Customer Reviews

Love Letters

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I know I can count on Katie Fforde to help me escape and leave me with a wistful smile on my face. When my neice was a flight attendant, she discovered Katie Fforde on a London layover. We both became hooked and have now read everything Ms. Fforde has written. We like the fact that she writes for Brits and not a US audience. We sometimes have to do a little research to find out what she is talking about. For instance, we had no idea what an Aga was.

When I read Love Letters I was delighted to see characters from one of her earlier novels. Just like the main character, I found Katie's brooding, intimidating, vulnerable, and devastatingly handsome Irish poet irrestible. The lead character in Love Letters is young, but Ms. Fforde just as often gives us characters who (like myself) have been around for a while.

Ms. Fforde's books follow a recipe: 1. Woman faces undesired change. 2. Woman faces change with creativity taking her outside her comfort zone. 3. Woman makes new friends who help her in her transition. 3. Woman meets a man she can't stand and falls hopelessly in love with him. 4. Woman's new skills are put to the test. 5. Woman gets the man and the new life she has worked for. It is a very good recipe. Ms. Fforde is a master chef who manages to make her receipe seem new and fresh every time she serves it to her readers.

I love learning about the places she takes us in her books: Irish villages, Scottish highlands, English country estates, live aboard barges on English canals, and English gardens. Ms. Fforde's characters battle pain, defeat and self-doubt with the help of good friends, food and wine. Does it get better than that?

I usually love Katie Fforde books. Good escapism, good for a read in the tub.

This one though, I was ready to strangle the main character. I hate movies and books that revolve around miscommunication - this one drove me nuts. The man that she loves calls her and texts her and what does she do? Deletes them. Doesn't read them. Give me a break.

I've read all of Katie Fforde's books, purchased most in hard cover. I am a fan of English books on relationships, and KF's books, while light reading, I've found enjoyable in the past. But they have started to deteriorate into silly romances without saying anything useful, interesting, or believable about relationships between people, not just men and women, but parents and children, friends, and more.

The premise of this book is a 26-year-old virgin who hasn't found the right man but is suddenly willing to sleep with a womanizing novelist. I couldn't read further when she spends the night with him after an evening of drinking but can't figure out whether they actually had sex or not! This goes on for pages! And I'm not giving much away because this all happens early in the book. Nor is the rest of the plot either riveting or very believable.

I usually give a one star to any book I can't get through, but as a fan of her earlier books I can't bear to.

Katie Fforde usually writes light, feel-good love stories with likeable characters. Just not this time.

Laura is wimpy, whiney, and downright annoying. Her "I-can't-do-anything" attitude is wearying.

Then, let's insult intelligent women everywhere by making Laura agree to sleep wtih an author in order to get him to appear at a literary festival she is coordinating. Come on. What year is this?

Of course, Laura falls in love with said author who after completely ignoring her for most of the book, suddenly decides he can't live without her. Huh?

Bad story. Bad characterization. Way too much detail on how to run a book festival - if I ever need to run one, I can use this book as a guide. But as a light and fun fiction book? I wish I passed on this one.

I am about 75 percent through this book. This is where the plot builds - where I can't leave it alone because I want so badly to see what happens. This time? Let's just say the books I ordered from the library came in and I couldn't care less how this one ends. Oh, wait. He falls madly in love with her, right?

Much of the writing reminds me of when I had to write a play in sixth grade: X enters the room. X spoke to Y. Then Z appeared. Then X left.

It's not like I read this type of fiction expecting a Faulkner masterpiece. In fact, often I read these types of books because I love the happy endings. What I do expect is some sort of a plot that engages me for 350 pages and that I'm not fighting against not believing any of it. Realism should figure into part of it as far as things like a literary event doesn't usually warrant every major newspaper and TV show and celebrity showing up to it. (This is akin to other women's fiction books in which the main character is a fabulously rich magazine columnist - trust me, I am one. I am far from rich.) Or that it took 20 pages to establish that the character's next week would be a busy one and interesting things just might happen only to read at the start of the next chapter that, wow, last week went by in a flash.

