Penny VincenziRecensioni

Family Drama

More of the American Littons. Cecilia ends the series

Second in the series about the Lyttons, after WW I and then WWII

English series about publishing family, WWI

Thoroughly enjoyable. Read it in a weekend (as I have with most of Penny's books) I actually put off starting it as I was worried I would be disappointed. I wasn't. Not quite as good as some of her others - The Spoils of Time trilogy in particular, but still a fun feel good romp through the world of fashion, real estate and the perils of class-ism.

You don't finish a 1000 page book unless it's readable (or I don't anyway), but I was left with a bit of a "so what" feeling at the end of this. It's the tale of a ruthless business man building an empire and shagging and upsetting lots of women. There's kind of a twist, but to be honest it's so obvious it hardly counts as that, and there are lots of sections that just feel a bit unnecessary.
That said, it's often fun, that characters are pretty engaging and I now know the names of lots of fashion and cosmetic brands that were popular in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s.

It was eminently readable, light and fluffy and undemanding. But the central characters were unlikeable and the peripheral chracters may have been more likeable but weren't really fully fleshed out, a bit one-dimensional.

One of the nicest was killed off rather suddenly and I'm not sure why - was this person so difficult to pair up that it was deemed easier to remove them entirely? Why why so near the end? And why just when they had paired up, apparently?

Hopefully this won't become a series; it's hard to imagine where else these characters could be taken.

I do hope that this author will write a modern book again one day. My favourite of all her novels was Windfall.

Contrary to the title, the opening scene describes “the worst of times”, a multi-vehicle crash during Friday night rush hour traffic on a high-speed major highway. This one catastrophic moment brings together a cast of characters from all walks of life: an exhausted long-haul truck driver, a budding actress, a Dr. returning from a ‘business trip’ who just happens to have his mistress in the car with him, a bridegroom and his best man on the way to the wedding, an elderly woman on the way to the airport to reunite with the long-lost lover of her youth, a cranky construction worker, and a wealthy real estate tycoon driving an antique Jaguar.

Chaos ensues: injuries, death, delayed destinations, and for some unfortunate people, permanent interruptions of future plans and long term consequences.

Vincenzi’s writing structure is interesting. After a brief description of the accident the story drops back in time several weeks, introducing the characters and describing the chain of events leading up to the date of the disaster, and then a more detailed graphic description of the accident and the aftermath. As the police begin an investigation to discover the cause of this horrendous catastrophe, the reader discovers the unfaithful Dr. is not the only one with something to hide. This invokes guilt, fear, and more anxiety for many of the already distraught characters, and renders drama and suspense to the plot.

As the story unfolds, much like a soap opera, scenes drift from person to person. The narrative moves at a fast pace, primarily through dialogue and action eliminating unnecessary descriptions and deep analysis of characters. However, this does not diminish the emotional content. More than once I had tears in my eyes, and several times I had to laugh out loud.

Penny Vincenzi’s contemporary writing style is direct, light, and simple. I haven’t read any of her other fiction, so I don’t know if she is simply a romantic idealist, or just tends to focus on the goodness of humanity, but she certainly makes the most of impossible situations - and unpleasant people. Her message - never give up on your hopes and dreams. Be kind to others, and be open about your feelings. And above all - be a conscientious and careful driver.

Perhaps I should follow Penny Vincenzi’s advice to be kind, and not mention the improbable ‘love conquers all’ superficial fairy tale ending.

Same as her other books, a page-turner of a soap opera.

„The most important thing of all he said was to only do what I was good at, not to struggle with the rest.“ (Quotation page 224)

Content:
The elegant, timeless and famous Athina Farrell is the figurehead of the House of Farrell. Once very famous cosmetic brand, but meanwhile a little bit old fashioned, is the company almost insolvent. A group of investors is ready to give the Farrell a new but last chance. Bianca Bailey, a smart businesswoman and very successful, high-profile financial expert, has the knowledge and brilliant ideas, but many changes are to be made in the family leaded company. The matriarch Athina Farrell is absolutely not open to new ideas, if not her own and she is still powerful – would she risk the future of the famous House of Farrell?

