Let me first say that if you think this is a realistic view of life in England then you need a reality check. I wanted to read more by this author after really enjoying her book poppyland. I was sorely disappointed. This book is about a woman whose boyfriend leaves for a job abroad (temporarily) and goes on to talk about the woes of single parenthood, if your boyfriend moves away for work you are NOT a single parent! I detested the main character and her whiny pretentious middle class ways. This woman was so unlikeable, she moaned about her horrid unfair life while twittering on about her ducks and chickens that live in her huge country garden outside her idyllic cottage. She is so childish in her ways and irritated me beyond belief. The only relief I had from the main character, Venetia was her children, who were delightful and stroppy and cute and funny. She did not seem to notice the wonder of said children very often. The part with the bunnies upset me and caused me to have even more hatred for these absolutely awful unfeeling middle class twerps. Venetia accidentally becomes a fashion designer by sewing old tat onto used cardigans which miraculously end up selling in London for hundreds of pounds each (As someone currently looking into setting up a craft business I found this so insulting and patronising).... this whole concept was just unrealistic and idiotic. She also manages to get engaged to someone she has zero interest in because she is convinced that her far away boyfriend is off doing the same. There were parts of this book which made me laugh and chuckle but they came less often than the moments that made me scowl and tut. I just found this book totally unrelatable and I couldnt have cared a less about her having a happy ending, in fact I would have felt better if she didnt. If you are going to read one of this authors books please make it poppyland and not this pile of crud.
A dissertation wouldn't convey how much i hated this book!Stories like this is what give people that image of single parents! It is a completely awful story and focuses on a self obsessed woman WHO NEED A MAN TO SURVIVEand no this isn't a book written in the 1800s its a present day book!Frankly its disgusting the idea that to be a full house hold you need a man and woman to have a complete working house hold!it pisses me off that to the detriment of her children's upbringing the character is obsessed with her own self endeavors and man hunt!it makes me want to pull my hair out how backward this story is! i havent read another works of writting of the authour so i will not be overly judgmental about her other works, but this story means i will keep a distance from her other works just in case!and i dont not understand what she was trying to put across in the book!!!! HATTEEDDD IT!
Oh, wow. I wanted to love this book as much as I loved Hens Dancing, which I gave 5 stars. Perhaps if I had read this one first, even though it is actually the sequel to Hens Dancing, I would have given it 5 stars. In Hens Dancing the reader meets Venetia, divorced mother of three children; all of whom are a handful and to add to that, Venetia loves/adores her children, but her parenting skills leave a lot to be desired. With that said, Venetia is also scattered, reckless, overly enthusiastic to the point of not thinking things through, and she has a short attention span. All that looked to change at the end.Now, Summertime, reintroduces the reader to Venetia. I had hoped that her new beginning would give her new adventures. I didn't want her to change. I just wanted her situations to change. Instead, I found this second book to be merely a repeat of the first with just a couple of new characters coming into the story along with a new title and a new book cover.I was so excited to get this second book but I ended up so disappointed and a couple of times I found myself skipping some pages just to get to the end quicker. The ending was also a big disappointment. Like the first ending, the story leaves everything to the reader's imagination and the open-ended ending might suggest that a third book will follow. If it does, I imagine I will pass on it. I can't find Venetia all the loveable and funny again. She is getting to be annoying.
—Margaret
Well, I can say I did finish this book, but only because I wanted something nasty to happen to the main character!The story is about Venetia Summers, a single Mum with three kids, who seems to me to live a lovely life in the country. She has assorted animals and is a copywriter cum fashion designer, with frends and family aroud her. But her boyfriend gets a job abroad and suddenly she can't cope with life and everything goes stupidly wrong. This includes getting lumbered with organising her brother's wedding and having an on-off relationship with the next door neighbour.Detect some slight pessimism?All the blurb mentions this being a very funny book and, fair enough, some of the incidences did make me laugh. However, rabbits being eaten by the dogs and then leaving dogs in kennels as can't be bothered to go fetch them, made me wince. As it's written in diary form, I suppose you could take it as tongue in cheek, but the tone wasn't quite right for this. I actually breathed a sigh of relief, not because of the sappy ending, but because I did manage to finish it.
—Dark-Draco
