A is for...

Let's see if I can get a bit more organized and start from the beginning, if I can remember back that far. Here are the A's for the Alphabet Challenge.

The Anglophile by Laurie Gwen Shapiro
Rating: 2 1/2 stars

Gosh, I read this one in about January 2006 because I got it for Christmas. Being an Anglophile myself, I put it on my wish list. Plus, although I've gone off them a bit, I used to read the Red Dress Ink books very faithfully.

Shari Diamond is the titular Anglophile. Her other passion in life is her doctoral thesis on Volapuk, a lost language. She meets Kit at a linguistics conference in Chicago and not only is he a British dreamboat, he's a Volapuk scholar who has basically already presented her dissertation topic. Despite that, Shari is smitten and jets off to stay with Kit in London. Honestly, I don't remember a lot about this one, except that things get a bit odd from there, with Shari getting really mistrustful and weird about Kit. I could relate to her Anglophilia and things turned out okay in the end, but I remember being a bit dissatisfied with this one.

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Bad Manors by Lisa Armstrong
Rating: 3 stars

When single mum Cat inherits Butley Manor, a rundown health farm (from an unknown benefactor), she's delighted by the thought of leaving her management consultant job and living an idyllic rural life in Dorset with her daughter. But Butley is falling apart and the only clientele left are eccentric old folks who rarely pay their bills. Before leaving London, Cat began a relationship with her flash, handsome colleague Toby Marks and he promises to help her bring the spa back to life. But Toby's polar opposite half-brother is the other owner of the health farm and he has to approve all of the modernizing plans. Twists, turns, sabotage and romance follow.

I took this one on vacation to Scotland in May 2006. It was a fun British fluff read, good for a holiday. Plus, who could resist such a bad pun of a title? It wasn't as quite predictable as you'd except from the genre, which was a plus. Cat's emerging love for Butley and her heroic attempts to save made me really like her and want her to succeed. Extra colour and interest come from the permanent residents of Butley and the local townspeople, including the flamboyant and fun gay couple who own the local pub.