On a spur of the moment and to start up her dream job, Anna has bought at the perfect cottage of her dreams, in the tiny town of Amberford. But there's another reason why Anna moved to the picturesque village, her old tutor. Max, the charming, sophisticated, handsome and downright dishy tutor from her student days that she's held a candle for the past three years, lived somewhere near the town. Or at least his mother did, and she just might get to see him again. Upon closer examination Anna has realised that there is a lot more work to be done, than just sanding and decorating. For a start, she has no staircase, just a ladder to get up to the second level and there is no flooring to walk on, just beams. Determined, Anna will still progress with the building and the work that needs doing on it, after all how hard can it be this time? Soon Anna starts to feel a little homesick in a new little village with no one she knows. But when her new next door neighbour's stood on her doorstep waiting for the plumber, Anna soon finds that she won't be friendless for too long. With Anna fixing her plumbing problems and Chloe being ever so thankful by handing over tea and wine, Anna and Chloe soon start to become great friends. Along the way Anna has been persuaded by Chloe to take on ownership of an ex-racing greyhound Caroline. Soon it was just Anna and Chloe taking the little cottage house by storm, even if i t meant having to see some of Anna's possessions being broken in the process. And not by Chloe's three boys. But not everything is what as it seems, for one she has Rob Hunter coming round and demolishing her dreams of owning her house by informing her that it is a listed building, and that he is none other than the listed buildings officer. To Anna's astonishment and annoyance, she now has to go by him and change all her plans, and if it couldn't get any worse. The irritating yet handsomely attractive Mr. Hunter is also the rehoming officer for the Greyhound rescue services, who just so happened to see the state of her house. Anna's not going down without a fight! She's worked too hard for this house and she will get it back up to running and legal order, just the same with her dog Caroline. With brilliant friends along the way and using every strength she has, Anna will get everything she has ever dreamt of, even if it means sacrificing a few things along the way. Join Anna as she embarks on the adventure of a lifetime, through love, hate, betrayal, friendship, romance and not forgetting family. On this roller coaster he calls her life. Practically Perfect by Katie Fforde, is one of her many novels that I should of been reading years ago! This is the first book that I have read by Fforde and wish that I had been reading her books sooner. Her writing style is on the same Parr with Jill Mansell and Jenny Colgan and I loved it! The book was well written, funny in places and a downright summer read! It was very fast paced that I loved and the characters we're well written. I think of all my favourite character was Chloe, her laid back attitude towards everyone and her mothering over Anna just in some ways felt like home, I don't know. I guess what I'm trying to say is that is had a lovely homey and family feeling to the book which I'm sure in some ways with Anna's fair share of bad look and tiny snaggles in romances that everyone woman has been in those laughable but cringe worthy moments! The story flowed nicely and it is a perfect book to read on a warm summers day, or even if you wanted a quick read. I would say that it is a perfect book to read if you have kids and have a spare couple of hours ;) I picked up the book from the Charity table for 50p from Tesco's and I'm so glad I did otherwise I wouldn't of found out about this author, well I probably would of but probably not so quickly. I am glad though because I will now read more books by her and can't wait for all the lovely summer reads! You know how I am with the reviews and seasons, hey! That could be a new name for the blog! But who knows, what do you all think? I also liked the sound of the book from the blurb, and when I got into it I loved it more as Anna followed her dreams to be able to do what she wanted and she never gave up or let anyone or anything get in her way as well as people who thought differently of it. Which I loved and is exactly the pick me up that I needed to be able to push my bum into gear and get on with my Cake pages! In some places Anna did annoy me a bit, just down to the pure fact that she was having after a man who didn't give a rats arse about her and she knew, but because she had pined after him for so many years she just put up with it for a little while, but she came to her senses in the end! All in all I will give this book a 9 out of 10!