Theme and Genre:
This interesting, thrilling story is about family lead companies, about cosmetics and new markets in our modern world. It is also about family, love, feelings, about social media and bullying, and the problems of very successful working moms.

Characters:
The characters are interesting, well drawn and most of them likeable. Bianca, who wants to succeed in saving the company and who knows that it will work, has problems to connect her intense job with her family live as a mother of three. Florence Hamilton, director of the famous Farrell flagship store at Berkeley Arcade for many years, is just loveable. Athina Farrell, stylish but with traditional business ideas is a legend and still sees the House of Farrell as her own, not willing to cooperate with Bianca.

Plot and writing:
The story is intense, because it is much more than the exciting question, if and how the famous House of Farrell is saved. It is about decision-making and the twists, troubles and happiness in the personal lives of everybody intertwined. The author switches between the persons, and they all have their own stories. In my opinion, that is why this book is so unputdownable, together with the naturally flowing, readable language.

Conclusion:
This book could be described as a saga and generational fiction of a family owned famous
cosmetic brand, but what it makes a really captivating and delightful reading are the personal stories of the members of the family Farrell, all the persons working at Farrell and in Bianca’s team. A perfect book for enjoyable, exciting hours of reading.

A great downtime read much better than her other novels. After her spoils of time trilogy, I became a huge fan and devoured her other books. Result? A disappointed fan. This book reinstated my faith and liking for the author.

Here is the full review:

http://onerightword.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/sheer-abandon-penny-vincenzi.html

Second in her spoils of time series, this was my first penny vincenzi. What I like about penny is how she places her characters in a historical context and then follows up their fortunes. The first of the series NO Angel traces the fortunes of the lytton publishing empire through the first war and then "Something Dangerous" which is the second one is set against the backdrop of the second world war. I am looking to get my hands on the 3rd volume which i hope will be a befitting end to the riveting series.

Couldn't put it down.½

I generally adore Penny Vincenzi’s books. So I put her latest book, A Question of Trust, on the agenda to read over the New Year period when there are holidays and long nights to really enjoy it. This wasn’t my favourite Vincenzi book unfortunately. It has all the ingredients for needed for a stellar read – complex characters, glamour and a historical setting (1940s-1950s) but it didn’t quite gel for me. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I think it was really because I wasn’t particularly interested in the main characters. I didn’t particularly like Tom or Diana and I eagerly awaited the stories of the supporting characters like Jillie and Ned.

The whole novel centres around Tom Knelston. It begins with his youth as the son of a postman, trying to break through England’s class system. Tom joins the local branch of the Labour Party and there his future is set – in politics and meeting his wife Laura. Now at this point if you’ve read the blurb on the back, you will be asking if I’ve got Tom’s wife’s name correct. Don’t I mean Alice? No, I don’t. This is one of the points that I think got me off on the wrong foot with this book. After reading the blurb, I’m looking for Alice and a sick child but they simply don’t appear until very late in the book. In a way, it kind of ruined the final drama because once it started, I realised that I already knew all about it. Also, I was looking out for Laura’s demise rather than enjoying the time she and Tom had together. My advice is not to read the blurb. If you simply must have one, try this: “the life of Tom Knelston, wannabe Labour politician and his associates through World War II and 1950s Britain”. Yes, it’s boring, but it won’t have you waiting endlessly for one part of the book.

Tom is an unusual character. He believes passionately in the Labour ideal, particularly the National Health Service. But outside of politics, he shows himself as a hypocrite several times over. He secretly lusts after the middle and upper class while decrying their wealth, but starts an affair with Diana. Diana is wealthy, famous and a fashion model. Yet for Tom, it’s easy to put aside morals to start an affair with her. He tries to justify it as his wife Alice is continually tired after three children in quick succession (who played half a role in that, eh?). Yet when desperate times call for desperate measures, Tom wants everyone to uphold his politics. Perhaps I’m taking the stance of a modern female reader too far, but Tom – you are a tool. His lover Diana isn’t much better, as she has a nasty, vindictive streak that fortunately stays mainly suppressed. Diana’s always had what she wanted without effort and thinks turn nasty when she doesn’t get them.

