One Enchanted Evening: From the #1 bestselling author of uplifting feel-good fiction

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Will their differences be a recipe for disaster, or will they prove to have all the ingredients for a happy ever after? From the moment I started reading One Enchanted Evening, I was hooked. The story starts with Meg arriving at the hotel in Dorset to work as a chef. The plot of this novel is excellent and there are twists and turns that keep you guessing along with plenty of adventures with Meg’s wonderful friends. This novel makes you through several love story's and there is some well build friendship circle and her family and that of Justin's family.

Do you have that one author where every time you get a new book from them it feels like you’re catching up with an old friend? Well that is what Katie’s books are for me (and my mum, her number one fan). I’ve wanted to have a book for Meg since we first met her in A Wedding in the Country so I’ve been super excited for this one since it was announced.Meg longs to be a professional cook, but in 1964 the idea of a female chef running a kitchen is considered ridiculous. Undaunted, she has plans to travel to France and work on her already impressive skills to chase her dream of becoming a pastry chef. One Enchanted evening is everything you need in a novel when the weather outside demands you snuggle under a blanket with a good book.' Catherine Rose Gordon-Cumming was born 27 September 1952 in England, UK, the daughter of Shirley Barbara Laub and Michael Willoughby Gordon-Cumming. Her grandfather was Sir William Gordon-Cumming. Her sister is fellow writer Jane Gordon-Cumming. Katie married Desmond Fforde, cousin of the also writer Jasper Fforde. She has three children: Guy, Francis and Briony and didn't start writing until after the birth of her third child. She has previously worked both as a cleaning lady and in a health food cafe.

I think this is one of the best Katie Fforde romances I have read for a while. The 1960s setting, and his ambivalent feelings towards his father, totally explains Justin's attitude to Meg and her mother, yet it is also quite clear to the reader fairly early on that Justin is also quite smitten by Meg and finds any excuse to visit the hotel. Sure you have to suspend disbelief a little bit to think that a coat of paint, a bunch of flowers, and a few new cushion covers will miraculous make the hotel more inviting, but much is made of the homely (in the good sense) atmosphere, more of a home-from-home than a hotel, somewhere the aristocracy can stay while attending social events in the area.

I have to give a special mention to Ambrosine. I could have happily sat beside her for hours as she regaled me with her life stories *sighs*. Alexander ,'we all loved it at the time , now it seems desperately gloomy and and needs repair and decoration.'. Me8g and mother find the deeds. Should they even tell Justin or Andrew? Who does she really know as real' where you pining for geography The characters in One Enchanted Evening are fantastic - each one is unique and lovable in their own way. I especially adored Ambrosine - she has such a big heart that you can't help but root for her throughout the novel. Her relationship with Meg was delightful and very special which made the story even better and it was wonderful to catch up with characters from past books.

Although predictable, it is after all a 'feel good' romance novel, it is very well written. I loved the setting in Dorset and when I thought it a tad old-fashioned, I remembered it was set in the 1960s. I thought some of the characters were lovely, such as the elderly and mysterious Ambrosine, and I even enjoyed the stereoptypes too, who I think were written a bit tongue-in-cheek. The last few chapters seemed a bit unedited. They chopped around with oddments of text that I think should have gone somewhere else, and they felt a bit rushed. But my biggest bugbear was the number of characters in the story, and particularly when another boatload turned up for the finale/closing image.

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Set in Dorset, England 1966, "One Enchanted Evening" is a feel-good romance novel that would make you want to go there if you're like me, who hasnt been to the place; if only to experience rustic house hotels. Think: AirBnb in a mansion but with room service and professional/trained kitchen staff. This takes you through the nitty gritty bits of keeping one running in the 1960s when en suite rooms were yet an emerging trend.

Meg's friends are just darlings, they are so available and accomodating. Although honestly, I'd say I felt that at some parts (especially around the 60-75% sections), that they were perhaps *too available*to help her-- It sounds rather terrible of me to complain about reliable friends, but they were almost too-present to help should the need arise, given at such short notice and no matter the distance. It's just too good to be true. But yeah, it's fiction, and we are allowed to have super friends who can rearrange their plans to help you. But I guess as a reader, the down side of that is that you get used to the fact that they were ever present in her life, and you get complacent in a way that you never truly fear for Meg's challenges. I have read a couple of Katie Fforde books before and really enjoyed them and this one didn’t disappoint either. A beautiful setting at Nightingale Woods Hotel in Dorset, one of my favourite places. The story is set in the 1960’s and followed Meg’s story. Nevertheless, for a good-vibe book, it maintains the tone quite well. Like cozy cup of tea that keeps one warm on a rainy day. It's 1964 and Meg's mother asks her to come to Nightingale Woods to help out with a big event. Nightingale Woods is a quaint, rather rundown hotel in Dorset and Meg is a cook. She hotfoots it there, happy to help out, even when Justin, the son of the owner, turns up and is rather rude to her, especially about women in the kitchen (he's a chef too). In the kitchen she encounters the bad tempered expletive prone cook Geoff. When he leaves in a huff Meg who cannot resist a challenge, sets to work running the kitchen. But then Justin, the hotel owners son, and a trained chef arrives to take over the kitchen. Justin has very firm ideas about the place of women. Not running a kitchen. Sparks fly. Can they reach a compromise.? Or will it turn into a disaster?All the elements that make up a classic Katie Fforde novel are here. I always read her new books when they come out, though over the years some have not been as memorable as others. In fact, this is the first book of hers in recent years that reminds me of her early novels which I have read many times over. Justin and Meg may clash in the kitchen, but their chemistry is strong and there is enough interaction for their relationship to be credible. And guess what? OEE was a chance for Hannah and me to attempt another buddy read. (Psst, epic fail as usual… *snorts* but we do have fun with our messages.)