Katie Fforde - A Perfect Proposal

[5Foot5]

Following on from the recent Katie Fforde thead, I have just finished reading my free copy of her new book "A Perfect Proposal".
(Thanks Charlotte!)

If you are already a Katie Fforde fan then you will love it. If you are a chick-lit fan but have never read any of her books before I would say it is worth a try. If you are not a chick-lit fan - well obviously it is not aimed at you!

I enjoyed it for all the reasons I normally enjoy her work - firstly because the heroines are so thoroughly likeable and secondly because of the gentle thread of humour that runs through them.

One of the criticisms made on this forum about her previous book "Love Letters" (which I still haven't read yet) was that the heroine was "appallingly wet", "didn't have a social life" and kept "apologising for how useless she was." I don't think the same criticism could be levelled at the main character in "A Perfect Proposal" who, though young, is gutsy and resourceful, quite outgoing and has strong female friendships. She knows what she wants to do with her life and has made plans about how she is going to achieve it.

The romance has all the usual elements - handsome and seemingly unobtainable hero who heroine gets off to a bad start with - until circumstances throw them together, a night of passion, a misunderstanding and, finally, the romantic reconciliation. Yes, it is predictable but it is sometimes nice to wallow in an easy and enjoyable read that you know will leave you feeling good!

In summary, I would say it is a good choice for a relaxing holiday read if this is the sort of fiction you like.

'The romance has all the usual elements - handsome and seemingly unobtainable hero who heroine gets off to a bad start with - until circumstances throw them together, a night of passion, a misunderstanding and, finally, the romantic reconciliation'.

And that's precisely why I won't be reading it.

That's the plot of every single one of her books, in that order.

I like chick lit and I enjoyed the first few of hers until I realised they are all identical.

The reasons the hero and heroine don't get on in the first place is usually spurious, the fall out is always over the most ridiculous, nonsensical issue and the reconciliation involves the hero helping the 'feisty independent' heroine out so she realises she can't live without him.

Katie Fforde needs to stop churning the same story out every year because I'm sure it's putting off a lot of readers who were previously fans of hers.

"Katie Fforde needs to stop churning the same story out every year because I'm sure it's putting off a lot of readers who were previously fans of hers. "

If it ain't broke don't fix it!

No doubt if there was a noticeable fall in her sales her publisher's would give her the same advice. But if she is continuing to churn out bestsellers why would she want to change a winning formula?

If her motivation is just about money, then no, there's no reason to change what she does.

But there are plenty of other chick lit authors - Marion Keyes, Freya North, Jill Mansell, Isobel Wolff, Christina Jones - to name a few who produce a book with similar regularity but manage to vary their storylines.

Changing the name, occupation and location of the heroine just makes for a yawn inducing bad read.

Like I said, I liked her style but I won't read any more of hers because they are all exactly the same.

There were a fair number of people on the other thread who felt the same.

Out of interest, is there a bothy in this one?

"Out of interest, is there a bothy in this one? "

Nah it goes nowehere near Scotland.

United States and Cornwall mostly.

I've finished my copy too (thanks Charlotte)!

I did enjoy it more than her latest books, its more reminiscent of her earlier books. It was a good light-hearted read, and die-hard fans will probably love it. However, I thought parts of the storyline were a bit underused - Luke's previous marriage for one. I thought that could have been fleshed out more and might have made more of a believable issue than the Ali character. Also, the recent cliches in books thread kept rearing its head whilst I was reading it!

I have to agree with Olihan that her books are the same each time and its getting a bit disappointing to find that KF can't seem to do anything different. It might be a successful formula but as Olihan pointed out, there are many other successful authors who manage to do something different each time.

Anyway, that's my two penneth worth