A great read - Rated 
A brilliant read for all ages. I loved this book, as did my Grandmother. The tale is both heart warming and funny. I'm a big fan of Katie Fforde, and this didn't disappoint.
It Made Me Feel Good - Rated
This is a terrific survival-story for all middle-aged, somewhat overweight women with the nicest but a bit overwhelming teenaged children and a withered belief in themselves as sexual beings. Katie Fforde's Althea is divorced from a gorgeous, totally selfish husband and seems to be surrounded by most effective, sexually assertive and physically fit younger women. You can't say she has much control over her life; actually, she seems to have given over the role as a subject in her own life to her children.
A martyr Althea is not. She doesn't pity herself. Some of the younger generation may think she is tiresome with her troubles concerning her would-be-affair with Patrick, first sending him packing and then wishing him back, trying not to have an affair with him, on account of her children and what they might feel. Thus is life for us middle-aged women, brought up with guilt and therefore always finding reasons to feel guilty. Althea had not grown up reading Cosmopolitan and learning that you are supposed to have sex for the fun of it. It is very easy to put oneself in Althea's shoes, wanting Patrick and feeling one shouldn't. It is also very refreshing to find a heroine who is thirty-nine and overweight (luscious, thinks Patrick who would like to feel something more yielding than the iron abs and thighs of the gym-going fitness angels...) and who feels conscious about her body marked by childbirth. I am so grateful to K. Fforde for allowing Althea to have her morsel of a Patrick.
There is something very admirable about Althea: she is not bitter to her ex-husband even if he seems not to have an idea that he could feel some responsibility; she is tolerant concerning her effective and critical younger sister and mother; she loves her children unconditionally and allows them to be who they are. To Althea the children are persons in themselves, they are not extensions of herself, and they represent only themselves and not her. On the other hand, the children are thoroughly loyal to her. During the book she finds a way to live her life as a subject person - she notices that firstly, she has a right to her own life, and secondly, the people around her are not going to deny her this right but are happy for her. The only person actually against her happiness is Althea herself, with her guilty expectations concerning herself as a mother.
Althea is surrounded by an interesting gallery of persons. Anybody would want Patrick. He is humorous and strong and somewhat stubborn, and he is a man. Frederick the ex is irritating and funny. We are happy to have him coupled with the self-centered Topaz. The sex-goddess nursery nurse Sylvia and the young and attractive PE-teacher Jenny are seen through Altheas tolerant eyes. There are many redeeming qualities in the control-freakish younger sister Juno, and I find the description of her relationship to Althea masterly, and the mother of the sisters is deliciously horrible. Althea's children are beautifully drawn, I especially liked the Buddhist William, with his sense of humour and his sensitivity to his mother's moods. Teen-aged kids are able to be very nice.
The plot of this book was right, I liked the understated humour, and even if I am not a gardener, the gardening descriptions for me illustrated Althea's enthusiasm and her person. This book made me feel good.
Pleasent KF Outing ! - Rated
Number1.
Katie Fforde isn't claiming to write classic, deep, meaningful books, I mean if that's what you want, go read War and Peace ! If you want a light, lively, feel good read you need look no further than Katie Fforde!
Number 2.
This is the last book I read of the current KF canon. I was somewhat reluctant to read this Wild Designs, being not so fond of the kf books with older lead character and not that keen on gardening! However this book doesn't knock my favourites of there top spots, its is a worthy read, more enjoyable I think than Paradise Fields (which got bogged down with legal information) It seems to cover a great deal of time in this book, keeping the pacing steady making a consistent read (this means you don't end up scan reading through the slow bits!) Althea's children are ok althou maybe a little underdeveloped and all the Althea sending Patrick way and then wanting him back was near to being bothersome (but that's me being nit picky)! I would have thought this book would have been especially enjoyable if you are a gardener. Being completely plant - illiterate my self allot of the garden stuff went over my head! Maybe when Im older and into gardening I'll pick it up and read again.
Basically
Need cheering up? Know your plants? Want something you can take pleasure in reading? On the beach? In the bath? Curled up with a glass of wine? .... Well here's the book to read
1 of Ffordes Best - and it's not about 20-somethings! - Rated 
Somehow Katie Fforde can take characters that in another's hands would be unrealistic and makes them believable and down-to-earth. Fforde always turns a good tale, but I found this especially wonderful - maybe it's because the herione is pushing 40 with kids. (I've pushed 40 over!) And she still gets a fabulous romance! Another thing I love about Fforde is that the books are more about women finding themselves and their own place in the world than they are about finding love. (But they always get that, too - OK, maybe these are fairytales, but they at least seem realistic!) Althea is especially heartwarming, dealing with an insufferable ex, losing her job, kids that are good but demanding and self-centered (like all kids). Along comes Patrick to disrupt her life - the most disruptive threat being the fact that he's bought the property with the greenhouse that she's been using without permission. Soon, he threatens her peace of mind, his girlfriend runs off with her ex, she has to find a way to support herself - well, it all works out. The supporting characters are wonderful (as always) and I loved the description of all that goes into the Chelsea flower show. In my opinion, there's not a clunker in Fforde's collection.
|