Characters disappear for pages and pages and reactions to what would seem to be fairly emotional events to the main character glossed over in favor of something minor.

This is the first book I've read by this author and from what the other reviews say, her other books are fun and enjoyable. I'll probably try reading those but this one ends today.

Get at the library if you must but do not buy.

Love Letters follows the story of Laura, a young woman who is roped into helping organize a literary festival after losing her job at a bookshop. Having read a lot of books, Laura is a perfect person for the job, and with her extensive knoweldge of what it takes to make a book good, it's a shame she couldn't have helped Fforde herself write this book. I have read a number of books by this author, but I have to say that this is the worst by far.

The conflict in Laura's story centers around Dermot Flynn, a famous author suffering from writer's block... and apparently: poor communication, narcissism, and reclusiveness. Laura meets Dermot while taking an all-expenses-paid trip to Ireland... the purpose of which is simply to convince him to join her literary festival. He agrees-- with the condition that she must sleep with him. Although Laura is still a virgin, she happily consents. But when she wakes up the next morning in his bed, she realizes she was too drunk the night before to remember if they had sex or not! Is she a virgin, or isn't she?! Thankfully for Laura, her friend is willing to absolutely humiliate herself in order to find out for her. A ridiculous scene ensues, which would have been much more believeable against the backdrop of a 10th grade dance.

Not only was the plotline stupid and ridiculous, but Dermot Flynn, our "romantic hero," doesn't exactly come across as a complete catch. It's more of that "Mr. Darcy Complex," except that Mr. Darcy actually ended up being charming and someone you could care about. Unfortunately, Dermot is neither and Laura herself is exhausting and immature.

Overall, this book is a waste of time, and I am glad I didn't buy it. Thanks, Library!

Was so looking forward to reading Fforde's latest but was quickly disappointed. Did she really write this drivel? Character development was amateurish. Fforde's women can often be quirky, but this one was simply too silly and unbelievable. Do hope one of my favorite authors can redeem herself in her next book.

Katie Fforde writes a wonderful novel. I love her heroines - they are quirky and creative, they are strong but don't know it. They grow into themselves through whatever adversity Mrs. Fforde drags them into (not melodrama!). I love how natural they are and how one gets to know them as if they could really be friends. Quite honestly, I haven't found another light author besides D.E. Stevenson that grounds the characters so well.
I bought this one because I just couldn't wait for the US edition to release. It was a typically nice story, but the editing was poor. There were spelling errors and grammatical errors.
Mrs. Fforde, please consider a new copy editor!

Now on to the story. This one is not her best. I wouldn't give it to anyone who hasn't read Paradise Fields or maybe Second Thyme Around. As another reviewer stated, the communication tangles are just frustrating, not entertaining. Our heroine acts terribly immature and doesn't really seem to grow much. The hero is nicer than she deserves really, and I'm not convinced of their chemistry or if they will be a success in the long term. Sigh.

That said, won't you (carefully) hurry up Mrs. Fforde, I'm waiting for your next heroine next door.

I hadn't read this author before - found it on the new book shelf at the library. So glad I didn't waste money on it. Ironically it is about a person who wants to be an editor and works in a book shop. The character in several places laments bad writing and how is it possible that some books get published. This book is one that should not have been published. I struggled to get through it and did not read all of it - skimmed. Premise is weak - 26 yr old virgin that suddenly jumps in bed with womanizing author?! to get him to come to book festival.

Don't waste your money or time on this book.

I have quickly become a fan of Ms. fforde. this was one of the first books that I read of hers and I have been captivated ever since. I have read probably seven of her books and I must say she is refreshingly consistent. She doesn't disappoint her fans at all. Her stories are all unique and charming. If you like light, fun,comical reads, you will love Fforde. I don't know what I will do when I have read everything! i can't see how anyone wouldn't be captivated by Fforde!