Customer Reviews

Farm Fatale: A Comedy of Country Manors

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Those who relish a smile a paragraph and a laugh a page will devour Wendy Holden's latest fun-filled foray into the lives of the British upper class. FARM FATALE, a delicious take-off on the trendy, is punctuated with puns and served with satire.

Rosie, a children's book illustrator pines for the country life, a cozy cottage, if you will, in the rolling hills of England. On the other hand, Mark, her live-in boyfriend who is a tabloid writer, loves London. He's sure his big break is imminent and the city is the place where he'll find it.

Mark's wrong. His editor asks him to pen a column on the trials and triumphs of country living, so the couple buy a home in the village of Eight Mile Bottom. Rosie is enchanted with the rustic life and her new neighbors. Marks detests the prying postman, the couple next door, and he soon suffers from writer's block.

Enter social climbers Guy Grabster and his former actress wife, Samantha, who purchase a grand mansion nearby. They host a sumptuous show-off party attended by an eager Mark, hoping to land a job as screenwriter for Samantha's project - a star turn as Charlotte Bronte.

Now, if you think Samantha's scheme is a bit off the wall, wait until you meet some of the other characters Holden has dreamed up - an ex Bond lassie, hippies, and a handsome pop star whose fame and fortune have not brought him happiness. Mix in a good looking young farmer who apparently embodies all the values for which Rosie yearns.

What's a girl to do?

- Gail Cooke

This is a delightfully witty commentary on city folk who chuck it all in to dwell in rustic splendor in the idyllic countryside around Eight Mile Bottom, but who get a lot more than they bargained for.

If you liked Bridget Jones's Diary or appreciate British humor, you'll enjoy the resulting calamities, confusion, misunderstandings and slapstick comedy that ensue when Rosie and Mark and Samantha and Guy make the big move to their respective dream country dwellings.

Full of local color, scandalous gossip, and a wide range of eccentric (or just plain strange) characters, the author regales us with the trials of the decidedly not well-to-do Rosie and her writer boyfriend Mark, and the misery of everybody else having the bad luck to encounter the filthy rich Samantha.

A hunky farmer, a reclusive pop star and a houseful of ghosts round out the story, which is recommended if you're looking for an extremely light tension-relieving read.

Amanda Richards

Charning artist Rosie longs to escape London and move to a cottage in the country. When her live-in boyfriend Mark gets the chance to write a newspaper column about country living, Rosie's dreams seem to be coming true. Meanwhile Samantha, a frightening failed actress turned trophy wife who would be at home going to lunch everyday at Harvey Nicks with "Bad Heir Day"'s Cassandra, convinces her recovering from a heart attack hubby Guy to move to the country for his health.

Guess where both couples end up? Naturally in the same small village with Samantha and Guy becoming the nouveau riche owners of a local estate and Rosie and Mark settling into their own tiny house. The local townsfolk including the gossiping mailman, the British Dame who runs the local drama society, a reclusive rock star and the sweet older couple who live next door to Rosie and Mark.

Will Rosie and Mark find happiness? Perhaps. Will Samantha ever get a part anyone remembers? Depends on how big hubby Guy's wallet is. Will the reclusive rock star be a total babe? Oh yes. Will Champagne bubble up from the depths to wreck havoc? Certainly.

For the Marian Keyes and Sophie Kinsella fans, Wendy Holden is a must read!

"Farm Fatale" deals with Rosie, an illustrator/artist, who aspires to move to the countryside in order to escape the hustle and bustle of city life. Her boyfriend, Mark, an aspiring columnist was reluctant to move until his paper offered him a column to write about life in the country. There, the couple met fascinating characters. They managed on both of their small incomes to get a cottage and met up with interesting neighbors which include hippies, farm owners, and etc. Rosie was adjusting well but Mark grew more resentful as his few attempts to submit his column was rejected. At the same time, Samantha, an arrogant, supposedly know-it-all aspiring actress was also moving to the country because it was trendy to do so and she hoped to conquer the local social scene. Meanwhile, Rosie gradually realized that Mark was getting unbearable. Her love life was getting more complicated with the encounter of Jack, a farm boy who was down to earth and later a brief encounter with Matt Locke, the recluse rock star.

I think this book is funny, light and very entertaining. My only complain is that the author tried to emphasize both Rosie and Samantha as the main characters but gradually it becomes apparent that Rosie is really the main focus. The Samantha storyline just sort of drift off. This is not the typical chick lit book with predictable outcome but in fact is very different. I find it quite exciting especially with the second half of the book and the author leaves you wanting for more. I think the author did a great job in developing the book's secondary characters and giving them diverse personalities which makes the book more fascinating.

Wendy Holden's Farm Fatale is chalked full of characters that are well built and entertaining. This story is about 2 couples moving to the country side from busy London and their struggles and adventures in adapting to country life. I really enjoyed this book. It was light, fun and entertaining. If you are looking for something to just relax and enjoy, you won't be sorry with this book.

Farm Fatale is an entertaining story of a London couple that moves to the country and the "excitement" that happens from there. I found the characters to be captivating and real. Rosie is the typical fairytale girl who falls into a deep dark well and comes out with a dozen roses, and the guy. Never have I read a story that depicts the country and it's people better. I laughed throughout the book and cried at the end. A wonderful book for any time anywhere. You would most likely have to enjoy British authors to get some of the humor.

This book has an interesting premise that is ruined by poor execution, thoroughly detestable characters and asinine dialogue. The main heroine basically has to choose between three moody, insensitive jerks, the only difference being their occupations. Too many characters, all of them underdeveloped and none of them likeable. Campy pop culture references and throw away dialogue.

I wish I could bill the author for the wasted hours I spent on this mess. A beach book? Sure, use it as a coaster or as a sand shovel.

Enjoy "Farm Fatale" for what it is- a light comedy. Discussions of realism and structure should be saved for literature, which this charming book does not even attempt, let alone claim. I haven't yet read Ms. Holden's other books, so I couldn't be disappointed on that score.

Many reviewers complained of the ending, and I disagree-I think it suits the tone of the book: lighthearted, unlikely, silly and cute.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first two thirds of Farm Fatale. Yes, it was definitely lightweight literature. But, the characters were well defined, the setting was established as an integral part of the story, and the prose was liberally sprinkled with wonderful wit.

By the time I got to the end of the book, I realized that what I had thought was being elegantly constructed was simply a house of cards waiting to collapse. And, collapse it does in its last third. The weight of both overly contrived situations and plot lines that go nowhere more than offset the strengths that were exhibited in the first part of the manuscript.

Overall, this isn't a horrible book. In fact, it could be easily classified as excellent "beach reading". But, there are more substantive "chick-lit" books elsewhere in the market that deserve purchase before Farm Fatale.

A wacky cast of characters converges on a small English village for this rural fairytale. The primary character is Rosie, a London illustrator who escapes to the country with her reluctant newspaper columnist boyfriend, Matt. Once they reach the village, they meet a host of quirky villagers. There's Samantha, the washed up, self-proclaimed "celebrity" and her disgruntled husband, Guy, Matt Locke, the reclusive rock star, and Duffy the postman, who is also the town gossip, just to name a few.

Rosie and Mark's relationship begins unraveling in the country-she is happy, he is not, he's a jerk, she is not. Their unhappy cohabitating leads her into the arms of other men, those belonging to craggy farmer Jack, and then those of Matt Locke. Farm Fatale is a light, enjoyable Cinderella story that gets a bit sappy toward the end. But Holden is a clever, funny writer, and for the most part, this happy little farce works well.