Customer Reviews

Paradise Fields

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4 star:		(3)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

There is no such thing as a bad Katie Fforde book, but Paradise Fields, her latest, is simply quintessential Katie: charming, funny, witty, engaging and a joy to read.

Here is the story of just-over-40 widow Nel Innes, who thinks of herself as an over-the-hill dowdy "old thing," a perception not shared by anyone else in her life, from her gorgeous best friend Viv to her twentysomething daughter Fleur to her dull-as-nails boyfriend, estate agent Simon (yawn). Nel halfheartedly thinks she will probably settle down at some point with Simon so she has a man around to do DIY work, when she gets embroiled in a community effort to safe Paradise Fields, a strip of riverfront land upon which sits the sick-children's hospice, a charity dear to her heart.

Nel is used to running farmers' markets and other charity events on Paradise Fields, all of whose profits go to the hospice, but now she is up against a real threat as a heartless couple and their equally heartless land developer plan to turn it into a housing development. As Nel plots and plans desperately to save the land, the landowning couple's nefarious (maybe) attorney Jake comes to muddy the waters. Literally. Nel knows better than to consort with the enemy, but Jake's charm is lethal.

Does Nel find love and happiness in Jake's arms? Or is he the devil? Will the hospice be saved? I found myself zipping through the pages, trying hard not to skip to the end to find out. It's that kind of book, as only Katie Fforde could write it. Enjoy!

The first word that comes to mind after reading this novel is "pleasant" (a vastly underrated adjective IMHO). I haven't read this author before, and it was such a nice experience to read a book that was more about ordinary people, trying to live their lives as best they could, than about plot machinations and torrid sex scenes every other page (not that there's anything wrong with that). One comes to care about these characters and sympathize with their struggles of having to compromise about a real estate development, acknowledging that the children are really growing up and parents are really growing old.

So if you are looking for a well written book with strong character development, this book's the ticket. Nicely done!

Nel has been a widow for ten years and is comfortable with life in her little village. Her two sons are at university and her daughter is almost finished high school. She is determined to remain unmarried until her children are independent so she has no complaints about her stuffy boyfriend, Simon, although her children do not like him and she never has lustful thoughts about him. She keeps busy with charity activities to support a local hospice. She is not bothered about the fact that she has not had sex since her husband died so Nel is surprised when a handsome younger man kisses her at the Christmas fair.

Nel is working hard to save Paradise Fields, the estate where she organizes a farmers market which supports the hospice. The new owners want to develop the land for cheap housing. Nel meets with the owners to oppose the development and discovers that their lawyer is Jake, the man who kissed her. Jake tries to date Nel, but she cannot believe a handsome London lawyer is interested in a plump, older woman and suspects he is just trying to get her to agree to the development plans.

When she ends up in Jake's bed one night, Nel puts it down to a mistake, but Jake keeps pursuing her and even seems to be trying to help her save Paradise Fields. Then Simon asks her to marry him and encourages her to agree to the development plan.

My initial reaction was that perhaps this was one of Ms. Fforde's early works before she perfected her craft, or an attempt at writing something "screenplay-worthy," because it was contrived, too cute, and the characters were ridiculous. I've read and enjoyed two books by Ms. Fforde - "Stately Pursuits" and "Wild Designs" - so I knew her style, but "Paradise Fields" was just too hard to take. Nel has been dating a man for six months, and has known him for years, but they've never had sex, and he's never indicated an interest in it. Really? Her daughter and friends all dislike the boyfriend; he seems to dislike Nel's children, her parenting style and her [lack of] housekeeping; and she doesn't really seem to enjoy his company [see - dating for six months with no sex] - but she keeps him around because he fixes things around her house? Every novel doesn't have to be a feminist manifesto, but please. And all of the "meet-cute" scenes with Jake just grow tiresome - of course, he runs the soccer league, and of course he's somehow involved in an incident in which a soccer ball ends up in an elaborate cake she has baked, and of course he and some colleagues run into her in London (must be a much smaller city than I thought). These incidents just seemed made for a movie - which isn't necessarily bad, but didn't play out well on the page. And Nel constantly - and I mean, constantly - disparages her looks and weight, when everyone else in the world, including hunky, younger-man Jake, thinks she's gorgeous. Between her willingness to have a loveless, sexless relationship with a guy she doesn't seem to like (but, hey, at least he buys her dinner occasionally), and her inability to see how gorgeous she apparently is, I thought she desperately needed some therapy. Hmm, guess I didn't like this book...

Katie Fforde writes delightful stories about nice people. I was feeling particularly down one day (had just visited a much-loved family member who was dying of cancer) and needed something light and happy to read, so I plucked this book off my TBR shelf and settled down in my favorite chair. From the first word, I was immediately carried away into Fforde's fictional world. Nell is a lovely heroine--the kind of woman I would enjoy knowing. It was fun to read about her life because I knew that no matter how serious the problems were that she encountered, all would be well in the end. This is a great story told in Fforde's lighthearted style with both skill and charm. You'll enjoy it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. If you're looking for a little light reading that will leave you smiling, this is the book for you. The star of the book is a fortyish widow in a small town in England who wants to save a hospice and nearby meadowlands from falling into the hands of a greedy developer. A handsome and charming attorney works for the wealthy couple that owns the land and wants to develop it. Of course the two are attracted to each other, but our widow assumes the attorney is working against the interests of the hospice. The book was written by an English author and I could just imagine it being turned into a BBC miniseries that would play on PBS in the US. Sometimes I felt like I needed a British English to American English dictionary, but that only added to the enjoyment for me. Who knew that TJ Maxx is known as TK Maxx in Europe? And I had to google "Balti" and "Rayburn" to find out what they were (a curry dish and a stove). It was lots of fun to read and of course there was a happy ending. This book made me forget my troubles and left me in a good mood. What more could I ask for? Paradise Fields is the first book I've read by Katie Fforde, but it won't be the last.