Hot Property

by Zoë Barnes

When Claire inherits a house out of the blue - she thinks she's struck it rich! But while the word 'cottage' inspires images of romantic idylls and roses round the door, there's nothing remotely heavenly about Paradise Cottage. It's a tumble-down wreck in the middle of nowhere - more in need of a demolition expert than a decorator. Still, Claire's not one to shirk a challenge. Much to the amusement of her hunky new neighbour, Aidan, she decides to renovate the cottage herself. After all, problem-solving, trouble-shooting - it's what Claire does best. She's used to planning events for thousands of people. She can sort out one little cottage ...Can't she?

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction, Romance

410 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 1999

About the author

Did you know ...?
Zoë was born near Liverpool, but is a real mixed bag! Her mum is Manx and her dad is from Yorkshire. She now lives in Cheltenham, where her novels are set.
She is also a French translator, and translates novels by Christian Jacq (author of the Ramses series) under the pen-name of Sue Dyson.
She was named 'Secretary of the Year' in 1987, although she wasn't actually working as a secretary at the time!
When not writing or translating, she works as a singer.
At the moment she has three cats: Domino, Pizza and Jupiter. Unfortunately, Jupiter's favourite foods are Sellotape and glue, and he enjoys chewing the corners off library books.
The only animals she really doesn't like are cockroaches. And it's not their fault they're creepy.
She loves chocolate, but it makes her ill. Sadly, green vegetables are perfectly safe. There is no justice.
There is no such thing as a Javanese Yellow Skunk. But there ought to be.

Zoë died on October 30th 2009 after taking an overdose.

Reviews

[Loucy]

Pas mal, j'ai bien aimé le caractère de l'héroïne et surtout le personnage du vieux locataire et son cochon... cela donne quelques scènes savoureuses.

[Claire]

I think that I only really enjoyed this read as I read it first in the 90s as it is VERY dated indeed.

[Lisa Sunderland]

boring

[Lou-Anne]

Lecture sympathique et divertissante
Histoire légère et sans chichis que j’ai bien aimé lire ☺️

[Andrea]

Really enjoyed it - look for more of hers - donated back

[Tessnim]

this book is a such a melange of dramatic comedy and romantic at the same time obviously i really appreciate . this big boy is my favorite book ever !!!

[Elayne]

A 4* beach read.
Not quite all that the back blurb promises but that’s the fault of the publicist. Loved the pig and thought we could have more of him and his voting record. Also thought the cesspit incident could be made more of. And just how did they acquire mains drainage from a cesspit? Having lived off the gas grid and having had friends with cess pits, I know from personal experience something of the trials and costs, if even feasible (it proved not to be for our gas - just too expensive) of attempting to join the main grids.
The last page I found a trifle confusing in terms of location. But overall, a good fun light relief book.

[Maureen Reil]

An easy read for a lazy weekend. I did engage with the main characters and wanted to find out how the whole thing would pan out and it's so true what they say, you can't choose your family etc. It kept me going back for more and I would welcome the chance to read some of the late author's novels from her back catalog, because I do think that she was a writing talent and we'll be all the more sad for missing out on the next book that she could have written, had she lived to provide it for us.

[Simeonberesford]

Well I needed a third book for a 3 paperbacks for a fiver deal and this chic lit piece was it. Umm what can I say? I read it in a day while lazing at a festival . it is Easy read not particularily amusing and full of stereotypes there is thankfully a plot. open a dictionary to look up chick lit and there will be a picture of this book.

[Tricia]

It's been a while so I don't remember much about this one. I enjoyed it at the time - some good characters and good family interweaving. Some fun details but forgettable plot (obviously, as I can't remember it!).

[Louise]

A nice easy-going read although it does follow the conventional chick-lit storyline.

[Megs Mlutz]

used to love this book but when I reread it, I found it very hard to read. It was very predictable, but over all an ok book

[Sandi]

Light read. Haven't bothered to read others by this author though.

[janie love]

cool