Recently, I have been mixing murder with romance. I downloaded The Secret Lives of Dresses by Erin McKean, and after a slow start, it turned into a really good story. I thought it would be like a book I have read previously called A Vintage Affair, but it was very different. Firstly, and I know this sounds strange, but I just couldn't work out where it was set, Yorkshire or somewhere in America, and I found that a bit frustrating. But eventually, I realised it was set in America, and gradually, I got absorbed in the tale. It was about a woman whose grandmother who had brought her up and who ran a vintage clothes shop, had a stroke, and Dora rushes back to look after her and the shop. It is a lovely story, a bit sad in places, but great characters, and great secret stories about previous lives of the vintage costumes in the shop. It was surprising, and had a sad and happy ending. After that, I read Murder in the Mews, yet another short story collection from Agatha Christie, and which was once again, superb...full of twists and turns and mystery. Just brilliant. And finally, I read From Notting Hill With Love ... Actually, which was fabulous! So clever! I love romcoms, absolutely adore them. My guilty secret. This story was about Scarlett, named after the Vivien Leigh character in Gone With The Wind, who is challenged by her father and fiance because they think she daydreams too much and is looking for a life like the movies. So, before her wedding, they persuade her to go away for a few weeks to get her head together. A friend arranges a house-sit in Notting Hill and that is where all her adventures begin. It is excellent, so clever. The author, Ali Mcnamara, has obviously done her research, and thinks up scenarios which replicate movie scenes from a range of my favourite films. It is a great read, really entertaining, and funny, and full of interesting movie trivia. Loved it...actually.
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