Customer Reviews

Every Woman for Herself

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the kind of book that makes you want to faithfully read everything else an author will ever write. While the ending was perhaps a bit pat and cheerful compared to the rest of the book, Ashley is worth the read just for the colorful characters and the articles the women create. Just beautiful.

I didn't like this book when I first picked it up. I found that the writing style seemed forced somehow. It's as if the author was trying -too- hard to make us laugh. I should have put it down. It would have been just like me to put it down--but I didn't. I can't explain why, exactly, but something hooked me and reeled me in. I think, in part, it has to do with the fact that these characters are just very amusing. For what the story lacks in parts, these people make up for it in full. I particularly like Charlie's sisters Em and Anne. They're a couple of rowdy no nonsense types. THey are (like nearly everyone in that family with Charlie being the notable exception) big and imposing, but just as gentle and fiercely loyal. Jessica, the dreadful new mistress, was actually another of my favorite characters. For all of her flamboyance and saucy airs, she really was a good sport in enduring everyone's constant harrassment...especially Em's. Oddly, I did not care as much for Charlie and _especially_ not Mace. I felt annoyed with the two of them and I couldn't quite understand where their romance came from but that may have more to do with my personal taste than any problem in the writing. I simply didn't care for Mace an felt annoyed that Charlie would fall for him--smoldering good looks or not. The fact that he was dishy did not, in my opinion, make up for his behaving like a spoiled child much of the time. That and his overconfidence irritated me. On the other hand, he inspired SOMETHING in me so obviously he's not completely forgettable. That is why I say it is probably more of a question of taste than anything having to do with the actual composition of the novel. I _do_ think the book is very good. There is plenty there that will hold a reader's interest. The quirky characters and pacing really help to keep the reader's interest for just one more page....and another and another. Even if I didn't really WANT to know as much about Charlie an Mace...I did. I recommend this book.

Ashley uses language beautifully. Her characters are fun and enrich the reader's life just for the brief visit of reading about them. This is very much a win/win book and wonderful fun to read.

This book was funny and not to mushy. It has just enough love for everyone!

Charlie Rhymer realizes she isn't passionately in love with her husband. Home on leave from his teaching job in Saudi Arabia, he kicks the spaniel; she goes and uses his toothbrush and powdered floor cleaner to scour her silver rings. ("The rings came up a treat, and I expect his teeth did, too.") On the morning of his departure, as she sits staring at him across the table, Charlie realizes that "aliens had stolen my husband during the night and substituted something incomprehensibly vile in his place."

Happily for Charlie and the reader, Matthew has just asked for a divorce. After a rather unfortunate incident involving a heavy cast-iron frying pan and the skull of her neighbor's lecherous husband (the death is ruled accidental), Charlie heads home to the old Yorkshire parsonage where she and her siblings, Emily, Anne and Branwell (yup, you guessed it...) were raised. More misadventures and shenanigans follow, as the 40-something Charlie re-invents her life. This involves returning to her painting (she specializes in jungle-like foliage, drawn from life), creating a quirky magazine called "Skint Old Northern Woman" (fashion tip: if going out for the evening, if you are wearing a bra you do not need a handbag.) and meeting a hunky man (who sends her coconut and banana trees to add to her conservatory).

The end result may be predictably chick lit - happily ever after for all concerned - but Ashley's characters are anything but. Nor, naturally, is the path taken to reach that desirable state of affairs. For instance, Em, the Wiccan sister prone to visions, decides that virginity is no longer enhancing her spirituality and hooks up with... No, on second thoughts, that's too much of a spoiler.

This is the literary equivalent of cotton candy; it has no nutritional content whatsoever and a steady diet of it is guaranteed to rot your teeth. That said, the plot and characters never pall and it's fun to re-read and laugh out loud at characters who, in contrast to most chick lit, never seem to take themselves too seriously. Highly recommended as a way to pass those depressingly long and grey winter hours, especially for readers who are tired of the endless parade of 20-something or angst-ridden 30-something heroines in most chick lit. Ashley's heroines are delightfully self-aware and confident - and still end up meeting men of their dreams.

Charlie Rhymer is the atypical hero of this fun and compact novel. Childless, divorced, and in poor financial condition, Charlie is forced to move back to her childhood home. Returning home is all, and more, than Charlie expected. Her father's latest mistress is sleeping in Charlie's old room. Charlie's sister Em is considering focusing on her black magic talents, and losing her virginity to help her do so. Charlie's other sister, Anne, is living at home while recovering from breast cancer treatment, and her brother Bran has been sent home from his university position to finish his book.

Shortly before Charlie moves home, she accidentally kills her ex-husband's best friend Greg with a heavy frying pan. Greg's widow, Angie, livid at the accidental death verdict, decides to stalk Charlie and try to ruin Charlie's reputation, following Charlie to the family home in Upvale. Add into this mix the two daughters of the father's mistress, a handsome famous actor and his daughter, a parson infatuated with Em, and some witchcraft and you end up with a delightful story.

"Every Woman for Herself" is warm and entertaining. Charlie is a delightful character, and her budding romance with the famous actor is both funny and touching. Although some of the situations are a far-fetched, they fit so well with the overall madcap storyline the reader will not mind a bit. Definitely recommended for anyone that enjoys a romantic story or is looking to read something cheering!