Fandango in the Apse!

by Jane Taylor

If you grow up being likened to the "Anti-Christ" by a mother with as much warmth as an arctic glacier, it has to have some effect... right? Shame Katie Roberts didn't realise that before she married serial womaniser Eddie Roberts, before she embarked on a clandestine affair with a catholic priest and definately before she gave her heart to gorgeous commitment phobe, Robbie Collins. If she had, then she might have been prepared when the past reared up to smack hersquarely between the eyes.
Now in the position of having to face up to the shambles she has made of her life, Katie formulates a plan. Aperfectly ludicrous plan according to Alison, her best friend, but a plan nonetheless. Will it work? Katie hopes so. And Robbie? Well Robbie is another matter althoether...

258 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 21, 2012

About the author

There are several authors on Goodsreads with this name. This is Jane^Taylor, the default profile.

Reviews

[Donna Reaney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. Katie Roberts comes across as a sassy, vunerable and likeable. The book is quirky but I couldn't put it down, I wanted to know what happened next. It has a few unexpected turns of events which were a nice surprise. It has humour whilst also dealing with deeper issues. A good read.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Fandango in the Apse" was an absolute pleasure to read. The story is told in a casual and very comfortable first person POV. You never feel like you're reading an author's creation. From the very beginning I was sold that a real person named Katie Roberts was telling me her story. The style is effortless and Katie is so very human.

The book is not linear insomuch as Katie tends to meander in her topic choices. Just as real people start to tell a story and get sidetracked by a thought or a memory, Katie does her best to explain how she arrived at the current point in her life. Her story is heartbreakingly sad at times and yet there's an underlying humor to how she relates the facts. She doesn't sugarcoat them and even if she tried, she'd call herself out on her subterfuge and come clean.

Katie is the product of a mother unwilling and unable to give affection. The emotional cruelty suffered by Katie at a young age is the backbone of her story and shapes who she is. The fortuitous meeting of classmate Alison saves Katie from a completely loveless childhood. It is Alison and her family who show Katie her first shreds of affection. Katie doesn't dwell on that early stage of her life or even ask for pity. She tells it in a very matter of fact way so you'll know the whole story.

The rest of the story is best heard directly from Katie's lips. It's her story and she tells it best. She tells it honestly and with self deprecating humor. Brava to Jane Taylor for breathing life into this flawed and wonderful character.

Based on my own personal reading preferences, I rate this book 4.5 stars. I would consider it more Chick Lit than Romance. Give this one a chance. I think you'll like it!

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminiscent of Angela's Ashes and Shirley Valentine, it is the shameless, raw, unabridged confessional style that gives this book merit in its genre. Using strong colloquial language, the author takes a gloves off approach in this light & easy read book with more than a few wickedly naughty bits. This un-abridged confessional has shocking revelations. There is a place and setting that reminds me of East Enders, local village, of backyard gossip over the fence. Very regional and real. I liked the honesty in this deliberate, personal authorial approach to syntax. The author let's us into a past life, as well as a journey in the present. The characters, react, interact and nothing is held back. Everything is pegged up for all to see. Even the dirtiest laundry is publically aired. The result is a reality check. There are underlying themes. As we read specific highlighted scenes of childhood, adolescence, family, Sunday church, priests. By selection of key moments we gain understanding of dysfunctional relationships between parent and child. There is a deeper meaning here in authorial expressions and revelations. The result is story telling with more than a hint of the autobiographical. Like reading someones diary, you wonder a fandango in the apse actually happened.
If you are looking for a book to take on holiday, pack this in your bag.

[Jody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious and Heartfelt! A great read.

Some books you just can't put down and this is one of them! Fandango in the Apse! is told from the main character, Katie Roberts, POV, and she is absolutely hilarious! Her straightforward, cut-to-the-chase attitude kept me happily turning pages as fast as I could to see what self-sabotaging behavior she was up to next. I was even sharing Katie's outrageous plight with my husband.
But all is not rosey in Katie's world as you learn about her disfunctional childhood with a rigid and cold Catholic mother that hates her guts. Then we watch as Katie delves into a loveless marriage that finally ends with a shocker. (I won't give away the spoiler.) Throughout the novel I couldn't help but keep hoping Katie would get her life together and find someone to love that actually loves her back, and then she finally does just that. I highly reccomend this book and look forward to reading anything by this author!

[Joanna Sadler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I genuinely enjoyed reading Fandango. It felt like having a good catch-up session with an old friend that you haven't seen for years - the authors conversational style, complete with digressions and tangents made for an easy read. I wanted to know what happened next for Katie, I was fascinated by her relationship with her mother, and the damage it caused. Great book, I want to read more by Jane Taylor now!

[Jo Notary]

268pgs, she married a serial womaniser, had a clandestine affair with a catholic priest, gave her heart to a commitment phobe, she forms a plan to clean up her mess of a life, but will it work