Rating: 
Summary: well, now I know about canal boats!
Review: Julie Fairfax needs a job. After answering an ad she is offered a job on a pair on canal boats as a cook and general helper. Through her experience we learn an awful lot about boats and just how narrow they are! Fergus, an old friend of the family who Julie does not appreciate, helps them out when they are in need of extra crew. Julie doesn't like this Fergus at all, with horrible memories of their intertwined childhood. Still he perseveres with attempting to court Julie, despite their arguments and differing views. However, it would seem that opposites do attract as we follow their lives down the canals and into happy ever after.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun, cosy, light romantic fiction, but not her best
Review: Katie Fforde does a great job of writing smart, funny yet sweet romantic fiction. "Life Skills" tells the story of Julia Fairfax, who makes some dramatic changes in her life -- quitting her job, dumping her fiance, subletting her house -- then takes an unusual job as a cook on a canal boat while she sorts things out. Too much canal boat lingo and too many technical details about boating threatened to overwhelm the story before it got going, but I persevered, and eventually got hooked. Although there's a lot to recommend this book if you're looking for a pleasant read that is romantic yet real and intelligent, it's not Katie Fforde's best. I found the characters a wee bit predictable (e.g. stuffy snobbish matron, dull conventional ex-fiance, daddy's little princess); and the plot meandering. Perhaps I've merely been spoiled by Ms. Fforde's earlier efforts, notably "Stately Pursuits" and "Wild Designs," and you might want to check them out first.
Rating:
Summary: Fun, cosy, light romantic fiction, but not her best
Review: Katie Fforde does a great job of writing smart, funny yet sweet romantic fiction. "Life Skills" tells the story of Julia Fairfax, who makes some dramatic changes in her life -- quitting her job, dumping her fiance, subletting her house -- then takes an unusual job as a cook on a canal boat while she sorts things out. Too much canal boat lingo and too many technical details about boating threatened to overwhelm the story before it got going, but I persevered, and eventually got hooked. Although there's a lot to recommend this book if you're looking for a pleasant read that is romantic yet real and intelligent, it's not Katie Fforde's best. I found the characters a wee bit predictable (e.g. stuffy snobbish matron, dull conventional ex-fiance, daddy's little princess); and the plot meandering. Perhaps I've merely been spoiled by Ms. Fforde's earlier efforts, notably "Stately Pursuits" and "Wild Designs," and you might want to check them out first.
Rating: 
Summary: Katie Fforde - not her best, but still 5 stars!
Review: Katie Fforde turns a great tale - there's not a bad book in her bunch. However, Julia isn't as loveable as Fforde's other heriones. And that's OK, I suppose. You do wonder why Fergus persists to the end, how he could see the good that was buried under the surliness. While I didn't click as much with Julia as I have with other Fforde characters, I simply loved Fergus and once again the cast of supporting characters is a riot. And the whole idea of canal boats is so interesting to me as an American - sounds like to fun! Nobody turns a tale like Katie Fforde - be sure to check out her other books, especially Wild Designs and Living Dangerously.
Rating:
Summary: A great fun read
Review: No, Julia isn't as endearing as some of the other heriones in Katie Fforde books, but Life Skills still hits the mark. Julia is in a state of flux, and makes more than a few mistakes. Some minor, some major (like getting pregnant by someone she doesn't really like). But she - along with the supporting characters - all grow and learn quite a bit about what matters in life. Fforde has such a wonderful touch of humor in her books. I'd recommend them all - especially "Living Dangerously" and "Stately Pursuits".
Rating:
Summary: laughed out loud
Review: This book is not for everyone but if you enjoy tongue in cheek humor, great characters, a good setting and a romance that is not jaded you will enjoy it. Makes a great listen on tape also.
Rating:
Summary: Not Her Best
Review: This is not a BAD book, and certainly worth reading, but I must admit I found it slow going. As another reviewer aptly observed, after "Stately Pursuits" and "Wild Designs," I was expecting something wonderful. "Life Skills" is not wonderful. Still, it is a sweet, albeit slow, story of a woman in transition from a job and a dull fiance to something she hopes is better. Julia is often hard to like, especially when she is constantly boorish to the potential love interest, Fergus. One wonders what he sees in her; she is not at all nice to him until pratically the last page of the book! I admit I was disappointed in "Life Skills," but not enough to put me off Fforde, and not enough to tell other readers not to try it themselves.
Rating:
Summary: Humor is an essential "life skill" for the heroine...
Review: This is the first book I've read by this author. I enjoyed the humor embedded in the story. Other reviewers mentioned the main character was exasperating but I liked watching her grow as she embarked upon her adventure of life on the canals. Her determination NOT to get involved and then keep him away from our hero wasn't always logical, but when is love logical?
Rating:
Summary: The Best of Fforde's Bunch
Review: This was the first Katie Fforde that I ever read, and I found it a delightful romp, full of entertaining details about running a hotel boat through England's canals. Delicious diction too, replete with modern British vernacular which will both puzzle and amuse American readers. The book is marred by a main character who is as frustrating as Kissy Mellors in Tabitha King's Survivor, unwilling to recognize a true Prince Charming when she seems him. Thinking I had found a worthwhile new author, I read Fforde's Wild Designs and Stately Pursuits and was quite disappointed -- her protagonists are all cut from the same cloth, and both books lacked the spark of Life Skills.
Rating:
Summary: The Best of Fforde's Bunch
Review: This was the first Katie Fforde that I ever read, and I found it a delightful romp, full of entertaining details about running a hotel boat through England's canals. Delicious diction too, replete with modern British vernacular which will both puzzle and amuse American readers. The book is marred by a main character who is as frustrating as Kissy Mellors in Tabitha King's Survivor, unwilling to recognize a true Prince Charming when she seems him. Thinking I had found a worthwhile new author, I read Fforde's Wild Designs and Stately Pursuits and was quite disappointed -- her protagonists are all cut from the same cloth, and both books lacked the spark of Life Skills.
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