Holiday Reading

Well aren't you a bunch of lucky people cos you get two blog posts from me today :).

As you all know, I've been off on my rather damp and rainy camping holiday.  I don't like to take my Sony Reader camping with me cos I'm scared to death that it might get a) wet or b) stolen or c) draw too much attention to itself so that people want to look at it.  Instead I take boring old paperbacks that gain no attention other than...them: watcha reading?; me: an (insert sub-genre) romance.  At which point the word 'romance' either elicits a snort of derision or people wander off bored that my reading choice is so 'girly'.

This trip I read two books.  The first book was The Daywalker Legacy by Amanda Young which comprises of two paranormal novellas about her Daywalker vampires.  I'm not going to say anything about that here cos I'm reviewing it for Three Dollar Bill Reviews sometime next week probably.  You'll have to wait until then to read my views on it.

The second book was one which has been on my TBR pile for a while - The Larton Chronicles - which I bought after reading Chris' review on it ages ago.

The book is a rather eclectic comedy romance about two British men, Robert and Michael.  Robert, who is our main third person narrator, is a bad tempered ex-policeman who now writes novels.  He decides that he's had enough of the noise and pollution of London and so moves to a small village in Gloucestershire, Larton.  In the village is an assortment of different characters but the one which stands out most is Robert's near neighbour, Michael.  Former Lord of the Manor and descended from the Anglo-Irish gentry, Michael divides his time between Larton and Dublin where he is in the Irish military.  Michael's main love is anything to do with horses.  He rides in various horsey competitions with the Irish guards and loves drag hunting.  The book follows this unlikely pair as they become friends and then fall in love.  During that time they suffer various injuries and argue a lot, mostly about Michael's complete insensitivity.  I thought they were marvellous, especially in the understated way they express emotions in a typical British bloke fashion, ie, either not at all or, when forced, in a bit of a gruff manner.  The door shuts on all physical contact, even kissing, but I thought that was in keeping with the way the men live their life.  I often found myself chortling at Robert's acerbic commentary, especially about the horse-mad people who litter the pages.  I got a glimpse into the world of the landed gentry - something as a complete pleb I know nothing about - and yet other things seemed delightfully familiar.  I'm not sure this will be a book to everyone's taste - it is VERY British - but I greatly enjoyed its vast number of characters and rambling plot.  Wonderful.

Buy the book HERE.