i should change my "crummy chick lit" tag, because i don't actually find chick lit to be "crummy" across the board. i actually really enjoy it when i am in need of something fun & frothy between the heavier doses of non-fiction to which i subject myself. this particular dose of chick lit, however, wasn't particularly to my tastes.the plot stars perdita, a 29-year-old organic gardener who supplies a few local restaurants & a "health farm," which is a british-ism that i don't understand. at first i thought it was a rehab center, & then i thought maybe it was a spa. it doesn't really matter, it's not especially relevant to the plot. perdita's little house backs on to the land that is owned by her good friend kitty, an elderly wealthy lady who happens to be perdita's mother's godmother. perdita's parents are world travelers & are never around, so perdita spends most of her quality time with kitty. perdita is a divorcee, having married an unsuitable bully of a man who could not be faithful when she was 18. their split was a dark chapter in perdita's life, but kitty helped her get back on her feet, emotionally, & professionally, by giving her a parcel of land on which to build "poly-tunnels" (greenhouses?) in which to begin her gardening business.perdita supplied veggies to a local hotel, but gets the shock of her life when she makes a delivery one day & finds the old chef has been replaced with a new one--none other than her ex-husband, lucas, who was a stockbroker when she knew him. & we pretty much all know what's going to happen, thanks to the punny title, but the author still makes us wait the entire 360 pages before we get there. there are your usual hijinks--the sous-chef, perdita's very young friend janey, gets a crush on lucas & perdita sets her up with her employee, william, to try to distract her. lucas seems to hate perdita, but still gets her to agree to allow him to film a cooking show in her kitchen. perdita is tapped to be on the show as well. one night, perdita connives to get janey a night off to go on a date with william & fills in in the kitchen. lucas is angry because supposedly a michelin reviewer is in the dining room & he thinks perdita will mess up his chance of earning a star. they have a huge fight that actually involves perdita attempting to stab lucas with a butcher knife (!!!), & then they almost do the deed right on the kitchen floor. it's your classic bad-boy-you-can't-resist story, which is why i say it's not to my taste. i never found lucas a sympathetic enough character. i was never convinced that perdita should let bygones be bygones & start things up with him again. then kitty has a series of strokes & requires around-the-clock nursing care. perdita moves in with kitty & her caretakers. a long-lost nephew turns up & perdita is the only one who seems to understand that he's just there to try to get kitty to sign over her assets to him in the will. he hints that he'll charge perdita for the use of the land her poly-tunnels are on once it's all his, so not only is perdita distraught by the impending death of her friend, but she's also concerned about the future of her gardening business. of course, she doesn't share her suspicions with anyone else. she just bottles it all up, & once kitty dies, she puts off learning about what's in the will because she's convinced that the nephew inherited everything. she isn't taking care of herself & everyone is concerned, until lucas whisks her away to the cabin in the woods where they spent their honeymoon. they start things back up again & lucas gives her a long speech about how he had come back to town to find her again & convince himself that he hadn't made a mistake by splitting up with her, but instead found that she had grown up & become a confident, capable woman that he wants to marry again RIGHT NOW. they immediately (like literally within a few hours of hooking back up again) start making plans for their re-marriage & all the babies they're going to have. lucas has seen kitty's will & knows that perdita inherited everything. they move in to kitty's house & lucas jokes that perdita may already be preggers. perdita realizes that she misses kitty, but she doesn't need her anymore, now that she has lucas's love or something.it wasn't a terrible book, but all the british lingo was tough to parse out sometimes, & the plot seemed to move in fits & starts. there were long sections where perdita was keeping all her thoughts & feelings to herself & nothing seemed to be happening, & then boom! she's back with lucas & making baby plans in like five pages. but whatever--all i wanted was froth. i did expect the book to be a little funnier than it was, & i expected a little more glamour from the whole TV program plotline, but...whatever.
