Notting Hell

Notting Hell Trilogy #1

by Rachel Johnson

‘Our neighbours divide into the haves … and the have yachts.’ Meet Mimi and Clare, two married women making the most of their Notting Hill postcode. New best friends, and close neighbours, that doesn’t stop them being rivals, in fact it compels it. Both are aspiring Notting Hill Mummies (Clare needs the baby, Mimi needs the six figure income) and, keeping up with all the area’s fads, fashions and fabulousness is a full-time job. But the arrival of sexy billionaire Si in their exclusive communal garden strains loyalty to friends, family, spouse and feng-shui guru alike … and only one of them can win. But who will that be? Clare or Mimi? Are they friends, or just…neighbours?

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

354 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 18, 2007

About the author

Rachel Johnson is a British editor, journalist, television presenter and author based in London. She lives in Notting Hill, London with her husband. They have three adult children.

Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Une première pour moi!!! la première fois que je ne finis pas un livre!
Ce livre est une espèce de copie de la série Desperate Housewives, cette résidence de Notting Hill ressemble étrangement au Wisteria Lane de la série... et le pompon ce sont les personnages!!! là pareil, en Clare j'ai revu Bree, en Mimi j'ai revu Lynette, en Virginie j'ai revu Eddy, etc... Cela aurait pu être malgré tout une lecture assez agréable, mais même pas!! aucun humour (contrairement à la série!), un style lourd, des personnages grotesques, pas d'intrigue.... que du vide!!!
Lecteur, passez votre chemin

[Auj]

I think I'm on page 19. We'll see if I keep reading it... Right now, I'm more in the mood for a story than a gossipy-sort-of-rag.

I'm a London-phile, so I picked this one up, and the premise sounded like it could be fun. I've enjoyed a lot of chick-lit by Sophie Kinsella, so I was hoping this could be something similar.

On hold: Page 19, March 2, 2025:

Right now, I'm too busy to have the time to get into a book like this. I'll try again at a library in London :)

[Nasrin Shila · Rating 1 out of 5]

I finished it just because I started it.

[Lucy Holz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was looking for something fun and trashy and this did the trick. Perfect for someone living in London with all the recognisable landmarks etc. Perfectly acceptable chick lit

[Henrietta Beldham · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hell, indeed.

[Brigitte · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read it through although i really didn't get into the story.

[Ulla · Rating 1 out of 5]

As much as the cover and the description of the book makes you want to read it, very soon you understand that it's not worth your time or money. Quick resume of the book: many rich people living in a private square of Notting Hill. Women seem bored, and men too busy with their works. People cheat on each other. There's one family which is too poor to afford living in Notting Hill but the woman refuses to move away and continue ruining her husband. Even this family is cheating on each other. And in between all of this you get a description of who wears what designer's clothes. Unfortunately not as much attention is focused on characters' descriptions.
I read this book only because it was for free, and I was still interested to see how it will end. My advice- don't bother. The end is even less defined than the rest of the story.

[Arabella Kidd · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a breezy, fast-paced and easy read. Obviously the author Ms. Johnson is a Notting Hillbilly herself and shows us admirably just how frivolous and beyond moral comprehension this state of being is. However,the characters are rather likeable and sweet, although I did not detect much change in voice when she switched between the two main characters, Clare and Mimi.
The book did not tie up neatly at the end but there is a second book, 'In a Good Place' that possibly will.
Enjoyable 35+ woman's chik-lit, not life changing by any means, a nice way to pass the sleepless hours if one is not looking for a humanly complex, uplifting journey outside the materialistic, upper-middle class confines of Notting Hill.

[Ashlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was well written. I liked how Johnson wrote from two different perspectives and through the two different lives you can conclude the lives of a whole neighborhood! I'm not usually a religious 'star-watcher' or love reading the gossip magazines and news on tv--but I really enjoyed this book. It had the talking and gossiping a small community normally would have. Though I like to stay out of the spot-light, it was fun reading about English woman who couldn't get enough of it....

But the ending was horrible (just had to add).

[Edward Payne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting. Couldn’t tell the two women apart. Who wants to read about people who have pots of money, living in luxury with not an ounce of charisma between them. They both love Notting Hill, so the title doesn’t match the plot.... though there is no plot. Unless some cropped up. A half baked affair and some intrigue over an underground garage hardly makes for a thrilling narrative.

[Teri G · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't finish this one -- I like British fiction, and the cover promised an interesting premise, but after a good start, the reality became s a little too formulaic and the characters were flat and unlikeable.

[Coralie · Rating 1 out of 5]

1er fois que j'abandonne un livre, étant une grande lectrice je lis assez rapidement mais là j'ai lu 100 pages en presque 1h30. L'histoire se lit tellement lent on voit pas où veut en venir l'auteur. Un peu déçu

[Célia · Rating 2 out of 5]

J'ai dû me forcer à finir ce livre (je n'aime pas commencer un livre et ne pas le terminer). L'histoire n'a pas beaucoup de sens, beaucoup de personnages, le tout un peu tiré par les cheveux...

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as interesting as the average chick lit Marian Keyes, etc. Was ok.

[Meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a bit like crazy rich Asians as in the mishaps of the incredibly rich, but British. Mimi Fleming is a really kind of unlikable mother with a loving husband who she cheats on with a billionaire named Si who I also found rather annoying. Clare is our other narrator and Mimi’s best friend who has some kind of attraction to Mimi’s husband Ralph (Pronounced Rafe) but that really isn’t explored further and I was disappointed and also at one point Clare’s husband had a mini affair with Mimi that was just kind of forgotten and never mentioned again.

The beginning of the book was okay I guess, a bit boring but not terrible. Then I got further in. Mimi really annoyed me. Why cheat on her husband like that and act offended when he called her out on it? Look, I get that affairs may seem different to the people inside them, but the affair from her perspective was just really annoying. Why act like there's so much tension and sparks flying between Mimi and Si? All I got from is was she acts like super helpless and feels "young again" when around him and he doesn't really care about her so he dumps her for her kid's teacher.

Clare was ok likable, I didn't hate her but she was just kind of boring, I felt like her entire personality was just based on her being a neat freak who's kind of uptight.

The ending was just terrible, it felt like everything was just glossed over and forgotten about. Disappointing overall but it was somewhat enjoyable at some parts.

[Addie BookCrazyBlogger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Notting Hill is an expensive neighborhood in London, very similar to celebrity-studded neighborhoods of Brooklyn. Our two characters include Clare, who’s the busybody of the neighborhood but desperately trying to get pregnant herself and Mimi, who’s not stratosphere rich like the rest of the neighborhood. Mimi becomes obsessed with the new billionaire playboy who joins the neighborhood, Si and starts to engage in a flirtation, much to the watchful eye of Clare. Will these women find their happy ending or will scandal ruin them? Ahh, yet another grown-up version of the Clique books, full of insufferable women who are obsessed with labels and appearances. This book is pure bubblegum for the brain but is also kind of awful to read at the same time. Like..ladies there are so many more important things! These women are selfish brats. It’s like Gossip Girl mixed with yummy mummies.

[Emlikescake · Rating 1 out of 5]

Godawful book.

Imagine, if you will... It’s 10am, Dec. 31, 2017. I have one item left on my 2017 reading challenge — a book bought at a secondhand sale. I picked this up thinking it was probably bad, but maybe readable. Two pages in it becomes apparent it’s terrible. Horrible. Annoying. I want to throw it across the room. But this book is my only choice... finish it, or fail at my reading challenge. SO OF COURSE I READ IT. By page 60 I was so sick of hearing about brand names and celebrities I made macarons.

Negatives: The plot. The characters. The writing. The font.

Positives: Nice cover. It let me complete my 2017 Popsugar reading challenge.

[Ray Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

The rise of the yummy mummies

A fascinating account about the lives and loves of the wealthy trendy set who have taken over the once modest area of Notting Hill - they used to have race riots there - and turned it into a haven for the super rich. You need seven figure salaries for the good properties and even more for the very best. The tales are told from a female perspective - the yummy mummies - and the author's sharp observations sound very authentic. After all she mixes with these people. Great fun read!

[Lina Latorre · Rating 1 out of 5]

with the first few pages I knew this wasn't going to be a book for me. stupid, snobby upper-class characters with stupid, snobby upper-class problems. I made it 50 pages before I decided to skim the rest and see if it was as stupid as I fretted. and it was. packed with adultery and stupid, snobby upper-class problems it was like watching a bad filler episode of “the Housewives of -insert random city-“. I usually hate not finishing novels, but I really couldn't care less about cashmere sweaters, so I had to.

[Mélodie]

fun fact: the author is Boris Johnson's sister lol. I also picked up that book from a "boîte à lire" and i read a good chunk of it but i just found it a bit boring tbh. It's about two girls (they are supposed to be bff but they're not that close if i remember correclty) who live in Notting Hill, a really fancy neighbourhood in London. We follow their lives between fancy parties and love affairs.. meh not my cup of tea either..

[Gemma Ireland · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sure all the brand name and celebrity name dropping is entertainment to some people but this was not for me. I prefer a more substantial plot and truth be told I only finished it because I can't leave a book half read. There was some wit in the writing but I am left wondering if I missed something because the story amounted to a whole lot of nothing.

[Ella · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was recommended by my geography teacher as we are doing a case study on Portland
Road in Notting Hill. I was surprised by how much i actually enjoyed it. The ending didn't quite work for me but each to their own!

[˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚ chiara •ᴗ• · Rating 4 out of 5]

felt like reading desperate housewives and i’m not mad about it. i loved the story because even if it was dumb for some and just “rich people living typical dramas” that’s exactly what i was looking for in the moment i put up this book.

[Monica · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why? Why do I do this to myself? What you ask? Read & finish books that are dreadful? Likely because they are the bottom-of-the-barrel-brain-requirement genre & stand in opposition to any real thinking, which can be freeing to release, but this book ain't the way!

[Kristen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Notting Dull

[Kath · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know most of the reviews are less favourable, but I found this book really amusing.

[Miriam Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed out loud. The whole time reading this book.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun chick lit

[Megan]

As of March 2023, still have never gone back, so taking the L and moving this off my physical bookshelf. Just not great, DNF at about 15%

[Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dull. Just didn’t care about the characters.