**Originally posted on Red Fox Tales**I'm so happy this is the next book I picked up for #BookTubeAThon. I was in one of those moods where I just wanted to read a beautifully written chic lit, and of course Katie Fforde did it again. Not only does she write such interesting characters, but they are also genuine. If it wasn't for motherly duties and basically being an adult, I would definitely have read this in a day. The story is centred around Anna, an interior designer, who is set out to renovate a beautiful cottage all on her own. She wants to prove everyone wrong that not only is she old enough to do this, but also strong enough as well. At first I was worried that the whole "feminism" will over power the story, but being a woman myself, sometimes it's great to read a character who doesn't need a man 24/7 in her life to do things for her. She came across as a strong, independent woman without being to over the top.Of course with chic lits there are the "love interests". I wouldn't say there was a love triangle, but there are two guys she is more or less interested in. Max and Rob, I'll let you read the book to make up your mind about them. It's obvious who she ends up with at the end, but their journey together is what really won me over.Another thing that won me over is Caroline, a recently rescued greyhound. Even though Caroline was dumped on Anna by a terrible owner, and Anna not knowing one thing about dogs in general, there was definitely love at first sight for both of them. I couldn't recommend this book enough. Everything about this book is beautifully written, amazing characters. It all felt so real that it could possibly be based on a true story. I'll definitely be reading more of Katie Fforde in the near future.
What do You think about Practically Perfect (2007)?
The Book Practically Perfect by Katie Fforde wasn’t a very good one. Practically Perfect is 373 pages and is in the romance genre. The book was basically about an interior designer named Anna, who is fixing up an old English cottage in the small town of Amberford. She is very close to her sister who lives in the city with her family. She also comes to know her neighbor Chloe who provides her with help, advice, tea and a rescue greyhound Caroline. The cottage is picture perfect on the outside, but in dire need of TLC on the inside. With a ladder for a stair case, candles for lights, and no floors, Anna has a lot of work cut out for her. As her life is starting to settle down, Rob Hunter comes into play and throws Anna a curve ball. Anna is now confused on what to say and what to do. Will Anna ever be able to relax again? I personally thought the book was awful. The author made Anna seem so annoying! She was very indecisive which held up the whole story and frustrated me. I would not recommend reading this book unless you want to read 12 chapters just to get into some juicy parts. Here’s an examples, “At the sight of Mrs. Gordon’s face, Anna turned away.” This could have been an awesome part if she wasn’t so shy! This sort of thing went on trough the whole book! Whenever there was a perfect opportunity for SOMETHING to happen, Anna would be shy, or concerned about what to do, and ruin it! This is obviously one of the handfuls of weaknesses this book had. Another one is how long it took to get anywhere, and the author confused you about where the characters where. One sentence they would be in the garden, then all of a sudden their starring at the stove! This was very distracting and frustrating. But the one thing I can connect to this book is that I want to be an interior designer, so this sort of gave me a piece at what I would be getting into. The only difference is that she was also par architect, and I don’t want to be. Over all I wouldn’t recommend this book to you unless you like to read books that take forever to get anywhere (which isn’t much) and on annoying, indecisive characters.
—Lauren
The thing is, this book was just slow. It seemed like too much time was devoted to really ordinary events; like characters drinking tea or Anna reminding the reader she has no shower or bath, and not enough to creating plot twists. Perhaps it’s just me, but I found myself losing focus in the middle little bit. Unfortunately this just made me concentrate on the irksome bits more. For example, the way Fforde constantly describes Anna as scruffy. I got that she was supposed to be a bit careless of her appearance, because she was in the middle of decorating a house, but didn’t like how much emphasis was placed on this. It was as if the only way to prove she was good at her job was to make her totally unfeminine- almost manly. Maybe that’s a little picky and maybe I’m reading too much into it, but I found myself really noticing it every time it came up. In reality this is such a small flaw that I wouldn’t usually have mentioned it, but it helps make my point, there just wasn’t enough substance to Practically Perfect. (www.femalescriblerian.wordpress.com)
—Kathy Hamilton
Mostly what I object to in Fforde's Practically Perfect is she and her character did not get why Mr. Darcy in the Jennifer Erhl version jumped into the pond -- how hard is it to get that he was travel weary, discouraged and for the first time in his life, acting spontaneously. Who wouldn't get that the film enhancement was to show Darcy has shifted. The wet shirt was besides the point - Darcy has grown. And the consequences of both changing was that now, they could meet with new eyes. What author could not get that? Katie Fforde, for example. I liked this less than Restoring Grace. If you want a very like summer read, try Grace.
—Garnette
