Well Groomed

Tash French #2

by Fiona Walker

Wedding bells or one big hitch? Tash French just isn’t sure. If her potty grandmother hadn’t mistaken a Christmas cracker engagement ring for the genuine article, there wouldn’t be a wedding at all.

Still less the elaborate, no-expense-spared circus that’s rapidly taking over her life. But at least Tash can be sure of Niall – her actor fiancé.
They know his script for the Big Day is already learnt by heart.

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, British Literature, Contemporary Romance

698 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Lauren White · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really really enjoyed this wickedly fun story, however I did feel that the character development was almost nonexistent, which is pretty frustrating when they’re all being idiots! Also, I understand it’s just a plot device, but why is there no communication between characters at all. The eventing and horses are addictive reading, and the love for the characters is easy.

[Nicola Hession-Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second book with Tash French, from French Relations. A very good, easy-going read with funny and interesting characters and of course horses!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll admit I was nervous re-reading this. I haven't done so in easily a decade, and latterly that is because I've been really afraid that it won't hold up to my elderly scrutiny. It was one of my teenage classics, so much so that some scenes (Hugo at the NYE party, Hugo delivering the invite to his party, the christening, Hugo's birthday party, Zoe's dinner party, various Hugo-in-a-horse-trailer scenes) are blazoned in my memory. I was a slower reader back then, so getting from NYE to Bodybuilder's fate took way longer than the three days I spread this out over and ratcheted up the tension by mega-values.

Happily, it remains a riot, an absolute tour-de-force of pining and crossed wires and UST and longing. All the good stuff, the stuff that gets lost - curiously - when you introduce characters that are more feminist (the heroine) and more woke and generally decent (the hero). Makes sense - if you're an adult who has Done the Work, you aren't going to waste time pining after assholes ... anymore. The 'anymore' there is the key statement, I feel. The golden road to enlightenment takes us all through the bog of stupidity, which is where most classic romance begins.

When you start off with one character who's got rock-bottom self-esteem that renders her totally oblivious and another character who is beautiful but damaged from his awful childhood (a modern take on Rake with a Heart of Gold), you buy into various non-woke premises and plot arcs, but you also get the free-fall rush of this interaction, halfway through:

"Tash wrinkled her nose thoughtfully. 'Brian's very - distinctive,' she said kindly.
'Brian's very ugly,' Hugo laughed. 'Whereas you are very beautiful indeed.'"

Note that this is an aside, not a declaration. Hugo says this off-hand because he thinks he's being Totes Obvious about his Feelings (spoiler: he is not) but that Tash doesn't return them, so pretends its a joke. Tash doesn't understand that Hugo lashes out because it's the only way he knows how to communicate and so all his attempts at tenderness are either jokey or cruel, thus this throwaway line floors her - and me (repeatedly). It's fucking GREAT.

When I first started to ever analyse why some romantic stories worked for me and some didn't, I decided the quality of the story rose and fell on the quality of its side, not main characters. The main pairing are, for all intents and purposes, reader stand-ins. That's why you get so many clumsy, 'beautiful but doesn't know it' heroines; all the woman secretly hope that's them. That's why you get so many handsome assholes whose assholery covers the complicated expression of their deep and unique feelings for the heroine: who doesn't wish bad treatment was actually in the name of such a noble cause?

It's the side characters who flesh out the main ones and make them seem real. They also, when done well - such as here, or in Notting Hill, which is where I first tested this theory - supply bodies for my favourite trope: Everyone Is Rooting For You. Because this book contains two insular groups - an eventing yard and a film set - where gossip is king and there's an obvious Prom King and Queen, this works really, really well. Everyone, from Hugo's mother to Kirsty and Stefan, discuss, dissect, and cheerlead Hugo and Tash's mutual pining and eventual resolution. No couple exists in a vacuum. What's more affirming than to read that everyone the MCs know thinks they'd be great together, and furthermore that their relationship is a hot topic of positively-valanced conversation? In romance - nothing.

I very rarely read this directly after 'French Relations' - in fact I may only have done so the first time I read FR - so it didn't quite sink in how bonkers the timeline is (skipping around from two to four years, as stated in-text, and realistically more like five to eight in terms of the time required for the emotional arcs). Nor did I realise just what a bad deal Zoe was in for, with a man who canonically has made no effort to deal with his rampaging alcohol and substance abuse and whom she has been involved with romantically for a whole ... two months. Good luck with that, Zoe! Now as then, though, I fundamentally don't care about Niall. I was Team Hugo from the off, and I doubt whether reading these books in publication order would have changed that.

Team Hugo forever.

