Well Groomed is well tasty! (Well Groomed - Fiona Walker)

Member Name: debbie.rowe

Product:	Well Groomed - Fiona Walker
Date:	08/12/00 (148 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You can put yourself in the character's shoes - the writing is that sharp

Disadvantages: It ends

Well, Hugo is well tasty in my opinion, but I digress!

I like this book so much, that I suggested to the nice man who runs this section that he might like to add this book, just so that I can give my opinion on it.

I read this book before its prequel, French Relations, but it really didn't matter.

The book's heroine is Tash French, tall, gangly and beautiful, but desperately insecure (I think we can all relate a bit to the latter), and madly in love with Niall, the romantic, whiskey drinking, Irish hunk of an actor.

They met in the first book, but, again, this doesn't matter. Well Groomed opens on Christmas day, on a rare occasion when Tash and Niall are both in their freezing cold cottage, and proceeds to lead the reader a merry dance through their relationship and their relationships with others.

Whilst Niall is away filming blockbusters left, right and centre, working to earn enough money to pay off his scheming ex-wife, Lisette, Tash, who thanks to the horse given to her by her mother and step-father in the first book, has returned to her childhood dreams, and is working for the Moncrieff stables, where Penny and Gus, eventing and cross country freaks, are struggling to keep things together, both financially and emotionally.

Tash keeps Snob, her horse, at the yard, and enjoys spending time with the family, Penny and Gus, Penny's sister and her two teenage children, along with assorted animals, grooms, staff and visitors.

Hugo Beauchamp, Tash's teenage crush, lives nearby, and runs a successful yard himself, and is really rich to boot, although you wouldn't think it to look at the house, left to him by his father, lived in by his mother and a pug called Gordons'.

Hugo benevolently helps the Moncrieff's out financially, but only so that Tash can have the chances she needs with her horse. Tash, of course, is unaware of this.

Hugo's best mate, is B
en, a totally down to earth titled man, who is married to Sophia, Tash's older ex-model sister. Tash's brother, Matty is married to Sally, who meets up again with old friend, Lisette, whilst Matty is Niall's best friend.

Confused? Each character in this book is an individual, no matter how much they get mixed up with each other. I could go on and on, and retell the story in my own words, but I wouldn't do it justice.

A mixture of horses, dogs, film sets, business deals, back-stabbing, double crossing, self discovery, humour and above all love and passion, this book is a stunner.

Fiona Walker theme of writing is reminiscent of Jilly Cooper, but she has
her own style, that will have you laughing out loud at some of the antics, chewing your knuckles in frustration when you know that something should happen, but obviously isn't going to, and finally it will make you smile when you reach an ending that was almost inevitable from the start, and would have saved the characters a lot of heartache if they had done it from the start. But that would mean that you would miss an enjoyable read, from first to last page.

Summary: