A Secret Garden by Katie FfordeMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
A multi-strand romance set in the English countryside.
Lorna is over 50, single mother of a son in his early twenties and gardener at a manor house in the Cotswolds. Philly is a young Irish woman living with her grandfather who grows plants which she sells to Lorna and at a local market. The owner of the manor house, Peter, has been Lorna's secret crush since she was 7 years old - until he meets a much younger woman online and falls crazy in love. At the dinner party he arranges to introduce his new love Kirstie to his mother (Lady Anthea) and his friends Lorna meets local stone mason Jack and Philly, engaged as a waitress for the evening, is finally introduced to Lucien, the boy who sells cheese at the local market who also happens to be the chef for the night.
I was prepared to brush this off as one of Katie Fforde's earlier novels so I was shocked to see that this was published in 2017.
I don't recall ever seeing so many instances of instalove in one novel before. In fact at times it is downright creepy, particularly the way that Jack seems to leech onto Lorna immediately - it is not normal to invite a woman to coffee, lunch and dinner all on the same day, it's borderline stalker behaviour. In fact, having just written a review of another of Katie's books, I wonder if Katie Fforde has trouble getting into the heads of her male characters, they seem so wooden.
Anyway, this was okay but both Lucien and Jack's actions were a bit odd and could have done with more thought, at times Lucien came across like a teenage girl. Even Philly's grandfather was overly secretive for no reason.
Maybe I've overdosed on Katie Fforde and need to cleanse my palate.
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