Life Skills

I absolutely loved this book!! I swear, I started dreaming about boats after reading it. The second time I read it, I had read it in a day! It's still wonderful everytime I read it! It's very well written, and an absolute favorite. I even bought it for a few friends for Christmas!

This book is not for everyone but if you enjoy tongue in cheek humor, great characters, a good setting and a romance that is not jaded you will enjoy it. Makes a great listen on tape also.

A week after I moved from Europe back to the USA, I discovered "Life Skills" by accident at a local Wal-Mart, of all places. At the time, I didn't realise it was Brit chick fiction, which I buy whenever I'm in London. I just about inhaled this book. Katie Fforde writes so well, I could see myself with the heroine on this crowded and cramped hotel boat, maneuvering tedious waterways and coping with the weirdo guests. I stayed up all night just to finish it, and I was genuinely sorry when the story ended. This is not "War and Peace," but a fun, escapist read, which reminded me of my various Brit friends, most of whom act and talk just like Katie's characters. I liked this so much, I bought the rest of her paperbacks on my last trip to London! For those who don't know Katie Fforde's writing, "Life Skills" is a fab introduction.

Katie Fforde turns a great tale - there's not a bad book in her bunch. However, Julia isn't as loveable as Fforde's other heriones. And that's OK, I suppose. You do wonder why Fergus persists to the end, how he could see the good that was buried under the surliness. While I didn't click as much with Julia as I have with other Fforde characters, I simply loved Fergus and once again the cast of supporting characters is a riot. And the whole idea of canal boats is so interesting to me as an American - sounds like to fun! Nobody turns a tale like Katie Fforde - be sure to check out her other books, especially Wild Designs and Living Dangerously.

This was the first Katie Fforde that I ever read, and I found it a delightful romp, full of entertaining details about running a hotel boat through England's canals. Delicious diction too, replete with modern British vernacular which will both puzzle and amuse American readers. The book is marred by a main character who is as frustrating as Kissy Mellors in Tabitha King's Survivor, unwilling to recognize a true Prince Charming when she seems him. Thinking I had found a worthwhile new author, I read Fforde's Wild Designs and Stately Pursuits and was quite disappointed -- her protagonists are all cut from the same cloth, and both books lacked the spark of Life Skills.