[Meegan · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I have so many issues with this book.
For one, they never get a second together and when they do, Niall sits her with others and ignores her? Then he spends every free moment with Zoe??
And WTF Zoe! She craps on Tash without asking her side of things and assumes her friend is in the wrong. Then she goes on a dinner date with Tash’s fiancé? And hangs out with him all the time? And craps on Tash for neglecting him? And has an emotional affair behind Tash’s back. I’m absolutely fuming. This b1tch. With friends like this, who needs enemies.
At literally every opportunity, people treat Niall the alcoholic like a saint and Tash the neglected fiancé like some kind of abuser? Am I in an alternate universe?
Niall is emotionally cheating on Tash and no-one even bats an eye? This is the worst bunch of people, my god.
I’m sad about Niall’s slide into assholery, but Hugo as the love interest who HITS WOMEN is beyond belief. It’s just brushed under the rug too? And the way he treats Tash sometimes is horrible.
And after Lisette’s foul behaviour in Book 1, were expected to relate to her?
Tash is the FMC but she’s so bloody hard to like. She’s a 25-year old woman with the emotional maturity of a 16-year-old. In fact, throughout the book, children show more emotional maturity. Tash is also a terrible coward so it’s hard to respect her.
At the end, we’re supposed to be happy for Niall who’s supposedly head over heels in love with Zoe despite having been head over heels in love with Tash just a few months prior and no mention of how he likes to have crushes and fall in love with other women when he’s in a relationship. Also everything that was wrong with his relationship with Tash (distance, absence, scatterbrained self-involvement, addiction) is suddenly fixed with Zoe? Make it make sense.
At the end of the day, I read this to see some sort of happy ending and it was. Yay I guess.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love Tash.

[Cecilia · Rating 3 out of 5]

the first half was horrible and only the fact that I spent money on this kept me going, the second half was definitely better and sometimes even fun.
Don't even want to know what people who read the first book think of this.
Very undecided if I should give the author another chance...maybe later.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really liked the story and never saw some of the plot twists coming. My one complaint is that there's a lot of characters to try to keep track of.

[salma zaman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favourite

One of my all time favourite authors and my all time favourite book. Love the character's the plot everything about it

[RJC · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow to introduce the characters. It really didnt need the sub p,ot of the subterfuge wedding, which made the last 80 pages drag.

[Michelle Arnott · Rating 5 out of 5]

love the second book

I loved French relations and was happy that nail and stash ended up together eventually, but this book with the twist was marvellous xx

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good summer read, Walker does a really good job of maintaining an unpredictable storyline

[Lucy Gregory · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry what? Why was literally everyone so awful to Tash the entire book ? French Relations was way better I preferred her with Niall this was such a frustrating read

[Daisy Daisy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have loved and adored this book from the time I received it in one of those dodgy book subscription services from the 90's. Its a GIANT hardback but that didn't stop me lugging it on holiday and reading it while I discovered my boyfriend (who I was holidaying with) was a cheater McCheaterson and I returned alas single, the book being the highlight of our 2 week stay.
It was kind of like a more up to date (for the 90's) version of the horsey Jilly Cooper novels and being a horsey girl myself at the time I just wanted to be the h and have my own version of the H sweep me off in his horsebox (esp as my H of the time was such a dud).
There is quite the plot twist which you don't see coming at first esp having read part 1 but you soon realise which coupling you are rooting for and even now 20+ years later the H who gets the girl in this one is probably my favourite book boyfriend of all time. Don't get me wrong he has his moments of complete toss pottery but he pays for them dearly. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this one and I'm so glad I read it again.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tash and Niall have been living together for six months when they decide to invite Tash's batty family round for Christmas lunch. In the confusion of pets and presents, Tash's grandmother spots a plastic ring from a cracker on her granddaughter's finger and mistakenly announces that Tash and Niall are engaged. As her family make arrangements for the wedding of the year around her, Tash realises that, far from being happy about getting married to Niall, she is dreading the big day - and thinks she might instead be in love with the arrogant Hugo Beauchamp...

Well Groomed picks up the tale of Tash and Hugo begun in French Relations. I absolutely love French Relations, and was desperately keen to read more about the ever-flustered Tash. I think she is an adorable heroine, and I was rooting for her to end up with the right man.

Saying that, however, Well Groomed is, in a number of ways, a lesser book than French Relations. There are more incidents where you want to shake the heroine and insist she pulls her act together. There are times where you wonder why she would even want Hugo, when he acts in such an appalling manner towards her. The whole subplot involving Lisette and her threats towards Niall is tiresome and interrupts the flow of the novel.

