Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Happy Birthday
Magical Village series book 5

by Christina Jones



      Hairdresser Phoebe Bowler is all set to marry childhood sweetheart Ben Phipps—but he leaves her standing at the altar.  It seems he planned his escape from the bonds of matrimony for months, leaving a red-faced Phoebe with nothing but the rent on her flat paid up for several more months.  After that she needs to find a flatmate or move back in with her parents.  She has a gorgeous hunk of a man in the upstairs flat, but he has just been released from prison and she is off men for good—isn’t she?  Meanwhile the hapless residents of unlovely retirement home Twilights yearn for freedom in the hottest summer anybody can remember, and a certain gypsy OAP has a special magic spell just waiting for Phoebe.

I am not a fan of chick lit, and the mere mention has me hurrying towards the crime section at top speed.  But this is a lot of fun, the sort of feelgood tale that rather transcends genres and more especially because it contains a wee bit of fantasy.  It is not hard to get into the story of jilted Phoebe and the lively but confined pensioners and in just a few pages in I was hooked.  Ms Jones paints a tangible picture of semi-rural Berkshire sweltering in a hot summer and all the fun of a fete, the bustle of a typical hairdressers and a satirical picture of an old folks home.  This was the first book I have read by this author so I was unfamiliar with the cast, but several of the characters had been in other books so this was a chance to find out what they had been up to.  This made me want to read the others in the series, and any book that has me reading chick lit must be good.  Uplifting, and a lot of fun.

The Book

Piatkus (Little, Brown)
6 November 2008
Paperback
0749908898 / 9780749908898
Romance
More at Amazon.com UK
Excerpt
NOTE: Not yet up on Amazon US site

The Reviewer

Rachel A Hyde
Reviewed 2009
NOTE:
© 2009 MyShelf.com