Katy is a disillusioned English teacher, who writes her historical bonkbuster during staff meetings. Katy thinks she's found her perfect man in James, and due to this she blithely ignores the evil jibes of his mother and his demands that she becomes the perfect hostess to support his efforts to get a promotion. A disastrous dinner party including her best friend Ollie, his red setter, a cactus and a lobster called "Pinchy" leads to James deciding that Katy is not suitable wife material even if his mother has got a Vera Wang dress planned, and he throws her out, complete with Pinchy! Katy wallows in regrets and leans heavily on Ollie for comfort, even the fictional steamy love life of Millandra and Jake are of little comfort. A health scare leads Katy to find a new life, she packs up and leaves for Cornwall to stay with her friend, Mads, who is convinced that the move will give her a bestselling book and a whole new love life. It's certainly a change as she sells sex toys from the church mini bus, releases Pinchy back to the wild, meets a handsome but slightly intimidating fisherman and then becomes girlfriend of stunning actor, Gabriel and has to cope with all the associated hysteria from the press this creates. Katy manages to change her life but has she found love? Throw in a manic rich aunt, a flamboyant gay best friend and a money grabbing ex and Katy still gets her happy ending.
This book has massively benefited from the Richard and Judy effect...apparently the author's mum in law convinced them to read her manuscript and then she got her publishing deal. (Only jealous!!) It is pure chick-lit and entertaining, but due to work etc I left off slap in the middle of reading it for a couple of weeks and I wasn't that bothered about going back, which says it all really. It's simplistic, Katy is mildly annoying by being a weak and irritating girly who gets lucky without any effort on her part. The cancer scare seemed unnecessary, her life was pretty pointless anyway, so hardly needed that to shake things up! Ollie had potential but came across as being wet, not my hero type. It was all a bit too contrived with comic set pieces to my taste, similar to some earlier Sophie Kinsella, and smacks of "fun, chick flick" potential.
Believe the bright pink cover as it sums it up - loud, silly and fun...but instantly forgettable.
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