Housewife in Trouble

Housewife in Trouble by Alison Penton Harper is an enjoyable romp and is the latest in her 'Housewife' series of chick lit stories. Helen is married to Rick and Julia has had her mid life crisis baby; Leoni is still plotting to dispose of Marcus and the kids; Sara - Julia's business partner - is thriving on running the business herself. But all is not as simple as it seems. There are lots of cats about to escape from a great many bags.

This is a roller coaster of a book with some brilliant one liners and some marvellously memorable characters and ideal to read on a cold winter evening accompanied by a bottle of wine - or two - and a box of chocolates. Brilliant stuff!

Housewife in Love

Housewife in Love by Alison Penton Harper is an excellent light read. It is fast paced and witty with eccentric and colourful characters. Helen is debating whether she should marry Rick. She can't decide whether it's worth the risk when she remembers the disaster zone which was her first marriage. While she battles with her doubts, sister Julia is battling with an unexpected pregnancy and friend Leonie is trying to stop her twin boys from blowing up the house with their new chemistry set.

Paul and Sally - the gay couple upstairs from Helen - let the bath overflow and force Helen to move out of her flat temporarily. Helen decides to move in with Rick only to find his estranged daughter in residence. Lola is the teenager from hell. Will she be able to stop Helen and Rick marrying? I love the style and the characters though this particular author seems to get some very negative reviews on Amazon for some reason. I would recommend any of the 4 books in the housewife series as good light reads. (Housewife Down, Housewife Up, Housewife on Top and finally Housewife in Love).

Another book read

I finished reading Carole Matthews' The Difference a Day Makes which was all right but nowhere near as good as her two Chocolate Lovers books which were excellent. This latest one reads as though it was put together in a hurry to meet a deadline. I didn't feel I cared about the characters and it was all a bit slushy and sentimental apart from the antics of the unruly dog Hamish - some of which were just plain disgusting. I'm sure it will delight her many fans but it didn't do too much for me. I think I've read so many really good books recently my standards are going up.

I've nearly finished Housewife in Love by Alison Penton Harper which by contrast is hilarious with a lot of colourful characters most notably Paul and Sally the gays who live in the flat above Helen.

Several others in the pipeline to read of which more during this week.

Bored with the weather . . .

It is snowing again but in a somewhat halfhearted manner. Most of what arrived yesterday has disappeared because of the drizzly rain. I was just watching it out of the window and when it's those very tiny flakes they don't all fall straight down. There's virtually no wind so they just sort of float lazily up and down almost like thistledown. Eventually they do land but the individual flakes are a bit like sky divers drifting on thermals. Fascinating to watch.

Currently I'm reading: Carole Matthews' The Difference a Day Makes; Bill Hussey - Through a Glass Darkly; Wendy Holden - Beautiful People; Alison Penton Harper - Housewife in Love; Anthony Trollope - Doctor Thorne. All very different books. The Carole Matthews is not as good as some of her previous books most notably the two Chocolate Lovers stories. I find her a very uneven writer. Beautiful People has grown on me - it's over 600 pages and seems a bit disjointed until page 300 after which it really gets going when all the characters are in Italy for various reasons. Through a Glass Darkly is definitely a daylight read for reasons I've already mentioned. Housewife in Love is just as good as the other three in the series. Doctor Thorne is rather more serious and sober than either of its predecessors. Plenty to keep me amused over the weekend.