Yet in other ways Well Groomed is the superior novel - there is more emotional depth, especially involving the death of one particular event horse, and the climax to the novel is better and less wishy washy.

Fiona Walker's prose is as smooth and delicious as always - I gulped this novel down in long, lazy reading sessions and enjoyed the clever wordplay, the gentle punnery and the sometimes poetic descriptions. She genuinely is one of the most talented female writers out there in terms of these large, sprawling, sexy novels.

In this case she was let down a little by a plot that ended up in dead-ends, or introduced new characters for little purpose. Both Niall and Tash acted in a manner that seemed contrary to the way they'd been written in French Relations. It was frustrating to feel that Well Groomed could have been stunning - as it was, I found it entertaining and compulsive, but not at all plausible.

Once again, by far the best part of the novel is Walker's treatment of the animals and their characterisations. Here we have the shivering, neurotic dalmation Enid; the boisterous and puppy-like Beetroot; the ever-wonderful and bolshy chestnut stallion Snob. And then new horses: nervy Surfer; couragous Bod, gentlemanly Hunk and clumsy Mickey. I adored them all by the end of the novel - almost more so than most of the human characters! It is enormously clear that Walker has a real love and appreciation for horses, and she writes them brilliantly.

If you read French Relations, you will want to read Well Groomed to catch up with the wonderful cast of characters introduced in the first novel. You will also find yourself reading stupidly late into the evening, and idly picking up the novel in every spare minute, the prose is that compelling. But you might find yourself just a little disappointed based on the strength of French Relations.

[Beth Bedee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED it! Hugo is my ideal man. If this were a Regency novel, he would be the rake who needed taming. I absolutely loved the sexual tension between he and Tash throughout. While French Relations was more of a farcical romp, Well Groomed focused more on the characters feelings and the suppressed relationship of Tash and Hugo. That being said, there were still many classic mix ups and hi jinxs.

There are quite a few bits about horses and the world of three-day eventing. It may help to have some prior knowledge of this topic to better enjoy the book.

I love Tash and Hugo together and absolutely despised the thought of Tash and Niall getting married. I think its genius how Fiona Walker was able to get the reader to sympathize with Niall over Hugo in French Relations and then achieve the exact opposite in Well Groomed.

Walker is one of my favorite British Chick Lit writers. I only wish her books were more available in the US and on Kindle.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Walker writes with such vitality that all the characters are instantly brought to life. She’s funny, moving and not too OTT in her interpretation of life’s little eccentricities! Well groomed tells the story of Tash French and her boyfriend Niall who are fairly happy bumbling on as they are until a crazy grandmother mistakes a ring from a Christmas cracker as an engagement ring. Soon her whole family are going crazy over organising a wedding that Tash and Niall were far from ready for – in fact they’d be doing better just to spend some time together first. Their lives are a whirlwind of Tash’s eventing hobby and Niall’s acting career meaning they never get enough time to discover whether they really are a match made in heaven.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the prequel French Relations, but loved Well Groomed even more. Love love LOVE Tash and Hugo, they simply sizzle; they're one of my all time fave couples, and this is one of my all time fave books!

[Trina Knittle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were all great and likable. This book had me smiling quite a lot throughout the book. I will admit there was one part of this book that just wasn't something I enjoyed at all. It was the puns, they all seemed a little force and just not natural. Still with that it is a good and fun read.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second in teh Tash n Hugo romp. Read after French Relations. Chick lit tastic. I love these books. Real easy but funny and enthralling tale of dysfunctional families, horsey sets and good ol love story.

[Allie · Rating 5 out of 5]

going through a tough time in my life at the moment so am indulging in light reading that doesn't tax my brain but lets me escape elsewhere. Where else to go but in a good Fiona Walker book. This is the 4th or 5th time reading this book, it never disappoints. love Tash and hugo. more please!

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading on kindle. Really enjoyed this book. Love the characters. It just misses out on five stars because I didn't much like the use of puns, they were a bit forced in places. But the book, the story, the characters, all really good.

[Rebecca Hedger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the overall story and how the plot develops - but throughout, I really wanted Tash to stand up and take action! It was also a very long book, with a little too much description and some scenes that could be shortened. That being said, I still enjoyed it as a beach/summer read.

[Stephanie wanamaker]

that a book can make u cry with laughter

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good old girl trash. My favorite author when I want some no brainer read.

[Jane Oldaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a good romp very much in the vein Jilly Cooper. Good old-fashioned light reading with plenty of giggles.

[Harry Tomos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very funny, moments I find myself thinking this is me...love it