Rating: 
Summary: Slow But Steady
Review: Fforde's Stately Pursuits starts off slow and had me a bit worried. But, this enchanting story keeps you reading and in love with the characters. A young girls struggle with life, love, family and her career keep the pages moving and your heart hoping that everything will work out. You will be pleasantly surprised by this novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Cute but comes up short
Review: I enjoyed this book enough to finish it but not enough to keep it. Katie Fforde has a pleasant writing style and the start of the book was it's strong suit--zippy opening, then cozy as Hetty settles into her uncle's house. I started to get somewhat bored when I realised neither incidents (the mysterious loan, for instance) nor characters (Peter, for instance) were going to receive any sustained development. I'm not looking for War and Peace here but she introduces elements and drops them for all intents and purposes. Why was the loan taken out? What were the dire consequences of non-payment? Why didn't she have a simple conversation with the lender about it? Was the lender legit or a mobster? Etc. What was Peter all about. There seemed to be something sinister about him at first and then he just becomes the jolly neighbor. The romantic element of the book was a bit silly--moved into heavy breathing territory. I bought a second book by Fforde on the strength of the opening of this one--I hope I enjoy it "whole" a bit more than Stately Designs.
Rating:
Summary: rather icky and dumb
Review: I had loved Fforde's Wild Designs so this one was a disappointment. Hetty is 24 and getting over a broken heart when her mother signs her up to go work at Courtbridge House, a family estate inherited by a distant cousin (who is in Turkmenistan). Hetty is like the silly fluffy hen she sounds like she's named after, and oh isn't it wonderful how the colorful local village people help her out. So many quirky characters in one place! Oh my! How annoying! She may or may not be in love with Peter, a local man who helps her out a lot, or Connor Barrabin, her own distant cousin whom everyone calls "Conan the Barbarian" because he wants to pull the house down (because it's falling apart anyway) whereas Hettty and the village want to open it to the public and rent it out for formals. whatever. who cares. This could have been a good book if it wasn't bordering on typical chick-lit histrionics all the time. Fforde can and has done better.
Rating: 
Summary: This is a must read!
Review: I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I found it thoroughly engrossing, and just darn right funny. It was cozy read, like curling up with a Mocha from Starbucks or listening to Chopin. The characters are vivid and likeable, and the old house is a worthy character unto itself. It is a must read for lovers of what I call "escapist" fiction.
Rating:
Summary: This is a must read!
Review: I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I found it thoroughly engrossing, and just darn right funny. It was cozy read, like curling up with a Mocha from Starbucks or listening to Chopin. The characters are vivid and likeable, and the old house is a worthy character unto itself. It is a must read for lovers of what I call "escapist" fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Positively endearing
Review: No one hates these "bodice rippers," whether modern or period, more than I do. But Fforde's "Stately Pursuits" didn't read like one. It was funny and a terribly fast read. The English country village sports the usual pack of eccentrics, but they were people you wish you knew. I couldn't put it down. I don't say that about many books, but, in this case, I just had to see how the novel would resolve itself. With stories like these, as Roger Ebert observed about a similar movie, you know where the stories going but, if it's done well, you enjoy the ride anyway. Here's one case where you'll enjoy the ride.
Rating:
Summary: English writer Katie Fforde writes brilliantly!
Review: She comes up with the most enjoyable story lines, and then goes a step further, and keeps you in suspense quite to the end. I couldn't wait for the story to end, yet hated to have it end. I positively hate bodice ripper novels, and Ms.Fforde manages to move us through the necessary romance parts of the story with dignity and still, my heart went pitty-pat. The cast of characters are remarkable, yet it's your usual butinsky Mother, pushy know-it-all neighbor, brilliant, funny and slightly naughty new best friend and a couple of prospective guys all joining in to make our heroine, Hetty wish she NEVER agreed to "house-sit". So the old house gets a much needed polish, as does Hetty's heart. Excellent; I don't know if I enjoyed this or Fforde's "Wild Designs" as a favorite!
Rating:
Summary: Delightful romp in a decaying English manor house
Review: This is a light and easy read that has a real feel good air to it. Fforde is entertaining and renders modern day romances without the sappiness man romances depend on. The characters are believable and real and the whole feel of the book is wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: Funny and endearing
Review: This is a pleasant, well written enough novel. It is also "Exhibit A" on how an Englishwoman writes a romance differently from an American woman. For one, it is so much quieter and drier than an American romance. It is set in a village of English eccentrics (is there any other kind?), which is intent on preserving local businesses. The heroine decides to help the village save the historical house she has been assigned to house-sit. While she and the villagers are busy making it ready for tourist house tours, enter the hero and heir to the house. He is Connor Barrabin, nicknamed Conan the Barbarian because he would like to sell the house to an amusement park. You'll have an enjoyable enough time with this novel but you will hardly be riveted to every page. I'm unsure if I want to read anymore of this author's work. I think I may personally require more gripping material. If you like light, dry English comedies, however, this may be just your...er...cup of tea.
Rating:
Summary: First Contact
Review: This Was the first book I had ever read from Fforde. I was working in a bookstore at the time and glanced at the cover while dusting the shelves. Since then Katie Fforde has become one of my favorite authors of this genre. Hettie is timid and sweet, Conner definately lives up to his nickname "Conan the Barbarian". While you know immediately the outcome for these two from practically the moment you open the book. You'll enjoy their path getting there in a beat up (but beautiful) old car.
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