Fortunately, other characters in the novel are more pleasing. Alice was an interesting character, worn down far too early by children and housework. I was pleased when her courage reappeared late in the novel to defy Tom. Alice’s best friend Jillie was a great character. A female surgeon who describes herself as hapless, Jillie is likeable and very capable. She’s also a woman ahead of her time with a career and own life. Poor Jillie does get put through the emotional wringer, but for the reader that’s quite useful because we get to see the lovely Ned. Ned is a paediatrician with modern ideas and what he believes is a dirty secret. He’s gripped by insecurities but also determined to change the lives of his small patients. It would have been lovely if Jillie and Ned could have shoved Tom out of the spotlight more often.

As you might have guessed, this is a very character driven novel. A lot does happen over period of the book, but it’s always for the characters. While this isn’t my favourite Penny Vincenzi novel, it’s still incredibly well written and an interesting read.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com½

Loving this. Great character depiction and she writes so well, I enjoy every page. Reading it very slowly because it's my break time book at work.

A typically engrossing Vincenzi novel - about an inheritance that changes a life.

In general, I’m not too much of a short story fan but I will read absolutely anything that Penny Vincenzi writes. I adore her grand novels of love, family, fortune and loss but of course, they take time to write. Love in the Afternoon and other delights was the last of her books I had on the shelf. It seemed a perfect time just before Christmas to dip in and out of these short stories and writings as it was such a busy period.

I was a little sceptical about how Penny Vincenzi would be able to tie up everything in a story over 20 pages instead of 600. I was also a bit worried if they would have the same sparkle as her novels. Of course, I worried needlessly. The stories are instantly recognisable as Vincenzi’s and the endings work beautifully. The main theme is as the title suggests, love. But it’s not just romance. There is the love between father and son (The Mermaid) and the reluctance of the son to allow a new woman into his father’s life. There are a few affairs too (Love in the Afternoon and The Glimpses, which has the best ending!). The Brooch explores sisterly love and the argumentative side that crushes it. There are also some articles by Penny Vincenzi, on getting older to her favourite books. I really enjoyed this part of the book, as I really don’t hear too much about authors themselves, let alone in written format! She proves that she is just as sparkly and witty when writing fact in addition to fiction.

Sadly, this was a fast read but it confirmed that I will definitively read anything of Penny Vincenzi’s work. I love the British tone of her novels, and the peek into the big houses and lavish parties. But most of all, I loved the twists in this short stories – they were truly delightful.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com½

It was interesting how intertwined the lives of everyone involved in the accident became. It would have been too much if everyone had a happy ending, so I am glad it ended that way it did. I thought the characters could have been explored more, I never had the sense that I could feel what they were feeling, panic, angst, joy, and all that. It was more of a perfunctory listing of events in order in each character's lives. I was never "IN THE MOMENT" with them.

The words Penny Vincenzi and cosmetics company when combined got me all in a flutter when I heard about this book. I love Penny’s books and I’m a cosmetics junkie so when she writes about this, of course I’m going to read it! The real question is, why did it take me so long? I think I wanted to savour this big book, so I waited until I was on holidays to really get the most out of it (translation: stay up very, very late reading). It’s also pretty big at 753 pages, and I don’t read too many chunksters these days for unknown, likely trivial reasons.

A Perfect Heritage has everything I want in a Penny Vincenzi book:
- Gorgeous dress on front cover
- A list of characters (I literally swoon over these, then think I’ll never remember them all but of course, I do because Penny Vincenzi is a master at making each one a complete individual)
- A number of boardroom battles, cloaked in civility
- Some truly gorgeous characters
- At least one heinous villain
- Blind twists in plot
- A happily ever after for the characters I’ve come to regard as close friends.

