates into a mass of cliches and purple ceilings.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Did Wendy Holden really write this?, March 29, 2004

By 

"kish1998" (Jacksonville, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Azur Like It (Mass Market Paperback)

I'm a huge Wendy Holden fan. If you are a new reader, don't give up hope, her other books send you on a rollercoaster of emotions, with unique characters you will not forget.

But as for Azure Like It, all I can say is NO!!!!