When I drive, I like to listen to NPR radio or audio books that I don't have to think too much about. You know -- the ones that I won't want to go back and savor the words, re-reading a particular passage to marvel at how it was crafted or what it said. I usually pick books that are cozy mysteries (thrillers make me speed) or some of the lighter, whimsical (rather than whimsicle, as used on www.regretsy.com, one of my other online indulgences.), sometimes even grabbing something that could fit as chick lit or the dreaded "women's fiction". (Note: I also have been known to listen to audio books for big, heavy books that would be awkward to hold, or books that I haven't been able to get into when reading, but that are highly recommended. Sometimes a good reader can get me through those, and I come out liking them at the end.) This book fits one of those categories -- you be the judge.The story is pretty straightforward. Perdita finally has her life on track after having her heart broken and her marriage dissolved. She runs a small organic gardening business, has faithful clients and good friends, including her dear octogenarian friend and mentor, Kitty (who is more family to Perdita than her actual family.) Everything is thrown out of kilter when her ex-husband Lucas appears on the scene. He, too has reshaped his life and is a world class chef. Somehow, even though they antagonize the crap out of each other, they are paired in a television cooking show. Into this mix, add Kitty's declining health and this book is born.First off, I have to say that Divina Porter, the performer of the audio addition I listened to is marvelous. I intend to seek out more books read by her (I've heard her before in some other series, already, and thoroughly appreciated her remarkable talents.) Had I not been listening to this on audio, with such a skilled actor, this might have been very hard for me to bear. The interplay between characters was good, but as Kitty began to decline, it was all too easy to remember my own experiences. Fforde got inside my head and almost, but not quite, lived my life, British style. But it all was so beautifully done, and Porter read it all so eloquently, that I kept on.And as for my criteria of audio books where I wouldn't want to capture a quote, well that was shot to hell. I had to pull over to the side of the road a couple of times to write things down. Gems like, "the difference between solitude and loneliness is that you choose solitude." Or "don't cry over things that can't cry over you" (said when a china teacup broke), which I don't entirely agree with, but I did like none-the-less. Fforde created a world that I was glad to visit, with vibrant, distinct, characters. There was only one scene I didn't like (has to do with lust in the kitchen, if you really want to know), but it's just because it was just a little to rough for my tastes and experiences. Her characters evolve in a realistic manner, and I was glad for the glimpse into their world.(I think this book goes under a different title, Thyme Out, in the UK.)(More on Davina Porter here.)
What do You think about Second Thyme Around (2004)?
After her acrimonious divorce, Perdita Dylan has built up both her life and a successful business growing unusual salad. When she arrives at the restaurant with her usual delivery of vegetables, she expects it to be a normal morning. She certainly does not expect to find that her ex-husband Lucas has taken over as head chef. In the ten years since their disastrous marriage, Perdita has grown in confidence and is now perfectly capable of standing up for herself against the volatile and determined
—Jess Chambers
One of my favorites by Katie Fforde. After a disastrous marriage, Perdita has managed to put her life back together and start up her own business growing and selling vegetables to local restaurants. She lives in a quaint English village across the garden from her elderly godmother, who dotes on her, dispensing sage and practical advice. One morning while she is delivering her veges to the local hotel, she is shocked to learn that the hotel has taken on a new chef . . . her ex, Lucas. Somehow she is talked into letting a television crew film Lucas' cooking show in the kitchen of her picturesque cottage and even makes an appearance in the episode. As the sparks fly between Perdita and Lucas, she has to deal with the tumultuous emotions she thought she had put to rest after her divorce. As an avid Food Network fan, I especially enjoyed the culinary aspects of this romantic comedy.
—Linda
Wasn't expecting especially much from this Katie Fforde. Generally I enjoy reading her books while they're in my hands, but then they fly completely out of my head the second I put them down. Thyme Out, though, I really enjoyed and I think I'll think about for a lot longer. Sure, there's the usual romance plotline involving Perdita and her ex-husband Lucas, but what really got me involved in this story was the relationship between Perdita and her elderly neighbour Kitty. It gave a lot more depth and emotional connection to the book than a simple romance would have. It actually made me cry towards the end of the book. Definitely worth a read.
—Tali