The storyline of A Perfect Heritage centres on The House of Farrell, a decaying cosmetics house that hasn’t kept up with the times. It clings to one hero product, The Cream, but it’s outdated and old-ladyish. Enter Bianca Bailey (top business mind with an awesome name) to turn the company around and make it popular again in the Queen’s Jubilee year. Bianca knows what hard work is, but she hadn’t thought that working with Lady Athina Farrell, co-founder would be so difficult. Lady Farrell sees herself as THE name and The Boss of the company. She’s also not averse to underhand tactics to get her way. It’s a full battle to try to bring the House of Farrell forward, which has disastrous effects on Bianca’s home life. The employees of the House of Farrell, both old and new, have their own problems and secrets. Some of these in turn could be problematic for the company…

One of the strengths of Penny Vincenzi’s writing for me is the detail she puts into her characters. I now know so much about Bianca, husband Patrick and their children I feel like I should be sending them a Christmas card this year! Each member of this novel’s cast is intricately drawn and truly individual. No need to refer to the character list after very long! I could see the lines of stress on Bianca’s face as Athina usurped her and the joy as she solved a seemingly unsurmountable problem. I could see Bertie Farrell bumbling around the office blindly, yet caring so much for his staff. I cried with Susie as she was blackmailed and all along, the wise eyes of Florence helped to guide the House of Farrell gently but forcibly forward.

There’s a lot of tension in this book as the House of Farrell falls into one calamity after another. Some were so dire that I couldn’t possibly see how Bianca and co could find a way out. True, not all of the solutions were successful but this dose of real life only made the story sparkle more for me. A page-turner with an engaging set of characters – what more could you ask for in a book?

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com

Odlicna knjiga o tri prijateljice koje se sretnu na putovanju za Bankok, a jedna od njih se vrati u London sa bebom koju porodi u kupatilu na aerodromu i ostavi...cije je to djete...uzivala sam u svakoj stranici

This is the 2nd time I have read this long book. It includes so much of of life on the home front just before,during and after
the 2nd world war in the UK.
It would make an excellent series. I think it is the bodice ripping,awful cover that keeps this book from being noticed for
something like a series as in Home Fires!

So I love chick lit. I love it. I don’t care what people say. It’s not a “secret shame”or “guilty pleasure” (I would feel guilty about loving Jonathan Franzen or other shit that is called “literary fiction” but is misogynistic crap.) But I don’t like the chick lit books that are TOO breezy (generally). I guess the kind of book I am talking about is called “women’s fiction”? Which is ridiculous for obvious reasons. Anyway, I can’t believe I just discovered Vicenzi less than a year ago. This hits the perfect balance between substance and fluff for when I am too tired to think deeply, but not so tired that I can’t focus on anything. Vicenzi is really really good at 400 page beach reads about rich people. This book is no exception. Not my favorite so far (and I will be working my way through all of them - trust), but perfect for what I was looking for. Vicenzi is Jennifer Weiner mixed with Edith Wharton and Jackie Collins. That is more than enough information for you to figure out for yourself whether you would love or hate this book. 4 out of 5 stars.

"It was like good quality junk food-a contradiction of terms that nevertheless keeps you snacking."
read more: http://likeiamfeasting.blogspot.gr/2015/03/a-perfect-heritage-penny-vincenzi.htm...

The last book in a trilogy -- I raced through this one just as I did with the first two, but found this final installment a bit less enjoyable. Character development is spread a bit thin because there are so many of them. Additionally, there were more unlikeable characters introduced in this volume. I hated Geordie, Charlie, and Kier.

In spite of my slight overall disappointment in this final volume (perhaps by this time Vincenzi was tired of these characters and storyline, but was obligated to finish up the trilogy) , I still was sorry to see this trilogy end and even wish that there was some kind of epilogue to wrap up things. I'll stay on the look out for the rest of Penny Vicenzi's books -- however, they seem to be more traditional "chick lit" , and as stand-alone volumes.½

Something Dangerous by Penny Vincenzi is the second in a trilogy about the Lytton family who have a publishing empire. There are English Lyttons (the majority of the characters) and American Lyttons, and Vincenzi spends a lot of time back and forth among the various characters, the number of which has grown in this volume.

I enjoyed the first book "No Angel" so much, in spite of some faults I discussed in the review of that book, that I went back as soon as I could, to the used bookstore where I found it to get this second volume.

This volume was just the type of book to read during a cold, snowy weekend (it is also the type that is a good beach read, although heavy in weight -- not exactly that portable), even though I think the saga of the Lyttons became even more soap-opera-ish than ever in "Something Dangerous", which, by the way, spans the WWII era.

Looking forward to the final book in this series -- awaiting it, as I had to order it from amazon because the used bookstore didn't have the third volume.